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It’s winter here in New Zealand, it’s cold; I’m cold! The past few nights have been the coldest this nation has seen for a long time. Yet today I’m sitting here looking out my window on a cloudless blue sky with bright yellow lilies opening up before me in the garden. Today is presenting to me two contradictory pictures – cold temperatures along with a bright blue sky which speaks to me of warm summer type weather. Why am I sharing that seeming contradiction? Because it illustrates something the Lord spoke to me a few minutes ago…
I felt the Lord say “I’m going to open the eyes of my deaf people.” My response of course was “Whaaat…? That doesn’t make sense Lord.” And it didn’t, until He began to unpack it to me.
The Lord began to remind me that hearing activates internal sight. He reminded me that recently, while at Revival School, I had really noticed again just how much my internal sight is activated when people say things. They say things and I literally see what they say, which can be frustrating at times, depending on what people are saying. (I had wondered at the time why my focus was being drawn to noticing that; now I know.)
We all do it to a lesser or greater degree; we see what is spoken. That’s why we’ll be listening to someone describe something over the phone and we’ll say “Oh, I see”, yet we’re actually hearing them speak, not watching them show us something.
It’s like that when the Lord speaks, too. It activates internal sight which, if focused on and mulled over, begins to grow something inside us – desire; and desire when it comes is a tree of life (Prov 13:12). We actually live out of what we see!
The deafness the Lord was talking to me about is not a literal physical deafness, it is the deafness brought about by time constraints and the busyness of life. It’s the things that drown out the still small voice of the Lord during our daily life. That deafness and blindness is about to be lifted from peoples’ lives and a clarity of hearing is beginning to open up that will cause an opening of internal eyes to see to a whole new degree.
And what is seen will begin to be lived out of.
The following is a prophetic word the Lord gave me for you regarding the above revelation…
“I am going to open the eyes of my deaf people! I know, your first reaction will be “But Lord, I’m not deaf.” Have the cares of the world dulled your eyesight and hearing? Do you see with the clarity you’d like to see with? I am offering to you eye salve and ear drops made from the purest of Heaven’s oil. I will apply them myself so you can be assured there will be no “hit or miss” with this treatment. As I apply them they’ll give you a whole new realm of clarity in seeing and hearing. That seeing and hearing will become within you a tree of life, and out of that tree of life many new things will be birthed, in your life and in the lives of those you minister to.
New dreams will be released to you, new hopes and desires stirred and awakened, new vision and visions will be given that have the possibility of releasing the Kingdom into earth and the future into now. New assignments are being given out to those who have these renewed eyes to see and ears to hear; and there are new chances to co-operate with Me in releasing heaven into earth that will bring life to many. Ask me now for new eyes to see and ears to hear; and as you do expect me to open up new things to you. New revelation will flow, new ideas, dreams and visions; this is both my promise and my surety of provision to you.”
Ask the Lord to give new sight to your deafness. Ask Him to apply eye salve and ear drops to wash away the crustiness life has caused to come to those areas. Ask for new clarity in your hearing and new vision for your life, it’s waiting there now for you. I’m putting my hand up and saying “Yes please, Lord, apply eyes salve and ear drops to me. Open my eyes and ears in a whole new way to see and hear and live in the light of what You and Heaven are doing.”
I apologise for this article being a bit longer but it’s length is necessary to do justice to the subject matter involved.
In light of recent events that have happened in Christendom, people have asked me about some of the things happening to people in revelatory encounters and whether they are real, valid and scriptural; and how we know.
Revelatory encounters are certainly on the increase in the Body of Christ and many people are having and are claiming to have had Throne room encounters, heavenly encounters with angels and people, revelations regarding the revealing of the sons of God, courtroom of Heaven encounters, and more. Many of those experiences are legal, real and valid but some are not and we must learn how to distinguish between the two types.
I want in this article to drop a plumbline for judging the validity of the revelatory experiences we may have. (For those that don’t know, a plumbline is a cord weighted with lead that is used in building to check that vertical structures are true. It is used symbolically to refer to the divine standard against which God, the builder of his people, tests and judges them. It also symbolises the standards by which God will rebuild his people. Zech 1:16; Zech 4:9-10 1)
The base plumblines for assessing our revelations are these –
- The nature and character of the Godhead – God is love, is good, His mercy triumphs over his judgement; He is faithful, kind, holy, righteous and much more.
- What scripture shows us about God, His ways and His plans for mankind.
- The finished work of the Cross and what that resulted in as shown in Scripture – Gods plans for the restoration of mankind to his original status and into the image of Christ, the healing, wholeness, righteousness, holiness etc that the work of the Cross accomplished.
- What scripture shows us about the way we should walk out our salvation and life in Christ.
- What scripture shows us are acceptable experiences and what aren’t.
- Love – receiving it, becoming it and living it out – if our revelations do not include this work in us then we are nothing, have nothing and do no lasting good (1 Cor 13:2,3).
The things listed below are an important part of the process of assessing revelatory encounters based on the plumblines above.
- Any revelation that denies the Godhead as being who they are, denies that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or denies that He is above all other principalities and powers is a deceptive one. Jesus is not simply a man, a prophet, a healer, a man of light and goodness. He is the embodiment and full revelation of the Godhead. He and the Father are one and He is one with Holy Spirit, not less than or subservient to either nor they to Him. They operate in the fullness of oneness, honouring each other and their different functional roles within that.
- Realise that all people’s encounters are subjective (every time) – that is, how we see them and understand them is influenced by personal feelings, tastes, opinions and perceptions, our backgrounds and woundedness from life experiences, our knowledge of the true nature of God, the finished work of the Cross, our knowledge and correct understanding of scripture and more.
- Realise our knowledge is at best incomplete – “For we know in part and prophesy in part”…1 Cor 13:9 – 12. None of us can claim full knowledge or understanding, so we must be willing to submit our experiences for weighing and assessment. On our very best days and in our most deep revelations we still only know in part and we will sometimes get our interpretations wrong – no individual knows all truth; they are not God. We do not stand alone as islands of revelation – our revelations together should build toward a truer picture of who God is and who we are in Christ like jigsaw pieces do towards the full revelation of the big picture.
