United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Since the time of Satan’s fall from grace , he’s been looking for a way to destroy God’s church. The ironacy is that Satan has to get permission from God before he can lie, kill and destroy . Satan can be very subtle in his destruction. He can find the one area of weakness and use it to destroy everything God has set up.

Many churches are living in the past and are to blind to see what God is doing now. The Lord is preparing to go to war against Satan’s strong hold on our nation. God is preparing another move of himself and the one’s that are listening and preparing are the one’s that God will use.

Most moves of God start out with his anointing poured out all over his bride. Each person starts out with dedication, conviction and a willingness to pay any price to bring in God’s glory. Through out history when our Lord pours out the Holy Spirit on his bride, the bride surrenders and a movement is birthed. When the battle part’s over the bride gets comfortable once again, camps and relives God’s past glory. The Church usually hardens her heart and stays where she’s at. The bride becomes self focused and blind to what God is doing. Eventually the bride disappears into obscurity once more.

Two to three years ago, the Lord has given us the battle cry once more. The Lord has poured out his intimate presence on the faithful and faithless equally. I truly believe that another move of God is on it’s way. God has been whispering in the ears of those who would listen. When Mr. Obama became President many ran and some even left the country. God was testing them for obedience and they failed miserably.

The Lord has been raising up new leaders especially those who are called into the five fold ministries such as Pastor, Prophet, Teacher, Evangelist and Apostolic. It breaks my heart to see so many churches that have turned their backs on God and are still doing the same old things.

Satan uses lies to destroy. I believe one of the biggest lies is the Egalitarian vs. Complemetarian issue. Egalitarian’s believes that a woman can have autonomous authority within the church structure. They believe that women can become Pastor’s or Elders and make governmental decisions. The Complemetarian’s believe that women can hold any position within the church except the Senior Pastor and Elder positions. If we're not careful I believe that this issue can tear the church in two.

Other issues that can take the church off track is 1) moral failure in Pastors and Prophets. The divorce rate is the same between the church and the world. 2) Another conflict is over relating to post modern culture. The church is allowing itself to be influenced by the world. If things keep moving as they have been, the church won’t be any different than the world and the bride will become ineffective. 3) The church is compromising its standards. she is straying from the truth in the word of God. Soon there will be no difference between the world and the church. 4) Finally the theological fractions that are tearing churches apart. To many churches water down the word and take the word out of context and make it say what they want it to say.

As I stated before Satan will do anything to destroy Jesus' bride. I believe that the Egalitarian vs. Complemetarian, moral failure within the church, post modern culture and theological fractions are Satan’s lies to bring down the Church. Look at the time it’s raising its head to become an issue again. Right before the war begins.

I’ve asked several friends if they are Complemetarian or Egalitarian and most of them said Egalitarian. I asked why they believe the way that they do and the main answer I received was that men and women need to be equal. I again asked why because we are equal in the eyes of God and the response from most of them was “because”.

God created both men and women. We are equal in the eyes of God. We just have different roles to perform. I have yet to hear a biblical reason why women should be allowed to become Elders or Pastors within the church. From the books Genesis, I Timothy, I Corinthians and Ephesians states Paul’s view on women in the Egalitarian debate. Paul was a Complementarian.

I’m stepping out on a limb here. I want it understood that these are my beliefs. I’ve put in a lot of hours seeking the truth and praying for what the Lord wants done. I truly believe that women should not to be put in governmental positions within the church. I will even go so far as to say, that if a church grabs a hold of the Egalitarian point of view, or moral failure, or relating to post modern culture or theological fractions will be left behind in this new movement. Jesus is looking for total surrender. The Lord wants us to hand over our beliefs, so that he can show us his truth. The Lord will only use people that have totally surrendered in his next awakening move.

The Lord wants his bride unified. Right now the church is so fragmented that she’s almost unusable by our Lord. Once a church starts to compromise on its biblical foundation, they will have to accept other issues that can’t be condoned by God. Thus creating a downward spiral that makes the church water down her convictions.

We have to take the focus off of ourselves and our goals. We need to fall on our knees in repentance and then we need to ask what the Lord wants us to do. To many churches and individual people have made hearing God so complicated. We just need to stop, lay all of our agendas, goals and the way we think things should be done and lay it before the throne of our Father. When we can be completely open to the Lord and his agenda then we can really stand united.

Darkness Of The Soul

For the past four months I have been forced to look into my past. I’ve had to come to terms with my weaknesses and strengths. I have been pushed and prodded to look deeper into my soul. After I searched I walked away with a wounded everything. Some things I knew were coming and some I didn’t. My world, as I knew it, was whisked away in the blink of an eye

My body, spirit and soul are decimated. I have had to deal with betrayal, broken trust and knowledge of a couple of people that hurt me in the worst possible way.

Several months ago, the Lord started to prod me to read Job. When I was done I saw something that I never caught before. When the Lord visited Job and his three friends, God reminded them of who he was. One thing stuck out to me, and that was that the Lord asked Job to forgive and pray blessings on his three friends. God gave no promises of renewed health or restoration of all that Job had lost. Job, I believe, had to struggle before doing God’s will.

Job did obey then God restored all that was lost to him. He had many sons and daughters, his wealth and health were restored. The Lord has asked me to forgive some people that let me down. The Lord is asking me to forgive some that have physically hurt me.

Everything within me screams, they don’t deserve it and why am I the one that has to take the first step. For several months I couldn’t do it. I was barraged with to many things at one time. I was just hit with another situation yesterday. I feel as if I’m at breaking point, but I have to remember who is my salvation and redeemer is. For the past 4 months I’ve felt abandoned and all alone. I felt as if people didn’t care.

I just learned something new about my past. It was about a person I should have been able to trust, who should be my knight in shining armor. He turned out to be a despot and robbed me of my self respect. I admit that I’m in denial right now. No way could this happen to me. I wasn’t prepared for the knowledge that I received yesterday and today.

When something hits us out of the blue, we need to dig deeper into Jesus and his loving embrace. I was reminded today that God was with me during my hour of need. He didn’t walk away. He was sitting there crying and had to let free will take its course.

If anyone is in deep pain, I encourage you to go to someone you can trust. They can help you see the light at the end of your dark tunnel, your darkness of the soul.

May the Lord bless everyone that is hurting and help them to see you. Lord let them see the light at the end of the tunnel. I pray blessing and peace on everyone.