Archive for the ‘Prophetic’ Category

By this all will know that you are My disciples……

Posted: April 19, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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“By this it is made clear who take their nature from God and are His children and who take their nature from the devil and are his children: no one who does not practice righteousness [who does not conform to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action] is of God; neither is anyone who does not love his brother (his fellow [i]believer in Christ).For this is the message (the announcement) which you have heard from the first, that we should love one another,”. ( 1 John 3:10-11)

I spend the past several days recuperating from surgery yet it has been several days of basking in the love of the Father. He took me a journey back thru the past 10 years of the life I have lived and showed me where love was lacking – not in a condemning way but in a loving way as He said “See how love could have brought My light into the darkened times.

Back to when I first got ordained when I allowed the spirit of religion to come in an sit me on the horse of un-righteous judgment, up to the very spot where His Love broke thru in my heart causing me to for once start seeing people thru the eyes of mercy and grace even as He who is above all see’s. This was such a powerful moment as I felt the weight of His Love flow upon me and totally captured my surroundings.

He also pointed out the wrath of His love, as during this time hell had risen up in an attempt to derail His destiny for my life. Some may say, how can someone put wrath in the same line with love. Take for example the Love of God towards His creation – it was in a moment of wrath that He went to the cross, birthed out of love. Righteous wrath towards the works of Hell that had so un-prejudicially distorted His creation from the image of Himself, that imagine of holiness and beauty. You see the wrath of God is that which is a Holy Righteous kindled fire against sin and all that is unholy, bound and woven in darkness.

This was such a revelation to me that it began to crush me, the fleshly side of me that had incorrectly judged God’s wrath as something awful birthed in the throngs’ of punishment, when in reality it is something that destroys evil and restores life. It is this nature of wrath that the Father desires for His children to take hold of – that we would become so enraged with the injustice of sin and its hold in our own lives and that of the children of God as well as those that are lost that we, would march forth with the power and authority of Heaven and enter into a battle spiritual warfare to loose Hell’s grip on these individuals. Not allowing our anger to be miss guided toward the lost and blind, towards the individual that it has imprisoned, rather against the root, the very nature of Hell itself.

As the Lord took me thru these years I saw moments of His wrath against Hell, where His Word in all it’s majesty flew out of His throne room intercepted and destroyed the works of Hell that had come against my life – it was like a mighty river that rushed toward false words, words of deception as it totally washed away Hells power and influence. Yet in its wake it remained upon me – Here He said, “What you are seeing is My Grace upon your life, that I sent forth to rescue and empower you to stand firm”.

He even took me back through some religious establishments which I had been thru and as I went back to these times I saw what appeared to be a person, who kept covering and uncovering my ears. And it was as though I heard “This was My mercy overshadowing you – for in these places you heard both truth and deception – My mercy blocked your spiritual ears from receiving what was false and they we allowed to remain open to receive that which was truth”. I was so taking back by this and then a looked at what appeared to be a Bible yet on its cover was written the word “Mercy”. Then I understood, that by keeping myself in His Word, His Word became a shield of mercy which weighed out the darkness from the light”.

In my mind I was thinking “I thought these places were houses of the Lord and then I saw them as they were in the Spirit, like that of half lighted house, the Light of His Word did light them at times, but then the darkness of the world would come in and snuff out the light.

I honestly didn’t fully understand the battle between the two, as I believed that the Light over powers the darkness, thus the Light should prevail in these places, then I heard, “because of My love for My Bride, in Mercy I continue to send forth My Grace, the hearts of men grasp it for a moment, yet like that of stony ground the wiles of the carnal heart take control and distort My truth. Yet in My Mercy I shall continue to send forth My Grace for a season, that they who earnestly search for truth might grasp hold of her and not let go”.

Then I spent a time reflecting on the faces of those whom I had known over the past 10 years, most of these people I had forgotten about. Yet as I saw each one of them I noticed many of them were holding a cup and each cup was empty. When I asked what the cup was I heard, this represents their spirit, and each one was empty, each one needing to be filled up with My life, My presence, My love in truth.

These spiritual cups represented those who inwardly thirsted for My love, even though they may not have known what the thirst they felt was and you passed by each one, having been focused on your own needs you failed to see theirs. This caused my heart to sink for I had fooled myself during many of these years believing I desired to help people, yet now I saw what it was, a self righteous spirit had taking root in my life and blinded me to my own selfish agenda.

After this time, though only a few moments, it felt like hours, I went from seeing those faces to many faces sitting in a large crowd of people and I heard “My people flock to see their spiritual thirst filled each week, running into buildings, yet they leave empty and unsatisfied – Now look closely that you may see.

As I looked closely, I noticed that in the opposite hand from the empty cup, was a cup that was also empty in almost every hand, yet not in everyone for a number of them were filled and over-flowing. Then I heard “ My Spirit has poured into these peoples lives an overflowing supply –yet they are blinded to this truth and they themselves remain athirst for one can never sip from this cup unless they are filling another. Yet there are some who upon filling the cups of others with what I have poured into them find that My River flows forth and their own cups are filled, it is in this place of selfless love that they shall experience no lack, when they begin to walk in the same direction of My River’s current..

Then I was beginning to understand, people had flocked to what they thought was their supply, those things made by human hands and in the process of searching out what man had made, they missed the reservoir of God’s supply which He has purposely hidden in His Church – a Spiritual Body made up and fit together perfectly according to His design. A design, which when man and hell has attempted to re-create it is found void of Life, a spiritual desert. Yet when this Spiritual Body, this family of God walks in its truth, seeking and receiving its very breath from the Creator – it is vibrant, alive and fully able to reproduce.

And thru this whole process I continually saw the word LOVE. That it is His love which created everything, His love which was poured out to redeem everything and it is His Love which is the life food of His Bride, without it its members will shrivel up and die.

Yet when operating in, and completely and radically deposed of all self desire, it is alive, producing life and it expansion can not be prevented for it is like a Mighty River, flowing forth, Cities can not stop it, Nations can not stop. Not even the mountains reaching up to the skies can slow down its flow. For the dam of His River of Love was opened upon the cross and though the generations since that time have thought it had slowed down, it is a Spiritual River which has gone under, deep to where it is not seen by the natural eye.

There have been those in each one of these generations who have seen it, swam in it, lived and drank from it. For when a child of God sees this River with their Spiritual eye they are opened to the revelation of its power, they see the direction of its current. One need but look at the witnesses through past generations to see that even though it appeared and still appears in a sense to be running under ground, it is an awesome splendor weakening the polluted religious soil of this world and continues to be eroding away everything that has attempted to prevent its flow.

I feel like a light has come into my life that will never allow me to remain the same and it is my prayer that the Father will give me the words to open the eyes of those who have yet to see this River of Love that flows from the Throne of His Heaven. It is this River of life, this sustaining love that is written about in every book of the Bible.

When one but receives just one drop from it their lives begin to melt under its power – the wounds of the heart and spirit are healed. It is in this River of love that one sees the true reflection of who they are in Christ and though one is immediately aware that their thirst is being filled, they then at the same time develop a hunger to share it with others. They see the lost and thirsty about them and an urgency to fill their cup overwhelms them.

For even looking about, those who have drank from this River of love sees the reflection of others as they are seen through the eyes of He who has created them and longs to become intimate with them as their Father and they as to Him as His children. I believe this is the light of which John is speaking of here, for one who stands in the light of His love, he who stand having drank from the River of His love becomes infected, as though they are possessed with an overwhelming desire to love even as He has loved, they come into the full knowledge that we are to be His love here on earth.

For once you drink from this River of love, the pure love of God, you like John will be able to proclaim “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” And with this I pray that you do now drink from His cup of love my brothers and sister for His Word declares:

We know that we have passed over out of death into Life by the fact that we love the brethren (our fellow Christians). He who does not love abides (remains, is [j]held and kept continually) in [spiritual] death.. ( 1 John 3:14)

Let us walk in the obedience of our Lords doctrine:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

I highest rank is that of servant,
Russ Welch

FORGIVENESS & BEYOND

Posted: April 17, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Parents, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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Our source of forgiveness is Jesus. If He had not forgiven us, we would not have the potential to forgive. We have the potential to forgive any and all wrongs no matter how severe or how terrible. We must, for our own good, choose from the heart to forgive. It is a choice, an act of the will, which we can choose over our feelings. Forgiving is a decision. We make the decision to forgive or not to forgive. Making no decision is actually a decision to remain in unforgiveness.

Not only must we forgive every person, but we must also forgive ourselves for anything that we have done to hurt others or ourselves. We must also forgive God for anytime that we feel that He let us down. We also may need to forgive organizations or institutions, as we would a person. The tormentors do not care who or what the unforgiveness is against because any unforgiveness gives them the license to do their deadly, painful work.

Matthew 18: 21-35: Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’

“Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

Matthew 6: 9-15: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Mark 11:22-26: So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea’, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

We may not feel like forgiving. On the contrary, our flesh may be screaming for vengeance. In the heat of the situation, everything in us may desire to do great harm to the offender. Our natural, fleshly drive to destroy the offending person is there for our protection in the natural world. If an offender is attempting to rape or murder my child, I will stop at nothing to prevent that from happening. The fatherly rage that would cause me to do great harm to the offender to stop or prevent the attack is natural. The problem develops after the offense is committed and my rage can do nothing to stop or prevent it. That natural desire now becomes a desire to become like God and do His work by taking vengeance on the offender.

Hebrews 10: 30-31: For we know Him Who said, “Vengeance is Mine: I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

God wants to convert the pain of the offense into love–that wonderful, peaceful “love-flow” of God Himself moving upon our heart. The more painful the offense, the sweeter the love will be that results from the act of forgiveness. Personally, I am not sure we can ever really know the overwhelming, pure, sweet love of God apart from experiencing deep pain and the beautiful love that forgiving produces.

The choice is ours. Because Jesus forgave us while we were yet sinners, we have the potential, by His power, to forgive. Are you ready to be set free from the torment of unforgiveness and forgive no matter what? Jesus said, “Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him”. When you are ready to make the decision to forgive, pray something like the following prayer from your heart.

I repent of all unforgiveness in my life. In the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as an act of my will, I choose to forgive from my heart anyone and everyone who has ever hurt me or harmed me in any way, in my entire life. I specifically choose to forgive _____________, __________, and _________.

I release them in Jesus’ name. I say it is all right if they never make it right. I hold nothing against them, and, in the name of Jesus, I ask You, Father, to bless them, to meet their needs in all areas of their lives.

Father, I forgive myself for all I have done to hurt or harm myself and others; and, Father, I forgive You for any time I felt that You let me down. I say that You are good, God, and I trust You with my life. Father, I thank You that I am forgiven and that I have forgiven.

In the name of Jesus, I command all powers of darkness, you may never again use any of this unforgiveness to bring torment or stress of any form into my life.

Father, I thank You that I have forgiven and that I am forgiven. Thank You Father, in the name of Jesus.

