Monthly Message Archives
scroll down for more messages
Confirmation of Your God Ordained
Purpose Article for July 2010
D id
you know that one of the proving factors in the CONFIRMATION
process of your God ORDAINED PURPOSE is
CHALLENGE ? The 3 specific
challenges are:
opposition, adversaries and
obstacles. Some
might be saying; WHAT?
Men and women responding to God's call into ministry have
confirmation services where
elder ministers publically
acknowledge , and
officially
endorse them as
credible and set for activated service.
While this is scriptural
and a vital public seal by elders (as
listed in 1Timothy 4:14) , it must be understood that
this is not the full
CONFIRMATION process.
It
actually starts with
a very personal revelation and COVENANT
between you and God to become
all that He says you already are.
Whether or not the commission is to an office within the church function or out in
the marketplace and professional dimensions, we've all been
ORDAINED
of God to specific PURPOSE .
We need to know, however, that even though God has ordained us does not mean it automatically happens.
PURPOSE
is birthed first out of WHO and WHY we are before it is expressed
in producing WHAT we do (or produce), so
CONFIRMATION must be a
process of personal
discovery and cultivation
more than just a ceremonial accomplishment or obtained title.
In order to TRANSFORM
into the character and stature of God's purposed design
there must be another piece to the process of confirmation...
and that is the ability to OVERCOME CHALLENGES.
Note:
In
Jeremiah 1:5; God told this young man,
that before He was formed, He knew him, sanctified, and ORDAINED him a prophet
unto the nations, but in order for this ORDINATION to be CONFIRMED, Jeremiah
would have to OVERCOME the opposing faces of threatening people and "root out,
pull down, destroy, and throw down the challenges as one who had been
SET
(v.10) over the nations to build and
plant.
In fact,
all through the Bible we can read that when oppositions arose it was a clear
indication that God's ORDAINED plan was being birthed or breaking through to new
ground, Hebrews 6:16-19
makes it clear, that God's confirmation defeats all strife giving us an anchor
of HOPE to lay hold onto. If in what we're doing, we continue
to struggle to make it happen through our own fleshly determination, then we
need to understand we may be working our own plan "for God" instead of standing
in God's plan depending on His strength.
Opposition:
comes first when we receive a revelation of vision and therefore tries to
distract us
Adversaries:
come when we are at the open door of a new season of progress and
they are called "adversaries" because they are "adverse" to us
going through, therefore they seek to.....
detain us
Obstacles: come to
make you think there's no way to get through, when the TRUTH IS
we've already made it through, therefore it tries to
deceive
us
Defeating these "heavy" challenges is
not just about being "battle" minded or adversarial with flesh &
blood , but o ur best "warfare" (strategy) is to keep
spreading the LIGHT of God's Kingdom into every nation with global VISION
that is relevant with no compromise and not with the
man made religious wineskins of sub-cultural clichés. The reaction of the enemy is
due to the innovative Kingdom PURPOSE that is rising IN US as we
live and move in our KING JESUS!
In these times of difficulty, we
should not be alarmed, but we should see these challenges as
the greatest confirmations of our God ordained VICTORY . When it
seems impossible, our God given PURPOSE will break forth into innovations,
ideas, and a Kingdom economy that OVERCOMES the world's systems.
Get ready men and women of God, prepare for the
greatest days ahead, because even though it's the "end times" for the enemy..... IT IS NOT THE END FOR
GOD'S ORDAINED CHAMPIONS , it is just the BEGINNING of a NEW DAY! Keep
dreaming and having VISIONS!
_________________________________________________
Seeds of Promise Are Already at Work
In You Today Article for JUNE 2010
G od's
Kingdom is SET in a perpetual principle of PROMISE, PROCESS, and
PROGRESS bringing PRODUCTIVITY to His eternal PLAN. Even in this
regenerative "cycle" of seedtime and harvest, God never repeats Himself
because the next season of GROWTH expands beyond the former season.
This is why when Jesus refers to His
Father's Kingdom He emphasizes the
SEED even more
than the FRUIT
(Matt.13:31, 38) because the
FRUIT (or result) of a
thing is always in the SEED
(the beginning). The
FRUIT is
vitally important as it provides nourishment and a significant
reference point alerting us to the TIMES
we are in, BUT the greater PURPOSE of the FRUIT
is to present the
SEED of the next crop!
