Bring your kingdom plans to earth Lord. You have heavenly solutions to every earthly problem! You taught us to ask you for your kingdom to come down from heaven to earth so I ask this today. Jesus came to heal the broken hearted, to set captives free and declare this favorable time of the Lord. We know you came to fix what sin ruined and now have given us the crown rights to move and act as heaven's change agents on earth. Help us all learn our place.
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I experienced a most unusual kind of breakthrough a few months ago when I was struggling to catch my breath during a bout of covid. I had asked for prayer the day before because of dark thoughts that were difficult to push out of my mind. Early the next morning, in between awake and sleep, I saw a troubling seen. In my mind's eye, I saw the shores of Normandy back in WW 2 during the storming of Normandy. I knew there was a lot of death on the beach but my sight of vision was above the bodies. Somehow I knew I was not just a bystander, I was on the beach, in the spirit.
Holy Spirit was singing over me: "Take one step after another, one step after another, one step after another until you take out the top guns." After I joined in the song a few rounds, I realized I was being nudged by Holy Spirit to get out of my sick bed and force myself to move around. So I did as long as my energy level could handle it. I returned to bed until the song and scene came back. Again and again throughout the day it mustered my courage to get up and force myself to move around whether I felt like it our not. By the end of the day my breathing was almost back to normal. I was making a remarkable recovery just by forcing myself to take the next step of obedience to help my physical body recover. The scene changed in my minds eye as the day progressed and I saw an enormous army in every direction, North, South, East and West as far as the eye could see, I saw no end it it in any direction. I was part of it and we all had the same very simple marching orders that kept us all in step, "One step after another...". Locked arm-in-arm by the elbows, nothing could get by us, the bullets somehow didn't seem to harm us, we didn't miss a step, we were all in perfect unity. I intuitively knew I was seeing God's people on earth joining ranks with all the patriarchs and lovers of Jesus through the ages as well as angel armies that were interspersed between us. Somehow through the prayers of heaven, those who have gone before us were physically joining our ranks. We were making a sweep of the place and none of us were falling down or missing a step. When we got to the top guns several days later in my minds-eye, the angels totally destroyed them, and we just keep going on step at a time. This vision returns to me often, especially when I am tempted to willfully refuse the "next step" or get focused on the "steps" another christian might be "missing." It helps me to stay on track, get re-focused on the task on hand, pray for the christian that might be stumbling and trust Christ the Captain to help them get back in step. Later in that first day, I saw that at the head of this army was the shape of a spear-head consisting of God the Father (Yahweh), God the Son (Yahshua) and Holy Spirit. A prophecy came to mind from another unusual place in scripture- "she is as the dance of two armies." Song of Songs 6:13. God is raising up an army of believers on earth joining through their prayers and "the righteous deeds of the saints" have learned how to partner with heaven's army so that God's kingdom advance will bring about the greatest harvest of souls, the greatest advances in every sphere of influence not by "domination" but by inspiration. By being light and salt, living by God's principles with weapons of love, prophecies fueling our prayer and our faith, partnering with heavenly hosts the prayers of the saints since Genesis chapter 4 are coming to pass in us, despite our unworthiness. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," is about to be seen in greater dimensions than we ever dared to imagine. Dutch Sheet's has heard the Lord call this time and season, "the synergy of the ages." I was seeing it in action through this vision and I began to understand that my call is simply to obey the "next thing" Holy Spirit leads me to do. I see this vision frequently when we meet for weekly prayer for our church, community and country's influence on the world. When I or another see it during our prayer time we pray into it and get even greater insight. One prayer warrior, Pam, saw how easy it must be to stay in step because of the great length of each row helping to hold us all in place. We can't lose, we are emboldened and strengthened by the support of each other. As Kevin Zadai often remarks, "This whole thing is rigged in our favor, we can't mess it up. We win. Nothing can stop us." Instinctively I know the top guns represents the "fiery darts" of the enemy uses in his attempts to distract or dissuade us from this advance of God's kingdom on earth. This massive army linked arm-in-arm embolden our faith every time we think of it. While not everyone in the body of Christ is awake enough to join this army yet, I know their day is coming soon. If necessary God will jolt them awake in His way, in His timing. My job is to keep my eyes and ears perked for the next step of faith He calls me to take. Today it means awakening much earlier than usual to finish sharing the vision in this blog. We don't need the over all battle plan or even need to know what the next "dart" from the enemy will look like. If we see a dart coming our way, the powerful weapons of prayer and our shield of faith is sufficient to extinguish the dart. Even at its worst the dart destroys by body, nothing can harm my Spirit destined for eternity with Messiah. This vision has become one of the many shields of faith that deflect those darts and can keep me from getting distracted from taking the next step. Not every step is easy, we need His grace, but our life is much simpler when we focus on simply the next step. I spent many years complicating things but not anymore! No regrets, no shame, no false guilt, just the next step. We ALWAYS have grace sufficient for the next act of obedience. When we choose to be "willing" to take the next step, He empowers it to be successful. As I write I sense Him reminding us that His grace IS sufficient. His supernatural power to equip us IS still alive and active and as we speak His word it MUST bring life and light. As my former Pastor Thom often said, "light can't help but push out darkness" even in the midst of a weak faith to believe it to be so. His word ALWAYS accomplishes what it was sent out to do- save, heal and deliver. He promised in His word that His plan for us is "exceedingly abundantly more than we could think or ask." We really have no clue what his abundance will look like on the "other side" of the next step we take. It really doesn't matter. He is altogether good, worthy of our trust and IS the head of this army after all. We ALL need His grace and mercy to keep us ALL in step but He CAN handle this. So we can choose surrendering our plans for today or the future one step a a time. This is a volunteer army but the riches and rewards of following One who gave it ALL up for us gives us the courage to say "yes". On the last day of pass-over, April 17th, I received confirmation to share this message in this blog today. It came from a very unexpected place. My sister had told me how radically the book, "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ" by Anne Catherine Emmerich helped lead her to have a greater reliance on the atoning work of Jesus as she read of her vissions of Christ's passion through the eyes of Canoness Emmerich. I had a nudge to start reading her first chapter on the final night of pass-over week, Saturday April 17th. Living in Germany Canoness Emmerich lived from 1774-1824. A Canoness lives in a convent but either chooses not to make a permanent vow or is not allowed to make that vow due to the lack of family financial support to do so. Yet Anne remained with the Augustinian convent until her death. The book is a compilation of her various prophetic visions and dreams that she or others wrote down on her behalf when at time she was unable to write due to the intensity of those visions. Though I can't attest that every dream and vision this lover of Jesus had is from the Lord, her humble re-telling of something I also saw, helped me see how people of very different theological persuasions living centuries apart can be changed forever by a similar vision. First she recounted what temptations the devil