Friday, December 31, 2010

The Lord sings Over 2011 by Christine Beadsworth

Fresh Oil Releases

The Lord sings Over 2011

Precious brothers and sisters in Christ

Early in the morning on 31st December, I was awakened with a song in my heart. It was one that the Spirit had given some time ago. The Lord kept urging me to get up and go to the piano and sing it. As I did, there was a decree that flowed out of that song. I had the sense that I was singing over much more than my own situation. It seemed the Lord was singing through me over the year to come, singing words over the lives of His faithful waiting saints. So I recorded the song and you can listen to it on my podcast page:


The words in Hebrew ‘Ki va Moed’ mean ‘the appointed time has come’. There was also a scripture that came to my heart as I sang:

Psa 102:13  Thou shalt arise, and  have mercy upon Zion : for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come.

For those who are unable to listen online, please email me and I will try to send you a copy of the mp3 file. Here are the words of the song I awoke with:

SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD, SPIRIT OF THE LORD
POUR YOUR LIFE UPON US, FILL US WITH THE WORD
THE WORD THAT COMES FROM HEAVEN, THAT DOES NOT RETURN VOID
THE WORD THAT WILL ACCOMPLISH ALL THE FATHER’S HEART
AND THE BLIND SHALL SEE                                                       
 AND THE DEAF WILL HEAR                                                        
 AND THE LAME WILL BE RELEASED                                                     
 FOR THE PRISON DOORS
THEY SPRING OPEN NOW                                                  
 THE POWER OF GOD IS HERE
YOU’RE HERE NOW IN YOUR MERCY, YOU’RE HERE NOW IN YOUR LOVE
YOU’RE HERE IN YOUR COMPASSION, FLOWING FROM ABOVE
YOU’RE HERE NOW IN YOUR JUSTICE, YOU’RE HERE NOW TO REPAY
ALL THAT HAS BEEN STOLEN, ALL LAID IN THE GRAVE
YOU’RE HERE FOR RESTORATION OF ALL WE’VE BEEN DENIED
THE DAY OF RECOMPENSE IS HERE – YOUR FAVOUR NOW PRESIDES!

Here are some of the words that flowed in the Spirit as a decree out of this. (Unfortunately I have not had time to transcribe the whole lyrics but would welcome anyone who is able to do so):

KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE SET TIME HAS COME, THE TIME I DECREED
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE TIME TO SHOW MERCY, KI VA MOED
THE TIME FOR COMPASSION, THE SET TIME AGREED
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE TIME TO SHOW MERCY, THE TIME TO SET FREE
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
LET THE JUDGMENTS COMMENCE, HEAVEN HAS DECREED
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE TIME TO SHOW FAVOR, THE SET TIME IS HERE
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE TIME FOR MY JUSTICE, THE TIME TO SET FREE
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE TIME FOR MY MERCY, TO ALL WHO ARE IN NEED
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE TIME TO SHOW FAVOR, THE TIME WE AGREED
THE TIME TO ACCOMPLISH ALL OF MY WORD
THE TIME FOR RESTORATION, KI VA MOED
KI VA MOED, THE BLIND THEY SHALL SEE
AND THE DEAF WILL KNOW MERCY AND THE PRISONERS SET FREE
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE DAY OF MY MERCY, THE SET TIME IS HERE
THE TIME FOR COMPASSION, THE TIME FOR MY LOVE
THE TIME FOR FULFILLMENT,  FLOWING FROM ABOVE
THE TIME FOR MY MERCY, THE SET TIME IS HERE
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE TIME FOR MY MERCY, FOR ALL WHO ARE BOUND
LET THE VEILS BE TORN, BREAK OPEN THE GROUND
LET THE DEAD BE RESTORED, LET THE PRISONER BE RELEASED
THE TIME FOR MY MERCY, THE SET TIME IS HERE!
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
TAKE OFF EVERY CHAIN AND LET THE BLIND SEE
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE TIME I APPOINTED, THE SET TIME IS HERE
THE TIME FOR MY FULLNESS, LET ALL BE RECONCILED
THE TIME FOR MY JUDGMENTS, KI VA MOED
JUDGMENT IS GIVEN, LET MY FAVOR PRESIDE
TIME FOR MY MERCY, IT FLOWS FROM MY SIDE
THE TIME FOR MY GLORY, THE TIME FOR MY LOVE
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
THE TIME FOR MY JUSTICE, THE TIME TO REPAY
ALL THAT’S BEEN STOLEN, KI VA MOED
FOR I WILL RESTORE ALL THE LOCUST HAS EATEN
RELEASE MY MERCY, KI VA MOED
KI VA MOED,  KI VA MOED
OPEN THE PRISONS, KI VA MOED!

Please allow these words to wash over you and sink deep into your spirit. As you look out over 2011, lift your heads for our God is faithful and the appointed time has come!

In His great love
Christine  (freshoil@polka.co.za)


Dec 30 - Born to Victory

Dec 30 - Born to Victory
http://www.kcm.org/

"I have told you these things so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer...I have overcome the world."
(John 16:33)



Jesus said as long as you live in the world, you're going to have trouble. (I can vouch for that!) But you're not just in the world. You're in JESUS in the world, and that makes all the difference. You're in Him and He's overcome every kind of trouble there is.

