Modern Day Mystics

"Reverend Paulette Reed is serving in our ministry as the Chief Administrator of our school. She is a Godly woman who has a strong love for excellence. At the same time, she has proven to be flexible and submissive, quick to adjust to the priorities of those she serves.

She is a woman of faith, grace and spiritual maturity. We are blessed to have her among us."

Francis Frangipane
Senior Pastor, River of Life Ministries
Director, In Christ's Image Ministry School
 

As we see and hear the news of rolling seas, forceful winds, mudslides and other tragedies, we can’t help but wonder what the Lord wants to speak to His Church through these signs. For “The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.” (I Corinthians 15:46)

What blatant opportunities the earth is providing for the sheep and the goats, as it appears the Great Shepherd is preparing to place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. The Word declares, “All nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” (Matthew 25:32-33)

Jesus promises in Matthew 25:34 that many will be “blessed by the Father,” and will take their inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for them since the creation of the world. However, verse 46 states that some will go away to eternal punishment. How wonderful of our Father to present instruction, and not destruction, in these passages.

Living in these days of restoration, we need only refer to Acts 2 to see the original state of the Church. We see believers devoting themselves to teaching and to fellowship, to breaking of bread, and to prayer. Now, again, the Church is seeing many devote themselves to teaching with “schools of revival” arising around the world, as well as thousands of Christian books, CDs and DVDs. We see fellowship with small groups, home groups, and cell groups on the increase. This is an indication that church buildings will be inadequate to house the thousands of believers about to come into the Kingdom. Houses of prayer are becoming 24/7. Alleluia!

What Happens Next? A Wave of God...

For, as in the New Testament, “Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” (Acts 2:43-45)

We’re getting there, friends! We may not have sold “everything,” but we are sending airplanes, ships, and semi-trucks loaded with our possessions for the hurricane, tornado, and tsunami overcomers.

In the midst of tragedy, it truly is an amazing time for the Church to be the Church, for as we are devoted to teaching, and to the Master Teacher, our passion for Him increases, and our First Love is restored. His compassion is free to flow through us, birthed from our renewed passion for Him. As our destiny is to be conformed to the image of Christ, then our nature is conformed to the mission of Christ.

We can find one element of Jesus’ mission in James 2:5; “Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?”

Brothers and sisters, as disasters expose and increase the population of poor and homeless, God is standing by to give them their inheritance. God loves the poor! He reveals Himself as a refuge to the poor in Psalms 14:6; a help to the poor in Psalms 40:17; and a deliverer to the poor in 1 Samuel 2:8. He imparts that love to us, that compassion and responsibility. In fact, He does not present it as an option, but as a requirement for entrance into His eternal kingdom--sheep on the right, goats on the left. He even says, “When you give to the poor. . .” (see Matthew 6:2)

What a Tremendous Window of Opportunity God is Allowing His Church

He is allowing an opportunity to preach the gospel, using words if necessary. How will they know God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith if we do not tell them? Our Father is providing possibilities throughout the nations to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, take in the strangers, clothe those in need, look after the sick and visit those in prison, as we truly do it all for His Son. (see Matthew 25:40)

And, there is more! It is reasonable that, as the Church is restored and we see more passion for Jesus and more compassion for His people, then the next component of the Gospel (Acts 2) will be many wonders and miraculous signs. A “Wave of God,” so that He may show Himself mighty to the poor, the hurting, and the suffering--a wave--not to escape from, but to ride!

Consider for a moment the “beggar” who was healed at Gate Beautiful. It is coming--A Wave of God to the poor. Passion + compassion = the miraculous.

Epilogue: As I’m writing this, Holy Spirit reminds me that waves come in succession, and we can never out-give God. So, as believers and pre-believers give to the poor, and as the Wave of God comes, many will see Truth. Consequently, a Wave of God will then come to the rich--even to “Holywood”--as they realize they are truly giving a drink to Jesus and come to know their First Love.

