Living in His Presence
second 40 day fast
Join with us daily as we enter into the Inner Courts and come together in Unity and Oneness. March 1st - April 9th, 2020
I woke up with a line from a song we sang at church yesterday playing in my head: The Goodness of God is running after us! Then I listened to Church of Prayer’s worship from yesterday and they were singing: You are Good, God. Oh so Good! And then my mind started playing another song: Oh Taste and see that the Lord is Good! Sometimes it is hard to discern what God is speaking to me, but not so this morning. He wanted me to see that He truly is GOOD!
What is good? My Dictionary defines GOOD as: strong, pure, true, right, perfect, complete, moral, honorable, pleasant, beneficial, valuable, a conduit to happiness, safe, kind, faithful, benevolent, merciful, pleasant, cheerful, commendable, and companionable. Good is that which contributes to diminish or remove pain, to increase happiness, and to bring benefit. This small word sure has a powerful meaning! GOODNESS means excellence, perfection, moral virtues, kindness, benevolence, mercy, and showing favor, compassion, and mercy. Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. The first song I mentioned is from Psalm 23. David is declaring that the Lord is with Him in the good times and the bad times. But through it all, God’s goodness always followed him. The Hebrew word for follow means to run after, to chase after, to pursue. Do we really understand what David is declaring in this Psalm? All of the goodness –strength, truth, mercy, favor… of God is running after us. God is pursuing us to give us these wonderful blessings. So why are we not walking in them? As God is running after us, we are either running ahead of Him with busyness or we are running in the other direction with sin. We must stop and truly spend time with God. We are not truly resting in Him, not at rest, not trusting God and His goodness, His provision, His… This is why in the 2nd verse of Psalm 23 God says He has to make us lay down. I encourage you to take time today to examine you heart to see why you have a hard time truly resting in Him, and staying in that place of rest? Let His goodness catch up with you today, and every day after that. Psalm 34:3-4, 8 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears… Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! I encourage you to listen to this Psalm sung by Shane & Shane, and let David’s words wash over your soul, as you taste and see that the Lord truly is good! I encourage you to comment with your favorite verses on God’s goodness.
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When in the history of mankind, has the Lord stopped all the activities of the whole World? Why is He allowing this now? What are you personally doing with the time the Lord has given you?
Do you seek Him diligently every morning? Do you pray with fervency every day? Do you worship Him for who He is? Many of you are saying, no, because I cannot gather with others and go to church to do these things. But don’t you see, God is doing a new thing – He is individually asking us to RETURN to Him and to seek Him personally for ourselves, and not through the voice of our shepherds only. The darkness is groping at us to dull our minds with other things that we are choosing to do in order to cope with the changes in our lives. Do not be fooled, we are playing the harlot and defiling our hearts. Please READ and STUDY today Jeremiah 3:6-25. Spend Precious Prioritized time with God asking Him to reveal the areas of disobedience that are in your lives. He is sending out an invitation, calling us into obedience, asking us to return to Him. Will we spend the time with him individually? Psalm 23:1-3 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
God is our Beloved Lord, Savior, King, Betrothed, and Shepherd who is sovereign and Almighty, in control of everything. We can always rest in Him. He. In Psalm 23 David acknowledges that God has to MAKE US LIE DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES – a place of rest. Today, our loving and Sovereign God has stopped the world and so much of our busyness to bring us to a quiet place of surrender to Him. He has done this to restore our soul and to guide us in paths of righteousness. Will we truly let Him be our shepherd? The Lord gave our worship team a song a few days ago, based on Psalm 46. Here are a few of the words from it. I can be STILL in the midst of the storm, because You are in control I can be GLAD in the midst of the storm, because You are in control I can HAVE PEACE in the midst of the storm, because You are in control I can HAVE JOY in the midst of the storm, because You are in control (We have put the audio file of “There is a River” in the box to the right for you to listen to.) Please read through Psalm 46 as a cry from your heart. Psalm 46:1-11 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. SELAH There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. SELAH Come, behold the works of the LORD, who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. SELAH This Psalm is divided into three sections with the word SELAH at the end of each. This Hebrew word is made of three letters – the SAMECH, LAMED, and the HEI. This is what this small word means: We are surrounded and upheld by God, and He will light the path He has for us to walk as He guides us as our shepherd, by the words that He will speak to us through His Spirit! Will we completely surrender to His Voice in this season? Please pray MERCY for the nations to clearly hear His voice and have a solid foundation in the Lord Jesus Christ, so they too will be able to KNOW THAT THE LORD IS GOD, and BE STILL AND REST IN HIM! There is a wrestle that wants to take you away from Me. But you must fight within, and fight with all your might. Learn to come and be quiet, to understand what I am saying to you. I am speaking with a great command. Come up with Me and I will equip you might and power. My Spirit comes to hover over thee, you cannot do this without Me! I shall carry you in this hour, every step of the way. I have given you the path of righteousness, for Me.
