Clearlake continues to amaze.

 

Clearlake revival continues to show its strength.  Thirty people wanted Jesus to give them a new life last night.

Once the harvest came in we turned our attention to the word of the Lord.  My text was taken from 2 Chronicles 20:3,4 “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.”

I pointed out the audacity that this King.  Even before he alerted his army or prepared a military reaction to the invasion, he met with the people to pray.  I made a connect between then and now. Even though the army that is coming against of our nation looks quite different than the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, the facts are the same.  We are facing forces bent on attacking and dismantling of our Christian values. 

I made it clear that King Jehoshaphat is our example right now.  We are not meeting night after night to be blessed we are in fact standing for the survival of a way of life.  The America we know is about to go away forever, the lifestyle that we have known is about to leave for good.  I told them that these meetings bear the same urgency as that gathering in the Old Testament story.

What saved Judah was prophetic obedience and worship.  They heard God say by His prophet  in verses 15-17“‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel.  You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!

Then I described the great miracle that God gave them: “ 2 Chronicles 20: 22.23 “Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. ²³ For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.  ²⁴ So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.”

It was at this moment that I had to stop preaching because the Holy Spirit fell on the people to be healed.  There were many healings but I wanted to point out two that will always be with me.  The first was when I asked a man and his wife to stand.  The Spirit said that he had wanted a signs and wonders ministry but that he was held back by the fact that his wife desperately needed healing.  He broke when he heard these words.  It was then that God identified a dozen ailments in her body and she was overcome by the accuracy and completeness of God’s word of knowledge and she was instantly and totally healed. 

The second one is almost too wonderful for words.  A pastor who was helped to his seat by two people because he could not walk before the meeting began.  I was led to him and God began to describe multiple heart attacks and strokes.  It was amazing to see the Holy Spirit brood over this man and heal one part of his body after another.  But then came the moment of positive proof.  He took off and charged around the church walking and moving completely on his own power!  Hallelujah!  Stay tuned for more from Clearlake.

SECRET #10 Divine Dissatisfaction

SECRET #10
Divine Dissatisfaction

Dear Warrior,

What in war could be easier than to chase a defeated foe? After all, you have won and your enemy has lost! The fact is that many wars have been won by retreating armies. The reasons are clear to an experienced general.

1. The enemy has an inherent speed advantage. They are running for their lives! The winning army, on the other hand, has the euphoria of victory and the relief of winning. The enemy is motivated to run while the victor is motivated to stop and rest, having found a precious moment of relief.

Von Clausewitz said, “Each of the thousands under his command needs food and rest, and longs for nothing so much as a few hours free of danger and fatigue. Very few men-and they are the exceptions-are able to follow and feel beyond the present moment.” 36 Finding the will to chase is difficult indeed!

2. The enemy is falling back on their supply lines and can be restored. Meanwhile, the winning army is advancing away from their supplies and may be taken in a counterattack. Von Clausewitz said, “If the defeated troops are only a minor part of the enemy’s forces and have other units to fall back on or can look to strong reinforcements to arrive, the victor may easily run the risk of losing his gains at any moment.” 37

Military minds have concluded that troops must be skilled in the principle of war called pursuit. It has three qualities:

1. Pursuit is a mental toughness that allows an army to disregard emotions and do what must be done even after they believe they have won.

2. Pursuit is swiftness that can outrun a retreating army and persevere for as long as it takes.

3. Pursuit means to avoid attacking what is in front of you. Instead you run alongside the enemy. You are racing them back to their supplies in order to overtake them and cut off their retreat. Von Clausewitz said. “Finally, the third and most effective degree of pursuit takes the form of marching parallel with the enemy toward the immediate goal of his retreat.” 38

Sun Tzu said, “He fixes a date for rendezvous and after the troops have met, cuts off their return route just as if he were removing a ladder from beneath them.” 39

Pursuit is an inner determination to settle for nothing less than absolute victory. For troops to possess this quality, they are trained and drilled repeatedly. There must exist a profound reverence and trust for their general. This is because he necessarily presses them to extreme limits of body and mind. The general in pursuit is casting his men into unknown danger! The retreating forces may have set traps, blown up bridges, and destroyed roads. Multiple distractions will try to ruin the swift pace.

A good general will indelibly mark his men with the importance of pursuit. He will pound that urgency into them. Breakthrough is not a victory: it is only a greater opportunity for victory.

The good general will use his army’s hatred of war as fuel to gain final victory. He will remind his men that if the retreaters get away, they will have to go through all of this again!

God endows his warriors with a much deeper version of the principle of pursuit. I call this secret divine dissatisfaction.

Possibly the most divinely dissatisfied man in history was Moses. He never quit pursuing the glory of God. He also never quit in battle. Because he handled warfare so well, we will study a classic episode of his life. This encounter will reveal the three ways that Satan assaults our quest for final victory.

Satan attacks right after victory.

Moses faced this at a place called Rephidim. We read about it in Exodus 17. The miracle of the water from the rock had just happened. Then Satan stirred up the Arnalekites to steal the water.

Moses was not so satisfied with this miracle that he would let down his guard. He instantly ordered Joshua to get the army ready: “And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us some men and, … go out, fight with Amalek . . . [Exodus 17:9a].

The Devil throws distractions to slow your pursuit.

Moses was not fooled by the Evil One’s frontal attack. In fact, he headed in the opposite direction. He was practicing pursuit. He ignored the battle in front of him and. instead, raced to cut off the enemy’s supply.

The Amalekites were controlled by the demonic, and Moses knew it! He looked for elevation to raise the rod of God over the battle. He took his stand in the heavenlies! Amalek began to feel the sting of defeat. The raised rod of God disrupted the Amalekites!

Beelzebub flatters you with pride and reputation in an effort to destroy you with false satisfaction.

But then, Moses’s arms tired and weakened. The battle ebbed and flowed as the rod rose and fell. Lucifer tried to make the effort seem futile, but Moses refused to quit.

Aaron and Hur sat Moses on a rock and upheld his arms. Moses would not let himself become a legend who needed no help. He freely accepted Aaron’s and Hur’s reinforcement. Amalek was defeated! Moses cut off their retreat!

The divinely dissatisfied one never totally rejoices in victory. This is not just because he suspects attack, but because he is simply hungry for more. This is not ingratitude, but an insatiable desire to glorify God. Not only does this kind of warrior refuse to “rest on his laurels,” he buries them in the ground! To him, past achievement is a seed planted from which will grow a new exploit.

Satan wants to use your last victory against you. He will try a shock attack, hoping that in your celebrating you will have let your guard down. He will try the paralyzing influence of reputation. He surrounds you with the “praises of men” so that your hunger and edge are dulled. You loosen your grip on excellence. Most of all, a victory-hungry warrior is not fooled into thinking that a miracle includes some big buffer of time against return fire.

Again, Moses did not try to analyze the theological implications of getting miracle water one moment and an assault the next. He was ready! Like Moses. we are not to attack the circumstance in front of us, but we are to take our position in the heavenlies in order to cut off Lucifer’s supply.

Divine dissatisfaction is a quality we have sorely needed in Christian leaders. We have paid dearly for its absence. Here is where the real cost has been – in sustained revival!

We have had many revivals. Getting revival is not the hard part, it is keeping revival pure and effective. How soon revival leaders lose their hunger and their fight! They are so easily derailed into either emotional binges or the cooling influence of respectability.