- We are told in Scripture to judge or weigh prophecy and (by inference) prophetic revelation (1 Cor 14:29). That judging or assessing is done by others; not just by ourself. On our own we cannot have anything but a subjective opinion of what something means because of the life lenses we look through. We must therefore be willing to submit our revelations to others who are mature believers and leaders and be willing to be called to account for them. Prov 11:14 says “Where there is no counsel people fail, but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”
- We are called to walk in love and it is ultimately by our love that we are distinguished from all others (John 13:34,35) not by our experiences. Others will sometimes disagree with our interpretations of our revelations and sometimes we will disagree with their interpretations; that’s life and that’s different people looking at the same thing through different lenses. But even if we disagree we are called to not break relationship but to continue to live in love (1 John 2: 9-11). Breaking relationship and love is never the right way to deal with something. This does not mean you have to still be buddy buddy besties, but love is a heart stance that refuses to let go of God’s best dreams for the other person and continues to act and speak in an honouring way to them and about them.
- We are to test the spirits (1 John 4:1-3). Not all revelation comes from God; not even all the good-looking, good feeling stuff. The demonic are well able to disguise themselves as being good and give us deceptively good experiences (2 Cor 11:14-15). Just because you supposedly talked to a historical figure or saint does not mean it was that person or that the experience was a valid experience from God, although it very well may have been. (God took Jesus into an experience where He talked to two men who had passed into eternity – Moses and Elijah, so it can happen – Matt 17:1-6) Can those you meet in an experience call Jesus their Lord? Do they inspire deep reverence and worship for themselves (warning bell) or do they actively dissuade you from that and turn you to worshipping Jesus? Do they invite you to continue accessing them for revelation or do they turn you to Christ in the way they speak and act? Does what you’re experiencing line up with what is revealed in scripture about God and the Kingdom?
- True revelation from God brings humility and pruning into our lives. In Scripture we see that true Heavenly experiences brought humility into the persons life who had them; and that also while having them they saw aspects of their nature that needed to be corrected. (Is 6:1-5; Acts 22:6-10; 2 Cor 12:1-10) We cannot come face to face with the goodness, mercy, grace, purity, righteousness and holiness of the King and His kingdom without seeing areas of our lives and mindsets that need adjustment. That doesn’t mean it needs to be a serious, or joy lacking experience, even a fun-filled true Kingdom experience will have the effect of working in us humility and pruning us as we see where our lives and thought patterns do not align with the Lord and His kingdom.
- True revelation should bring fruit that is measureable and lasts. An experience may be real but if it has no measurable fruit in our life or the lives of others it is either an invalid or wasted experience. The experiences we have should bear good Kingdom fruit in our lives – things like causing us to worship and love the Godhead in a greater way, to be in awe of them – their nature, character, love etc. Those experiences should set us free in areas, from bondages, and wrong mindsets. They should increase our love for other people, our respect for scripture etc. They should end up with us walking in a greater release of Kingdom realities on earth, e.g. healing the sick etc. Experiences without measureable fruit become self-focused at best and narcissistic deceptions at worst. It is not all about you and your experience; it never was and never is. The Lord’s plan for your experiences in Him is way bigger than you, even though you will be blessed beyond measure in them.
- Your experiences say nothing about your spirituality, character or your maturity. They are not commendations and recommendations of you to others. They are not to promote you in your ministry. They simply say you had an experience and that you have a good Father who loves His children to experience revelation about Him and His kingdom.
- Too many of us take literally what is often symbolic. We must turn to Holy Spirit for the right interpretations of our experiences; it is part of his role to lead us into truth. All through scripture we see that very few of the visual revelations people experienced were literal in their meaning, they were mostly symbolic. They are given like this because we have been invited into a walk of dependency on the Holy Spirit not on our mind and intellect. So we must ask the Lord for understanding and for His wisdom; our own understanding will in most cases translate our experiences wrongly because we think from a human perspective with human and often worldly or carnal thinking. All too often I meet people who have wrongly interpreted their revelations and have come to believe something that is not consistent with what scripture shows us or consistent with the nature and character of the Godhead.
- We are called to be led by the Holy Spirit in all areas and that includes accessing revelation – even though we are called to access the things of the Kingdom by faith (rather than from just a sovereign download of revelation and experience) we should still be asking Holy Spirit if this is what He has for us to access at this time. Even in the midst of an experience we need to be led by Him not just by our desires and wants. Often in the midst of an experience I will see something and want to investigate it yet on asking Him He has said something like “not this time, that’s not what you’re here for at the moment”. Some might be tempted to think that is staying in a place of immaturity but it is not immaturity, it is staying in a place of dependency and that is far different. Immaturity is doing your own thing, your own way, irrespective of others and how it affects them.
- God can move extra biblically – in other words show us things that aren’t in scripture. Throughout scripture we see many firsts and new things being revealed. God often shows things and then gives understanding later but that doesn’t mean all new revelation is from Him. And we cannot afford to blindly think it is. Even the elect can be deceived (Mar 13:22; 2 Tim 3) All revelations must be weighed and assessed by the things outlined above especially by the overall counsel of Scripture, whether it lines up with the work of the Cross, and judged by mature New Covenant Apostles, Prophets and Theologians. Sometimes that can take time to work out and the theology regarding new things can take years to form. Even in Scripture wisdom was applied when they said in Acts 5:37-39 …”if this counsel or work is of men it will come to nothing. But if it is of God you cannot overthrow it, you may even find yourself fighting against God”. So we should not be quick to jump to judgment and call something heresy (after all we all have some wrong beliefs about the Lord and his kingdom to some degree). But when God does release new revelation into the Body of Christ we must be willing also to move forward in it if it is proved a true revelation from Him; not to pull back and kick out because it doesn’t fit our preconceived ideas of how God does things.
- We are called to grow up into maturity in Christ, into His image, not just into ethereal experience. Jesus is our example and what we are to be becoming like. He was both incredibly heavenly minded and intensely practical – He was not some Christian mystic lost in some esoteric experience that was wasted on himself alone. His experiences had measurable fruit that lasted in his life and others. We may have experiences and even teach from them but if they do not have the effect of changing us into the image of Christ then they are invalid and wasted experiences.
