Friday, the day from Heck

I'm trying to keep it clean but it really was Hell. 

 

First:

Mid afternoon.  Truck driver shows up at my customers site with a thousand dollars worth of plants on and a freight bill for $1300.

 

755 pounds.

 

That's nearly $2 per pound. 

 

That's also highway robbery.  The robbers in this case use a Yellow Freight truck in stead of a gun. 

 

That's the price and you have to pay it.  We said no.  They hemmed, hawed and then "Reluctantly" cut the price in half.  I should be happy but they still charged me twice too much.  Upset customer.  Upset shipper.  Upset me.  Yellow Freight Scam Line doesn't care.  Yellow Freight Rip-off Trucking.  Yellow Freight bully.  I want GOOGLE to find these terms.  They will.

 

I am going to contest this.  It's wrong and I won't sanction incompetence.  Looking the other way when someone does it to you is saying "That's OK, hit me again".  I'm not prone to do this.

 

Second:

A church I have been helping get started in the City was kicked out of the rented facility for zoning.  8 days before opening to the Public.  This after thousands of dollars were spent in publicity.

 

There had never been a peep about this.  But this is North Riverside IL.  North Riverside was founded a hundred years ago as a retreat center for Holiness Christians.  Now, there are only 2 churches left in the whole town.  City fathers have made a decision they want no more.  Therefore there is no allowance for any Church, Synagogue or Mosque to be established henceforth in North Riverside IL.  They have been zoned out forever.

 

Let this be a notice.  There is great animosity to Religion in our country.  I won't call it persecution --- Yet.  But it's coming.

 

North Riverside has gangs, murder, racial tension, crime and decay.  The answer is to change people's hearts.  That sounds like the Church to me.  No, they just hire more cops. Cops cost tax money.  And the darkness deepens.

 

Northern Illinois is spiritually one of the darkest regions in the USA.  Most ministries who come here have ONE meeting and never come back again.  Copland, Hinn, Graham, Dollar and many others came once.  Never again.

 

I know of certain traveling ministers who won't even come to minister in a church in Northern IL.  The darkness is too much.

 

There are a few bright spots but Chicagoland is the most unchuched and unchristian area I have ever seen in my whole life.  There is a small and declining Christian community.  The few that are Christians sadly are biblical illiterates.  This Pastor founding this church reports that when new believers come in they don't know anything about anything in the Bible.  Don't know who Moses was.  Don't know who Noah was.  Know of Jonah from the cartoon.  Jesus is strange to them.  And they couldn't name even ONE of the disciples.  They don't have any idea about anything at all regarding the Bible.  What's worse, is the secularist have them convinced its like any other book.  That the Bible isn't true.  That it's all fairy tales.  That it's just someone's opinion.  If you haven't got even the basis of the Bible as your foundation for faith where do you start? 

 

I would invite Missionaries to come but they'll destroy you.  This is a church planters graveyard.  We need missionaries.  I just don't want to bring one here to die on the mission field.

 

The little Church that just was kicked out will survive.  Just not in North Riverside.  They need help.  Not money, laborers.  I know this probably will not reach anyone who could, but, if you have Sunday mornings open and you could be help in a church plant in Berwyn IL they could use your help.

 

If you contact me, I'll put you in touch.

 

No more Fridays like that please.

 

Why I Support the War in Iraq

Rick Joyner is a Prophetic Minister in North Carolina. He is the writer of The Final Quest which I believe is one of the greatest christian books ever written. I don't read many any more but if I do it better be good. It was.

Rich often prophesies in allegory.

He just did again. He has shown us a vision of what lies ahead if we give in and give up in the battle against the forces of evil in the world.

We must pray for our country, for President Bush and even for congress. We must support the men and women in harms way. This is much too serious to be left without the body of Christ in unity.

I know I have many well meaning Christians who are anti this war. I hope they will read what Rick says and consider it's ramifications.

We could lose everything.

Closed circuit for my friend Harold. Please have your lovely wife read what Rick wrote. It might help her grasp the gravity of the situation. This is a spiritual battle.

Professional Ministry 2

Ron MacKinzie's 3rd.

One reason that I resigned from the professional ministry was that I discovered that the modern preaching ministry is quite destructive for the church and the minister. The professional minister spends most of his life preparing for his next Sunday performance. His self-esteem depends on how the last past performance went.

