It Really Is a Mercy Killing

    As soon as one's emotions get stirred in a situation, they are vulnerable to react in the flesh, instead of giving it to God in trust and faith. I found myself in that place last night, and I didn't like it. My desire is to take everything to the Lord, as the Only Faithful, True and Trustworthy One, but intense situations lure me in unsuspectingly. More dying is needed.
     Comfort is given when I see that the emotions are calmed so much sooner than in the past, revealing God's work in me. My opinions, my perspective, my "shoot from the hip" reactions aren't needed, and yet I give them anyway when my emotions are stirred. Dying to self is an agonizing process.
    "Let God be true and everyman a liar" is the cry of my spirit! Nothing we bring to the table within our own selves apart from God is effective or helpful or needed. Oh yes, brother James, it is hard to bridle the tongue-what man can? Only by allowing the soul to be crucified can anything within ourselves be tamed. So go, we must. For God to be truly glorified through our being, and for Him to have the pre-eminence; we have to die.
     It won't happen by us singing, "In my life, Lord, be glorified" over and over. No, for Him to truly be glorified in our lives, we've gotta go. We need to have the John the Baptist mindset of "less of me, more of Him." Again, saying this won't do it either, unless we are willing to die, and this dying is painful. Out of the death of us, comes Life, which is Christ in us, the hope of glory. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
     Have you entered into this process? Would you like to? Tell God, and you will begin to apprehend that which Christ has apprended for you on the cross, called sanctification. He not only justifies, and reconciles, but He sanctifies too! This means He goes about the business of cleansing, setting apart, and transforming you! All things, indeed, have become new!

It's A Spirit Thing

    For the longest time, I thought that whenever God's Word told me to do something, I thought I was supposed to do it. My reasoning was that God wouldn't tell me to do something I couldn't do, because I knew He wasn't One to intentionally "set me up." So, I went about purposing to do things such as "esteem others better than yourself," and "submit unto your husbands," and "pray without ceasing."-anything I heard Him telling me to do through His Word, was a standard I revered, because I knew He did, and I wanted to live up to them, because that was what He wanted. But I failed. :(
     As I grew in Him and Him in me, my understanding changed ,as the mind of Christ, by His Spirit, began to take more and more ground on the inside of me. I began to see that the only way I could live up to even one of these standards was as a result of the power of His Spirit increasing in me. It would be that He was actually fulfilling His own standards through me.  He didn't want me to do that apart from Him. (Phew-I can't anyway)
     Nevertheless, I live, not I but Christ who lives in me- that's what I am talking about and now as He conforms me to His image, He walks in righteousness through me,  because He is righteousness. Isn't that wonderful and mysterious at the same time? And freeing?

Let Them Come

     One particular facet I am seeing about the Body of Christ is His inclusion of children; not only in being a part of it, but also in participating in a real way. When our grandson spent the night with us last Friday, we all prayed together. Then when he was at home, he asked his Mom about it because she, too, is part of the group. He asked her why she didn't tell him about it, and she said that there were alot of things she was involved in that he didn't know about. She then, asked him, "why" he asked that, and he said, "well, I might want to be involved too."

      He is an 11 yr. old boy, and he is hungry for more of God, and that is astounding. How many times in our minds do we dismiss our children's hunger for God just because we assume they wouldn't be interested? We think they are so involved with video games or their own world that we think "they have their world, we have ours." But, I don't think God sees it like that. I think of little Samuel as a type of a hungry child in the temple, being taught in the ways of God.  Is this not showing us to open up the eyes of our spirits and tap into the desire in children to be included in His Body in a real way, and not assume they won't be interested in God, their Creator and Father?

      As a result of what my grandson said, God showed me in a new way, "for such is the Kingdom of God."

     We, as parents and grandparents need to look for this hunger in them, and fan the flame, so that their desire can grow, and not push them aside. They can share what God is showing them too, if only they are encouraged and welcomed to do so. We will either fan the flames of their spirits or quench it. Lord, help us be more aware of the children in your Body around us and open our hearts to include them, as You do. Amen.

