|
|
|
 |
| |
|
<< Back |
|
|
|
|
|
Part 1: Introduction:
Deep in our hearts, all of us are saying, “I want to have the anointing of Elijah! I want to have impact in my society. I want to be able to confront the evil, the demonic strongholds, and see the righteousness and the purity of the Lord come.”
Then our minds flash back to America, especially since 9/11, when we were truly confronted with a real shaking and shifting in our own society. Suddenly, we realized that inside of our own borders the enemy can attack. A sobering reality hit us as we realized that we fear terrorism, and we could be struck anywhere at any time!
Locating the Unseen Enemy
When we were dealing with Desert Storm, we knew where to find our enemy, but how do you find terrorist cells? How do you find the enemy in our society in everyday life that is hidden in many different places? Or, is our society already infiltrated with an enemy who wants to very suddenly take us out? We dealt with fear when a few buildings were collapsed. What will you do when plagues come? How will you respond when whole cities start are devastated and lawlessness abounds? What do you do when limited nuclear warfare starts to come to America?
Impacting our Society
Do we truly have that deep cry inside of us that says, “Is there a God who can really impact our society?” Once we start dealing with fear, we start compromising anything for the sake of peace. “Well, it is no problem,” we say. “Let's use military police - they will protect us. Or, let's have a one-world government or a one-world religion.”
Pretty soon our freedoms could be taken away in the name of order and peace. Suddenly, life isn't mechanical any longer, and you find that you even need to ask the Lord what bus or train or plane you should get on. Can you hear the Lord about what shopping mall to go to? This is real time, dear friends!!!!
Needed: Powerful Prayer Warriors
Are you one whose prayers really have impact, not only for your loved ones or your family, but also that you are one who is able to pray for your neighborhood and city?
Are you one who, like Jeremiah 23, was able to go into the Councils of God, into the heavens, and hear fresh rhema, get fresh strategies and bring them down?
Are you one who when you pray, you are able to legislate things in the heavens? Are you able to hear the fresh things of God? Are you able to shift things?
Looking at America
Here in America, we are dealing with great devastation and shakings in our nation, but really, there is a global shaking going on, isn't there? The nations are shaking. It is like the earth is groaning!!!
We are coming into a powerful time where old world leaders are shifting out of place and new ones are coming into place. It is God who sets up kings and takes them down!
We are also coming into a great time of financial and religious shakings throughout the world.
Are we ready?
Prayer: Lord, prepare our hearts to receive this teaching. Help us to hear Your voice and understand our individual prophetic journeys in these great times of shaking. Show us how to pray and how to consistently be walking in Your will. Amen.
Part 2: What is the spirit of Elijah?
It is a prophetic anointing that would come in and shift things to make a difference. It's an anointing that would legislate from the heavens. When I am talking about the Elijah anointing, I really feel that is what God wants to release in this hour on nameless, faceless people with the power and government of God backing them up.
The Power of the Secret Place
Elijah was a man who was formed in a secret place, and then he suddenly came on the scene. When he suddenly came in (from a place of hiddenness), he came in front of a governmental king, King Ahab, who was married to Jezebel. Both of them had terribly compromised and were worshipping Baal as well as being involved in heavy sexual perversion and dealing with sacrificing children. It was all very demonically inspired.
But when Elijah came, it says in 1 Kings 17:1, “ Before the Lord God in Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word. ” He was a man who was formed in the secret place of intimacy and prayer.
Elijah's Mandate from God
A suddenly of God ushered him into the world scene of dealing with a global mandate! What was Elijah's mandate? It was to turn a whole people group - Israel - back to worshipping their God instead of worshipping the rain god, Baal. Elijah stood in his authority and legislated governmentally from Heaven to earth.
What I love about Elijah, is that he came from the secret place of standing in the counsel of God so when he went before King Ahab, it was already done in the Spirit. He was able to say, “There will be no more rain!” He was able to confront an evil power and principality that was working through Ahab.
God's Question to America
It is not a surprise for you to hear me say that America is in a very critical and strategic time right now. We are standing in the balance as the Lord asks us, “Is there going to be righteousness in the land?” How do we deal with perversion? How do we deal with pornography? How do we deal with immorality? How do we deal with the enemy as he comes in and shakes and shifts the very moral fabric of our nation?
The enemy also challenges who we are, which has opened up gateways for the demonic to come in and infiltrate how we think and how we feel. Every arena of our lives - our education, our medical, our business, our governmental systems - every arena of life is being put on a demarcation line. Are we really willing to stand for righteousness? Will we stand for the place of God? It will cost you to do so, but it will cost you more if you don't!