This focus on a Sunday performance also tends to encourage passivity among Christians. Their main contribution to the “main event” is to tell the pastor that they enjoyed it. By encouraging passivity, this style of ministry has made the church impotent.

The preaching ministry had a role when large portions of the population were illiterate. They needed someone who could read to explain what the scripture taught. Those days are long gone. Christians now have access to an immense supply of good teaching through television, tapes and the internet. There is no need for average teaching from a local professional, when they can listen to teaching by the best in the world.

Preaching is a very blunt instrument, because the listeners have different needs, experience and circumstances. The best sermon will still bore some, mislead a few and actually hurt one or two.

I actually found that preaching to Christians is a fairly ineffective method for bringing change. It is like water dripping on a stone. It will eventually wear a hole, but it takes a very long, long time. If you are serious about making stone sculptures, you need a more efficient method of shaping stones.

Judging by what people said, I was a very good preacher. People said that they found my content relevant and preaching style entertaining, which made me feel good. However, judging by the changes in their life, my preaching was mostly ineffective. A church activity that has its greatest impact on the ego of the pastor has to be fairly dangerous for the minister and the church.

The New Testament model for changing lives is to take people with you when you are doing the stuff. When they have watched for a while, you let them do it with you. They can soon do the stuff on their own. Not long after, they can take others with them to learn how to do the stuff. This is real multiplication.

Professional Ministry 1

Another of Ron MacKinzie's Jewels.


A correspondent asked me about the role of professional ministers in a house church setting. This question raises many important issues. My attempt to answer is contained in the following couple of posts.

Our house church does not have a paid pastor. There is simply not enough work to keep one busy as the people look after each other. I can conceive of situations where a house church might support someone in full-time ministry. A church with several new Christians with deep needs might need someone working full time to help them get free. An evangelist working in a challenging situation might need to be supported so they could work full-time. However, house churches generally do not need professional leadership, because the members will care for each other and the meetings are led by the Holy Spirit with all members contributing.

Many years ago, I felt that I was called to be “preach the word” and I spent six years employed as a full-time minister/pastor. However, when I did further study of the New Testament, I found that this ministry of preaching to Christians does not exist, but is a leftover from an Old Testament theology. I realized that my calling was different from what I had thought. I was called more to speak prophetically to the church and the world, but I did not need to be a professional minister in the church to fulfil that calling, so I resigned from my position as a full-time minister.

Some people are able to establish a model of financial support for my type of ministry by selling tapes and books, or getting on the conference circuit and that is good if you can do it.

I have chosen to work as an economist. That has had many benefits for me. It provides financial support for my family. It allows me to produce statistics that expose the dishonesty and disobedience of the government. It also means that I am involved in the real world, rubbing shoulders with people who do not care about God or the church, with people dealing with broken marriages or gay marriages, with people trying to buy a home for their families. I now have a much better understanding and empathy for real life and real people than I did when I most of my work contact was with “church people”. I still see myself as being involved in full-time ministry (service) to the Lord.

Pastor or Manager

Ron MacKinzie is a favorite read of mine. He is reviewing his life as a pastor. He's not one now. But, he is a good theologian. I am going to post verbatim and unedited what he writes. I could just link it which I will also do but this is too thought provoking to meddle with.

When I was the manager of a large division in a public service organisation, I spent my time doing the following tasks:

* Going to meetings
* Organising people
* Dealing with issues
* Resolving problems
* Talking the vision

When I was a pastor, I did these same tasks.

Most pastors are managers or chief executives. If they want to be managers, that’s fine, but they should not call themselves pastors. Words should be used correctly. The people who do the pastoring (shepherding and discipling) should be called pastors.

If Christian leaders want to be regional mangers or management consultants, that’s fine, but we should not call them apostles. The title "apostle" should be used for those who are "sent out", because that it is what it means.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, so we should be more careful about how we use words.

Lutheran Rapture

WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE LUTHERAN VIKING AIR IS NOW OPERATING IN MINNYSOTA, AND ALSO SERVING VISCONSIN, NORT AND SOUT DAKOTA.

If you are travelin' soon, consider Lutran (Lutheran) Viking Air, da no-frills airline. You're all in da same boat on Lutran Air, where flyin' is a upliftin' experience.