was pouring out before Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. The vision that struck me hardest was the streams of rebellious, idolatrous, ungrateful and lazy christians many of us would become. We were indifferent to his sufferings and took his suffering lightly. As Jesus saw how recklessly we would disregard His bloody sacrifice, Jesus began to sweat blood and asked for "the cup to be taken away, yet not His will but Thine be done," was His final response to His Father during these bitter temptations to walk away from the cross. Then something changed in the countenance of the Savior that gave Jesus an even greater resolve to take His next step towards the cross. Here is how she retells the vision: "The army of the future saints passed before the soul of our Lord, which was thus placed between the desiring patriarchs, and the triumphant band of the future blessed, and these two armies joining together, and completing one another, so to speak, surrounded the loving Heart of our Saviour as with a crown of victory....As these visions referred to the future, they were diffused to a certain height in the air." In the previous paragraph she describes the patriarchs also intermixed in these two armies: "The apostles, disciples, virgins, and holy women, the martyrs, confessors, hermits, popes, and bishops, and large bands of religious of both sexes-in one word, the entire army of the blessed-appeared before him.... Their whole life, and all their actions, merits and power as well as all the glory of their triumph, came solely from their union with the merits of Jesus Christ." I am humbled when I think Yahshua was strengthened in His hour of greatest need by the same vision that strengthened Canoness Anne Catherine Emmerich 1800 years later in a dark night of her soul then 200 years later in one of my darkest hours. Imagine if you can the reality of this. Yahshua, the God Man was strengthened in His resolve to complete His "next" step towards Calvary by the triumphant church who knew who they were and how to partner with heaven to form a mighty army "that the gates of hell could not prevail against". We are that generation. We get the privilege to advance God's kingdom on earth to fulfill the prayer Yahshua taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in heaven. " Our Savior's victory is our victory and our victories are His victories. He is our inheritance and we are His. This remains hard to comprehend, yet because His word says it, we must take Him at His word. I am humbled at the privilege to take this next step of obedience by posting this vision and leave the results to the ONE who heads this army and will lead others to this blog in His perfect timing. Psalm 25:3-5 TPT "Could anyone be disgraced when he has entertwined his heart with yours? But my foes will all be defeated and ashamed when they harm the innocent. Direct me, Yahweh, througout my journey so I can experience Your plans for my life. Reveal the life-paths that are pleasing to you. Escort me into your truth; take me by the hand and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation; I have wrapped my heart into yours all day long!"
King David wrote this psalm. How could he feel that he wrapped his heart into God's heart all day long? I have had difficulty with this. Most every morning I remember to surrender my day, my schedule to Him, yet as the day progresses, I find myself excerising my right to oppose his plans and do "my own thing," from time to time throughout the day. Can anyone relate? As I read the end of verse 5, I found myself praying, "Teach me, Yahweh (God the Father) Yahshua (God the Son), Holy Spirit how to remain there in my every interaction with others and the things you call me to ALL day long. You call me to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, show me what thoughts remain rebellious against you Yah (Great I AM). May only Spirit-led words come out of my mouth or out of my computer keyboard." There would be no Bathsheba issue or King Solomon for that matter, had David never strayed from this committment. Yet we see his heart IS a heart after God's own heart. He pursues wanting God's heart on the matters of that day and He got to see many miracles on the battle field against demon-possessed enemies because He went with God's plans over His plans many times throughout his years as a king that went to battle with his people. This in my life's goal- "to wrap my heart into God's heart all day long." His heart is LOVE made manifest. His heart opposes evil, confronts it, exposes it but NEVER with a shaming message. He is not the god of shame and condemnation. He came that we might have life and have it abundantly. Abundant love gives second and third chances and even 70 X 7 chances. It shows the "way of escape" out of temptation. It shows God's hesed love revealed in a verse that follows. Verse 7: "Give me grace, Yahweh! Always look at me through your eyes of love-your forgiving eyes of mercy and compassion. When you think of me, see me as one you love and care for." This is the reason God never insists that we do things His way. If He did, He would have robots. He always lets us choose, His way or our way, or even the devil's way (which is an exaggeration of our ways a lot of the time). If I resist and resist and persist in doing things "my way" the natural consequences are often not fun but very necessary in order for me to hate every false path. A small group of christian friends and I are watching and praying through Wanda Algier's study "Overcoming Religious, Jezebel and Leviathan spirits." These are common influencers in local churches that can dominate and hinder the work of Holy Spirit and the fruitfulness of churches and those in the body of Christ. I remember telling the group after we confessed our sins one to another in order that we may be healed: "we may not sense a release during or after this prayer but we will recognize rebellion more easily in ourselves and other so we can more freely choose the better way." Since that day I have recognized several areas of rebellion even in righteous sounding prayers and attempts to "bless" my church family, I have seen underneath these good-looking acts, a heart of rebellion that needed to be forsaken and confessed. "Though our sins be as scarlet, we will be white as snow." Today, after reading the right way to pray for God's plans in my life I am determined to return here often and pray according to His will for my hand to remain in His so He can lead me to His best. I don't want to settle for anything less. How about you? Perhaps if you are reading this you are getting convicted of some little or big way in which you have been rebelling against God. How do you know if it is false guilt or true conviction from the Holy Spirit? Here are some good questions to ask:
When I have heeded this advice, something comes to mind often instantly. I repent, go do what I felt a Holy Spirit nudge to do and almost instantly, I sense Holy Spirit again and start hearing from Him, the next act of obedience. Sometimes it is "sit and be still and return to my hesed bible study" to learn of His out of bounds love for me. Sometimes it is "put on worship music and clean your house." Sometimes it is "Go give your husband a hug and let him know how you appreciate his last act of kindness toward you." It is surprisingly simple at times. It is always deeply moving and humbling. Will He also ask me to do some things totally out of my comfort zone, things I feel ill-equipped to do, things impossible without His help-absolutely! The more I obey those "out of my comfort zone" kind of things, the more He blesses me with greater faith to step out and obey and the more I reap the reward of doing so. There is no condemnation or shaming from God when we recognize a rebel act on our part or an obedience step we missed. We simply are to call it what Holy Spirit calls it and go in the direction Holy Spirit leads us to do instead. He only needs our willingness, He provides the power to obey. I love that this is the gentle ways of our Good Shepherd seen in Psalm 25:5 "Escort me into your truth; take me by the hand and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation; I have wrapped my heart into yours all day long." I can spend days like this, then I back down and go my own way. Yet as soon as I see the untwining of my heart wrap, I can return here and choose to put my hand back into my Master's hand and 'stay' in Him through another glory-filled day. Thank you Jesus! Reading Psalm 107 and I feel so incrediby loved by God and wonder if you would like to "blush with me" as we ponder together His incredible love for EVERYONE in the world, including you!