Experience is a vital part of growing and all life is based on both experience and understanding; but if our experiences take the place of what Scripture tells us are part of Gods will for our lives then we are out of line. If they do not lead to us releasing the Kingdom into earth in tangible measureable ways – living a greater outworking of love, honouring our brothers and sisters in Christ, feeding the poor, helping the widows and broken, bringing healing to those who are wounded physically and emotionally, discipling nations etc. then they become self absorbed experiences that do nothing except to heighten knowledge and possibly foster a feeling of spiritual superiority.
God is calling us to grow up into maturity, to be those who rightly divide the word of truth, to rightly interpret our experiences, and to become mature believers who walk in true revelation and understanding that leads to the establishing of His kingdom in the earth. And we are, albeit slowly; around the world there are people having genuine heavenly encounters that are resulting in lives and communities being radically changed. Let’s continue to move forward in that. Let’s hold up the plumbline of Truth to our encounters and then move forward into all God is releasing with confidence because our revelations have been weighed and tested and proved true.
I had been asked to paint during the worship time here at Revival School NZ in Te Anau so I allowed my thoughts to turn to asking the Lord what he wanted to release through the painting I would do. The Lord had been stirring my heart over the past few months regarding the wonderful things he had in store for the Maori people of our nation. As I waited on what He wanted me to paint, in my minds eye this painting is what I saw. It is a a mixture of collage and paint – the Maori woman and the koru being collaged onto the canvas and the rest painted. I would have loved to be able to paint the woman and koru as well but I only had just over an hour to get the painting finished. Painting in a worship time always has an element of tension as you usually need to be able to express what is in your heart in the allotted time. That means you must simplify and distill your idea down as much as possible so that at the end of the worship time your idea is at a stage that people can know what you are trying to convey.
So here it is – the painting is called Cloud Piercer because a seer or prophet sees beyond the natural realm into the heavenly or supernatural realms. They have eyes that pierce through the clouds of this realm into others. Cloud Piercer is a call to the Maori people’s ability to see into the revelatory realm to come forth again, their calling as a prophetic people, as Matakite (the Maori word for prophet or seer), to be awakened for the Lord and for the good of the nation.
The clouds represent the cloud of God’s presence (the glory) being released and covering the nation – they surround the woman – that’s a call to be children who walk in the midst of the cloud and who ascend and descend out of the cloud of his glory – a people called to be cloud piercers.
The ladder represents the ability and call to live from two realms simultaneously – the eternal kingdom realm and the earthly realm. It also represents the ability to access the heavenly realm for revelation.
The seven eagles represent the prophetic mantle over the nation, a part of which is being able to ascend and see from above and beyond normal abilities – with supernatural ability, to see the Lords plans and strategies and also to see the enemy’s strategies from above (from being seated with Christ in heavenly places) and to inform others of what they see from there. The number seven represents perfection & completeness. The eagles also represent the Haast Eagle (which was our nations largest bird but is now extinct) and it represents the restoration of all things.
The land represents the nation, the woman rising from the land represents her oneness with the land and the Koru signifies that in Christ we are one reborn cosmos – people and land – redeemed from the curse, sanctified and set apart for the purposes of God through and in Christ Jesus.
So with this painting I release an awakening, a calling forth, a resurgence of the prophetic and seer gifting amongst the Maori people of Aotearoa New Zealand. I release angelic messengers to bring revelation of God the Father and Christ and their great love for them and purposes for them.
I declare – Matakite – prophets, seers – wake up, wake up, wake up. – Tihae Mauriora, Tihae Mauriora, Tihae Mauriora!
The following word was given this morning at Fiordland New Life Church in the worship time by Lyn Packer. It is given for the Church in New Zealand but is also a word for the Church in the nations as well.
“I say to you, victory is your starting point, not need! Provision is your starting point, not need. I’ve given you eyes to see; will you see, will you look from my perspective?
I’m raising up a company in this nation; a company of burning hearts, a company of those who see rightly, whose starting point is the as yet unseen reality of my promise. I am raising up a company of those who will take me at my Word and see that my promises have been fulfilled before they are given, who see the provision has arrived before its journey started. I am raising up those who see ahead of time to an already established reality and I am doing it in this place, in this time.
Can you see them? Can you see them, because they are you! I am doing a work in your life that will forever shift your sight line! Today I decree a shift in your sight line. No longer will you be satisfied with seeing through veiled or faithless eyes; no longer will you be satisfied with seeing from a ‘needs’ perspective. Today I say you shall now see with spirit eyes; the eyes of a seer are released today, here and in this nation. I give you eyes to see, and to function. from the place of victory already established, from provision already given.
See beyond time. See my already established future, my hope, my plans for yourself and this nation of New Zealand. I have given you my promises so that you may know ahead of time what your tomorrow will look like. You are about to step into a prophetic window of time that will establish what your future and the future of this nation will look like. It is a crucial time, weighty in its implication and in its reality.
Listen for me in what you hear, look for me in what you see. Look beyond today; see your future and begin to live in that now. Who said there must be steps you must take? Who said there must be levels to ascend. What I say you can do, you can do. Do not say “I am too immature, I need more healing before I’m ready.” I have already made provision for it, it is already established as I see you. I will take care of character as you walk in submission to me. I have already brought you into fullness of maturity in Christ. Stay in Him, lean into Him, rely on Him. Exchange your weakness for His strength and it will become your strength. Step into your future today. Don’t put it off into tomorrow, you can walk in it today. Go beyond now and walk in tomorrow today. I operate beyond time, so you can walk according to my vision, what I see, not earth’s timeline.
Victory is your starting position; maturity is your starting position; provision is your starting position, because they are already established in me, in my plans for you and for the nation. Do not look at this nation and say “It is too hard.” It is already accomplished in me. I am making you and I am making this nation a company of burning hearts. You, my called out ones, my burning hearts, will move through this nation and the nations of the earth, sharing the reality of my Kingdom.”
A declaration to make
“I declare that I am a part of the company of burning hearts that you are raising up in this time. I have eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to understand what You are doing in this time.