As God's child, you're not the defeated trying to get victory. You're the overcomer, and Satan's trying to rob you of the victory that already belongs to you.

When you made Jesus the Lord of your life, you were born into victory... because the Victor came to live in you. Think about it. The victorious Jesus. The Anointed One. The glorified and resurrected Lord. The Ruler of the Universe.

Cheer up, my friend. Have "perfect peace and confidence." That's Jesus who lives in you!


Scripture Study:  John 16:15-33

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Forerunners Proclaiming the Coming of Jesus – Mike Bickle


Consumed with Zeal: Transforming Hearts, Churches, and Nations – Mike Bickle
Forerunners Proclaiming the Coming of Jesus


Forerunners Proclaiming the Coming of Jesus
I.                   Introduction
A.                In my opinion, we are in the early days of the generation in which Jesus will return. I believe that there are people alive today who will see the return of Jesus. It may be the 20-year-olds or it could be the 2-year-olds who see His return. I do not know. No one can know this with certainty.
B.                 The Lord will raise up forerunners in the generation in which He returns. What is a forerunner? Forerunners proclaim the coming of the Lord and the unique events directly related to it.
C.                 Isaiah prophesied about end-time forerunners who would prepare people by lifting a “banner message” to the ends of the earth that declares the full manifestation of Jesus’ salvation.
10Prepare the way for the people…lift up a banner for the peoples [the nations]! Indeed the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the world: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Surely your salvation is coming; behold, His reward is with Him…’” (Isa. 62:10-11)
D.                The angel Gabriel prophesied that John the Baptist would be a forerunner who would prepare people to receive Jesus at His first coming (Lk. 1:11-19; Jn. 1:23; Isa. 40:3).
17It is he [John the Baptist] who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah…so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Lk. 1:17, NAS)
E.                 John prepared the people by ministering as a prophet and also as an evangelist, calling many to come to Jesus. He announced Jesus’ coming, while winning souls to the kingdom and making disciples by teaching them to pray, fast, and live righteously (Mt. 9:14; Lk. 3:3-18; 11:1).
F.                  The apostles went into various cities before Jesus in order to proclaim His coming.
52[Jesus]sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. (Lk. 9:52)
G.                John the Baptist and the apostles were first-century forerunners who prepared people to receive from Jesus. When we look at the first-century forerunners, it gives us insight into the life and role of forerunners in the end times. Just as the first-century forerunners proclaimed the first coming of Jesus ahead of time, so also the end-time forerunners will proclaim the second coming of Jesus ahead of time.
H.                God is beginning to prepare forerunners from many different streams in the Body of Christ worldwide. These forerunners will function in many different ways. They include those called as evangelists, pastors, teachers, media missionaries, artists, singers, musicians, actors, writers, and those in the marketplace. Many will focus on making disciples by leading small groups in their church, university, or workplace. Some homeschooling moms are effective forerunners, teaching their children about Jesus’ second coming and its implications. The forerunner ministry is not reserved for some elite group—it is a calling available to any who are willing to prepare for it.
II.                Jesus’ earthy ministry: in two time frames
A.                To understand the fullness of Jesus’ earthly ministry, we must consider the two time frames that are related to His first and second comings. Jesus’ earthly ministry includes both time frames. There is a dynamic continuity between them. Therefore, we must not see these as separate realities, but rather as the same power of Jesus being manifest in two different time periods.
B.                 The first time frame started with His 3½ year ministry and extends through all church history. The second time frame starts with the unique events occurring during the 3½ years before His coming and extending through the Millennium referred to as the Day of the Lord.
C.                 The greatest miracles in Jesus’ earthly ministry will be released through His Church during the final 3½ years of this age, when He releases signs and wonders against the Antichrist that are similar to those He released through Moses (Mic. 7:15; Jn. 14:12).
15As in the days when you came out of…Egypt, I will show them wonders. (Mic. 7:15)