Some ministries "sit" on the fruit of
their "past" accomplishments and try to "repeat" what "worked" before, but if
the process of new SEED stops, even good fruit will rot.
We must start eating the fruit
and planting the seeds instead of
trying to replant old fruit and eat the
seeds for instant gratification.
Even tDr Myles Munroe profoundly
teaches that "God always finishes a thing first and then goes back to
the beginning and starts"
The devil is always trying
to destroy the SEED (the
beginning), because he's fearful knowing that irreversible results are
set and nothing can stop the incorruptible SEED
once it begins to germinate and GROW.
This is also why the devil
tries to distract and blind people from the promise of NEW SEED by
bringing up "past" failures or sins. Some think they are required to
carry the corruptible rotting fruit of yesterday allowing it to falsely
define them, but Jesus, our King, has freed us from the past
to reveal our true identity in Him
through redeeming, recreating and restoring us
into His royal bloodline as God's regenerated SEED!
God has given us a NEW DAY
now to declare a paradigm shift in our tomorrow. Old things (rotten
fruit) have passed away (dropped off) as all things ( SEED
of promise) are become new!
demands that the ground expand and shift to become sufficient
to hold it's future. God is stretching
our CAPACITY to receive His
ever progressing PURPOSE. He
can only FILL & CULTIVATE the CAPACITY we will EXPAND to. We must OPEN
much WIDER in EXPECTATION!
It's time for God's Kingdom to advance and increase
in the earth and it starts with those
who expect Him to do exceeding, abundantly, above all that we can
currently ask or think! (Ephesians 3:20) This EXPANSION
is accelerating and is causing a greater clashing of kingdoms in these
times.
It's birthing time!
We can feel the swelling in our spiritual belly as now the
HARVEST of greater dimensions break
forth, so while we rejoice in the FRUIT,
don't forget to LOOK for the
announcement of the next SEED.
_______________________________
PURPOSE & VISION are IN the
FOUNDATION article for MAY 2010
N ow
therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow-citizens with the saints, and the household of God; and are built
upon the FOUNDATION of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy
temple in the Lord: In Whom ye also are builded
together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22
As FELLOW-CITIZENS of God's Kingdom He
has brought us into His HOUSEHOLD (government) and is
BUILDING us (cultivating us) into becoming a fitly framed
representation of His Body and His presence as King of kings on the
earth. As God's Kingdom becomes more and more pronounced in this
world, there is greater opposition, but we need not be shaken.
The church is literally the embassy where
God's Ambassadors (and various representatives) convene for
worship, training, strategies and celebration to be sent forth
(infiltrating) INTO all the world to declare the LIGHT of
God's Word.
Because the battle is more intense in these times, some
have lost sight of the central purpose to BUILD God's household
and have become reactionary resorting to constructing barricades
and bunkers. We've not been called to build sub-cultural forts that pick
up and move every time the enemy turns up the heat, but WE ARE
ESTABLISHED on an unmovable FOUNDATION of apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the CHIEF CORNERSTONE! This is not
just a "visitation", but we are built for HABITATION of GOD!
The Apostolic
office (function) represents God's architect, one who sets order according to the blueprint (or pattern) of
God's plan
The Prophetic office (function) represents
God's visionary contractor who sees and declares the next season or time for
construction before it even manifests.
Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone through Whom
the entire blueprint of God's eternal purpose springs forth and activates the
lively stones to fitly frame together as a temple for God to dwell in. (1Peter
2:5-9)
LITERALLY, the PURPOSE and the VISION is not the building, but it's in
the FOUNDATION of the building to construct it. The FOUNDATION is not about the past, but it continues to
support a PROPHETIC FUTURE!
It is wisdom to take inventory of what we are building and
question whether it is still set on the foundation. There are too many people
wearing themselves out "building" things "for God" that He never blueprinted.
Some who started building God's design met with rejection or disappointment and
subconsciously began building weapons and huts to hide in, but the foundation of
God is crying out to those wounded warriors to be delivered and regain their God
given dreams by revisiting the Rock of their purpose and prophetic destiny.