I declare that victory is my starting place, that provision is my starting place, that maturity is my starting place; those realities already exist because of how You see me. I declare that I walk in purpose and destiny already because You see my end from my beginning. I am Your child, called by Your Name, destined to burn with Your love so men will see and be drawn to You! My jurisdiction is first this nation then the nations of the world. They are mine. You have given them to me as my inheritance and so I take my place in Your company of burning hearts, as one that will burn for You!”
On Sunday evening as we worshipped I felt the Lord declare that there is a paradigm shift in revelation happening in the Church by his decree at the moment – that He is releasing further revelation of our union with Christ.
In Ephesians 4 the Lord calls us to grow up in all aspects into maturity in Him, and that’s what this paradigm shift is about. We have come through a period of a few years where He has focused us on the Father’s love and that will not finish, there will always be a revelation of that love, just as all previous revelations continue on and we see deeper things in them as He reveals them to us. Now He is awakening a deeper revelation of our union or marriage relationship with Christ. During this Kingdom age we will come to understand and know by experience the fullness of that relationship.
Jesus made a covenant with us (a marriage covenant) that allowed us to become the bride of Christ; he made it both as mankind’s representative and as God. He told us in that covenant all that He would bring to the marriage union as God and all that He would bring to the marriage union as mankind’s representative. He knew we could never keep the terms of the covenant by ourselves, that’s why He made it! We step into that covenant of union by faith, in Him. We step into it in Him, with his faith; we now live in covenant relationship with Him by the faith of the son of God.
This is not a focus on first love, on the feelings that come with that. They will never fade, in fact they will grow and deepen. This is a not a focus on the wedding, the ceremony, that has happened, you are in union with Christ if you have believed in him and asked him to give his life to you. Don’t look back and hanker for the wedding to happen all over again. There are many who hanker after that first giddy love because they love that feeling. That feeling isn’t wrong but it’s time to add to that.
This is an asking by the Lord of the question “What does it look like to be married to Jesus? What does it look like to live in that place of married love, purpose and fulfillment?”
It’s a time to ask – what comes next, how do we walk in the reality of what has taken place – one heart, one mind, one spirit with Christ. It’s this he is leading us into. It’s a shift in focus – into walking as one.
There are many in the body of Christ who will say “we know about the bride of Christ”, but this is a deeper revelation of that truth. Just as we are not to stay babes in Christ, immature; so we are not to stay babes in the knowing of love. There are many in the body of Christ who have fixated on being the bride – like in an earthly relationship where the girl gets fixated on the wedding. But remember, the wedding is just the beginning.
“There are those who seek me as bridegroom because they love the feelings, but there will be days when the feelings are high and there will be days when the feelings are low. That’s when you walk in the knowledge of my love, in the knowledge of that oneness, that union. That is not a time to say that I have left you, I am one with you; that cannot happen. I have promised to never leave you nor forsake you”, says the Lord. “Look past the wedding. What does it look like to walk as one with me… resources, provision, family relationships, raising spiritual sons and daughters, ministry together, partnership, mutual love and submission and so much more.”
He is calling us back to the eternal reality of Eden – delight. This is related to the marriage relationship of the bride and bridegroom. He is calling us to know what it is to walk in the garden of delight with him, to tend the garden and see it grow and mature into a garden of seasoned delight. This is talking about love and desire but it’s not the giddy desire of first love, it’s the mature desire of love fulfilled, of love that has deepened and grown over time into a garden of deep delight within us because it’s matured and has added to that desire of first love. First love is good but there is a deeper love, a maturing of love that adds devotion, companionship, and oneness of heart, mind and purpose to the first love of desire. Don’t keep hankering back to first love, never lose your first love, your desire; but add to it maturity of love.
This is a shift in focus that is happening according to the Lord’s purpose, He’s calling the Church into maturity, as equals with Christ in covenant relationship, a true covenant partnership of husband and wife working together to release heaven into earth.
Part 2
As I was praying for this year there were four statements that came clearly to me – SEE, ALIGN, DECLARE, MOVE INTO IT!
See
Seeing or recognizing what God is doing is of course the first thing that needs to happen. This can happen in different ways and one way is not better than another; all revelation from God is of the same immense value, no matter what form it comes in. To receive revelation by an open eye vision is not more spiritual or valuable than hearing the still small voice of God whisper in your heart and mind; they are just different forms of receiving the same life changing revelations. Be thankful no matter what form revelation comes to you in; if you let it, it will change your life!
Align
Alignment is key in this time. We must choose to align ourselves both internally and externally with what God is doing and ask Him to give us understanding and experience of it.
For example, in our nation of New Zealand we have been crying out for years for God to move, and over the last few years we have seen the beginning of an awakening that is spreading through the church in our nation. Yet in many ways we haven’t recognized that God has answered our prayers, because we are looking for Him to move in the same ways He has moved in the past. Because of that many are missing what He is actually doing now.
For the past few years, as a ministry, we have been proclaiming that God is moving ‘now’ in our nation and recently at a Prophets’ Hui that I attended this prophetic word was given by a respected prophetic minister in this nation, Lorraine Hagen, which confirmed that. Part of it said this – “I saw as we began worshiping, a complete change over in time, and the Lord said “I have come, I have come”. It’s not a time to call out and say, “Come”, anymore; He says “I’ve come”. It’s almost like “coming ready or not”. He says “I have come”.” You can read the whole word here on our website.
Declare
We need to align ourselves with what God is doing and saying and begin to say the same things that He is saying. What comes out of our mouths must be in agreement with what God is saying and doing.
New Zealand, God has come to you and is doing wonderful things in your midst! Salvations, deliverances, healings, signs, wonders and miracles are happening each day somewhere in our nation and the groundswell is building! Get ready, see it, align yourselves with it, declare it and move into it!
I love how prophetic voices around the world are decreeing the same things. In a recent article that I read Francis Frangipane said this “We must recognize that our prayers, attitudes, and agreement with God are an integral part of establishing the reality of the Kingdom of God on earth!” What we say and decree will become established!