The Consumption

    Going on a missions trip, for me, is part of spiritual survival. I live in a world of people who are financially well-off, and what I experience in that world is talk of hairdos, clothes, vacations, things to buy, the latest fitness or health craze, and spa days, for example.
     I heard a sermon once and remember the title of it, which is also an acronym-E.G.O.-"Edging God Out." With everything everyone, in my world, is consumed with, it feels like God is being edged out of it all.
     In times past, when someone had tuberculosis it was called "the consumption" most probably because it consumed everything in it's path, so to speak, in the body. (especially the lungs) With the same description, "the consumption" or, in this case, T.B. of the soul, is happening in those around me. And, as TB, can be highly contagious!!!
     I know how Lot felt, living in Sodom. 2 Peter 2:7-9:


7and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,


     I don't really like using this Scripture totally in how I am feeling, because I don't want to call myself righteous, and others in my world, unrighteous, but this comes closer to how I feel than anything. I see the things others are doing with their lives, seemingly being consumed by this present world and it's trinkets and values, (just like the world) and it grieves and torments my soul, and I desire to not be in the midst of it all. I want to get out.
    In this Scripture, it describes the actions of others as "sensual conduct." While I know in Sodom,  this referred to sexual misconduct so prevalent there, I believe "sensual" can also refer to anything that lures a person, with the purpose of catching that one in it's grasp, whatever it is. (one of satan's modes of operation)
     In my world, people are being lured and caught with the "pleasures of this world," which is none other than worshipping the "god of self." I can see it, and it grieves me, especially in those I knew were once consumed by Him.
     And, it calls out to me, too. Especially when everyone around me is either sucked in, or in the process of being sucked in, and they don't even see it. "If it feels good, do it" the mantra of the 70's, seems to be coming to pass before my eyes.
     I purposely avoid lavishing too much on myself so that satan cannot get a stronghold in me too. I know that if I catch the fever, my focus on the Lord and His Kingdom, will fade overtime. I do trust Him to keep me, but I have to agree to be kept of Him, by not putting myself in dangerous territory.
      God help us, your people, from the traps of the enemy to ensnare us with his deadly pleasures and consumerism which is ever snapping at our heels.
    

Red Alert-Rebellion Opens Doors to One's Soul

    "Rebellion is (the same) as witchcraft"-I've been asking God for the meaning of this for several years now. Yesterday, He revealed a part of it to me.
     He showed me that rebellion is when we violate our conscience willingly. In other words, we know it's wrong, but we proceed anyway. (we sin) When we do this, it is tied in with controlling other people in some way. For example, if a person has sex with someone outside marriage, it subconsciously is done to keep them connected with them, or to control them using the lust of the flesh. When we do this (sin against God willingly) it is rebellion, which involves control with someone else, which is witchcraft. This invites satan into our souls, which if continued unconfessed, begins to control us! (Think about addiction)
     In my childhood, I did this. Many times I sinned against conscious, and this opened the door to satan. As he walked through those doors, he brought fear in my soul. Because I really didn't have the understanding of how this happens, and of how sinning agaisnt conscious is sinning against God Himself, this left openings in my soul undetected.
     Until today, when He shined His light of understanding in me about this process. When seeing it, I confessed those past sins with sorrow. As I confessed, I saw a house with many opened windows being shut by angels. Then they wiped His blood ove the tops of each window, indicating the entrances were no longer accessible to satan. Confession and the resulting forgiveness secured forever by His victorious shed blood! In this way, newness of His Life was applied to my soul, and restoration happened, by thr riches and the glory through Jesus Christ!!! Astounding!!! 

Your Secret Mission as a Change Agent

    "In, but not of"-Living in two different worlds. Hmmm......how does that work? Aliens, you say? Yes, I know what you mean. Looking for a city? Yes, I am. Whose Kingdom and Maker is God.
     So, what do we do in the meantime? Pretend like we don't know better, and join in the merriment? The consumerism? The pleasures of this world? The feigned laughter of this present earth that is corruptible? The false pretense of living, working, dying, and then that's it?
     No, He said, "Occupy til I come." The worldly notion to occupy has to do with staking one's claim, establishing deep roots in a place, and in a sense, taking over a piece of green earth, or buying up land. But, to occupy to a pilgirim son or daughter, who is just passing through, means to let His Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,  until we see His appearing. In that way, we hold the fort in His Name, and for Him.
     We do this by binding and loosing the powers that bind here on earth and in others, we exude the values of His Kingdom by being seperate from the culture around us, by being different from and not one with the values of this world, we proclaim His truths and walk in His ways, and we keep connection with our King daily, opened to His guidance and leading as we go, being ever-ready to drop any thing we might be doing to do what He commands, and we love doing this. We love to occupy for Him. We are loosing creation from it's futility and we await His soon arrival.
      So, if you are an occupying son or daughter, who experiences this "in, but not of" state of being and sometimes get forlorn in this duplicity, look up, your redemption is getting closer than when you first began. Let your exhaling sigh be, "Even so, come Lord Jesus." I think you'll feel better then. I know I do.

