I Dream Of Margaret Thatcher

I had a strange dream last week where a member of Trinity came up to me and asked me to speak at Margaret Thatcher’s funeral......... Yes you read that correctly. 

In my dream I went on to write my speech and in fact gave it at Ms Thatcher’s funeral, when I woke I laughed the dream off as very odd, but it has stayed with me over the last number of days. 

You see, in my dream God told me what he thought of Margaret Thatcher and that is what I shared at her funeral. Over the next few days after her death it saddened me to see that there were street party’s celebrating her death and in fact a song made it in the charts this weekend “Ding dong, the witch is dead” – I confess I actually had a little laugh at that and yet God keeps reminding me of what he thinks of Margaret Thatcher. 

I am aware of the damage this woman did and the heartache she caused for many families throughout Britain both financially and domestically. While all through this God looked at her with love, she was a mum, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, she had a sense of humour, a caring heart underneath the hardness, and above all else God loved her so much that he gave his only son to die a horrific death to save her (and all of us). 

I had no intention of sharing any of this but I mentioned my mad dream to a friend and he suggested that maybe God wanted me to share it with folk, so I’m doing this in obedience. This blog is not about politics but the simple fact of LOVE. 

We are sons and daughters of the most high God we are called to be Jesus and heaven carriers on earth. We have such a gift and are honoured to have the Holy Spirit living in us and I pray, through us. 

When we speak of one another the bible teaches us in Proverbs 15 v4 (CSB) “The tongue that heals is a tree of life, but a devious tongue breaks the spirit.” 

Psalm 19 v14 (CSB) “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”

My prayer is that we would honour one another, love one another, accept one another and in that create a culture of honour. I’m not for one minute suggesting we accept bad behaviour but what would it be like to look upon one another as Christ looks at us? 

Clair Breen.

A surplus of provision

I've been reading various parts of the Bible over the last few months but haven't really concentrated on one particular book.
Before this, I had been focusing on the book of Joshua, which is a fantastic book, and the more I read it, the more of the new covenant I saw through it.
But that's for another post....

During the recent time of prayer and fasting, I was drawn to the book of Ezekiel and that familiar passage in chapter 37:

The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. ² Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. ³ And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”

⁴ Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. ⁶ I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

The reason I want to share about this passage is because 2 other people shared it with me in various circumstances over the past few weeks and I believe it's a word for now.

So, what was going on in this passage?

Ezekiel had a name that God called him by all the time, in fact 93 times, God used a name for him that Jesus referred to Himself by: "Son of man".

Ezekiel obviously had a very special place in God's heart if Jesus was going to be known by the same name. I believe Jesus was demonstrating that He was also a prophet, just like Ezekiel was, while Ezekiel was speaking the voice of God, just as Jesus did.

We have the gift of being able to see the same life bringing power in Ezekiel, that Jesus brought with Him when He came into the earth as a baby.

So, to the passage. God brought Ezekiel to a place of dry bones. The bones were bleached, dry, old, useless and any life that had been in them had been picked away by creatures, birds and time.

They were dry.

As Ezekiel surveyed what was in front of and around him, God asked him "Can they live?" Ezekiel responded and then God spoke again:

"Prophesy....."

God didn't say yes or no, He told Ezekiel to act, to speak, to do. So Ezekiel did just that, he prophesied to the bones and said:

“Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. ⁶ I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Isn't it interesting that the first thing God told Ezekiel to do was to speak the outcome into the situation?

Before he spoke into the situation itself, God told him to speak breath into it. You can't make dry bones breathe, but you can bring life into them by declaring that God will make them breathe!

This is speaking to me at the moment. I have been given promises in my life that God has spoken over me, and when things look bleak or even dead, I start speaking these promises into my situation and life enters it, God comes in and suddenly, I have a new perspective on it. 

God told Ezekiel to prophesy into the situation, so he said that the dry bones would breathe and become an army, then he prophesied the practicalities into it. 

The army was raised up because Ezekiel saw who God was and spoke the 'Who' before he spoke the 'how'.

Next thing, the bones moved, sinews and flesh appeared on them and they became bodies but they weren't alive, so what did God say?

"Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

As I read this, I could sense an excitement in God's voice as the bones became people, as they came to life. God was getting excited at seeing life created again, at seeing death defeated and at seeing Ezekiel speak the words of truth that released an army. 

God kept telling Ezekiel to prophesy. And as Ezekiel prophesied, what happened? The 4 winds came and breathed into the army. 

God has the capacity, the ability and the resources to draw from every direction to fulfill His purpose.