While I have talked about New Zealand specifically, what God is doing is not limited to New Zealand, it is a global move. We are in the beginning stages of a reformation of the church that will lead to a new reformation of society as we know it. The church is not getting ready to ‘ship out’; she is getting ready and beginning to release Heaven into earth like never before, and this will affect whole cities and nations! Bob Hartley recently said this “The first reformation initiated on the heels of the dark ages in the 1500’s answered the profound question of the human heart, “How will we be saved?” It restored to the church the truth of Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” This understanding of how we are saved is now widely understood and accepted throughout the church. This second reformation now coming forth answers the question, “How shall we then live?” This divine initiative significantly relates to how we are to live and minister to God and with God in a spirit of hope in this world, in this age. Hope is a relentless force and an earnest expectation of seeing God’s goodness and the fulfillment of His many intentions and promises for this age, not just for the one to come.”
Move into it
No matter where you are in the world, God is moving and doing the same things for you as He is for others. It is a global reformation, not just a local revival, that is taking place. It is an awakening of never-seen-before proportions that will flood the world and see Kingdom realities released and established in the earth to such a degree that it will be impossible to miss. Move into it, ask the Lord to make it a reality in your life, cooperate with Him and live the life led by the Spirit that you were created to live. Release Heaven with confidence everywhere you go, knowing that God works with you and will perform wonders through you!
As far as specifics go we will continue to see great fluctuations in different nations’ economic circumstances. National debts will continue to escalate and the global community will find increased pressures put on them in many areas because of that.
Justice issues like human slavery will continue to be a focus, although the overwhelming hugeness of the problem will cause many to do nothing because they believe that what they could do is but ‘a drop in the bucket’ and will change nothing. But just as dictators and systems have been toppled in the past, the issues of injustice like human slavery can be toppled too. But it will not be the policy makers and politicians that cause that to happen, it will be ordinary people who believe in an extraordinary God.
The answer for our nations is not the policy makers and politicians; the answer for our nations is you and me, the children of God, moving in His love and power, releasing Heaven into earth in every sphere of society. I am not just talking about miracles and healings here but also about things that will revolutionize societies and bring changes that will cause cities and nations to prosper. Ideas that will cause positive changes in education and learning, inventions that will solve many food, lighting and fuel issues, especially for third world nations. All these things will happen in the years ahead. The world’s media tells us that the world is getting worse day by day and that we are descending into chaos in an ever increasing way, but the church will arise in the midst of this as one with answers that will cause national and global changes as the Kingdom of Heaven is released into the nations of the world. And you and I get to be a part of that, if we will see what God is doing, align ourselves with it, decree it and move into it.
Bless you. Have a wonderful year discovering more of God’s amazing plans and purposes for your life, and releasing Heaven with love and power wherever you may be!
Part 1
We live in exciting times. The church is undergoing rapid change and everywhere around the world God’s people are releasing Heaven into earth like never before. More people have been saved in the last twenty years than in all of history so far. God is doing wonderful things in every nation and we are all called to be a part of what He’s doing.
While in many ways this year will continue to build on what was started or established last year, God is the God of the ‘new’ and He is always doing new things, so we can expect Him to do new things in our lives and in the church this year. Interestingly, those things that we call ‘new things’ will in fact be a combination of things already established in Heaven, things that are truths or realities that have existed for eons that we are just discovering in our journey in Christ, as well as things that the church and world has not seen before – truly new things.
Often in the church we can mistakenly expect that God will work to a time frame that is measured in years, because that is how we work, but His timetable is not necessarily measured in years but in what we term ‘ages or dispensations’. So before we can understand what He wants to do this year we need to know what ‘age or dispensation’ we are in, so that we can see how this year fits into His overall plan.
Understanding the time and season
The overall age we are in is the New Covenant or Kingdom age. But within that are smaller increments of time that are focused not around dates but around revelation that God is releasing into the church and things that He is establishing in the earth. Over the last few years we have been transitioning out of what came to be known as the ‘Church Age’ into what is being called the ‘Kingdom Age’. The church was actually birthed into the original Kingdom Age, which is what Jesus announced when he was on earth, but the church moved away from a Kingdom focus to focus on building the church as an institution. This caused a shift in focus and outworking and it has taken many centuries for us to realise this and come back to God’s original intention. That is where we are in the church at the moment – coming back to God’s original intention.
In the twentieth century part of the Church Age, the focus was on ‘our church’ and ‘our vision’, but in the last few years that focus has been shifting back to an understanding that God wants the Kingdom of Heaven released into earth with love and power and that ‘our church’ is simply one small part of ‘the Kingdom’. As a part of the Kingdom we don’t throw out ‘our vision’ entirely, but we must realize that ‘our vision’ must serve God’s current purposes in the Kingdom, not simply our purpose. In the Kingdom Age we must have a ‘global kingdom understanding’ not just a ‘local church’ one. We are also realizing in a fresh way that we are the Church, not that we simply attend one.
We are also transitioning into the time where we will see the ‘revealing of the Sons of God’ and the ‘restoration of all things’. The church is not winding down, she is just really beginning to come into who she was destined to be from the beginning – a church full of glory and power, without spot, wrinkle or blemish, a church that releases the Kingdom of Heaven into the earth and into every sphere of society. How exciting it is to be a part of the birthing and establishing of this era!
The Church
The church worldwide is in a state of change because we are in that place of transition that I mentioned earlier. The church is in many ways being deconstructed – by God. Theology and beliefs are being challenged and changed as the Lord gives new revelation. (In some cases that new revelation is of old truths that have been forgotten). Traditions and ways of doing things that have been established for centuries are being re-examined and in many cases thrown out. This is absolutely necessary if the church is to move forward and really become a true representation of Christ in the earth.
Everywhere people are realizing that the church is not about ‘meeting on Sunday in a building’, but is about ‘being the church’, that is, people that release the Kingdom of Heaven in their daily lives. One result of that will be that people are trained and released for their work of ministry instead of being trained to simply fulfill their Pastor’s vision. That is not said as a criticism, simply a fact. If we cannot state the facts we will never be able to recognise when things need to change.