HEALING THE HEART BEYOND FORGIVING

Painful experiences of our lives are locked into the permanent memory section of our minds. Painful memories, whether conscious or subconscious, have affected our spirit and may have wounded it. These painful memories may also have crushed our will and shattered our emotions. These negative, painful experiences stored in our heart cause us to see and understand life according to our experiences. They serve to control us by affecting our behavior. We are bound into negative patterns by the stored pains of the past. These detrimental patterns must be changed for us to walk in kingdom freedom.

The ministry of Christ Jesus includes healing the brokenhearted. God has provided all that we need in Jesus to heal our wounded spirit and soul. We need only to appropriate the ministry of Jesus to heal our broken heart and to be set free from the bondage of our wounds. When negative experiences stored in our memory are healed, they will no longer cause bitterness to return.

Psalm 25: 17-19: The troubles of my heart have enlarged; Oh, bring me out of my distresses! Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins. Consider my enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.

Psalm 147: 9-3: The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Isaiah 6l: 1-4: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.”

Luke 4:18-1 9a: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed (bruised), to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Next, the heavy hammer smashes the windshield and windows. The car windows are like our emotions; the blows of stressful experiences shatter them. Finally, the big hammer begins to repeatedly smash into the motor, until that which makes the car go is destroyed; just like the repeated blows of negative wounding experiences crush our will. Our inner man becomes a battered and shattered wreck with no power or motivation to drive down the road of life.

cover our dents and broken parts. We must also defend ourselves against any more painful blows; therefore, we often defend ourselves by attacking others.

Not only can our past wounds cause us to have a poor self-image, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, and lack of motivation, they can also cause unreasonable fear that cripples us. This irrational fear causes us to avoid relationships and life situations that God desires for us. Fear can cause us to act and react in such a way that we may miss entering into some of the good things God desires for us.

We may often think we are reacting to circumstances, but we may actually be reacting from an attitude created by our past hurting memories.

The man screamed out in pain and fear. He began running limping and screaming toward his house. In his haste, he tripped and fell headlong onto the rough driveway, injuring his knees and hands. The mail was scattered and left as the man scrambled to his feet again and continued his hysterical run to his house limping and bleeding.

Well, after many months of not going to the mailbox, there came a time when he really needed to go. He was quite sure the check that he was waiting for was in the box, and he needed to get it in the bank. He had gained confidence as he had observed others safely getting their mail; so, he decided to try it. He carried a gun, a big stick and a mace protection device. And, just in case all else might fail, he wore heavy, tall leather boots and two pairs of heavy pants. (Do some of us ever walk around emotionally “armed and ready” to defend ourselves like this man?)

One day, several months later, as the man was getting his mail, a very friendly, little black puppy came toward the man. The puppy was happily bouncing along, wagging his tail, hoping to make a new friend and maybe get a few loving pats.

This man was not reacting to the reality of the situation, but was reacting from past wounds stored in his memory. Hurting memories caused him to be unable to receive affection from the puppy or to be able to give affection. He hurt the little puppy, and may have planted seeds in the puppy that someday could cause it to bite him, just as he feared.

THE PROCESS OF HEALING

The ministry of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, flowing through other people, can bring

unconditional love, acceptance, mercy, grace, and forgiveness are supplied. However, if something other than these attitudes exist within the people involved, more wounding can occur as we begin to let down our defenses and open ourselves to others.

Only healed people can help heal people. Hurting people always hurt people.

For some of us with severe experiences in our past it may be helpful to pray specifically for healing of our wounded hearts. It may also be very helpful to pray with another godly person.

James 5:16: Confess your trespasses (faults) to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed …

release the memories to God for healing. Holding on to a negative past can hinder a godly future. Attaining the resurrection life of Christ involves forgetting those things, which are behind and reaching forward to those things, which are ahead (Philippians 3:11-14). By an act of our will, we must choose to stop relating to stress from past memories. Although it is our decision, it is Christ who does the work.

James 4:2 KJV, says, “Ye have not because ye ask not”. Asking specifically is an important principle of prayer. If we ask God to heal our hurting memories now, and believe in our heart that we have what we ask, it is done. We must confess with our mouth it is done and thank Him for healing the memory now (Mark 11:23). We must not continue to meditate the memory and pray for God to heal us someday. We are not asking for Jesus to provide healing for us. It is already fully provided. We are coming into agreement with what Jesus has provided and appropriating it into our lives.

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I release to You for healing all the wounded, hurting, or negative memories of my entire life, whether conscious or subconscious, from my conception through my birth, the first few years of my life, my childhood, all my adult life, and to this present moment. I specifically release to You for healing the memory of______________, _____________, _____________, and______________—-

I release all these memories to You. Heal me now. Give me release of all the stress. I choose by an act of my will never again to receive stress from these memories. Thank You for healing me. I say that I am healed of all these memories, in Jesus’ name. Thank You, Father, for healing me.

I command all powers of darkness, in the name of Jesus, you may never again use any of these memories to bring stress into my life or affect my life in any negative way, in Jesus’ name.

We must daily walk in the process of repentance, forgiveness, and healing–repentance for every adulterated motive, as we recognize them, forgiveness for every offense as they occur, and healing for every painful experience. If we are wounded during the course of the day, we can be completely healed before bedtime.

peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

(Ephesians 1:17-19).

Keep on Pursuing Love
It Will Never Fail,

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

THE DIVIDED-HEART TREE

Posted: April 15, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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The enemy first must capture the hearts and minds of people; then, he can attack and pervert the heavenly family pattern of governance at all levels and replace it with Babylonian patterns.

Through the methods described in the Bad-Heart Tree, the ability to function in the heavenly family pattern is stolen from natural families. Social order and all levels of governance in much of the world have become patterned after Babylon. The need and greed of the self-centered individual perverts the love of the husband for the wife and creates an abusive relationship. The respect for the husband from the wife is turned into competition and disrespect. The honor and obedience of the children becomes rebellious dishonor and disobedience. Babylonian chaos replaces kingdom of God order.

Jesus came to restore the hearts and minds of man to the heavenly family pattern. In Christ, man becomes a new creation and old things pass away. In Christ, the potential is there for husbands to love their wives, wives to respect their husbands, and children to honor and obey their parents. Remember, this pattern is for the family, business, and all forms of governance in the kingdom of God. When God’s people seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first and above all else, the heavenly family pattern rules all areas of their lives.

The Divided-Heart Tree

There is another heart tree that is different from those we have previously considered. It is not the Good-Heart Tree, the purified-bride heart tree. Nor is it the Bad-Heart Tree, the impure-harlot heart tree. It is not the double-minded heart tree, which operates all the way, one way or the other at any given time.

The Divided-Heart Tree is a hybrid, impure-wife heart tree. It is the adulteress heart-tree. This person is married to Jesus. One side of his heart is producing good fruit to Jesus. But, because he is not completely healed, one side of his heart is still affected by the harlotry of Babylon. It is like two streams coming together, one muddy and one pure. It is like a wife riding in the front seat of the car with her husband while reaching back in the back seat to hold hands with her old lover.

Spiritual adultery is both GOD-SEEKING and SELF-SEEKING at the same time. It is a mixture of both GOD-SERVING and SELF-SERVING at the same time.

Psalm 12:2: They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double (divided) heart they speak.

Hosea 10:2: Their heart is divided; now they are held guilty. He will break down their altars; He will ruin their sacred pillars.

2 Chronicles 25:2: And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart.

James 3:10-14: Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring can yield both salt water and fresh.

Adultery, both spiritual and natural, is one of the most hideous sins of man. Perhaps no other sin brings as much loss and destruction in life. Adultery in the natural realm can cost a person the intimacy of a pure marriage relationship. Adultery in the spiritual realm will cost the intimacy of a pure relationship with God. Adultery in the natural can cost all a man possesses–all his wealth, every good thing he has accomplished in his life, and perhaps even his very life. Spiritual adultery can wreck a person’s spiritual life in the same way.

Spiritual adultery in God’s called out people is a horrible thing and never goes unnoticed by God. The adulteress, unlike the harlot, sincerely loves, respects, and honors her husband (Jesus) with part of her heart. She really knows Him and obeys Him with part of her heart. But, she only pretends obedience with the rest of her heart. She is still in bondage to some Babylonian harlot ways. While genuinely seeking to serve God, at the same time she is seeking to serve herself and get the position, money, security, fame, or whatever she needs or wants.

The man of God with an adulterated heart will often be among the most highly esteemed within the church. He has double motivation – both a sincere desire to serve God and a desire to accomplish something for himself at the same time. Consequently, he will be among the most zealous, the first to arrive, the last to leave, eager to volunteer, the best at keeping the rules, always willing to help, and is generally very busy. This makes him the most likely to be promoted or ordained in the institutional church or business. Whatever he does will usually grow rapidly; and, suddenly, at some point, it comes crashing down. Spiritual wisdom and discernment are necessary to distinguish between the truly dedicated, totally sold out, dynamic servant of God filled with vision and compassion of the Spirit, from the double motivated, divided heart adulteress.

Some Christians may become very confused when they see only one side of the divided heart person. They observe the godly side and are rightly convinced that this is a man that sincerely desires to serve God. He truly loves God with one side of his heart and life and some good fruit is evident. However, if and when they are exposed to the other side of this person, they may be quite shocked, disappointed, and confused. Much failure may result, and much damage may occur to the Christians. Adulterated men of God bring a curse on the people.

Jeremiah 23:14: “Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.”

Jeremiah 23:10: For the land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse, the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, and their might is not right.

We all have been greatly affected by and trained in Babylonian ways. Studying old Babylon and old Jerusalem in the Old Testament provides clear insight into Mystery Babylon and New Jerusalem of today. Most of the world, the church, and each of us individually have been or are now ruled by the patterns of Babylon. In a very real sense, the church and world have been taken captive to Babylon. We’ve all been held captive in Babylon for a long season. We have had to be trained in the ways of Babylon in order to survive while there. We had to learn to live and prosper in Babylon while we were captive there. Now, God is saying, “Your captivity is over; come out of Babylon, my people; come into New Jerusalem.” It is time now for God’s people to fully lay aside the ways of life in Babylon and walk in God’s kingdom ways only.

Jeremiah 29: 4-l5, 28: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters – that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace, you will have peace.”

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,” says the Lord.

For thus says the Lord: “After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the Lord, “thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” says the Lord, “and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,” says the Lord, “and I will bring you to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive.”

“Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon. For He has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit”’.”

Jeremiah 51:44-45, 49-5: “I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth what he has swallowed; and the nations shall not stream to him anymore. Yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall. My people, go out of the midst of her! And let everyone deliver himself from the fierce anger of the Lord. As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall. You who have escaped the sword, get away! Do not stand still! Remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come to your mind.”

