JDM Prophetic Ministries
Perceiving Heaven's Frequency
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This week's topic (Feb 8-12): The Voice of the Lord
Three Prophetic Insights for 2010
A Year to Finally Become Balanced Of all the neat things God intends to do this year, near the top of His burden list is accomplishing balance in His people. All who walk consistently with the Lord this year will see significant moderation tempering out-of-balance areas of their life. Living and behaving in extremes has injured us in serious ways till now. For many, the bleeding will finally stop this year. A Year to Finally Live a Sabbath a Life Though many people, situations, and projects will court our attention this year, there is one we must attend to immediately--the voice of the Lord of the Sabbath. This voice is renewing an ancient call, a call to live a Sabbath life. The Sabbath Spirit is turning on His lamps, inviting us to come sit awhile and be illumined in Sabbath ways...and you will find rest for your souls (Mt 11:29). A Year to Finally Be Released from Prison The Lord has pressed three scriptures on me pertaining to this. Psalm 68:6 (NASB): He leads out the prisoners into prosperity. Psalm 146:7 (NIV): The Lord sets prisoners free. Job 36:16 (NIV): He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.
Balance
Balance is the equal distribution of weight, with no one part or side being too pronounced or too deficient. Balance is so fundamental that God designed the human body with two balancing sides as an illustration: two hemispheres of the brain, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two lungs, two hands, two arms, two legs, two feet, two, two, two. It couldn't be more obvious.
Other realities also illustrate the primacy of balance. Romance and reproduction: male and female. Ministry: Jesus sent the evangelists two by two. Biblical truth: the Old Testament and the New Testament. Direction: up and down, left and right. Human beings: inner man and outer man. God Himself: unique, yet relational, holy, yet merciful.
When we live and behave in extremes, we defy a very basic divine institution--balance. Ecclesiastes 7:18 (NIV): It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes.
Become Balanced!
Here are a few key ways I've noticed the Spirit intensifying to balance out His people this year:
Being Spirit-filled and truth-based simultaneously Some Christians polarize to charismania, while others to legalistic orthodoxy. The Spirit now intensifies to make many Spirit-filled, yet truth-based...truth-based, yet Spirit-filled.
Being emotional and intelligent simultaneously Some Christians are overly emotional and unstable, while others are overly brainy and unfeeling. The Spirit now intensifies to make some more emotional, some smarter, everyone more balanced.
Being eaters for pleasure and eaters for health simultaneously Some Christians eat for pleasure and comfort, while others eat deprivationally and legalistically. The Spirit now intensifies to remove both gluttony and deprivationism from the eating habits of many. (NOTE: This would naturally exclude those in the fitness industry, i.e. bodybuilders, fitness models, pro athletes, etc., where meticulous eating habits are critical for success.)
Being true to our gender and apt in both gender traits simultaneously Some Christians are hypermasculine (like Saul or Jezebel), while others are hyperfeminine (like Ahab or the weak-willed women of 2Timothy 3:6). The Spirit now intensifies to create well-rounded and comprehensive Christian men and women.
Being merciful and discerning simultaneously Some Christians are overly merciful pushovers, while others are overly judicious and suspicious. The Spirit now intensifies to join both mercy and discernment into a healthy coexistence.
Being honest and compassionate simultaneously Some Christians are brutally honest, while others are appeasing. The Spirit now intensifies to accomplish that classic ideal in many, "speaking the truth in love" (Eph 4:15).
Being generous and prudent simultaneously Some Christians are loose and indiscreet with their resources, while others are stingy. The Spirit now intensifies to unify both generosity and prudence in many.
Being prosperity-minded and modest simultaneously Some Christians are prosperity-obsessed, while others idealize/spiritualize barely enough, even poverty. The Spirit now intensifies to rid many of materialism and opulence, and many of financial mediocrity and poverty.
Though the Spirit will be doing more than just these, this is where I have seen Him flaring up as we move into 2010. We can no longer negotiate with our extremes. Become balanced!