Beneath the Surface

    The manifest sons and daughters of God are currently operating in a stealth manner. They are privately, but no less effectively, binding and loosing creation from the futility that has been upon it. This includes, but not limited to, standing in the gap, and commanding satan's strongholds off people they know. According to the grace of God, these sons and daughters are able to see that which has bound others, which has brought destruction into their souls. This happens in the spiritual realm,  and after the loosing occurs will be made manifest in others'  minds, wills, and emotions.
      This warfare the sons and daughters have been prepared to do, because they have faced and agreed to being dealt with the crucible of God in their own souls. This martyr-like position they have willingly offered to God as a living sacrifice to Him. Creation is being loosed from the futility it has been under, even though it appears (to the physical senses) that things are getting worse.
     When the time is right, what is happening in secret will be made known, and will eventually result in a new earth.  Amen.

Stopping at the Jordan or Claiming the Promised Land

     We, as His Body, are not only joined because He is our Head, but also because of our beliefs. Like-mindedness also creates a bond. Those beliefs include who He is, and what He came to earth to do on the cross. If God so desires, He reveals more to us about His Kingdom, but these things are not ones we are to propogate necessarily, but we are to hold them in our hearts, and when the time is right and He creates a situation where people are willing to hear, we then can tell of what He's shown us. Not in a dogmatic way, but just by painting a picture of the revelations, and offering them to others. If they "see with their eyes" and "hear with their ears" their spirits can absorb them, then their vision is expanded. They then can decide to ask God to help them walk in them. This does not happen without their consent, or the work of the cross continuing within them.
     The ability to receive revelations is dependent on the capacity He creates within us. Imagine an internal container/ The size of that container is enlarged as crucifixion has been brought to our soul, because revelation is of  the spirit. One has to decrease (our soulish operations) and the other increased (our spiritual) as we become conformed to His image. This transformation is painful and full of struggle.
     The result of this process is the ability to see and hear more and more clearly what the Spirit is saying, or what is in God's mind and heart, the place where real truth lies. The advantage of this is that when a picture is presented to us (revelation) we can see where we are headed, or where He is taking us, and launch out in that direction by the power of the Spirit. The destination is to live in His will, not so that we will have accomplished something within ourselves to take glory in, but so that He gest glorified. If we are truly lettng Him do this work in us, we will know it is Him, and out of it, He will come forth through us.
     So, as far as the Body goes, we are all connected as we look to Him and as we believe in the primary things together. All can go on further in Him, but all don't choose to because of the pain involved in the process. But, oh, the richness of seeing Him that  is missed. It is the difference of seeing Him in black and white, and of seeing Him in color with panaramic vision. And it is the difference of realizing His greater purposes, and walking in them, and of just living for oneself in that dull, unfulfilling existence.

I Can't See Christ

  I had a vision last night. I saw a pastor of a church rising up from his padded chair on the podium, approach the pulpit, and then stop. He paused there for a second or two. Then he started setting up chairs in a circle on the ground floor. He took a seat in one of the chairs and waited. After about 15-20 minutes,  a middle aged man got up from the pews and took a seat in one of the chairs in the circle. The vision ended.




I Tim. 2:5-
New International Version
For there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.


    

There's Gold in Them, There Hills!!!!