It is time for us to be set free from Babylonian ways that have become ingrained in our lives. Much of the Babylonian thinking has become so much a part of us that it may be difficult to realize we need to be changed. In Babylon, it was commendable to strive to get fame and fortune. Striving to get more and be better than others was normal, good behavior. Getting the most you could get for the least you could get by with giving, was considered good business. If the other guy got the short end of the deal, so what? That was “good horse trading”. After all, if you did not outsmart him and “get him first,” he would get you. We have been infiltrated with this kind of thinking.

But in New Jerusalem, competition has no place in the church or in business. In New Jerusalem, we serve God by serving mankind. A job or business is something we do to serve, not something we do to get. A ministry is no different. It is something we do to serve. Not what we do to get something we need, such as money or position or a sense of well being.

If we stop to really consider why we do what we do, we might find that our motives are mixed with self-seeking, along with our desires to be God-serving. If we examine our methods of relating within our family, business, or church, we may find some practices of Babylon.

God said we would find Him and be delivered from our captivity of Babylonian ways when we seek Him with our whole hearts. We have paid a very great price for our adulterated ways. Our divided hearts have caused us broken lives and broken families. They have split up churches, wrecked relationships, and turned many against the church. Babylonian ways are destroying our nations. The sick and needy are left to suffer and die for lack of power to effectively minister to their needs. The lost wander on in darkness because we are too busy seeking to meet our own needs to effectively minister to their needs.

Proverbs 5:14: I was on the verge of total ruin, in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

Proverbs 6:26, 32-33: For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread; and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; he who does so, destroys his own soul. Wounds and dishonor he will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away.

Proverbs 7:23, l7-l8: I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with love. Till an arrow struck his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would take his life.

We must give up seeking our own profit (self-seeking).

Only as the Bride is completely faithful to her Husband can the kingdom of God lifestyle rule our lives, our local churches, our businesses, our nation, and eventually the planet. Our mixture of self-serving and God-serving will never bring forth the kingdom in our lives. We will continue to strive and fail after a season of apparent success. People will continue to needlessly suffer for lack of purified, powerful ministry. Only a pure hearted motivation to serve God, no matter what happens to us will do. Whether we are personally blessed, accepted to a place of leadership, or rejected and stoned by those we serve, we must give our whole heart, our whole life to our Husband Jesus. We must stop trying to defend and profit ourselves while at the same time endeavoring to serve God. First, above all else, we must seek the kingdom of God with our whole heart.

It is time for all of us to come out of Babylon. It is time for us to be released from the spirit of harlotry and all that works with it that has caused us to be spiritual adulterers (self-seeking and God-seeking). The price we are paying for of our adultery is too great.

1 Corinthians 10:33: …just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

Luke 12:29-33: “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.”

Hebrews 13:4-5: Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

We must serve only God–no longer serving God mostly and ourselves a little, no longer living according to the old ways. God is our source. He will provide all we need as we seek to serve Him only and follow His guidance.

Matthew 4:10: Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”

We are an adulterous generation. We are trying to serve Almighty God with our self-seeking, Babylonian, harlot ways mingled with the purity and power of Holy God. And then we wonder why so little is accomplished. Why so many are wounded and destroyed within their church and family, the very places where they should be built up and protected. The God-seeking side of our heart begins a good work and draws people to trust us; then, our self-seeking side causes painful devastation and mistrust. Eventually, failure will occur and whatever has been gained will be lost.

Then, we seek miracles from God to bail us out of the corruption we have created with our adultery. We pray for miracles to get us out of debt. God did not get us into debt and He probably isn’t going to bail us out if we do not change our self-serving ways. We do not clearly hear the voice of God because we do not want to change. So we search for a miraculous sign to help us.

Matthew 12:39a Amp: “… An evil and adulterous generation [that is, a generation morally unfaithful to God] seeks or demands a sign…”

Matthew 16:3-4,6: “… Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

We become like the Pharisee who makes a great show of “being a Christian.” Yet our own hearts are mixed with uncleanness. This always causes us, like the Pharisee, to become legally minded as we attempt to justify our self-seeking sin with legal loopholes and focus on the lawbreaking of others. Or, since we are not now experiencing the abundant, spiritual resurrection life of Christ ourselves, we deny that others are experiencing it. Thus, we are like the Sadducees denying resurrection life now as we deny spiritual gifts and experiences. Because we are not experiencing them, we believe others are not as well.

We tend to look at those experiencing the resurrection life of God and judge them from our own heart. They are outspoken and dynamic as they boldly bring forth the Word of God, and we assume they have the same mixed motivations we have and that they are intent on making a name or place for themselves. Consequently, we resist and come against God’s purified people thinking they are extreme self-seekers. Our rejecting those that are experiencing God leads to our dismissing the Word coming through them, which robs us of God’s provision.

We must stop looking at others and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal what is really in our own hearts. Friends, it is not them we must be concerned about. It is us. Am I a minister in part because I need and like the attention and applause of others? Is a position of authority something I need to make me feel better? Am I a Christian to some degree because it is acceptable in the circles I move in? Am I a Christian businessman in part because I desire to meet the wants and needs of my family and those in my own heart? Am I doing what I do for a paycheck? Am I concerned about the amount of the paycheck? Or am I concerned about what the work I am doing does to serve God by serving mankind?

Am I more drawn to minister to the pretty girls, (or handsome guys for the ladies) than to those unattractive needy folks? Is it easier for me to hear the call to minister in Hawaii than Africa? Am I willing to go out of my way to see that the wealthy man is taken care of and minister to him ahead of the poor man? Do I get up and go to work in the morning to get a paycheck to take care of my family and myself? Or do I go to work to serve God with what I do and trust Him to provide for me and my family? Will I leave a field because there is little acceptance but great need, to go to one where they believe like I do and like me better?

Hypocrites! Do we think the preacher should not serve for money but think that we should serve (work) for money? The truth is, when we serve or work for money, we are in harlotry. When we truly serve God with a pure heart, no matter what the pay, we will be abundantly supplied. But, if we serve (do what we do) for money or anything else, we have another god and are serving it. God is not just concerned with what we do, but why we do it. Two men might work side-by-side one working to get money and the other working to serve God by what the job does for mankind. One has pure motivation. The other is a harlot selling him or her self for money. The one serving God will continue to serve as long as he can, even if the paychecks stop. The harlot will usually stop the moment the paychecks stop.

2 Chronicles 25:2: And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart.

As we each begin to search our own heart as to why I really do what I do, we all need to recognize that we usually have two reasons for doing anything–one that sounds good to us and to others and one that is true. We must look deeper into our hearts beyond our reasons that sound good and get to the real truth of our heart motivations.

Jesus will forgive our adultery. We are not stuck in bondage to Babylonian ways. Repentance is the key. It is agreeing with God about our sin and turning from it. Jesus has also provided for our deliverance from the spirit of harlotry, which attacks our life. We must repent and allow Jesus to set us free. Then, we must work toward renewing our mind to the New-Jerusalem ways of life.

John 8; 3-4, 10-12: Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.

When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

John 1:12-17,29b: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ …

Behold! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!

Matthew 18:9: “And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire (Gehenna).” Luke 13:3: …but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.

Luke 12:31: But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

We must not continue to deceive ourselves about the reality of our mixed inner motives. The cost for our mixed inner motives is the lack of the kingdom of God lifestyle and its attributes. The benefits and blessings we desire will only be added to us when we no longer desire anything above the kingdom of God. When we turn from our mixed inner motives and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, the other things, which we will no longer need to be satisfied, will be added to us.

Often people are astonished at the peace and joy they find in the presence of God as they give up their lives to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness with their whole heart. Whatever loss they feel, as a result of laying down their life is dissolved in the beautiful presence of God. Things they had striven so hard for in the past are of little significance. Only intimately experiencing God’s presence really matters.

Understanding the Good-Heart Tree and the New Jerusalem Family Pattern begins to enable us to see normal kingdom of God living. As we contrast kingdom of God living with our current lifestyle, we can recognize that the life we have been living is, at best, a mixture. Knowing we are missing the mark of the kingdom of God lifestyle leads us first to true repentance, which is a decision to stop going the way we have been going and to turn around to pursue another way.

It may be disturbing, even traumatic to realize that much of our life has been far off the mark. In my own experience, it was like a death to realize that most of my life, even as a Christian, was far from the kingdom-of-God life. My motives, though acceptable in the church, were mixed with Babylonian desires. Turning from much of what I believed and stood for was like dying. The thing that made it worthwhile is knowing there really is a wonderful, totally fulfilling, kingdom of God life now that is worth dying for. There is resurrection life now after the pain of death.

We may have until now been convinced that our motives were pure when, in reality, they may yet be mingled with self-seeking desires. We may be like the young man who really thought his reason for choosing a certain Bible college was to prepare for a certain ministry in order to serve God. The fact that the young lady of his dreams had previously chosen the same school and type of ministry was only a bonus and perhaps a confirmation from God.

However, when the young lady fell in love with and married someone else, the young man no longer wanted to go to school, nor to serve God. His secret, self-seeking desire was painfully revealed to him.

If we will now ask God to reveal our secret, self-seeking desires that may be hidden from us, and give them up now, we will avoid the future disappointments and heartaches they will eventually cause.

It is now time to step off the treadmill of our busy life, quiet our self, and be still before God. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the mixture of our motives. We will not know or experience the wonderful, at hand kingdom of God lifestyle until after we identify the self-seeking desires mixed with our God-seeking motives, repent of them, and put them to death.

Before reading on, please stop and search your heart. Ask God to reveal all self-seeking desires mixed with your God-seeking desires and repent.

“REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND.”

Keep on Pursuing Love

It Will Never Fail,

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com

basileia@earthlink.net

HARLOTRY OF BABYLON

Posted: April 14, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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There are two great, ruling cities from which mankind can receive patterns for life. We have previously written regarding the great ruling city of God, New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ City. The other great ruling city is Babylon, the Harlot of the devil, which has planted its harlot patterns throughout the current world system. Babylon’s patterns have produced great riches for some. She is extremely enticing and beautifully clothed in wealth. Yet, inside, she is full of filth and abominations, a habitation of demons.

Babylon must fall. This great religious and political system with all its patterns of life is judged of God and is coming down. Before the patterns of New Jerusalem can rule, the patterns of Babylon must be dissolved. The people seeking to enter the city-of-God lifestyle must have the Babylonian patterns and ways broken, removed from their lives, and replaced with New Jerusalem patterns. The Babylonian system has been deadly to the saints of God. Many have fallen and many are in captivity to Babylonian ways. God’s people are warned to come out of Babylon lest they share in her sin and receive of her plagues.

Revelation 17:1-6: Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: “MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

Revelation 17:15,18: And he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.” And the woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.

Revelation 18:2-4: And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a habitation of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.”

What a great contrast between the harlot city of Babylon described in the book of Revelation (chapters seventeen to nineteen) and the beautiful Bride-City of God, New Jerusalem, described in Revelation (chapters twenty-one and twenty-two). The beautiful Bride of Christ lifestyle is filled with the glory of God abiding with man and man living in God’s very presence partaking of a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. Tears are wiped away and curses broken. Men and women are thankfully serving God and joyfully praising Him.