God's Callings in this Hour
There is a strong call to holiness now, isn't there? There is a call to stand against wickedness and perversion like never before. There is a call to stand in that solidarity of loving the Lord your God with all your heart. There is a call to deep personal intimacy. Will you come into the secret place and seek His face with 100% of your heart?
Quote from Lou Engle's “Extreme Disciples” CD :
“When we are talking about America, it is very similar to the days where Israel was at that time. The spirit of Jezebel had swept that nation into sexual perversion and immorality. She destroyed all the prophets in the land. Only 10,000 prophets were left; all the other 10 million people had bowed their knee to Baal. The land was under a curse. But you see, this man, Elijah, was consumed with a holy jealousy, and so he arose to confront Jezebel, a spirit that would return the hearts of the fathers to the children.”
“We are in a season where we need radical revival. If you look at Ezekiel 37, you see Ezekiel going in to this valley of dry bones. That really is the state of how the church is in many places. We need a fresh wind and a fresh breath of God to blow once again to bring those bones together as a mighty, mighty army.”
“The reason we are so excited about Elijah is because Elijah was able to confront things in society and to change a whole society back into following the Lord. We need this throughout the world, not just in America!!!”
Part 3: The Jezebel spirit
In talking about the spirit of Elijah, many times we say, “We are going to come against a spirit of Jezebel, and we are going to bind it and render it powerless.” But, how do you confront and deal with the Jezebel spirit?
The Clashing of Two Spirits
What the Lord started to show me is that there is a clashing of two major kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of satan. These two kingdoms are coming together in head-to-head combat. When we are coming against a Jezebel spirit, we are confronting a powerful spirit that's goal is to destroy the prophets and abort the newborn. If it cannot abort your “baby in the womb,” then it will try to abort our calling and destiny. It is a demonic spirit that cloaks, chokes out, strangles and destroys lives, destiny, calling and birthright.
In talking about the Elijah anointing, we know tha the was one who heard the voice of God. Are you able to legislate in theheavens? A Jezebel spirit is conquered by having a real relationship with Holy Spirit!
Heaven Kissing Earth with Power
In Acts 2, 120 people waited in the Upper Room. The wind, the fire, and the Holy Spirit came, and they all began to speak in other tongues. Was it just that they received 5-10 words in tongues? No! The government of Heaven broke in, and it birthed the church; it was a miracle of languages.
Peter's Power
Then, they ran out, and Peter moved with an authentic, apostolic anointing. When he preached the Word, the power of Heaven and the government of God was behind him, releasing a breaker anointing. 3,000people were saved! The anointing broke through and brought radical salvations and healings.
Elijah's Confrontation
When Elijah cried out, he started to confront the demonic spirits through the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, asking for the covenant of the Lord Jesus to be there. Literally, the heavens opened up and fire streamed down.
What God Wants from Us
The Lord wants to bring us to a place where we are not just locked into closed churches, but we are able to go outside the walls of the church and impact our society. He wants us to be able to move with a breaker anointing as carriers of resurrection life, seeing people saved, healed, and delivered with words of counsel and words of wisdom. We need to be able to legislate from the heavens.
Do You Really Know Holy Spirit?
In order to do this, we must have an intimate relationship with Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is not just tongues; Holy Spirit is not just a phenomenon of wind and fire. He is a person! When Jesus died and went to the right hand of the Father, Holy Spirit came to bring the Kingdom and the fire of the Lord to earth.
Elijah lived a life that moved in Kingdom power. He was a man, but when he spoke, God backed him up. Let me ask you, “Does God back you up, or do your words just dribble down your chin?”
Where Do You Stand?
Do you see any signs and wonders? Do you see anybody healed? Are people hungry for your wisdom and revelation because you hear from God? Do you have share intimacy with the Lord, and people come to you because you are His messenger?
Is your church so cloistered, so social, and so seeker-friendly that you don't have any cutting-edge wisdom? When you are not moving in revelation, you are unable to shift things in the Spirit over your families, neighbors or entire cities, and you are unable to impact your society for the Lord.
Who is Jezebel?
In talking about the spirit of Jezebel, you must understand that Jezebel is an international principality that devastates nations and multitudes of sons and daughters. It is a demonic power. It is not female or male, nor does it associate itself specifically with men or women -it is a spirit.
