Prophesying From Love and Compassion - Stacey Campbell

Stacey teaches from her own experiences on the devastation that can come from the prophetic gift if it doesn't flow from a heart of love and compassion.

REVIVAL AND REVOLUTION

REVIVAL AND REVOLUTION

REVIVAL; THE BEGINNING OF REVOLUTION
How do you know the difference between a person who has experienced true revival and one who has not? The one who has experienced revival no longer needs reviving. I had a dream the other day in which there was a baby not breathing. It was the church, and it needed resuscitating (reviving) or it would die. But, when the baby is revived; it's greatest need is not continual reviving or resuscitation. Continued chest compressions only serve to suppress the NORMAL functioning of a heart that is beating.

Revival is an EMERGENCY measure to bring something back to life or save its life. When my youngest daughter was born she needed quick attention to revive her and get oxygen flowing to the lifeless limbs that were starving from lack of oxygen. Once she was out of danger and was breathing well on her own, she was given into the arms of her father and mother to nurture her and raise her.
So what is the need for a baby who has been birthed, revived, and is now breathing and alive? You raise it up to be released into the world to fulfill it's destiny. If you are revived, you are now an alive NORMAL Christian. If you are constantly needing revival, you have a serious underlying condition that needs to be corrected in order for you to live a productive life. If you are on life support, which is where some people are, you are not breathing for yourself and it may be time to pull the plug. Revival refers to the initial work of the Spirit to bring back to life that which is dying.

Revival IS needed, and I love revival. But, we need to lift their vision higher. Revival meetings are good, but not the end goal. The formation of Christ in His people is the end goal. That goal is to quicken to life that which is dead or dying in order that after it has done it's work, people will become NORMAL power filled children of God; finding their destinies in Christ. If we need revival we are dying. Revival is the doorway into a kingdom lifestyle and expression of the Christ life; walking in love, obedience, power, and faith. We should be experiencing renewing, refreshing, and refilling daily ON OUR OWN; and bringing the part we have to share in the gathering of saints.

If you are revived you WILL revive others and it is no longer about a meeting, but about BEING the life of Christ to others. It is time for many to move on to NORMAL kingdom lifestyle. The early church was a Presence and power filled body. We are entering the days of the "maturing" of the seed (Christ) that was planted in the ground that it may not abide alone. Once people are revived we must release them into NORMAL kingdom living. The formation of Christ in His people is the end goal.

There are certain things which tend to bring people back into a state of needing reviving. One major one is a leadership mindset and structure that does not understand the goal, has the wrong goal, or does not know how to accomplish the goal. This is where true apostolic ministry needs to come in to release people into their place.

APOSTOLIC REVOLUTION
After an evangelist brought revival to Samaria an apostle came in and established the people. Following revival must be the equipping and releasing stage that causes life to flow through the members of the body. I do not refer to most current understandings of apostolic ministry. The maturing of the saints has become stunted and sidetracked under the current apostolic model. The apostolic ministry I am talking about is still emerging as ministries that will truly raise up the body in maturity to be what they are called to be. These will give people a vision of their identity in Christ and release them to be what they have been given to be by Father.

Here is what the new apostles look like:
They do not have networks of followers; they have love relationship based connections.
They are not OVER groups or demand a fee or tithe in order for people to be related to them.
They are not just teaching and preaching, they become the example of their message. Their greatest work and joy is just watching, waiting, and enabling people to do the work.
The only covenant they have with others is the ONE covenant of blood.
They submit to you as you submit to them, and receive the gifts of others and correction of those considered less then themselves on an EYE TO EYE basis.
They are true Fathers with REAL relationship with people (much "apostolic fathering" today is based on position and NOT relationship). Their goal is to release people into their destinies.

Let me give an example of what is coming to the church:
An emerging apostolic friend of mine was building a relationship with a Goth church. At a meeting the Lord spoke to him ten specific verses. He wrote them down in order, assuming he was supposed to preach. He waited after the worship for the mind of the Lord. As he waited nine of the young people stood up and gave the verses he wrote down in exact order, sharing what the Lord was saying to them through the verses. He waited for number ten but Father told him, "You finish with the last." It was training for him from the Lord. His wife watched the whole thing transpire. There are many who are going to be released to this very thing. Get ready, the kingdom is come. THIS is the kind of apostolic ministry coming forth.

SIGNS AND WONDERS
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of the hosts, who dwells in mount Zion.
I had a powerful dream years ago of sitting on a stage in a chair in front of a church full of people while God simply sovereignly moved. But it was the people who were ministering the anointing to one another in the meeting while I did nothing but sit in rest and watch. I have already experienced this in part, but am pressing for an all out breaking loose in the church.

Your children are for signs and wonders. My own children (age 12 and under) are examples of this as they have ministered accurately prophetically to people with visions and words of knowledge in our small gathering at home. I will look to them to bring forth prophetic insight needed in a situation. As they share what they see, I get wisdom to the application of the prophetic word coming forth, but even then, God can still have another person share the application I may receive.

The apostolic anointing is fully functioning as apostles have the ability to know the mind of the spirit for a gathering. This does not mean they are to do the work. There is an "Atmospheric" nature of apostolic ministry that has yet to fully come forth that quickens and releases the kingdom within and through in people in a gathering. This type of maturing ministry is coming forth with greater signs and wonders then revival meetings with a special speaker. Father has determined it is so.

That dream of WATCHING God move through others while at rest is coming true. The body must be equipped to do the work of the ministry. When people do not find their place of authority In HIM, sooner or later their fire dies out. Peoples purpose and function in the body of Christ releases a flow of Spirit life in them and others. When they are not exercising in their place, they dry up. That is when and why revival is needed. So get ready for revival, and then a revolution that will turn the church and the world upside down.

In His Love
Kriston Couchey
http://my.opera.com/Boanerges/blog/

DIVINE AUTHORITY

KINGDOM AUTHORITY - DIVINE AUTHORITY
There is official authority that honors and relates to others based upon title and position; and there is true kingdom authority that is by nature divine and works by love. Titles do not equate to divine authority. Not everyone bearing a title carries divine authority. There are people who ARE what their title implies and bear the divine authority of that title. There are men and women with a title that are called to what their title implies, but have become a shell of what they were meant to be, and their divine authority has crumbled to near powerlessness. Divine authority is about function and not dependent upon a title.

The prophet Samuel was one who carried divine authority that truly functioned and fulfilled the purpose for which this authority was given. Scripture says "And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and did not let any of his words fall to the ground." This verse precedes the verse in I Samuel that says "And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD." He did not become a prophet because men titled him or gave him a place of honor. He became a prophet by God's calling and his speaking God's words in obedience. Men honored him with a title because he ALREADY functioned with the divine authority of a prophet.

PROMOTION COMES FROM FATHER ALONE
Holy Spirit also set apart Paul and Barnabas for the work he had for them. He commissioned them as apostles, men did not commission them. Men cannot commission men, they can recognize God's commissioning and lay hands on in agreement with His commissioning. Men cannot give or take away divine authority, only God can do so. Jesus alone gave the ascension gifts of apostle, prophet, pastor-teacher, evangelist. He alone assigns elders in His body as well. The apostles appointed elders ONLY after prayer and fasting. It was NOT the apostles choice as to who to appoint to eldership. It was Holy Spirit's choice of who to appoint to eldership with the recognition of the apostle.

Much that has passed for ordination in the religious mindset church has simply been men's works of the flesh. Religious organizations with hierarchical leadership structures may label or title men with many different titles. A church organization giving someone a title and paying them wages to fulfill a role does not necessarily give their title validity in the kingdom. ONLY the Lord's designation of authority matters. Men "recognize" divine authority placed on others; even as the people recognized the establishment of Samuel as a prophet. It is not wrong to honor another with a title when they TRULY walk in the divine authority that fulfills that role. It can at times be helpful to use a title to recognize the function one has in the body in order to receive from that function. But, A title is not necessary to function in any measure of divine authority a person may have.