After victory, there is so little of that hungry pursuit that demands balance and fire. The pursuit should be the heart of the revival.

Joash was a plain example of a person who demonstrated lack of pursuit. We studied him in the letter on conation. Now look at how his inward satisfaction defeated him:

“And he said. ‘Open the east window’; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, ‘Shoot’; and he shot. And he said, ‘The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them”” [II Kings 13:17]. Here Joash is promised victory. But, he must beat the ground in pursuit of total destruction of the enemy: “Then he said, ‘Take the arrows’; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, ‘Strike the ground’; so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”[II kings 13:18-19].

Joash beat the Syrians three times, but he did not pursue them and cut off their threat. They later regrouped and returned to destroy.

Human nature has a vile propensity to grab a quick win and then be content. The Apostle Peter fought this weakness. Look at two examples:

Jesus was walking on the water. Peter had to try it! Jesus gave him permission. Peter started out, but soon began to sink. Jesus asked Peter why he doubted.

The reason for Peter’s doubt was that fear and uncertainty convinced him that a good thing could not last! Out on the water, his fire for miracle power waned. He realized what he was doing, and it terrified him! He said to himself, “Okay. I’ve done it. That’s enough.”

Later in Peter’s life, he would face this fear and become truly, divinely dissatisfied. He won this inner war at the Gate Beautiful.

Everyday Peter passed the lame man, and everyday he made sure he had money to give to him. The war for the man’s healing had been fought and won, but God needed a pursuer. Peter’s heart was filled with turmoil.

Jesus had told him he would die a martyr. This hung over Peter like a cloud. Peter knew well that his Master was persecuted for healing the sick. It was the prospect of persecution and death that froze Peter from going to the next level of power!

Not only that, but he had just seen the miracle harvest of Pentecost. Once again, his spirit said, “That’s enough.” But then the Holy Spirit touched him with a restless hunger for more. This fire within increased the pain of his compromise. The pain grew and grew until that wonderful day when the pain of staying average was far greater than his fear of danger. That morning, he refused to carry money to the temple because he was carrying something better.

He cast a mighty gaze on the paralyzed man and roared, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” [Acts 3:6].

All through my letters, I have told you about what the church and its warriors lack. I have tried to instruct you to leave the foolishness of religion and take up the life you were meant to have. I have told you to take up the armor, to be filled with the Spirit, and to possess all of the good gifts of God. Now, for once, I am saying that I want you to lack something, to be so devoid of it that you never recover from your need of it! You should always desperately desire greater victories.

I want you to never be satisfied.
I want you to be divinely dissatisfied!

Making it clear about Clearlake

March 29^th 2012 Making it Clear about Clearlake

Today some deep questions are churning in my spirit.  What does this event in Clearlake really mean? Going forward how do we keep it healthy and strong? It is human nature to exaggerate on one hand and to oversimplify on the other.  As I prayed and meditated on the whole thing some answers came that help me to convey accurately what it means and what God requires of us. These answers are so important I believe that it will forge our endeavors from this point on.

1. Keep man’s hand off of the moving of God’s Spirit.  That seems to be obvious but the “hand” of man moves in many subtle ways.  Constant vigilance is required to keep this from ruining the work that is so precious.  The temptation to use revival for personal gain can be overwhelming to groups who have labored long and hard for results.  Churches and evangelists can feel the urge to cash in on the sudden results.

To keep man’s hand off of the flow requires discernment about the nature of true revival.  Revival is at once mighty and fragile.  This fact is both wonderful and baffling.  We see a vivid example of this in the Christmas story.  Why would angels, who possess awesome power, run around warning humans of danger?  Joseph and Mary had to follow God’s exact instructions to preserve the life of the Son of God? 

This tells us that we have a part in the revival and that God has a part in the revival.  We must stay out of those holy things that God does Himself.  We must confine our efforts to His instructions for us and follow them to the letter.

2. Protect the wonderful and reject the sensational.  People with desperate needs are flooding into the meetings looking for hope.  Sadly, these kinds of events also attract rebellious believers who trend toward the freaky fringes. We must encourage people to flow in God but discourage fleshly behavior.  If someone tries to draw attention to themselves or comes in claiming to be some prophet pulling rank to get their “word” to the people we must act to protect the true presence of God.  Navigating this balance requires gentleness and patience.  We must maintain an atmosphere that is conducive to worship, miracles, and words from God   

3. Bringing people who are lost and sick to the meetings. One unintended consequence of letting a revival meeting become sensational is that it also becomes selfish.  Soon the meetings are exclusive to those who are already converted and are merely indulging in emotional experiences.  

The river of God will flow only so long as needs are brought to the house of God.  The prophet Elisha told the widow to gather all of the empty vessels that she could and that her jar of oil would multiply.  When there were no more empty vessels available the oil stopped.  Likewise Mark 6: 54,55 says, “And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was.” 

4. The Big Picture. Reports are coming from many quarters that fires of revival are breaking out.  Nationally, we are hearing of many churches that are now in apparent visitation.  Not only this but there are reports of revival coming from many parts of Northern California! 

This tells us that every leader worth their salt must contend for a true flow of God and learn the urgency of wisdom to maintain the momentum of God in revival.  Amen!  Pray for revival to overtake our nation and the world!

P.S. The meetings continue at Clearlake First Assembly Friday Night at 7PM Saturday Night at 6PM and Sunday at 8:30AM/10:30AM.   Dream House has its regular Friday Night at 7:15PM with Joseph Olberg and I will be at our Healing Rally Sunday at 5PM at Dream House.

Secret # 9 Dunamis

     

 

      SECRET #9
Dunamis

When you think of dumanis you probably picture the raw power of God. After all, the word dynamite comes from the word dunamis. But dunamis is not the raw power of God: that would be the steel punch discussed in Secret #3. Dunamis is a very specialized and unique expression of power, so unique in fact, that I do not want you to relate to it as “the next secret,” but as something that permeates all the other secrets.

Before I define dunamis for you, I must show you, yet again, the physical principle of war that corresponds to dunamis. It is called economy of force.

Economy of force is defined as fighting efficiently. Simply stated, it is using your army and equipment skillfully. without waste, to bring the maximum force possible. Von Clausewitz “described economy of force this way: “. . . always to make sure that all forces are involved – always to ensure that no part of the whole force is idle. If a segment of one’s force is located where it is not sufficiently busy with the enemy, or if troops are on the march-that is, idle – while the enemy is fighting, then these forces are being managed uneconomically.” 34

Economy of force is using the right weapon in the right way and at the right place. Economy of force is a discipline that helps you discover why your army is not effective and a gauge to see how well you are obeying the principles of war. Here are some common violations of economy of force as they occur in each principle of war:

The Objective:

The soldiers do not know why they are fighting. They fight sluggishly and inconsistently. They are confused in purpose and cannot act as a unit. War is extended unnecessarily and wastes lives and resources.

The Offensive:

The soldiers do not have the will to attack. They are on the battlefield but they don’t fire their weapons. This literally happened on D-Day at Omaha Beach during World War II “Only five infantry companies [on Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944] were tactically effective. In these companies, one-fifth of the men fired their weapons during the day-long advance from the water’s edge to the first row of villages – total of not more than 450 men firing consistently.” 35 Had all of the men fired their weapons, the battle would have been decided quickly and with far less loss of life.