12The works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do… (Jn. 14:12)
D.                Jesus referred to the days just before His coming as “the days” of the Son of Man (Lk. 17:26) because of the unique demonstrations of power that will be beyond any time in church history.
26As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man30Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Lk. 17:26-30)
E.                 The victory that Jesus accomplished at His first coming will be fully manifest in all the nations in the unique events related to His second coming. At His first coming, He paid the price for our sin and sickness, defeated Satan, and released the power of the Spirit in and through His people, so that they might live in victory over sin and make a dynamic impact on the nations in this age.
F.                  At His second coming, He takes it all a step further by openly manifesting the fullness of His victory in every sphere of life in the Millennium. Imagine the power that He will exert as He raises every believer from the dead, casts Satan into prison, fully transforms every area of society, and removes the curse of sin from creation by restoring all things, including the animals, atmosphere, and agriculture. These are aspects of Jesus’ earthly ministry in the Millennium.
G.                Some only focus on the benefits of Jesus’ first coming as it relates to His power being manifest over the last 2,000 years of church history. Others focus on the benefits of Jesus’ first coming as it relates to the events of His second coming. These two periods are joined together as one reality in God’s greater purposes. We must proclaim the whole counsel of God, which includes His saving power being manifest on earth in both time frames (Acts 5:20; 20:20, 27).
H.                Simply defined, the forerunner ministry announces the coming of the Lord and prepares the unprepared to receive the future ministry of Jesus in the midst of the unique dynamics of the end times, while also functioning in the power of the Spirit to release the present ministry of Jesus.
III.             Forerunners Live in Two Time Frames
A.                Forerunners live both in the now and in the future. They press into the kingdom in the now, while preparing for the future dynamics occurring just before Jesus returns. They see the significance of the years leading up to His return, at which time unique dynamics, both positive and negative, will occur. These will include the greatest outpouring of the Spirit in history, one that will surpass the book of Acts. It will include Satan’s most intense rage against the human race and God’s most severe judgments being poured out against the Antichrist’s empire.
B.                 We do not need to choose between now and then. It is our inheritance to walk in the fullness of what God intended for both time frames. End-time forerunners announce the second coming of Jesus while they win the lost, heal the sick, and make disciples.
C.                 Forerunners emphasize the unique events related to Jesus’ second coming. At the same time, they proclaim the benefits of His first coming, as they win the lost, heal the sick, help the poor, and walk in love and holiness.
D.                Noah is an example of a forerunner who lived in two time frames, seeking to live in the fullness of God’s purposes in the now, while preparing for the fullness of God’s purpose in the future. He poured himself out in preaching to unbelievers in the now, while he was preparing an ark for a future storm that would not occur for many decades (Heb. 11:7; Mt. 24:37; 2 Pet. 2:5).
37But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Mt. 24:37)
IV.             Forerunners Prepare the Unprepared
A.                Not all feel called to emphasize Jesus’ second coming and the events related to it. Those who do must prepare by gaining understanding of what the Scripture says about the end times. Forerunners proclaim from the Scripture what will happen before it occurs, including the end-time revival, judgment, deception, and persecution. Forerunners prepare people to respond rightly to Jesus by giving them understanding of His end-time plans, so that they will be able to agree with what He is doing in that hour, instead of resisting it.
B.                 Forerunners prepare the unprepared by informing them that Jesus is returning to the earth as the King of kings and specifically by changing their expectation and interpretation of the unique events related to His coming.
C.                 If people lack understanding of what is happening in the end times, they will be more likely to yield to fear, offense, confusion, compromise, and deception. Their ignorance of what the Scripture says about the events occurring in that hour will cause them to make wrong decisions.
D.                As intense events unfold, many will lose their perspective and objectivity in seeing God’s love and wisdom. People will need to see what is happening from a biblical perspective and to understand the events as an expression of God’s love and wisdom. Forerunners will bring this understanding of God’s love to the context of the unique end-time events.
V.                Forerunners Bring Understanding of the Judgment of God
A.                The purpose of God’s judgments against the Antichrist’s empire is to remove all that hinders love. Those who misunderstand God’s judgments will be offended and angry with Him. One thing that forerunners do is to help people understand Jesus’ love in the midst of His judgments.
B.                 It is not enough to make known the fact that God’s judgments will be against the Antichrist’s empire. We must give the reason for them. We give the why behind the what.
C.                 God’s judgments will deliver the oppressed and stop oppressors. Think of the implications of a God who would not intervene to stop oppressors. Think of a father who would not intervene to prevent a man harming his children. God’s judgments are an expression of His love for His children. In the midst of His judgments, God offers mercy to the oppressors if they will repent and receive it. The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness through judgment (Isa. 26:9).
VI.             Forerunners Prepare Themselves in the Word
A.                Forerunners prepare themselves by going deep in God through studying the Word in the context of prayer with fasting, ministering to people, and learning to operate in the gifts of the Spirit.
B.                 Forerunners must grow in their understanding of the Scripture. There are over 150 chapters in the Bible that focus on Jesus’ second coming and the events associated with it. In comparison, the four gospels that give us a record of Jesus’ ministry at His first coming total 89 chapters. The gospels focus on Jesus’ ministry that redeemed us from our sins. The 150 chapters on the end times focus on His ministry when He will fully manifest His rule over all the nations.