Just as there is a natural Jerusalem and now a spiritual New Jerusalem coming forth, there was a natural Babylon that was destroyed and now a Mystery Babylon that is being destroyed. Many patterns that began thousands of years ago in old Babylon are traceable throughout ancient history and up to the present time. Ancient Babylon was the first great-walled city after the flood. Noah’s great grandson, Nimrod, built it. Noah begot Ham; Ham begot Cush; and Cush begot Nimrod.

Babylon became the birthplace of idolatry that spread throughout the ancient world and was passed to empires and civilizations throughout history. Nimrod and his wife, Semiramis, were the first people to be worshipped as gods. Although different names were used in various cultures, they were similarly worshipped in much of the world, and can still be easily recognized in many religions today. These patterns were subversively planted into the Christian religion. Churches today are still affected by them. This nation (the good old U.S.A.) and much of the world are primarily ruled by the patterns of ancient Babylon. The patterns found in Nimrod and Semiramis of ancient Babylon are very similar to the dynamics of worldly families, businesses, churches, and political governments of today.

Genesis 10:8-12a: Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen.

The word “before” in the statement “He was a mighty hunter before the Lord” could be translated “against”. Nimrod was a mighty man “against” the Lord. By some means, he and Semiramis tapped into the darkness of mystical and occult powers. A departure from the patriarchal faith had occurred. It is represented by some profane history that Cush had become a ringleader of apostasy. Nimrod added mystical, demonic powers and knowledge to his natural strength and became a powerful force on the earth, conquering all those around him.

Nimrod was the first to wage war upon his neighbors, the first to train troops with exercise and hardship, and the first to build towers and walled cities for battle. Nimrod exercised strong control over men. They were enticed with unbridled self-gratification. Everywhere Nimrod went there were extravagant parties with orgies, dancing girls, music, games, and anything that brought self-gratification. Nimrod also controlled others by locking up the mysteries of science and sorcery that he had discovered and releasing them to men only when they were under his control. He used confession of sins and faults to control. When he had enough information on others and they were awestruck by his great display of magic, he could easily control them.

Nimrod was suddenly cut off in the midst of his glorious career. Mystery surrounds his disappearance, but it is believed he met with a violent death while on one of his expeditions. Semiramis, whose feminine beauty hid her immoral, manipulative, deceitful self, had usurped her husband’s attributes before his death. At his death, she fully took over her husband’s place.

Semiramis, in her licentious ways, gave birth to a son after Nimrod was gone. She told people that Nimrod had reappeared in the person of a posthumous son. She held the son up as God and the people worshipped him. They worshipped her as the mother of God. Eventually, she became the predominant goddess overshadowing the son. Thus, through deception and manipulation she took over the assets and attributes of Nimrod and continued her lavish lifestyle.

Semiramis was seen as both the mother and wife of her husband. Nimrod was seen as the husband and the son of his wife. She was revered as the “Mother of God”. The image of the “Mother of God” with the child in her arms spread throughout the idolatrous world. Semiramis is said to have finished the wall of Babylon and thus became the goddess of fortresses and towers. The “Diana of the Ephesians” mentioned in the New Testament with her crown of towers is identified with Semiramis.

Babylon became known as a great center of extravagant wealth and revelry, a monument of glamour to the accomplishments of man, a place of harlotry and sorcery, a place of great wizardry, great human knowledge and discovery, and a place of competition and contention. However, its primary characteristic was spiritual harlotry.

Spiritual harlotry is seeking to fulfill our own needs and desires apart from God. God is our provider and desires to meet our needs in every area of life. If we look to anything or anyone else to meet our needs, we are looking to another god and are involved in spiritual harlotry. Harlotry and idolatry are very closely related. Harlotry is looking to an idol (another god) for what our Heavenly Father should provide for us. Spiritual harlotry is selling our purity to meet our needs. It is self-seeking and self-serving.

It is easy to see how the bad heart-tree is a harlot tree. Spiritual harlotry is seeking to meet the needs of our life-structure on our own, instead of trusting God to take care of us. The good heart-tree is a bride tree, in which we are able to trust God to meet all of our needs and satisfy our wants.

Babylon is a harlot system, a means of meeting human needs and selfish wants apart from God. Babylon is ruled by a spirit of harlotry and is characterized by competition, immorality, and sorcery.

HARLOTRY IS SELF-SEEKING AND SELF-SERVING:
It is seeking to meet my own needs and desires apart from God.

COMPETITION IS SEEKING POSITION OR CONTROL:
Some characteristics are: Contention, Strife, Thieving (taking), Lying, Deceit, Manipulation, Seduction, Control, Dominance, War (fighting), Overlord, Tyrant, Backbiting, Murder, Greed, and Covetousness.

IMMORALITY IS SEEKING PLEASURE OR ENTERTAINMENT:
Some characteristics are: Lust, Fantasy Lust, Fornication, Sexual Perversion, Unclean, Overeating, Overplaying, Overworking, Over-resting, and Reveling (partying).

SORCERY IS SEEKING POWER OR DIRECTION:
Some characteristics are: Occult, Witchcraft, Hypnosis, Mind Control, Mind Power, Humanism, Intellectualism, Astrology, Psychics, and New-Age Junk.

Much of the world has taken giant steps into Babylonian harlotry in recent decades. Games and “playing” have become a major part of the western world. Gambling lotteries and casinos have spread widely across the land. Sexual perversion and recreational immorality are accepted as normal behavior. Psychics are now openly viewed by many as a valid source of direction for their lives. Competition has intensified as people struggle for control in families, businesses, governments, tribes, and nations. Computer and video games, gambling, spectator sports, recreational drugs and alcohol, entertainment, and other recreational industries probably already represent the largest segment of production in the western world. Are we seeking from another god what our true God desires to supply?

WORLD WAR

Many skirmishes and wars continue to be fought within the Babylonian world system. Men and nations compete for the assets of the world to gratify themselves. There is no end to the struggles for positions of control and possessions in the Babylonian jungles of social structure.

However, the greatest war of all time is the all out win or die worldwide war between Babylon and New Jerusalem (the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light). The war is between the harlot and the Bride way of life ruling the world. Christ Jesus has already won this war and has provided victory over the evil Babylonian kingdom of darkness. The full manifestation of this victory waits for the hearts of mankind to align with Christ Jesus. This involves human beings turning from their harlot lifestyles and becoming the righteousness of God in Christ. The pure, holy, glorious Bride of Christ is the fulfillment of the victory Christ Jesus purchased with His own blood.

Therefore, the war is now within the minds and hearts of mankind, especially those who are called by His name. The god of Babylon strives with much success to limit the faith of the people of God. His greatest tool is spiritual blindness to kingdom of God reality. When God’s people cannot see and cannot hear Him clearly, false concepts can be planted that prevent true faith from developing. What man believes in his heart determines the release of the rule of the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light.

The war is about faith to believe that the kingdom of God is now available on the earth. The enemy has destroyed the faith of most religious people. They simply do not believe that the kingdom of God that Christ came to purchase can manifest now. The enemy has perverted the word of God and caused most people to believe the planet is to be destroyed and not redeemed. The enemy wants you to have no faith for the kingdom of God now and no hope for the planet to become restored.

This blindness and loss of faith in the kingdom of God is not new. Works of Babylon were firmly implanted in the church before the fourth century. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the English Bible was translated, there was almost no revelation of the kingdom of God on earth. This present life and world were seen as hopelessly evil and lost. The planet would have to be destroyed, a new planet created, and Jesus bodily returned for there to be any of God’s kingdom on earth.

This led to what I consider to be the most grievous of translation errors in our English Bible. In 2nd Peter the translators deviated from their own translation rules to cause the word to say the “elements” of the earth will be burned up in judgment. Going back to the original language, it is absolutely obvious that without any doubt Peter was speaking of the rudimental elements of evil that would be completely destroyed.

The word translated “elements” is “stoicheion” (stoy-khi’-on), which means something orderly in arrangement, a basal, fundamental, initial serial, and constituent. In other words, “stoicheion” means the basic, foundational, principles of an order. In this passage it specifically refers to the foundations of the evil order affecting earth, not the physical elements of the planet.

This is the only time this word is interpreted to mean physical elements in the Bible.

“Stoicheion” is used seven times in the New Testament; in every case it refers to basic principles or rudiments, either of the doctrines and oracles of God or of the evil world order. In no other place is it interpreted as referring to the physical elements.

(For a detailed study of this passage see Chapter 7 of the book The Seventh Millennium.)

God is looking for a kingdom people.

God is calling forth a people that will break through the Babylonian darkness, and renounce their harlot lifestyles, and renew their minds to the mind of Christ by the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God waits for God’s people to change their mind-set from seeking life and pleasure from other gods to a pure love relationship with Christ Jesus our Lord and King.

Will we become the Bride or continue in our harlot ways? The world waits to see the reality of the New Jerusalem lifestyle and the love and power of the real kingdom of God. Multitudes will come to the real thing; however, multitudes will continue to seek other gods until they see something more real than what the church has produced in past centuries.

In prayer renounce the Babylonian ways in your own life and rebuke the enemy in the name of Jesus. Ask Father to fill your heart with the life and concepts of the New Jerusalem lifestyle.

Keep on Pursuing Love
It Will Never Fail,

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

THE HEART-TREE (Continued) DEALING WITH THE BAD TREE

Posted: April 12, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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THE HEART-TREE (Continued)

DEALING WITH THE BAD TREE

Most people in the world today are at some stage of this life-structure. It is the only life-structure available to those without God; and many Christians are, to some degree, in bondage to the bad heart-tree life-structure. We have not known fully the ministry of Jesus to set the captives free, give sight to the blind, proclaim the opening of the prison, set at liberty the bruised, and heal the brokenhearted.

We have tried to deal with bad actions by demanding that individuals simply stop doing the bad deeds. That is like getting a baseball bat and knocking the fruit off the tree. It may help for a while, but not for long. The tree is still there and will soon produce the same fruit again.

Then we became a bit wiser and decided we had to deal with the lust. Getting rid of the lust is like getting out a pruning saw and cutting off the limbs of the tree. It will help a little longer; but, eventually, the limbs will grow back because the trunk of need and rebellion is still standing.

Now, we get out our chain saw and cut down the trunk of the tree. We tell people to stop their rebellion and to control their fear and pride. It takes a little longer this time; but you guessed it. The tree will grow back from the root. Even when we tell them to dig out the root of bitterness by forgiving everyone from the heart, we are leaving them with a damaged heart. The gaping hole and torn soil left after extracting the root is open and fertile for the next seed of rejection that comes along. The seed of rejection will be planted in their heart-soil and will begin the process all over again. Until the soil of the heart is healed, the ministry is not finished. That is why Jesus said, I am come to heal the brokenhearted.