Most people will take note of how beautiful a house is, but
don't notice the foundation, because we tend to think that the foundation was
important in the past before the house started construction and they think now
there's little need to refer to it, but in God's economy, the foundation is
vital for continuing development EVERYDAY, because the prophetic
blueprint of PURPOSE and VISION are embedded in a sure foundation.
The FOUNDATION of God brings accountability, integrity,
accuracy and obedience as requirements to the ongoing building of His household.
Anyone who fools themselves into thinking they can build on their own terms will
find themselves on shifting sand when the storms come, because ultimately the
wise know that it's not necessarily how high you can build a thing, but it's how
deep the foundation is set that determines if that house will stand, and there
is no other foundation to build on except Jesus Christ the living Word of God.
We are in a time where God is SHIFTING PARADIGMS but
those who are slapping a carnal building together and "shifting" things by their
own design should to take heed, because they may have just shifted off of the
foundation. We do not shift the foundation, but the foundation shifts and
changes us into becoming His HOUSE!
The definition for FOUNDATION: is a
sub-structure, an established security, to set, appoint, to get footing, settle,
and something FOUND.
If you've become a bit weary in building and
you've lost sight of the passion for doing it in the first place, GO TO THE
FOUNDATION.
It's time to get on
our knees or even lay flat before God (on our face on the foundation) and be reminded that the building may be
the "MISSION", but the PURPOSE and VISION is in the
FOUNDATION that speaks into our next phase of cultivation. The Foundation sees the house built
before we even begin...so to BUILD and go forth into all the
world...first let's go to the ROCK!
_________________________________________________
Super Abounding In the Mantle of Grace April 2010
"..where sin
abounded, GRACE did much more ABOUND" Romans 5:20b
The word "abound" (connected with grace) is the greek
word; perisseuo, literally defined as to "superabound" in strength and
ability. It is God's GRACE, but it has been
applied into our lives as the SUPER clothing (activated MANTLE) of
righteousness.
M
any
believers today have very little
difficulty calling on God's GRACE when they are in trouble or
find themselves in need of an instant answer to a conflict, but most
don't realize that they may be activating MERCY, and not even understand the true purpose of GRACE.
God's GRACE is not set for
trouble, but it's set for PURPOSE and, as a result, will deliver us out
of trouble too. While it is God's GRACE that saves us through faith
(Eph.2:8) we need to know that after we are brought into God's Kingdom
as the redeemed.. He then clothes us with His GRACE to help us
develop His character in us (discovering our true identity) as His
mighty champions. It is no longer I (my false personality) that lives,
but Christ (revealing who I really am in Him) that lives in me.
GRACE is not passive or just a set of etiquettes, and "grace" is more
than a prayer for food at dinnertime....GRACE is a
POWERFUL (lifestyle) MANTLE,
literally an activation of God's righteousness sewn into the
fabric of who we really are in Christ.
1. GOING IN GRACE:
Just as God's glory clothed Adam before he fell, GRACE through Christ Jesus is
the result of God's glory restored to man. GRACE never comes and goes, but it
ABIDES and stays active as we DWELL in God's Kingdom principles.
Abiding in a specific GRACE involves obedience and GOING where GRACE goes.
This involves tapping into discernment grace gives to KNOW times and
seasons plus how to MOVE with GRACE through the process. When grace lifts from
one place into a new level, we move with it allowing God to develop us so we can
effectively then develop the place we've moved to.
2. GROWING IN GRACE: 2 Peter 3:18 actually
admonishes us to GROW IN GRACE! While most will highlight the point that
GRACE is UNMERITED FAVOR, we need to go on understand that this FAVOR
does not just appear out of nowhere, but it is PROCESSED in the PURPOSE of God
who rules all things.
We are not just "pilgrims" passing through, but we are AMBASSADORS in this world and CITIZENS of His KINGDOM. We have all the benefits
of the King's good GRACES, because we live according to His purpose. That means
His GRACE (ability) is activated through our lives as we are planted into this
world to impact CHANGE! God has given His SUPER to our NATURAL and now we can do
all THINGS through CHRIST that strengthens us.
3. KNOWING (cultivating) HIS
GRACE:
The greek word for GRACE is "charis", expressing God's
POWER
"charisma"
through our lives. As citizens of God's Kingdom we've been made to be kings and
priests to glorify God as we are IN the world, but not OF it.