DIVINE AUTHORITY WORKING BY LOVE
Divine authority is most easily recognized and expressed in love relationships. Eli recognized Samuel's authority as a prophet first because He had an intimate relationship with him. Scripture says, "Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I. And he said, What is the thing that the LORD has said to you?" Eli called Samuel "My son" and in that relationship was able to receive the Word of the Lord through Samuel that prophesied the demise of Eli's own lineage.

Authority in the kingdom flows freely upon love relationships and not simply because of a titled position. A man may call himself an apostle, but if he is unable to relate to people in a manner of loving trust and mutual giving and receiving relationship, he diminishes His own divine authority to serve people. Those with true divine authority do not need to relate to others based upon their calling. True divine authority flows more perfectly in eye to eye love relationships. This relationship is the sure catalyst for spiritual impartation and equipping. In love there is grace to impart powerfully, not just imparting of an anointing, but imparting real life that comes from love. Authority expressed without love is a clanging cymbal.

I was once led to fast and pray for deliverance from demonic oppression for an individual. After fasting and prayer, I ministered to this person and prayed for them. Nothing happened. It was then I simply put my arms around the person and loved them. I sensed the Spirit's prompting to once more pray and in that display of love the demonic oppression lifted and that person was set free. I experienced firsthand the principle of the kingdom in which divine authority works more perfectly by divine love.

TRANSITION TO KINGDOM REALITY
Where the love of God has waned, titles become predominant, where the love of God flows titles are not predominant and men recognize and receive more easily TRUE divine authority. There are those who use position and title as a means of personal gain rather then serving others. In the religious organizational structures that exist, positions and titles have drawn those seeking titles out of inner need for recognition or significance. The Ekklesia is transitioning into something different then the system that exists now. Many things are changing DRASTICALLY; this manner of titling and recognizing true divine authority is one of them.

When the Body of Christ relates to one another based upon love and not position, we can truly see and receive the divine authority of another. It is not wrong to recognize divine authority with a title. But, title is insignificant if true divine authority is not present. The measure of our divine authority in whatever function we are given by Father is according to the measure of the cross we allow to work in us and put to death our own ways. In all of this, we need discernment, and to walk hearing and obeying the Spirit of God. We must receive the divine authority that rests upon others. When we receive His divine authority upon the lives of others, we truly receive Him.

In His Love
Kriston Couchey
http://my.opera.com/Boanerges/blog/

Surviving Mountaintop Experiences

Many years ago, I was asking God about my future, and He showed me a series of mountain tops. My destiny was to go from where I was up to the peak before me, and from there to greater and greater peaks. (In my youth, I was excited about it; it was some time later before I figured out that this is His plan for pretty much every human being on the planet.)

After He showed me the mountains, and after a dramatic pause, the scene shifted; it rotated sideways by about 90 degrees, and I realized that the path was not simply from one mountain top to the next, but that there were valleys between the mountaintops. Having spent decades hiking through valleys and climbing peaks and ridges, I realized how much work that represented. I found myself somewhat discouraged: if every “high point” experience is followed by a fall to approximately my starting point (or worse), then I’d be completely worn out before I ever reached the higher peaks of my destiny.

I’ve seen people who lived like that. They pursue mountaintop experiences, and because they pursue them, they also find them (there’s a lesson here somewhere: if you want something, it’s probably good to pursue it). But after nearly every peak experience, they’d go into something of a tailspin, and end up discouraged, maybe falling into sin.

Elijah was a man like that. We all know him for the battle atop Mt Carmel where he called fire down from heaven and killed 450 prophets of Baal, but one chapter later, he’s hiding in a cave, whining for God to take his life. Elijah had one of the highest mountaintop experiences in the Book, but he also fell as hard as anyone ever has, so hard in fact, that God fired him.

John the Baptist seemed subject to the same discouragement. Admittedly, he was in jail on death row when he got discouraged, but he experienced the same kind of hopelessness.

Fortunately, Jesus shows us a better model. He had a mountainside experience – actually, He had several – but He never hit the “Valley of the Shadow of Death” afterwards.

I wonder if we can learn something from Him?

Here’s how I see it.

Elijah had this amazing experience on Mt Carmel calling fire from heaven, killing pretty much the whole of the priesthood of the false gods. Right afterwards, he prays in the tiny little cloud that becomes the rainstorm that ends the drought (that he started himself years earlier).

And then Jezebel threatened him. It was a vague threat, no teeth in it really, but he ran for his life and prayed to die. God fed him along the way, and met him in the cave he hid in, but when he wouldn’t abandon his self-pity, He fired him. (“… and anoint Elisha prophet in your place…”)

John the Baptist did such a good job of prophesying the word of the Lord that he ended up in jail for his straight shooting declaration of God’s opinions of the king’s adultery.

And when he got there, he despaired of his life work. “Are you even the Messiah?” he sent his disciples to ask Jesus.

I find it interesting that both are prophets. In our day and age, the prophetic gifts are growing so very free. But perhaps it’s not without a cost, and a severe one, should we be less than careful.

Elijah comes down off the mountain top, and immediately immerses himself in more ministry (ending the drought).

John spends some time (admittedly, as a guest of Herod’s jailers) reflecting on his ministry.

By contrast, Jesus does something completely different. After His big dog experience with feeding the 5000, and what does He do? He sends the boys off rowing home as a storm rolls in, and He spends the night up in the hills praying.

I think that’s significant.

After the big ministry event:

Elijah goes on to the next big ministry event.

John reflects on the last ministry event.

But Jesus gets in God’s presence, and presumably unloads His soul to Him. (Afterwards, of course, He strolls across the storm-tossed lake to check on the boys.)

So when we have a big day with God, it seems that it would be good to spend some time unloading with Him. Debriefing.

I had a big day with him recently. Kind of an impromptu treasure hunt among believers for 10 hours. Afterwards, I needed to celebrate, yes. Worship is a good thing. But after that, I needed to spend some time reminding both Him and me that it was His work, and I was along for the ride.

A friend went through an intensive spiritual training school recently. When he came back, he spent some weeks just processing with God. Not doing. Not planning to do. Just sitting with God.

I think he was really wise.

Permission To Speak Freely

This message was originally published as a Facebook note.

I received a message from a new Facebook friend a few weeks ago. She noted that I seemed to do a lot of evangelism on Facebook and she had a question about it. She’d been posting things related to abortion on her page. Her position like most of us is against abortion. She received a lot of criticism from her mostly non-Christian friends over it. Her question was, “Am I wrong to post these things on my page?”

Before responding, I thought about whether I was someone she would listen to. Who was I to tell her what to post on her wall? And what qualified me an expert on abortion? I decided to respond based on two things; she approached me for advice. Something I’d done or said gave me credibility in her eyes. Secondly, God had been instructing me on how we communicate to one another. This was a communication issue and I felt I had something worthwhile to share.

I told her I wasn’t an expert on abortion and I didn’t really know God’s heart on the matter. Before we go any further, let me explain this statement. Many Christians hold the view that God hates abortion; many - but not all. Jesus didn’t teach on it, nor is it mentioned in the epistles. There are vague Old Testament references to it, but there are also times when God demanded the systematic annihilation of women and children. All this is to say, some would argue that God’s heart on abortion is not clearly articulated in scripture.

I explained to her that some people, like Kris Valloton have received personal revelation from the Lord on abortion. They have dreams and visions in which the Lord has revealed his heart to them, which according to Kris is strongly opposed to it. But at this time, God has not spoken to me even once about it. I fear being presumptuous if I were to speak on something the Lord has not spoken to me about.

It’s my belief that God gives all of us certain subjects to speak on. As we receive revelation from Him on those things, we’re given both his heart about them, and an audience to hear the message. My suggestion to her was that perhaps she has neither the revelation, nor the audience for this particular message. She replied and agreed that perhaps she’d been presumptuous.