C.                 Many of God's people neglect these 150 chapters without considering that they come from the same Bible, reveal the same Jesus, and manifest the same power of the Spirit as the gospels.
For free notes on the “150 chapters on the end times,” see www.MikeBickle.org.
D.                Forerunners will take time to gain understanding of what the Scriptures say about the end times so that they may declare it to others (Isa. 62:10-12; Jer. 23:20; 30:24; Dan. 11:33-35; 12:9-10; Joel 2:28-29; Mal. 4:5­-6; Mt. 17:11; Acts 2:17-21; Rev. 11:3-6; 13:18).
E.                 Jeremiah prophesied that in the last days God would give His people a supernatural understanding to perceive His loving purposes in sending His judgments (Jer. 23:20).
20The anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. (Jer. 23:20)
F.                  Jeremiah went on to prophesy that God’s messengers (forerunners) would consider, or search out, the Word to gain understanding of God’s heart behind His end-time judgments (Jer. 30:24).
24The anger of the LORD will not return until He has done it, and until He has performed the intents of His heart. In the latter days you will consider [search out] it. (Jer. 30:24)
VII.          preparing for Partnership with Jesus Now and Then
A.                Some spend time preparing to engage in partnership with Jesus now with no thought of preparing for partnership with Him in the uniqueness of the end-time events. Their rationale is that we do not need to prepare because Jesus will just take care of things then. There is a contradiction in this mindset. They correctly see the need to prepare to walk in ministry partnership with Jesus now to change the world. However, they are wrong in thinking that we do not need to prepare for an even greater measure of ministry partnership with Jesus in the years just before He returns.
B.                 Jesus desires partnership with His Bride in every stage of His work in this age and the age to come, especially in the world-changing events that will occur just before He returns. As He heals the sick and stops oppressors through the prayers of the saints now, He will do the same then.
C.                 We must be as intentional about preparing to partner with Jesus in the end times as we are now. The unique dynamics and the intensity of life at that time will require deeper understanding.
VIII.       Praying for mercy and not to release God’s Judgment in this Hour
A.                The end-time saints will proclaim and pray for God to rescue the oppressed by destroying the Antichrist’s evil empire. As Moses prayed to release God’s judgments against a reprobate Pharaoh (Ex. 7-12), so the saints will pray for judgment against the Antichrist’s evil empire.
B.                 The only time the saints pray for the release of judgment against the Antichrist’s empire is in the final 3½ years of this age. God’s judgments will be focused on the Antichrist’s reprobate empire. Reprobate people are so hardened in their hatred of God that they have no desire to repent.
C.                 In this age, the saints are not to pray for judgment against ungodly nations. We are to cry out for God’s mercy to triumph over judgment in the midst of ungodly nations as we pray for their salvation and deliverance. At this time, we do not pray to release God’s judgment, but to stop it.
IX.             The End-time Hope for All the Nations
A.                The return of Jesus is called the blessed hope (Titus 2:13). The earth will not come to an end. Rather, Satan’s kingdom on earth will end. The devil will be thrown into prison and all evil laws and leaders will be replaced by righteous ones (Rev. 20). This is the greatest hope imaginable for our future. Jesus will come in person to rule all nations. The nations will enjoy an open heaven with unprecedented prosperity and righteousness as the land, water, and atmosphere are cleansed and the conditions of Eden fill the earth (Isa. 11:6-9; 35:1-8; 51:3; Ezek. 34:29; 36:35; 47:6-12).
B.                 The Church will experience great advancements of God’s kingdom before Jesus returns, but it will increase even more dramatically after His return. There is a dynamic continuity between our labors and victories before He returns and the victories that He will establish after He returns. Jesus comes to bring to maturity the work that the Church has been involved in for 2,000 years.
X.                Jesus Commanded His People to Know the Generation
A.                Jesus commanded one generation of believers to know that His return was near. The generation that would be alive to “see all these things” (the signs that Jesus prophesied of in Matthew 24) was to know that His return was near.
33When you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors… 34This generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place… 36“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” (Mt. 24:33-36)
B.                 No one can know the day or hour of Jesus’ return, yet it is possible for those who are alive in the generation of His return to observe the biblical signs and know that they are the final generation.
C.                 My opinion that we are in that generation is based on observation of the biblical signs, not on personal revelations. We must insist that our faith be based on what the Bible says, not on personal revelations about the timing of His return.
D.                A generation in Scripture ranges anywhere from 40 to 100 years (Gen. 15:13-16; Num. 32:13; Ps. 90:10; Mt. 1:17; Acts 7:6). Moses spoke of Israel’s captivity in Egypt as lasting 400 years or four generations (Gen. 15:13). Thus, a generation could refer to 100 years.
13Your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs…and they will afflict them four hundred years16But in the fourth generation they shall return here… (Gen. 15:13-16)
E.                 Those who are alive in the generation of His return are commanded to recognize it. The point is that only when we know it is drawing near, can we look up to see our redemption drawing near.
25There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations… 26men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth… 28Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. (Lk. 21:25-28)
F.                  Jesus connected the timing of His return to specific events and trends. There are sign events and sign trends predicted in Scripture that alert us to the timing of Jesus’ return. As these trends accelerate at the same time, on a global level, making headline news, we are to understand that we are in a unique season in history, leading to Jesus’ return.
G.                For the first time in history, most of these trends and some of the necessary developments that will lead to the sign events are accelerating at the same time, and on a global basis.