Excerpt from a prophetic psalm on February 23, 2017 in Hear My Heart’s Cry. This present global shakening is very unsettling. Nothing is the same. We try to do things we used to do, and find it is hard or impossible. God is using this time to expose to us the wrestle that is within us, showing us the areas where our flesh is out of alignment with God and His ways. Amos 7:8-9 “…I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people…” A PLUMB LINE is a weight suspended from a string used as a vertical reference line to ensure a structure is centered. A plumb line is always perpendicular and always straight. God has set a plumb line in His Word for how we are to live our lives, it is called HOLINESS! Even though we as believers have God living within us, we don’t always LINE UP with Him in every area of our lives. In this “change of seasons” He is calling us to come closer to Him so He can bring about a realignment, reboot, recalibration, and renewal…in all our lives. In order to do this, we need to honestly face the giants in our own lives, and stop making excuses for our attitudes and behaviors that do not line up with God’s ways. Walking in alignment with God’s plumb line requires deep intimacy with God that is developed in the garden – our time alone with God in worship, His Word, and conversation (prayer) with Him. God’s plumb line never compromises, and it never moves. We must be Holy as God is Holy! God spoke to us in prayer this week that we must position ourselves in Holiness in the garden to abide and eat from Him. He desires to speak to us and to give us revelation. The Lord went on to tell us that if we sit and abide with Him, He wants us to be an olive tree that will produce fruit. This fruit will then be crushed and pressed to make the purest and best oil to be used in God’s temple. Then we will be able to be a light to the nations. That is God’s cry to us in this time of history. God’s people are being crushed and pressed at this time. We must arise and line up with God’s plumb line and live holy lives, so we can then be a light to the people all over the world who do NOT know the Lord Yet. God does not want anyone to perish, but come to know Him intimately for all eternity! God is pleading with us in this time to completely bow to Him and His ways of Holiness! Will God find that our oil is pure? A few days ago the Lord spoke to us as we were gathered to pray at the altar. Our hearts were heavy with what has been going on all over the world. We acknowledged the darkness that is in every nation and asked God to rain down LIGHT, since He is the Father of Light. He answered our cries with the voice of a ROARING LION. Here is part of what He said. (We will attach the rest of what God spoke in the area to the right of these words.)