It is not just that Jezebel confronted Elijah, but this principality, this Jezebel spirit, confronted the God of Elijah. You see, there is a war going on right now, and the war is for our passion. The same power that comes against the passion and hearts of man today, also came against Elijah and God's people. We are dealing with passion versus passion and fire versus fire. What will grab the passions of Jezebel's captive hearts?
Prayer: Lord,
I long to move in Your wisdom and counsel. It is my desire to walk greatly in Your authority to dramatically transform my society. Teach me how to seek a deeper intimacy with You, Lord. Show me the areas in my life that can be changed. Place people on my heart whose passions have been taken captive by the enemy, and show me how to have governmentally affective prayer for them. Amen.
Part 4: The Confrontation at Mount Carmel
If you want to have the spirit of Elijah, then let's talk about Mount Carmel. Where is your Mount Carmel? Where is the place where the altar is torn down in your family?
You cry out that you want to be an Elijah, but how does this become reality for you? It is not a place you suddenly arrive at one day; it is a place where you must daily wrestle and work through the ups and downs, as you keep seeking the Lord with all of your heart. In the midst of our life, we have friends whose altars are torn down. They have been invaded by the Jezebel spirit; they have been invaded by demonic powers that have torn down the covenant relationship that God intends for them.
A Call to Holiness
How do you rebuild the altar? In part, you have to be a man or a woman that is clean before God. In other words, if you are going to confront people with their sexual perversion, pornography, or eye gates where they are constantly seeing violence and being infiltrated by the dark things of our society, then you must be clean in those areas yourself. How can you confront that in other people's lives, if it operates in your own life?
Do you have common ground with the enemy in any area of your life? You can have NO common ground with the enemy, you know! There needs to be a call to holiness. There needs to be something in you that presses into the face of Jesus, no … matter … what!
God's Search Light Is Needed
There needs to be something in you that asks, “Lord, where there are areas of darkness, where there is compromise, where there are broken areas from unforgiveness and bitterness or cynical attitudes, I want you to bring Your fire upon the altar of my life. Where the altar of my spirit is broken down, I want You to heal me up.”
Many walk in defeat because there are places in their lives where the enemy has legal access because of known sin(s), compromise, idolatry, disobedience, disloyalty or spiritual adultery.
2 Things are Needed
First of all, in being able to move with an Elijah anointing, you need to be able to say, “Ok Lord, here I am! There are areas that are broken down. Most of all, I need You as my Lord and Savior. Then, I'm asking You to start to reveal areas of brokenness and areas of compromise in my life.”
Secondly, you really need to start working out your salvation to get healed up and restored. As you start to heal, you will have mercy for those who are broken because you see your own brokenness. Then, you won't be so judgmental.
There is something in you that says, “No, I know what it is like to be broken, but I know a God who can heal me in the midst of my pain! Since He can heal me, and He can heal the altars and the areas of my own brokenness, then I know He can also heal others where they are hurting, where people have abused them and where they have been betrayed.”
You see, if you are healed from different forms of abuse – emotional and physical abuse, verbal abuse, and even religious abuse where you shut your heart down from God, then you will start to be healed in these same areas of violation. You will also start to receive living stones of God's promises, His destiny, and His calling rebuilt inside of your spirit.
Then you can cry out and say, “God, send fresh fire! I want to be a burning man. I want to be a burning woman. I want to be full of holy passion. I do not want be one with a shriveled up heart. I want to be one who is fully alive, fully passionate - not compromising with any perversion – but passionate with a clean heart, so I can fully love as You love!”
What I believe the Lord is saying is, “Why not respond to this call right now as you read this article? Let's make this a Mount Carmel; but first, let's look at your own heart.”
Part 5: Issues of the Heart
See, you cannot be saying to others, “Let's deal with your perversion, let's deal with your pornography on the Internet, let's deal with wife beating, or let's deal where there is abuse.” You cannot deal with that unless you first say, “Lord, show me where I have compromised.”
Maybe you come to church and you look all together, but then you get on the Internet and get into perversion? Or maybe you look at perverted movies in hotel rooms? Or perhaps language comes out of your mouth that just cuts and slices people because of your own issues of distrust and betrayal. You don't want to love people. Does this speak to you? The Lord wants to deal with who you are.
We are calling forth a revivalist anointing.
Preparations of the Heart
Where your heart has shriveled up and grown cold, He wants to rebuild the altars in your life. We are talking about passion versus passion; fire versus fire; judgment versus judgment. Yes, the war has increased because we are in the electronic age. We are constantly tempted through movies, computers, Internet, television and radio.