Revelation of Grace
One of the things we are seeing restored is the revelation of what Christ accomplished on the Cross. This revelation of the finished work of the Cross and grace will continue to grow and become established in the church. It will cause major changes to happen in the church worldwide, both in theology and practice.
There will be those who will rise up against the revelation of grace, as there have been with every revelation God has released. Yet this revelation is as essential to the church realizing who she is in Christ, and who Christ is in her, as was Martin Luther’s revelations of the 16th century, and it is a critical revelation for us to have in order to be able to move forward correctly into this season.
Prophetic Understanding
One of the places it is most imperative that this revelation is established is amongst the prophets – those whose voices and messages cause so much to be established. If the prophetic community does not really get this revelation then we will stay in a place of largely ineffective leadership, ministering from a mixture of the Old and New Covenants.
This revelation of the finished work of the Cross and His grace will cause a shift in the manifestation of the prophetic gifting as prophets minister out of an experiential knowledge as well as a theological understanding of that. Unless we get a real revelation of that grace and love, and of God’s loving nature as shown through Christ’s life, we will continue to prophesy that God is coming instead of that He has come. Old Covenant prophecy looks forward to God coming, but New Covenant prophecy reminds us that He has come and it calls us and releases us to walk in the dunamis reality of what His coming accomplished. The current mixing of Old and New Covenants in prophetic ministry causes the church to continue to look forward to a ‘coming move’ instead of walking in what He has already released through Christ’s finished work. It also causes us to continue to prophesy gloom, doom and judgment. Indeed we have mistaken much of what is natural disaster or the consequence of walking in sin for God’s judgment on nations, but it is not.
Because our words release, create and establish things, we will release, create and establish what we prophesy. Much of the state that the church is currently in is because of what we have prophesied, taught and established over the years. That is not to say that everything that has been proclaimed and established has been wrong. We have spoken and led out of what we knew and understood to be the truth, and as God’s children we are all on the same journey of receiving progressive unfolding revelation of the Lord and the realities of His Kingdom.
I’ll do another entry tomorrow with some more specific insights in different areas. Thanks for reading this and may the Lord give you revelational understanding of what He is doing at this time. Remember, do not take what I have shared as truth just because I write a blog or have a prophetic ministry. Indeed don’t just accept anything anyone writes or says without checking it out yourself; ask the Lord about it and may your spirit witness with what is true in what I have written, even though your head may not yet fully understand it.
Bless you, see you tomorrow.
As promised here are the rest of the words from the Prophets Hui held a couple of weeks ago. They are a transcript of the words as they were spoken. Each of the people mentioned are proven prophetic voices in the nation of New Zealand. It’s exciting to see the prophets begin to speak together and share with the nation what they are hearing.
The first two are the ones I featured in the last post
Lorraine Hagen Something has changed in the spirit over the nation. For years we’ve been crying out to the Lord to come and things have been released and coming down from heaven, but that cry has been for the time we’ve been in. It’s been us calling out “come, Oh God come”. It’s like we’ve been offering the nation to him, we’ve been crying out as we’ve become more and more aware of our great need for him in this nation, not just as individuals but as a nation.
I saw as we began worshiping, a complete change over, in time and the Lord said “I have come, I have come”. It’s not a time to call out and say, “Come,” anymore; He says “I’ve come”. It’s almost like “coming ready or not”. He says “I have come”. I believe it’s a monumental change such as when Jesus walked around and did great things but they were still waiting for the Messiah, then he had come. The veil was ripped and something has been ripped over the nation. It’s probably going to take us years to see what’s come but there has been a monumental shift in the Spirit. The Lord has come for his purposes. He will use this nation in his global purposes. It is time because of the global situation. Yes we are right to call out and call and call that he would use us but now he says “I have come”. Now I have come and things are going to move sovereignly whereas they came in the past in answer to your call, now they are going to move sovereignly I have come in this nation – I am going to shift and reposition things, put them into right places, right networks, right positioning in every way for my global purposes. This is the day for your nation; this is the day that I have come to take up residence because of the call of the rest of the earth. I have heard you, but now I come because it is time for the rest of the earth and it is time for New Zealand to be positioned and show the Lord strong and mighty. “The Lord strong and mighty has come, the gates have been opened.” The Lord God Almighty says “I have come”.
Lyn Packer I saw a young girl asleep on the forest floor. She was awakened by a voice calling her – He was calling her name. He said “Hope wake up, Hope wake up”, and she woke and began to walk toward the voice, realizing that if she stayed where she was she would die. She began to walk and as she walked the voice kept calling her. I saw within her heart a flame flicker into life. It was being breathed on her. It was receiving fresh breath and fresh wind on those embers that were low. As she walked more and more, the flame flickered and she realized that she had heard the voice before but it had been clouded, clouded by her surroundings, clouded by her situation but that the voice was stronger and she kept walking. Now I can see her – she’s walking and beginning to see the forest thinning. The flame is growing within her and she’s becoming her name. I don’t know how else to describe it, she is becoming her name. She is going to walk out into the light. She is still in that place where she is not quite out of the forest yet, but she’s alive within herself.
Father, fan the flame of hope within this nation, not just in the church but out of it, fan the flame of hope in every heart, Father call us again like you’ve done in the past that this nation would hear and recognize the voice of the one who calls. Let hope arise. Hope awake!
Noel Bowker I felt like the Lord was saying “It’s been a time when you have bowed in my presence and that is right but now I am saying to you, “Would you stand in my presence, and stand in the authority. You now need to stand in that place. There are still times when you should bow in my presence and that is something I really appreciate” but he says “it is time to stand in the authority that I’ve given you to declare and call into being the things that I have shown you.”
Nina James I saw in the skies, a wind and on the wind, the people of God. They were sitting back on the wind which was almost like a cloud carrying them. I could see angels, underneath these pockets of wind, who had been assigned to carry the wind. The Lord said to me, “the wind is my Spirit” I could see some of his people wrestling but others were lying back, just being carried by the wind. Their arms and legs were limp because they trusted the wind. They trusted the blowing of the Lord on the wind to be able to carry them into the places he was wanting them to go I could see the ones who were wrestling; the ones that hadn’t fully laid their lives down for the purposes of the King because they were still struggling to do the things of their own choosing.