Our great Jehovah has never lied, is not lying, and will never lie (Deu 32:4, 1Sam 15:29, Ro 3:4, Heb 6:18). His promises of "perfect peace" still remain (Isa 26:3, Heb 4:9), though it is possible, even as a born-again Christian, to never experience them (Heb 4:1,11). Our wanting emotional-mental life can only be attributed to our own misunderstanding or misapplication of God's restorative ways. Our King has not failed our hearts. His Word has not failed our hearts. Psalm 73:26: My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
This year the Holy Spirit is illuminating and renewing an ancient call to His people. A call to rest, peace, and contentment. A call to live a Sabbath life, everyday, in every way. If you've longed to enter a Sabbath-rest (Heb 4:1,9), consistently experience perfect peace that surpasses all understanding (Isa 26:3, Php 4:7), and enjoy deep contentment in any circumstance of life (v11,12), this is the year to call on and commune with the Sabbath side of God. He is intensifying His presence to Sabbatize our life completely. Go to my home page ( www.juniordesouza.com ) for the first three Sabbath teachings.
This year the Lord intends to release many from significant prisons they are confined in. He has shown me two types in particular (but not exhaustive).
Literal prisons Many who are incarcerated, justly and unjustly, will be surprised by another chance at life in society. This is not the typical your-sentence-is-up release from prison. God will be intervening dramatically in cases, judges, juries, and legal systems to release certain prisoners.
We often see only crimes committed (like Moses' murder of the Egyptian, or Saul's murder of Christians, or Nebuchadnezzar's evil against the Hebrews), but God sees much more. This does not mean He gives people a "pass" on wrongs committed. Of course not, He is the God of justice (Job 8:3, 34:11,12, Ps 45:6, Isa 30:18). Realize though, God can mete out perfect justice in a variety of ways, not all of which include incarceration. Justice is multidimensional, as is God's execution of it. Above all, He seeks to redeem a criminal life, and in so doing, prevent many more from ever beginning.
Relational/Social prisons Many who are trapped in imprisoning relationships and social situations will see release. The Lord has highlighted young Joash, how he was "imprisoned" and confined to the temple for six years while Athaliah ruled Judah (2Chr 22:10-ch23). In the seventh year, however, Jehoiada staged his revolt, brought Joash out of hiding, and coronated him openly as king. He was released from his prison.
The Lord has also highlighted Abigail's imprisonment to her wicked husband Nabal. She remained faithful and respectful to the end, and eventually God struck him dead (1Sam 25). She was released from her prison and became the wife of David.
Why is the Lord so touched with compassion for prisoners? Because He Himself was a prisoner when He incarnated to accomplish our redemption. The God who dwelt in parameter-free omnipresence and omnipotence chose to confine Himself to a human body, to a three-dimensional world of time, space, and matter, to a restricted existence in almost every way. He knows the depressing frustrations of prisons and prison situations. He really can relate, and He will let it be known this year to many.
Generational Mandates
Noah's generation was to preserve a remnant from the Flood and begin a new, post-Diluvian world (Gen 7:1). David's generation was to conquer the Gentile world militarily, establish Israel as the head of nations, and through the spoils amass wealth to finance the temple's construction in the next generation. Solomon generation was to foster peace with the previously conquered world, create international alliances that would further bless Israel, and construct a magnificent temple that would attract even Gentiles. Peter's generation was to birth the church and inaugurate the New Covenant administration. Martin Luther's generation was to exodus the church out of Romanized Christianity and return it to its basic, biblical foundation.
All of our Christianizing is worthless, a mockery of Christ, if we marginalize the desperate meaning of it all: Jesus came to seek and save what was lost (Lk 19:10). If our Christian stuff is not saving lost sinners racing to a very real lake of fire, we have merchandised holy things for common gain. Woe to us! Mandate #1 for this generation: marginalize the "Christian clutter", recentralize the pure gospel of salvation that can save sinners still under the wrath of a holy God.
Luke 9:23: Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Philippians 3:7,8: But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
Though self-death be true, Scripture equally celebrates God's will as good, pleasing, and perfect (Ro 12:2), a delightful inheritance (Ps 16:6), a Father joyfully giving good gifts to His children (Mt 7:11), a God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment (1Ti 6:17). However, we can never feast on this promised blessedness until we have first lost ourselves to find Him, first died to our reality to be resurrected in His (Mt 10:39). In doing so, God often returns those very things back to us that we have faithfully sacrificed to Him. On the return though, we are matured with new intentions to use that thing for His glory and purpose.