God was excited as He spoke with Ezekiel. It was like He said "Look what's available to you! I can raise up an army in a valley of death!"

David wrote in Psalm 23v4

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."

David had a revelation of who and what God was, and he knew that no matter how bad the situation was, God was there with him.

Ezekiel had a further revelation. God showed him that while he was in the valley of death, that God wasn't just with him, but that He was able to raise an army too. 

You see, God has resources available to us in our darkest and toughest times, we just have to ask! 

He has a surplus of provision there for us. 

So, when you next find yourself in a situation that is bleak, even hopeless, ask God to remind you of the promises He's spoken over you. Ask Him to show you the outcome, so that you can speak it into your situation, then watch as He brings you into a place of life. 

Watch as your soul awakes and as your God opens your eyes to the surplus of provision that He has for you!

Roger C.

Embrace Transition

Recently I wrote a blog entitled “Who Am I”. Now I want to share with you how this identity is impacting and shaping me.

Almost immediately after being baptised with Holy Spirit a few years back, I had a series of dreams and trances which ran for five nights. I kept very much quiet about these dreams because I did not have a reference point for these matters. As time has passed the Holy Spirit has thought me much, so I want to share these dreams with you. Are they for my church, are they for my city or nation, I don’t think that is for me to answer, I believe first and foremost they are for me and you. 

In one dream which I have briefly shared before, I was in the Exchange (our church building). God called me to come to the cross and as I walked I noticed a river flowing from Heaven and falling down on the cross in our building. As the water was falling it took the shape of a cross at times. The song “At the Foot of the Cross” was bellowing out and I knelt at the foot of the cross. As I did so I was soaked in the River of Life and I turned to watch the river flow out amongst the congregation. As it did so I was just struck by what I saw happen amongst the body. The congregation began to minister to each other as the Holy Spirit poured over them. To witness this revelation and see it manifest as if it were totally real was awesome to watch, it was like our very own Pentecost amongst our family.

In other dream, as I stood in the Exchange and looked out over my city, Dublin, I saw the city as an amazing forest. A silver-back gorilla just beside me began to sing the name of “Jesus” over and over again as he beat his chest as this gorilla does to display his power and strength. As I watched in awe, gradually the city forest became like an orchestra with many silver-back gorillas joining in and singing and displaying like the first one. After some time, they all began to sing the word “surrender” and again after some time they all began to sing the words “Holy Spirit”. This was awesome to watch and heavenly to hear and it has left a mark on my heart that will never be extinguished. They began then to expand the words “Holy Spirit” and sang the different names and different attributes of the Holy Spirit. This was an amazing experience and as time has gone by I sense this dream cries out as we surrender to Jesus we will open a way for our city to see Jesus which will open a pathway that the whole city will become consumed with the Holy Spirit and display the Presence and power of God. This will reach the whole nation and be visible throughout Europe.

Since these dreams and others I have turned to the scriptures for answers and the Holy Spirit has been captivating my heart as I allow Him reveal and release truth into the core of my being. As you read on you will see some of the things He has been revealing to me, concerning prophecy, testimony and encountering in an experiential way the Presence of God. 

Just roll back for a bit of my history and see how closed I was to the prophetic. Just over two years ago a person that I knew but not that well said to me I have a prophetic picture for you. They said I see you, you “were” in a black box and then in a flash, the roof was taken away, then the four walls fell away. I started to laugh because I knew exactly what my friend shared with me. I told him I knew what He spoke of as I had come into a place of experiencing this freedom. He did not know or indeed anyone know what I had been seeing between about 1995 up to the start of 2010. I was having a frequently recurring trance like day dream which I spoke or shared with no one because I feared what people might say or think. In this dream I was in a dark room or box with a small opening or door out into this most beautiful sun light colourful garden one could imagine. My understanding of this dream was a typical evangelical one, there was a garden of beauty through a door and that door was Christ, so this revelation for me was telling me that which I already knew and therefore I never responded in any way to this revelation. Simply I did not understand what the Spirit of God was revealing to me. Today, reflecting on this dream I wonder what would have been if I had properly understood this dream. I had no reference point as I did not believe in the prophetic, I believed a very narrow Gospel of salvation, it was all about the cross and the Holy Spirit’s work was for the conviction of sin. I knew nothing of the Holy Spirit as a person and therefore to have a friendship with the Holy Spirit was not something which I thought available to man. Hearing that word was so lovely because now I knew the Holy Spirit was saying to me that which I was experiencing was indeed freedom in the Spirit. Another friend spoke a prophetic word to me about three years ago and this time though not knowing much about the prophetic, I stepped straight into it because I knew I was pathetically broken in spirit and to my utter amazement I instantly experienced the Presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. Stepping in activated that word and blew my theology out the window. Today I know where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. I had stepped into the “path of life” as mentioned in Psalm 16:11 and experienced His Presence in the process. 