Luke 4:18-22 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable (favorable) year of the Lord Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

Matthew 3:10: And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew 15:13: But He answered and said, Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.

Isaiah 61:1b: He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound …

The ministry of Jesus to heal the broken heart is brought forth today by the Holy Spirit to heal the inner wounds in our spirits and souls. The soul includes the mind, will, and emotions. Jesus will heal the hurting memories in our mind, our shattered emotions, crushed will, and wounded spirit.
We appropriate the ministry of Jesus through prayer. In sincere prayer we begin to turn from the old life-structure and speak forth its cutting down, rooting out and healing of the heart-soil.

The first work of appropriating the ministry of Jesus by the Holy Spirit is recognition of our bad lifestyle and truly repenting. No longer blaming someone else, we must truly repent and turn from our actions.
Ask Jesus to help you remove the entire heart-tree from the roots to the fruit. In faith, speak the end of the life-structure in the name of Jesus.
Command all the powers of darkness to be gone from you in the name of Jesus.
Forgive everyone who may have had a part in planting the old life-structure.
Ask Jesus by the Holy Spirit to fill your heart with His love. Believe when you pray and you shall have it.

Isaiah 61:3-4: … to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.

We must then replant our heart-soil with the seeds that will produce a kingdom of God life-structure. The good heart-tree will grow as naturally as the bad one and will produce beautiful fruit in your life. All the love and affirmation needed is in the intimate presence of God. Come to Him with empty heart-soil and ask Him to plant His life-structure in your heart-soil.

The seeds of unconditional love, acceptance, mercy, grace, and forgiveness flowing through affirming attitude of God will plant the root system of the love of Jesus with all its beautiful tributary roots filling your heart.

GOD’S KINGDOM PATTERN

THE GOOD TRUNK

Always, without exception, the trunk of the tree that grows upon the root of the love of Jesus is SUBMISSION. A walk of obedience and submission to God and to authorities that He has set in place will naturally flow from hearts filled with the love of Jesus.

Remember that this is not something we can work up by striving within ourselves. It is planted in us and naturally grows from the seed of love. It is an easy yoke of freedom.
The trunk of our life-structure of submission and obedience is characterized by FAITH and HUMILITY. We know that we are loved. We know God loves us and that He is able to control those over us and around us so that His love will eventually flow through them as well. Therefore, since God loves me and those over me and around me love me, all my needs will be met. I don’t have to worry about taking care of myself by myself. It is easy for me to have faith, to trust and believe. So, I feel secure, confident, safe, self-assured, and considerate of others.
I also know that God has supplied my needs, not myself. So, I feel HUMBLE, thankful, and meek. This leads to a gentle, caring, and yielding attitude toward others. The central characteristic of the good heart-tree life-structure is a sense of ABUNDANCE, a feeling of having all we need and more. It doesn’t matter how much or how little we have, we feel no sense of lack, no driving wants or frustrating needs in our heart.

Psalm 23:1: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires (or wants) of your heart.

Philippians 4:19: And my God shall supply all your need (or lack) according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

THE GOOD LIMBS

The limbs of our life-structure grow out of the overflowing abundance of our life. Our desire is no longer to take from others, but to give to others from the overflowing rivers of living water from within. The limbs of our tree on which our life-fruit is to be borne are Desire to Give, Desire to Serve, Desire to Minister, and Desire to Build Others.

THE GOOD FRUIT AND THE SEED

The attitudes, words and actions of our life-structure are GOOD DEEDS and GOOD SEEDS. We are free to do what we want to do according to the desire of our hearts. All we do and say is giving in nature and brings blessing to those around us. Our work becomes fun as we let the love of God flow to others through the things we do.

The seeds we sow in the heart-soil of others around us are exactly the same that were sown into our own heart-soil. Love, acceptance, mercy, grace, and forgiveness are sown through an affirming attitude. The kingdom of God is reproduced in the hearts of our wives, husbands, children, and others.

Remember again that the wonderful life-structure of the good heart-tree is not something we can fake. And it is not something we can make happen by trying to do it. No amount of human effort or sacrifice can enable us to have faith, humility, a sense of abundance, desire to serve and give, intimacy with God, or good actions and deeds.

We must receive the seed of the resurrected life of Jesus the Christ. A tree grows from a seed. Natural growth will occur in our heart-soil when the seed is planted and maintained. There must be cleared, quality soil available in which to plant the seed. If another tree occupies the soil, there is no room for the new tree to grow. The new tree must be watered by the Spirit and fed by the Word.

THE GOOD BIRDS

Certain kinds of birds are attracted to the good fruit of the Good Heart-Tree. They are SPIRITS of enlightenment. Truth, wisdom, understanding and revelation come to dwell in the limbs of our Good Heart-tree. We are open to receive the light of God, which flows readily into our lives. We can hear and obey the direction of God for our lives. We are able to have intimate communication with God. His truth is revealed to us from His Word by His Spirit. We can hear and understand spiritual truth with clarity. Deeper reality from heaven is revealed to our open hearts. We have enlightened ability to discern truth from error.

Isaiah 11:2: The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Ephesians 1:17-18a: … that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened …

1 John 5:6b, 4:6b: And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

NO WALLS

Not only are we open to the heavens and able to intimately relate to God, we also are able to intimately relate to others. We are open and transparent. There is no need for a wall of defense. We are able to give and receive love from others. Since we are giving and receiving love from others from the side, and relating to God openly from above, our lives are filled with life. There is no opportunity for loneliness, boredom, or depression to overpower and defeat us.

Ephesians 2:14: For He Himself is our peace, Who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division …

1 Corinthians 13:13: And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

We may suffer persecution and enter into difficult times of darkness. Tests and trials may come, and we may again battle with the enemies of our soul. But, love will never fail. Hope, though it may grow dim, will never go out. And we will emerge from the battle with stronger faith, more filled with the light and life of God, more solidly convinced of His love, more prepared to manifest His glory and rule and reign with Him.
THE DOUBLE HEART TREE
James 1:8 …he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Have you ever felt that your life, since becoming a Christian, was much like a roller-coaster ride? If you haven’t, perhaps you have known someone that was on fire for God for a season and then was lower than dirt for a season. Then, they would get back up to the mountaintop for a while, just to slide back down again into the same old trash only sometimes worse than before. Unfortunately this is a much too common scenario among Christians. It certainly was a picture of my early years as a Christian.
There is a tendency among some Christians to accept this as normal, It is reality for us to meet challenges and sometimes feel less than living on the mountaintop. But it is not needful for Christians to fall back into the pit or the ways of the pit from which Jesus redeemed them. The enemy loves to use our backsliding to beat us with guilt and to punch holes in our faith. He tells us, See, your not saved; you’re a rotten, stinking sinner, a hypocrite; you can’t serve God.
We must be missing something somewhere. The roller-coaster Christians may have received Jesus as savior, committed their life to Him as much as they knew how, and followed the instructions from their church as best they could. In other words, they have planted the good seed in their heart and cared for it as best they could. And their good tree has experienced a good measure of growth. So, what is wrong? Why are they so double-minded and unstable?
The double-minded heart-tree is one in which the good heart-tree has found enough soil to begin to grow, but the bad heart-tree has not been cut down and uprooted.
These Christians may function in one tree for a period of time and then suddenly switch over to the other lifestyle. They may switch to the good tree on Sunday and back to the bad tree on Monday. Or they may live in the good tree Sunday through Friday and switch to the other on Saturday night. They will live all the way, one way or the other depending on which tree they are functioning in. This is not a blended mental condition. It is a sudden change from one set of life patterns to the other, much like changing channels on a TV set.
Sometimes they may be in the good tree for six months, a year, or longer and then suddenly shift back to the old structure and surprising everyone around them, including themselves. Some event or situation may trigger a seemingly automatic shift. The individual may not have made a conscious decision to change. It just happened before they realized what was going on. When they are in one tree, it is like the other one never existed. They may wonder, how in the world could I have thought that way? How could I have ever thought all that wild stuff was fun? Or How could I have thought all that church stuff was so great? They are unstable in all their ways and tossed about.
The answer is to get the bad heart-tree forever cut down, rooted out, and the soil healed in order that the good tree can take over the whole heart and flourish. When the old life-structure is gone, there is great freedom to walk continuously in the good heart-tree life-structure.
Keep on Pursuing Love
It Will Never Fail,

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

PREPARING THE BRIDE

Posted: April 9, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching
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The mature church must become the body of Christ, a living organism, a network of spiritually-connected cells and parts, individuals emptied of self, filled with Christ. It must be without man’s leadership or man’s structure. There will be no human hierarchy in the Bride. One individual will not rule over another, but all will serve one another. Christ Jesus will spiritually rule within each individual and serve as overall Head of the church thereby establishing spiritual structure, not human. In the natural, the head rules a healthy body, life from the head sends signals to each individual part and every cell responds in obedience to the head. So it is in the Body of Christ.

Much of the church is sick; much like a person would be if any part failed to obey the head. The great apostasy of the past continues to affect the health of the body today. Men establish themselves as heads and develop hierarchical systems of church rule. This defection from the true Head is fostered by the enemy and is carried out by a spirit of antichrist, which opposes or replaces Christ as Head. Religious spirits in the church sustain spirits of spiritual blindness, darkness, deception, and delusion.

The enemy has effective tools for stirring men and causing them to have strong desires to rule. The enemy must work in and through the individual parts of the Body because he cannot affect the true Head.

Our purpose in this part of Kingdom Growth Guides is to expose the enemy’s schemes and plans to rule, and to help us recognize true patterns of God’s rule, which can produce the overcoming life, the kingdom of God lifestyle.

People are the church.

The church is sick because individuals are sick. The enemy’s plan is to cause strong needs or desires within the individuals. To accomplish this, he must prevent them from being in contact with the reality of the love of God.He uses negative life-experiences and deceiving spirits to blind individuals to God’s love and power. This causes each individual to become keenly aware of his own needs and to look only to himself to supply them. This self-focus becomes self-centeredness. Selfish thoughts and actions lead to fear, pride, greed, lust, and disobedience to the true Head.

Once a disobedient lifestyle is established, the enemy can bring much inner turmoil and outer conflict thereby causing increasing emotional wounds and spiritual deception. Spiritual darkness, deception, and delusion open the door for occult and other demonic influences. The inner turmoil will eventually produce negative behavior such as aggressiveness, defensiveness, or withdrawal, which can produce conflict, marital strife, racial strife, religious strife, and power struggles in the church as well as in the world.

The strife, turmoil, and conflict cause stress and deterioration of mental, emotional, and physical health. Often the individual will seek escape from the inner turmoil and stress. Many avenues are available that seem to offer some temporary escape, but often lead to more stress and turmoil. Drugs, alcohol, immorality, some kinds of music, sports, gaining wealth, entertainment, withdrawal, overworking, overeating, violence, and religion are some of the common escapes used. The buildup of stress often leads to increased conflict, strife, and more intense power struggles resulting in violence, beatings, murders, and suicides. Sickness and premature deaths then become normal in such a violent society.