Who is this that calls upon the Father of Light? Who is this that speaks? Are you right before Me this day? Who is this that calls upon the Father of Light? Who is saying, “Come and see what is upon this earth before me”? Who I say, who comes to call upon the Father of Light? Make yourself known to Me this day, make yourself known. What do you have to say? Did they not bring this darkness upon themselves? How can you come to Me and ask for mercy? None have come to Me. Have you not seen, do you not know? They do not want to see who I am. So why have you come before My throne and made such a plea? They do not want Me! And yet, you plea for them. Who I say is calling upon Me this day? Make yourself known to Me! You are asking Me to reveal who I am, and I come back to thee and say, “Reveal to Me who is this that comes before Me and asks such a request”? Who is at this throne, speaking to Me this day. Oh, what audacity did you have this day To come and pray and say, “Reveal the Father of Light!” I am holy, My throne is holy. If I shine My light upon thee, would you not flee? This is My response to you this day, I will respond to you because you have prayed. This is what I come to say: Zechariah 2:6-13 (Please read this and take it personally, to let God cleanse us and make us holy so we can come into His presence with our prayers.) I have asked you to arise, and you have stirred me up, says God. So I stand this day, and I silence everything that comes to pray. I am stopping everything, you see, so that you will really know it is Me. It is I that came this day, it is I who has stood and prayed. It is I who has stood next to My Father, you see, the One who gave the Light unto thee, it is I. So I stand over you as priests today, and I come to bring you back to Me. Just like with Joshua, I will clothe you with clean garments as I remove your iniquity. I will put a new turban on your head and change the way you think and the way you pray. And this day I will call you near, and I will hear thee, because I have acquitted thee in these courts. Stand with Me, so you can see My very way. Come to Me and I will be there with thee. You called upon the Father of Light, what was in your heart was very right, but you must know and you must see that I am Holy. You must be holy as I am Holy. Come to Me, and you will see. James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
We can all agree that the world we live in is dark, and most of the people are choosing to live in the darkness. But there is hope- the Father of Lights! He shared with us in prayer yesterday that He is sending His light all over the earth through His remnant. We are that remnant. We need to arise and shine the glory of God to those around us. Isaiah 42:6-9 "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, (7) To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. (8) I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images. (9) Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them." Let us all take the time today to ask the Lord how He wants us to be a light to the world. Jeremiah 31:22 “How long will you wander... I will cause something new to happen—Israel will EMBRACE her God!”
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 5 “To everything there is a season, a time for every PURPOSE under heaven. . . A time to EMBRACE, and a time to cease from embracing.” 👑Sons and Daughters, EMBRACE this space I am giving! This IS My ZEALOUS (passionate, burning desire, full of emotion, highly possessive) Embrace! This Embrace will be called “City of Truth” and will be the catalyst by which I will move you up the Holy Mountain! Zechariah 8:2-3 My judgements are faithful! My shakings are pure! My stirrings are re-aligning and are HOLY! My finishing touches are glorious! I AM GENERATIONALLY FAITHFUL in all I am doing!!! This EMBRACE has purpose and with perfect timing! In this season of change I loosened the strings of your heart to go deeper, bringing ORDER to the chaos and Light to the darkness! This Embrace is for holy, wholly cleansing. I WILL then RE-TIE the bow and at her four corners will be Faithfulness, Truth, Worship, and Surrender!! This is done by My ZEAL and with your full Embrace! John 21:15-25 When EMBRACE is complete you are ready to go and feed My Sheep 🐑? Through My holy cleansing I have shredded your false altars, carved images, and impure emotions that contaminate your God-given Gifts and pollute Destiny! They would have given drink to My sheep from stagnate streams, instead of the Living River! The enemy can no longer hide behind thistles and thorns but the PURE FRUIT of Embrace sends him to flight! This IS My ZEAL and FAITHFULNESS!! My beautiful shakings are completing a work I have started! They are severing roots of iniquity, cutting out idolatry that has separated you from fully EMBRACING the holy ministry I have designed for you! There are some things I must take you back to so that I may complete the work of Truth in you; Things incomplete, where “i’s” haven’t yet been dotted, or “t’s” crossed— areas of offense, in forgiveness, and prideful judgement. Don’t you see, don’t you see— this Embrace is of Me!! Embrace this space of “coming away with Me”! I am isolating you unto Me to resuscitate! It is an intentional time for intimacy! Psalm 46:10 A time to be STILL AND KNOW! A zealous time of stirring! A time to hear the birds in the Garden! A time of fragrance! The Garden Gates of Embrace will be Humility, Unity, Hope, Presence, Peace, Anticipation, Expectation, and Revival’s Awakening!! Luke 15:20 “...I saw you coming a long way off. Filled with love and compassion I ran toward you with a full embrace...” 