Here is a sampling of this very long song God sings over us: "Let everyone give all the praise and thanks to the Lord! Here's why-He's better than anyone could every imagine. Yes, He's always loving and kind, and His faithful love never ends. So go ahead-let everyone know it! Tell the world how he brought through and delviered you from the power of darkness and has gathered us together from all over the world. He has set us free to be His very own!" Psalm 107 TPT 1-3 I started out reading this song and ending up hearing a song from heaven healing my very soul and delivering me from religious ideations of God that have been all wrong. Who are God's kids? In a sense, everyone on planet earth are His creation and I believe His desire is for ALL of us to be His kids in a more personal way. While we don't get to choose who are earthly parents will be, we do get to pick our spiritual Father. God lovingly knit us in our mom's womb and saw our embryo as it was being formed. Did you know that before He did that, He wrote a book all about the dreams He dreamed over us before, during and after our lifetime on earth? He had plans for our eternity that bring out the best in us and dreamed up how we could best influence the world and all of eternity with our unique giftings that He created us to "do very well." Yet He is too good, to force us into "His dreams" for us. Every minute of every day He lets us choose. His dreams or ours. Some days we might "stay on task" for 10 minutes and He has a reward awaiting us for that. Other times we might actually spend an entire day letting Him guide us and we find that day most blessed and somethings take it for granted that He was leading us all the way and wants to do that for us every day of our life. God's fatherhood sacrificed His own willing Son, Jesus, to cover our failures to "dream the dreams of God" so that we not only could dream those dreams but that we would develop a taste to want "only His dreams." Jesus, dreamed those dreams with His Father and suffered for us so we wouldn't have to suffer the consequences of our rebellion dreams against God's perfect and beautiful dreams for us. He dreamed those dreams for us even BEFORE He knit us in our mom's womb. God is too good to push or force us to follow His dreams for us. I believe even Hitler had a chance to see the beautiful book of God's dreams for him. Whether he saw them on this side of heaven, I can only think in God's mercy, he had many opportunities. Yet I do know that on judgment day, God opens two books. One of those books is the book with our names on it. Hitler got to see when He stood before God's judgment throne all the good dreams he missed dreaming with God throughout his lifetime. This is what Calvary was all about. God wanted us to see what great lengths He would go to in order for us to have the freedom and ability to dream and accomplish God's dreams for us on planet earth and for all of eternity. I believe Hitler is spending an eternity regretting his choice of rejecting God's plan for his own evil plans for the world. Regret is what hell is about. Jesus taught us a simple rule to know if we are following God's dreams or believing lies about "following our heart's dreams." Jesus said, "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly." The start of those "dreams of God" being fulfilled in our lives is believing that Jesus's dream was to pay the penalty of all the times we choose our wimpy dreams for our lives over God's rich and bountiful dreams for us. He died to cover our regrets, He rose to show demonstrate the glorious riches of God's dreams for us and He sent the Holy Spirit to live in the hearts of those who looked and believed and received Jesus's dream for each of us to be our dream too! I believe that when we stand on judgment day, whether we spent 2% of our life dreaming God's dreams or spent a lifetime dreaming His dreams, God is a rewarder of those who let God's plan-Jesus- save us from our own finite dreams. It is never too late to start dreaming, I've learned. I have believed in my mind about these dreams of God for me for many years. Yet in many ways and for many years I have resisted those dreams for me and those around me. I too often listened to the father of lies tell me his dreams of failure, screw-ups and the inability of myself or others to ever "achieve" God's dreams in our lives. I regret those many times I turned off those who have not yet choosen the Fatherhood of God and taken the "first step" into God's dreams for His son's blood to atone for their "limiting" God's dreams in their lives. Yet I am thankful this week for the reminder duing "Pass-over week" that the blood on the doorposts of Israel when they needed deliverance from the Pharoah in Egypt represented the blood Jesus shed to pass-over those failures and regrets. Reading through psalm 107 in the Passion translation this morning made me realize we are all on equal footing. We have all failed to dream God's dreams for at least a portion of our lives. But God promises to throw our failures and shortcomings into His ocean of forgetfulness and start dreaming the dreams of God today. No matter how badly we blew it yesterday, we can start this day "choosing His dreams, surrendering our schedule and our plans for His." Here is the song that welled up in my heart. I started by regretting conversations with a granddaughter and singing this over her wounded heart today but I really believe the whole world right now needs to hear this song. If you agree, share this with your friends today. I heard God singing over the world: "I love you, I love you, I love you, not for what you do, but who you are." It is what you are in His eyes, in His dreams for you! That is why He loves you, it is why He sent Jesus and why He had me write this blog today. What prompted this song? I believe it was my response to this portion of psalm 107, let it sing God's love for us over our soul, spirit and body today: "For we rebelled against God's Word and rejected the wise counsel of God Most High. So He humbled us through our circumstances, watching us as we stumbled, with no one to pick us back up. Our own pain became our punishment. Then we cried out, 'Lord help us! Rescue us!' And He did! His light broke through the darkness and led us out in freedom from death's dark shadow and snapped everyone of our chains. So lift your hands and give thanks to God for his marveous kindness and for his miracles of mercy for those he loves! Some of us were fools, bringing on ourselves, sorrow and suffering all because of our sins. Sick and feeble, unable to stand the sight of food, we drew near to the gates of death. Then we cried out, 'Lord help us! Rescue us!' AND He did! God spokes the words, "Be healed," and we were healed, delivered from death's door! So lift your hands and give thanks to God for his marvelous kindness and for his miracles of mercy for those He loves!"