Remember, the enemy’s purpose in all this is to cut us off from the knowledge and experience of the love of God. It is easy to see how difficult it will be for a child growing up in this violent culture to even imagine the love of God. Power and strength are seen as synonymous with “mean and violent.” God is often seen as only judgmental, and except the individual be healed in their heart, he cannot begin to know the love of God. The person is, therefore, locked into the bondage of the enemy, doomed to live and die in the torment of inner turmoil and stress. There is truly no rest for the wicked.

Most churchgoers feel that, if they can control their stress and in some way contain it; they are doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. As someone once asked, “Why are you under the circumstances?”–Implying that there is potential life in Jesus that is over the circumstances. And it is really true. Jesus can totally remove our turmoil and stress not merely help us to live with distress until we die and are relieved of it in heaven someday. We are not talking about perfect circumstances, although they may improve in time. We are talking about living above them now in the real peace of God. As we live in real peace, we become a part of the solution instead of part of the problem. As our lifestyle changes, we stop affecting those around us for bad and start affecting them for good.

Until we can see Jesus the King as He really is, we do not have the power or motivation to move toward ultimate closeness with Him. When we see the true abundant love and magnificent glory of the King, we will decide to move toward Him.Once we experience the reality of the glorious peace and eternal joy found in the King’s presence, we will repent in order to enter intimately into His glorious presence.

Preaching the Cross, personal salvation, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling Spirit of Christ are foundational building blocks of the overcoming life. Preaching the kingdom of God now establishes the goal or objective. Teaching God’s kingdom patterns and exposing the enemy’s schemes allow us to see where we are and what changes need to be made. Jesus the Anointed One is our source of power for change.

THE RESTORATION MINISTRY OF JESUS

Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

The restoration ministry of Jesus is the cleansing process that we must go through before we can walk into the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, purified Bride-of-Christ, kingdom-of-God lifestyle. It is the work of Jesus by His grace and power through the Holy Spirit. It is not of man “that any should boast.” Our part in helping one another is to bring forth the Word and the anointing of Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Christ Jesus destroys all the work of the enemy–the work the devil has done, and the work he is doing. Jesus repairs, renews, and rebuilds all the damage inflicted by the enemy. Jesus will establish righteousness, peace, and joy in those who seek Him with their whole heart. He will set free those in bondages created by the enemy. He will bring an end to mourning and a beginning to joy and praise.

1 John 3: 8b: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Isaiah 61: 1-4: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable (favorable) year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified, and they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.”

The enemy has inflicted much damage on individuals and, subsequently on the entire planet since Adam released him thousands of years ago in the garden. Primarily, he uses his powers of darkness to affect people and cause them to negatively affect others. If he can prevent someone from knowing and experiencing the love of God, he can devastate their life and cause them to wound many others.

Since Jesus defeated him, the only real power the enemy has is deception. He seeks to prevent us from knowing and believing the power we have over him in Christ. One of his favorite tricks is to make Christians believe he and his demons are not really around any more. He likes to disguise himself as an angel of light and works under cover as a “religious spirit.” This way he can influence Christians away from truth that will expose him. Undetected, he can move them toward a false doctrine that protects him. He can then fan the flames of natural differences to cause painful rejections among the people. Through this pain he can excite the flesh to anger, bitterness, and many negative works.

2 Corinthians 11:14-15:And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

1 Timothy 4:1b: … some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

The enemy does not use a vast number of schemes. He doesn’t need very many. The ones he uses have been highly perfected over thousands of years of practice and work very effectively on unbelievers and uninformed Christians. His schemes are always designed to pervert the truth of God in order to divert man from the plan of God.

God’s kingdom patterns for life always lead to an abundant life of love, righteousness, peace, and joy. The enemy’s perversion of these patterns always produces unlove, evil, pain, affliction, and despair. Christians may be easily deceived and diverted to an alternate plan if they do not have a clear foundational understanding of God’s kingdom patterns. The best way to recognize a counterfeit is to thoroughly know the real thing. If the enemy cannot totally pervert, he will attempt to divert by drawing attention to some other less important matter.

The restoration ministry of Jesus always involves two processes. One is the tearing down of the old life-structure, and the other is the building of the new. In order to help us recognize and tear down the work of the enemy, and to help us avoid his schemes, it is important to uncover and expose his work and methods.

To begin rebuilding, we must renew our minds to God’s kingdom patterns of abundant life. The world system currently is highly affected by the enemy’s deception. Therefore, it is very easy to be trained in the devil’s perversions and diversions. One need only grow up in a modern, secular family, watch TV and movies, attend public schools and attend an institutional-type church to be grounded in the perversions and diversions of the enemy.

We must be retrained to recognize what is kingdom of God living and what is not kingdom of God living. Our understanding must be renewed to the Word of God. Kingdom-life patterns must be revealed to us. Also, we need to learn to recognize the enemy’s patterns for our lives and the schemes he uses to press us into his perverted ways.

Unfortunately, the institutional church does not often have the power to effectively answer the situation and sometimes fosters the deception by joining with the world system. Churchgoers often respond with hypocritical, legalistic attacks against people while allowing the same or other perversions to operate in their own lives. A Christian under conviction for their own hidden problem may attack others in whom they see the same problem. Such legalistic attacks further wound people and often drive them out for the enemy to further afflict.

Some of my readers at this point are agreeing, “Yeah! I’ve sure seen that over there or in that particular person.” One scheme of the enemy is to divert attention from our need to the problem of others. As the Spirit of God reveals God’s kingdom patterns, the enemy’s workings to pervert them will be uncovered.We must unmask ourselves as the Spirit of Jesus uncovers and exposes the enemy. We must agree with God about our own needs and be willing to allow our old life-structures to be cut down and uprooted in order that the new may grow and flourish in its place.

Matthew 3:10: “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Matthew 15:13:“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.”

Isaiah 61: 3b-4a: …that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified, and they shall rebuild the old ruins.

Keep on Pursuing Love
It Will Never Fail,

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

Living Kingdom Today

Posted: April 7, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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The destiny of the world is to become the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God potential has come and dwells within the people of God.

The full potential of the destined kingdom of God is now seeded within the fertile soil of the hearts of those in whom Christ Jesus dwells.

The Spirit kingdom growing in the hearts of human beings governs and empowers the lives of God’s kingdom people.

Subsequently, the Spirit kingdom is manifest into the natural world as the life of Christ emanates from God’s people.

Human government opposes the government of God.

The first level of human government is the inner governing of our lives. Within each person there is governance for the individual’s life. Natural man is governed within by his unredeemed soul (mind, will, and emotions) led by a spirit or spirits other than the Spirit God. God’s kingdom people are governed by the Spirit of Christ flowing through their redeemed soul by the Holy Spirit of God.

The natural unredeemed human governance opposes the governance of God within human beings. Therefore, there is internal conflict for the rule of the lives of mankind. This conflict is ultimately the war to rule the world. Whoever or whatever rules in the hearts of mankind eventually rules in the world.

The governments of the world are led by spirits: either ungodly evil spirits or the SPIRIT OF GOD.

There is no such thing as a spiritless government. Secular humanistic government is a government of evil spirits working through unredeemed souls of human beings. To seek to build a government that is neutral to religious beliefs and tolerant of all religions is to deny that the spiritual realm exists and to govern in ignorance.

Again, we find religion in the forefront of the disastrous condition of the world. The mutant form of weak, man-focused “Christian” religion that denies the reality of Christ in the Spirit indwelling His people has abandoned the governments of this world to other spirits. The enemy of God rules in this world where God should be ruling. The Spirit of God in His temple on earth is to be establishing His kingdom first in the hearts of people and through their lives into families, tribes, and nations.

In recent decades a spark has reignited the fire of the Holy Spirit, releasing an avalanche of revelation of “Christ in you (His people) the hope of Glory”. The hope of glory is the kingdom of God reigning within people and eventually in the world bringing His heavenly order to Planet Earth.

The process of kingdom growth within the hearts of God’s people has begun. However, we see the kingdoms of this world not yet the kingdoms of our God. The current dilemma for kingdom people involves functioning in God’s kingdom order in a world not yet ruled by God’s kingdom order.

LIVING KINGDOM TODAY

Even the best secular humanistic governments cannot bring forth righteousness, peace, and joy. Every government that is not on the shoulder of Christ Jesus is destined to fail, and as governments fail people suffer (Isa 9:6-7).

How do God’s kingdom people live in a world of nations yet mostly ruled by men ignorant of the Spirit of God and led by cunning and often ruthless spirits driving their unredeemed souls?

The answer to this question will vary with each person according to calling and specific direction of the Spirit of God. There are many parts to the Body of Christ and the different parts will have different functions.

Some may be led to work on the deep spiritual issues by helping others come to Christ and be transformed. Some may be led of God to work in more surface areas such as the political arena seeking to restrain the evil and press toward less governmental restrictions and increased tolerance for God’s people. Kingdom people will be called to fulfill a multitude of spiritual and practical functions to supply continued life, strength, and growth to the people of God. One part must never condemn another part but connect joint-to-joint as God’s Spirit leads.

The primary requirement for living in a hostile government environment is to be personally intimately related to God in such a way that there is continuous communication in the Spirit. God can direct day-by-day and moment-by-moment by His Spirit within. All hindrances and distractions that can limit our ability to hear and obey the Spirit of God need to be eliminated or overcome.

Christ Jesus is the over-comer, the healer of hearts and the cleanser of souls. Encountering the work of the Cross of Christ and the reality of the resurrected life of Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit is God’s provision for renewing and transforming the heart of human beings to intimately commune with God.

Major areas to be cleansed and overcome that prevent intimately communing with God include things like renewing our minds, healing past wounds, forgiving everyone and everything, leaving past religious convictions and beliefs, abandoning cares of this life and deceitfulness of riches, yielding control of our life to Spirit God, deliverance from other spirits, and abandoning all other idols. All these things and more are provided in Christ Jesus and appropriated by a joint work of our willingness to lay down our lives before God and allowing Him to powerfully cleanse and transform our being to accommodate the very life of Christ abiding within. We are then connected directly to the throne of God as we abide in Him who is seated at the right hand of God. We are then ruling and reigning with Christ in this world bringing forth the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. This is living kingdom today.

Living in the kingdom of Christ today, we endure all things, overcome all things, and are at rest in all situations. Having sought and found this kingdom of God and His righteousness, all things are added to us. Righteousness, peace, and joy fill our hearts by His love (Mat 6:33-34) (Rom 14:17). Faith and believing effortlessly become full assurance and reality of practical experience.