But it was the ones who were limp and were able to trust God and relax on that wind that the Lord would be able to come and breathe on. As he breathed into that wind, as he breathed onto that cloud like thing, the people were carried into the places throughout New Zealand that he wanted them to be. They stepped out of that wind into the spheres of influence that the Lord had for them. They stepped onto the ground and gold emanated from them. The presence of God was carried out of them. Everywhere they went, they transformed the place because of the presence that came out of them. The key thing the Lord said to me was “many wrestle on that cloud; many wrestle in that wind because they haven’t fully got themselves to a place where they trust me flowing them and blowing them into those places”.
I could see some of those people wrestled because they thought “God I thought you wanted me to go this way, I thought you wanted me to do that, I thought you wanted to send me here, I thought that you were going to call me there”, and because of the wrestle God was unable to take them exactly where he wanted. It was the difference between fully laying down their lives and trusting God to half pie doing it.
God I pray for your sons and your daughters in this nation, that they would fully lie down on the cloud, that they would trust you even if they heard you call them one way, one moment and then if you brought about a change in the next week, that they would be open to hear and to flow with you. God, that if you’ve sent them somewhere one moment but then changed and sent them another place another moment that they would be free to follow your Spirit, free to hear your voice and to fly and to flow wherever you want them to go.
Lorraine Hagen This nation is going to be a sending nation again. In the past we thought we were such a sending nation. Out of New Zealand went many missionaries to do all sorts of things but the Lord is saying He has pulled the numbers back, waiting for the new time, waiting for the new wine skin, for this day! He is going to call apostolic ministers out of this nation. They are going to go in answer to the cry of “Come over here. Bring the prototype that you have in New Zealand”. He is going to use us like the number eight wire thing that will break through the religious ways and the religious formulas and the set patterns in which people have been concreted. There is going to come a sending time from New Zealand of apostles sent out on answer to the Lord, to release the glory, to release the church into being the sons of God all around the nations. In the past we have called for many to come here to help us. But now the Lord says “out of the change in the spiritual weather over the nation, you will now be the sent ones. You will go with great authority and release things in places and release the blueprint of the prototype of the sons of God”.
It will be a prototype of how to raise up the sons of God, how to release the sons of God, how to send out the sons of God. The Lord said “I have chosen you because you are at the bottom of nowhere, that it will be only me.
We will go out with more keys than we’ve had before, we will go out with more spiritual luggage than we’ve ever had before, it will be far too much for one person to be carrying and so it will be clearly God.
Cindy Ruakere I’ve had this picture and I’ve been aware of it for a little while. When you travel around the country you see that there is definitely a move starting to build in the nation.
I’ve seen God moving through many parts of this land, and each work is like a cog, each doing its bit, the cog has been rusty but there is movement again. It is starting to move because it’s being blown on by the wind of God. What people don’t realize is that there are other cogs up and down the nation where the same thing is happening. The oil of Holy Spirit is beginning to flow through them so that they are starting to move together in perfect synchronization. As I pulled back from the picture I saw it was the back of a watch and this watch was saying “now is the time of the Lord Ma Te wa,” which is a significant proclamation that Ratana made when he talked about what the Lord was doing in their midst “Ma Te wa, now is the time!”
Lord I pray about this, we are so territorial and individualistic. The beauty of the pioneering spirit is that we can go where no one else wants to go but the down side of that pioneering spirit is that we become individualistic and territorial. God, I pray that as you are beginning to move in a fresh way through our nation and each work is beginning to tick over again, cogs that have been totally unable to move, they’ve rusted up, some have been slowly moving, that the breeze of your presence begins to cause those cogs to move again. But this time you are not going to come on individual works, I know that you are adamant that what you want to happen will be holistic through our nation. As these cogs are moving together, you are going to cause the oil of Holy Spirit which is a picture of unity to begin to come. The perfect synchronization of all these cogs fitting together because if one cog is going and the others aren’t and this one is and that one is not, the watch still doesn’t work. Each cog has to be slowly and perfectly moving the other that moves the other that moves the other that moves the other. God I know that you are saying “now is the time.” You desire that your time come to our land, you are desiring it God, so I pray do what you have to do that it is Ma Te wa, now is the time. Let the spirit that rested on Ratana rise up in this land again, I speak to the land to the whenua who is longing for the sons and daughters of God to be raised up out of her own soil, ma te wa, I speak to the land that groans and travails longing for them to come out, I speak to you land and I say Ma Te wa, I lift my eyes to you and say Ma Te wa.
Don Lake I see a picture of Jesus in the upper room where He breathed on his disciples and they received the Holy Spirit It was like the breath of life that came on dead bones I think Jesus is going to be breathing on dead places and bringing them back to life again. I think about that scripture, it’s been in my spirit for a couple of days when it was during the feast at the height of the celebration and Jesus said that he was going to be the living water flowing out of your bellies. Scripture says this about the spirit that had not yet been given because he as yet had not been glorified I think that as we see Jesus being glorified and increasing in this nation, now that he is here as we acknowledge what he’s doing and honour that and glorify him for it, I think that we are going to see incredible outpourings of the Holy Spirit. Sovereign deposits in places that are going to cause water to flow, almost gushings of water coming out.
The Hui
Last week I attended a Prophets Hui (gathering) made up of Prophets from various parts of our nation (New Zealand). During that day there was a very strong sense of the manifested presence of God present amongst us and also that the times we’re in are momentous times for our nation.
Throughout the day we worshipped and prayed and talked about what God was doing in the nation. There were many things brought out during that time some of which I’ll share in the days ahead.
One of the most encouraging and powerful words that came out of the day was when the Lord said “Stop asking for me to come, I have already come!” There was more to the word but that was the crux of it. Sometimes we can miss the actual time of release because we are so caught up in the” praying for” or because it comes in a different form than what we were expecting. As a result of what the Lord said we should now begin to change our petitioning for revival into thansksgiving and prophetically release decrees of God’s will and intention into our towns, cities and nation.