From this experience I have learned that the prophetic must be stepped into so you can activate it in your life. Many Christians fear the prophetic and therefore miss this truth altogether at a grave cost to the church body. Some Christians carry prophetic words for years which I can’t say I understand, I understand pondering the word as Mary did, but it is in the release of the word in faith that creates the word.  The prophetic word is the creative nature of God and must be spoken to be created. There is no point is speaking the word after it has come to be and many words because they have not been spoken will be fulfilled but only when an individual with faith comes along to release the word. 

My understanding and theology has changed in these last few years. I hear numerous teachers teach that faith is not a feeling. I believe that is a very narrow view. I believe faith can be felt and in this way my faith is indeed a feeling built on truth. One can know the nature of God but it this nature can also be experienced, it’s not essentially a matter of faith, though to enter into His presence you must walk in faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. 

Faith comes in hearing, (Romans 10:17 “faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ”. 

Hearing is not the same as having heard, heard is what God said, hearing is what God is now saying. Faith is built in the hearing, hearing is an experience that can be felt.

When Mary visited Elizabeth in Luke 1:41, when the sound (not words) hit Elizabeth, the baby leaped in her womb (ask any mother if they felt that when pregnant). Did the unborn baby understand those words  –  no, yet the unborn baby responded and Elizabeth was instantly filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you see Presence can be felt, seen and displayed. Feelings are vital in any relationship, and to have a relationship with God the Holy Spirit is impossible without feelings. 

When we are impregnated with the Spirit of God, believe me we will feel it. If you don’t feel it, listen to me; you are discerning the Holy Spirits voice calling you and saying “Come to Me – there is much more for You”.  

Just follow through the Gospels and the Book of Acts and look at the amount of times the Presence (The Presence of God is the Holy Spirit) was felt and look at the manifestation of that same Presence in the people. Paul says in Romans, the Kingdom of Heaven is in the Spirit. More than any other thing my theology has been exposed to the New Wine (The Holy Spirit) and I have felt the strain in my person working through the throwing off my old Wine Skin and taking on a New Wine Skin. New Wine is not put into Old Wine Skins, when I let go of me and died to self, the Holy Spirit invaded and now God has an opening to transform my life. The prophetic gifting is being awakened in the church worldwide and with it the world is witnessing a revelation of the nature of God which has been hidden for centuries.

Presence manifests power because that’s the nature of God. In Church we received a prophetic word at the start of 2012 that declared we were moving into a place of “Presence and Power”. Have you experienced it, if not contend for it, we are told in Isaiah 48:7 that the prophetic word once spoken is created. Therefore your positioning in Presence and Power is created and its is your responsibility to activate it, grasp the truth in these prophetic words, you must contend for the prophetic. 

We are the pinnacle of God’s creation, created in His image, how He imagined us. We were precisely created to relate with God, all our senses highly tuned to hear from God, yet we box ourselves in to hear from God in such limited ways. Some rely on hearing when being thought, others on eyes while reading the word, but probably most rely on a combination of these two senses. What about touch, smell and taste. Words of knowledge for healing are frequently received through feeling. 

Other ways of hearing are dreams, visions, trances and senses and the list continues, yet dreamers are stigmatised as aloof. I suggest we have allowed a rational culture alienate ourselves from God, precisely like the Pharisees did when the Presence of God walked amongst them in the flesh. Are we really any different today? Are we the churched, the new Pharisees of this day? 

Today I believe scripture without revelation is dead, no different than any other book. Proverbs 29:18 says “where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint” (KJV – “Where there is no vision {Hebrew meaning – prophecy} the people perish” and Hosea 4:6 says “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge {Hebrew meaning – discernment,  understanding... Greek meaning – revelation}”). 

