1. Let Love Arise and Awaken Faith and Hope

By Ron McGatlin

Is there anyone else that sometimes feel that they would like to go back to the revivals, renewals, and outpouring of the 1990s and the hope-filled, faith, healing, and miracle revivals of the 70s and 80s? Those were indeed powerful encounters with God for many of us who have lived through those times. Yet we know that it is not God’s plan to take us back to the moves of the past.

For many people the exciting reality of faith and hope in those past days has been seemingly swallowed up in the hopelessness and unbelief that is swamping the world today. The insanity of immorality, greed, violence, and evil of every sort that is becoming normalized in the failing cultures of the world is threatening to destroy all that is godly and good.

The world has seemingly been turned upside down, bottom side up, and backward by the intense widespread effort of the guidance and steering institutions that govern the people of the world. The higher learning institutions were first to be infiltrated, and then those trained by them led the culture into degradation.

The public educational systems and all mass media systems including news networks, all entertainment including TV and movies and every other form of training has been taken captive and used to twist the minds of the people into deadly ungodly ways of believing and living. The church systems that in the past seemed to have had some positive affect have over time been invaded and infected by the upside down and backward ways of the evil world systems. In the brunt of all this, faith and hope have faded and are in danger of becoming extinct among the people of the world including many Christians.

There is great need for an awakening of the past reality of faith in God and the written word that brings hope. We know that we could not and should not repeat or replicate the moves of God from the past. We do not need to go through the same abuses and imbalances that over time came forth from the impure hearts of men and negatively affected the past moves of God. However, we desperately need the God-given faith and hope that were prevalent in those times.

These things are the fundamental parts of the framework for the present work of God that is now moving among forerunners and is soon to flood the landscape of earth with the ways of heaven. Faith, biblical word, and hope must be awakened and restored.

The fresh moving of God today is focused on the missing ingredient that brought the past moves to their end. The missing major ingredient in the past moves that allowed them to become contaminated is the major ingredient in the fresh moving of God today.

The past moves brought power gifts, faith, hope, and an emphasis on the written word of God. However, the missing part that is now coming forth is the pure holy love of God permeating, filling and saturating every believer by the presence of God with us, in us, and around us. The LOVE manifesting in His people leaves no room for impurities such as immorality, greed, violence, and any other evil.

Love is the substance that causes faith and hope and all that God has given to man to work in perfect harmony and balance in an unrestrained release of the works of God on earth as it is heaven.

A people of God are arising in the all-consuming love of God.

The invasion of the Holy Ghost implanting the LIFE OF CHRIST JESUS and the PURE HOLY LOVE OF GOD into us in this day is awakening faith, hope, and fresh revelation of His written word. The life of Christ Jesus within us is bringing the excitement of a full out encounter with God and His love and power that removes all limitations from His maturing sons of the living God.

The very essence of God and life in God is pure holy LOVE. God is love and all things in His kingdom work by love and are held together by love. Love is the most powerful substance, force, or power in all of creation. His love invading our hearts will awaken faith and hope producing the tsunami of God that will transform us and our world. This is the moving of God with us that will not fade away.

There is a mystery about love in the lives of God’s people. The mystery is that we may believe that God loves us and that we have all of His love. Only when the pure holy love invades us by the Holy Spirit and consumes our lives do we realize that we were not experiencing the real fullness of the love of God. It may not be possible to describe the real love of God invading and totally consuming our lives.

To try to put the reality of this third-day moving of His love into words with our limited earthly language is to me impossible. We need some new heavenly words to express in writing the reality of the consuming love invading and conquering our lives. It is so far beyond understanding and so absolutely beautiful and totally consuming while at the same time totally fulfilling. It is the true completion of perfect life in which there is absolutely no more pain, no more frustration or striving, and no more longing or needing of anything. The cares of this life seem to disappear in the captivity of His all-powerful, all-consuming love drawing us to remain in His presence and to pour out pure holy love to the world around us.

Rev 21:2-5: Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit – Gal 5:25.

Live in the Spirit, Walk in the Spirit,

Ron McGatlin

archive.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

2. Overcoming Testimony – A Kingdom Evidence!

By Clay Sikes

Finally, I am seeing it! What is this new spiritual dimension on earth? Many see it, sense it, know it, and now beginning to identify its chief characteristics. Whoa…we’re entering something new – it cannot be seen, but can be felt! Is it the Kingdom, Tabernacles, the New Jerusalem coming down? Is this a new spiritual era? Yes, something incredible is happening within; not visible, yet undeniable. Some, mostly of a religious nature, deny this as fact. Similar to those tardy, well-intended Christians who came too late to convince us about tongues, the mass exodus from organized religion, and other spiritual truths, they too are a bit late! Not only is there spiritual change, but also emerging are specific ‘characteristics,’ when identified and applied, cause massive change in our lives.

