Three Questions

Whilst in prayer this morning, I was meditating on the following 3 questions in my heart: -

1. Am I ready and willing to be made "not-ready" by my Bridegroom so that He can then begin to make me ready for Him and His purposes?

This will mark the end of all our strivings. Whether the intention is good or not, instead of propelling us further in His will, all our strivings will only lead to the ultimate entrapment in our small coccoons of self and flesh. Rather,it's about receiving and returning His love and communing with Him. Then, we will find ourselves in the divine flow of His plans and purposes concerning His Bride. Yes, we will let go and let God... for He is lovely.

2. Will I trust Him and allow Him to remove every other thing which I have relied, depended and put my trust upon (whether knowingly and unknowingly) so that I will only trust God and God alone for life and godliness?

To our own surprise, we depend on many things in this life. Most are legitimate sources of dependence and strength. Sometimes, the good gifts we receive from our Loving Father become avenues from where we switch our attention and devotion away from Him. Good and legitimate things can stand in the way of total dependence on our God. To fully trust in Him is a state of blessedness indeed, where our hope is the Lord Himself. To choose this path will definitely rock the boat of our lives a little. This explains the many shakings in our lives. But it matters not when He is in our boats for when all that can be shaken have been shaken and destroyed what is left is the Bridegroom with His Bride.

3. Am I willing to allow His light of love to continually search my heart to remove all hindrances that I may receive the full manifestation of Christ and His glory within me?

To have more of Him is to lose more of me. For Him to increase I must decrease. It is precious when the Holy Spirit shows us the shades of self and pride within us. It is our Daddy's gentle acts of love when His light shines in our hearts but when the enemy accuses, the cloud of darkness descends upon us. When He reveals the rival thrones in our hearts, it's time we bow down and worship the true and Living God in repentance.

This brings to mind the intimate worship song (written by Graham Kendrick):

To keep your lovely face
Ever before my eyes
This is my prayer
Make it my strong desire
That in my secret heart
No other love competes
No rival throne survives
And I love (serve) only You

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The new day begins at 6.00pm

If I remember correctly, the earliest I heard of this "global" prophecy was more than 5 years ago. It was during a series of special meetings by a man of God who have personally experienced many genuine moves of God. From hindsight, I could see the scripture (Amos 3:7) at work, i.e. "Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets." I believe that even among His servants, there are those who are closer to Him than the rest. This is because after hearing the first time what God is going to do in the world through the mouth of His servant, I have been hearing more prophets declaring the same in recent years. It's amazing that those prophets who are closer to Him would receive the revelation of His secret years earlier in comparison to the rest.

The crux of the revelation is contained in Isaiah 43:19:

Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.

When I first heard this quickened verse whereby God is telling His people He is doing a new thing in the world, I was very excited. A new day is coming! But, as with many prophecies and promises of God, after a passage of time and when we still do not see the fulfilment of these words, we become weary of waiting and we've lost the initial excitement and enthusiasm we had when we first received the promise.

During the last weekend, a visiting speaker shed some light onto this subject. She mentioned that God told her "The new day begins at 6.00pm".

Wow! What a revelation indeed. The Jews observe Shabat from Friday(6.00pm) till the next day (6.00pm). 6.00pm is a time when little sunlight is left before darkness of the night creeps in. And we have the entire night season until the sun rises early next morning.

We are living in times and a season where God is doing a new thing. Perhaps some of us are in a night season. And we could not see how God is going to fulfil His Word or whether His Word is true after all. But, do not forget "The new day begins at 6.00pm" God allows us to go through a certain time of darkness. In fact, the world is going through 'a season of darknes' now. There is a purpose in every season of our lives. It could be a time of pruning. Or it could be a time of preparation and equipping. It is a time we die to our own abilities to fulfill God's dreams and purposes in our lives. And certainly, the time of the birthing forth of His purposes in our lives is at hand. Amen!

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God builds on our RESPONSES

Last night I was awokened by the sounds of thunders and heavy rain and in between the state of sleeping and consciously awake, there were many thoughts and impressions that went through my mind. Some of those thoughts/impressions relate to my own personal things and there's one particular subject that prompts me to share in this post.

A few months ago, I was sent a link to a series of meetings conducted in the US by a missionary couple whom my wife and myself got to know through one of the previous churches we were serving and worshipping in. With the so many 'flaky' ministries coming forth from the West, we can be rest assured that the messages that are spoken in this series of meetings are both prophetically timely and grounded in the Word of God. This is a ministry which was born in a genuine revival in the South America, been taught the ways of God and having the privilege to behold the mysteries of the heavenlies.

One of the main 'rhema' that I received after viewing the series of meetings is this: "God builds on our RESPONSES and NOT our REACTIONS". It's a powerful statement indeed.