IHOP–KC Missions Base    www.IHOP.org
Free Teaching Library    www.MikeBickle.org

Dec 29 - Remember Noah

From Faith to Faith
http://www.kcm.org/


Dec 29 - Remember Noah
"And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."
(Genesis 6:7-8)



One of the dirtiest, most damaging lies that the devil ever told you was when he said, "You aren't important." Don't you ever believe that.

You are important! Every born-again member in the Church of Jesus Christ has a part to play in God's plan. God has something for you to do that no one else can do just like you can. If you don't take your place and do your part, things won't be quite right.

I can just hear you thinking, "Oh, Gloria, I'm just one person. What could I possibly do that could be so significant?"

Look in Genesis 6, and you'll see the answer to that question. There you'll see that the people on the earth had gotten so wicked that God had regretted that He'd made them. He was ready to wipe the whole population out--but He didn't. Why? Because of one man: Noah! One obedient man saved the human race.

Think about that. What if Noah had said, "Well, this is just too much pressure for me. I can't live upright before God in the middle of this ungodly generation. I mean, everybody around me is living the other way. Every man around me imagines only evil in his heart. I can't make any difference in this dark world anyway. I'm just one man."

Praise God, Noah didn't say that. He didn't picture himself as an insignificant man whose life didn't matter. According to Hebrews, he saw himself as a man to whom God had spoken and by faith he obeyed God. And because of that he ended up being the only thing that stood between mankind and total destruction.

Next time you're tempted to shrug off the instructions of God and be disobedient, next time you catch yourself thinking, "It doesn't matter what I do"--remember Noah. Consider the fact that, whether you understand it or not, God is counting on you to carry out your part of His plan. Live like you're someone important in the kingdom of God. And sooner or later you'll realize, you are.


Scripture Study:  Genesis 6

Tuesday, December 28, 2010


Fresh Oil Releases

Beloved friends
Recently the Holy Spirit began to minister to me from Zechariah chapter 4 where the vision of the two olive trees and the lamp-stand is discussed.  It is a picture of a continuously flowing anointing of power and light being supplied to the Church which is the light of the world. We all long for that ever-flowing oil to issue forth in and through us. However, the Spirit pointed out to me that between the tree and the flow of oil to the candlestick there is a harvest and a crushing process that takes place. The requirement for continually flowing light and power is continual pressing and crushing. Paul said of himself, “death is at work in me but life is at work in you”.  He understood God’s ways and therefore his faith was not destroyed by what came against his life.

In ancient Israel the olive press was the equivalent of our electricity department. The flesh of the olive is crushed under a heavy stone in order to release the oil. The olive press is God’s power-house, producing light and power. Did you know that the word ‘ Gethsemane ’ means ‘olive-press’? It is by the heavy pressing and crushing of our flesh that power and light is released from our lives. It is in that place where we wrestle and finally say, “ not my will but Yours be done” that the light of revelation and power comes forth.

There are those who are like the two golden pipes which transport and deliver that continuous fresh oil to the lamp-stand. Vessels of gold, emptied of themselves, whom God has in a constant place of crushing and dying to self, in order that light and life may flow unimpeded to the lamp-stand. Death works in the olive so that light may flow to the candlestick.

2Co 4:11  For we who live are constantly [experiencing] being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death. 2Co 4:12  Thus death is actively at work in us, but [it is in order that our] life [may be actively at work] in you.

With this in mind, the following is the best article I have ever read on the subject of dying to self and so I want to share it with you. May it help you to understand the process He has and still is taking you through:
Dying to Self
By G.D. Watson

THE more we are divinely illuminated, the more minutely and astonishingly do we apprehend the almost infinite blindness and meanness of our past lives. How do we die to self and let Christ be all and all in us? Have we looked at the blessed Christ until we have obtained a clear conception of what it is to lose ourselves in union with Him? Have our spiritual eyes surveyed this blessed possibility, until its attainability in this life has become a settled conviction with us? Then, have we calmly, deeply, irreversibly settled it that there shall be none of self and all of Christ?

The first step towards this perfect death is to have a pure divine motive. That motive must be nothing less than the ever blessed triune God Himself. That is, it must be the seeking of God as our all and in all, our last end, our exceeding great reward so that it will be for His glory, His beauty, and praise, through us, and by us, and that we have no desire to exist except as a channel for His outflow, a chosen vessel for the embodiment of His life, and the out-beaming of His glorious attributes through us.

The deepest death to self lies in the motives and intentions, hence this all-consuming motive to want to be nothing but a capacity for Christ to live in, lies at the foundation of the death of self. With this pure motive fixed in the heart we are to habitually and willingly accept every occasion for self-abasement which God's providence brings to us. We are to sweetly and willingly accept of every blow, or mortification, or inconvenience, or painful annoyance, which comes to us in the order of God's providential will. We are to calmly face these things, as appropriate occasions for losing our own will and letting the omnipotence of God take charge of them.

We must be exceedingly careful not to receive human honors or praise into our hearts. If we open our hearts to receive this honor and in our thoughts feed upon it as a social honey, or if we allow human praise to inflate our thought, it will instantly breed a human self-esteem, and this becomes a hot-bed of the self-life. We must seek in everything to be childlike, and extremely simple in our manners, words, dress, tastes, and interior experiences. Self feeds on complexity and things grand and large and loud. Christ is the very embodiment of divine and eternal simplicity.

The deeper we sink in the Christ-life, the more we become disappointing to people. We talk less. We live more quietly and interiorly. Our labors are less ostentatious. We love to live like God, a profound hidden life, in which people think we don’t amount to very much. This is one of the tests of sinking out of self.

“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." What is our daily cross? It is that one or more things which are unavoidable in our lives and which produce suffering of body or mind or heart. It is that thing, which in our poor judgment seems to hinder the easy flow of our religious life. Sometimes our cross may be composed of a combination of things, but as a general rule, it is some one instrument or cause of suffering to the soul. Were there no suffering of some kind involved, then there could be no cross at all, for the only thing in a cross is its pain. The Holy Spirit gives us to understand plainly that the multitudes of jolly, ease-loving, and easy-going religionists, who bear no daily suffering with Jesus, are only sectarian-born religious bastards, and not really kingdom-born souls (see Hebrews iz:8).It is your daily cross that makes you weep more than any other thing; that sends you to frequent prayer; that leads you to ransack the promises; that makes you cry out like Jesus, "Father, why is this?" that causes you to put both arms around the neck of your Savior in yearning love; that makes you sick of earth and self; that gives you wistful longings for heaven.         