Waves of God, waves of God, as the waters cover the sea. (See Habakkuk 2:14)
 

Rev. Paulette Reed
Daughters of the Morning Ministries
www.dotmm.org

Recently, while I was in Texas, covering a lot of territory, I found one ingredient was the same wherever I went. The people were hungry and desperate for a fresh move of God.

The Heart of Texas Will Be Revived-- Awakening The Heart of America

The Lord communicated His heart to me in a profound way
during my time in Texas. One night, as I stepped to the pulpit, I was instantly caught up into an open-eyed vision. As the Spirit caught me up, I could see the entire state of Texas. Then I saw a large heart beginning to beat stronger and stronger; it was the heart of Texas. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "I am about to revive and awaken the heart of Texas." He said, "When you see the heart of Texas revived, the heart of the nation will be revived as well." In the midst of this vision I realized that Texas held a key to releasing national revival in America.

We are about to see Texas visited with a mighty move of the Holy Spirit. As the heart of the Church is revived and awakened in Texas, it will then cause an Awakening to hit the entire nation of America; turning the heart of our nation towards God.

Governmental Authority Is Being Given to Reverse The Death Culture

Dallas is a key city in Texas. There is a governmental authority God is giving to Dallas to reverse the death culture that was released over our nation in Roe vs. Wade back in 1973. As the heart of Texas is revived, we will see a reversal of this death culture and the Spirit of Life released over our nation. Dallas, TX is a key city for prophetic decrees to be released and to see a breakthrough in the Supreme Court of America.

Three Groups Will Be Visited: Government Leaders, Spiritual Leaders, and the Remnant

As Awakening is released in our nation, not only will it revive and renew the Church, but we will also see a shift come as society begins to get radically impacted by this move of God. This anointing and outpouring will reach into many areas of society and bring great Kingdom transformation.

Haggai 1:7, 8, 14 and Haggai 2:1-9, are key scriptures for the Awakening that is upon us. God speaks through the prophet Haggai, for the people to consider their ways and to build God's temple, so that He may be glorified. In verse 14, the Lord ‘stirs up' the spirit of Zerubbabel (the governor of Judah, and the high priest, Joshua, and the remnant of the people), to build the house of the Lord so that God could have a temple in which to dwell.

As the prophetic voice was released, there was a supernatural stirring that took place. In Hebrew the word ‘to stir' is "ur". It means "to awaken, to stir up, to excite, to raise up, to arouse to action, to open one's eyes". It means "to awaken someone from sleep and rouse them to a place of action." This ‘awakening' hits three groups of people: the governor, the high priest, and the remnant. The Lord showed me that there will be three groups of people hit with this Awakening: political leaders, spiritual leaders, and the remnant in the Church.

We will see the prophetic word of the Lord invade the government arena as God opens doors for His servants to prophesy the word of the Lord to government leaders. God's Spirit will even invade the Oval Office of the White House as well as the Supreme Court. Many other political leaders will receive divine encounters as God's heart is shared with them. We will also see the hearts of many spiritual leaders across our nation and the world stirred with a fresh moving of the Holy Spirit. Their main ambition in ministry will be to build a habitation for God's glory in the earth through His Church.

We will also see the remnant of God's people arise in this hour to offer their lives in a new and deeper way as a living habitation for God's presence and glory. Kingdom pursuits will become much more important and prioritized than just living a comfortable lifestyle. People will even be willing to sacrifice, so that God's glory can have a dwelling place in the earth through their lives.

Guard Against False Comparison and Discouragement

As God's glory is outpoured and fills His house again, we must be careful not to compare what God does today with what has happened in the past. He gave me a prophetic warning not to fall into false comparison. In Haggai 2:3, the Lord saw that the people were comparing the temple God was calling them to rebuild, to what it was in its former glory in Solomon's day. Haggai 2:3 says, "Is this not in your eyes as nothing?" They remembered how glorious Solomon's temple was; how the cloud had filled the temple so that the priests could no longer continue ministering (2 Chronicles 5:14). An internal enemy of discouragement through false comparison was trying to hinder them from building God's temple.