What is the difference between our REACTIONS and our RESPONSES?
We react when we experience some sensations or feelings. For example, should our finger be caught in an electrical point and our whole body feels the effect of being 'electrocuted' we would react wildly by screaming and our bodies would be jerking or shaking violently. It would be very unlikely for us to remain silent, unmoved in our physical bodies and somewhat enjoy the feeling of being 'electrocuted'. Similarly, when the power of God or His Presence surges through our physical body, our physical bodies would either "fall under the power" or "jerk" or "shake" or exhibit different kinds of physical manifestations as a natural reaction to the power of God or His Presence. This is very normal indeed even though there are still people who are not accustomed to such manifestations in a church setting. But, that is for another day's posting :)

When God's power or His Presence is manifested and we experience the reality of it, our natural bodies react to it. Along with our reactions, many things take place as well. For example, bondages are broken, spiritual gifts are activated, spiritual senses are sharpened, deliverance takes place, healings, etc. and the list goes on. In other words, we can witness the fruits in our lives after encountering His Presence/Power in varying degrees. We can loosely say that the physical manifestations are our reactions (the side effects) and the fruits are the main effects.
However, we shouldn't stop there and wait for the next church meeting or another God encounter.

God builds on our RESPONSES
Each time we experience God's Presence/Power, a response from us is expected. How do we respond? As seen above, our reactions are the physical manifestations. But, we respond differently. We respond through our worship, our declarations of love, our obedience to certain specific instructions, etc. We may not be able to control our reactions but we can choose to respond to God. We can yield and surrender in greater degree to Him. Repentance can also be a response from our heart. Or sometimes, our faith declarations can be a response to Him.

And finally, the beautiful thing is God BUILDS on our responses. If we desire to go deeper and higher in God, each time we experience His Presence/Power we respond with our heart (in whatever way as the Spirit of God leads) to Him. Each time we respond, God visits us in greater measure and we experience deeper intimacy with Him. That is why we call our faith a "relationship", a "walk with God", a "communion". That is the reason Jesus came to die for our sins. So that we can be invited into the inner circle of union and communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It's a two-way communication. Let's allow God to build on our responses.

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The Last Call

This is a timely message which is worth reading and sharing. (source: Ron McGatlin, 30th April 2009, http://www.openheaven.com/) A call to return and realign ourselves with the heart of God so that we can be a part of what He is doing in this brand new 'kairos' season. Be blessed.

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A few days ago while in prayer, I received a strong word from the Lord that caused a great burden with underlying streams of precious hope. The most significant message of modern time is coming forth from God unto His people today. There has never been a more crucial moment for the people on Planet Earth than now. God is speaking to those to whom He has given a voice to speak out to make a final plea, a last call to all peoples now.

God is calling ONE MORE TIME for the people of America and every nation of the world to turn to Him with their whole hearts – to turn from the foolish pride and lofty ways of man – to turn from denying the God that made them and rejecting the Lord who loves them - the one who has paid the price for their return to the life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

This is NOT a last call before Jesus returns. It is NOT a last call before the end of the world. This is a season of last call to the people in spiritual Babylon. This is a last call to people of every faith and non-faith, a call to all who are NOT seeking first the real kingdom of God and His righteousness. Many of which may be making a token investment in acknowledging God but live their lives according to their flesh and not after the Spirit of God. This is the last call for masses of people worldwide to come to God and repent of rejecting their savior and King, the Lord Jesus in the practical reality of their lives.

Massive deception is consuming the people of the world. False god's of false religions are rising in power while many of God's people occupy themselves in pleasure-seeking and personal gain.

Many pleas and warnings have come forth. Many signs and works of God have been sent to catch the attention of mankind. Prophets for years have been receiving words of change. Again, I am not talking about the foolish soothsayers who have periodically predicted the end of the world. This is not about the end of the world; it is about the last call for multitudes to stop going the way they are going and turn around to face Jesus and connect with the work of the cross and the resurrection life in the Spirit. God is calling one more time for people to abandon their lives of self-provision and self-protection and to trust in God to fill them with real life, receiving His provision and His protection in His kingdom now.

This is a season of the last call to abandon religious hypocrisy and be filled with the Spirit of God. This is the last call for multitudes to fall upon their faces before God in repentance of their PRIDE and LOFTY ways of building their own kingdoms according to their own need, lust, greed, violence, and strife. The nations have strayed far from the paths of peaceful living in God and His kingdom ways of provision and protection.

The time of change is near. I do not know how long this last call will continue, but I am persuaded by the Spirit that it is the last opportunity for multitudes to avoid the natural results of their self-focused, pleasure-seeking ungodly living. Prior to 9-11 about ten years ago, I received a strong prophetic dream which has been and is now coming to pass. It is recorded in Basileia Letter Number 16. Here is a portion of that word.

The Loftiness of Man and the Kingdom of God

Have you ever experienced the serenity of walking in a beautiful forest of majestic tall trees on a warm sunny day? There is a feeling of security and comfort in the cool shade of the huge trees. One feels at ease and protected by the canopy of giant branches meshing together far overhead. You tend to feel small in the presence of the giant trees and may have a worshipful respect for the magnificent, stately, ancient trees.