Anything growing will change, whether a pubescent child, large corporation, or us, individually, as spirit beings. We cannot evolve without ‘change,’ as it is the ultimate prerequisite for GROWTH. What is offered here may require some adjustment (change) in your internal assessment process (spiritual discernment), as it surely did with me. I focus here on one of the characteristics of this new season, and share it from the depth of my heart, evidenced by testimony. As with any spiritual word, test it! If it opens something in you, use it. If not, trash it! For me, visiting an old principle required change within, now spawning incredible growth and glorifying, overcoming, testimony. It is being offered at the risk of considerable criticism from many within my own spiritual community. I will be accused of promoting old Word of Faith doctrine, and to some extent that is true. This is my testimony, not my doctrine. The facts surrounding the testimony will follow in subsequent writings, as I will focus here on the WORDS OF DELIVERANCE that spawned the testimony.

During 31 years of Spiritual life, my understanding of the word has changed, grown, evolved, and produced multiple testimonies, of which, today’s is greatest of all. I have been stripped, broken, rebuilt, broken again, stripped again – in, out, upside down, inside out, over, and under. I have journeyed to a few mountain tops and visited a number of valleys along the way. For me at least, Ishmael seems always to precede Isaac, but when Isaac comes Ishmael must leave the house – first man, then God and man, then God. In a new awareness, I am seeing the word rightly divide my understanding of redemption, revealing that standing against what I have been redeemed of is to ‘share in His sufferings.’ The magnification of the Word’s Power to bring redemption to any situation seems to revisit ‘Word of Faith’ teachings, but this is different. Similar principles, but different heart as I am not ‘using the word to get what I want,’ but rather allowing the word to GLORIFY GOD in every situation I face. Admittedly, some of these ‘situations’ are daunting, yet producing overcoming testimony.

“In the world you will have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration…But be of good cheer – take courage, be confident, certain, undaunted – For I have overcome the world – I have deprived it of power to harm, have conquered it for you” (John 16:33).

“Giving thanks to the Father, who has (QUALIFIED) you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, IN WHOM WE HAVE REDEMPTION, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12,13).

Even though your feet are planted firmly upon the earth, as a born again child of God you are already a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, and that citizenship gives you certain rights – including the right to experience victory over the evils of this world. The victory is attained through the Word – both the knowledge of it and acting on it.

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of this world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:14-17).

The key to being spared the tribulation, trials, and distress, and frustration living in this world brings, as described in John 16:33, is found in John 17 – “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. Sanctify them by the truth; your word IS TRUTH.” In other words, the truth of the word is what separates us from the beggarly elements of the world. It was Jesus prayer that we be spared the evil this world brings. It is our job to walk in the light of the word in order to be spared. As John 17 shows us, though we live in the world, Jesus never intended for us to be part of the world’s sins, sickness, lack, and perversions – we’ve been translated into the Kingdom of light. There are two Kingdoms in operation in the earth – darkness and light. As children of God, we are citizens of the Kingdom of light, even though we are surrounded by darkness. The light that we walk in is the word. The WORD separates us from the world’s woes.

Circumstances often tell us God’s Word is not going to work – we are pressured into thinking the problem is impossible. Faith demands that that you TRUST GOD no matter the circumstances. Complete and utter dependence upon God is a Kingdom characteristic. We must reach into the depths of our heart and speak with our mouth, “I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE THE WORD…”

Many have not experienced Jesus’ words when He said He had “deprived those things of the power to harm them” – see Luke 10:19. You, as a believer, must live in the world, but Jesus never intended that we live as though we belonged to the world. He didn’t intend us to share in the world’s sins, sickness, poverty, perversions or lack. He gave us promises; His Word to stand on – And the Word separates and sanctifies and gives us an intended inheritance. It is the Word and His Word alone that launches His dream in us. If we will receive it, believe it, speak it, and act on it that word will set us apart from those around us. It take us from trouble to triumph again and again. Another way of saying John 5 is “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our believing God’s Word. Word of Faith says, “Name it and claim it.” The new Kingdom Word is “Hear and obey.” Faith is believing God’s word under any circumstances (and usually in spite of circumstances). It is believing God at all cost. Until you make the word total authority OF your situation, it is not going to be total authority IN your situation. I believed this many years ago, but tossed it as its motive stemmed around ‘getting my stuff from God.’ I hated the wrong motive then, just as I do now. Arthur Burt teaches, “It is never about what you do, but rather ‘why’ you do it!” And if the ‘why’ cannot be traced back to God said, the motive is wrong.

“The Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and the violent ‘take it’ by force” (Matthew 11:12). We have a choice in every situation we face – to become spiritually violent or spiritually passive. To ‘take it’ indicates a forceful action on our part, usually something radical. Something like ‘standing in your pain (suffering), binding yourself to the altar of God’s Word no matter what you face circumstantially.’ Will everyone choose to do this? No, many live by the traditions of this world and will remain captive to their carnal mind. They will never fully enjoy their citizenship IN THE KINGDOM ON EARTH. “Take it by force” means violently snatching your mind out of the gutter of your old thinking, and with deliberate force pressing into ‘GOD’S WORD/WILL.’ You must be willing to do battle, breaking out of old concepts - willing to fight the resistance you feel from the devil and your old insufficient mentality. We have to fight to achieve a new level of understanding, realizing that every attack is an opportunity to prove God’s Word.

