2016 “The Year of the Tent Peg”

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church, Deoborah, Gentiles, Hebrew Year, Jael, Jews, Supernatural, Tent Peg

The Hebrew Year 5776 is called Ayin Av or the year of the tent peg. Isaiah 54 and Judges 4-5 are the chapters that best explain the year we are in as the body of Christ. It is a year of the supernatural. (For more information on this, look up John Benefiel at cotr.tv and his series on The Hebrew Year 5776).

On Christmas Eve (December 24, 2015), my truck broke down on the side of the road, at first I thought I ran out of gas, so was laughing, singing, celebrating that after 32 years of driving, I ran out of gas for the first time in my life, it was a funny thought to me. While waiting for someone to bring me a gas can and help me go on my way, I was pacing the side of this busy street, singing and praying in tongues, celebrating the Lord despite the circumstances. While singing, praying and pacing, I looked down and there was a grey bag of tent pegs. I knew we were in the year of the tent peg, so I picked up this treasure and put it in my truck until I could get home. After some angelic helpers, a tow truck and an $800 fuel pump repair, it was not that I ran out of gas after all, so my record still stands for this not happening to me.

Once home, I laid my tattered grey bag on the bed and took out the tent pegs, that I knew immediately were a prophetic sign of the year we are in. In this bag, there were 11 tent pegs, as I prayed into the number of tent pegs and the significance of them, the Lord spoke to me and said, 11 tent pegs means the word of God is our plumb line. I was shouting, but as the days have gone by, I have had other revelations about these tent pegs and while on the phone, standing outside, telling someone about the tent pegs, I look down and there were 2 more tent pegs. I am dancing, shouting, celebrating, knowing the Lord is giving me a supernatural prophetic symbol of the year we are in, but what is He saying, is it just for me or for the body of Christ? As I have prayed, inquired and sought the Lord about these 13 tent pegs, this is what He has shown me.

The Hebrew year 5776, the year of the tent peg, it is a leap year, this means that there will be one extra month added to the Hebrew calendar, so there are actually 13 months in this Hebrew year 5776. So, the 13 tent pegs are a confirmation that they are for the year 5776, the Ayin Av year, the year of the tent peg. As I studied Isaiah 54 and Judges 4-5 along with their significance for this year, this is what I believe the Lord is saying about this year…This will be a year to sing, because many things are about to happen!

Isaiah 54 happenings this year:   1. Those who have been angry with you for years will forgive you. (v.7-8)

2. There is no need to fear for you will not experience humiliation from them again. (v.4)
3. Shame and sorrow are over. (v.4) The winter has past. (Song of Solomon 2:11-14)
4. Those who have been in the wilderness and have felt fruitless are going to produce like never before. (v.1)

Because all these things are going to happen, this is what you need to do: 1. Align with the Av (tent peg/plumb line/word of God) (Amos 7:7-8)

2. Open wide your heart (make room for people, withhold nothing, speak boldly) (v.2) (2 Corinthians 6:11-13)
3. Strengthen Your Identity (grow firm, become powerful, establish firmly, be fierce) (v.3)

It is time to sing, it is time to shout, it is time to raise a joyful song, for we are about to see an increase of the kingdom of God advancing on the earth. The glory of God is coming in a tsunami of glory and no man or woman will be able to take credit for it. The I Am God is going to do it, He has set the appointed time for this glory to come and we are alive to see it. Be ready to become so supernaturally natural that you are naturally supernatural, for it is the year of the tent peg. Deborah’s and Jael’s are going to arise and bring victory for the body of Christ, by driving the word of God into the mindsets that have hindered the people of God. Leaders are going to become ones that train, equip and deploy, not limit, organize or bring order to the glory of God. The plumb line has been dropped, the Lord has already decided this time before it existed, 5776, 2016, the year of the tent peg

The Fragrance of Love

Tags

leadership, love

Every person carries and atmosphere with them, we call it an attitude, but I like to call it an atmosphere, because it invades the room when they arrive and it departs when they depart. Some people’s atmosphere is more pronounced than other peoples, but nonetheless, everyone carries an atmosphere with them and people adjust to your atmosphere or they resist your atmosphere. An atmosphere is invisible, but noticeable. People do not walk in the room with a sign on their chest that says, angry, wounded, cynical, sassy or some other label, but the atmosphere they carry speaks of what they carry.