There was much I didn’t tell her. I didn’t tell her that I seldom engage in Facebook evangelism. Nearly all of my friends on this profile are believers. Why would I evangelize them? I didn’t tell her that (in my opinion) posting abortion propaganda is a poor way to reach the lost. I’m not sure it’s wise to post an inflammatory message that condemns without pointing to the solution.

Then there’s the problem of evangelizing friends and family. Jesus said that a prophet is not honored by his friends and family. Reaching the people we’re close to is an incredibly difficult task. For those of you who don’t know, I created the Praying Medic profile partly so that my spiritual activities would not be a constant irritation to my friends and family who are not saved.

A thorny problem wouldn’t you agree?

My friends post things on my wall on a variety of subjects; abortion, persecution, the end times and the rapture, heresy, the spread of Islam, missions and many others. I know they mean well. I know these things are dear to them. But I seldom respond to most of them, because I never know what to say. I’ve received almost no revelation from the Lord on any of these subjects. I have a lot of opinions on them. What I don’t have is God’s heart on any of them. If I speak on these subjects without knowing God’s heart, I’m just another clanging cymbal in a noisy theater of debate. My opinions are no more useful than yours.

When Jesus walked the earth, he could have discussed anything he wanted. But he didn't. He said that the words he spoke were restricted; they were only the words the Father had given him. Jesus restrained his speech to the point that he only discussed the things He’d received from His Father. (John 14:10)

When Jesus explained the ministry of the Holy Spirit, He said that likewise, the Spirit would not speak on his own accord, but would take only the things given to him and declare them to us. (John 16:13) Neither the Spirit nor the Son exercised freedom to speak as they wanted. They restricted their conversations to only what was authorized by the Father.

I find that astounding. There is built into the kingdom of God a hierarchy of revelation. Have you ever noticed that in the book of Revelation, both men and angels are frequently receiving orders from the Lord about what to say, what to write and what was to be sealed up or left unspoken? What do you think would have happened if the messengers said whatever they felt like saying instead of obeying the Lord?

How much more should we, as children of God restrain our speech as they did?

The twelfth chapter of Romans is one of the most complete discussions on Christian behavior. Paul addresses the idea of different levels and areas of gifting in verses 3-8.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

The point here is the fact that we are called to do different things in the body. We have different assignments. We’re given different levels of faith and divine enablement (grace) for the things we’re called to. Along with our assignment comes individual revelation from God on how we’re to carry it out. This is what Jesus referred to when he said the Holy Spirit would declare things to us. Revelation from the Holy Spirit is customized information designed just for us. It contains the information we’re authorized to speak on. The Holy Spirit also gives us the authority and power to perform the duties we’re assigned to.

Paul said we shouldn't think too highly of ourselves, but to think soberly. What he's getting at is a realistic assessment of who we are, what we're called to do and say and what we're not called to do or say. Some of us are called to prophesy, some to leadership, some to giving, some to teaching, but no one does them all. We need to recognize the restrictions placed on each of us. It's when we believe we’re gifted in all things and have an answer for every question that troubles arise. We begin to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.

For most of us, there are a handful of areas in which we are called to operate in and a vast number in which we aren’t. True humility is an honest recognition of what things you are and are not called by God to operate in or speak about.

If you read my notes and status updates, you’ll notice that my posts cover a narrow range of subjects - mostly healing, dreams and prophetic ministry. This is because 90% of my revelation from the Lord is on these subjects. He gives me the revelation and the audience for these messages. For some subjects the audience is only a few people. For some it’s much larger. God always decides who gets to hear the message. He’s also given me an amazing level of protection from criticism, when I speak what he’s given me to the right audience.

I know what would happen if I chose to speak on things I’m not authorized to speak on. I wouldn’t have a receptive audience. I’d regurgitate weak arguments that lack conviction. And I’d come under attack from people who oppose me. It’s possible that the reason the enemy doesn’t stir up attacks against me is because I’m under the safety umbrella provided by walking only in the areas I’m called to.

It’s tempting to weigh in on all the subjects being bantered around on Facebook. I have a lot of opinions and I’m an extrovert, by nature. But there is peace, safety and great grace on those who restrict their conversation to only what the Father has given them.

My encouragement is to consider your words carefully. When giving an opinion, ask yourself if it’s something you’ve heard from the Lord on, personally. Is it a subject God has given you grace to speak on? Ask yourself if the audience will be receptive to your words. Consider using restraint if none of these are true.

Speak The Truth In Love

Earlier this year, I had the following dream:

In the dream I was an observer. I watched as the Commander of the Lord’s army came to inspect His troops. He evaluated many things, then had a word with His leaders and left. There was a staff meeting afterward. The leaders discussed the only deficiency found by the Lord’s Commander – it was our conversation. We were giving away things to the enemy that they didn’t know, which was then used it against us. An order went out to reign in all conversations that weren’t beneficial or that were critical of others.

I wrote about the strategic implications of the dream previously. That message can be found here.

The dream left me confused and dismayed for a while. How could I have gotten things so wrong?

If I had to pick the things I wanted to see corrected in the church, I would have come up with a different list.

What about holiness?

What about prayer?

What about giving?

What about evangelism?

What about truth?

Didn’t any of these things matter to God?

How could the words we speak be of such great importance?

His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts.

The apostle John said that he rejoiced when he found some of the brethren walking in the truth (2 John 1:4). Paul had words of correction for the churches of Corinth and Galatia. The epistles are a mixture of words affirming the positive and correcting the negative things found in the church. We don’t question whether the apostles had the authority to correct others.

Why not?

They were given their positions by God, being personally picked and discipled by Jesus. They were directed by the Holy Spirit how and where to build fellowships. They labored for years at great cost to themselves, suffering persecution and poverty for the sake of nurturing their fellowships. The revelation of truth they taught came directly from the Holy Spirit. And they developed personal relationships with the ones they instructed. Through all these things, the apostles earned the right to admonish the ones they saw in error. That’s the New Testament model for giving correction.

How many of us are following it today?

Correction in the modern church doesn’t resemble this model. Words of correction come from anyone on any subject. Nothing is off limits and no one needs to earn the right to speak a word of correction. We see ourselves as guardians of the truth; valiant soldiers of God wielding the sword against lies and deception. But something is terribly wrong here.

We often quote the phrase, “speak the truth in love”. Search your heart and you may realize that we seldom use it except when giving a word of correction. Often the only reason we use it is to show biblical grounds for correcting someone we think is in error. Something in our soul knows that correction done the wrong way is damaging, but something else in us loves correcting the wrong thinking of others. If we correct and throw in the required verse, it appears to justify our action.

Does it really?

A Facebook friend posted something to this effect after a recent heated disagreement: “This isn’t me talking, it’s the word of God. People should just read their bibles. There’s so much wrong teaching going on.”

This was posted by a believer who reads her bible. She was arguing with other believers who read the same bible. The argument was over different methods of healing. It’s typical of the kind of problem most of us deal with.

Many of our disagreements are over things of minor importance. Methods of healing may be important to some, but they’re not foundational to Christianity. It’s not worth losing a friend over nor is it worthy of heated debate. Yet we start blogs and groups for the purpose of debating and arguing trivial matters. Part of the problem is that we have things prioritized incorrectly. We yell what God whispers and whisper what He yells.

Another problem is pride.

There’s a need inside many of us to be publicly justified. Being right isn’t enough; we need to be right publicly. Give a man some knowledge and a gift and he’ll build an empire around them. One way for us to be seen as right is to prove our opponents wrong. Facebook, for example has become an ocean of self-appointed experts on religion; a watering hole for insecure souls in desperate need of public justification.

The believer who needs to correct employs diversions to keep a clear conscience. The most common is to cite scripture then claim the argument isn’t with them, but with God. As my friend did, we avoid taking personal responsibility for the damage by saying, “That’s not me, it’s the bible.”

