"From Now On, I'm Gonna Wear Comfortable Clothes, & Start Running My Mouth!"

That is an accurate quote from yesterday by my husband, after we spent time with two other members of our Ekklesia in an intimate time with the Lord. In case you think that sounds arrogant and even a touch blasphemous, let me explain the context in which it was spoken...

Our little Ekklesia has around 15 faithful followers of Jesus, and after this last week when 5 of them (that's 33%!) were hit hard with "the virus", we made a deliberate decision to suspend our usual study and fellowship. Then a few days later, the Lord prompted me that we needed to stand as the government of Heaven on earth and pray for not only their health and recovery, but the restoration of our nation to God's will. So we called a gathering of the remaining members of our Ekklesia. We did it on short notice, so those that could not attend agreed to pray with us in spirit. So, the four of us gathered together in our living room, got quiet, submitted our flesh, souls and spirits to the Lord, and went into the presence of the Father. 

Now, I don't know what that looks like to you, but it is a very effortless action for us. We come before the throne of God, expressing what is on our hearts; what we are burdened with; sharing with God what [and how] we see the strategies of the Enemy on the earth. In short, we just have an in-depth conversation that is a characteristic of our relationship with Him. After all, a relationship is defined as "the state of being connected by blood or marriage". We are both! The blood of Jesus covers us and we are His beloved Bride, making ourselves ready, that we might be holy and without blemish before our Bridegroom on His return.

We simply got quiet, and asked Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit to speak to us and show us how to pray and what to pray for. We asked them to show us what they wanted us to see, and we let our spirits receive the heart and will of the Father, just as Jesus did. We were just four people with no pre-planned agenda or rule book to play by; no restrictions on expressing what we saw or heard; and no limitations put on God with what He wanted to share. It was pure, unadulterated relationship with our Creator -- uncontaminated by this world or dictated to by its "authorities".

We interceded on behalf of those among us who are fighting for their health, and for those among us and our families who have lost that battle. We asked for discernment regarding what heavenly strategies to use against the evil agendas that are in play, and which realms need to be torn asunder. We asked for an increase of the Lord's strength and power to enhance our own, so that we can be more effective in tearing down strongholds. We declared the Word spoken over Israel's enemy, Moab, and applied it to those in power over us and in the world ... "You will end their pride and all their evil works. You will bring down the high walls of their fortifications. You will bring them down to the ground, to the dust". We brought the testimonies of the afflicted before the Courts and Councils of Heaven as evidence of the injustice on earth, and asked for judgment and restitution to a hundred-fold. We prayed against weaponized grids in the spiritual realms; to close all the portal access points of demonic infiltration; to dismantle the structures of invasion; to destroy the webs of deception; and we pleaded for the uploading of a "Jesus virus" into the quantum entanglements established by wicked entities. And then we all concentrated on establishing the importance of true relationship with God among the Body of Christ. We declared that God does not need [nor desire!] long-winded speeches or empty phrases of praise. He wants our hearts aligned with His heart and with His purposes. He wants a holy interchange between Him and us -- we seek His voice and His heart, and then we act on what He reveals to us! It's really that simple! 

And that's where my husband's comment comes in. I'm sure -- no, I know -- that his words will be misunderstood by those within the Body of Christ who possess a religious spirit. They will not understand that he is a man of direct and frank language, but with a loving and compassionate heart. His name literally means "Peace-Loving Warrior", and he is the perfect embodiment of every characteristic of that appellation. And, if I can speak for him, he is tired of the same old modes by which we Christians identify ourselves. We need to be more than subservient sheep to habitual and predictable methods of engaging God. We need to become more than our titles and giftings; it can no longer be about how we appear in the world. We are not of this world, and if we don't start acting from our place in the spiritual realms, there will not be a place for us in the world!