God’s people throughout history have lived powerful lives in God in nations ruled by ungodly governments (Heb 11:32-40). Today, in this time of ungodly governments severely opposing the people of God, a people are being prepared. In this season of the day of the Lord manifesting in the forerunner remnant of maturing sons of God, apostolic leadership of Christ is coming forth to prepare a generation of kingdom people to govern as Christ in families, tribes, cities, nations, and the world. Thus, the kingdoms of this world shall be the kingdoms of our God.

Praise the LORD all you people! Give glory unto the KING who has come to dwell among His people! Glory and honor to His Majesty the Mighty One in whom all the fullness dwells! Worship the One whose kingdom never ends! Our God Reigns!

Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus! Amen!

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

THE OVERCOMING LIFE

Posted: April 6, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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Before the kingdom can come forth in the world, it must come forth in a people. Many of us are yet dealing with spiritual infirmities and weaknesses related to sin and human frailty. In Part 2 of Kingdom Growth Guides we will deal with overcoming hindrances to walking in the kingdom of God lifestyle.

For many of us the reality of the kingdom of God coming forth in our lives and in our world may seem an impossible dream. We may feel that there is too much to overcome in our own lives and far too much to be overcome in the world. However, there is a source of overcoming power in the spiritual realm that far exceeds our natural strength. The following are a few stories of people who have tapped into that spiritual overcoming power.

The crowd at the finish line leans forward and intently peers down the track to see which one of the well-trained cyclists is leading as they all come into view over the last hill of the race. The young men who have trained diligently are now pushing their bodies to the very limit. Their lungs work to the fullest capacity to gather oxygen for pounding hearts to rush it to their powerful, muscular, sinewy legs — legs pumping like engine pistons in an effort to push their bicycles ahead of the others.

The burst of applause and cheers from the crowd is delayed for an instant. The crowd is shocked into silence for a split second while their minds try to accept what their wide-opened eyes are seeing. Gaping mouths begin to burst forth cheers and shouts of jubilation as the momentary disbelief of their own eyes is dispelled. Many eyes fill with tears as the crowd wildly applauds the young man with only one leg and one arm as he crosses the finish line first.

At another time and place in a high school auditorium, hundreds of teens gasp and draw back a little as they get their first look at a man walking out on stage. After only a few minutes, the man behind the disfigured face seems like one of their best friends. They are hardly aware of the massive scars or the knurled, maimed hands. They are mostly aware of the gentle love and real, caring attitude they feel coming from their new friend. Soon they are laughing hilariously with him as he humorously relates true stories of being burned almost to death in a military ordeal. All are moved and must consider the God he tells them about. His joyous love proclaims overcoming victory over the years of intense pain and great loss, and testifies of the powerful grace of the love of Jesus.

Many such true stories of people overcoming tremendous obstacles could be told. Our hearts would probably be touched by each of them. Something inside us seems to be excited. In some way we begin to feel encouragement in our own soul. Is it possible our own problems may seem to be a little less of a mountain when we consider their victories? Is there perhaps a new ray of hope released in us? Perhaps something like this thought crosses our minds, “If God helped them to overcome, possibly He can also help me.” Perhaps our doubt that God will do anything about our world is challenged a little. If He works in these individuals’ lives to overcome, isn’t it possible that He might work in many lives across the world? What might be the result of multitudes, one at a time, overcoming? Is there perhaps hope birthed in our hearts for our own lives and for the world by these examples of overcoming?

How did they do it? How can I do it? Many books are written in an attempt to answer these questions. We surely do not have all the answers, but one common denominator is always present. In a word, it is faith. What the individual believes, how he views God, himself, and the problem is the key. Most overcomers will say something like, “I never thought of myself as handicapped only challenged.” Or, “It never entered my mind that it could not be done”. A challenge seems to be there for the purpose of our overcoming it.Therefore, it is temporary, and if temporary, then temporal and not eternal. The temporal must yield to the eternal. The power for overcoming is the eternal God. “Handicap” implies a forever, negative condition we cannot overcome, but must succumb to. In faith, overcomers see God as greater than the problem and believe He is working with them. When God is working on the problem, it does not matter that it is too big for us. We know we could never do it alone. How we see God, ourselves, and our problems makes the difference!

Many lives have been damaged or crippled by bad things that have happened. Sin is always at the root of every bad thing. We each have been harmed to some degree by the results of someone’s sin. If we view our problem as a challenge that Jesus came to help us with, we can overcome. Our worldview can change if we see that the world’s crippling sin problem is no greater than the individual’s sin problem. There is just more of it. A bricklayer can lay one brick in a few seconds. It takes longer to lay an entire brick wall; however it is still the same problem and can be done only one brick at a time. If many bricklayers are working on the wall simultaneously, the wall is built much faster. If it is possible for one person to overcome, then it is possible for the world to overcome through faith in God.

“Overcoming” is one of the major teachings of the New Testament. Yet it has not been well understood or applied in past generations. Overcoming has been seen, for the most part, as pertaining only to the area of personal sin. Once we receive revelation of the “at-hand” kingdom, our overcoming begins to take on a much broader scope. Jesus has not only provided the potential for His children to overcome personal sin; but He has also provided a way for our overcoming to have an effect on the Church, the community, the nation, and eventually the planet.

Surely, the lack of overcoming in God’s people is heavy on God’s heart. Those who do not overcome are overcome. Overcome by negative emotions of depression, hopelessness, pride, anger, rage, violence, fear, worry, insecurity, jealousy, etc. These negative emotions lead to being overcome by lust of all kinds, bondages of immorality, drugs, alcohol, sexual perversions, selfishness, greed, etc.

This is not the lifestyle for which Jesus gave His life. He did not die to purchase failure for His people. If we are to ever see the overcoming of poverty, racial hatred, injustice, political aggression, child abuse, family violence, abortion, gang violence, and every other social sickness and evil, we must begin to understand the overcoming power of Christ. We must in reality grasp the ability to appropriate the great mystery of the overcoming work of Jesus.

The enemy wants you to believe the earth is his and the fullness thereof. He wants you to hide out and just try to hang on until you die and go to heaven. The enemy sure doesn’t want you to know that in appropriating the work (the ministry) of Christ Jesus you have the power to overcome him and all his dirty work. The truth is that the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.

Psalm 24:1: The earth is the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

The only right the devil has to this world and its people is the right that we give him. His only power is the power of deception. If he can make people believe his lies, then he can carry out the lies. The Word is clear. Jesus has overcome the enemy and all of his work. We do not belong to the devil. We do not need to believe or obey him in any area. Neither the earth nor anything in it belongs to the enemy, and we do not have to give up anything to him. He has no right to cause the earth to be burned in judgment. He has no right to the governments of the world. The world system does not belong to him. It is God’s. God gave His only Son to repurchase it. He is waiting for His people to overcome and possess His world. Is there any mission on earth more important than overcoming?

Perhaps there is no more vital word in the Bible relative to overcoming than the following verse. If we can receive revelation light regarding the meaning of this verse, we will be on the way toward overcoming.

KEY VERSE

Revelation 12:11: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

The Greek work translated“overcame”is “nikao” (nik-ah’-o) meaning “to subdue,” or “to get the victory.” It comes from the word “nike” (nee’-kay), a prime root meaning “conquest”, or “means of success.”

The Greek word translated “testimony” is “marturia” (mar-too-ree’-ah) meaning evidence.” It comes from “martus” (mar’-toos) meaning “witness” and implies “a martyr.”

Our overcoming begins with the blood of the Lamb. It is only by the cross that the enemy’s power was and is broken. When the perfect, sinless Son of God gave up His pure life on the cross to die for all sin, the penalty for all sin was and is forever paid. From that point forward, the enemy has no further hold, no further right to impose evil on any person on earth except as we allow it. In our ignorance of the work that Jesus has done and because of our doubt and unbelief, mankind continues to suffer needlessly. As the blood flowed from Jesus’ body on the cross and was absorbed by the soil of the earth, the earth was forever changed. God’s economy relative to man, the earth, and the devil was, for all time and eternity, changed.

God’s full acceptance and acknowledgment of the completed work of the cross as payment for the penalty of all sin is proved in the resurrection of His Son. Had the work of redemption not been perfect, had the law not been totally satisfied, there would have been no resurrection. It is forever settled. The enemy has no further right to impose evil without our (mankind’s) approval. That’s why the Scripture says, “the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.”

Jesus then ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father to make intercession for us. The finished work of the cross, the blood of Jesus the Lamb, is ever before God to plead our case. The enemy has no rights. The case is always decided by the blood of Jesus, if we so plead. The matter is in our hands. We can deny the blood. We can plead our own case. We can, if we choose, deny our sin. We can choose to do it our way. We can walk in unbelief toward the blood of Jesus. This is disobedience to God and our invitation to the devil to impose evil upon us. We then become one he may devour.

Not only is Jesus interceding for us at the right hand of the Father, He has also returned to earth in the Holy Spirit to personally indwell each of His children. The Word says He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians15:46, 2 Corinthians 8:17). Living in us, He is our source of power and righteousness for daily living. He is always with us, always available to communicate with us regarding every situation we encounter. His love in us causes us to desire to walk in obedience to God. It also grants us the power of His life enabling us to walk in the practical reality of being and doing exactly as He is and does. And, He always obeys the Father.

There are many things that can affect our ability to walk in the Spirit of Christ, but our walk must begin with our desire to lay aside any and every thing that hinders.

One major hindrance might involve our need to do things our way. Our will must take second place to His will. Eventually His will must become our’s. Daily we can attempt to live righteously on our own. We can strive to do things right. We can seek religious orders, systems, and practices to cause us to live righteously. In doing so, we deny the Lord. We deny His Holy Spirit living in us.

The evidence or “word of our testimony”comes forth from Jesus living in us. As we“do not love our own life to the death,” we give up our own way and allow Christ Jesus to live in us by the Holy Spirit instead of allowing our own life to live in us. As He lives in us and we listen to and obey Him, we overcome.

Revelation 2:7b: “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”

Eating from the tree of life means hearing and receiving living revelation of God, as opposed to reasoning things out from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It means experiencing eternal (abundant) life now.

John 10:10:The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Eternal life is a quality of life, not just a quantity. The Greek word translated “abundantly” is“perissos” (per-is-sos’) which means “beyond,” “super abundant (in quantity),” “ superior (in quality),” or “preeminence.”

Revelation 22:14: Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city.

Western culture has taught us to depend on our intellect. Education is seen as the answer to mankind’s social ills. The basic theory seems to be that, if we have enough knowledge, we will become smart enough to rule our own lives successfully. Independence is very important to our way of thinking. We feel, if we are intellectually sharp enough and have enough money, we can do what we want and have all we want. We think surely this will produce peace and happiness. This is partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Yes, education and mental skills are important aspects of life; but they alone cannot bring us the abundant, overcoming life of the kingdom of God.