Concentration:

The army is gathered at non-decisive points. Barracks are fine for training, but warriors must be taken to the front to attack the enemy. If not, it is a total waste of resources.

Mobility:

The army is too slow to get to a decisive point which allows the enemy to arrive first. The slow battalion is always tired and in danger. Swiftness economizes every resource of an army, especially time.

Security:

Internal strife and division breaches security and prevents protection. Valuable resources meant for attack are used up in the camp, and delayed attacks deleteriously affect morale.

Surprise:

Muddled information eliminates the ability to prepare for a surprise attack. Again, delay damages you by letting the enemy “shape you” so that no surprise is possible. They know where you are going and how big you are!

Cooperation:

Because branches of the fighting force won’t work together, attacks lack momentum and magnitude. They extend battles by exposing soldiers to overwhelming forces. New weapons are not tried because of bias. Commanders. who are jealous of each other, won’t try them. There is no massive, focused, versatile assault. Here is the ultimate abuse of resources!

Lines of Communication:

When the enemy cuts off the supply line, that causes the ultimate waste. Not only have resources been lost, they become reinforcements for the enemy.

Surely you can see how economy of force is central to victory in physical war. How much more, then, is dunamis a force for us to use against Lucifer.

We have wasted more resources than any army in history! Without a doubt, Satan has cherished our ignorance of effective and efficient warfare.

Dunamis is a creative force of undiluted effectiveness. Dunamis is a power that blends the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the power of the resurrection, and the grace of God into a cunning for total victory – the dynamite of God that renders us effective.

Many around the world have known dunamis as the anointing, and it is clearly described in the words of Jesus in 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.”

Let’s look at Gideon once again. This time notice the impulse of dunamis. From the moment that Gideon obeyed God in preparing an attack against the Midianites, dunamis guided him. How?

1. He cut out all activities that did not relate to the giant why of his life.

2. He reduced the army in number until only the conative core was left.

3. He blended tactics into a maximized whole. With divine skill, he orchestrated pitchers to break, trumpets to blast, and soldiers to shout the victory!

No human training could have given Gideon this talent. A brilliant military career could not endow an officer with Gideon’s surgical accuracy of attack.

Noah was infused with skills that still give pause today. He built something that had never been seen before. He did not have the privilege granted to most inventors of starting with a prototype.

Have you ever heard of an invention where the first rendering worked perfectly? Never mind its mathematically perfect proportions or the miracle of the placement of the animals. What boggles the mind was the structural integrity of the ark. What Noah constructed withstood a global catastrophe with the most violent wind and waves ever known.

Summon today’s most respected shipbuilders, arm them with leading edge computer technology, and they could not, in a thousand tries, create with gopher wood what one man did with his hands under the impulse of dunamis.

How many people today boast about the information age! Thousands of years before these roosters crowed, Solomon prayed for dunamis. Solomon asked for the gift to rule the people of God. Soon gracious words of insight flowed like a river. The world came to Jerusalem to drink deeply of his godly counsel.

Dunamis is available today in a form that is beyond the wonder of these Bible heroes. Let us turn to the moment when the Apostle Paul asked the Corinthians a burning question:

“Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you” [I Corinthians 14:23-25]. Paul called the question.

He is asking, in effect, “What kind of gatherings do you want?” Gatherings where onlookers leave disgusted and thinking you are insane, or a manifestation of prophetic persuasiveness where onlookers collapse before the truth and admit the reality of God? Do we want selfish supernaturalism that gratifies our emotions, but totally confuses the outsider? It is dunamis that arms us with the skill to rightly express the miraculous gifts of God.

There is an impact that the Holy Spirit has designed, but we have allowed key violations of economy of force to give the Devil access to our effectiveness. Here is how:

1. Satan fights to separate key ingredients that together create an awesome impact. He wants dichotomy when there should be integrity. Here are examples of his favorite dichotomies:

To separate love and knowledge.
To separate miracles and order.
To separate joy and holiness.
To separate teaching and soul winning.

Lucifer poisons the church with pride so that factions become fiercely loyal to a single ingredient. These people refuse to appreciate their missing component. Satan works unceasingly to keep gifts and weapons separated when, in union, they would cause him great harm.

2. Satan has kept us concentrated at points that are not decisive. We are in church preaching the gospel to each other. Since we are not deployed to assault the Devil, we eventually attack one another.

Dunamis is skill on fire and wisdom at war. But it imparts so much more than this. It refuses to waste force and will send the church to centers of evil!

As I said earlier, leaders who are in denial invent pseudo-victories to busy the army of God and keep them in the barracks after their training is complete. Look around you. You will see churches and Christians organizations that are really good at one thing, but it doesn’t matter. All of that talent is wasted if it is not connected to the gifts of other churches and is not expressed at decisive points.

Dunamis will not tolerate this condition for a single moment. It will marshall all of the detached units. It will blend all the weapons and will apply whatever pressure is needed to get the army to a meaningful target. But dunamis is still more . . .
Jesus said. “You shall receive ∂üvauis (dunamis) and be a witness” [Acts 1:8]. He is saying so much more than we know! A true witness is armed with skills to decode a culture and sense the vacuum of a generation. The person speaks the precise words in the precise way that renders the hearer defenseless before the love of God.

Luke 21:15 describes pure dunamis: “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.” Isaiah echoes this same gift: “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning. He awakens My ear to hear as the learned” [Isaiah 50:4].

Pentecost is misunderstood! We miss the true significance of that day! Yes, there was wind and fire and the wondrous arrival of the Holy Spirit, but above all, there was a witness! All twelve secrets came together in a pulverizing moment of impact that made Jerusalem ground zero for Satan. It was not just a matter that onlookers were stunned that the 120 could suddenly speak their languages: it was the irresistible power of what they were saying. It was a direct message from the heart of God to the now unprotected hearts of the people. Fifteen thousand people met the Master in a moment! This phenomenon is hated the most by Satan. It is the extreme antithesis of what he tries to do.

Just as war fills Hell,  so does dunamis populate Heaven  with a myriad of souls!

(Dear reader, for those who may not be aware, we have been posting a chapter of  Mario’s book I am the Christian the Devil Warned You about almost everyday.  You can scroll all the way down and begin the book at chapter one.)

In Their own words: the latest from Clearlake.

 

This latest blog “In their own words.” Includes the events of last night in Clearlake.  I got a text at 4:12 PM that 40 people were already standing in line to get in for 7PM service. For one man, it was his 4^th try.  He got in and was born again! One man with a large hernia reported that his stomach suddenly went flat and he felt no more pain.  But the reports get even more amazing.

My name is Maggie. I attended the service at Clearlake First Assembly last night, and I was one of the 10 women to be healed of the pain in my abdomen area. I stood up and you said, “there are a couple of women who additionally are being attacked in their sleep and also in their breathing.” You ministered to me directly and said that “the enemy has been attacking me because I am about to embark on something.”  You also said that “satan only attacks those he fears.” ” Satan will not succeed,” you said. Everything you said is true. I have attended two revival services, and I am so glad to be under the Prophetic Ministry again. It has been quite dry in Clearlake for a very long time. As you said, “People have written the people of Clearlake off, but God likes to show up and show out in small towns like ours to be a witness for the nations. In addition you said, ” that I was being attacked because I have been studying in the area of Authority.” “This is true also, and has been a strong suit of mine along with the gift of Faith.” I look forward to seeing how God will be using me in the days, weeks, and months ahead for His Glory. See you on Sunday night and Monday night also at Clearlake First Assembly in Clearlake, CA.