There is an hallucination about getting free from our daily cross which needs to be broken; it is a day-dream worked up in our minds, a beautiful vision that hangs just ahead of us, that some day we will be rid of our cross, that we will have no painful annoyances, and then our feet can fly unimpeded toward heaven. If you want deep union with Jesus, getting rid of your cross is the very thing to defeat it. There is a better victory than freedom from the daily instrument of pain, and that is to pass into that ocean depth of the Christ-life where every trial can be borne in exactly the same spirit that Jesus bore.

Boundless, tender love is the condition for triumphant bearing of our daily cross. When our cross has driven us so deep into the warm ocean-heart of Jesus that we are kept melted and flooded with quiet, lowly, tender yearning love for God and His kingdom, then the cross will have proved its own balsam and then every trial will be fuel to the flame of love. People fancy that to love the cross is to love the cross on which Jesus died. No; it means loving that very cross in our lives that drives us into deep oneness with Christ; it is to meekly, patiently, lovingly embrace to our inner heart the very principle of self-denial and self-nothingness. To bear our daily trial as Jesus did, we must take it into our very heart's love, and bear it meekly, quietly, lovingly, as unto God, and not to man.

How long it takes to accept our daily trials as a gift direct from the hands of our Lord! It is by persevering prayer that we get on the sunny side of every sorrow and on the triumphant side of every trial. Our daily cross cutting its way into our life's core by being folded round and round with many tears and loving prayer, becomes in our souls the very pearl of Christ-likeness, and more valuable than all our own chosen blessings. The Holy Spirit can reveal to us the very disposition in which Jesus bore His daily trials, and when we bear ours in the same spirit, then indeed do we have fellowship with Him. If it does not please our Father to remove our trials, it is because He wants us to seek and receive an overflow of tender love that will bear us on over the trials, and in spite of them.

The word crucifixion, as it applies to us in the Christian sense, may be defined as any pain or suffering which renders us dead to sin or to self. There may be many kinds of sorrow and suffering which do not serve the purpose of true crucifixion. In order that suffering may be a thorough mortification to us, it must be put in the will of God, and yielded to the operation of the Holy Spirit. When we yield ourselves absolutely up to God, and trust Him to take charge of every particle of our being and life and circumstances, it is then that His omnipotence takes gentle and firm possession of all our trials and sufferings, and makes them work a true crucifixion in us.

It does not matter what the occasion of the suffering may be. It may come from our own sins, or poverty, or ill-health, or loss of friends, or separations, or terrible and protracted temptations, or assaults of evil spirits, or the hatred of others, or great disappointment, or divine chastisements; it may come from many of these sources. Let it come from any cause in the universe, if we give it over entirely into the hands of God, and sink ourselves into His will, with a perfect desire for Him to work His best will in us, He will make every pain, every groan, every tear, every particle of our suffering work in us a death to sin and to self and to all things on earth, which will be for our highest perfection and for His glory.

CRUCIFIXION WEAVES ITSELF INTO A CROWN
When we suffer so severe and so long that we become dead to it, and divinely indifferent as to how much we suffer or how long it will continue; when the suffering soul reaches a calm, sweet carelessness, when it can inwardly smile at its own suffering, and does not even ask God to deliver it from the suffering, then it has wrought its blessed ministry; Then patience has its perfect work; then the crucifixion begins to weave itself into a crown.

In such a condition, our whole being lies perfectly still under the hand of God; every faculty of the mind and will and heart are at last subdued; a quietness of eternity settles down into the whole being; the tongue grows still, and has but few words to say; it stops asking God questions; it stops crying "Why have You forsaken me?" The imagination stops building air-castles, or running off on foolish lines; the reason is tame and gentles; it stops debating, and quits all dogmatism; the will ceases from its own activity; the bluster and zeal of self-action are taken out of it; the choices are annihilated; it has no choice in anything but the purpose of God. The affections are weaned from all creatures and all things; it loves nothing but God and God's will in any given thing; it has no private ends to serve; it has no motives except to please God; it is so dead that nothing can hurt it, nothing can offend it, nothing can hinder it, nothing can get in its way; for, let its circumstances be what they may, it seeks only for God and His will, and it feels assured that God is making everything in the universe, good or bad, past or present work together for its good.

Oh, the blessedness of being absolutely conquered! Of losing our own strength, and wisdom, and goodness, and plans, and desires, and being, where every atom of our nature is like placid Galilee under the omnipotent feet of our Jesus. This uttermost crucifixion destroys the littleness and narrowness of the mind; it gives an immensity to the sympathies, and an ocean-like divine love, which is beyond words. This is because creature-love is crucified, and divine love floods the whole being. When we reach the deepest death of self, we love all creatures with God's love, and as God loves them. We become the channels through which the Holy Spirit flows; He pours His thought through our minds, His prayers and loves through our hearts, His choices through our wills. The whole being is a sea of gentleness. Everything hard, bitter, severe, critical, flinty, has been crushed into powder.