Dere is no First Class on any Lutran Viking Air flight.

Meals are potluck. Rows 1-6, bring rolls; 7-15, bring a salad; 16-21, a main dish, and 22-30, a dessert.

Basses and tenors please sit in da rear of da aircraft.

Everyone is responsible for his or her own baggage.

All fares are by free-will offering and da plane will not land 'til da budget is met.

Pay attention to your flight attendant, who will acquaint you wit da safety system aboard dis Lutran Viking Air 599.

Okay den, listen up. I'm only gonna say dis vonce. In da event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, I am frankly going to be real surprised and so vill Captain Olson, because we fly right around two tousand feet, so loss of cabin pressure would probably mean da Second Coming or someting of dat nature, and I wouldn't bodar wit doze liddle masks on da rubber tubes. You're gonna have bigger tings to worry about den dat. Just stuff doze back up in dair little holes. Probably da masks fell out because of turbulence which, to be honest wit you, we're going to have quite a bit of at two tousand feet, sort a like driving across a plowed field, but after a while you get used to it.

In da event of a water landing, I'd say forget it. Start saying da Lord's Prayer and just hope you get to da part about "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive doze who trespass against us," which some people say "sin against us" which ain't right, but what can you do?

Da use of cell phones on da plane is strictly forbidden, not because day may confuse da plane's navigation system, which is seat of da pants all da way. No, it's because cell phones are a pain in da wazoo, and if God meant you to use a cell phone, He would have put your mout on da side of your head.

We start lunch right about noon and it's buffet style wit da coffee pot up front.

Den we'll have da hymn sing; hymnals are in da seat pocket in front of you. Don't take yours wit you when you go or I am going to be real upset, and I am not kiddin!

Right now I'll say Grace: "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, And let deze gifts to us be blessed. Fadar, Son, and Holy Ghost, May we land in Dulut or pretty close."

Happy Landin wit da Lutran Viking Airline!

Have a goood day

Tip o the hat to Jan Mehl Martin

My Outrage-o-meter Doesn't Register

Not everything that is supposed to anger we of the Christian Faith does. When I read this story I said, Stupid, sure, outrage? Didn't even move the needle. There are so many more important things than this to think about.

'Chocolate Jesus' Outrages Christians

The Easter season unveiling of an anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ, dubbed "My Sweet Lord" by its creator, has infuriated Catholics preparing to observe some of their holiest days of the year.

The 6-foot sculpture by Cosimo Cavallaro was to debut Monday evening, four days before Christians mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. The final day of the exhibit at the Lab Gallery inside Manhattan's Roger Smith Hotel was planned for Easter Sunday.

"This is one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever," said Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League, a watchdog group. "It's not just the ugliness of the portrayal, but the timing - to choose Holy Week is astounding."

The gallery's creative director, Matt Semler, said the Lab and the hotel were overrun with angry telephone calls and e-mails. The gallery was considering its options, he said.

© 2007 Associated Press.

Someone's been Reading MY Mind

Fortunately that doesn't seem to take much time.

LaShawn Barber expressed exactly how I feel. I thought I would let her say better than I can. Please read what she said and then you will know why more and more I write less and less amusement, entertainment or politcal ranting.

Sometimes I think there are people on the planet who share a brain. That there seem to be a great collective. A Borglike universality. I say that because sometimes I find someone saying exactly what I'm thinking at the moment.

Today that was LaShawn.

Omnipresent Holy Ghost – True God

I am beginning a 4 part series on the Holy Spirit. I know I have readers who for one reason or another have had difficulty with the manifestations of the Holy Ghost in today’s world. I hope you will follow and read what I exegete here. I hope you can grasp the implications. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is for you today here and now with all the manifestations promised in His word. If you have absolutely decided that no matter how much or how completely this dissertation is accurate, Biblical and compelling you will not under any circumstance consider the possibility God has more for you; you should stop right reading now. Your mind is closed and so is your spirit. I am here to release the Holy Spirit of God thru what I write to convince you (that’s what he does best) that your spiritual destiny is to walk in EVERYTHING God has for you.

When I say Holy Ghost some people cringe. I prefer that terminology. I’m OK with Holy Spirit but the nomenclature seems to be a little soft. I have always liked the words Holy Ghost because He’s Holy and He comes like a Ghost. Like the Wind. We see the result but not the person. He’s an unseen activator of things and people.