2 Peter 1:2-4
says
that
GRACE and peace are MULTIPLIED
according to the knowledge
of Jesus Christ
growing in our lives. 1 Peter 4:10 describes GRACE as being MANIFOLD (or multifacited) and exhorts us to be STEWARDS of this anointing.
The Apostle Paul makes it clear, however, that a person can "frustrate"
the GRACE of God by applying it to current problems or past situations. The GRACE God has activated in our lives NOW is not set in
current circumstances, but it is SET in prophetic destiny, literally,
God's PLAN and PURPOSE for our lives.
GRACE will release FAVOR, yet we must understand it's not just to use for our own
satisfaction, but it is released in and through us to accomplish God's
Kingdom restoration in the earth, and to be SUFFICIENT to get us through
today's warfare and grounded in tomorrow's victory.
Every Kingdom saint has a specific mantle of GRACE that God has given,
and to discover what it is we must yield ourselves to be His instruments
of righteousness.
___________________________________________________________
The Awkward, Ugly, Wonderful Plow
Article for February 2010
There are times
we feel we have run right into a hard place that seems
undeveloped, difficult, and where nothing seems to be happening.
We all love those times when we are looking successful and
brilliant but in those rough spots
of awkwardness we are like babies learning to
walk all over again and there's embarrassment. Rather than hide
this point in our life we should embrace it because, as Kingdom saints, it means
we are standing behind a God ordained plow looking ahead at undeveloped purpose
and destiny that needs to be cut through and cultivated. Sadly there are some
who will avoid this place of the plow because of thinking it belittles their
accomplishments, but the PLOW is the only way to move into new levels.
A
plow is possibly one of the most ugly and awkward tools ever invented. There is
no way to "dress up" a plow. That's why you never hear about a "sports-plow". It
cannot be used as a piece of furniture because sitting on it could provide a
severe cut, and while you could hang clothes on it the bedroom would look like a
barn.
Plows are too ugly to put on pedestals and are not
designed to be recognized as trophies on display but those
who replace plows with awards quickly find they've become stuck in the mud of
past glories.
The only true purpose and place of a plow is CUTTING THROUGH
undeveloped ground. While all this fits the description of a
farming plow, we are dealing with this as it defines the spiritual plow
God sets our hands to for His Kingdom cultivation. There is no
way to look "cool" or stylish while working a plow, because the plow is also
working you! Before the plow can cultivate the ground ahead of us, it must
cultivate us and our ability to see ahead.
In Luke 9:62 a very familiar verse reads; "And Jesus
said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough (plow), and looking
back is fit for the Kingdom of God." Often this verse is referred to
as "sticking to a task" and "not taking a break until a work is done", but the
principle Jesus was sharing had more to it than a "works" message, because after
all, the plow is doing most of the work... He was sharing a VISIONARY MESSAGE!
NOTE: Our hand (extension of God's activation in the
earth) is on a PLOW (not just a task)! The purpose of the plow is to
OPEN UP the greater prophetic purpose of ground that was not revealed
before, and simultaneously start the CULTIVATION of Kingdom development.
A person cannot operate a plow by looking behind them because the function of
the plow is all about opening up NEW PATHS and GROUND that will reveal KINGDOM
manifestation! This is why Jesus said; "No man/woman putting their HAND to the
PLOW and LOOKING BACK is FIT for Kingdom progress"
It's time for God's people to stop looking back to great
accomplishments or even failures to determine their path ahead. We've got to
stop asking God to repeat revivals of the past and stop expecting "what was" to bring
"what is coming". God is looking for VISIONARIES who realize that EYE HATH NOT
YET SEEN, nor EAR HEARD the things YET to BE REVEALED, but only as we lay our
hands on the PLOW of CUTTING EDGE PURPOSE and DESTINY will we breakthrough to
greater levels of Kingdom advance.
This is why 1Corinthaians 9:10 says
that "..he that plows should plow in HOPE; and he that threshes in HOPE should
be partaker of his HOPE. This UGLY, AWKWARD tool turns out to
be a WONDERFUL visionary CUTTING EDGE as our awesome God is cultivating
us into an opening of His Kingdom HARVEST in the earth to IMPACT NATIONS. No
matter how awkward you feel right now, rejoice in this WONDERFUL pioneering
mandate!