Not only do individuals carry an atmosphere, marriages, families, communities, churches, companies and even countries carry an atmosphere. Atmospheres are experienced by others even if they are not recognized by the one carrying it. Many have wondered why an omnipresent God does not move in all churches in the same way? Some have asked how can revival and the power of God break out in that church but not the one down the street? Or how can healings happen in that man or woman’s ministry but not in someone else’s? It is because of the atmosphere that people create when they walk into a room. If you are the leader of any given space, you set the atmosphere for that space. Leaders of churches set the atmosphere of their church; executives of companies set the atmosphere of their business; moms and dads set the atmosphere of their home. When people walk into a place where you are the leader they can sense the atmosphere of the place and they adjust accordingly to the created atmosphere.

The analogy of a thermostat versus a thermometer has been used in a variety of settings as it pertains to this thought. Some people are like thermometers they take the temperature of the room, while others are like thermostats they set the temperature of a room.  I would propose that leaders are thermostats and that they set the temperature of the room whether they are in a titled leadership position in that room or not, because lovers have a fragrance.

In Luke 7:36-50 it says, “When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little. “Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven. “The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

In a room full of religious leaders who carried titles far greater than her own, an unidentified woman by name, but an identified woman by behavior enters the room and changes the atmosphere with the fragrance of love. What I noticed about this woman is that she was prepared for her meeting with Jesus, she came with perfume, very expensive perfume. This woman was courageous, she followed Jesus into this house of Pharisee’s and did not care what atmosphere was in the room when she entered. She was coming with a love that would change the fragrance of the whole room. As she knelt down, in her regalia that identified her as a sinful woman, you can almost hear the crowd gasp, wondering what she is going to do. Can you imagine yourself as a Pharisee, watching this Rabbi, named Jesus, come into this house with this questionable woman, and now she is getting on her knees, behind him. What is she about to do? Is she about to do it in front of all of us, whatever the it may be? The room was stunned, shocked, holding its breath, you could feel it in the atmosphere, people were not sure of what was going on, and Jesus, He was completely at peace the whole time, not moved by what was going on around Him.

Then she opens the jar of perfume, the aroma fills the room, it smells so good, even the hardest heart cannot resist the smell of it, for it was not just a really expensive perfume that filled the atmosphere, it was the behavior of a lover that was leading the way. With all eyes on her, she wets Jesus’ feet with her tears, she then takes her long hair and wipes his feet, not in hurry, in a way that expresses gratitude, love, kindness. The fierce love of Jesus melted the hardness of this broken woman’s heart, and she began to respond with weeping, wetting and wiping of his feet. Can you picture it. So often we read the Bible as though it is a dry history book, rather than a love story, an actual account of someone who did the unthinkable in a time in history that she never knew others thousands of years later would read about. She was leading like a lover, she was responding like a lover, she was creating an atmosphere that only a lover can create.

Now with His feet washed, she lifts the jar of perfume, that was filling the room with its smell in a very subtle way and she begins to pour it out, liberally, upon His feet. She thought nothing of cost, she never considered it a waste, she only had one goal in mind and that was to pour it all out on the feet of this man who emanated with fierce love. She knew who she was, she knew her past better than all her accusers, but lovers don’t take notice of cost, they only take notice of the object of their affection. Now the room is filled with the smell of this perfume, the whole atmosphere has been changed by the love of this sinful woman for Jesus. The Pharisee’s can’t handle this much intimacy, so they begin to question who this woman was to Jesus and why a “man of God” would allow such a woman to do such a thing to Him. The atmosphere of the room was changed by love and no one could deny it.

