It is well with my unshakeable soul…

This last Wednesday, I was worshiping Jesus at a little house gathering with some friends, and the song being played was “It is well with my soul.” As we did, I was challenged by the Spirit. The lyrics basically say that it is well with this person’s soul (the song’s author), regardless of what joy or severe trauma he is going through. And the man who wrote the hymn indeed went through a mini-hell on earth (most of his family died and all his finances were ruined), and yet he could actually sing that it was well with his soul!

The Spirit said that this man’s soul was unshakeable. And He said He wanted to make my soul (and the souls all Christians) unshakeable, because great shakings are coming to the earth, and that only that which was of God would survive.

“At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that what cannot be shaken may remain.” (Hebrews 12:26-27)

And He said that this miracle of being made unshakeable mainly happens in the Secret Place, forged in the glorious fire of intimacy.

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)

In the amazing, delightful, costly place of true intimacy, we are transformed more and more from intangible to tangible, from non-beings to true Be-ings.  God calls Himself “I AM”.  He IS!  The most glorious thing you can do is to truly BE.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

In the book THE GREAT DIVORCE by C.S. Lewis, the people of hell were intangible and unreal, and the people of heaven were extremely solid, tangible and real.  That which is truly real has nothing to fear from the kingdom of the unreal, and when shakings come, only the unreal things of darkness and the natural things crumble.

But He said that His children in America generally treat intimacy with Him too casually and don’t see it as the glorious, life-and-death matter that it is.  And He said that life here has been relatively gentle and slow, but that things are heating up and speeding up — and that NOW is the time to press in to the Secret Place to know Him and be transformed by Him — and to receive the necessary Grace needed for things that are coming.  The verse He gave me to underscore this is Jeremiah 12:5:

“If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?”

But He says that in the midst of these shakings, those whose Tangibleness has been established in the Secret Place will not only survive, but actually flourish and shine brightly — and that many will come to the rising of this light in them:

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and His glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”
(Isaiah 60:1-3)

So, my dear brothers and sisters — I encourage you to run to the Secret Place and make it your home — not a visitation, but a habitation. You will one day be grateful beyond words if you do.

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Rebuke-a-gram!…

Just sayin’…

This Present Darkness…

The most effectively damaging narrative and images put forth by most Hollywood movies (and other major cultural sources) has nothing to do with porn or demonic slasher movies or outright attacks on Christianity.  It is the insidious poison of Humanism — the lie that people can be good, happy, fulfilled and successful without Jesus — that they are actually OK and do not need a savior.

And this narrative affects Christians as well.  Because this message is so pervasive, it serves to erode the “evangelical compassion” of the Church and to make them passive, timid, non-communicators of the true and complete Gospel.

And really, only Heaven-sent, fire-filled revival can turn the Church from being tepid and passive into the true, white-hot Light the world actually needs.  And that is why we must repent – repent of our passivity and lack of concern for the lost – and step out of our comfort zones and be true Salt and Light.

But most of all we must pray – pray and cry out for revival.

Prophetic timebombs!!!

Wow.  In the aftermath of Easter, I found myself thinking about the prophetic time bombs that God wove into the narrative of Jesus’ trial before Pilate and elsewhere.  Consider this:

• The Jewish people said this about Jesus: “May his blood be on us and on our children!” and in the natural, this was bringing a curse on them — accepting their guilt as accomplices to the death of an innocent man. But it was also a prophetic cry (even thought they did not know it) that would one day be a reality.  Jesus said to Israel: “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'” (Matthew 23:39) And when Israel does this, His blood WILL be on them and on their children — the saving, cleansing blood of the New Covenant in Yeshua.

(This is similar to the inadvertent prophecy uttered by the High Priest who said that it was good for one man to die for the sake of the nation. “He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.” – John 11:51)

• And the man who was released in place of Jesus was named Barabbas. And the amazing thing is that his name means “son of the father”. And so the One true Son of the One true Father was killed so that this other son of the father (perhaps representing Israel as sons of the old covenant) could be set free and one day perhaps truly become a true son of the one true Father in the New Covenant.

Dude, I am certainly not saying that this is all or only what was going in in these situations and scriptures, but it seems to me that God’s word and plan are filled with these prophetic “Easter eggs” that are just waiting for us to seek and discover — if we will take the time to do it. (“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” – Proverbs 25:2)

The Presence and the Power…

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that You are pleased with me and with your people unless You go with us? What else will distinguish me and Your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15-16)

“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

Without the Presence and Power of God, Christianity is just another philosophy and religious system competing against other philosophies and systems.  But the big question is:  How do we get this power to actually operate in our lives?  And how do we make sure that His tangible Presence goes with us?

I felt like Holy Spirit reminded me of something last night. It’s not new and it’s not rocket science: “You get what you settle for.”   If we are happy to settle for a powerless, Presence-less Christianity, then that is most likely what we will end up with.  But if we are not happy to settle for powerless Christianity, then we must not stop pressing in and stepping out in faith until He shows up in power.

“We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.  We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”  (Hebrews 6:11-12)

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  (Hebrews 11:6)