When we stand on the WORD against what we have been redeemed of, we will endure some pain and discomfort, requiring courage and endurance: but if we boldly proclaim the Word in the face of circumstances “Joy will come in the morning,” as we overcome the death of the circumstance. This is the entrance to the Kingdom – no self-preservation, loving not our own lives unto death (Revelation 12:11). The word made flesh is testimony; OVERCOMING TESTIMONY. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. His ways are not our ways. As we ‘break’ our human resistance, through the Kingdom of light, our breakthrough produces a testimony, a witness that Jesus returns for. Our trials are designed to ‘make us,’ not ‘break us,’ but we must see what is being revealed and accomplished in us. When we do, deliverance is not far behind. We are weak but He is strong. Being established in weakness is brutal, but is where He takes us to ESTABLISH utter dependency and ultimate deliverance from ALL THAT CAME FROM THE FALL.

It is critical as to who you listen to and who is around you when you are in a battle. The last thing we need is well-meaning, but un-renewed carnal minds speaking flesh ruled judgments and opinions into our lives. Never speak of what is happening - speak FAITH or nothing. Our words carry life and death…SPEAK LIFE!

Only one voice matters when walking through a trial – The voice of Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father. He is always right with us. Our responsibility is to become more sensitive to Him than anything else that is screaming for our attention. There are reasons why we go through these attacks – it is where we find God, His Christ, and our Dominion in earth as in heaven. Finding Jesus in the midst of our painful circumstances, not letting the pressure have its way, is to deny Satan and enter into dominion with Christ. As we pass through the veil of our flesh, we will not be moved by the pain of circumstance – painful yes; victorious no! Victory is ours! The Spirit that raised Jesus from death dwells in us to quicken our mortal bodies, anoint us for victory, and accomplish what we cannot as mere humans. The power of His resurrection is the real way through the valley of the shadow of death.

The Sons are rising now, and Jesus is their All in All…Spirit, Soul, and Body. We are growing up under great pressure, sweating blood in the garden. The Sons of God are manifesting in victory and overcoming power, being revealed to the groaning creation.

This Day We Fight!

Clay Sikes
www.lighthouse.org




3. News Headlines

Jesus heals Texas woman who had not walked in four years - 6/5/2014
It was a small miracle that Marie Cribbs made it to the evening service on May 4th at Magnolia Church in Port Neches, Texas. But that night God did an even greater miracle that will leave her a “walking witness” for Jesus the rest of her life. Bill wheeled Marie up to get prayer. Watch a video of her getting out of a can and walking without assistance.

Sudanese Government Backtracking on Reports about Meriam Ibrahim’s Freedom from Death Row - 6/5/2014
The Sudanese government is backtracking from reports that the mother sentenced to death for her Christian faith will be freed. But another foreign ministry official denied that statement on Sunday, according to the BBC, issuing a statement saying that the Sudanese judicial system is the only authority able to rule on the case.

Impeachment Threatened over Any More Prisoner Swaps - 6/5/2014
Lawmakers are threatening impeachment if the president releases any more prisoners without congressional approval. The administration exchanged five Taliban leaders from Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl's release without giving Congress the required 30 days notice. "I believe the decision put our country in jeopardy." "These are all high level people."

Negotiations underway for freeing Nigerian schoolgirls - 6/5/2014
Despite disappointment that word of his involvement in the negotiations for the release of the Chibok schoolgirls was leaked to media last week, the Australian cleric appointed as the Nigerian President’s envoy in the negotiations with Boko Haram remains hopeful that they will succeed in getting the girls released.

Jon Voight praises Pat Boone as ‘a righteous God-fearing fellow’ who ‘gives of himself’ - 6/5/2014
He was one of the many Hollywood stars attending Pat Boone 80th Birthday ‘Celebrity Roast’ in Beverly Hills. Jon Voight, is the father of actress Angelina Jolie, and actor James Haven. "Pat Boon is a righteous God-fearing fellow.

New Open Doors report: Nigeria tops Christian persecution Violence List - 6/5/2014
The World Watch Top 10 Violence List, which is based on persecution incidents between November 1, 2012 and March 31, 2014, is topped by Nigeria. Nigeria was No. 1 with a total of 2,073 Christian martyrs, Syria 1,479, CAR 1,115, Pakistan 228, Egypt 147, Kenya 85, Iraq 84, Myanmar (Burma) and Sudan: 33 each, and Venezuela 26.

When a brutal killer named ‘Scissors’ came to Christ - 6/5/2014
He spent more than 10 years in communist prisons in Vietnam because of his Christian faith as the government attempted to “re-educate” him. But through his bold witness, the most hardened killers gave their lives to Christ and saw their lives transformed.

Freed through Praise: Willie Myrick's Saving Faith - 6/5/2014

Ireland: 800 babies found in septic tank near home for unwed mothers - 6/5/2014


MORE NEWS HEADLINES