My husband has tried to speak and act within the restraints of accepted Christian practices, but it is becoming more and more difficult for him to walk that line. I believe God is calling those who will be bold and undeterred from His purposes during this time. These are men and women who know that the hour is approaching when compromise and conciliatory gestures towards the Enemy will no longer hold back Evil. These are men and women who know they are watchmen on the wall -- but they are not just warning about the players from their position on the physical walls of the earth, but also from the spiritual walls in the heavenly realms. And the magnitude of what they see coming does not fit any paradigm of the modern Church. And that can put them in conflict with the traditional Body of Christ. But thank the Lord that God has a purpose for them that both includes the hope and encouragement of victory that their Christian brothers and sisters espouse, but also includes the honest, outspoken, and open dialogue of a John the Baptist, a Jeremiah, or an Elijah ... a remnant that is willing to look different, sound different, and swim against the current of conventional Church-ology. 

I will tell you that this is not a place of faith that is for the faint-hearted. You will be despised, discounted, dismissed, and disregarded. You will be called a heretic and worse. But you can no longer go along to get along, and you can no longer pretend that you don't know what you know. As a wife who marches in step with my husband, I sometimes wonder if more grace and mercy would soften the message God has given us. But God has time and again told me that there is a time and place for His grace and mercy [and He will make those times discernable], but now is the time for clear, concise and deliberate discourse with the world. It's no time to hold back, or ease the pain of the reality of this Age. God needs more Peace-Loving Warriors who can carry out His purpose in witnessing to both the wise and the ill-advised. My husband might appear foolish to some within the Body of Christ, and misdirected by most who are on a different path, but he's ready to lay it all on the line for Christ and His Kingdom. Hence, the statement, From now on, I'm gonna wear comfortable clothes and start running my mouth. Translation: "I'm going to be free from worrying about what others think, and instead, be comfortable and content in my Kingdom assignment. And I'm not going to worry about how the message God has given me is received or interpreted. I'm going to be bold in declaring it ... within every realm of influence God gives me ... and without hesitancy, trusting Him to transform lives". 

It might not be your style of presentation. But know that he, and the members of God's remnant like him, recognize the time is critical, and their severe and stern demeanor is evidence of their compassionate heart for those who have not yet perceived or entered the Kingdom. Call it tough love, if you will. But it is precisely because they love their fellow man, that they are willing to be controversial. May God strengthen them, protect them, and encourage them to finish their race. 

2 Corinthians 11:19   And since you are so smart and so wise to gladly put up with the foolishness of others, now put up with mine.

Christians: Are You Fit For the Kingdom?

As this world becomes more unsettled and chaotic, my husband and I are hearing from more people seeking help through our Inner Healing and Deliverance ministry. It's understandable. People are finding it increasingly difficult to recognize not only our nation, but each other, and even themselves. The Enemy is sowing division, confusion, and false images of everything we thought we knew. Old wounds -- physical, emotional, and spiritual -- are resurfacing; ones we thought were long buried and under control. Established belief systems are coming under scrutiny as they seem to be collapsing under increasing oppression from the world systems. Our faith seems under attack as we see the foundations in Christ [that we thought were unshakeable] begin to crack and yield to Doubt and Fear. We feel on unstable ground. Why is that so? We've always held ourselves up as the most faithful country in the world. We were founded on the Christian faith, right? Can you conceive that as Western Christians, we might not know our true identity?

I think the most common issue we deal with in this ministry is that very lack of true identity. In fact, if you were asked to describe your identity, what would you say? After all, your identity is what makes you uniquely you; the characteristics that determine who you are.  On a deeper, more spiritual level, your identity defines how you see yourself from your own perspective, as well as God's -- and those two viewpoints can be drastically different.

But if you are going to call yourself a Believer, shouldn't they be as similar as possible?  I mean, the Bible tells us that if we are "in Christ", we are a new creation. Our old identity has passed away and a new one has come. There is another definition of identity that pertains to this Biblical truth: identity is “the quality or condition of being the same as something else.” So, in the case of our identity in Christ, our lives should indicate that we are the same as Christ, both in seeing ourselves through His eyes, and in our actions and deeds. But have we forgotten that He came as the representative of God's Kingdom and to give us earthly citizens a new identity?