This tactic leaves us thinking God is on our side. Unfortunately, our opponent usually has a handful of bible verses backing up their argument. All we’re doing is arguing our experiences and interpretations against theirs. We are responsible for the damage inflicted, though we pretend to be innocent. What the Lord pointed out in the dream was that our criticism of others gives the enemy information they don’t have. By correcting others in this way, we’re actually helping the enemy.

How then do we correct others?

In love

Speaking the truth in love is not sharing our understanding of the truth to a stranger, believing we are showing them love by telling them the truth. That’s how it looked to me before I had the dream.

Speaking the truth in love means that love is present in our heart before correction is given. Love must precede any correction of others. Like the apostles, having a heart of love qualifies us and insures that our words come from the right heart. You may have suffered persecution for the gospel. You may have given up all you possessed for the kingdom. But none of this earns you the right to correct another, unless you first demonstrate love toward them in a personal way.

If we love someone, we have their best interest in mind, always. If we love them we sacrifice for them; love does not seek its own. If we love others we’re willing to give up our pride and humble ourselves to win them as friends; love is not puffed up. If we love others we’ll take the time to build a relationship of trust before trying to correct them, even if it takes years; love suffers long.

If we meditate on what it is to love others, it may change how we do things. Pastors, apostles, prophets and all in church leadership may have a bit of soul searching to do, if we’re going to reign in speech that is damaging the flock of God.

How has this been worked out in my own life?

I’ve found myself overlooking a lot of conversations I would have commented on a year ago. I now realize I’m not the truth police. It isn’t my job to correct every weird opinion or erroneous statement someone makes. I see a lot of posts that seem to be a bit "off". Instead of reading and correcting, I ignore them. If I have no relationship with the one who wrote it, I usually let it go. If I want to help someone, I take a few weeks or months getting to know them before challenging or teaching them. That takes time and I'm a busy person. It's cut down on the time I would have wasted correcting someone who wouldn't hear me anyway.

There are exceptions. Some friends have read my posts for a while and learned enough about me to ask for advice on something. In most cases I had no idea that I was gaining trust with them until they sent me an e-mail. Sometimes we’re given the right to speak into a stranger's life by virtue of a position we have, but it’s always extended by the one seeking advice. Hard as this may be for some of us to swallow, our title doesn’t give us the right to correct someone we have no relationship with. It must always be earned.

Beware Gypsy Presbyteries

“Beware gypsy presbyteries!”

It has been fifty years since the warning was prophesied to the church in that city. It was one of the larger cities of the greater Pacific Northwest region, and the prophet declaring the word was known by the church of that city, and was respected. “Beware gypsy presbyteries!” he declared.

I’ve been thinking about that word, and I’m hearing God breathing on it for my region. In fact, I believe God is re-breathing that word to the entire Pacific Northwest. He’s probably saying it to more than just our region, but I have confidence that this is the season for the Northwest to hear it. Fifty years ago, the church didn’t hear, or they didn’t understand, and there was a price that was paid for their failure, but that’s not the story I’m telling here.

But before I tell the story, I need to be clear about the position that I tell it from. I am not opposed to traveling ministries; I am not opposed to prophetic ministries. In fact, I have good friends in both camps, and I serve ministries that are in both camps. What I am about to say is not a declaration that such ministries are in error. That would be an untrue accusation. In fact, the very prophecy we’re discussing here was delivered by a traveling prophetic minister.

Think with me about that simple sentence: Beware gypsy presbyteries:

· Beware: watch out. There’s danger here. Be careful here; don’t get caught in it.

· Gypsy: in the less-politically-correct times of a half century ago, a gypsy was “a member of a people with dark skin and hair who speak Romany and who traditionally live by seasonal work and fortunetelling.” They traveled from place to place, with no roots in the places they visited, and no accountability in those places.

· Presbyteries: Bill Hamon defines a prophetic presbytery: when two or more prophets and/or prophetic ministers lay hands on and prophesy over an individual, a body, or a region, to minister a prophetic word, to identify gifts and placement in the Body or in leadership, to impart gifts and callings, or for ordaining to an office of ministry.

It’s probably worth mentioning that this a metaphor: I am not suggesting that there are either individual prophets or groups of prophets wandering from town to town performing fortune telling under the guise of prophetic ministry just to make a living. I’m sure that does occasionally happen, but again: that’s not the primary warning here.

These days, we have a large number of traveling prophets, visiting town after town, prophesying. I would expect that, like the gypsies of old, they were tempted to declare what people wanted to hear in order to generate better offerings, but again, that’s not the primary warning here.

The warning is to guard against depending on prophetic words from traveling prophetic ministries who have no root, no stake in this region. There is good that can come from visiting prophetic ministries, even from ministries that we don’t well know; the warning is against depending on those.

And this is a warning to the church; I am confident that this is a warning to the church in my region; I suggest you ask the Holy Spirit if it’s a warning to the church in your region as well. Fundamentally, this is a warning that the primary prophetic voice in our region must not be from traveling ministries. Our primary prophetic voice needs to come from the prophetic people of our own region.

Thirty years ago, there were a relatively large number of traveling evangelists. They’d come into town, hold a week or two worth of meetings, collect that many offerings, and move on to the next town. A few people came to Christ, more folks renewed forgotten vows, and some of the saints were encouraged. Sometimes.

But it was not an uncommon occurrence that the evangelist would say some things that confused some of the sheep. In my community, the departure of an evangelist would leave uncertain saints worrying about “Can a Christian really have a demon?” or “Can I really lose my salvation?” “Am I really in danger of hell after all these years?”

Pastors would talk with respect about some of the evangelists; others, they said, would “Blow in, blow up, and blow out!” and the pastors would be left to clean up the messes, soothe their worried sheep and answer their difficult and sometimes unnecessary questions.

In our generation, we have more prophets than evangelists blowing into town, declaring a prophetic sermon, prophesying with varying degrees of accuracy over several people in the audience, collecting the requisite number of offerings, and blowing on to the next town. Again, the pastors are left to clean up the messes, soothe their worried sheep and answer their difficult and sometimes unnecessary questions. These days, the questions include, “The prophet said this would happen; why isn’t it happening?” and “Why won’t the pastor recognize me in the role the prophet said I am called to?”

In other words, there are a number of pastoral problems with the church depending on traveling prophetic ministers. In order to deal with the pastoral questions, there is a temptation to reject the traveling prophetic ministry; I’m not sure that’s the right solution.

But there are also significant apostolic problems when the church depends heavily on traveling prophetic ministers, particularly when she depends on un-connected gypsy presbyteries. Some examples:

· If we don’t stand up and take responsibility for hearing what God has to say for our region, then why should we expect people who have no investment in the region to labor to hear God’s heart for our region?

· Prophetic words often don’t come to pass by themselves; we need to labor with them: fighting for the promises, fighting with the promises. Prophets who blow into town, declare a word (even a good word) and then are gone to the next town cannot labor to birth the word that’s been declared.

· If we depend on guest speakers for our prophetic declarations, then what happens when we need to hear from God and there is no guest speaker in town this weekend?

· When a church, a region, depends on others to bring the word of the Lord for them, then they have no motivation, no reason to raise up their own prophetic community. The church is justly famous for teaching on the gift of encouragement, the gift of giving and others; recently, the church has begun teaching on the gift of prophecy and how to hear God’s voice, but how often has either a congregation or the church of a region taught the people of their own region about how to walk in the difficult office of a prophet?

· If there are no prophets raised up and recognized in the region, then how will the church of the region recognize and stand up to the agenda of darkness and declare, “You shall not pass!” As a result, the region stands with weakened defenses.

If we are to be a healthy people, we need to develop a measure of strength in all of the gifts in our region. We will do well to welcome traveling prophetic ministries, but we need to develop lasting relationships with them; fortunately, in this generation, it’s very possible to build lasting, distant relationships.