As God calls us to build a habitation for His glory, we must be careful not to put God nor how He moves into a ‘revival box'. God may show up in a way that is very different than our preconceived ideas. We must be careful not to fall into a false comparison (even with past moves of God), and allow God to release His greater glory in the way He wants to do it. We must stay open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit so we don't miss Him when He comes.

Greater Glory and Supernatural Provision

Haggai prophecies in Haggai 2:4-9, "Yet now be strong…and work; for I am with you. Once more I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former and in this place I will give peace," says the Lord of hosts.


His promise is that no matter what the temple looks like on the outside, the glory shall be greater on the inside! He also throws in there a promise for continual divine provision to get the job done. God reaffirms that all the gold and silver are His; He owns it all. We will see a great supernatural provision for the Church to build God's Kingdom in the earth; building a place for His greater glory to dwell.

God Will Invade Our Society: In Politics and Media

There is a greater glory upon us. Awakening is about to hit America and the nations on many levels including both spiritual and political. As political leaders catch the heart of God, they will begin to rally causes that are on God's heart. This is where we will begin to see the walls broken down once again between Church and State. Not only will the Church be set on fire, but society will be impacted through righteous political leaders. We will also see an invasion of God into the media. Jesus is about to be glorified in Hollywood and through the media, both secular and Christian. New networks will be formed that will glorify God. The church must be prepared to take the airwaves for God as a new wave of media outreach and anointing is upon us.

This next Awakening will shake the Church and bring a great transformation in our culture and society as the Holy Spirit empowers us to reach the world with His supernatural grace and power.

Get ready not only to be refreshed, but empowered for the end-time harvest of souls!

By Matt Sorger
Igniting Revival Fire
www.mattsorger.com

What do you think of when you hear the word “imagination?” Most of us think of our childhood. Maybe you had an imaginary friend, or you might remember imagining situations while playing. My wife, for instance, can tell me about detailed imaginary instances she remembers from her childhood.

Although children love the whole realm of the imagination, and they are easily engaged there, I want us to begin to appreciate that imagination isn’t just for children. Actually, it is a powerful path to prophetic revelation and meditation.

Our Imagination is God's Idea

Whether you realize it or not, you use your imagination everyday. Let’s look at it this way--scripture speaks of “The thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12b). This would be what your heart thinks and meditates on--this is the imagination.

In God’s infinite wisdom, He created the imagination, and He desires us to use it. However, many times when God wants to speak to us through our imagination, we either regard it as foolishness, or our imagination clouds with unholy images and experiences, which hinders us from hearing God properly.

In fact, those unholy images in our mind must be dismissed, and we need to surrender our minds to Jesus Christ. That’s essentially what "sanctify" means. In the dictionary, sanctify is: "To set apart as holy; consecrate; to make free from sin," (Webster’s New World Dictionary).

With this in mind, I actually heard the Lord say to me, “Son, I want to root up and pull out the evil in the hearts of My people.” Therefore, through this teaching, we are going to learn how to sanctify the imagination for God’s purposes.

We're Made to be Like Him

The Lord has specific plans and definite purposes for our lives. After all, we aren’t a haphazard creation! It ravishes my heart with the love of God to think about how we are created in His image. God said: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis1:26).

Also, God’s thoughts toward us cannot be numbered! He thinks about you all the time. In the same way that we have an imagination, God has an imagination, and it’s fixed on you! The Father uses His imagination to meditate on His love for you. David had a revelation about this and so he wrote: “Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered” (Psalm 40:5).