Great sufferers are noted for their quiet gentleness. There are many souls, who are sanctified Christians, who have an indescribable something in them which needs the crushing and melting of some great crucifixion. Their tongues rattle so much, their spirit is dictatorial or harsh, they measure other people by themselves; there is something in their constitution which seems to need the grinding into fine flour. It is well worth the crushing of hearts with an overwhelming sorrow, if thereby God can bring us out into that beautiful tenderness and sweetness of spirit which is the very atmosphere of heaven. Perfect suffering will untie the heart and gently loosen every cord that binds us to our foes or friends - to all our possessions; to all the things of the past; to all attractive sights and sounds - and gives us such perfect inward liberty from everything on earth that the things of heaven can flow down into us. The heavenly world comes into us exactly in proportion as all the affairs of earth are emptied out of us, and nothing so perfectly empties us and detaches us as perfect suffering does.

SELAH

2Co 4:16  Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. 2Co 4:17  For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!], 2Co 4:18  Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.

Signs of the TimesFresh Oil Releases


Beloved saints

The month of December has provided us with two signs of the times which need to be noted. It is only in reading both that we gain an accurate understanding of the time we are entering into.

Joe 2:30  And I will show signs  in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
Joe 2:31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD comes.

In this month we have seen both blood and fire. One was a sign in the heavens and the other a sign in the earth. Both speak a warning and announce what is to come.

On the first day of Hanukkah, a terrible fire broke out on Mount Carmel in Israel. It blazed for four days and 44 people were killed by the flames. Mount Carmel is usually associated with the prophetic. It is the place where Elijah slew the 450 prophets of Baal  and the 400 prophets of the groves who ate at Jezebel’s table. Here He called on the people of Israel to decide who they were going to serve, Baal or the True God.

Do you remember that in January I shared a dream where the Bride fled from a house on a mountain covered by forests when the fire began to burn right outside? At that time, the Lord said to me that he declared the end from the beginning, and, more than that, He declared the end of the year from the beginning! When the fire broke out on the densely forested slopes of Mount Carmel, I was immediately reminded that at the beginning of the year God had declared there would be a fire coming to the Church. The location of Mount Carmel suggests that the refining fire will be coming more specifically to the prophetic arena of the Body of Christ and that it will be for the purpose of dealing with the false prophetic and those who have eaten at Jezebel’s table and then ministered to the people of God from that unclean and idolatrous platform. The fact that what was announced in a dream at the beginning of this year, has now been announced in an event on the earth, tells us that the fire is at the door and will no more be delayed. The large number of 4’s associated with the blaze also indicates that it is now fullness of TIME for the Lord to suddenly come to His temple as Malachi 3 mentions, as a refiner’s fire and a fuller’s soap.  I am going to quote here from that original article ‘Fleeing the Fire’:

‘When the call goes out that the fires are at the door, the Bride knows there is no time to lose and immediately leaves this House of compromise hand in hand with the Bridegroom - she leaves empty-handed because priests have no earthly inheritance- the Lord is their inheritance. AS she comes out from among them and begins the next leg of her journey with the Bridegroom, she encounters mockers on the porch.

Jud 1:17  But, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; Jud 1:18  How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. Jud 1:19  These are those who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

2Pe 3:3  First, knowing this, that there will come in the last days scoffers walking according to their own lusts 2Pe 3:4  and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. 2Pe 3:5  For this is hidden from them by their willing it, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of the water, and through water, being held together by the Word of God, 2Pe 3:6  through which the world that then was, being flooded by water, perished. 2Pe 3:7  But the present heavens and the earth being kept in store by the same Word, are being kept for fire until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

Because judgment begins with the House of God, the fire that falls is in order to bring separation between true believers and those who only have an appearance of godliness. Those who remain in the house of compromise and lukewarmness are appointed for the Refiner's fire. It is shocking to realize that mockers and scoffers are found on the porch of the building that is called by many, 'God's House', yet the book of Jude warns us of those who have wormed their way into the midst of the Church and pervert the grace of God. His description would better fit an unbeliever, yet he is describing people within the church! No wonder judgment needs to begin with the House of God and it is a judgment of fire, refining fire that will separate and clearly differentiate between the wheat and the tares.

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send My messenger, and He will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Angel of the Covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He comes, says the Lord of Hosts. Mal 3:2  But who can endure the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. Mal 3:3  And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. And He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may be offerers of a food offering in righteousness to the Lord. Mal 3:4  Then the food offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. Mal 3:5  And I will come near you to judgment. And I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those who extort from the hired laborer's wages, and turning away the widow, and the orphan, the alien, and not fearing Me, says the Lord of Hosts.

God is talking about dealing with His own people both in this passage and in chapter 4 of Malachi. The Bridegroom is coming to that which is called the House of God and He is coming suddenly and without warning, just as the fire was suddenly at the door of the house in my dream. Depending on the state of your heart and life He is coming two different ways:

Mal 4:1  For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yes, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Mal 4:2  But to you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; 

He is coming to refine and cleanse OR for those who fear Him, He is coming with healing and restoration. It will become abundantly clear who is really a servant of God and who is not.’