I believe the Spirit of God is calling for maturity in the prophetic (in all of the gifts, really). It’s time to raise up mature prophetic communities in our region, communities that have the maturity to declare the word of God to our region, both to the church and to the “secular” community, communities that are self-replicating, raising up their replacements, communities that can discern and judge the declarations of the gypsy presbyteries.

From Northwest Prophetic.

Moving From Denominationalism To Apostleship

Kris Valloton discusses the necessary shift in the church from a focus on denominations to focus that is more apostolic.

Pythos - Part 3

This is the third and final part of Kim Clement's article on the spirit of pythos. I hope that you’ve received enough teaching to know how to identify it in your own life and grab a hold of this suffocating spirit that has endeavored to infiltrate the nations, the church and the people of God. Be encouraged today that God is breaking this force through our unity and prayers.

What is prophecy? Prophecy makes you aware of what you can do and it makes you aware of who you are. It gives you information that you don’t have about yourself. You may wonder if you’re even going to get to your destiny and this is a struggle that we all have during our journey. If you are receiving information from the future, which is what prophecy is, you can never go astray. The fact is that God will always be ahead of you and so to walk in the Spirit is vital. If you have not taken my course on Destiny at the School of the Prophet, I encourage you to do so. I specifically deal with “walking in the Spirit” in order for you to remain in perfect alignment with God while on your journey here on Earth.

2 Peter 1:16-17 “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory.”

What Peter is saying is that Jesus Christ received honor and glory, not when he was born, even though that happened; not when he died, although that happened too; but Peter tells us that Jesus received honor and glory when God the Father spoke to Him and the voice of God came from the excellent glory. Let me explain what that means. Amongst other ideas, the word glory means a higher state of existence, which is the future. A higher state of existence is not in your past; it’s in your future. The voice that came from Christ was from the higher or excellent glory, which was the future saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” So His honor and glory came when the Father said to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in the presence of the three disciples, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear him.” And this is what Peter says in verse 18, “…and we heard the voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

1 Peter 1:19 “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place.”

Peter mentions the word coming to Jesus, and that when Jesus received the word from the Father, that’s when He received God’s stamp of approval - honor and glory. Did Jesus need the word? Absolutely. You need affirmation. You need affirmation from God and from your friends and family, etc. Why? To remain steadfast! Your adversary will lie to you to get you double minded, which causes instability.

It’s very, very important to understand that whatever prophetic word you have inside of you is in fact the light that shines in the dark place. In order for your light to shine to help other human beings, it necessitates shining in darkness. When the enemy attacks you, and your time of darkness comes, you will be aware of the light of your purpose and destiny. It will shine brightly!

Let me finish telling you the story about Michael Babin and his recent experience. It’s fascinating! Back when I was ministering in Detroit, MI on a monthly basis for years, Michael would often come to support me, and my mission in that region. During that time I gave him three prophetic words. One of those words was that he would meet Michael Jordan, because Michael’s a basketball player himself. When I was in France this past January, I went shopping for my scarves, which I use for mantles, and I bought a scarf specifically for Bishop Babin. I wondered why I was prompted to acquire one for him specifically. I heard the Spirit say to me, “At the right time it will be needed by Michael and you will cast it on him.” So I bought a scarf that was black, and it had little shimmering silver in it that I knew he would like. The weekend that I was in Nashville, before he had his heart attack and before he went into the coma, I sent him a text saying, “Don’t forget that you still have to meet Michael Jordan.” It wasn’t but just a few days later that he suffered from three heart attacks and actually died. When he came back to life and consciousness, one of the first things he said was, “I’ve been in Detroit this whole time.” People laughed about it, but he didn’t - he cried. Suddenly the Spirit of the Lord said to me, “He was going back to the prophetic word and that prophetic word was becoming a light in his dark place.” You see, because the word was given to him in Detroit. God, by the Spirit, carried him there so he could receive from that altar. When I gave him those words in Detroit, he would give offerings and sow into those promises and God never forgot that. He was carried there by the Spirit of God and when everybody was gathered around his deathbed, Michael Babin went to receive his promise - a light shining in a dark place. Isn’t that so beautiful?

Secondly, one of the biggest things that happened when Michael was at his worst and everyone was doubting his recovery, and the doctors were saying he wasn’t going to come out of it, God whispered to me, “Remember the mantle.” I suddenly remembered and realized I still had to give him the mantle, which I had purchased for him back in January. A few days later I walked into his hospital room and I took the mantle and wrapped it around him and said, “I knew you wouldn’t die because the Lord said I had to wrap this around you.” This is such a beautiful thing for me and I want you to understand it because the prophetic word truly becomes a light in a dark place.

With this understanding of what prophecy is, you have to understand that the opposite of a prophetic voice is divination. Divination feeds your desires and wants. Prophecy is about God’s desire and your needs, not your greed. So divination really is an opposite of the divine. It will literally feed you what you want, not what you need. There is a difference.

Matthew 4:1–11 “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.”

That’s when the tempter came, when he was hungry and when he was in need. When the tempter came, he said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Jesus wanted bread. Satan knew it and tried to get him to abuse his gift and lure him into a display of power at the wrong time for the wrong reason. What you want and what you need could be two different things.

Leviticus 19: 26 & 31 says, “You shall not eat anything with the blood nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying.”

A soothsayer, or as I call them, a “some-sayer,” is someone who says what everyone wants to hear. When Jesus asked his disciples what the word on the street was about him, their answers were, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” No one seemed to have a true word from God. Jesus proceeds to ask them, “Who do you say that I am?” He wanted to see what their understanding of Him was. No one had a revelation from God about Jesus, with the exception of Simon Peter who steps forward and says, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” Right there, a prophecy! Peter affirms what the Father has said. That’s all you need; you don’t want anything else.

Leviticus 19:31 “Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits. Do not seek after them to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 20:2 “Again you shall say to the children of Israel, whoever of the children of Israel or the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendents to Molech will surely be put to death and the people of the land shall stone him with stones.”

The ancient Phoenician worship of Molech, which involves child sacrifice, sexual deviations, which is incest, etc., and the consultation of mediums, as well as any sort of foreign religious practice, would break the bond of the holiness between God and His people and that is why the severe command that such a violator be put to death. To me, the sign that a spirit of pythos or divination is present and operative is because of these practices that are almost epidemic in proportions right now.

1. The sacrifice of children; In this day and age the killing would not be done on an altar but children have been sacrificed, kidnapped, raped, killed and aborted.
2. Secondly, we have sexual deviations, again affecting children, which is incest.
3. Thirdly, we have the consultation of mediums. Psychics are everywhere. They are a billion dollar concern. They are on Larry King Live regularly and many other major media avenue.
4. Finally, the tolerance of foreign religions above the tolerance and acceptance of America’s foundational religion: Christianity.

These are all signs that pythos has found its place and settled in very comfortably, and our prayers, proclamations and prophetic declarations should be focused on recognizing this force and resisting it steadfastly. How? By doing what the Apostle Paul did – expelling it from a higher platform than any secular news media has – the true Church.

Daniel was able to deal with monstrous demonic strongholds, from a bedroom in prayer with fasting, WHILE IN EXILE. Angels came to Daniel and on their way to his house they destroyed the spiritual prince of Persia. This was the result of ONE MAN’S prophetic prayer.

Let’s join together and bind the stronghold that has risked the chance of not being recognized, and slipped into our nation’s capital. We refuse to be exhausted, out of breath and losing momentum and declare, “Arise O God and let your enemies be scattered as we praise, pray and prophesy,” The Lord God of Israel is the Lord God of America and we shall walk upright and declare His name unashamedly. God is going to strike this spirit down, and bring righteousness back to our country. I declare to you today that the spirit of pythos is going to be broken and you and I are going to do it together. We pray and release this nation from it. GO!