He, the Holy Ghost (I use He in the Royal sense since He has no gender) is God; Has always been God; always will be fully God. The essence of the I AM. He is was and always shall be.

At creation He is the creative force that hovered above the formless and void waters causing order to come into being. Gen 1:2 In people’s lives He still does the same thing. Many lives are formless and void until they become ordered after the infilling of the Holy Ghost.

He has been in action constantly from the beginning of Creation. In Genesis 6:3 He declares that as the Spirit he will not always strive with sin.

He manifests himself from time to time before Pentecost by filling various people for certain tasks. There was a builder of temples in Exodus 31:3 who by the Holy Ghost was enabled to great works. Kings, Prophets and others captured a glimpse of Heaven, said or did something they couldn’t do in the flesh. That is the Anointing of the Holy Ghost. Even a Pagan King was moved on by the Holy Ghost to action in 2 Chronicles 36:22.

Sometimes there was an action of the Holy Ghost that seemed at the time to be destructive. There was a confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel. Who caused that? The Devil? That confusion was resolved at Pentecost when we all spoke the same tongues again. Then there was the confusion of the Midianite hoards when Gideon attacked. Who did that? Or, how about Ananias and Sapphira. Killed by the Holy Ghost. He’s not to be trifled with. Not to be dismissed. But he is by much of the Modern Church.

Saul the King by the anointing of the Holy Ghost became a different Man. He prophesied. He walked with new confidence. But then one day the Holy Ghost left him after his rejection and disobedience. Same with Sampson. He knew NOT that the Spirit had left him.

David from time to time was overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit. He wrote Psalms. He prophesied. He knew God. In Psalm 139:7-10 he spoke of the omnipresence of the Holy Ghost.

Isaiah prophesied the effect of His outpouring. In Chapter 61 the description of the Anointing was rehearsed later by Jesus when he said “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is Upon Me. He has anointed me to bring GOOD NEWS.” That’s the work of the Spirit of God.

Like Jesus and The Father, God the Holy Spirit is not different in the Old Testament from the new. He’s the same yesterday today and forever. When we sing the song, “Jesus Never Changes” we could sing the same about the Spirit of God. I have often said that to truly understand the unchanging character of God in all his manifestations and character you have to put the words of God in Red in the “Old Testament” and treat them as reverentially as you do the Words of Jesus in the flesh in the New Testament. Same God - Same Person – Same Red Letters.

The creative Power of The Holy Ghost was manifested on not only Saul and David but on Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Jeremiah, Balaam, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, and all the prophets. They couldn’t prophesy unless the Holy Ghost had come upon them. They couldn’t do any mighty works except by the power of the Holy Ghost. Look at every Miracle manifested by the Prophets Elijah and Elisha. Who did that?

This empowerment only happened from time to time as the Spirit came on them. There was no consistent infilling. Only short term anointing as God enabled the word or action as needed. When the Anointing of God came upon Men they did great and mighty works. That was true then, it’s true now.

His voice is consistent, correcting, encouraging and forward looking. He hasn’t changed. It still is. If you hear a prophetic word it will harmonize with the word of God from Genesis to Maps. There is no turning at all.

His voice was silenced for a time due to a rejection of his word by a religious system that would rather have predictability than hear his voice. Those are the silent years between Malachi and Matthew. It happens when religious systems reject the Holy Ghost. We have just come out of this period of silent years. Thank God they are passing away and again the power of the Word of Prophecy is alive again.

Zechariah said: It’s not by power or by might but by my Spirit says the Lord God of Hosts.
We can trust that He the Spirit will be faithful to perform it.

Joel said: In those days I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and my sons and daughters will prophesy and dream dreams.

That religious system that silenced the prophets looked backwards to tradition not forward to the promise. It was inconsistent and unteachable. It was unable to be corrected. Just like today. That’s why I write this essay.

Some people during the silence of God heard the voice of God and tried to bring it out but they were silenced. The silencing of the prophets is nothing new. In fact most prophets are killed or ridiculed. Nothing is new under that sun. The prophetic is still feared and ridiculed.