- BTW He LOVES you! He proved it by writing everything in your book of life before one day came to be. He lovingly knit you in your mom's womb and I believe He is drawing you to Himself as you read this. Don't let the father of lies steal one more day of your destiny. It is NOT too late, you are not "TOO FAR AWAY". If there is life, there is hope." If you are still breathing that includes YOU! Yet- you get to choose, He will NEVER force you to come to Him but He sure wants to welcome you with open arms if you do! “You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both inclination and character,] Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation]. Isaiah 26:3 AMP
In March I overheard some news that brought confusion and some feelings of panic. I knew God is good and He is truth and brings order to kaos. I asked Him what I was to do with that news. I was expecting a lengthy prayer assignment to topple strongholds, destroy vain imaginations, that sort of thing He's taught me in 2 Co 10:4-6 over the past few years. Instead this is the calming yet hilarious picture the Lord gave me. I return to it often. It always bring peace to me and those with whom I've shared it. Today I felt I was to share it on this blog. Here is the picture the Lord gave me in my mind's eye that day: I saw myself dancing with Jesus, then the "camera" zooms out and I see we are dancing on a surfboard and I know there is a raging storm underneath the surfboard but I don't really want to look at it so instead I focus on the picture of me and Jesus dancing quite wildly on this narrow surfboard. I know the surfboard represents all the promises of God that are "yes" in Jesus. Then I hear God the Father say, "Get up on my feet child, I will teach you the steps. Soon the dance will get much faster. If you stay up on my feet you won't miss a beat." So I now look like a little child getting up on translucent feet, the only part of God the Father I see in this silly picture. The next thing I know we are whirling in an exuberant kind of dance and Jesus flips me up in the air and as I am coming down I hear Him say, "I will catch you every time you fall." I know I can trust that word and the peace of Christ holds me steady while we dance wildly in whirls and swirls, tosses, and smiles exchanged between us. Then He says, "look at the storm with Me and laugh at it ." I could feel my resolve to "not look at the storm" melt away. I felt I could trust His word to me. We looked at the storm and laughed then returned to dancing wildly. An incredible peace fell over me and I realized that though emotionally I had just been in a state of fear and panic, it was all gone and I knew my intercessory assignment has taken a radical shift. I was to celebrate and keep my eyes on Jesus, letting God the Father guide my steps. Later in the day, I see this same picture only now I see a light blue whirling translucent airy looking cloud whirling around me and Jesus. It was as if Jesus heard the question in my mind before I had a chance to ask it. He said whimsically, "Oh, that is the Holy Spirit keeping us from falling off the board." Today as I write this, here are some things that gave me further light from this picture: God is in a GOOD mood! He wants me to stay in fellowship with God the Father, Jesus the Son and Holy Spirit ESPECIALLY during life's storms. I need God's help and direction to "stay on board" of every promise that is made "yes" in Jesus. 2 Co 1:20. He wants me to laugh at the devil's attempts to return me to fear, fretting, worry, or getting fixated on life's problems. God has the solution. He is partnering with me. Each step I take in union with His WILL always take me in the exact direction I need to go. I only need to know what is my next step and trust God to help me do it. Relying on the Holy Spirit's power indwelling me AND all around me, I cannot fail at my mission or my calling. I WILL accomplish ALL He has for me in this dance that Father God has called, "Life in the Fast Lane." Heaven is celebrating great victories over evil and darkness in our day. While the enemy roars back and tries to knock us off our game, we are to laugh at his attempts to do so! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Twice in Ex. 34 the Lord announces His "hesed" translated in the Amplified and the KJVS Bibles as abundant in goodness and keeping of mercy. This is the passage where God answers Moses's prayer to "see God" and He is allowed to have the "backside" of the Lord pass before him. In this powerful scene God hides Moses in the cleft of a Rock then passes by and proclaims who He is: "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness (hesed) and truth, keeping mercy (hesed) for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting [avenging] the iniquity [sin, guilt] of the fathers upon the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers].” Ex 34:6-7 Amplified Bible. The Amplified Bible uses [these kind of brackets to better explain the Hebrew words as best they could with the KJVB text they used] and I added "hesed" in parentheses to show what words or phrases were interpreted from that word in the above passage. God was emphasizing His "hesed" by repeating it twice. It would have read in Hebrew "Yahweh, Yahweh El, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in hesed and truth, heseding ten thousands in a familyline, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin...." How do I get that translation. I start with several versions of the Bible, go to Strongs Concordance to understand the original Hebrew then find Hebrew scholars to give me better insight. Both the KJV and Amplified however seems to have misunderstood God's character and word when they seemed to have inaccurately interpreted the word "visited" or 'avenging' a parent's iniquity "on" future generations. Perhaps avenging for those children but not avenging it "on" those children. That is counter-intuitive to so many other scriptures about God's character towards the children of believers in both the OT and NT.