The original message can be found on Kim's website here:

http://www.kimclement.com/newsletters/KCMN09_10NL3.pdf

Pythos Part 2

This is part 2 of a three part message by Kim Clement on the spirit of Pythos.

How Do I Resist This Spirit Of Pythos?

This specific spirit works in a very cunning way in that it gets close to you and feeds. 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith…” It doesn’t say resist him by prayer, by fasting, by dancing, although all of this is important. He’s saying that the way that you resist him is by being steadfast.

Did you ever think about that? Why would that give you the power to resist him? That’s what I’m going to show you. That’s why he tries to divide you. He has to divide your thoughts about yourself to take away steadfastness.

Too many Christians believe that resisting your adversary, (and we’re going to call him “Diablo” today) means addressing him in prayer, or using words to persuade him to depart. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and the good news is… it’s actually simpler than that. You don’t have to go through a strenuous process to get rid of your enemy with shouting, screaming and naming him.

In this verse, Peter speaks of a spiritual sobriety and vigilance as being the key to the discerning of our foe, and steadfastness being the key to resisting him. So what does that mean? It means that you have to have the power to resist him through vigilance and spiritual sobriety, and that is the key to discerning our foe. Once the opposition is discerned, steadfastness becomes the key to resistance. Discern him - resist him. How? Steadfastness. Be steadfast in your faith.

What does it mean to be vigilant?

Vigilant is defined as being keenly watchful, to be keenly watchful and aware, to detect danger, to be wide-awake and open-eyed. I find this interesting because it connects to the word “perceptive.” As you know, one of my stronger gifts is the ability to perceive something spiritually, and deal with it either with resistance, if it is evil, or embracing it, if it is good. That’s what many people struggle with; knowing if it is God. Good is not always God. When I say that, I mean just because somebody does something good, it doesn’t mean that it’s God.

Sometimes good can come from someone who has selfish motives or ill intent. We can be fooled because their actions are good, when, in actuality, the good action is coming from an evil place. The term “awareness” means, “consciousness devoid of ignorance”. Awareness means, not only devoid of ignorance, but dualistic fixation. So, when talking about awareness, we have a dualistic fixation of consciousness that is devoid of ignorance. Awareness is the state of knowingness and wakefulness. It means, “cognizant, alert, watchful and vigilant”, and awareness is “knowledge gained through one’s perceptions and the attitudes of others”.

Ignorance and obliviousness are the opposites of awareness. Ignorance is not bliss in this case.Steadfastness is the key to resistance. Steadfastness in faith is the highest form of resistance to your enemy. We often use the term “devil” too loosely. The word “devil” is Diablo. When you dissect it, “Dia” and “Blo”, Dia means, “divided, double, two” and Blo means, “breathe, whisper, blow, speak”. I am explaining this to you because it is essentially a dualistic issue: he speaks to divide so that you will not be steadfast. For a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.

That’s what the devil needs in order to attack you. He cannot just attack you; he goes around like a roaring lion. He isn’t a roaring lion; he’s like a roaring lion; the roaring lion, seeking for “whom he may devour”. Whom may he devour? He can devour those with whom he is able to speak to and divide with the words spoken, and when he divides them, he divides their thinking. In the garden, he simply spoke and confused Adam and Eve with suggestions, which resulted in duality. Duality is the perception that antagonistic forces of good and evil rule the world. Once Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened to this knowledge (remember that’s what he was feeding them), they literally gave their power to the serpent because they saw themselves as equal.

This is a very important point; the enemy wants to get you to the place where you see yourself as an equal, or even inferior, to him. He cannot attack you as long as you see and understand, by the knowledge of God, that you are superior to him. It seems like we have this fear of the devil; that he’s going to come into our house and destroy our kids. As long as you are aware and praying, and you are steadfast, and there is no duality in you, he cannot – he cannot – get in and win as the victor. He cannot win if you see yourself as superior to him; because of the blood of Christ, he cannot do anything because he knows you are superior, and fears when you see yourself as superior.

He’s trying to equalize you, to a point where you have to fight him all of the time. Even if you are “equal” with him, if there was such a thing, you will still overcome him. The only way he can “equalize” you is to persuade you by giving you a double mind about things; about theology, the Scriptures, about God and about good and evil. Jesus Christ overcame him and so can you!

The Bible says in James 1:8 that a “double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.” Remember that what you perceive you receive, and what you see, you be. I’m convinced that once discord or division sets into a relationship, the end is near. To be steadfast means to be fixed in direction, firm in purpose, resolution, faith and attachment, unwavering and established.

One of the ways the enemy will devour you is when he’s aware of your lack of an unalterable fixation of purpose and direction.

Be fixed on your purpose.

Be fixed on your direction.

It’s very important that you understand this. It will help you to overcome your enemy because if you’re fixed on your purpose, your call, your election, and where you’re going, he cannot get to you. As we delve deeper into understanding divination and the spirit of python, we must understand some of these fundamental truths. The enemy wants to entice you away from your element.

Romans 12:3 says, “For I say through the grace given to me, to everyone that is amongst you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

What he’s saying is if you’re thinking more highly of yourself, you’re going to get into trouble, because you’ve lost that sobriety. That’s what happens when people get drunk, they get confident and full of themselves, and a lot of people do that because they are out of their realm. He’s telling us to watch out for this because the devil will flatter you so that you will think more highly of yourself so that he can move you out of your protection. He has to get close to you and he does that by flattery, which is part of the spirit of divination.

Romans 12:6 “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry…”

He says to stay within the measure of rule. That word in Greek is “metron.” He has given to every one of us a “metron” of faith and authority, or rulership. The word “metron” is where the word meter comes from; the metric system. So he’s given to you a “metron” or a measurement of authority. If you go outside of that, you are moving into a very dangerous area.

The other thing he wants is to get you out of your element. These are important things that you must understand. What is element? For those that have not been on my School of the Prophet course, let me just give you a mini thought on this quickly. Element. What does it mean to be “in your element?” Element is used to describe a place where things we love to do and things we are good at come together. Each one of us must find our element. When I’m playing the piano and I’m ministering to people, I’m in my element. When you shove me in a three-piece suit, tie, and shove me before senators, I am not in my element! I’m like a fish out of water. That’s what it means.

Element is that place where everything you do well and beautifully is enhanced. So whatever you do well is enhanced because you are in your element, and it’s expressed without hindrance because of the perfect environment that you’re in. Water is the element of fish. You’ve all heard that saying, “He’s like a fish out of water,” as I said before. Many people suffer unnecessarily
because they operate out of their element, and when this happens there is a pressure to do something and be something that they’re not.

People who struggle with this are easy to recognize, and that’s what the enemy wants. First of all, he wants to get you out of your measure of authority, and secondly, to get you out of your element so that you’re unhappy and miserable, and the method he uses is one of duality and division. This is one huge positive in terms of the prophetic gift. My belief is that a prophetic voice places a person in their element by releasing a word that in turn forces them to seek an environment conducive or favorable for their gift. What the enemy also wants to do is take away your confidence, which has great recompense of reward.

The Bible says in Philippians that “we are confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” There it is right there. He will complete it.

So you need to have that confidence. Now, what is prophecy? You may say, “Kim, I’m not a prophet.” But you may still prophesy, which doesn’t mean that you walk around prophesying over everybody all the time. You can stand where you are in your room and prophesy over your situation. You don’t have to phone “Mr. Prophet” to come to your house to give you a word. It’s inside of you, it’s in your Bible, and it’s Godbreathed. Know that you are strong enough and wise enough, through the power of the blood of Christ, to discern Diablo. Find God’s word for your life, see from His perspective; and with vigilance and steadfastness, you will soon recognize what is good and what is God as you rise to see from His eyes.