The civil war continues to this very day. It continues in websites, blogs, YouTube uploads, articles, books, sermons, denominational fortresses, parking lot arguments, church splits, bitter feelings, and on and on. On one side we have the "Spirit" Christians. They emphasize the mystical side of Christian spirituality, often using mystical rhetoric along the lines of spiritual gifts, revelations, power, miracles, manifestations, experiences, encounters, visions, and so on. These Christians champion the Spirit's active and vocal presence.
On the other side we have the "Truth" Christians. They emphasize the intellectual side of Christian spirituality, often using intellectual rhetoric along the lines of orthodoxy (in a positive sense), doctrine, teaching, education, study, counseling, Christian duty, practical service, and so on. They champion Scripture's authority and sufficiency.
In the middle are the spiritually keen who have discerned the contest, and have concluded, wisely, that a child of God must come forth with both. Ecclesiastes 7:18: It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes. Jesus, the author of the Spirit-Truth paradigm, said true worship only happens when a person approaches the Father with both. John 4:23,24 is one of the most important statements Jesus ever made, one of the most important passages in all of Scripture. Every Christian and Christian group is situated somewhere on this Spirit-Truth spectrum.
Admitted, it is a daunting mandate, but one we can fulfill with His never-failing grace and a heavenly amount of humility. Our generation is charged with the task of ending this civil war once and for all, and reunite Spirit and Truth into that remarkable, first-century balance.
While some Christian leaders are buying their fourth, two million dollar house, some under their care can't even pay their medical bill. While some churches are fundraising to build their next ecclesiastical Eiffel Tower, some of their very members are sleeping on a cold floor with an empty fridge. Tell me brothers and sisters, how can we bask in our unnecessary opulence when our own people are suffering lack? Which is more important, lives that are magnificent or buildings that are magnificent? How about selling that $10,000 Rolex and giving the money to the single mother raising three kids who barely has a working car to get to work! We should be horrified by the opulence, greed, and materialism that has infected parts of Christianity.
When the great apostle Paul met the great apostle Peter and the others for the first time, did they tell him to squeeze every drachma and denarius out of God's flock, buy three or four beach houses on the Mediterranean next to Ceasar, three or four luxury Roman ships for his ministry team, and a fleet of fifty of Rome's finest horses for ground transportation? Here's what Peter said, Galatians 2:10: All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. What has happened to us I cry.
Is it a sin to have ministerial facilities? Of course not. Is it a sin to have nice things in moderation? Not at all. As long as primary New Testament financial obligations are met first. In the majority of cases I have witnessed, a few bucks are thrown at the poor while the multi-million dollar building campaign goes on. An occasional check is sent to an orphanage somewhere in Romania while more and more luxuries are accumulated almost indiscriminately. Saints, our generation is mandated by Heaven to remove this materialistic curse from God's people and return to the biblical operations of prioritizing, educating, and rescuing our poor.
Why have we venerated the church building as a Christian temple, pedestaled with Mosaic terminology like "the sanctuary" and "the altar" and "the house of the Lord"? Because it is easier to manage and control. It makes Christian consolidarity structural, associated with the building, geographical, associated with a specific location, and clerical, associated with a priest-like pastor who is perceived as the high priest of the building (some pastors even live with the building, in parsonages or apartments on site).
When a congregation meets often in home groups, true spiritual consolidarity becomes critical. The consolidarity is intangible, invisible, and cannot be faked. More leaders are needed to facilitate and shepherd, making leadership development essential, not optional. With house churches, the structural hangup is minimized by the multiplicity of structures (houses), the geographical hangup is minimized by the multiplicity of sites (various neighborhoods), and the clerical hangup is minimized by the multiplicity of shepherds.
Once again, is it wrong to have a church building or ministerial facility? No; let's not go beyond Scripture. It is our generational mandate, though, to decentralize church life away from the "Christian temple", taking kingdom realities to the setting where they are needed most--the home.
If the human stewards of a divine move do not fully embrace and enforce this intention, sadly, the move eventually dissipates. God then schedules another move, in another season, with the same intention. This cycle will repeat itself until the move has been successfully integrated into the true, cross-denominational church, and a new level of corporate maturity has been reached. For example, the Protestant Reformation brought about a tremendous move of the Spirit concerning salvation by grace through faith alone. We have not seen any more significant moves along these lines because the corporate church, for the most part, is established and mature in this area.
The Spirit says, "Come closer."