We are infiltrated with a lot of demonic perversion, adultery, and pornography, but the Lord is also raising up people in entrepreneurial areas of media, communication, TV, and film who can open up realms of the glory and His presence to radically impact people's hearts for the Lord.
So, right now, why don't you ask the Lord to prepare your heart! “Lord, where is there common ground in my life? Lord, where is there compromise in my life? Lord, I want to be one who can impact my society. I want to see city transformation. I want to move in the counsels of God. I want to see the reversal of evil laws. I want to see legislation from Heaven coming to earth.”
“So Lord, where there is compromise, I ask You, right now, to bring Your fire. Lord, start to enlarge my heart and show me where there is compromise. I just want to come before You. I want You to bring a cleansing and a refining fire so that I can be clean before You and radically hear Your voice.”
Desires of the Heart
“Lord, I want to move with power demonstrations of signs and wonders. I want to see people dramatically impacted, so impact me. I want to continue on that journey of enlarging, growing, becoming and being a radical voice that breaks outside the walls of the church and opens it for a powerful demonstration of Holy Spirit!”
It is time to deal with compromise in our own lives; dealing with sin where we need to repent; seeing areas where there needs to be a humility in us. Repentance and humility break the power of the enemy and that breaks the power of Jezebel in our lives!
Part 6: Giants in the Land
Many of us cry, “But Lord, I want to be like an Isaiah- I want to be able to see in the heavens. I want to be like an Elijah – I want to call down fire from Heaven. Or, what about Ezekiel or Daniel - I want to be able to see in the heavens. " But once again, we are talking about the eye gates. Are you sitting in X- or R-rated movies, crossing the line, and you know that the Lord is telling you to leave? What comes through your eye gate will imprint your spirit with darkness. You are not going to get out of it for free. Losing your $7 or $10 really is not worth getting demonically hit!
I remember sitting in a movie and I could literally see demons coming out of the screen! I could feel Holy Spirit next to me saying, “Are you going to leave?”
I know that if I don't leave, I will be up half the night repenting. You see, we need to be gatekeepers of what we allow in our spirit. Do we feel conviction in our heart? Or, is it a thing that we are caught with this social and cultural pressure that everything is cool?
Where are You in Your Every Day Life?
Do you have powerful prophetic words that can impact individuals that you meet? Suddenly you meet someone and God gives you information about their family, their husband, their wife, their kids, or their secret sins?
You are able to really move with an unction and an anointing in hearing the voice of God and bringing down heavy cargo from Heaven because you are not just a culturally cool Christian who goes to church, or maybe even goes to all the conferences (a conference junkie). Instead, you are one who really moves with power! You are one who moves with the unction of God behind you!
The Assaults of the Enemy
I tell you, there are dark satanic windows flooding our homes. In our secret places, are you a victim to pornography or sexual perversion? Are you into violence or verbal abuse? Do you tear down your loved ones? You know that you are crossing lines, but you say, “This is how it was with my father, my mother, my home.”
Jesus the Healer
You think it is alright? No! It's time to grow up and go seek your healing! Start to work through some deep repentance and deep healing. Go and pray with your friends. If you need more counseling or healing, and it is biblically based, go for it! Start to get healed up in deep areas of betrayal and abuse and unforgiveness.
You see, we are at a crossroads right now in our nation where everything has been shifted. Are you willing to be powerful yourself, with a solid foundation at the altar you are rebuilding in your own life, so that in that day, you will have unction?
If not, then what or who are the giants in your life? What are the things that you need to take down so that you can take the Promised Land and move powerfully in the things of the Spirit?
In our society, I think what is so hard is that many are dealing with thoughts of suicide. They say, “I just want to die. It hurts so bad, so just take me home!” A spirit of death is at our heart's door, as we are looking at aborted dreams and a lost destiny. BUT GOD … says there is hope for your future and He knows the plans He has for YOU!
Do you know what His plans are for your life?
Prayer: Lord,
help me to identify the giants in my life and dismantle them, so I can fully hear your voice and the plans you have for me. I want to move powerfully in the Spirit, but these things are keeping me from being all that you have created me to be. Thank You, Lord for giving me the strength to resist temptation and overcome the enemy. I love You, Lord and want to serve You!
Part 7: The Challenge
Today, we discuss the challenge that Elijah faced, just as we face today. Everybody is looking for something to believe in and something to live for. If you look at the Islamic terrorists, they had no fear in flying planes into buildings, knowing that they would die. They were willing to die for what they believed in. What are you willing to die for?