 Blessings,  Maggie

 “My name is Ron. I am on the Board of “Directors of First Assembly and I was healed of diabetes Sunday night March 18, 2012. My wife /verginia received a healing in her right knee Tuesday the 20th of March.  Bless you and we eagerly await next week.”
 
Ron and Virginia

Linda (Clearlake, California)
Miracle of oppression, anger, unforgiveness, fear lifted.

Mario,

 “On Monday night, March 19, 2012, in your meeting at First Assembly, Clearlake, CA., I was healed of severe pain in both knees.  Prior to that I was taken to ER because I couldn’t walk.  Today I’m able to bend my knees without any pain.”

Orv

 Dear Mario, 

“I will celebrate my 20th birthday in the Lord in just a few days. For 20 years I have been sowing words, testimonies and love into emy unsaved mom and stepdad’s life. As my step-dad’s health took a turn for the worse, there was a crack in the door of their hearts toward God. They began to be open for prayer, for the hope of Jesus, as my church and others began to stand around them in prayer. Still, given the previous 20 years and my Step-Fathers fragile health, It was against tremendous odds that they would travel from Lakeport to Clearlake to go to a church when only 1 time out of the 20 years did they travel the 2 miles to mine. 

 On Tuesday they agreed to go. It was an amazing time as I watched my Mom and Step-Dad answer the call to give their lives to the Lord, as you beckoned those to come forward. I watched tears stream down their cheeks as they repeated a similar prayer to mine 20 years prior.  They intently listened as you called out accurate item after accurate item in those around us.  Their hope for healing began to rise. My mom described it as a party=)  The next night, Wednesday, My mom said her whole body felt like it was on fire and my Step-dad felt the presence of the Lord over his body. Their fear, uncertainty, helplessness, which had been warring against their soul, was displaced by peace, joy and the security of knowing that God was with them.  I watched as they lifted their hands to the Lord in worship and shouted “Amen” when you said something that touched them. I felt like a woman watching a dream.”

 All that weekend my mom, knowing others who needed a myriad of healing, emailed and phoned many of her friends and brought three people with them on Sunday night. I held a place them in the very front row. Their friend had a brain tumor, and the Lord gave such accurate words of knowledge regarding exactly, exactly, exactly (did I tell you it was exact) the symptoms and ailments he had experienced. You also prayed for their daughter and my Step-dad.  It was amazing.  And they will never be the same. They are ruined for the world. Thank you!”

“Tonight you called out re: migraine headaches, And I stood up.   I have had migraines for up to 4 days in a row. Before you called out, I felt the presence of God over my sinuses and forehead. In addition, you also said that I may not know but I have a pinched nerve. It is a condition that my Mom, my daughter and I have all suffered with. All of us on our right side and that is where you, through the Lord, accurately described it.and I know I am healed. God reached down and My family has been totally renovated.  PRAISE GOD THAT HE IS VISITING HIS PEOPLE. THANK YOU FOR BEING THE VISTOR. BLESSED ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO PREACH THE GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR. ”

Denise

“THIS DAY IS VERY SPECIAL TO MY FAMILY MY HUSBAND MY SELF AND MY OLDEST CHILDREN GAVE OUR LIVES TO JESUS CHRIST AND I AM PRAYING THAT THE LORD USE MYSELF AND MY FAMILY FOR HIS WORK I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU JESUS FOR NEVERGIVING UP ON ME  WHEN MY LIFE FELL APART.”

I have no idea what to expect tonight except that each night the glory has intensified. Stay tuned.

Secret # 8 Communion.

SECRET #8
Communion

Dear Warrior,

A weak prayer life will make you feel more guilty than anything else. One reason for this is that you know how crucial prayer is to everything you do. As believers, we are continually drilled about the preeminence of prayer.

Let us examine a typical morning in your life. You wake up frantically. You are in a race. The slightest misstep will put you perilously behind schedule. As you are about to blast out the door, you feel an overwhelming shame that you have not prayed. Is this Holy Ghost conviction? Most likely it is a very subtle, but debilitating, assault from Satan.

This attack is comparable to a common mistake made by moms and dads. Their child has just behaved foolishly. Out of exasperation, one of the parents snaps at the youngster, “How could you do something so stupid!” This comment was meant to teach the child to think before they act. The actual result, however, is just the opposite. The child feels embarrassed, ashamed, and yes, stupid.

If all this damage to the child’s esteem was done by accident, imagine, then, what shame can be like in the hands of Satan who is purposing to destroy you! The voice that is assaulting you as you walk out the door in the morning is not trying to get you to pray, but to feel ashamed; so ashamed, in fact, that you won’t enter God’s presence, and you will postpone prayer indefinitely. Hear me, Warrior: Satan can be more dangerous barking at us to do what is right than he can when he tempts us to do what is wrong.

Of course. the answer is not to feel exempt from prayer just because we have uncovered his devilish plot! No, it is just the opposite. We are now alert to the fact that Lucifer is trying to destroy our prayer life.

The key is to distinguish between the voice of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the Evil One. There is a classic difference between the two. The Holy Spirit provokes prayer from within, not with an angry tone, but by warming the heart and making us lonesome to be with God.

Jesus called the Holy Spirit “The Helper.” Beware, then, of inner urgings that seem right but don’t help you. It is the impulse of the Spirit of the Lord to “fan into flame” any spark of God that is within us.

There are three great misunderstandings about prayer, and three greater answers to those misunderstandings. They are:

1. I have gone a long time without prayer. I dread the anger of the Lord I will feel once I finally do pray.

The most amazing experience of your life will be when you see how glad God is to hear from you. There will be no mention of the separation, except that He missed you.

2. I must wait until I have time to pray for hours.

Some may deem my next remark as unspiritual. It is not as important to the Holy Spirit how long you pray as how often you pray. You can begin with five minutes a day. Do not be afraid to start small.

3. I truly have no time to pray.

While some would never believe that remark, for many people, it is totally true. They need to see the power prayer has to create time. It liberates time. Prayer replaces all the time it uses and gives back so much more. Here is how: (a) There are many things you do that take much longer than they should because you are not refreshed, alert, and strong, and (b) there are many thieves of your time you cannot see except through the eye of prayer.

When you face the fear of interrupting your routine and steal off to meet the Master, a divine order will dispose the chaos in your life. You will be free at last. Prayer will then become addictive! Soon you will be ready to make the quantum leap from a prayer life to a life of prayer.

The Old Testament showcases men and women who were granted extraordinary intimacy with God. The Bible says that Moses knew God face to face: “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend [Exodus 33:11]. This strange and wondrous friendship grew to harness history itself! Daniel 11:32 says: “But the people who know their God .. will be strong and carry out great exploits. Daniel knew that at the end of the age there would be people who would experience a rare intimacy with God and would do greater things than had ever been done before.

This intimacy is provided by the righteousness of Jesus Christ and is credited to every believer by the faith that Jesus imparts. So righteous is this impartation that we are granted audience at the throne of God which exceeds what God gave to Moses!

Intimacy is what your next secret is about. It is called communion with God. This celestial secret has an earthly counterpart. In this case, it is a principle of war known as “lines of communication.”