One day when I was praying, the Holy Spirit used this particular verse to heighten my sensitivity to the prophetic realm. Here’s what I heard the Holy Spirit say, “If My thoughts towards My people are innumerable, all you have to do is align your thoughts with Mine. If you do this, you will come into a river of prophetic revelation.”

In the same way that God's thoughts are fixed on us when we have our thoughts fixed on God, it opens our spirits to an increasing knowledge of Him and prophetic knowledge for ourselves and others.

Also, since we are created in the image of God, we are made to be creative as He is. Our creative nature and imagination sets us apart from the rest of creation. This is where true worship comes from--the creative imagination. When our imagination is sanctified and holy, we can choose to set our thoughts on God and use the creative process of our thoughts in worship. Our creative nature, when used with our imagination, actually has the power to transform our lives and bring the reality of God’s will into our present circumstances.

There is a saying among Christian teachers, “What you behold, you become.” I believe this to be biblically accurate because when we set our thoughts on the Lord, we become more like Him. Paul the apostle spoke to the Corinthian church about this. Here’s what he said, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

In fact, as we use our imaginations to mediate on the will of God and what His Word says, it brings the power of His will into our lives. This revelation was on the heart of King Solomon when he wrote, "Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established" (Proverbs 16:3).

Consequently, as we become committed to the Lord, the desires of our heart actually become a reality out of a sanctified imagination. The Father is interested in what is on our heart. Most of us have prayed a prayer like this before, “Father, make my will Your will.” Actually, God’s heart is that out of a sanctified imagination, we would share our heart's desires with Him. He has always desired to preserve our will as “co-laborers with Christ.”

When we commit ourselves to God, our thoughts will be established. This point is illustrated through King Solomon’s statement, "But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart'" (2 Chronicles 6:8).

It was in David’s heart to build a temple for the Lord, and he received the pattern, or plans, in writing when God’s hand came upon him (1 Chronicles 28:19). I believe God inspired David’s sanctified imagination, and he received the temple model in his heart before it became a reality. (Solomon actually built God’s temple.)

A Heart Fixed on God

David’s heart was fixed on God, and I believe that deep in the heart of every person there is a desire to know God. Let’s read the words of God that Paul repeated to the Israelites, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart…” (Acts 13:22).

The Bible promises that if we seek Him, He will be found (Matthew 7:7). People often ask me, "Why is it that some seem to hear the voice of God and encounter Him more often than most people?" I believe a key answer is that we need to have a loyal heart, a willing mind, and be like David--a man or woman after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). A loyal heart requires an imagination, or “thoughts of the heart” that are totally fixed on God. When our heart is loyally fixed on God alone, we can be sure that we will not only encounter Heaven, but the priorities of our life will fall into place.

However, I’ve noticed that many believers have a hard time encountering God because their heart is pulled in so many directions. I have made it a spiritual discipline to use my imagination to fix my thoughts on God. Every night while I wait to fall asleep, I discipline myself to fix my thoughts on God instead of worrying about the day and about what tomorrow will bring. Unfortunately, many Christians think about the problems surrounding their day. When this happens, they actually use their imagination to empower fear and anxiety. Instead of focusing on the problems with a Kingdom mindset that says, "God can fix that; He’s a big God," they focus on the problem and actually make it out to be bigger than God. Let us resist this temptation and remember, "What we behold we become."

What We Behold We Become

I remember at 19 years of age, God first exploded into my life, and I began to behold some great and awesome revelations about my destiny. Without any effort on my part, I began to receive visions and revelations about what He was going to do with my life. I received revelation about coming moves of God before reading prophetic words surrounding events.

I was amazed because all I had from past experience was a Southern Baptist upbringing with a cold devotion to God. But my past didn’t stop God. During that time, I would lie on my bed and imagine all that God would do with my life. I would think about thousands of souls rushing to an altar and falling on their faces. I would see people jumping out of wheelchairs and women screaming that they could now see for the first time. I would imagine angels of God descending into meetings bringing revelations and the presence of God.