That which we have been praying for has been released! It is here now – God is moving powerfully throughout the nation. There is a groundswell of Kingdom release that is building in power and being released on a nationwide scale. This move of God is not a sudden revival type move located in one place – it is an awakening that is taking place in all parts of the nation simultaneously, that is why many have missed it. People are stepping out in the power and love of God in numbers that are increasing daily. Miracles and healings are becoming common occurrences as the church is awakening to who she really is and who Christ is in her.
Back to the Hui – I want to share a vision I saw as we worshipped.
A child called Hope
In the vision I saw a young girl. She had fallen asleep in a forest, curled up under a tree. The darkness of the forest covering had caused a false sense of night, of slumber. When I asked the Lord about her I was told her name was Hope. Her name was Hope but Hope was asleep! I heard someone call her name and the call woke her – it was a call to wake up, to begin to walk again, follow the call; to follow the voice and walk out into the light again. I saw an understanding, a flame begin to flicker in her heart as she began to walk – following the voice. In the voice was love and kindness and she realized she had heard the voice before many times but it had somehow become clouded in her hearing. As she continued to walk she saw light ahead and the flame flickered brighter and her heart began to beat stronger.
As I asked the Lord about what I saw I felt the forest was a prevailing atmosphere over our nation – the feeling that darkness has the upper hand. I felt him say that for many in our nation hope had faded (it was like their hope had gone to sleep because they had succumbed to the darkness). They hadn’t lost it altogether; it was just not functioning at a fully awakened level. I believe the Lord is awakening hope within his people in this time. They are beginning to hear the call to follow and trust in a new way and are responding. The nation is awakening to hope again, awakening to the call to walk into the future guided by God’s Spirit and His Voice. We have been in the place of unnatural darkness to the point where many have been lulled into a sleep state. It is time to awake and walk out into the light again. We are children of light destined to bring light into darkness not to let darkness overtake us!
What is the call on our nation?
This was a question we asked that day at the Hui? We asked it because – if the church in our nation (New Zealand) does not know their identity and call then we will wander aimlessly and every man will follow his own personal vision and desires. While it is not wrong to have personal and church visions we need to know how our vision fits in with the Lord’s desire for us as a nation. We are all individually and as churches a part of a bigger whole and just as the Lord has plans for each person and church he also has a plan and destiny for us as a nation. For too long we’ve not been aware of or functioned from that fact and so have been a fragmented body of individualists who don’t know how to work together. It is time for that to end and for us to recognize the strengths in each other and how we can function together while still keeping our individual personalities as churches.
Today I’ll share some of what was said at the Hui re our nations call and then over the next few weeks I’ll release other prophetic words and declarations from that day as well.
We are as a nation…
So what is the collective call on the church of New Zealand – in some ways it is many stranded but one of the significant parts of it is that our nation is to be a forerunner nation many of whom have apostolic & prophetic mantles. We are known worldwide as ones who carry a very strong prophetic mantle and are also an apostolic release nation, a nation of sent ones – of evangelists & missionaries that plant, build and disciple nations. As such we are a people destined to move in signs, wonders and miracles, with a strong healing emphasis, to proclaim and release the reality of Heaven into Earth.
We are a proclaiming people – releasing the heart of God through prophetic proclamation that calls into being that which is not yet reality in the earthly realm, again – releasing Heaven into Earth. This is done mainly through teaching, prophetic release, music and media.
We are a nation called to release hope amongst many things into the nation and into the nations, to call them into their destiny and fullest expression. That is why hope has been under attack in our nation – to stop us from being who we were created to be. If hope can be stifled then we will not walk in our apostolic and prophetic destiny and because of that others will miss out.
The above-mentioned giftings and call are a very significant part of who we are as a nation. I’ll share more about the call on our nation and from the Prophets Hui over this coming month in the belief that when you write the vision (and speak it) people can hear it and run with it (Hab 2:2,3). Please pass the posts along to others (individuals and Pastors) as the more that read, the more that will recognize themselves and begin to walk in their true identity.
The following word was just released by a friend of ours. It is a great confirmation of what God has been doing over the last couple of years and more recently in an accelerated way.
THE TUI A SYMBOL A FRESH REVIVAL IN AOTEAROA. – Ian Johnson
The Tui Bird is fairly common in NZ especially the North Island and is a member of the Honey eater family. The Tui is a songbird and has two voice boxes enabling it to make a variety of sounds including inaudible sounds..Thus it sings in two realms at one time. The bird represents NZ in sound – It can operate in two realms the Audible and inaudible simultaneously. Two sounds in one body.
This weekend I saw 28 Tuis in one tree – Ive never seen so many Tuis in one place and I have since had people telling me that there seems to be a Tui revival going on in NZ right now. One man said he had seen up to 50 in one place recently. Something that 10 years ago would have been unheard of.
I was already starting to think about the two sounds in one body aspect as being like Gods plan for NZ. Maori & Pakeha in partnership to bring out the sound of the land. So when I heard that there is a Tui revival going on in the land I thought wow. Then I thought I had better check out the number I saw in one tree 28 – The Strongs Hebrew is “Abidah” which means “My Father knows” but it comes from the root Abba which means foundational Father. So through the 28 birds God was speaking to me about Foundational Fathers.
This led me to think about my encounter in Sydney a few weeks ago when I was reminded by the Lord about the Partnership between Samuel Marsden & the Maori Rangitira Ruatara in bringing the gospel to NZ in 1814. One without the other would not have worked but togather they released a fresh sound in the nation of NZ. This partnership saw a move of God in Aotearoa that has not been replicated. By 1860 – 63% of Maori had become Christian, a revival in anyone’s terms. This was the foundation of our nation and it was born in partnership. Two voices one message, Maori & Pakeha together.
The Tui revival excites me – so I declare the Tui as the symbol of the revival about to hit our nation Two voices in one body releasing a sound out of two realms at the same time. Two voices One sound Maori & Pakeha together. Honey eaters eating the fresh nectar of Gods revelation in our land. Song birds declaring the glorious sound of the ends of the Earth. Unique to our nation a true sound of Aotearoa. An indiginous move of God a revival in the ends of the earth.
IAN W JOHNSON
HIS AMAZING GLORY MINISTRIES
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