The Spirit says, "Come closer." "Come closer to hear it. The answer you seek has already been whispered. Have I not said to draw near? Would you approach me in vain? Come closer. As surely as troubled waters are stirred before me, I see you restless in my sanctuary. Do not strive in vain to hear my words. Does a young child labor to hear his father's voice? Does he not speak even before he is heard? "Observe and consider faithful ones. I am skilled in whispering, but are you skilled in coming close? I am a craftsman in preparing your answers, but are you a craftsman in finding them? Will you learn the arts of the Most High? Only come closer. Do I have pleasure in closed ears? Am I not the One who fashions ears that hear? I will heal the deafness of my people. I will remove from them the spirit of dizziness that they might understand my thoughts plainly and walk steadfastly with assurance. "Now then, hear the word from my mouth concerning the prayers and tears you have poured out before me: be still and come closer. My whispers have already left my lips, yes, long before you washed my altar with your tears. My wind around you is filled with my words, the cloud above you is heavy with my replies, but I call you closer to hear it. Wean your soul before my face and your ears will pop open to hear! Is your accusation against me and my tongue? Is it my mouth that relents from uttering? Did not David my servant draw near with an instrument of praise, crying aloud the wonders of his God? |
The Lord says, "I know." "Who has ever counseled me or showed me knowledge? Show me a man to teach me the pathways of wisdom! Surely you can find him! Is any secret hidden from me? Can any insight prevail against me? Who is clever enough to oppose me? Set him before my face! How long will you be dull? When will you believe that I know? My hand settles upon you to be still and also know. "I know how to whisper, and I know how to speak with the voice of many rushing waters. I know where to touch you, and I know where to pass over. I know when to embrace you, and I know when to only stand beside you. I know when to convince you, and I know what to leave obscure. I know how to hasten time and perform my word for you, and I know how delay it and form my handiwork in you. I know what I am forming in you, and I know the intentions of my Spirit. I know how long until my handiwork is complete, I know where you need to be, yes, I know who I will use. Understand just ones, I am the One who knows, who knew, and who always will know. "I know all the roads and pathways you look to with a wandering eye. I know the road to relationships you desire and I know the pathway to your pleasure. I know the road that leads to green pastures and I know the pathway to mountains that drip with oil. I know the road to hidden riches buried in the sand and I know the pathway to silver and gold carefully concealed in enemy basements. Are my feet not calloused from walking these roads? You may seek them, but I know them. |
The Lord says, "Out of nothing at all." "But now I hear you say, 'How Lord? How will you make a way for me, my hope has dried up and I am only a withered branch?' "I will perform my good promise toward you out of nothing at all. At that time you will laugh in my tabernacle saying, 'Where did this blessing come from? It came from nothing at all!' See, your branch will come alive. I will nourish your roots in a time of rain, and I will command the earth beneath you to drink the abundant showers I send. Again your roots will be strong and blossoms will appear on your tree. Your leaf will flourish once again and you will rejoice in a lively and fruitful branch. At that time you will be called Strong Branch, one the Lord has revived by his own hand. You will rejoice loudly in the hearing of those around you saying, 'I was withered and fallen, but the Lord helped me. He watered me in a time of rain and I was made strong out of nothing at all.' |
The Lord says, "Will I not send a boat?" "I have been watching you. The savor of your thank offerings has turned my face to look upon you. You need me to look upon you because I have determined to win your life. I know what you need, I know what lacks and I know how to make it right if you only rest your head on my breast. "Can I introduce you to my way? Can I show you the other side of life you have not been seeing? I will show you where it is and I will show you how to get there, but you have overlooked my boat. Time and times over I have sent a boat to carry you to the other side of life, but you turned away because my boat looked strange and undesirable. Will you know my boat this time? Every time you miss my boat you multiply your hardships. Am I not the merciful One? Will I not send a boat until you see me in it? "Should I not have good intentions for you as a father? My gospel is good news for every side of your life, beginning with the saving of your soul. I approached you for a good and expected end, offering my will that is good and pleasing. Search now, search from the book of the Lord, is your inheritance not delightful? Should your boundary lines not fall in pleasant places? "But now you are cast down because of the sins of others. Am I too small for this? Watch my handiwork and see how I build your future upon the sins of your brethren. Stand and be amazed as the iniquity of your neighbor becomes your first sign of strength. You who are cast down, you whom they call Destitute and Forsaken, I have known your pain. I see the shame that is hindering your every step, and I have sworn by myself that I will cut down the load that is upon your shoulder." |