I received these revelations before I had experienced anything even remotely like this! It's also a wonder to me to think that I imagined all this would come to pass when I was about 40 years old. But instead, these meditations and thoughts at 19 years of age have already begun to happen in my life now. Today, I am dreaming bigger!

However, back then, if I had wanted to simply dwell on my present circumstances and all the problems, I could have easily done that. I was living with my parents. I had just been delivered from a life of drugs and alcohol, leaving all of my friends behind. I had all but dropped out of college, and I didn’t have a single dime of income to my name. But none of that seemed to matter when I fixed my gaze on Jesus with great inner devotion.

Perhaps some of you are facing temporary circumstances that are painful and hard, but if you will just set your heart on God, you will always be full of God. Remember, what you behold you become. So what is your heart set on?

David advised his son Solomon to know God; in other words to behold his God, “and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind…” (1 Chronicles 28:9a). We discussed the importance of having a loyal heart and a willing mind earlier, and this bears repeating. A willing mind is a mind, or imagination, that is totally open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is a crucial key to the prophetic ministry because being open to the leading of the Holy Spirit is integral to possessing an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, and walking in prophetic ministry.

Since the Holy Spirit will use our thoughts to express His will for a given situation, we need to seek God. Moses told the people, “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29).

Seeking God with all our heart and soul certainly catches God’s eye. When Samuel came to Jesse to anoint the next king of Israel, which would turn out to be David, God reminded Samuel of that principle, “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b). Seeking and following God begins in the heart and leads to actions.

How God Uses and Inspires the Imagination

When we set our sanctified imagination on God, His will is made known to us because the imagination is the place where God most often speaks to us. We often call our sanctified imagination "the eyes of our understanding," or "the eyes of our heart." Paul spoke about this to the Ephesians when he said, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” (Ephesians 1:18) and when the eyes of our heart are enlightened, it leads to other realms of prophetic revelation.

Did you know that "the eyes of your understanding" (the eyes of your heart), actually means the mind, will, intellect and imagination? Our spiritual eye, the place where we begin to see into the realm of the Spirit, is our imagination! This is the same place that we daydream. So we need to learn to quiet our minds, and let God speak to us in our imagination. Much of the time, Christians seem to have trouble coming into visions of God because they do not know where their spiritual eye is. They simply close their eyes and wait for a vision to appear. All the while, they are just staring at the closed eyelids.

But it works in this way--I can ask you to picture a red fire truck right now--go ahead and picture it. Now, in your mind you saw a red fire truck. This is how God brings images to your spirit, except it isn’t you just thinking of the image, but it is God who initiates it. We can quiet our minds and focus our heart on Jesus, and expect Him to use and to inspire our imagination or “the eyes of our heart.”

We Have Natural Senses and Spiritual Senses

Did you know that in the same way we have natural senses, we have spiritual senses? The imagination is part of our spiritual senses. The more we learn to exercise this sense through soaking and contemplative prayer, the more we learn to access that realm at will. God always desires to speak to us. Remember, His thoughts toward us are innumerable. If we will sanctify our imagination and quiet our own thoughts, God can insert His!

When we get this revelation, it opens the doors of revelation in our imagination. I learned this principle while lying on my bed before sleep--God would give me His thoughts. I would allow God to insert images and pictures into my mind. Soon I found myself having internal visions and eventually, I would fall into a trance and actually have heavenly encounters.

Dreams work in the same way. God has always spoken to His children through dreams, and He continues to do so today. We’ve had countless testimonies recently of dramatic changes in people's lives because of dream interpretation. I actually had times when I encountered angels and even the Lord Himself through dreams.

But having said that, I am also aware that the Lord wants to alert us to the danger of entertaining a carnal imagination, because carnality will not only defile and tarnish our dreams, it will affect our ability to maintain a pure stream of God’s prophetic revelation.


Craig Kinsley
www.awakeintl.com