To be continued…Stay tuned for Part 3 on dealing with the spirit of Pythos

The original article can be found on Kim's website here:

http://www.kimclement.com/newsletters/KCMN08_10NL4.pdf

Pythos Part 1 - Kim Clement

Many of you know that a few weeks ago we were praying for my dearest friend, Michael Babin, who is a bishop and pastor of a church in Oceanside, CA. I saw with my own eyes how a suffocating spirit of divination attacked him. His own son had to carry him into the hospital. For those of you that don’t know him, Michael is almost seven feet tall, and must weigh close to 280 pounds. A few weeks ago, he suffered from three heart attacks.

His heart was working at 10% when he had them and the last one happened when he was trying to get into the emergency room. He turned to his son and said, “I don’t think I am going to make it; goodbye.” I got the call while I was traveling home from our event in Nashville.

While I was ministering that weekend in Nashville, I started having heart pain, chest pain, and shortness of breath. I didn’t worry about it too much because I don’t have a history of that kind of problem. I have a very healthy heart, and in fact, I had just been for my physical checkup where they said my heart and everything else was in incredible condition. But it kept on the whole day while I was in Nashville, even on the stage. That following Monday, when we were flying back from Nashville and while on a stop in Dallas, I discovered that my friend had been rushed to the hospital. He had in fact died and they had resuscitated him three times. He was then put on ice and ended up in a coma. The prediction from the doctors at that time was that he wouldn’t make it. As you know, the prognosis is never positive from the doctors because they’ve seen so many cases.

So this negative prognosis was surrounding the entire family and telling them that even if he did come back, he would not be able to walk. They said he had probably had a few strokes and he was most likely brain dead. While they were telling me this, I said, “The best thing that I can do is ask the Lord to show me what the outcome will be.” He does provide information from the future, so that we can pray effectively. I thought about the few prophecies that Michael had received through me and I began to use these to wage a good warfare. 1 Timothy 1:18 says, “This charge I commit unto you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which were given to you, that you by them might wage a good warfare.”

Michael Babin had traveled with me so many times, when I was working in Detroit and during those years, he received several prophecies about his future. I recalled one specific prophecy about him ministering to a famous basketball player (Michael Babin is a former professional basketball player). I began to pray for him, recalling these prophecies, and I began to wage a good warfare.

What does a “good” warfare mean? The Greek word they use for good is “agathos,” which means an “honest, virtuous” warfare. I believe that this means that your fight must be conducted with the right weapons. This specific weapon that Paul is referring to is the spoken word of prophecy. In the next verse, 1 Timothy 1:19, Paul continues by saying, “…holding faith, and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.” To fight for someone’s life means that you have to approach this battlefield with weapons fit for this enemy.

What many people don’t understand is that our adversary knows whether you have a sword that is sharp enough to destroy him. To simply run into a battle without a revelation from God could place you in jeopardy and result in shipwrecking your faith. I had a weapon that I believed would assist my friend back to life and a full recovery.

God spoke to me at that point and told me to tell his family that within twenty-four hours he would start moving and he would come around. Well, within twenty four hours that’s exactly what he did! They started asking him questions, trying to ascertain his mental state. Michael, being a professional basketball player in his early days, was asked questions about various teams and players and he responded to each question not only positively, but in his usual sassy fashion. They knew he was responding positively. He had been on life support for five days at that point, and the doctors were suggesting removing him from life support.

Over the next forty-eight hours, I sent words (revelations) to his son, Gabriel, who in turn combated every negative report by speaking these words into Michael’s ear. At one stage, Gabriel shouted what we had heard from God – “YOU WILL COME BACK!”

I was dealing with a spirit of pythos/divination and that spirit is suffocating many nations, families, relationships and industries at this very hour. I’m not a big “looking for demon spirits” person; I don’t do that. There is a real enemy that’s out there and he’s seeking to devour those whom he can, and the only ones he can devour are those that he gets close to.

Within twenty-four hours, Michael started talking and of course there was a huge celebration. The doctors were stunned. In fact they began to call him “Miracle Babin” because he had negated every prognosis they had given. My family and I went to San Diego to visit him and after hugs and tears, his family told the entire story and I have to honor their faith. They said that each time I would send a word it would break the power of every prognosis that was surrounding his deathbed.

You need to understand that during these times, the prophetic word is vital, because it supplies FAITH. The key is knowing what action you should take, and recalling any promise that God had given in the past. The word divination is “pythos” which is derived from the word python. Python is a non-venomous snake that kills its victim by squeezing, causing suffocation and removing the breath from its prey. It literally squeezes its victim to death. The python has bad eyesight and limited hearing, just like the devil. It uses its forked tongue to detect odors. The tongue flicks in and out to collect airborne chemicals and dust. The more dust, the easier it can detect the victim. Dust speaks of flesh. What does the python do? The python swallows its meal starting with the victim’s head.

These are all important things to understand. This is the nature of divination. When Paul and his team were approached by a woman who had a “spirit of divination,” they were unaware of this spirit. She followed them for many days declaring, “These are servants of the most high God who have come to show us the way of salvation!” What she was saying was correct – the words were accurate – but the spirit (or breath) was evil. It was only after many days of this complimenting and flattering them with words that sounded good to their ears, that a deep irritation set inside of Paul and he finally dealt with this spirit.

2 Peter 2:18-19 states, “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption: for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.” The spirit has to get close to you to suffocate you; so it does that by getting familiar with you. It’s also called a familiar spirit. This spirit is a very serious thing and it operates because people are caught unaware and they don’t really know how it operates. Once you do know, you are able to detect it and you are able to get rid of it.

It’s important that you understand that. There is a pattern of divination:

1. Familiarize
2. Equalize
3. Neutralize

A “familiar” spirit is exactly that; it desires to be seen as kin or family. Why couldn’t Jesus do many miracles in his hometown? Familiarity. Literally, this familiar spirit in Nazareth suffocated the gift in Jesus. That’s as serious as it is. Once this spirit is upon a person, community, church or a nation, it will begin to suffocate the gifts through unbelief, which comes from familiarity. One of the ways that a familiar spirit attaches itself to a nation is when evil is legalized and it is pronounced as good. Let’s move that to a human being.

Once a man convinces himself that adultery or sexual sin is justified, for whatever reason, this spirit attaches itself to that person because it has been embraced and allowed to be “family.” The same goes for lying, drunkenness, etc. We make mistakes and it is important to understand that I am not referring to times when people stumble, but I’m referring to what Paul calls “practicing” sin. I believe that a person has to “follow after the flesh” to get to the place of practicing sin. We are not perfect and will stumble and sin, but this does not mean that you are “following after the flesh.”

Galatians 5:21 speaks of the “works of the flesh” and defines a few things that will help you with this. Paul deals with these “works of the flesh” and names them. After defining them he says, “…They which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.” The word for “do” in the Greek is prasso and it means practice, to perform repeatedly or habitually. A doctor practices medicine. What does that mean? It means he affects other lives by his practice of medicine. Not for one second am I suggesting that sin is to be taken lightly, but I am aware of the fact that no matter how powerful a Christian you may claim to be, you will sin, and the joy of salvation is that you can and will be forgiven. However, the continual transgression will eventually become habitual and certainly affect other lives. I’ve watched ministers preach from holy pulpits with anger in their hearts, countenance and speech, condemning and damning sin and sinners, and it is quite obvious that they are deep in private sin. I read a saying once, “Because I am evil...you are evil.” This basically means, because I am practicing evil, I see everyone else doing the same thing…even if they aren’t. Their sin is affecting others because they are ministering to these precious people with anger and bitterness. If the Holy Spirit is not ministering and breathing on the people, something else is. The breath of God that should flow through a servant of God is (Greek) Psoo-kho –“Spirit breath” and Zoe-Pneuo – “To make alive.”

