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