A number of years ago a man in his fifties came to me for personal ministry. We will call him Dr. Smart. I chose this name because he was one of the most intelligent men I had ever met. He held several doctors’ degrees, including a theological degree. Dr. Smart came looking for help with great emotional problems. I don’t believe I have ever seen a more miserable person. He was dealing with great inner pain and strife. Personal and professional relationships would not function properly in his life. He was intensely frustrated, lonely, and angry.

As we talked, I mentioned a scripture. He quickly told me where it was found, who wrote it to whom, the intent of the writer, and the cultural conditions at the time and place it was written. Yet, this poor man had no spiritual revelation of the Word. He did not have the first revelation of Jesus as Savior and Lord, and would hear nothing of spiritual revelation at all. He would debate and even become angry with any suggestion of spiritual revelation. His whole understanding came from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, He had no part with the tree of life. Jesus is the only source of abundant life, the kingdom of God lifestyle.

Keep on Pursuing Love
It Will Never Fail,

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

Live in the Spirit – Walk in the Spirit

Posted: April 2, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
Tags: , , ,
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An Apostolic Reality
By Ron McGatlin

In practical reality, what on earth does it really mean to you and me today to live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit?
Gal 5:25: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

There is much talk today about Apostles and apostolic ministry and government. My email in-box daily contains words about apostolic this or that generally seeking to define and understand Apostles and the change that God is sending regarding life and government in the ekklesia. Gatherings and networks of Apostles are seeking to enlighten one another on the kingdom (government) of God and iron out the different views developing on how we should do church and function in a changing world.

The Spirit of God is grieved within me and my heart is challenged by the absence of living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit evident in most apostolic discussions. The Spirit is hardly mentioned in the considerations of the “apostolic” meanderings of teachings for aligning apostolically with one another.

Are we making the same old mistakes over again? Throughout recent church history what is deemed the lack of godly order in the people has been answered with increased human leadership imposing safeguards to stem the deviations of false teachings and unorthodox practices. Seeking to keep our doctrine and our practices pure has again and again led to more human organization, structure, and control. Preaching the word of the Bible without the power of the Spirit produces bondage and not life. In every case that I am aware of, this has squelched the Spirit of Christ flowing through the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit has pulled away.

Jesus will not be head with another. God will not share His glory with another. We will not have the headship of Christ and the headship of man at the same time. There is one head upon the shoulders of the Body of Christ.

Establishing more human accountability to other men sounds like a great answer. However, without living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit, it is just more foolishness of human government. If we live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, we are fully and completely accountable to the living Father and in full alignment with our great Apostle, the Lord Christ Jesus, and in one accord with others who do the same. It is by the SPIRIT of God, the Holy Spirit that most leaders seem afraid to receive, yield to, proclaim, and impart to multitudes of spiritless “Christians” who are seeking life in the wrong places.

The Holy Spirit bringing the awesome power, wisdom, and love of Jesus is the only way to abundant life. The living water (Spirit of God) is the answer to completely changing the people from the inside and bringing the chaos of foolish leadership of flesh to a complete end with the powerful flow of anointing of the Spirit destroying the yokes of bondage.

Read the book of Acts again. The early Apostles lived and walked in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God was the source of all the mighty works and powerful ministry of the first century including all the mighty works of Christ Jesus Himself. Yes, the mighty life, ministry, and works of Jesus were all done through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Wake up people of God! If Jesus overcame the world and demonstrated authority over the enemy and all the elements of the world by the Holy Spirit, what are you going to do with your Bible studies and apostolic teaching seminars and gatherings without the fullness of the power, love, and wisdom of the Holy Spirit of God Almighty working the life of Christ Jesus in you?????? What good is it going to do if you organize and send Apostles to appoint some elders to try to stem the tide of foolish and childish behavior of Christians who do not know the gift of God or the one who speaks to them from heaven?

Human leadership will never produce the life of God without the same power, love, and wisdom of the Holy Spirit that flowed through Christ Jesus and the early Apostles.

Our centuries of entrapment in man-altered “Christian” religious training is robbing us of the release of the fullness of the power and love of God flowing through the Spirit to powerfully impact and change the wasted people of God and align the gifted servant-leaders in the purposes of God.

Jesus is again saying to those who come to the well to seek life giving water, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you….”

I hear our Lord and Father through the Holy Spirit crying out to this generation, “Oh if you only knew the gift I have for you. Oh, if you only knew who is speaking to you and what my desire and provision is for you to flow in my kingdom into all the world. Oh, If you really knew…”

John 4:10: Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

John 4:13-14: Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Thirsty Christians worldwide continue to cry out to God for more and are not satisfied. If we continue in desperate thirst, it is clear that we have not yet asked of Him and received from Him the fullness of the living water that will cause us to NEVER thirst again but have the water (Spirit) that will become in us a fountain of the Spirit springing up into everlasting (continuous) LIFE. How can we thirst for more of Him when His fountain of living Spirit is flowing up from within us?

This is the ultimate Joy of God and His rest from all striving. We never thirst again. Yes, we may long for others and the world to come into the reality of His Spirit also. And we may, with joy, look forward to the full reality of the New Jerusalem lifestyle forming the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven that fills the entire earth. However, we are living and fully walking in the kingdom now within our hearts as the fountain of SPIRIT of GOD flows up and out of us.

This is the life for which we gladly give up our previous Christian self-life with all its rules and doctrines of human order and accountability. This is the power, love, and wisdom that are the ministry to be imparted by the true apostolic ministry. This is the work that will stop the foolishness of fleshly teachings and practices of the people. The work of the kingdom that more apostolic structure and more Bible studies cannot accomplish. “By my SPIRIT,” says the Lord (Zec 4:6).

This thing began in the Spirit; are we going to try to finish it in human wisdom, understanding, and structuring?

Gal 3:3: Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Absolutely not! The kingdom of God will not mature apart from our complete dependence and accountability to the Spirit of God our Father and our Lord.

There must be true Apostles pure, holy people of God who so live and walk by the Spirit that no believer will need to ask who appointed them or empowered them. They do not need a title or an organization. They will not promote and build a ministry and will not need to ask provision of any man. These are God’s gifted humble holy men and women who have no life apart from the Holy Spirit of God. They are in the world as Christ to impart life of the Spirit into many. They will not allow others to worship them and set them up as someone special above others. But will impart the same life that is in them to all who seek the kingdom of God with their whole heart.

We need an explosive life ending Spirit beginning encounter with God in the Spirit to me made alive. Then we must decide daily to live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. We will not thirst again but in pure love and power we will speak the oracles of God and flow the works of Christ into the world. This gospel of the kingdom must be preached and demonstrated to all the world and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God. Christ Jesus shall be seen in great glory and fully honored as Lord and King.

Keep on pursuing love.
It never fails.

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

The King’s Business is Love

Posted: April 1, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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The King’s Business is Love

By Ron McGatlin

Spiritual transformation of the natural world is beginning to affect every person and every aspect of life on the planet. The whole world is in the process of beginning to experience the intervention of the fire of God. The boiling cloud of the fire of His Presence has been gradually moving closer to the earth for decades. Since the 1990s, the fire cloud of His Presence has been hovering near the earth sending streamers down that touch here and there on the earth. The full cloud of His fire coming closer now is just barely beginning to touch the world and will soon fully set upon the earth.

Today, in this immediate season, there are bolts of fire like powerful lightning proceeding from the cloud, striking humble pure-hearted forerunners among God’s people with the fire of the kingdom of God on earth. Immediately electrifying them and quickly flowing to all that are gathered with them. No one in the gatherings that is fully impacted by the lightning strike can ever again be the same as before. In these lightning struck gatherings across the world, all that remain are instantly filled with the potential to carry the kingdom of God and impart it to many others who are prepared to receive. The spiritual lightning strike welds the people who are in the gathering together in love. Relationships are formed in a day that will last forever. A nation/tribe can be formed in a day.

Love produces liberty and freedom.

The predominant characteristic and major principle of the kingdom is God’s love. The kingdom is held together by love. Love brings purification leading to holiness. Love is the most powerful motivational force in the world. Love causes us to serve one another. The love of God in Christ consumes us and causes us to desire Him and to serve Him with all we are and all we have. His love flowing through us fulfills all the law and produces perfect obedience. Love destroys all fear. Love opens the way for us to prosper in all endeavors of life.

Faith (believing) is the second greatest characteristic or principle of the kingdom of God. Faith works by love. Love prepares the way for faith to operate. Faith allows us to know and relate by love in the spiritual realm that we cannot see with natural eyes. Faith working through love can release supernatural power of God to function and flow in and through us. Power to fulfill the will of God and bring forth His righteousness in His kingdom on earth comes by faith through love.

Peace and joy are never far behind righteousness produced by faith and love. Because of faith through the love of God, hope (positive expectation) fully endures even the darkest valleys of the shadows of death remaining in this world.

Living the kingdom lifestyle sets us in liberty from all fear, anxiety, worry, striving, resentment, jealously, envy, anger, hatred, and all other forms of stress. Freedom from these death and disease causing factors allows us to be healed and move into greater wellness in our bodies. In the kingdom lifestyle, greater prosperity of our spirits, souls, and bodies increases our potential for prosperity in all of the King’s business that we are given to steward for and with Him.

Babylon is Falling – New Jerusalem is Forming

The message of the ministers of fire, reaching to every high-rise mega city, to the mountain villages and the caves of the forest lands is in part, “come out of spiritual Babylon my people. Set your heart toward spiritual Jerusalem. Make haste! For the time has come for this great harlot religious, political, and economic system with all its patterns of life to be judged of God, and it is coming down.”

The patterns of Babylon must be dissolved before the patterns of New Jerusalem can rule the whole world. The people seeking to enter the city-of-God lifestyle must have the Babylonian patterns and ways broken, removed from their lives, and replaced with New Jerusalem patterns. The Babylonian system has been deadly to the saints of God. Many have fallen, and many are in captivity to Babylonian ways. God’s people are warned to come out of Babylon lest they receive of her plagues.

Revelation 18:2-4: And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a habitation of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.”

The time is short. God will do a quick work. Forerunners, struck by this lightning, will be quickly transformed and quickly moving in the power of the Spirit to carry the fire of the kingdom of God to multitudes fleeing from the crashing of Babylon.

The great roaring cloud of the fire of God touching earth will soon fully be upon the earth and will leave only smoke and ashes of Babylon. The call of the hour is gather in relational kingdom seeking gatherings and be transformed in the presence of God. Run out of Babylonian style religious and secular, social, economic, political gatherings and connections. Run toward the New Jerusalem presence and power of God and seek to empty your head, heart, and life of all the ways of Babylon. Christ Jesus by His Spirit will guide us and empower us to transition into the reality of Spirit-led powerful yet humble ways of His life in us.

Do not be deceived by the relatively short season of seemingly peace in Babylon. Do not believe the false words of peace, peace when there is no peace in Babylon.

The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God, and we will be a part of it by the love, wisdom, and power of the Spirit of God in us.

All things are possible to those who believe the words of God.

Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Keep on pursuing love. It never fails
and His kingdom never ends.

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

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