_________________
Currency, Commodities, and Kingdom
Wealth; September Article
"The CROWN of the WISE is their RICHES, but the foolishness
of fools is is folly." Proverbs 14:24
In these days nations are facing unstable economic times
bringing global international summits focusing on talk of a one world financial
system.
Some people, even in many churches, have become so dependent
on the "systems" of this world that they have set their "security" in government
welfare losing sight of God's economic principles and His
definition of wealth and treasure.
CURRENCY IS NOT WEALTH...
First we need to know that
"money" is not treasure or wealth, but it is "currency". Currency is
defined in the dictionary as a government's legal tender for buying and selling.
It is nothing more than a document passed from hand to hand to obtain an object
or product based on an agreed price. Money is not the treasure, but it serves in
obtaining something of value. Money circulates around and through wealth, but it
is not wealth.
Too many people get their "worth" from
the amount of money they have accumulated, but money can never give us our
worth. If money gave us worth, we would devalue as a dollar devaluates, but the
truth is our worth has nothing to do with money. The moment money becomes the
"treasure" it becomes "mammon" because we serve it instead of it serving us.
COMMODITIES ARE NOT WEALTH...
Things like gold, silver, and precious gems are commodities that have great
value but are not guaranteed "wealth" as even precious stones can be squandered
in the hands of a fool, and to trust in gold and diamonds is to open ourselves
to the deceitfulness of riches. The assumption that the abundance of valuable
things gives us worth or power is to miss the true TREASURE.
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS ARE NOT THE WEALTH...In Matthew 22 some
Pharisees got together in an attempt to catch Jesus in a snare of words, so they
came to Him with a coin asking; "Should we give this money to Caesar, or give it
to you?" Jesus perceived they were trying to trick Him and He responded with a
question; "Whose picture is engraved on this coin?" and they said; "Caesar" so
He directed them to; "Render then unto Caesar the tax due him, but render unto God
what belongs to God". Literally He was declaring; "Caesar's picture is on
currency, but God's image is on the WEALTH, because He owns everything!"
No matter how shaky the governments of nations may get, we need
not fear if our TRUST is in God. We are citizens of
another Kingdom economy. Even now God is revealing the hidden treasures of
wisdom and knowledge to those who have His Word engraved in their hearts.
2Corinthians 4:7 says; "We have this TREASURE in earthen vessels, that
the excellency of the POWER (literally kingly authority) may be of God
and not of us. This is a treasure laid up into prophetic purpose set by God
where neither rust nor moth can corrupt and thieves can never break through nor
steal.
THE CROWN OF WISDOM PRODUCES THE WEALTH...
Isaiah 62:3
Thou shall be a CROWN of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in
the hand of thy God. The definition of the word; "CROWN" means; the CAP, top,
or CULMINATED authority, royalty, consecration, power, and administrator of
resources. The crown has gold, precious gems, and other commodities in it but it
is not for sale or trade. It is valuable because it represents God's Name and
governmental power activated on the head of those who have been made kings and
priests through Jesus Christ. The CROWN (our true worth) activates resources,
commodities and currencies into our hand to bless us and to distribute into His
COMMONWEALTH. It is God's delight to give His Kingdom to His Ambassadors.
Current economies don't give us our worth, but our WORTH can change and redefine
economies impacting nations with revealed TREASURES coming "through us". We are Kingdom citizens full of the King's
benefits. When we get into a KINGDOM MINDSET (or crown-set) we understand
Deuteronomy 28:12,12 when it says; We shall lend and not borrow, and we shall be the HEAD
and not the TAIL, even in the midst of global economic crisis.
Within you are God ordained ideas, creative inventions, vision and more than
enough to meet every need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus! Your
worth is above the world's ability to set a price, and God says we are the apple
of His eye.
We've been crowned with GLORY (1Pet.5:4), crowned with righteousness (2Tim.4:8),
and crowned with LIFE (James 1:12) and Proverbs 14:24 says the CROWN of the WISE
results in great RICHES flowing from our innermost belly (or birthing place).
_______________________________
Rick Kendall,
Editor
back to The Body
Network (click here)
To
respond to this article e-mail us at:
victory554@msn.com