Von Claiusewitz described lines of communication this way: “They link the army to its base and must be considered as its arteries. The roads are in constant use for all sorts of deliveries, for ammunition convoys, detachments moving back and forth, mail carriers and couriers, hospitals and depots, reserve munitions. and administrative personnel. All this together is vital to the army.” 31

Lines of communication. then, are all the routes, whether by land, air, or sea that connect an operating military force with its base of operation. All of their supplies and reinforcements move along these routes.

Sun Tzu called lines of communication doctrine when he said. “By doctrine I mean organization, control, assignment of appropriate ranks to officers, regulation of supply routes, and the provision of principal items used by the army.” 32

Napoleon said, “An army marches on its stomach.” How well he knew that! Twice he lost major wars because his supply lines were disrupted. On those occasions he had violated his lines of communication.

There are two precautions a general must keep in mind in regards to lines of communication:

1. He must secure his lines of communication or the enemy will cut off his supply routes.

2. He must not outrun his own supply line. Even if he wins a battle, his resources will be depleted and will likely allow his opponent to regroup in a counteroffensive.

Effective supply lines give an army significant advantages: (a) they allow it to continuously advance, and (b) the army arrives at its goal with strength and reserve. This guarantees victory because it is a double dose of morale for the soldiers. They feel excited because they are on the move. taking enemy territory, and they are not cold, hungry, or low on ammunition.

Many immediate comparisons can be made to God’s army.

1. We must not allow our supply line to be disrupted. Our Supplier is the Holy Spirit. We remain constant in prayer because the warfare is intense and dependence on God is more essential than ever before.

2. We must not outrun our supply line. This is when We become overextended. Paul said he avoided this in II Corinthians 10:13-14: “We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us – a sphere which especially includes you. For we are not over extending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ.”

In Psalms 106:13 it says, “They soon forgot His works: they did not wait for His counsel.”

Natural armies experience overextension because their supply lines cannot keep up, but with Christians, it may be because God will not keep up.

The provision of the Lord is for the vision of the Lord. There is no room for human counsel or pet projects on the front line of our war! Our program must be for the pleasure of the Lord.

Jesus did what He saw His father doing. ‘. . . My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” [John 5:17]. His communion with His Father was His line of communication! This was His supply line to keep moving and taking new ground. But there is still more! Communion has three very amazing features.

1. Communion is Intimacy.

“And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God” [Exodus 31:18 KJV].

Before Moses could receive the commandments, God insisted on communion! It is hard to relate this mystery. What did Moses and God do for those forty days? The answer strikes at the heart of why God made us – to commune with Him. Just as God had intimate walks with Adam in the cool of the evening, now Moses experienced that same intimacy.

The demands of the Lord grow out of a relationship. Until we behold the wonder of His glory, love, and goodness, we cannot see the power and rightness of God’s principles.

David said, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from your law” [Psalm 119:18]. Religion is, in essence, rules without relationship.

Ask a child the difference it makes in their ability to learn when they love their teacher!

But even Moses could not enjoy full intimacy with God. Fullness of intimacy came when Jesus offered it to the disciples. This kind of intimacy had not been seen since the Garden of Eden. “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing: but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” [John 15:15].

Everything we do for God must be the secondary result of an eternal bond. The next verse is a prelude to what grows out of communion: “You did not choose Me. but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” [John 15:16].

2. Communion is Provision. Anyone who has walked with the Lord in intimacy will tell you that God makes big demands and gives big rewards. There is an unalterable fact about our Master: He provides more than enough for His purposes.

Earthly armies have to wait for supplies. We don’t, because our provision from God is instant, open, and abundant.

We need never let up our penetration of evil territory to wait for ammunition or supplies. The promise of never having to let up on the attack is seen in II Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”

Remember, I told you how high it makes the morale of soldiers climb when they penetrate enemy ground and are well equipped. Our morale can be infinitely greater!

First, we plunge into an eternal love bond with Jehovah. This gives us unbroken intimacy. Next, we go out freely to press the assault, knowing clearly that our great cause is born of God. Our supply line will continually overtake us!

Here is Paul’s proclamation of communion provision: “. . . that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” [Ephesians 3:16-19].

3. Communion is Heaven’s Prayer

Once in a great while someone will pray a fervent and availing prayer. In fact, this prayer is so effectual that it crosses the veil and permits the petitioner to peer into heaven. The person praying catches a glimpse of Jesus in intercession. This is both glorious and painful at the same time. The petitioner rejoices at the revelation, but is cut to the heart by how much higher and purer the intercession of Jesus is than his own.

Our best prayer can still be cluttered with self-interest. Too often we are jockeying in prayer to find a short-cut out of failure. Then there are the prayers asking for relief from crisis without appreciating the deeper intention of the trial. Daniel could have easily justified a panic prayer time. He had been kidnapped and taken to Babylon.

Daniel’s future plans had been cut off. He prayed and looked into heaven. There he saw and understood that God had business for him in Babylon. Daniel replaced his own prayer with heaven’s prayer.

For some reason we cannot accept the fact that God will not act on Man’s behalf outside of prayer. There is a continual, divine quest for someone to stand in the gap, and with an all consuming passion, pray the prayers that have been orphaned by our neglect. It is as if Jesus is saying, “Here, take this prayer and nurture it to fruition”.

Every great revival can be traced to an astonishing gushing out of unselfish prayer, prayer that found its beginning in God.

Communion can give this prayer to you! You can be emptied of all your own affairs and pray in supernatural conformity with the deepest yearnings of Jesus. Arthur Mathew described it as this: “It is the overflow of a heart that the Holy Spirit has rendered sensitive to spiritual issues in earthly situations poured out in a steady, uninhibited stream of undiluted longing.” 33

Now can you understand the kind of soldier these three elements would create? A warrior, who is eternally bonded in love with his God, marches forward, never letting up on the attack. He draws on a never-ending supply of all that he needs for victory. He prays down the very power of heaven without limitation because his heart reflects the passion of his God.

Tell me, then. can you imagine anything that can terrify Satan more than a warrior in communion with God?

The best night yet in Clearlake here is the latest report.

Once again the house was filled well before start time.  The air crackled with faith.  The worship was deeper than ever and the overflow crowd did not care about how cramped it felt in there.  There is no doubt in my mind that these people would have stayed all night if we had allowed them to.  Using 2 Kings 4: 1-7 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves. ² So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”  What I said to the audience filled with seekers wanting God was simple.  We heard a tragic report for Gilroy of a soldier who shot and killed his whole family and then turned the gun on himself.  Who can say why he did it but we can guess that despair was a big factor.  This woman faced despair but what a difference in her reaction!  She took her crisis to the man of God.  I said to the audience you can panic and feel hopeless or you can take you emergency to Christ.  It amazed me that that was all it took for nearly 40 souls to invade the front of the church to be born again!

Then the miracles began.  Healings popped all over the room.  The Holy Spirit was identifying miracles almost like a machine gun.  I struggled to keep up with the flow of knowledge.  I share this with fear because I am so unworthy to be any part of this great miracle.  Pain vanished in one person after another. One partially crippled lady stood before me and heard the Spirit of God tell her every detain of her condition.  It was stunning to watch the pain and stiffness leave in one section of her body to another until she could move and walk freely all over the front of the church.

I asked another lady to stand and began ministering to her in Spanish.  After I told her all of her symptoms, I finished by saying “it is diabetes.”  She broke and the many in audience who knew her and her conditions let out a roar of praise.  Another young lady was picked from the audience and the clarity of how much God knew the exact details of her condition literally frightened her and her mom let out a shriek!   Her was a young girl that was told by the Spirit about every area of her body that was damaged, including how the pain medication that she was taking had damaged her intestines.  The power was strong enough to take out a section of people.  She was completely and utterly healed.