Martyrdom in America
We are coming to a crossroads where we must ask ourselves if we are willing to die for our faith! Yes, here in America this will be a reality! So how radical are we … really? Are we just living a lukewarm existence? 9-11 really was a wake-up call for our nation. What does it take to really wake us up so change happens? We were shaken to the core, but we've fallen asleep again! Does it take having our sons and daughters drafted to the front lines of many around the world so we really connect with reality?
Prepare! Prepare! Prepare!
This is a time to prepare for war. The Lord is raising up many nameless, faceless people who are praying and fasting, like Elijah, in hiddenness. We are in this place of preparation to be able to come with the weight and government of God behind us.
God's Giant Chessboard
I want to encourage you that many of you are not yet in place but that is because the Lord is moving everyone like a giant chessboard. He is moving the players. The chessboard looks like it's 100 miles deep and 100 miles wide, and it's very multi-dimensional. A lot of it has to do with people's choices. So, what is your choice?
Raising the Dead
Are you one who can say, “Just like Elijah laid on a dead teenager and called forth life, I also want to be one who can lie on the 'dead' teenagers- the ones who want to die - and they will live! I want to be able to speak life to them. I want them to live and speak life to the people they love.”
There needs to be a fresh cry in us that says, “Start to repair the altars in our lives and that covenantal promise of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Cry out for Elijah's Mount Carmel Victory in your life!
1 Kings 18:20- So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." 30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name." 32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trencharound the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, "Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood." 34 Then he said, "Do it a second time," and they did it a second time; and he said, "Do it a third time," and they did it a third time. 35 So the water ran all around the altar; andhe also filled the trench with water. 36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet camenear and said, "Oh LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice,and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell prostrate; and cried, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!"
God's Power is Astounding!
There really needs to be a fresh cry where we start to rebuild the altars of our own lives and others. We must start to cry out for supernatural power and unction in our lives. People will be astounded in seeing the demonized delivered, by seeing the broken and suffering humanity physically healed where they cry out! You will find people saying, “Hey, wait a minute! The God of the Bible really IS alive, and He really is here!”
The Fire of God
Elijah, the prophet, was a man who moved with a demonstration of power and fire. So let me ask you, “Is there any demonstration of power and fire in your lives? Is there any move of God in your churches?”
Or, do we want nice, neat prophecies without any of the fire because we don't want things messy! Are we dealing with social issues that are more a social gospel, a seeker-friendly kind of church, where everything is nice and neat? But, have we grieved Holy Spirit? Where is the fire? We should be more afraid of barrenness than fire, shouldn't we?
What about the Wild Fire in Meetings?
I believe that God is challenging us in areas that are dealing with intellectualism. Many times we are so afraid of the wild fire and people manifesting out in their flesh and soul that we shut down any fire at all. We are offended by the manifestations because we don't understand what God is doing! We don't understand what is happening when the presence of God comes, so we judge what is unfamiliar. If they are trembling and shaking, is that intercession and deep prayer? Or, are they going through deliverance? Or, are they shaking and trembling because they are going through a deep tenderizing and awakening of first love?
Often, the church is uncomfortable with any display of emotion in their meetings. They want people to come to church like clockwork, have a passionate worship service, and end with a 45 minute to 1 hour sermon. They don't want any trembling, shaking or any of the manifestations. They want a clean oxen stall!
Keys to Fighting the Jezebel spirit
Let me ask you, is there fire on the altar – not just in your own personal life - but is there fire on the altar of your churches? I believe that one of the ways you can fight the Jezebel spirit, the demonic spirit, is by having fire and the passion of God to backing you.
Have you shut down the Holy Spirit? Elijah moved with a power demonstration. It opened Heaven, and the fire of God came.
Seduced by Compromise
But what happens, many times, is that we get seduced with compromise. We might say, “Oh, hey wait! It is not sexual perversion. We are not sleeping with anyone; we are not into pornography; we are not into adultery … but are we into apathy? Are we so much into our comfort zone or our style? Are we compromising? Do we not want people to be offended? What about the fear of man? What are people going to think? Are we being controlling? Have we moved into a form of religion without the power?
Isn't that mostly what we have in the Western world? We all talk about the Bible, but the demonstration of the Word of God with people getting healed and radically delivered is another thing!
We don't want deliverances in our churches because it makes people uncomfortable, yet we should be celebrating because people who are terribly tormented are being set free! We don't want to see people screaming and writhing on the floor! What about the mentally disturbed? Do we think it's easier to lock them up and give them medication?