When the promised Messiah shows up on the scene the Glorious Manifestation of the Holy Ghost is displayed:

• Mary has a visitation
• Joseph confirms the vision
• Elizabeth hears and conceives
• Zechariah hears and goes dumb
• John the Baptist full of the Holy Ghost leaps in the womb of his mother
• Simeon stands on a prophetic promise fulfilled
• Anna trusts God who rewards her for her faithfulness

The word of the Lord begins to rumble. The Spirit Begins to speak. Jesus is Born. The Spirit of the Living God celebrates. He points all men to Jesus even at his birth.


Next; Jesus receives the Fullness of the Spirit and is prepared for his earthly Ministry as a pattern for us to follow. Jesus speaks often while walking this planet about the coming Holy Ghost outpouring which happened at Pentecost. We will look at those passages and what they mean today.

Mainline Insanity

In today's news there was a release regarding a large congregation in Colorado that is part of the Anglican Community.  Because of the attitude toward ordaining homosexual priests in the American Episcopal Church this 2500 member congregation is splitting away from the mother church.  This is happening all across America.  The great divide is accelerating.

 

I have commented on this before.  Mainline denominations of all stripes are on a self destruct course.  When the pressure is on they either revert to whatever they were 50 years ago in the name of "Core Values" or they try to adapt some "Relevant" (read that Homosexual) agenda to attract new members.  Neither strategy works.  Never has and never will.

 

The leadership in these Church organizations have no trust in the Creative Anointing of the Holy Ghost to bring life and liberty to the faith communities they try and fail to lead.

 

800 churches close per week in America.  The bulk are Mainline Denominations.  In the fellowship I am involved with, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, the percentage of decline is about the same as the national average.  The American Lutheran Church ELCA is a little faster.

 

Missouri Synod Church Membership dribbles off:

1990    2,602,569 Members    6016 Congregations

1995    2,594,555 Members    6154 Congregations

2005    2,489,300 Members   

2006    2,463,747 Members 

 

I don't have Congregation Numbers past 1995  but its obvious that even with the "Burst" of new congregations there are fewer and fewer people attending.  This decline will continue in all mainline churches until they collapse.  Trying to maintain 6000 Mo Synod congregations nationwide will continue to be a bigger and bigger burden as fewer and fewer people attend these churches.  The budgets will bust, pastors will quit and churches dissolve.

 

Meanwhile "Other" Churches prosper.  Why?  Other Churches plant new.  Mainline dies.

 

Why?  A lack of sensitivity to the things of the Spirit.  Doing the same things over and over again in the flesh and hoping for better results.

 

That's insanity.  That's spiritual suicide.

 

The good news is Pentecostal Churches are springing up all around.  If the mainline churches don't turn those buildings into condos or nightclubs after they close the Spirit Filled Congregations will be there to pick the pieces.  From this 2006 Article: Pentecostal and so-called non-mainline Protestant churches show continuing growth in the United States, while mainstream churches continue to lose
membership, according to the latest annual figures on US church membership

 

There is an easy and better way to do this without falling off the end of the earth.  Become the Church people would attend if they had a chance.  It looks nothing at all like the Church you joined, formed or your parents baptized you in.  People are hungry for the real thing.  Mainline feeds them pabulum.  Churches are filled with starving Christians.  They must dry up like the fruitless fig tree Jesus Cursed.  It's time to stop playing church and feed the sheep.

 

Good people have poured their lives into a lost cause.  Salvation was within reach.  The graveyard of empty religion will claim these empty shells. Jesus was saying all along, "There is a better way, walk ye in it."

Tradition has made the blood of Jesus of no account.  It was so easy to do it right.  I may sound bitter. I'm just sad. What a waste.

Who Needs Hawaii

I just looked at the news.  It's warmer in St Charles than it is in Hawaii.

 

That's not consistent but it is comforting.

Big Boys and Mud

Yesterday I was south of LaSalle IL about an Hour plus SW of me. We have had a lot of rain. A lot. It was pointed out to me that in the word of the Lord which I was given at the end of last year for 2007 there was a reference to the cold spring we would have (we did) and the huge rainfalls we would have (we did). Record stuff.

But I have trees to tag. To get them ready for digging. So off I go in my trusty little Dodge Picky and drive directly into the nursery. I hop out and trot around. Beautiful day. Nearly 80 degrees. Birds singing, frogs croaking. Forsythia blooming. (Technically Forsythia doesn't bloom, but that's another topic) Witchhazel filling the air with fragrance. Couldn't be nicer.