In an attempt to better understand the meaning of the word "thousand" in Hebrew, I ran across a website by Skip Moen who describes his mission on his website called: "Hebrew word study" as "recovering the meaning of Scripture, one Hebrew or Greek word at a time." I was blessed by the few articles I read in attempting to better understand this passage but my first rule is to let Holy Spirit teach me thru my own study of the original word. After I did this I was most blessed to learn the meaning of a different word in this passage that was far more important for me to understand. It helped me understand the next verse that seems so contrary to the 'hesed' love he just proclaimed. I couldn't find any study focusing on this word "thousand". Instead he focused on a different word that in simple ignorance to Hebrew thought, the KJF translators likely misunderstood. Moen explains the meaning of the word pāqaḏ that KJV and other Bible translators translated "visiting." My few lessons in Greek by a dear Pastor, Mike Redeker, taught me a lesson in translation I will never forget. "It is always important to know who is running the verbs." In the way KJV translated this word God runs this verb and yet it sounds to contradict the nature of God for God to run this verb in a negative way towards children of sinners as if they were the actual sinner. This word pāqaḏ reveal God's hesed so much better than I ever imagined in the way the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are treated by God when their parents/grandparents fail to represent God well. In the KJV and Amplified version and most any other English translation it appears God's anger is poured out on the generations that follow because of an unfaithful dad but it is the exact opposite in meaning. Moen points out that this Hebrew word has a negative connotation and a positive one and the positive one is used about half the time in other uses of this word in the OT. Sure enough Strongs Concordance concurs. We NEVER get punished for having unfaithful parents or get "brownie points" or a "free pass to heaven" because our parents were faithful. We each get to choose, but for those who have parents who did not represent God well, there is an extra measure of grace for them. That is the kind of "visit" the children of unfaithful parents get from God. How does a translator determine whether to use a negative or positive connotation of a word in a particular translation. The "law of first mention" is a good start. That translation "rule" says the best and most complete definition of a word in the Bible is found in the first time this word is used in the Bible. So I went back to Gen 21:1 the first time the word is mentioned in the Bible. God came to "visit" Sarah in order to do what He promised. Obviously a very positive visit. In all the definitions that this word can mean according to Strongs, clearly in this first mention it means "to commit, entrust, commit for care, deposit." In Sarah's case all this was true about this vist which deposited in Sarah's womb the seed that would bring about the One who would Redeem the sins of all our Father's before us- Jesus was to come from her family line. Through Jesus, the mercy of God poured out upon a world ruined by sin so that Sarah's seed could bless every nation on the earth with the choice to follow that Redeemer or reject Him. Either way, it is all about choice. I get to choose to worship God or the demons behind our false gods. How much better I understand that this passage no longer contradicts so many other passages like: He "is close to the broken-hearted", "is a Father to orphans and widows," came to "set prisoners free," "open the eyes of the blind." He keeps a "special eye" on those who's sinful ancestors would otherwise keep us in those patterns of sin. He puts a deposit in us because of His "hesed" lovingkindness that gives us fortitude and courage to break sinful patterns. All these years this passage seemed to perpetrate the victim mentality and self-pity that I could so easily fall into through the years. It made me question God's mercy and justice but now I see it is rich with unfailing, steadfast "hesed" kind of love that is beyond words. This morning, God put these word to music, singing them over me to confirm that I am finally free to understand God's justice and hesed love for family-lines much better. I sing this over those who come to this blog for comfort, wisdom and revelation today: I bless you and bless your family too, with grace and mercy that will follow you and them all the days you roam on earth until my Son returns to reign My child. They still get to choose to follow or to disobey. Yet my hesed love and grace and mercy follow them in a special way. To give them many chances, To give them special grace To see my hesed love for them each day. I choose to bless their heritage. I bless their children, their children's children too and so, so many more after them. Until they come to Me with hearts that turn to Me. Chorus: It's my hesed love that draws them, It's my hesed love that holds them. It's my hesed faithful nudges they'll receive. I will pursue them with a love that will not fail them. Yet they get to choose Life and death Its theirs to choose. And the more my children understand My hesed love And pour it on their children and their children's children, Their kids will not help but come to Me with Holy hands of praise. Chorus: It's my hesed love that draws them, It's my hesed love that holds them. It's my hesed faithful nudges they'll receive. Some will still harden their hearts because of the sins of their Father And when that happens I give them special care, Special love to draw them in. Because of the faith of my first mention on the lips of the patriarch of that family, Those that first called out to Me in faith. They knew that only I could redeem their souls That moment that faith met Me. They knew it was not just for their redemption But for yours too! Chorus: It's my hesed love that draws them, It's my hesed love that holds them. It's my hesed faithful nudges they'll receive. Genesis 32: 9-12 Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, [hesed] and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me and the mothers with the children. You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’”
Jacob the deceiver, robbed Esau of his birthright and his inheritance as the first born son. His mother put him up to the last bit of thievery because Rachel knew God promised both her and Issac that the "latter would rule the elder." It was God's prophecy and promise to both of them. Yet Issac, out of favoritism of Esau, was going to disobey the Lord because of the traditions of men. In that culture, the inheritance went to the eldest son. Today in some circles we would call this a "religious spirit" that "nullifies the words of God for the sake of the traditions of man." Nathan French has taught me that it is these "traditions" we fall into that dull our ears to hear the voice of God. Jesus said the "sheep will recognize their Master's voice." While most of the time God speaks through our thoughts, so does the devil. So how do we recognize the difference between a thought that came from the voice of God, from the devil or from our own mind. In this simple story of reliance on God's steadfast love and a prophetic word, we see the attitude of the heart we need to approach and respond to a prophetic word from the Lord. 1st- Jacob admits such kind of love is udeserved- "I am not worthy of even the least of ALL the loving kindness AND of ALL the truth". Jacob's humility clearly is seen as he recounts how little he left with and how much God blessed him. He sees God's hesed love and truth surrounding him and he knows he is not worthy of rescue from a brother who is angry because of Jacob's deception that gave Jacob a blessing and an inheritance his father intended for Esau. 2nd-Jacob honestly admits his fear of what Esau might do to him and his family. I learning that fear can hinder the answers to our prayers because fear = doubting God's protection. Yet denying what is in our hearts also hinders those answers. I love Jacob's willingness to confess his fear that Esau is coming with 400 men to kill him, his kids and his wives. When we admit our need, our fears, our inadequacy and know what we deserve, God answers with love and mercy undeserved. 