Do we really have the power to deliver people? Can Jesus heal? Can we bring healing to those who are suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and manic depression? Do we have a God who can really heal?
What about the physical healings that are needed? We have a God who can come against every disease known to man. Is this really the justice of the kingdom, coming against AIDS which is destroying many lives? Isn't there something in us that has this violent love that says, “Wait a minute, the God of the Bible healed many people! He moved in radical signs and wonders!”
What about Israel?
Do we have a heart for Israel? Will the Jews come only when there are signs and wonders and radical healings? There needs to be a cry inside of us that says, “Are we really walking out the Bible?” Or, is it just really a form of religion without the power? We proclaim, “I am saved, and I have been filled with the Holy Spirit!” But, have you seen one person saved in the last year? Are you moving with any kind of demonstration of radical salvations and healings?
Passionless Pew Sitters
Is it just that you have been saved and programmed? You have learned to sit in a church pew and sing your ten favorite songs while others do what you used to do. Maybe in your earlier years you went out on Friday night to the inner city? You don't get brownie points for going to the inner city, you know! Where is your world? Where do your feet walk? What is your arena of influence? In the 24-7 walk where your feet go, do you move with the power and demonstration of Elijah? Do you move with signs and wonders following you? You can!!!
Or, do you move in a seeker-friendly, diluted, compromised, fear-of-man kind of religion that no one wants, especially the world? Why would they come into our churches? Is it just another social club? How is your church different, so people can't wait to come and hate to leave?
How is the Bible, the Word of God, breaking out into society to heal tormented, broken people's lives? Is there any of kind of God-reality in your life?
Part 8: God Encounters the Darkness with Power
When they were filled with Holy Spirit, it says that Paul had 12 other people, and in two years time, they touched ALL of Asia Minor while moving in signs and wonders.
Ephesus was full of the witchcraft culture during biblical times and yet people were hungry and got saved!
The people of Ephesus were exposed to supernatural witchcraft and sorcery, and they were open in their spirits in the demonic realm. Because of that, it was easy to bring them to the cross with Jesus and into the supernatural realm.
Invading Our Comfort Zones
Today, many people move in half-hearted, contented and comfortable styles and avoid moving in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Some don't like the supernatural and almost hate it. Some don't want the Holy Spirit because it makes them feel uncomfortable.
We want people to speak in tongues a little bit, but kind of keep it cool and nice. Don't make people uncomfortable. Don't have people vomiting and screaming out, getting set free from demons, running around yelling, “I am healed! I am healed! I am out of the wheelchair.”
We need to be a people where there is a noise and a sound, because Jesus is walking in the house. We need to be able to move in and meet Jesus. He moved in a paradigm of signs and wonders. The unsaved could hardly wait to get to Him. They wanted what He had! Are people asking you if they can have what you have?
Denmark Speaks
Not long ago, I was in a huge church in Copenhagen, Denmark. I heard there was a Nigerian healing evangelist doing meetings in this church, so I wanted to go and see what God was doing in the land. He was sort of the talk of Copenhagen. In Denmark, only 1% of the people are saved. Yet, this minister was getting people to stay until 3 and 4 am because the Lord was healing the sick.
It was 10 pm at night when I heard about these meetings, after being in another city doing meetings myself. So we went down to this large church and there were probably 15,000 people there. They were totally engaged in the meeting and loving it!
When I looked at the crowd, they were mostly an unchurched group: business men and women, witches and warlocks, prostitutes, street people and people from every walk of life. Broken, hurting people were getting prayer for cancer, being confined to wheelchairs, and all kinds of deformities. The people were standing or sitting and waiting for hours to get prayer.
I ran into the pastor, and I said, “I love the people! How did you get these people here? I can tell that they are not a church crowd, how did you get them here?”
New Age Advertising
He said, “Well, Jill, we just advertised in all of the New Age papers. We advertised in all the secular papers about signs and wonders and healings. All these people come and they don't know the Lord and many of them end up accepting Him! We have over 800 people who have just signed up for the Alpha course. We will start to disciple them, but they just come because they want the power of the Gospel.”
Hiding in Church
He went on to say, “A lot of people who get hurt in the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches go into the seeker-friendly churches, which have more of a social gospel or the neat intellectual gospel, so they won't get hurt … and they don't want the emotionalism. You know many times there are great biblical teachings there, but there is no demonstration of the power of God. So there is the Word, but there is not much of the Spirit. They will go for their 45 minutes and want to get their kids home.”