Whether it is actions or attitudes, lovers that are leaders, titled or not, change the atmosphere of every room they enter. For love smells like something and we were created to be lovers, so we can smell it when it is there, we can see it when it arrives and we can hear it when it speaks. The fragrance of love filled the house of some Pharisees and the words of love, changed a sinful woman’s life forever. You don’t have to have a title or even be welcomed into a place, to change the atmosphere if you lead like a lover.

End of the Echo

Tags

Bill Johnson, Dutch Sheets, Lana Vawser, Reformation, Revolution, Voice

For many years’ people have tolerated, promoted and even copied an echo. An echo is not taken from a source, but from someone who took it from the source. An echo is hearing something someone else said and then adding some of you to it and putting it out there as an original. The church has been notorious for listening to other people preach and then taking their sermons and presenting them from their pulpits or from reading someone else’s book, adding something to it and calling it their own message. The echo may sound original to the audience for a season, but eventually the echo will fade away and the cry for a voice will come forth.

In the days of John the Baptist, Matthew 3:3 says, “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.” Isaiah 40:3-5 says, “The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, prepare you the way…” and John 1:23 says, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.” John the Baptist was a voice, there had been 400 years of silence from the book of Malachi until the book of Matthew and the people for 400 years only heard an echo and it morphed into a Pharisaical religion that blocked people from experiencing the presence, power and voice of God. So, when John arose as a voice, the religious spirits began to squirm, the ground began to shake, the Messiah was coming on the scene in the midst of political upheaval, and everyone knew this man was not an echo, he was a voice.

Throughout scripture we see during times of national unrest, political upheaval and religious echoes the Lord releases a voice. We are living in such a time. The pieces are all in place for voices to rise up and speak the truth of the Word of God, a reformation of truth is coming and is already here, though many cannot hear. We will hear a new sound come out of people, it will be so unique we will wonder if it is them or someone they copied, because God is opening wide the mouths of the voices that have been trained in the wilderness. These voices are going to speak scripture in a way we had not heard it spoken before, but because it is pure truth, pure word of God, we will not be able to argue with them. The truth will set people free by the droves, it will bring a liberation like has not been seen in years.

A revolution is arising, we see it in politics, we see it church attendance, we see it in the crossing of the Jordan from the wilderness to the promised land. People will arise from various nations like Lana Vawser in Australia, Dutch Sheets in his Appeal to Heaven, Bill Johnson in Redding, CA and Christine Caine in Southern CA. Voices that are coming with a fresh revelation, a fresh word, daily bread from heaven. They are not an echo, they are a voice and we have seen some of them arise, but many more are about to hit pulpits, platforms and places that will blow your mind. They were created before the foundation of the earth to be a voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. The voice will come through song, through books, through sermons, though movies, but it is a voice, not an echo. Can you hear the sound of the voice? It is the end of the echo and the time of the arising voice. It is a sound of fierce love, fearless passion and insight that can only come from intimacy. Everything is about to change, because it’s the end of the echo.

What Comforts You?

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church, comfort, discipline, discouragment, Pain

Psalm 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

What do you use to comfort yourself when you are in pain? I know it depends on what kind of pain, for physical pain we use Tylenol or Advil for headaches, Ibuprofen for swelling, and Day and NyQuil for coughs and colds. But for pain that is felt but not seen like depression, loneliness, boredom, discouragement or disappointment fatigue, what do you use to comfort yourself with that pain? Some people use pornography, food, sex, drugs or gambling, while others call a friend, pray, speak to a pastor, lean on a spouse or seek out a professional counselor. As people we were not created to be able to enjoy pain, it is a feeling we seek to alleviate as soon as possible, but many times we alleviate our pain with something that will cause us more pain if we are not strategic in our choice of pain relief.

Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble…” Pain is promised, but how you choose to alleviate that pain, is up to you. So what comforts you? When you are walking through what feels like the valley of the shadow of death, what do you turn to for comfort? I can tell you most people turn to pleasure, not to what the Lord invites us to turn to, because when we are in pain, we want immediate relief, we are not looking for long term life. But the Lord, is a master teacher and He knows that pain is only an indicator of a deeper issue, so He offers the most quoted Psalm of comfort to show us His remedy for our pain, and what prescription He would provide to comfort us.