But how many people who call themselves Christians have really embraced the idea of a "new identity" in Christ? How many still compare themselves to the world's standards or their own? How many are still trying to achieve the dreams they had set for themselves before Christ came to live in their hearts? You see, I don't think there is room in our heart for both identities. That's not to say that those dreams and identities can't be in harmony with a life in Christ, but we must ask ourselves, "How is my life to be different now that I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior? How am I to live my life, now that my old self has been crucified with Him, and I am a new creation? Do my old desires count for nothing now? What should my priorities be?"

Too many times [in our ministry] we meet with people whose lives are in turmoil because they don't truly understand what it means to identify with Christ. They cling to the old identity and the old image of themselves that the Enemy has skillfully crafted through his ability to tempt them to sin, or others to sin against them. It is this sort of identity problem that is at the very heart of any Deliverance Ministry. Faithful Believers, who sincerely love Jesus and proclaim Him as their Savior and Redeemer, nevertheless fall prey to the lies of Satan, who convinces them that under the Christian mask they wear, is the same old self which has not been renewed or regenerated. The devil whispers to their minds that because of the sin in their lives they are worthless, unlovable, guilty, condemned, ugly, dirty, unfit to be called a son or daughter of God -- let alone, an ambassador of the Kingdom! In fact, the concept of the Kingdom of God on earth [and their part in it] is a foreign idea; one the Church has failed to teach, equip or train. The lack of understanding that part of their identity is most often the biggest missing piece of the Christian experience.

Without that component of our identity, we can continue to tell ourselves that we are Saved, and that's enough. But our spirits long to return to the identity given to us at the beginning of the world when we were created in the image of God and Jesus. Our spirits long to inherit the kingdom that was prepared for us from the foundation of this world! But when we don't even know who we are supposed to be in that kingdom, then it is easy for the Enemy to whisper that our salvation isn't enough. Then we fall into destructive patterns of behavior and false belief systems about who we are. 

The biggest struggle we have in our Inner Healing and Deliverance Ministry is convincing people to not only understand what the Kingdom of God on earth looks like, but that they have a purpose in that Kingdom, and it is bigger than anything this world offers. Self-worth cannot be measured from the world's standards. Wealth, position, status, beauty, popularity, recognition, and approval or validation by man is not esteemed in the Kingdom of God. Nor is seeking after any of those goals. As a Body of Believers, we need to begin identifying as members of a new family that is stronger and more powerful than the Enemy.  We need to recognize that we are part of a new family image that has dual citizenship: on earth and in heaven.  In the past we were committed to our earthly lives, but as a new creation, our values have changed and we have died to the things that used to run our lives.

I believe we are now called [and it is absolutely essential] that we become soldiers and ambassadors of our Lord's Kingdom here on earth.  The Enemy is accelerating his plan to dominate the earth, and we are running out of time to step in to our true identities. We are in desperate jeopardy of losing our opportunities to share the Gospel of the Kingdom and to see lives radically changed -- beginning with our own. We must embrace the Kingdom and step into our fullness in Christ, designed to bear much fruit. Let us be intentional to receive our inheritance and the riches of the Kingdom [that He desires to give us] even as we grow into His very likeness.  Don't let the devil rob this generation of our identity as chosen, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a temple of the Holy Spirit, God's special possession, His beloved children, and ambassadors and citizens of Heaven. It is imperative that we know Whose we are, and Who we are!

In this new identity, we must not look back, or listen to the Father of Lies who would have us miss our purpose for the Kingdom and squander God's love. So, trust God's voice when He says who you are, and stand guard against the Enemy's lies. Let us commit to each other that we will give support, confidence, and hope to our fellow Christians who struggle to claim their spirit-filled identities.  And I pray that in these new identities we can love all mankind as Jesus loves us, and show the world what it looks like to abandon the darkness and come into the Light of Truth and Life. You are the Kingdom of God on earth! How does that identity suit you? 

Luke 9:62     But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things left behind] is fit for the kingdom of God.”