It is abundantly clear from the dream and the fire occurring at opposite ends of the year that we have reached the end of a period of grace for repentance concerning involvement with Jezebel in prophetic circles. Expect God to move His hand in graphic and clear ways in dealing with those who claim to be His mouthpiece when in reality they are speaking on behalf of the wicked hand that has been feeding them lies. God is intent on freeing His Body from the snare of lying divination. When Jesus addresses this issue in Revelation 2, He calls it ‘the depths of satan’. Notice also what characteristics of His appearance are emphasized as He rebukes them:

Rev 2:18  And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, He who has His eyes like a flame of fire and His feet like burnished metal, says these things: …Rev 2:20  But I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel to teach, she saying herself to be a prophetess, and to cause My servants to go astray, and to commit fornication, and to eat idol-sacrifices. Rev 2:21  And I gave her time that she might repent of her fornication, and she did not repent. Rev 2:22  Behold, I am throwing her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great affliction, unless they repent of their deeds. Rev 2:23  And I will kill her children with death. And all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to every one of you according to your works. Rev 2:24  But to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak, I will put on you no other burden. Rev 2:25  But that which you have, hold fast until I come.

WE are now at that moment when the Bride knows it is time to flee the house of compromise or suffer the consequences. There is a journey prepared for her with the Bridegroom and she must move on into what He has for her.

The second sign which occurred in December was in the heavens, namely a lunar eclipse occurring on the Winter Solstice December 21st. The moon became blood-red due to a small amount of refracted sunlight passing through dust in the earth’s atmosphere while the moon passed through the earth’s shadow. The occurrence of this sign in the sky on this particular day of the pagan calendar immediately speaks to us of activity in the realm of darkness whereas the fire on the first day of Hanukkah identified it with events in the church.

I have often heard the moon spoken of as a type of the church but I have to disagree because of a basic understanding of the properties of light ( I sent out an article called ‘Revealing or Reflecting’ on this topic in 2009 which I will forward to anyone who is interested). To explain briefly, natural light is composed of seven different wavelengths, as is seen in a rainbow with its seven colors. When light hits an object some wavelengths of light are absorbed and others are reflected. It is the reflected rays of light which we see with our eyes; for eg. A tomato reflects the red wavelengths of light and absorbs the other six colors. Glass appears colorless because it allows all the wavelengths of light to pass through it. So we see that the natural world which we observe daily is visible to our eyes because of the process of absorption and reflection.

Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night, and the stars also

The lesser light, the moon, rules over the realm of darkness. Interestingly, the sun is also a star and emits light because there are nuclear reactions taking place within it constantly. Stars are made from dust (as are we human beings!). Stars differ from one another in the amount of light they emit. However they all produce light. The moon however, only reflects the light of the sun. It has no ability to produce light within itself but gives light at night by bouncing off the sun’s rays. The lesser light rules the darkness – this is a picture of satan who also operates in the realm of the second heaven, by using the process of reflection. He has no light within himself and can only appear to be filled with light in order to deceive. How did satan transform himself into an angel of light? He used the principles of natural light. By reflecting the light and absorbing none of it, satan appears to the natural eye to be a being full of light. However, within him is deep darkness. There is a kind of darkness that masquerades as light. Paul mentions this when he warns people:

2Co 11:13  For such ones are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.  Did not even Satan marvelously transform himself into an angel of light?  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works

So the sign of the blood moon on the winter solstice is telling us something about the realm of satan and what will be occurring in the season to come. An eclipse is caused by the earth blocking the light of the sun so that the moon can no longer reflect and appear to be full of light. It is seen for what it really is, a dark heavenly body. Earth in the Bible is a picture of the flesh or the adamic nature. In the season ahead, the works of the flesh will rise to such fullness that those who are masquerading as angels of light will no longer be able to ‘reflect’ the light but will be seen for who they really are. There will also be a rise in unashamed open practice of witchcraft and paganism and it will become abundantly clear who are of the kingdom of Light and who are of the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of darkness may appear to have a covering of the blood but it is merely the meager vestiges of reflection bouncing off the dust particles in the atmosphere and will not fool us. No longer will their words appear to have a ring of Truth and Light for the darkness and amount of flesh being displayed will prove the emptiness of their claims.

Stars (which are present in the heavens all the time but are seen most clearly against a backdrop of darkness), produce light within themselves. During a lunar eclipse, the stars are still visible and in fact become the only lights in the sky. God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as the stars of the heaven. Daniel prophesied that during a time of great turmoil and darkness there would be stars to light the way:

Dan 12:3  And those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the sky; and those who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever.

Those who dwell in heavenly places are part of the city which is above. They do not walk by the light of their own understanding or fleshly wisdom.

Rev 21:23  And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they might shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

These sons of Abraham by faith will, in the time we are entering into, shine as never before, giving direction and light because they carry within them the Lamb who is the Light. In a season that will grow increasingly dark, they will be clearly seen as those who have understanding of the times and know what to do. When it is so dark that there is no natural light for men of the earth to find their way by, the stars of the heavens shine and direct the way.

Beloved, the year ahead will hold many difficulties and things that are hard to bear but it will be a time to stand as sons of the Light as never before. For those who have gone through the much painful preparation that goes into turning a heap of dust into a star, this is your moment to arise and shine! For those waiting in the wings, your cue is coming up. You’ve been there all along, unseen and unnoticed watching God’s manuscript unfold on the stage but now its time to step out and be seen for the rising star you are!

Isa 60:1  Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. Isa 60:2  For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you.

Notice it’s HIS glory that is seen on you, not your own natural talents or abilities but the glory of God that will radiate from within your earthen vessel! Be sure to give all the glory to Him!

Two signs, two warnings. May we all have ears to hear and wisdom to know what to do.
Grace and strength to you in the season ahead


Christine
freshoil@polka.co.za


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