3rd- Jacob remembers and in his prayer reminds God that he is stepping out in obedience to God's prophetic word, "Return to Your country and I will surely do you good...and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can't be counted because there are so many." 4th- Jacob had the faith to risk everything and obey God's voice over the voice of fear that Esau's wrath might rob Jacob and his family of God's promises. The end of this TRUE story is that God gave Jacob wisdom for how to approach Esau. specific things to do He sent small bands of gifts ahead of him and his family. Oppulent, luxurious gifts, then sent his family with all the kids so that he might solicit even more mercy for the huge family and servants who were dependent on their dad/husband/master for provision. By the time he arrived, God blessed Jacob's humble prayer and faith in God's promise to bless him. That answer started with a game plan to soften Esau's heart and ended with an unexpected hug from Esau. Living in this kind of an estranged family is all too common in the present season all over the world. The vaccinated vs unvaccinated, the maskers vs unmasked, social distancers vs huggers, Trumpers vs Anti-Trumpers, Conspiracy theorists vs Fake News/Real news- who knows how many more things have divided our nation, our churches and our families pitting one against the other. Behind this division is a demonic host tempting us to take offense at the slightest provocation and become irritated at anyone who is speaking something that denies the narrative that makes you feel most comfortable. What is God's answer- "listen to His voice and get His plan to build bridges to estranged family members. God knows what they need to see and hear from you. It starts the same way Jacob prayed:
Listening to portions of the news last night was troubling and sounded like we are on the verge of WW 3. Turning to Telegram for news I got a very different scenario. Where do I go next? "Lord teach me how to pray in these uncertain times" has been my frequent prayer especially since troops were amassing on Ukraine's borders. Sometimes in the midst of very serious things going on in our world the Lord uses a little levity with me. In my minds eye a few weeks ago when I had to go into a very uncomfortable situation. I saw me as a little girl dancing on the feet of God the Father and I hear Him say, "Get up on my feet, I will teach you how to dance thru these times without missing a step." A few days later, when I began beating myself up mentally over declining mental capacity during a Pinochle game, I hear Him say, "get back on my feet." My disposition of trust returns. I hear about emminent war and ask, "How do I pray?" It took a few days to get the answer. "This is a distraction, don't get distracted." A few days later I hear a prophet, Julie Green, get a message from the Lord, "Smoke and mirrors." I think, "Okay I did hear from You Lord." Then Ukraine does get invaded. "Lord you confirmed this was smoke and mirrors but now something is happening that could harm a lot of people." Later the next day, I read about 11 US-owned biolabs that Putin destroyed. They were all on army bases. I learn that China and Russia had reported awhile back to the UN that the US has biochemical labs on their borders that are a threat tot he whole world with evidence that the US unleashed the Corona virus from the Wuhan lab on purpose. Yet Russia has a reputation of aggression. Will he take this opportunity to imprison them in communism. I know the story of the Wumbrandts. I hear that Ukraine is the center of human trafficking. I am back to "Teach me to pray Lord." I get back, "Be careful how you pray. You have my authority to open doors that won't close and close doors that won't open. Be sure you open the right doors and close the right ones." I hear there are another 11 US labs in Tiawan. I go to their website. I think, "They and Russia have a reason to invade us Lord? How do I pray now?" "You remember hearing what to do. All these open borders means the world is coming to you to hear the gospel." In the midst of all this I get reminded of a message I gave at a Women's Retreat pre-covid. and Yikes now I feel like I am sweating bullets (figuratively that is). "Riding on the Promises of God," was the title. On the front of the brochure was a surfer, handling stormy waves with a smile. The theme of the first message was getting on the surfboard with Jesus since all God's promises are "yes" and "amen" in Jesus. This time the picture is a little hlilarious. I am dancing on the surfboard with Jesus, yet I heard God the Father say, "Get up on my feet, you won't miss a step." Then I see Holy Spirit swirling around us. Below us was a torrent of storm-tossed waters and waves that looked forboding. I heard Jesus say, "Laugh at those waves." So I did. This morning I heard, "Every time you glance at the waves, remember your position-on the surfboard. This time Jesus is dancing wildly with me, tossing me in the air and i hear Him say, "I will always catch you." Meanwhile I hear God the Father telling me to get up on His feet he will teach me the steps. Holy Spirit was whirling around us this morning. What a beautiful picture of the trinity, yet also quite silly. When I glance at the waves i hear laughter all around me echoing in my ears. I get the impression: That every time I glance at the storm I am to laugh at the enemy's plan to disturb our peaceful trust in God's plan of redemption amidst the rumors of war. I feel when I hear two very conflicted reports, I am laughing with God at the foolish and evil plans of the enemy who is trying to confuse the church into praying according to the devil's plans instead of Gods. Satan WILL NOT win against God's plan. Laughter at the enemy has become God's way of teaching me lately. A few months ago I saw a flash of a lion that looked like pink panther, weak, starving, staggering. When I woke up I heard Holy Spirit say, "This is how weak your enemy is because of your prayers." A few days later I had another weird picture of this sickly lion. This time he was trying to get his boxers on but was too weak to get his leg in the pants hole. Then I woke up. I said, "Now that was just weird Lord, that wasn't from you was it?" I heard Holy Spirit say, "The enemy has been de-pantsed." (Yeah-I have no idea how to spell that! Basicly the devil has been caught with his drawers down and can't get them back up). I couldn't stop laughing for awhile on that one. Yet it took no time to get back to taking myself and my world way too seriously. Later this morning, I dozed up and work again. I had Ukraine as the first thing on my mind. "Lord show me how to pray for Ukraine." I heard, "Pray for the innocent to be protected and those planning harm against the innocent to have their plans bommerang on them. Revival fires are coming to Ukraine and NOTHING can stop them!" NOW I know what doors to open and close in prayer through the powerful name of Jesus. Thank you Jesus!