Men were touched who had everything from cancer to kidney stones.  One final mass healing prayer near the end filled the room with even more miracles.  And still I feel that the best is yet to come.

Near the end of the night I went back to the story of the widow and the miracle of the oil. 2 Kings 4: 3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. ⁴ And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”  ⁵ So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. ⁶ Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. ⁷ Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

I told the audience we had to go after the people around the lake that no one else wants!  We announced one more service tomorrow night.  I said go get them!  I looked in their eyes and I knew that many lost souls are coming tonight (Monday Night) for salvation.  The revival fires are burning brighter than ever.  Stay tuned!

 

 

Secret #7 The Unity of the Spirit

SECRET #7
The Unity of the Spirit

Dear Warrior.

I wish you could have seen what a motley crew we were, what a bizarre cross-section of leaders! From all over China we were summoned to a central location by our denomination. The reason? A young church-growth expert had been sent over from one of our American schools of theology. He was going to help us.

My sons bitterly protested going to the meeting. They had faced snake-infested rivers, communist persecution, and hordes of demonized villagers. This seminar, however, was the supreme torture. “Why,” they complained “should we listen to a hot shot whose only weapon is a frayed library card and whose theories could only live in a theological incubator?”

I told them that they must go because there was a higher purpose for our attendance. Our movement at home was deeply divided, and this division had spread to China. Many leaders refused to work together, and no matter how righteous their reasons, the final damage was seen in a lack of soul winning.

My purpose in attending was to try to heal rifts and confront the real issues as I saw them. My hope was that a great united force could be created to harvest the Chinese.

As we entered the meeting hall, I saw enemies of our work. The air was thick with the foe of politics, but I also saw mighty men and women of God. I hoped that these great people of God would stand with me as I gave my plea. I was committed to share my heart even if it meant sitting through a convoluted pep talk.

What I was not prepared for was the marketing message that was inflicted upon us by this young man from America. He preached in the full fever of his own self-importance.

Early in my ministry I was sternly warned of a pulpit disease called ignorance on fire. Here it was before me in full conflagration. Some way, though I cannot tell you how, he had melded concepts of pop psychology, new age nonsense, and a hamburger sales philosophy into a formula for reaching the Chinese. The closest he came to relating to China was in his creation of a phenomenon that sounded Chinese. It was Confusionism!

In his own style, the speaker tried to explain spiritual warfare. There were regional devils, he surmised, that were called territorial spirits. All we needed was a spiritual map and official name for these devils. He showed us a cute ceremony. We could scold these beings by name, they would leave, and instant breakthrough would ensue.

I looked around the room and there, sprinkled among the crowd, were true warriors of God. How could this consultant appreciate the fact that he was talking to mighty apostles who had carved churches out of the granite of communist China, deposed demons en masse, and had even raised the dead?

I prayed vehemently for a chance to speak. God answered my prayer in the strangest way. He used the arrogance of the speaker. As hard as I tried, I could not mask my feelings about his speech. Suddenly he asked me what I thought. I detected that he did this in order to cause a confrontation between his ideas and mine. It was as though he wanted to verify the superiority of his theories by exposing mine.

I assumed that he saw me as one who represented the “old way of doing things.” He, of course, was representing the “new way.” He wanted to prove that my position was antiquated and that our denomination could be improved by humanism. There was no small commotion when I asked for and received permission to answer him from the pulpit.

When everyone got quiet I told the young man that I thought he was very sincere but, of course, wrong. I directed the audience’s attention to Acts, Chapter 8, and showed them Philip preaching in the city of Samaria which was dominated by the occult. “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city” [Acts 8:5-8]. Philip received no name for these devils nor did he need a spiritual road map. He knew that the way you get devils out is by bringing in the mighty gospel!

I told him that the only part of his presentation that I agreed with was the existence of territorial spirits. “There are ruling spirits that control specific regions, but they are not demons,” I explained. “They are leaders right here in this room, who have, and I say this with a broken heart, divided up the work of God. Instead of being a cooperative force that pulls together talent and manpower, there is isolation, possessiveness and competition. The tragedy is that there are more than enough talent, prayer power, and resources present here to overwhelm any power of darkness in China. Our problem is not on the outside of us, but within us. A God given unity and a combined witness would automatically loosen the grip of Satan. ”

After I finished speaking, the Spirit of God fell. Soon leaders began to shake violently and sob uncontrollably. A great miracle that would bring untold life to China was born that day. What was that great miracle? The secret of the unity of the Spirit.

This gift of God crumbles walls between people and sets hearts aflame so that they are utterly available to God. This builds a tidal wave against the devil’s targets.

Once again, to fully grasp its scope and breadth, we must study its physical counterpart. It is the principle of war known as cooperation.

First and foremost. the principle of cooperation is an attitude. It is the ability to willingly Marshall forces that are under separate command and bring them under the authority of the Commander-in-Chief. Cooperation is a spirit that says, in effect, whatever it takes to win we shall do. Each separate unit is obsessed with adding whatever talent they have to the cause of victory in whatever way they are asked to do it.

Sun Tzu said. “Now the troops of those adept in war are used like the ‘Simultaneously Responding’ snake of Mount Ch’ang. When struck on the head its tail attacks; when struck on the tail, its head attacks, when struck in the centre both head and tail attack. Should one ask: ‘Can troops be made capable of such instantaneous co-ordination?’ I reply: ‘They can.’ For, although the men of Wu and Yüeh mutually hate one another, if together in a boat tossed by the wind, they would co-operate as the right hand does with the left.” 29

Without cooperation, troops cannot concentrate at the decisive point. There have been numerous times in the history of war, that even though an attack force was clearly superior, it lost. For, even when an army possesses superior intelligence and arms, lack of cooperation neutralizes their advantage.

Cooperation, in a military campaign, is hard to achieve. Here are the classic reasons why:

1. Unit pride.

In the early stages of training, a big emphasis is put into pride and loyalty to your unit. This builds a strong loyalty as well to the unit leader. The problem comes when the training is finished, and those men must now advance as a unit and combine with the other elements of the army. They must now transfer their loyalty from their leader to the battle commander. Their pride is deep. They have been drilled over and over that their own unit is the best. They are confident that they can “do it alone” and become belligerent to the other parts of the fighting force.

2. The authority is too detached.

Fighting battalions that have been used to very close and immediate superiors now find it difficult to heed the commands of authority that are distant and inaccessible.

3. Disloyalty to the Commander-in-Chief

Whoever has created the objective and has been given absolute authority over the battle plan must command the entire operation, as well as each and every branch of the fighting machine. When subordinate leaders have enthralled their soldiers with how much better they could run the war, there is a disloyalty that ruins cooperation. Such a condition will cause disaster. Sun Tzu said, “When senior officers are angry and insubordinate, and on encountering the enemy rush into battle with no understanding of the feasibility of engaging and without awaiting orders from the commander, the army is in a state of Collapse.” 30 The Commander-in-Chief knows why certain plans have been made; that wisdom is not always available to subordinate leaders. Therefore, loyalty to the Commander-in-Chief is the essence of cooperation. These same three problems plague the Christian movement:

1. Unit pride.

A church or denomination emulates unit pride when they believe that they have more truth and are so right that they dare not pollute themselves by cooperating with the rest of the Body of Christ. They conjure up a host of “holy reasons” why they cannot get involved in a citywide effort to win souls. In their blindness, they will defend to the death a doctrinal technicality while violating the undeniable truths of God’s love and the great commission. How well did Jesus describe them in Matthew 23:24: “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel”

2. Detached authority

If Christian leaders are too overbearing and dictatorial, they can dull the hearing of disciples who can then barely hear Jesus. Small wonder, then, that the Lord’s authority over them feels distant and detached.