There are many churches that are under the spell of divination and because there is familiarity, the people are fooled into believing that because the sermons sound good and right, that all is well. It is not. This means that you may not necessarily have drawn that spirit to yourself because of your own fleshliness or carnality, but you could be under the influence from someone else that you feel safe with. Bob Mumford once said, “If I have measles, but I tell you that I have mumps, what will you catch?” If you are part of a church and you are not “made alive” – get out! So does this mean that you have to be suspicious and walk around judging everyone? Absolutely not! But be aware, watch and pray. Sometimes, family members can neutralize your gift by familiarity.

Necromancy is a method of divination through alleged communication with the dead. It’s called black art. This has nothing to do with the color of a person’s skin but rather the blackness as in darkness. Necro – mancy. Mancy originates from “mantic” which is derived from the word “mantis,” as in praying mantis – one of the several predaceous insects of the order Mantidae having a long prothorax and typically holding forelegs in an upraised position as if in prayer. So the spirit of familiarity, kin to divination, approaches you in a false, religious, pious stance in order to trap you.

TO BE CONTINUED…
Stay tuned for my next article, Pythos Part 2

The orignial article can be found on Kim Clement's website here.

How To Receive Revelation - Bill Johnson

Many people ask me to pray for them to receive greater revelation from Scripture. While it’s always an honor to bless someone with prayer, it is seldom understood how revelation comes, or to whom it comes. One of the greatest joys in life is hearing from God. There is no downside. But there is a cost that comes with the impartation.
The following is a list of practical suggestions for those wanting to grow in revelation from God.

1. Become childlike. Simplicity and humility of heart helps qualify a person to hear from God, while the desire to be profound is a wasted desire. What many discover after years of teaching is that the word that is simple is often the most profound. “At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” (Matthew 11:25)

2. Obey what you know. Jesus taught His followers, “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” (John 7:17) “If anyone wills . . . he shall know” – Clarity comes to the one willing to do the will of God. The willingness to obey attracts revelation, because God is the ultimate steward, investing His treasures into fertile ground – the surrendered heart.

3. Learn the biblical art of ‘meditation’. “I call to remembrance my song in the night; I will meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search.” (Psalms 77:6) Biblical meditation is a diligent search. Whereas religious cults teach people to empty their minds as the means of meditation, the Bible teaches us to fill our minds with God’s Word. Meditation has a quiet heart and a ‘directed’ mind. Mulling a word over in our heart, with a pursuit that springs from the inquisitive child’s heart, is meditation.

4. Live in faith. Living by faith in my present assignment makes me ready for more. “Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4) Notice that the light of the gospel comes to the person who believes. Revelation comes to the one expressing faith! Live with the understanding that God has already willed to give you His mysteries (Matthew 13:11), and ask accordingly. Then thank Him in advance.

5. Acquire an understanding heart. This sort of heart has the foundations in place for something to be constructed upon it. These are the basic concepts of the King and His kingdom. Proper foundations attract the builder (revelator) to come and add to those foundations. “But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding.” (Proverbs 14:6) God wisely stewards fresh insight to those who have the basic principles in place. When fresh insights come, the understanding heart has a “slot to put it in”. It is not lost as seed spilled on the ground.

6. Give God your nights. I try to end each day with my heart’s affection stirred up and directed to the Holy Spirit. What an amazing way to go to sleep. The Song of Solomon reveals this poetically, “I sleep, but my heart is awake.” (Song of Solomon 5:2) God loves to visit us in the night and give us instruction that we would have a hard time receiving during the day. (Job 33:15-16) The desire to give God our night season flows naturally from the child’s heart that knows revelation cannot be earned. Ask Him specifically to minister to you in the night through visions and dreams. Once you have a dream or vision, write it out, and ask Him for understanding.

7. Give away what you have already received. Never underestimate what hungry people can “pull” from you while you minister the word. Being in a place of continual giving is a sure way of getting more. When we’re in ‘over our heads’ in a ministry situation, we find out what God has been putting into us during the night. He draws out of the deep places in our hearts things that are not yet a part of our conscious thought processes. (Proverbs 20:5)

8. Become a friend of God. God shares His secrets with His friends. “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) He makes all things known to His friends. Not only does He want to share all, He’s invited us to ask anything of Him. But be accustomed to hearing more than you can share with others. Listen as He speaks, but speak only what He gives you freedom to speak about. Some things are revealed only because we’re friends, and are not to be shared with others.

(From Bill Johnson’s third book, Dreaming With God. Pages: 131-134. Used with permission from Destiny Publishers)

Apostles and Prophets - A Story of Friendship

I’ve become friends with one of the most amazing men in the world. This letter is a tribute to him.

As I look around and see people adrift in their spiritual life, I’m fortunate to have found something that has kept my spiritual life more or less on track. I’d like to share with you the secret to this blessing.

A man I know who pastors a church I once attended resigned this week. Many church leaders have been in this spot. Eagerly taking the assignment, years later they’re floundering and frustrated in the adventure they once loved.

Some of us enter the church full of hope. But after suffering through painful experiences – we find ourselves looking at the church through eyes of pain and regret. What went wrong?

Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus saying that the church was founded on the apostles and prophets, with Christ being the cornerstone.

I never gave much thought to this verse until recently. Today, I understand the necessity of living by this truth.

I have friends who are reluctant to trust any kind of church leaders. Having been burned by them in the past – they see leaders as people out to control others. The men I know who shun leaders call themselves free men. They have only the Lord as their authority; they answer to no man. What becomes of them? They go off on adventures they can’t share with others. They learn secrets so deep no one else could possibly understand them. They’re free from criticism and free from the authority that would try to make them ‘normal believers.’ Blown in whatever direction the spiritual winds blow, they are boats tossed on the sea, rudderless and directionless. I feel for these adventurers who drift and spin and never seem to settle down to the business of life in the church. Were it not for a friend who came alongside me, I would have become one of these men.

I met this friend a few years ago, when I was in a season of major adjustment in every part of my life. I felt an instant ‘attraction’ to this guy that I couldn’t explain. I spent time sending him e-mails, asking a lot of questions. He patiently answered what he could and referred me to resources to do my own investigating on the rest. He didn’t spoon - feed me anything. He never treated me as someone less spiritual or less knowledgeable. He seemed to believe I was a peer – on equal ground in most respects, even though I didn’t see it that way.

A few months into our friendship, he pointed me to an article he wrote about ministry flowing through relationships. The article profoundly changed my life. I began to realize that success in ministry must be established through healthy relationships. One day it dawned on me why so many people don’t trust church leaders. Church pastors are assigned their positions. The people who attend a church have no voice in who becomes their leader. There’s no requirement to develop friendship or trust before a pastor is allowed to speak to you about your life. Its no wonder so many people reject the counsel of church leaders, when it comes from a complete stranger. No wonder so many pastors leave their congregations.

As our friendship grew, we occasionally met face to face, but it was rare because we’re both busy. We began to send text messages when we needed prayer. God gave me some dreams in which I was doing ministry with him. Then I began to have visions about him. In the visions, I saw God equipping him for battle before he knew there was a battle coming. In some visions, I saw his eyes fixed on the king he served. When I told him about the visions – it gave him great joy to know that God saw him this way.

My friend has been a constant source of humor, insight, revelation, encouragement, instruction, prayer support and so many other things I desperately need. I don’t know what I’d do without him.

My friend has free reign to discuss with me any part of my life. That’s a choice I made freely. He doesn’t have the final say. But he has freedom to discuss things. I know that I need someone to be accountable to – not because I’m a rascal, but because I’m human. I have good days and bad days. I run into teaching and experiences that are ‘questionable’ at times. He has the same issues I have. We keep each other on track and moving in the right direction.

Christ is the cornerstone; everything in the church is to be in alignment with him. The church rests on a foundation provided by apostles and prophets. An apostle without a prophet is adrift on the sea. A prophet without an apostle is a loose cannon that will eventually hurt those around him. In tandem, they keep each other in proper alignment. Together they carry the train we call the church.

I am blessed to have such a friend. I'd like to encourage everyone who reads this to find a kindred spirit who can come along side you as this man has to me.