👑Begotten ones, this EMBRACE is the promotion of My KINGdom! In other words, it is the precursor to REVIVAL!! This EMBRACE encircles, welcomes, cherishes, accepts all those who have been sitting with Me; but also have been going in and out through the “agnostic gate” in the church. This EMBRACE is realigning the bitter and wrongfully offended at Me. This HUG is completing a work so that FULL DESTINY can be walked! This EMBRACE sees all, leaving nothing hidden or uncovered, but working fullness/completion!! This EMBRACE looks to the world as evil but it IS GOOD! 👑Begotten Ones, ‘embrace this space’, this moment of time in your garden where I am going wondrously deep, so that your soul will in turn EMBRACE ME! No laggers, no isolators but intentional embracers of My Salvation, Justification, Sanctification, and Revelation! All of this IS Garden EMBRACE🌻—where I will give you directions, word by word for the way you should go! As we face more and more limitations on our freedom to work and interact with others because of the virus, I can’t help but be reminded of the times of testing the Lord brought upon His people in the Bible. God always used those times to get them to examine their own lives and to see where they have missed the mark set by God for His people.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Paul was very aware that he was a sinful man, who struggled to be a man of righteous deeds. Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. In this time of forced slowing down and separation, let’s take the time to sit with God and ask Him, “What are You wanting to show me about my life where I have missed the mark of righteousness in my life? Where have I gotten lazy, rebellious, or downright disobedient?” For a while we can mask these “hidden reefs” (Jude 1:12 NASB) with our good deeds, but in these times of testing, they are exposed, and we could be shipwrecked on these reefs. As God exposes the areas of sin and rebellion in our lives, we must be quick to REPENT and TURN from our wicked ways. When we repent, we will then bear worthy fruit, and not fruit out of our gifts and positions in the church! (Luke 3:8) Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? We would all say, of course I don’t despise God’s goodness. But when we do not quickly come to our senses and repent of our sins and ask for God, and others, to forgive us, we are keeping ourselves away from the goodness of the God we love. Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Please spend some quality time with the Lord today, asking Him to examine your heart for any wicked ways. Repent and be brought close to the One who loves us more than we can comprehend! This is the day for us to gather in our homes and WORSHIP our Lord! Let us not neglect this powerful privilege we have to lift up our voices in praise to our Lord!
Psalms 147:1 Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful. Let’s be a light to those around us, as we put on praise today and every day, because we have HOPE, our hope is in the Lord our God! Psalms 146:1-10 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! While I live I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. (4) His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God, Who made heaven and earth, The sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever, Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD gives freedom to the prisoners. The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; The LORD raises those who are bowed down; The LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down. The LORD shall reign forever—Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD! Let’s remind ourselves with our praise that God is in control, and He is a God of mercy. I encourage you today to saturate the atmosphere in your homes with worship and prayer. Psalms 147:11 The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy. Let’s fill our hearts and homes with songs of praise to our God and declarations of how Great He truly is! At this time, when God is allowing our schedules and activities to be wiped off our plates, as He is slowing us down, He is calling out among His people for a voice that will listen to Him! He has much to say in this time of quiet and rest; but are our souls at rest so we can listen?
Psalm 62:1-2 My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken. This is a prophetic message the Lord spoke on September 26, 2017. Fire will come, come strong, down upon thee Fire I say like never before Fire from every area, from even My threshing floor I am changing things and changing ways Changing everything around, you will not be the same Do you not see how I have called upon thee? I have called for a voice that will listen to Me I have called upon one that will hear Me and declare My Name I have called on one that will have no shame I have called out, and I have called out to you deliberately I have called you in every way Will you not listen to Me this day? Will you not hear My pains in My heart? Will you not and will you continue to depart? Will you not see what I say this day, What I am saying to you is what is in My heart? Now I need you to pray In the silence God has given us, we must wait. Because in it, God is producing His Voice in us! A transformation in us is happening in the silence. Psalm 62:5-8 My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. |
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