Tuesday, August 25, 2020

This is not about the "new normal" but a "NEW ERA"


The Lord is speaking to me about the times and seasons we are living in. We have all heard many people talk about this lie called the "new normal". Those words just hit something in me, and in pursuing the Lord about it, I felt Him challenge me about what statements like this would look like, if we were sitting around heaven and talking about what is going on. God ALWAYS gives us an upgrade. His latter is always greater. He makes things new. Old things pass away and behold, He makes ALL THINGS NEW. So I began to explore this with the Lord. In doing so, he took me to a couple places in scriptures and He used the wording, a New Era.

Let's dive into Mark 4:1-13, The Parable of the Sower — Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.
2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:
3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.
4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.
6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.
8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.

10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.
11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables
12 so that, “ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ ”

13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?
14 The farmer sows the word.
15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;
19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.


The point I want to bring to your attention is what is the "soil" of your life and what does it look like? When treasures of the Kingdom are released unto you, which type of soil is reflective in your life. Jesus spoke this parable and then later on in the evening, the disciples wanted to gain understanding of what He was sharing. Jesus starts with, if you can't understand this parable, you will have a hard time understanding ANY parable. WOW - seems there is something rather important in this text we need to grasp and it is foundational to unlocking the things to come. Jesus goes on to compare PEOPLE with the seed. as soon as people hear the Word that is sown, something starts to happen, just like a seed in the ground. Jesus starts with the seed sown along the path and tells them that this is just like people but rather than the birds of the air stealing the seed, Jesus says it is Satan himself who comes to steal the Word of God from us. The second scenario in the parable is about the seed that fell on the rocky places, where the seed tried to spring up, but because there was no root (or deep soil) the plants spouted but died under the heat of the environment. Jesus said this is like people who hear the Word with joy, but because they are young in the Lord, or not discipled, they have no root and after a short time, when trouble or persecution comes int their life, they fall away.

The third example was the seed that is sown among thorns, these seeds get choked out by the "thorns". These are people who hear the Word but still maintain their worldly ways. They think they are ok being among the thorns. When we come to Christ and new revelation of His ways, that usually requires a shift on our part because we are not like Him. We need to cut off things that are deadly or thought processes that are apart from God. We need to turn. People who don't shift away have mixture, and eventually the things of God get choked out of the lives because of the thorns growing next to them.

Lastly we have the seed that is sown in the GOOD soil. This soil is a teachable heart. This soil is a heart that desires God at all costs. This heart shifts and turns and obeys. When we allow God to have His way in our heart, then we grow and produce good fruit; a fruit that remains. We want to be like the seed that lands in the GOOD SOIL and produces a GREAT, MULTIPLYING harvest. We choose these soils. We have a part to play.
We need the Lord to renew our minds, change our way of thinking. We need to shift from living from our soul (our mind, our will, and our emotions) to living from our Born Again Spirit.

Ephesians 3:19 ... and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Colossians 2:9-10For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, ad in Him, you have been made complete, and His is the head over all rule and authority.

James 1:22-25 — Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it - not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it - they will be blessed in what they do.

What is incredible to me is how God is speaking around the globe pieces of what He is doing. Just this week I read these following two words from two separate Godly women. They speak into this same theme as well. God is moving; even when we can't see Him! 

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WE NEED PERSONAL DELIVERANCE BEFORE WE CAN GET NATIONAL DELIVERANCE
by Wanda Alger, August 20, 2020

 

We are dealing with major principalities in this nation and across the earth. Religious and political spirits are clogging up the system and binding up the Church with endless rules and protocols that are silencing our witness. The Jezebel spirit is manifesting through politicians and tyrannical leaders given to greed and power, and their witchcraft is fueling increased lawlessness and anarchy. Leviathan is overwhelming our senses with futility, confusion, and a fear of impending doom. These demonic strongholds must come down and displaced by those who carry legitimate authority from heaven.

 

The challenge is that many believers are being oppressed and harassed by these spirits and it is limiting our corporate authority in prayer. Through my own deliverance from these spirits several years ago, I learned just how easy it is for even Spirit-filled believers to get hooked by these ungodly mindsets due to negative experiences and offenses. Once delivered and set free, I saw an immediate upgrade in my intercession and an increase of authority against these powers and principalities.