     How exciting to enact the Lord! I can say that but I don't really know what it means-Odd!
     He has been unveiling for me and others who have been asking Him, His vision for His Body. It is funny how, when we ask to see what He sees, and lay down what we have formerly seen, how He is ever ready to reveal, and He is doing that to us. And what He is showing us is more awe-inspiring than the Grand Canyon, or any other wonder of this world. The spiritual vistas He's allowing us to see are stupendous!
     One of these is the reality of the close connection that I am now feeling with others in His Body in the Spirit. My husband and I don't meet physically with other believers on a regular basis, and it has been my hope and desire to do so. From time to time, I would try and gather us to a small group out of this need. Each time it wouldn't work out, and it would leave me frustrated and sad. I am currently "meeting" with 9 other people, some of who I know, and some who I've never met, by praying "together" every Friday night. It was by email that the invitation was given to 51 of my contacts, and 9 people responded favorably. And what I want to comment on is that I FEEL SO CONNECTED TO THEM!!! That is the amazing part. And I don't feel connected by who I have known them to be in the flesh, but by their spirits. God has shown me that the reason this is possible is that when they are enacting Him in prayer, they are looking to Him only, and it is then that I sense good and true connection-spirit to spirit!!!! And that's how He wants our fellowship to be; our looking to Him together.
     As anything given and understood by revelation, words often seem inadequate. But, I can't help my excitement at what He is showing us. Of course, we don't even see a milligram of the whole, but only a crumb of what He sees, which He is revealing to us, but, nonetheless, it is so fulfilling to our spirits. I'm realizing too, that what I have tried to understand of His truths in the past which were by my own mind, will and emotions, (soul) has been wood, hay and stubble compared to the gold He is showing me now. Just like a person would stare at a nugget of gold, his revealed truths have the same effect on our spirit. Our spiritual eyes are opened real big and we gape in amazement at their beauty and purity!!!And they prepare us to receive more!!!
     I am beginning to live in a new place with Him. It seems that I've crossed over somehow. It is an ever expansive land to discover. Anyone can come here, if they are willing to let go of their own fleshly visions, which is only killed at the cross, so it is a costly trip.  

Many Loaves; One Body

    " Take and eat; this is my Body given for you"-When Jesus offered the physical loaf to His disciples at Passover many years ago, was there something else He was saying through it? He had said earlier that He was the Bread of Life, and at the supper He was calling bread His Body. Many who had followed Him were repulsed when He told them to eat of Him and to drink of Him.
     In all of this, I can see that the hidden spiritual meaning was what He was and is referring to. He is saying something to us, His Body, through it. Christ is in us, and He desires to be expressed through us to the world. As we, His Body, recognize and succumb to the fact that we died with Him, and go through that process, He comes alive in us. Progressively, the manifested Christ, is offered as Bread or Life through us. As others eat of Him through us, new Life will be imparted to them. The food, which is Christ, is the only Life-giving and Life-Sustaining food there is.
     The question becomes then-Will we die with Him, or not? If not, the only food we have for the world, may look good on the outside, but with no nutritional value. In fact, it will bring death and not life. Within ourselves, He said, there is no good thing. His desire is that the Body He offers to the world, has been fortified by His Presence, causing all darkness to flee. We are that enriched Body, if we allow ourselves to die, so that He might fill all in all in us.

Losing Weight

    "My yoke is easy and my burden is light," says the Lord to us. What exactly does this mean, and how does it play out in our lives?
     The weights of our own lives and this world are too heavy for us to carry ourselves. If we don't believe this now, we will find out in time, when something or many things pile up, and we buckle under it's load.
      Before coming to Christ, we are trained by the world to "pack our own shoot," "look out for # 1" or "pull ourselves up by the bootstraps." All of these sayings, promote self-sufficiency. When we are in the trenches of life, however, and heavy artillery is being fired all around us, we sometimes fear for our very lives. We are scared, weak and tramatized. What then?
     There is a Christian song that says, "At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door." So, when our world puts on us more than we can bear, He waits there. I know 2 people right now who are at that place. My sincere prayer for them, is that they take the Open Door which is standing before them. I hope they see Him, and receive His invitation to be yoked with Him at this point in their lives, so their weights fall off.
     How does that work? By trust and faith in His love and ability to carry their load. By looking to Him not only for the answers, but also for assurance that He understands their grief, and desires to place them in Himself, as their protector and defender against all that would try and take them down. These enemies can be within or without, but once we are in Him, it is no longer our battle, but His. So, all burdens become light, because they aren't ours anymore. We let Him become our Burden-Bearer.
     Letting ourselves be placed in Him requires humility. Admitting defeat when we have been taught to "do it ourselves" sometimes even seems wrong, or atlease not taking responsibility. But He says, "come to me," and He uses these stressful and traumatic times in our lives to encourage us to do that.
     The world calls these times "crossroads." What is often meant by this, however, is that it is a time for us to do something different. While this is true, if we are without Christ or don't call on Him for help in these times, is that we garner up some more human strength temporarily, and try again to handle things ourselves. This only delays the true and permanent Help from Him. And so, the defeated cycle starts again.
     Lord, please help these 2 people who we love dearly to break under the pressure they are in, and confess to You their insufficiency and need of Your help. Increase their faith and trust in You, so that they can placed their tremendous weights on You. In this way, they can get easy and be lightened. And help all of us do the same with our daily cares. Help us to see You as our unloading Zone, which You are more than happy to be, and in fact, want to be for us. Amen.
      