Psalm 23 says, that the Lord comforts us with His rod and His staff. The rod of God in scripture refers to His correction or His discipline. Proverbs 22:15 says if we spare the rod we ruin the child and it is speaking of the need for discipline or correction. Lord knows a spoiled child is a challenged child. We were created to be corrected, that is why the Lord comforts us with correction. But He also comforts us with His staff. The staff of God according to I Samuel 17:7 is like a weaver’s beam, it was a form of protection. So, the Lord comforts us with His correction and His protection.

The reason we do not need to fear ANY evil, is because any places we are off course the Lord will correct us and any challenges we encounter He will protect us. So, next time you are in pain and it feels like a long, lonely walk through the valley of the shadow of death, why not ask for the rod of correction and the staff of protection to comfort you? It will alleviate the pain not just temporarily, but permanently for He is a good good Father!

In…But Not Of

Tags

American, culture, Foreigners, Malaysia, Values

John 17:14 “…they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.”

As Americans, one of our core values is that of giving people the benefit of the doubt. We tend to err on the side of trusting people rather than being suspicious of them. We are an authentic culture that is open about what we think, feel and believe, whether it is always appropriate to share or not, we want people to know where we stand. As Americans, we are so accustomed to this, that we assume everyone that comes to this country will be that way. The challenge is, most other cultures are not nearly as loud as we are, nor are they are open about their thoughts and feelings as we are. One of the gifts of democracy is the freedom of speech and we speak and we speak it loud at times. But because we are Americans, living in America and this is our modus operandi, we assume anyone who claims to be an American will live with the same core values. However, the truth is, culture and values come more from family than they do a country.

I lived in Malaysia for 9 years as a missionary. While living there, I did what I could to understand the culture and operate according to their rules and regulations, rather than my own. But one thing I did not do in 9 years of living there, was become Malaysian or take on the Malaysian value system, the reason was, because I am American, I love authenticity, I love sharing my opinion, I love freedom of speech. But Malaysia on the other hand, values saving face, not sharing what they are really thinking and not wanting to rock the boat. For an American, living in Asia was like living with people I never really knew.  But now that I am home, in America, and I hear the political rhetoric about the challenges that face our nation as it pertains to borders, visas and refugees, I realized I carried one piece of the puzzle, which might be helpful. They are in our country, but they are not of our country.

My son was born in Malaysia, but on his Malaysian birth certificate it says, non-citizen, because his mother is not a Malaysian. Malaysia understands that the values a child carries with them throughout life comes more from family than it does from the country they live in. Our home in Malaysia was very American, we ate American food, we spoke English, we lived culturally as Americans in our home, even though we lived in Malaysia. I think what we are seeing is people who have come to America for the financial benefits and other freedoms of our country, but they have not necessarily taken on the American value system.

One thing we need to understand is that values do not come from the country you live in, they come from the family in which you are raised. I know a lot of people who go to church, but they have never taken on the value system of the kingdom of God. So, we see the in…but not of idea in many aspects of our world. As Americans, who have American values, I think it is important for us to educate ourselves about other cultures, rather than let others tell us what they think we need to know or what we should believe about other people. Being American means celebrating diversity, but it also means our value systems.

Ignorance is not an option in a Google/Wikipedia world. We must realize that other cultures are not like our own. Most other nations do not allow freedom of speech, they do not like democracy and they are operating out of a religious and political belief system that is intricately tied together, where we have one that has been constitutionally separated and is becoming more obviously opposed to one another. Living in another country for 9 years helped me to realize that we can live in…but not be of. And for Christians, is this not what Jesus told us to do, to live in the world but not to be of the world? If you have wondered how to do this, now you know, keep your values that you learned at home in your life no matter what that the country you live in says or does. Remember, this is just one piece of the puzzle.