The Bible says in I Peter 5:2-4: “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” Every pastor knows that they will surrender the sheep to the Lord on “that day.” But the true pastor knows that he must surrender the sheep every day.

When a battalion leader acts independently of his commander, he might use the excuse that the leader is too detached or that it would be too ponderous to go through proper channels when snap decisions must be made. This excuse, however, will not spare him from severe discipline.

How much more guilty, then, are we as leaders when we act independently from our Commander Jesus Christ! We can be instantly in His presence, and He is never detached: “For lo, I am with you to the end of the age” [Matthew 28:20].

When the Chief Shepherd summons the sheep for a citywide harvest, the pastor must recognize the “up close” authority of the Holy Spirit to do so!

3. Disloyalty to the Commander-in-Chief.

Let’s face it. The true source of division is almost always that the heart is not right with Christ. If I am right with Jesus, it follows that I cannot be divided against another who is likewise in harmony with the Lord.

There is always someone who will race to take the moral high ground and make all sorts of fervent excuses for causing division. The Biblical grounds for such dissecting of the church, however, are extremely limited. Most of what we see is plain disloyalty to the Lord as the Head of the Church. To be sure, there are a lot of righteous words spouted, but few of them are in deliberate prayer. Few people ever asked the Commander- in-Chief what they should do. If they did, he would almost surely recite the words of Paul in Ephesians 4:3 instructing them to “. . . keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Here are the elements of the unity of the Spirit:

It is vertical before it is horizontal.

By this I mean that it is futile to “get everyone together and reconcile.” This comes only after individual repentance before God. When I am in vertical unity with the Spirit, then I can reach out horizontally to my brother who is also Spirit-led.

The supreme commandment is: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, this is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” [Matthew 22:37-38]. Your love must be connected upward – “love God” – before it can go outward – “your neighbor as yourself.”

Many have sought to enforce unity in the hopes that it would cause an outpouring. But it is the vertical repentance that brings the Holy Spirit who then brings unity.

In the upper room the disciples were not praying for unity. They got unity because they were repenting and asking for the Holy Spirit.

It is supernatural agreement!

“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” [Matthew 18: 19-20].

As touching anything? Does it really mean anything? The fact that it does should ignite us to seek the gift of supernatural agreement with every atom of our being.

All things are possible because we have repented and let Jesus be the “I am in the midst” of us. Having tossed aside our inferior purposes like defective toys, we are utterly available to substitute those things that God keeps ready for those who love him for our puny ideas [I Corinthians 2:9]. Pray mighty prayers, prayers that are not only out of our reach but have not even entered our minds!

Agreement is such a powerful force that God said of the men of the Tower of Babel: “. . . Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do: now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” [Genesis 11:6-7]. Agreement is so powerful that when God saw men achieve it without Him, He knew that they would use it to create an awesome perversion. Cod had to intervene!

Imagine, then, the creative force of God’s Christian warriors achieving agreement by the power of the Holy Spirit. The world has yet to see the astonishing exploits they would do.

Unity in the Holy Spirit is koinonia. “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].

The word koinonia did not exist until there were Christians. The Greeks saw the life infusing effect that Christians had on each other. They had many words for fellowship but nothing to describe family that had such joy and love and that experienced such intense refreshment from each other. So, they called it koinonia.

One night a Roman guard stood watch outside a nobleman’s mansion during a great feast. There was abundance. laughter, and revelry inside. It represented all that this soldier was aspiring to gain in his lifetime. All at once he heard faint singing coming up from the gutter. It was the Christians in the catacombs underneath the streets of Rome. Here the sound of God’s people enjoying fellowship and worship was colliding with the sound of pleasure and ease above.

He heard both sounds for hours and his heart began to warm. It was a miracle that defies description. The worship of the saints had drained the attraction of the feast in this man’s heart. His tears flowed. and he made his choice. He walked over and lifted the grate that covered the gutter and climbed down to join the family of God.

Secret # 6 The Secret of the Lord

SECRET #6
The Secret of the Lord

Dear Warrior,

I call our next principle The Secret of the Lord.

In each generation God creates a mysterious trigger that, once pulled, blasts a hole in the very core of the Evil One’s activity. What is so wonderful is how utterly undetectable it is to the Enemy until it is too late.

You may be wondering why I insist on connecting a principle of war to each of the twelve secrets Let me explain by taking you back to when war was created.

Satan lusted after God’s beauty, plundered Adam’s royalty, pilfered Earth’s glory, and thought He had stopped Jehovah’s plan. By his actions, he declared war on God. Since war had never been seen before, where do you suppose Lucifer learned to wage war? By doing what he had always done-watching God and trying to imitate him.

Martin Luther said, “For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel . . . as the Most Holiest was dark, and had no light, even so and after the same manner did they [pagans] make their shrines dark where the Devil made answer. Thus is the Devil ever God’s ape.” 23

God activated his attack strategies when he pronounced judgment on the Devil. God’s campaign was to rescue Man and destroy evil. Therefore, His plan, of necessity, was complex and long-range.

The principles of war were created by “God’s ape” as he tried to copy the very things he saw Jehovah doing. This brought judgment upon Satan. Satan’s goal was to make war physical. He provoked Cain to murder his brother Abel. Bloodshed was born and the blood has never stopped flowing. Physical war gave Satan his greatest means of filling Hell. This is why he teaches Man war and foments as much conflict as possible.

The twelve secrets, then, are God’s original truths that have been counterfeited by Satan. They are the expedients that God created to ultimately eradicate evil. This is why I am so adamant that we obey them and make ourselves accessible to the Lord’s mighty power to attack the invisible and prevent war from turning physical.

Now let us study the principle of war that ‘apes” the secret of the Lord. It is called surprise.

The element of surprise gives the aggressors a multi-faceted advantage. They choose where, when, and how they will attack. If their adversary is caught totally unaware, it can instantly break the morale and cause irreparable confusion.

The element of surprise can only affect your enemy in three instances: in relationship to time, place, and method. But two more conditions must exist before you can plan a surprise attack. First, you must be clearly aware of the condition of your enemy and his intentions, and secondly, he must be totally unaware of your conditions and intentions.

Security must be achieved before a surprise attack can even be considered. The troops must be disciplined and finely tuned for war. Von Clausewitz said, “Surprise will never be achieved under lax conditions and conduct.” 24

If I am a good general, my real goal is to take the enemy by complete surprise. Here then are the three components of complete surprise:

1. Choosing my place of surprise. My spies have uncovered a weak point, but can my army mobilize to this point? Again, Von Clausewitz said, “The two factors that produce surprise are secrecy and speed.” 25 The location you select blends these factors. You can get there quickly, rested, and undetected.