This is how I felt as God spoke to me in a powerful prophetic dream about ten years ago. I walked about in the most beautiful oak forest I have ever seen. The trees were huge and over one hundred feet tall. They had magnificent limbs growing this way and that, forming unique patterns high in the trees. The tree trunks were very large and covered with distinctive rough oak bark. The trees were some distance apart, but they were so large that they all entwined together forming a beautiful green canopy high overhead.

Beneath the trees, the floor of the forest was open and free of brush. There were no pesky briars or thorny berry vines, no small growth to make walking difficult. I strolled about with ease admiring the awesomeness of the giant magnificent trees. I felt they must be hundreds of years old. There was a sense of strength and personal protection realizing they had stood against the elements with no apparent damage for centuries. Though I could catch small glimpses of bright sunlight through the canopy it was wonderfully shady and comfortably cool. There was no concern for heat or sunburn in such a protected environment. It seemed it would be a good place to remain forever and enjoy its comfort and protection.

I was well into the forest when I stopped short. The sound of a rushing strong wind came to my ears. Instantly I looked up toward the north from which the sound came. High above the earth one of the trees was being thrashed about by a strong wind from the north. Suddenly I heard great snapping sounds as the high limbs of the great tree began to break and started falling. Then the giant trunk snapped, and the whole tree was crashing toward the earth. I turned quickly to the east and started to run when I saw that the entwined trees were being broken by the first falling tree. The trees were crashing in the east, and I could not run in that direction. Instantly I turned to the south and started to run. But again the trees in that direction began to be broken by the others and were falling. By now the sound was horrendous as a great roar of snapping and crashing was everywhere. I turned to the west, and it was crumbling as well. As a cloud of thick dust began to rise and fill the air around me, I instinctively ran a few steps and dove to the trunk of one of the great trees. I wrapped myself up against it and nestled up against the huge trunk as the roar of crashing continued, and the dust boiled covering the entire scene.

I was unharmed and crawled out after the dust settled through the mass of tangled broken limbs to view a totally new scene. Not one tree, not even a very high trunk, or a very large piece of a tree was left. The entire magnificent forest was only a huge area of broken smashed pieces fit only for firewood. It was still a bright sunny day with only a few wispy white clouds in the sky but all the sense of protection and comfort no longer existed.

As I awoke from this dream I was very moved and somewhat afraid. I knew beyond any doubt that the dream was a prophetic word from God and could instantly think of many negative fearful possible interpretations. But I was not previously used as a prophet of disaster and was afraid to ask God the meaning. I really was not ready to know the full meaning of this dream and waited a day before asking God to reveal the interpretation of the dream to me.

I cautiously approached God with questions like, does this involve religion? I heard “yes,” but with a sense that there was more. I asked, does this involve the economy and political governments? Again the answer, “yes.” Knowing I was now ready, God spoke on and said, “It is the pride and loftiness of man.”

For many days since this dream I was consumed with it. Many questions arose as I went to the word and continued to seek Gods guidance in more fully understanding the meaning of this word. What exactly is the pride and loftiness of man that has stood majestically for centuries and is now coming down? Why were trees used to represent the loftiness of man as opposed to great cities or tall buildings etc.? How does this relate to the glorious revival and the establishment of Gods kingdom on earth now? When is this great crashing fall, which takes away the sense of security and comfort of many people?

Zec 11:1-2: Open your doors, O Lebanon, That fire may devour your cedars. Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, Because the mighty trees are ruined. Wail, O oaks of Bashan, For the thick forest has come down.

Isa 2:12-21: For the day of the LORD of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up; And it shall be brought low; Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, And upon all the oaks of Bashan; Upon all the high mountains, And upon all the hills that are lifted up; Upon every high tower, And upon every fortified wall; Upon all the ships of Tarshish, And upon all the beautiful sloops.

The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The LORD alone will be exalted in that day, But the idols He shall utterly abolish.

They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold, Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats, To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

This is not doom and gloom! This is a removal of the past Babylonian ungodliness making room for the kingdom of God reality!

Yes, it is an awesome and terrible shaking! But only everything that lifts itself against God is coming down. God will be exalted above all else in the minds and hearts of man and in the entire earth. It is the manifest glory of the kingdom of God that is coming forth in the earth. It is the terror and the glory of God from which man is fleeing into the caves, and that causes him to cast away his idols.

Mat 3:2: …. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

Mat 4:17: From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Jer 18:7-8: "The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it."

ONE MORE TIME the voice of God is calling for all people to turn to Him with their whole hearts and seek His kingdom and His righteousness above all else.

Let His voice be heard through His trumpets in every house and throughout all the land.

Let every media carry the message, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!

Begin now to capture the mountains of worldwide culture.

Keep on pursuing love.
It never fails and His kingdom never ends.
Ron McGatlin
http://www.openheaven.com/

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