Then I decide to go down this one lane with Mr. Dodge. I fell into the biggest hole you have ever seen. To the axle. It's the second worst time I have ever been stuck.

So, I called for help. A friend of mine send a tractor. I was tugged out.

I remembered an old saying. You can always tell the difference between a man and a boy. If a man sees a puddle he walks around it. If a boy sees a puddle he walks thru it.

Despite the birthdate annotation of my drivers licence I think I'm still boy at heart.

Oh, and one other thing. I mad dash to another nursery about dusk to look at some trees. After doing so walking back I fell in the largest mud puddle you ever saw. My pants were filthy, so was I.

All in all a glorious day.

De-Blogrollonized

I have been on several people's blogroll (Like there on the left of this blog) in the last couple years. The pattern is:

1- they see my blog, like something I write, appoint me to their blogroll and all is well.
2- Then after a hearty give and take I say something that offends them or something that shakes their world view.
3- I then am de-blogrolled. I keep track.

It's now 11 different blogrolls I have been on and now off.

I am a fire starter for some people. I will ask a question or pose a hypothesis that rattles the paradigm that they have chosen to live within. I tried to open the little box they occupy. People don't want to be burned. They fear others might. So, they try and put up the de-blogrolling asbestos barrier between the old NG and the people they care about. Somehow pretending I don't exist seems to be a soft comfort. Maybe if they hide their head in the de-blogroll sand it'll all go away. This isn't about you Julie. This is recent.

I just wonder what this really is all about? Who do they think they are protecting? Who do they think there is that is going to NOT read this. What do they think they are NOT endorsing by pulling off the Blogroll my little blog.

Oh, there could be legitimate reasons:

Bad writing. I'm not a great writer, but I do write. And I get notes from people who like what I write so that's not it.

Controversy. As long as I pick topics people are generally in favor of (little puppies are cute) or stay pretty vanilla (How about those Cubbies) I'm on the roll. Step into some area that scares them and I'm off into de-blogroll purgatory.

Personal Attacks. I have been guilty of that. I know better now. If I have a war I will do it by email. (It's not pretty) I have too many people reading this to attack one in particular.

I'm not angry. If I had thin skin I would feel wounded. I don't and I don't.

What do you advise? Should I tone it down? Should I write more Vanilla? Should I avoid all Controversy? Should I skip any topic which others might disagree with?

NAAAAAH. Never gonna happen.

When you hear the sound of hoof beats you think it's horses and then this zebra shows up.

And like the tiger, the stripes are there for good.

The Sin in Cynicism

Right now we have little Danny upstairs.  I'm downstairs working.  He is 8 years old.  Life to him is an adventure.  Nothing is strange.  Everything is wonderful.  No taint of worldliness in him.

Jesus said, "Unless you come as a little child you will by no means enter the kingdom of God". 

That means if I read my Bible right we are to come open, welcoming, happy to learn, not hardened and NOT CYNICAL.

I have such a real hard time with "Christians" who are cynical, seen it all before, been there done that, have all the answers, know all about it and a superior elitist attitude.  There is no place for condescension in the Body of Christ.

That description of a Christian above is exactly opposite of what Jesus was talking about when he spoke of the little children.  The Pharisees were dismissive and condescending.  So were the disciples.  Jesus was giving them a once over.  They needed it.

We have the Biblical contrast.  I am going to go out on a spiritual limb.  Being Cynical is Sin.  In particular with the things of God.

We are telling God, "I have it all figured out. There's nothing you can show me.  Don't mess with the spiritual box I've put you in.  Stay where you are." 

IF you have been stung a little by what I've just said, if you have drifted into a cynical attitude about the things of God see it for what it is.  SIN.  Repent.

He forgives the second you do.  Then go forth and sin no more. 

Come as a Child.

Global Word of the Lord - This is a Spring of a Spiritual Showdown

Friday night I walked into the House of Prayer in Bolingbrook.  I was a little bit late.  The river was already flowing.  The flow was about the spring rain.  It intensified and soon mirrored what is going on with prophets all around the globe.  This spring is something new.  Something changed.  Something of a spiritual showdown.  We are seeing a manifestation of what was said at the beginning of the year.  I posted a word a few days ago regarding spring.  Chuck Pierce wrote what he is hearing which is posted below, and now Lee Grady has posted. 