He Keeps Us Safe

    Have you ever caught yourself mourning the loss of the world's values such as fame, good looks, money and what money can buy, educational acclaim, pleasures, and accomplishment to name a few? Something came up recently in my life and presented me with the possibility of providing me with one of these. I pursued it in my mind a little while, but then recognized it as only a lure to be "in the world," and not just "of it."
     We still are being washed from our old mindsets and beliefs about ourselves which were deposited by a worldview instead of a God view, or what He calls important, and in how He sees us through loving acceptance, with no strings. The pull of the world to take us  back or even further in it than we ever once were, is a strong, and sometimes subtle force. If our sincere desire is to be in God's will, though, He is trustworthy to expose the lure, or to stop us from biting it in the first place.
     Thank you, good Shepherd, for keeping your sheep so faithfully.

Flow, River Flow

    I just realized that I am very uncomfortable belonging to a group. This is interesting to me, because I have found myself thinking I have wanted to be a part of one. I can "do a group" from a distance though, such as one over the internet, or even one where we gather physically, but with my walls intact so as not to get too close. Is it that I am not wanting people to know me, or not wanting to know people? Am I afraid of being controlled, or that I might not live up to the real or perceived expectations of the group, and do I still have insecurities thinking I will be rejected, so I keep my distance to protect myself from this happening?
     God warned me not too long ago, that there would be things upcoming that I would be stunned by, and this is one of them. I am stunned to discover this reality about myself, and to tell the truth, I  am not really wanting to go there. I don't want to examine the walls I still have in me, but to ignore the reality that God has brought to light, is to say "no" to more work He wants to do in me. And so, I say, "Show me, O God, my walls that obstruct embracing the fellowship You desire us to have in Your family."
     Recently, I've been a part of a  small group of believers who have agreed  to pray every Friday night with me and my husband. This group lives in many different states in America. The "call to prayer" was extended through 51 email contacts, and 9 responded. Our focus is to seek God on what His vision for His Body is in this time. This week is the second Friday we have prayed, and He is revealing so much to me.
     The walls in me are a small part of Him answering that prayer. He is showing me, and others that our hindrances, strongholds, blockages, bondages, aka "walls" are things on the inside of us which prevent His unity, love, and fellowship from happening as He desires. Christ's love and truth in us wants to flow freely without impediment.
     Thank you, God for revealing this to me. Please show me my walls, so that I can offer them to You, and You can have Your Heart's Desire fulfilled.

The Ultimate Increase

         " Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gives the increase"- I Cor. 3:6.  Did you know that in this day, we are the planters and waterers? God has a field of potential souls, and He desires to make a bumper crop; a bin buster as my husband, the farmer, calls it. He desires that none perish.
      Do we go to work each day to labor in His farm? Do we make ourselves available to plant and water by following His voice? First, we've got to have "ears to hear", and this requires listening to the Holy Spirit daily. We've also got to be able to lay down our own agenda if and when He does call us.
     If we, those of us who have already been harvested, invest in His plan to work as laborers in the remaining harvest, He will have His heart's desire!!! He has already secured the ultimate increase when He died on our behalf, and now He leaves it to us to offer this truth to the world. BTW, the ultimate increase is "salvation" for all who believe.
     I am wondering how many die on the vine, if we neglect to do our part. The cultivating of a soul by speaking and teaching truth, watered with love, is the most important form of labor we can participate in while we walk this earth. The rewards, not of a material nature, are so fulfilling, for we bless the very heart of the Lord of the Harvest, our Savior and King, and He lets us be a part of that!!!