The World Isn't Jaded by God's Power
The Denmark pastor concluded, “Those in the world do not know the Lord,” he continued, “and they are not jaded by the power of God. They have not been hurt by the move of Holy Spirit. They want a display of signs and wonders. We touch the unchurched people, and they keep running. So often we feel that if God starts to grip people radically, we are going to offend the unsaved. The reality is that we offend the church, the religious folks, the Pharisees; we offend the people who have a controlling spirit.”
What Will the Church Choose?
So if you do not have the power of Holy Spirit in your churches, then the altar of the church is barren. How do you keep the dragon from crawling up on the altar of your church and laying its eggs of religiousness, compromise, apathy and intellectualism?
How do you deal with that whole demonic anti-Christ spirit that invades your church? If you don't have the power of Holy Spirit and radical watchmen - people who move in the Word and the Spirit, and they are able to see deception and move with unction and power – then your altar and church will be barren.
I feel like the Lord is challenging gatekeepers at this hour. It is not only that there is the rebuilding of the altars in our lives. We need to rebuild the altars in our churches!
The Charismatic MovementBecause of what is happening, I've been asking the Lord, “Is the Charismatic Movement dead?” This movement was a mighty outpouring in the 1960's. We all have our prayer language, but we don't understand the government of Holy Spirit. I believe that in this decade, God wants to bring the government of God to back up His Word. He wants us to move with the spirit of Elijah.
The Power of Jesus in Society
That is the spirit that Jesus has, except that Jesus took it one step up from Elijah. He moved in more signs and wonders. There are more scriptures on Jesus' revival of radical signs and wonders than anywhere in the Word of God. There are more scriptures about Jesus' revival.
So the kingdom, the power of God, came to heal suffering, broken humanity by a God who loved them. It wasn't enough that they were just in the temple going over the scriptures day and night. We need to take our scriptures and actually have them in our very being so we can impact our society, impact hospitals, impact our governmental and political arenas.
Jesus moved in real life and went out into the multitudes. He moved in everyday life, touching, healing, speaking, and teaching. That is the Elijah anointing. That is the anointing Jesus had through the power of Holy Spirit.
Our Cry
There needs to be a fresh cry to the Lord in us, “We want Pentecost! We want to break open areas in our society! We want to bring healing, set the people free, and let God free their minds!”
Make this your cry, as it is mine.
Part 9: Apostles and the Government of God
I feel like the Lord is going to challenge Gatekeepers and Senior Pastors with one piercing question - do you have oil in your lampstands?
Do you just have the name of Jesus over your church but there are no demonstrations of the Bible nor any signs and wonders? You cannot say, “Hey, but I am an Apostle!” The apostles radically brought salvations to the feet of Jesus. If you see no one saved, you are not an apostle. If you are not moving in signs and wonders, you are not an apostle.
Just because you have moved in a church for 30-40 years doesn't mean that you have governmental weight, and it doesn't mean that you move as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. Governmental weight means that you have the goods; the goods are the Kingdom of God and the anointing.
What Confronts the Jezebel spirit
There needs to be a fresh cry in each one of our hearts that says, “Come, Holy Spirit, we want a fresh touch of Your presence. We want Pentecost. Lord, we want to have an Elijah anointing. We want you to rebuild the altars in our churches so there is unction and power and authority and government.” The government of God can confront that Jezebel demonic spirit of perversion and immorality and bring healing and restoration to multitudes!
The Challenge of Jesus
May I ask you something? What is your secret lifelike? Are you a double agent where you go to church worshipping and praying, yet you entertain yourself in dark movie theaters, polluting your eye gates with violence, witchcraft, sensuality, fantasy, or internet pornography or gambling. In other words, the Lord is challenging us that we can give no common ground to a demonic Jezebel spirit.
We really need to go before the Lord and say, “Lord, are there demonic strongholds in my life?” Before you have the authority to take things into society, you must deal with it in your own life first of all! Can you confront darkness if there is darkness in your members? You cannot.
Elijah was a revivalist
He confronted evil in his society with the power of Holy Spirit, bringing repentance and turning them back to first love. There needs to be a cry in you that returns back to first love. A fresh cry, not on the anointing you had during the last decade, but something that pushes the line that you want more of Him now. Something in you must be hungrier and more desperate than ever before! There must be a cry in you that says, “Lord, I want to know you more, no matter what is takes.”