 

When the Spirit of God continues to speak thru his prophets around the world about one issue it means that something is up.  Spring has sprung and God is cutting off dead wood in favor of the new growth.  It's time to clean out the old in favor of the fresh. 

 

We are in for a season of change - BIGTIME

 

What follows is Lee Grady's essay about Spring.

 

IT'S TIME TO EMBRACE GOD'S NEW SEASON

Are you prepared to go to a new level of spiritual passion?

 

Normally I don't pay much attention to the changing of seasons. I live in Florida, the land of palm trees and perpetual humidity. Normally the only season we notice here is hurricane season. We don't really do cold weather. The very short winter we have occurs in August, and that's only if someone turns the AC down too low and frost appears on the inside of our storm windows. 

So naturally springtime means little to me. The only indication that spring has arrived occurs sometime in early March, when suddenly and without warning the live oak trees in my yard purge all their brown leaves and dump tons of disgusting, stringy, moss-like pollen on my driveway. In one glorious day all the new green leaves appear, glistening in the muggy air.

 

"Our God made a world that reflects His resurrection power. But it is our choice to embrace this spiritual springtime."

 

Then everyone starts sneezing. Ahhh, joyous spring!

 

I was in a prayer meeting a few days ago, on March 21, and I offered the Lord an odd request: "Jesus, bring us into Your new season." Then suddenly I realized the date, and checked with a co-worker to make sure I had my facts straight. Sure enough, it was the first day of spring.

 

We began to pray for the "new thing," something that God promised Isaiah He would give His people. The Lord told the prophet: "Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert" (Is. 43:19, NASB).

 

As we prayed, and as I meditated on this passage, I realized that many of us are oblivious to God's seasonal changes. He loves to bring a fresh word. He sends His wind to renew. He brings His spring showers to resurrect what has lain dormant in the old season. He even releases His new song over us to bring us into a new level of joy and purpose. He wants to move us forward.

 

God loves to shout over us, "The winter is past" (Song 2:11). But the questions remain: Will you be aware of it? Or will you be content to stay in the old place?

 

God is the one who made the seasons (see Gen. 8:22), and He created springtime to remind us that He has renewing power. No matter how much death winter brings or how bleak the landscape becomes, there comes a time when buds peak out of the snow, animals venture out of their hibernation, and birds return to nest and sing. Our God made a world that reflects His resurrection power.

 

But it is our choice to embrace this spiritual springtime.

 

On a personal level, many Christians live in a perpetual winter—just barely surviving as they struggle to find joy and victory over besetting sins. Many of us crawl into our spiritual ruts and hide there, trapped in rejection, failure, depression, bitterness or lack. And the devil, like the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia, tells us that life must forever remain a frozen wasteland of unanswered prayers and dashed hopes.

 

Corporately, many churches are locked in this same icy condition. We plod through the years living on yesterday's revelation, held captive by a religious spirit that prevents us from venturing into new realms of faith. We sing old songs, pray rote prayers and dream of yesterday. We feel powerless to break out of our spiritual barrenness.

 

Yet God, who is always on the move, invites us to embrace new strategies, new understanding and new roadways through the wilderness so that we can conquer new territory. He calls us to fruitfulness.

 

In liturgical churches, Christians observe a season of Lent before Easter arrives. These weeks before Easter are focused on repentance—and they are a way to prepare the heart to celebrate the great sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. I am always encouraged during these days when I realize the Holy Spirit is taking me from glory to glory with each passing year.

 

He does not leave me in the old season. Because of the miracle of His resurrection, I have assurance that I will be changed more and more into His image. He makes all things new!

 

I want to remind you today: The winter is past and springtime is here. God desires to bring you into a new season of joy and abundance. He says to you: "The flowers have already appeared in the land; the time has arrived for pruning the vines. … Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!" (Song 2:12-13).

 

He can turn your mourning into joy, your addiction into freedom, and your failure into success. Yes, springtime involves pruning. The dead things of the past must be cut off—even the "good" things. But the result is always bountiful growth and advancement. The one who opened the tomb on Easter morning can bring a new dawn in your relationship with Him.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.