The more I learn about God's "hesed" love, the more peace and stillness is coming to my heart. I am learning from David how to position my heart each morning to receive God's plan for my day. Like David, I will "prepare my sacrifice of prayer to you.. and lay out the pieces of my life on the altar and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart." Ps 5:3 (TPT). "Perfect love casts out fear. He who fears is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18 (NIV). I continue to recognize "hestitations" and "reservations" in my heart toward what God is wanting me to surrender. I have a willingness but He is showing me the fears and doubts that remain. No one's love is perfect except God. He loves His creation so much that we get to choose allegiance or defiance in each and every area of life each and every day. In fact every minute of every day. Can Jesus be my Savior and not my Lord? His love is big enough for this, yet His love calls me higher. The glimpses of what He has shown me of His future call for me is staggering. I know He must empower me and I must be willing for Holy Spirit to manifest in me the way He chooses.
I was led to jump ahead to the "first mention" of hesed love that was sung to God in this first psalm that mentions God's "hesed" lovingkindness. I have spend several weeks in this psalm captivated by David's rich understanding and dependence on this love in order to be turned from a rejected shepherd boy to a rejected king to a beloved king all the while being a "man after God's own heart". Speaking God's word powerfully transforms us and the world around us. It was God's word that created the world and we are told as God's image-bearers that "life and death are in the power of the tongue." Pr 18:21 (BSB) But when we sing God's word it has a way of softening hardened parts of our hearts so we can receive hard truths more easily. God's word stopped Satan in his tracks when Jesus used it against Satan in his wilderness experience prior to the start of his ministry on earth. Let's do damage to the lies of the enemy that make us doubt God's love. In Psalm 5:7 David writes: "But I know that you will welcome me into your house, for I am covered by your covenant of mercy and love." (TPT) This takes me back to Psalm 23:5b where David writes of his Good Shepherd's blessings as his "cup runs over." (NKJV) In the verses leading up to vs. 7 David admits how he is feeling about his enemies and often through his songs admits that God doesn't always feel very close or helpful in his striving against his enemies. Despite his honest admissions he gets to verse 7 and senses God's welcome, His favor and His blessing. It is God's covenant blessings promised centuries ago that are certainly considered by David in this verse. The KJV's translation of this word used the same translation as they did in Ge. 19:19 for hesed- "magnified mercy and kindness." Yet I believe the Passion translation renders hesed more accurately in this context. The tabernacle's welcoming presence of God had to speak covenant to David. De 4:7 reminds us of the great divide between Israel and every other nation on the earth back then. "“For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?" (NIV) God's peculiar love for David and his people don't just magnify God's mercy and kindness for David, they speak promises/covenants that are now all "yes" in Jesus according to 2 Corinthians 1:20 and yet they were still quite powerful in David's day. This covenant mercy and love are explained with both old and new testament reference in 2 Corinthians 6:14: "And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? As God has said: “For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” In David's day the Holy Spirit would come and go but often accompanied him and his might men in battle where Holy Spirit "Kungfu" gave them supernatural powers to overcome the demon-powered Philistines in 1 and 2 Samuel. In those days the only consistent place to experience the literal presence of God was to go to the tabernacle where the very presence of God was ALWAYS there as long as the ark of the covenant was inside and no demonic idols were added inside the "house of the Lord" like in Ezekiel's day when they literally saw God's Shikenah leave the temple and never return. The idolatry had reached it's peak. David felt the difference because for 32 years the ark was not in the tabernacle and he had the privilege of finally bringing it back. Today, since Pentecost, we are the temple of God. The more willing and yielded we are, the more His supernatural power can flow through us to love our enemies, repent of and walk away from stubborn sins of even the worst kind of addictions. We can heal the sick, cast out demons and take back the ground that demons have "legal claim" over because of the fall. Why? Because on the cross the devil was defeated and now we are God's agents of His Kingdom as the body of Christ with Holy Spirit indwelling to equip us with power. Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be His name. He has a heavenly bank account endless in it's provision, full of gifts, giftings, resources to do ALL that is written in our book. We are to take withdrawals often, daily, minute-by-minute an believe Him when Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come on earth AS it is in heaven." Not only do we have power, we have covenant promises that are all "YES" in Jesus. We ARE to speak to our mountains of doubt, fear, unbelief and obstacles to His plans for our life and expect them to move. Yet corporately there is a greater presence of the Lord possible when all are surrendered and open to the Holy Spirit amongst a group of believers. In most circles today Holy Spirit is NOT welcome and so little power and glory are experienced or revealed in most church bodies today. I believe our lack of faith in Drs. have led us to a greater faith in the Great Physician. I believe the loss of faith in government have drawn us closer to God's desire for His spiritual kingdom governance to be displayed on the earth. Our inability to reach the hard-hearted unbelievers around us has thrust us into a desire to display God's glory through power evangelism. Preaching the gospel in word and deed, signs, wonders, deliverances and healings to soften hearts hardened because they thought the rejection of others meant God has forgotten or rejected them. We are called to show them He has NOT forgotten them. I know that the governments of the world are on the shoulders of my Savior and whether that will result in only Spiritual reign or a literal one, I haven't a clue. Actually I don't need to know it to advance His kingdom His way. While we may dominate in sheer numbers our influence is nominal. I believe this is contrary to God's heart for the nations. Both Canada and the USA have covenant promises with God made 100's of years ago that God is remembering in our day and God is reminding me that it is not because we "deserve" rescue that we WILL get "rescued." It is because of promises and covenants our forefathers made with God hundreds of years ago. We stand on the shoulders of our "forefathers" by Holy Spirit insight and revelation. I repent as Nehemiah and Daniel repented for their nation. Lord forgive us for how poorly we have been influencing society, legislation, demonic strongholds and lost souls in our land. Forgive us for not taking advantage of ALL that Jesus carried on the cross. He became a curse on the cross so we could reverse every curse on the land, in our communities and world. Most of us know that He carried our sin, but in the original Hebrew according to Strong's concordance Is 53:3 shows that He also carried our sickness, deformitieis, grief, sorrow, abuse, the sins committed against us so we do not have to pick them up, look at them ever again. Teach us how to pray and believe and receive "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." As I ponder David's great triumphs on the battlefield, yet great defeats in his home life, I get disappointed at David and at myself. People get to choose how much of their life, they surrender to God. God never forces people to believe him about anything. The areas we don't surrender we leave for our children and grandchildren to fight. So I pray, Holy Spirit, for the sake of my children and grandchildren please reveal any other parts of my heart I have walled off with "no trespassing signs." I am willing for it all to be yours. I trust You to do the necessary surgeries in my heart to expose and remove those reservations I have to Your hesed love. For over a week now I have been inspired by an unnamed servant in Genesis 24. It has felt like another “first mention” of the word hesed because three out of the four references in this chapter are the first mention in the Bible of God's hesed kind of lovingkindness that English takes elaborate explanation to describe accurately.