Two Kinds of Spiritual Warfare
God wants to kill our passions, perversions, pornography, fantasies, manipulation and addictions to alcohol and drugs!! We are in a communication age of television and movies and what we are dealing with are two kinds ofs piritual warfare.
One kind of warfare involves our polluted eye gates. What we see has opened us into that whole seductive realm in the spirit that is unholy and unclean.
Another kind of warfare involves the way Jezebel takes over, through a religious, controlling spirit that cloaks itself in the name of righteousness.It says, “Oh, this is wisdom!” In the name of wisdom, we shut down the move of God in our churches.
The Fire of Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit wants to come in and challenge and shake everything that can be shaken. He comes in and shakes government, society, churches, and our lives. Holy Spirit brings in a convicting power and it needs to go into the sanctuary and into the hidden back rooms.
Do you feel the tangible presence of Holy Spirit in your life? Are you still on fire with this hunger inside of you that you want more of Him, no matter what? Is the fire bigger and stronger than when you were first filled with Holy Spirit?
Which Do You Want?
Or are you dealing with respectability versus the anointing? Have you been seduced by intellectualism or elitism? Has the political arena of your church or the fear of man put you in a box? Are you one of the leaders who say, “I want Holy Spirit to bring balance?” But is that balance at the cost of no salvations, no deliverances, no healings, no signs and wonders That is a heresy! That is not the Gospel! That is not balance! Holy Spirit came in, broke open ground, and took territory to bring radical healings, salvations and deliverances.
Are we afraid of emotionalism? Do we want everything to be nice and neat? Jesus was birthed in a manger and birthing is messy. Is there really no room in the inn for Jesus to come in? Do we really want Jesus? Even as a baby, Jesus was going to come in and shake things!
Do we want nice, neat prophecies about fire? Do we hear enough from Heaven where we are able to bring in words that expose darkness and pride but also challenge people that he is God? He brings the spirit of adoption. He is a strategist and has destiny, calling and birthright! Can we call people into their birthright and destiny?
Where Does the Church Stand?
Is there a cry in us that we want to see people really run for Jesus and move in the radical things for God? In your churches, is there so much fire on the altar that you hear the sounds of weeping and intercession? Do you actually cry and weep for your family and the ones who are lost? Do you weep over your city and church? Or do we have a form of prayer without fire and intellectual prayer? Or do you have people really interceding and weeping and crying out to God?
Or is there so much fire on the altars of our spirits that we can really stand in the gap for others who are broken and hurting? There needs to be that cry where we are really willing to birth revival.
A Reality Check for AmericaOur cities and nations are on the brink of disaster. They are controlled by demonic principalities. We desperately need revival. We desperately need our cities to be transformed. We need laws to be changed. We need to see reversals.
Right now we are in a place where we could verily easy see shortages: food, oil, gas, finances. We are looking at limited nuclear war here in America. Can you hear the voice of God? Are you moving with a cutting edge revelation? When we are moving in a time of great shaking and suddenly things are upon our society, it is too late to say, “Oh! I wonder if I am able to hear God's voice.”
We are in war.
If your son or daughter were suddenly sent to the warfront, do you know for certain that they can they hear the voice of God for themselves? Do they know what city or village to walk in and where the land mines are? Do they know how to follow God? There needs to be that fresh cry that says, “Lord, we really want to hear your voice.”
We are talking about preparation for war. We are talking about moving in radical signs and wonders. We are talking about a demonstration of the Bible - a demonstration that's moving outside of our churches, social clubs, outside of our religious institutions and being able to really impact our society! We are in this season of war – but are we prepared? Our double-portions sons and daughters must be prepared for this!
Prayer: So Lord, right now, I just pray that You will put a hunger in people for You so they realize that they need to hear the voice of God. Give them revelation that the Jezebel spirit is an evil governmental principality and that it is confronted with the power of God, which is governmental.
We understand we are talking about two governmental powers clashing. Come, Holy Spirit. Where we have grieved You and where we don't want You to be radical, we want to release You to break outside the walls of our culture and our religious institution. We want You to open up the heavens so that You can bring radical visitations.
As we are dealing with the media and communications, we pray that You will give us the radical ideas of the entrepreneurs. Lord, start to raise up the Joseph Company. Raise up men and women who are like a dream team - ones who move in hearing the voice of God and putting forth world trends.”
Lord, we do pray that where we have been seduced and half-hearted and where we have been too comfortable, that You would start to break off apathy. Break off religiousness. And Lord, start to awaken our hearts.
|
| |
|