 

If we want to see the Religious spirit defeated, we have to give up our own sacred cows and methods of ministry. Our revelations from yesterday may need to be adjusted to make room for Holy Spirit to give us an upgrade for today. We must cut the unhealthy soul ties with our past and clear the way for a transforming future.

 

If we want to see Jezebel defeated, we have to repent of the ways we have rebelled against our leaders, especially in the Church. The spirit of rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and as long as believers hold on to offenses against leaders who have done them wrong, we will never have legitimate authority to displace wicked rulers or demonic hordes.

 

If we want to be free of Leviathan's grip that suffocates our witness, confuses our clarity, and robs us of faith, we have to renounce our fears and our need to understand everything. Our trust cannot be in the systems of men or our own human reasoning. Only God reigns supreme and His Kingdom ways are much higher than ours.

 

Yes, we must bind and loose, rebuke and renounce, and take a righteous stand. But, we must also clear out our own closets. We have been given spiritual authority over the works of darkness, but its up to us to remove any roadblocks that prevent us from using it.


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And finally, there is this word... IT IS THE LORD CHANGING THE TABLES

by Lana Vawser, August 20, 2020


 Recently I had an encounter with the Lord and I saw Jesus and He was walking up to His people that were sitting at tables and I knew that these tables represented ALIGNMENTS and MODELS. As He walked up to these tables He began to speak to His people and He said "It is time to CHANGE TABLES"

 

Immediately I was surrounded by the sense of the new era we have entered and the importance of drawing close to the Lord and hearing His voice and leading for where we are aligned, how we are aligned, and how we are to build with Him. The sense surrounded me so strongly that the "model" of how things have been done, is rapidly changing. The Lord has been speaking to me for years about the changing of the wineskin and the time that was coming upon us in a new era where we would have to follow Him and know His ways to move into the new thing that He was going to do (Isaiah 43:19) that would be completely unprecedented.

 

Now, in this encounter, what struck me was the weight upon the voice of the Lord when He spoke "It's TIME to change tables". I began to see other tables that were set for the people of God in this new era. New strategies, new ways of doing things, a new 'model', and new 'alignments' with people.

 

This encounter was communicating in SO many ways, the IMPORTANCE of alignment in this hour and be aligned with Jesus in our hearts, our deeds, our actions, our obedience, our lives, our ministries. Every area of our lives to be in total alignment with Him and not to 'remain at a table' because that's where we have always sat or how it has always been.

 

The Lord has had me release this prophetic word to encourage the people of God, to not stay in the comfortable or familiar seat because of fear of what others with think, fear of offending people, fear of the new. The truth is, the tables that the Lord has set before His people in this new era are more glorious than ever before and the Lord showed me that many are feeling a 'heavy oppressive frustration' right now and the 'ease' that once was, is no longer, and that is because it's time to change tables. It's time to take your seat a new table.

 

I heard the Lord say "Don't apologise for changing tables and don't make excuses for having to change tables". When He spoke those words I could feel this very strong sense of the fear of man that would be the hurdle that many would need to overcome in taking their place at the new tables. Follow in the leading of the Holy Spirit into these new tables and embrace them with everything you have.

 

I also saw the beautiful comfort of the Holy Spirit embracing those who are changing tables and coming out of alignment with people they have built with before and moving into new ventures with the Lord and the sadness in the heart that comes with the 'breaking away'. The comfort of the Holy Spirit is upon you and He is pouring His love, peace, and refreshing upon you as you move to the new tables the Lord has for you.

 

I saw Jesus sitting at the new tables and He was waiting for His people to take their seat. As many begun to come and take their seat at the new tables with the Lord, I was struck with the depth of encounter that happened at those tables with the Lord. The encounters looking into the fiery eyes of Jesus that were so deep and so intimate.

 

The new tables await you. Don't be afraid to move to the new tables. It requires obedience, boldness, and courage. Don't stay at the same table because of comfort or fear. You want to be at the table Jesus is sitting at and calling you into, for there you will find Him.


You want to be sitting with Jesus at the table He is calling you to. It's time to take your seat at the new tables.


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In closing, the Lord reminded me of Moses as he led the people out of Egypt.  They continually grumbled and wanted to go back to Egypt.  The didn't trust the Lord with the NEW, what was before them, the upgrade.  Let us not be the same as the Israelites.  We too have come through a Passover, and we too are in the desert.  Let us not make a 40 day journey into 40 years! Let us take time to find the Lord in this NEW era!  Hebrews 10:39