Compassionate Prayer for Sinners

    I have a bad feeling when it comes to a certain religious group, and the reason for it is that I believe that they have spread so much heresy around the world ever since their beginning that they fall into the category of Matt. 23:13-


"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."


     They twist the Scriptures to their own advantage, and use fear to control the people in their congregations. Someone I know who used to be a part of this group used the expression, when referring to this fear, as "being nailed to the pews." It is true that only by God's grace was she delivered from this spiritual bondage, because it is the largest cult in the world.
     Whenever we can see the hurt and lies that bind others so clearly, there is a great temptation to "hate the sinner" and not just the sin. We tend to have such strong feelings towards the damage someone's sin has caused others, that we group the sin and the sinner together. I guess that is why God delineates it for us so clearly in the Scripture of "hating the sin, and not the sinner."
     Since He has brought these strong feelings to my attention, I ask Him to help me pray for not only  those caught in the web of the sinners, but also for the sinners themselves. Both are in bondage to  generational false beliefs, and need deliverance as my friend did. And those who are blind to it, and may even justify it, need His deliverance even more. His love asks us if we will stand in the gap. (pray for the deliverance of the blind) Those who see, are the only ones who can!
     This love of His goes further than we can know and see. It just keeps going and going and going, offering it's salvation (deliverance, cleansing and wholeness) to the worst of the worst. (which all of us once were before He came to us) Now, He asks those who are His, to intercede for those living in darkness.

"I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one." Ezekiel 22:30




Will we say, Here am I-send me, send me? Will God look and find no one, who will intercede on behalf of those held in bondage to the lies of the enemy? Will we let Him change our perspective from pointing the finger and being repulsed at their wrongdoing, to one of compassion because they are blind and in need of His mercy even though they don't realize it? Serious questions to ponder as the world falls down around us.

Love that Flows

    "Love does not demand it's own way."  This is a phrase in the famous I Cor. 13 chapter describing the attributes of love. God also tells us to "esteem others better than ourselves," which expresses a similar thing. "Others directed" is the way our hearts should face, as we release His own love through our vessels.
     This yielding or deferring to one another is a key, I believe, to not only making the Body function as He desires, but also marriages. I went to a wedding this weekend and the person conducting the ceremony reminded us that "dying to self" is one of the main factors to it's success. I was enriched by it's message, as I pondered it in relationship to my own. Of course, that was tested on the ride home.
     The only way we can do that is by the power of the Holy Spirit, not in our own strength, because it is against our nature, that is purely self -centered. So with that said, releasing love period does not come out of our flesh, but out of His Spirit within us. We just have to decide to do it, and expect a battle within when we do.
     When love does not demand it's own way, it offers the other person his/her way, and truly all conflicts cease. The only time to "fight" is when the other person wants you to join them in something which violates your conscience before God. Deferring or yielding to another's way is another way of saying that we don't demand ours.
     Lord, help me let your love flow from me to my husband first, to the Body of Christ and  the world, that they may know you have come. Amen.
    

Deception and Lawlessness Will Increase

    Is something deceptive if the person isn't even aware of it? For example, follow this if you will. Someone I know and love said something very insightful, even spiritually revelatory to me last week. It seemed to indicate great growth in the Lord, and I rejoiced in this for her.
     Then this week, that same person completely switched gears on the same subject, and relayed something entirely different to me, and she seemed excited about this natural idea, contrary to the spiritual insight she had earlier. It was as if she had lost what she once possessed for that short moment. I tried so hard to say something encouraging to her, and I did, but later when I thought about it, it was as if, I had been completely deceived (by the enemy) with something like a bait and switch technique, not fully realizing what had occured. For a second, I too had been hood-winked.
     Earlier in the week, I received a total shock involving someone else I love very much. She made a decision and told me about it, which did not make any sense, and was one in which she would suffer tremendously but it was as if she was blind to what was happening. In the past, she had enjoyed this activity she was now resigning from. It was something which could have increased her spiritual growth, and solved many problems for her. I know it was the enemy "making her" do this, because it was self-sabotaging. Come to think of it, blindness was involved with the other incident to.
     What responsibility do we, as brothers and sisters in the Lord, have to each other when we can clearly see something in each other, that they cannot? Should we talk to them about what we see, if the enemy is involved, or would he "eat us for lunch" with his scheming wiles and ways? Should we "stand in the gap" and fight a battle for them against the powers and principalities that are warring against them?  Or is God perhaps blinding people these days, because they have suppressed the truth in unrighteousness, meaning they have worshipped the creation (anything or anybody) more than the Creator? Have they hardened their hearts to His Will, which they once knew and followed, but have now chosen their own will and fleshly desires? And, has that left them opened to the enemy to deceive them, and then them become deceivers? Only He really knows the hearts of men.  These are perilous days indeed.
   