2. Deciding the time of my attack. Again, I must pit my strength against the enemy’s weakness. My informants have given me a profile of my opponent’s day to day operations. I choose my moment of attack carefully. It may be during a meal or while they sleep, or as Sun Tzu said, “During the early morning spirits are keen, during the day they flag, and in the evening thoughts turn toward home. And therefore those skilled in war avoid the enemy when his spirit is keen and attack him when it is sluggish and his soldiers homesick.” 26 But I must also know what my troops’ temperament is and when they will be able to give me their best fighting.

3. Choosing my tactic of surprise. Surprise attacks are excellent opportunities to display a new weapon or a novel method of attack. My prey is devastated not only by having no warning, but by not knowing what it is that they are up against.

If I have put all three of these factors in place and I can be certain that my adversary does not know what they are, then I can anticipate a stunning victory.

Sun Tzu said, “Strike the enemy as swiftly as a falcon strikes its target. It surely breaks the back of its prey for the reason that it awaits for the right moment to attack.” 27

True surprise has eluded armies for millenniums. As a tactic, surprise is ever present, but hardly perfect. It has failed as often as it has worked, and when it fails, the losses are huge. Von Clausewitz says, “But while the wish to achieve surprise is common, and indeed indispensable, and while it is true that it will never be completely ineffective, it is equally true that by its very nature surprise can rarely be outstandingly successful. It would be a mistake, therefore, to regard surprise as a key element in success in war.” 28

There is no record of a perfect surprise in warfare, except maybe one-Gideon! But that is because it was not mere human surprise. It was the secret of the Lord!

As Gideon hid in the wine vat, terrified of the Midianites, an angel appeared and tried to keep a straight face as he proclaimed Gideon a “mighty man of valor” [Judges 6:12]. Gideon was so far from greatness, that no demon was assigned to watch him. The mystery of Jehovah had begun! The world’s most unlikeliest general began to build the unlikeliest army. At its peak, Gideon’s army was outnumbered but then God began downsizing it.

And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me'” [Judges 7:2]. Finally, the number that would bring perfect surprise was reached. “Then the Lord said to Gideon, ‘By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place'” [Judges 7:7].

God had designed the three imperatives for total surprise. He had chosen the place, the time, and the method. When all of these soldiers were in their proper position, they launched the most original offensive strike of war in history.

“Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers – they held the torches in their left hands for blowing – and they cried, ‘The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!’ And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp” [Judges 7:20-22a]. The result for Gideon and his army was unqualified victory. The true nature of the secret of the Lord is that no one can be credited for its success but God. And God is always successful at surprise for two reasons:

(1) He cannot be surprised.
(2) He can surprise anybody.

But the ultimate expression of the secret of the Lord comes in the birth, life, and resurrection of Jesus.

To begin with Jehovah moved prophets to prophesy concerning the Messiah. These prophesies, though completely accurate, set a cosmic trap for Beelzebub by playing to his arrogance.

Look at Isaiah 9:6-7a: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulders. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.” Here is the portrait of a Mighty Ruler whose kingdom will not cease to expand. Satan’s response is to position his forces to look for a Child who will be born to a prominent and powerful family, probably in a lavish palace. As soon as he is settled upon this tactic, Micah prophesies something completely different:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” [Micah 5:2]. God designed this paradox so that Satan would be confused by his own evil. Satan could not figure out where to concentrate his forces. Even with the clue about the poor village of Bethlehem, the Devil would be fooled because Joseph and Mary were in another poor village, Nazareth. They would not arrive in Bethlehem until the last moment because of a census ordered by Caesar Augustus that was, in fact, manipulated by the Almighty.

God had established the where and the when, but the crowning achievement was the how. The world had never before imagined a virgin birth, let alone expected one. The manger was a tactically perfect surprise.

God is building another surprise. Its fulfillment looks totally unpromising. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” [Matthew 24:14]. At this moment there are a host of unlikely heroes secretly being built up into a global assault force. Meanwhile, world events are folding into the positions that will best facilitate a worldwide harvest. You must break yourself free from the deception of seeking a human security. Instead you should pursue the secret of the Lord.

A key verse is Psalm 25:24 where it says, “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.” Those who are more in awe of the Lord than current events have a special power. “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear. And let Him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary . . .” [Isaiah 8: 12-14a].

There is a part of this mystery that belongs to you. God will become your sanctuary in an insane world. God will show you his secret and his covenant. I must ask you this question, “What are you planning to do with your future?” I assure you that if it can be done by your own talent and resources then it is probably not of the Lord. His plan for you is something so big that you cannot do it without Him. Your aspirations should have the fragrance of the impossible. But this is not a call to a rash and reckless life. We need not even invent a strategy. The surprise is in progress. We merely need to find where we fit.

Yet again Satan is spread thin by prophetic mysteries. How depressed it makes him to realize that “Gideons” just keep appearing at needed times of worldwide darkness. Still, the crowning act of surprise will be in the skies. It is one shrouded in such mystery that no man knows the hour or the day. This will not be 300 men blowing trumpets and shouting, but the trump of God and the roar of Jesus! A lightening bolt will cross the entire sky. The heavens will roll up like a scroll and all evil will collapse at once!

The Very Latest from Clearlake

 

 

The Clearlake meetings continue next Sunday and Monday night.  We have no choice. Last night stands as the greatest display of an audience drawing on God that I can remember.  This was every bit as strong as the nights I remember in Africa where the people who had come from miles around at great risk stood and cried out to God.   Once again the building filled up an hour before start time.  Once again the souls came to Jesus near the beginning of the meeting.  Once again revelation power came upon us and brought healing to suffering bodies. 

First I want to talk to you about souls, souls, souls! The photo alongside this report says it all.  Lost souls began weeping last night before any sermon or altar call.  I spoke them directly about the demon power that had controlled the lake area  and how Jesus would deliver them from addictions and evil manifestations.  Only God knows how many souls were saved I stopped counting at 40. 

That this is happening on American soil is glorious but that it is happening in California makes it astounding.  All of us who are under this flow are gripped by a profound gratitude for the innocence and simplicity of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Last night we got the report of an elder in the church who lived in excruciating pain from herniated disks in his lower spine.  His torture was exacerbated by the fact that he is a truck driver by trade. He sat in the very back making sure that lost souls got the best seats.  Jesus did not forget his acts of kindness.  I was summoned to him and told him that his spine was in agony and to stand and be healed.  He could feel the pain evaporate.  He went back to his doctor to verify his miracle. The x-rays showed that all of the damage to his disks was gone!

In the meeting last night was a wonderful woman who I was told later was full of good works to the point on nearly impoverishing herself.  She suffered tremendous arthritis and bone disorders that damaged the right side of her body.  When she heard me say all of these things to her she knew that her miracle moment had arrived.  It began with simple movements of her hands and arms.  Soon the heat of God spread to the rest of her right side healing her back, legs, knees, ankles and feet.  Before I knew it she took off around the church and experienced a complete freedom from pain.  After this a wave of healing moved to and fro among the people.  There was not a corner of that sanctuary  that did not receive power.  From everywhere hands shot up to declare that they had been healed of everything from, severe stomach ailments, migraine headaches, cancer, diabetes, and any and every illness you could name.

My favorite healing last night was a little boy on the front row.  I told his mom that he had asthma and that God was also healing his skull and bone structure.  The mom gave me a knowing look of wonder and began to weep as she prayed in this miracle on her son.  Instantly he could breathe and feel the power of God radiating through this frame!  Stay tuned there is more to come.