Here is the background. Abrahem was getting pretty feeble. He was sensing he didn’t have long to live and didn’t want his son to fall into the idol worship of the Canaanites around him. He called on his senior servant to go back to his own kin in the land where Abrahem once lived to find Issac a wife amongst his own clan of people. When the servant shared his hesitation about this seemingly impossible task, Abrahem’s response was full of faith. “God will send an angel before you to prepare the way.” His servant was not so convinced, “but what if she won’t come with me, can I take Issac there?” Abrahem knew the promises God gave him and believed them and recalled them in the hearing of this servant, “No, Issac cannot go with you because God promised THIS land to us. If the girl won’t come with you, I will not hold you to this promise. Just promise me you won’t look for a wife for him among the Canaanites.” This promise was not just for his family. God promised that ALL the world would be blessed through Abrahem. Indeed, through his eventual seed, I am part of that promise as part of Abrahem's spiritual seed. Jesus continues to impact the world today through us, the body of Christ. As Jesus did we are to do. This unnamed servant didn't know anything about Jesus yet his faith, prayers and worship in this passage put my faith, worship and prayers make mine look quite insufficient for the tasks God has called me in which He wants me to trust Him to accomplish through me. I WILL let this servant's testimony become my testimony and I hope anyone reading this blog will do the same. As the servant arrives at the local watering hole he is faced with a daunting task. First he must find Abrahem's clan amongst all the other clans in a land in which he is likely unfamiliar. He prays to Abrahem’s God, not willing yet to claim that God as his. “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. " From this day forward I want the same kind of response to daunting assignments the Lord gives me. "Lord God make me successful today and show your kindness to others through me." Then came a word of knowledge that taught me far more thant he 'first mention of a word of knowledge' as described in 1 Co 12 provides. God put in his mind to speak out this destiny God would fulfill through this word of knowledge: "See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” Here is what I learned from this servant about a prophetic word of knowledge now that I have experienced them and watched them work in miraculous ways to lead christians and nonchristians into greater faith and reliance on the Lord:
Several times you see this servant not even responding to the events around him until he first bowed down and worshipped the God who showed "hesed" kindness again and again. I am humbled and ask for this servant's kind of hesed love for God and for those in leadership over us. Surely this servant became a believer of God's words coming out of Abrahem and even his own mouth. Surely we will see him on the other side. When he met the parents of Rebekah he told of God’s hesed kindness and faithfulness to Abrahem and Sarah through the miracle son, Issac, and all the ways God has blessed them in every way, especially on this journey. He retold the story of what happened at the town well. Here is her parent’s response: “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.” Divine appointments, prophesies fulfilled have a way of bringing such a sense of awe and reverence to its witnesses that they become willing conduits of that hesed love and can’t help but respond in surrender and willingness to go along with the Lord’s plan. God changes hearts, orchestrates the affairs of our day, sends angels before us to do His bidding, let us not become dulled to Your workings in our life Lord. I CAN'T even imagine such a "yes" from Rebekah's parents. Yet Lord, if you ever ask that of me I can trust YOU can give the rich gracious supply of mercy and hesed to follow through. Every missionary who leaves their homeland has made this sacrifice. There are many left on this planet who still have not one word of the Bible translated into their heart language. Millions in the 10/40 window have not yet heard one time the name of Jesus. I was reminded also by a missionary to Spain that there are unreached peoples who were once reached by CINO's (Christians in name only). Some of these "christians" brutally beat, sexually abused, forbid indigenous people their own culture or language "in the name of their false Christ" and have turned off multiple generations to the beautiful name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Only authentic christianity demonstrating the power of the gospel of the kingdom can possibly shatter the plans of the enemy for these people groups all across our land and in the world. Jesus's power IS more powerful than the Shaman's many have returned to, mixing witchcraft, new age medicine, alcoholism, drug abuse and pharmaceutical power grabs. Yet what satan used for evil GOD has and WILL use for good, even this pandemic. What is toppling? Our dependence and false understandings of Drs. and medicine or even herbal preparations and supplements as our "first line of defense against illness." Is. 53:4-6 tells me that Jesus carried sickness sadness AND sin on the cross. Whether His whippings brought physical or spiritual healing, Hs body paid the price from illness and sickness so we would not have to carry them. One of His many names is Great Physcian and one of His Dad's names is "I AM Healer." The Israelites, despite their sin and failure wandered in the dessert 40 years and ther was not a sick or feeble one among them. That is our destiny and God is using covid to break our reliance on mediine, herbs and supplements to do what only God can do with contagious diseases, mandates destroying livlihoods of people and even IF there are nano technologies in some of the vaccines people took in good faith. God has been in the past few yeasr removing metal from people's bodies all over the world where revival is breaking out and healings and miracles are taking place. His timing is perfect. He is building my faith and the faith of many around me. I believe God is going to use this blog someday, maybe starting today to build the faith of those who read this. God wants to display His glory, His power and His majesty to the humble willing to believe in GOd's kind of success to do impossible things in and through us. I want no other God than this. |
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