    

A Dream Needing Interpretation

     I had a dream last night, and it went like this. I ordered some clothes through the mail and received them. My husband, who was playing my mother, (?) (you know how dreams are) saw that something was wrong with them, and so he called the company complaining. He told the person on the phone that we didn't even order the clothes and we wanted our money back. I knew he had witnessed someone else lying by saying this, and it worked for them, so he was now trying it. I couldn't believe that he would do something like this, because I thought I knew him! In my stunned state, I didn't say anything. Then a little later, I had ordered some more clothes. Again, there were flaws on them, and he called them again, saying we didn't order them. I was listening to him talk. Then when he got off the phone, he seemed mad, and said, "you'll have to pay for the clothes. They won't take them back." I was wondering how I could work or get money to personally pay for them, but what bothered me the most was him being able to lie like that. I hollered out at him, saying with passion ,"Jesus works in the truth, and not lies. If you would have just told them the truth, and given God  a chance to work, it may have worked out!!!" Feeling so distraught and confused, I woke up.


I know God is saying something to me through this, but I don't know what. Anyone who gets an interpretation by the Spirit please give it.

Where Do We Go from Here, Lord?

In this hour, I can't see the Body of Christ here in America. What I see is a country within a country (people who call themselves His in America) indwelt in compromise and integration into the culture because of the widespread plague of the prosperity gospel, which propogates both living in the Kingdom, while heaping it on themselves with the world's accruements. So, deception is thick. The cross of Christ, and our own crucifixion, no one wants to hear anymore. I am grieved at what I see, and can only see it because I haven't joined in with the immense self-gratification resulting from heaping it on oneself, and this only by God's grace. I am almost distraught at the fractured Body of Christ. As far as "making disciples"-how can His Body do this if they are so caught up in their own self centered world? They can't. As far as what I am doing personally, I keep my antennae up and respond when I hear Him telling me to, but the ones who are receptive to Him and the things of His Kingdom are fewer and farther between. Even those who once had discernment, are loosing it, as they've tasted of the world more and more. It is almost as if the "die has been cast," with no turning back. That is what I am sensing currently. So, even our prayers for others to come back, seem to fall to the ground, becasue of what He knows and what time it is in His divine plan. So, what I am asking Him for is His picture of His Body in America for this hour. Will He call us out to other nations, to "make disciples?" America has been soaked with the truth of God, through Jesus Christ, and it seems many, who once were His, have opted for Mammon, or the riches and things of this world, which He clearly tells us we have to choose one or the other. I can barely cope seeing what I see, and knowing what was His Body (if they ever truly were?) is so fractured. I am looking forward to God answering us who have "come out from among them" (and not just the IC, because many of those, too have latched onto the prosperity gospel; means the culture, too) and see what He tells us for this hour. That is what I am seeking Him for. I want to be in His vision.


P.S.-The above was an email I wrote to 7 people who have agreed to join me every Friday night to ask God for His vision of His Body, ecclesia, or Bride. What does He see for us in America when so many have fallen by the wayside? If there are any who read this in America, or from any place in the world, who would like to join us, please email me at pmb24@bellsouth.net. so I can send you correspondence from what the others share.  We would love for the worldwide Body of Christ to support us in this, and if there are any comments to share, would love to hear them. These are trying times for His family with great persecution happening, and with ambivalence and cares of this world and pleasures, too, sucking in so many here in America.