I believe we have allowed a theology based in rationalism dominate and shape our spirit rather than allow the Holy Spirit dominate and shape our theology. Please don’t be offended by this, it’s not my intention, a rational mind or the flesh man restricts the spirit man, a bondage to words that constrict can cause us to feel a comfort and security in a faith that we just accept because “it is written” rather than embracing a revelation that brings us into the Presence of the living God, an encounter with our Creator. I believe our environment reflects the disposition of our heart, the nation reflects the disposition of the church. Our nation and many nations are constricted and I believe this reflects the constraint in heart of the church. We moan and knock our governments and fail to discern that they reflect the heart of the people they govern, who in turn reflect the heart of the church, this is very sobering indeed. If the church were fully committed to the kingdom the landscape of our nation would be transformed, stop moaning at the government and start groaning for the transformation of the church, and the transformation of the church is embedded in the apostolic and prophetic anointing.

I was given a prophetic word about 6 weeks ago, Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God”. 

As I read the word I repeated it as “Be still and EXPERIENCE that I am God”. This word “Experience” has dominated my walk with God in recent years. One of the Hebrew meanings for “know” is “experience”. Another word that God has been building into my walk with Him is again related to experience and it is “Testimony”. 

Revelation 19:10 says “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy”. Testimony is written by your experience with God. The root word of testimony is “to repeat or to do again”. In built in the nature of this word is the potential of duplication, when we are impregnated with this expectation we move the Spirit of God to do the Fathers works in us. 

The first use of the word Testimony in the Bible is Exodus 16:35 and it talks about keeping the “manna” in the Testimony for the generations who come after. Testimony is so critical for the next generation, your children and mine and their children after them. The people of God strayed in the desert and throughout most of the Old Testament age because their people stopped telling the next generation their Testimony with God. 

Where is your Testimony today? 

What is the Testimony of the church today? 

Almost all of the church is invisible in our nation today? 

Lets release Testimony and watch the Spirit of God move.

 A little later in time Moses built an Ark and was called the Ark of the Testimony (later known as the Ark of the Covenant). The point most of us miss is that the Presence of God sits upon the Testimony Ark, it’s the place where God meets with His people, the place where man comes into the Presence of God. It’ s no different today, the Spirit of God rides upon the Testimony of His people just like the Spirit of God moved as the Ark of Testimony moved in the Old Testament. Moses experienced God face to face and walked in His Presence, that invitation is open to you today, to feel God is normal and I suggest it’s the norm and should be your expectation. This verse has much more for us “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy”. Have you ever encountered the “Spirit of Prophecy”? It’s an uplifting experience. King Saul did when he met the prophets on the road and he began to prophesy with them. Prophecy is the Nature of God. 

Matthew 10:41 says “If you receive a prophet as a prophet, you receive a prophets reward”. Do you wish for this reward, and what about the experience which I say is uplifting? On top of grace, which is receiving what you do not deserve, there is also the principle of “reaping what you sow”. Well I want to tell you, you receive the prophet’s reward as a result of the importance which you place on the prophetic words you hear. If you contend for the prophetic word, like I said earlier, the Spirit creates that prophetic word once it is spoken, declared and proclaimed. 

The prophet’s reward is to hear from God. Contending brings the unseen from the Heavenly realm where it was created into the physical world where it will now be seen, it’s not bound by the constraints of Physics. This is the nature of the world we live in. I beg you to start living in this world.

Have you the courage to leave everything behind and step into the prophetic future and bring the manifestation of the two dreams I shared with you in the beginning of this paper into being. (A city surrendered to Christ, Baptised with the Holy Spirit). When this comes to be, nations will swarm to our nation to encounter the Presence of God. In the past our nation was called “the land of saints and scholars”, this is the modern name give it by intellects. At the said time our land was called “the land of apostles and prophets”, now just grasp our legacy and identity in the Kingdom of God. You know God is indebted to no nation, We as an “Apostolic, Prophetic Missionary Nation” brought an “Apostolic Gospel” to Europe, God’s pay back is 100 fold, are you contending for the outpouring that God intends for our people, He is waiting for us and will wait until the next generation unless the church today grasp and move in their divine calling.

All the choices are yours, be careful how you choose. What you decide to speak and think manifests around you. What’s taught in our churches manifest in our environment. The dimension in which you allow God speak will be the measure used upon you. Does your heart win the battle with reasoning? If you are a believer, which is your stronger man, your spirit man or flesh man? Does your desire to experience the Word win over your desire to know the word? Does your desire for the prophetic outweigh your fear of the prophetic? Does your duty to give praise and Testimony to God for what He does in your life win over your shyness or sense of modesty which dulls your speech? Is your kingdom a kingdom of light greater than your kingdom of darkness? Is your God greater than fear of the enemy? God is calling the church to shine forth His glory, are you waiting on your leaders to shine for you – believe me they can’t, they shine for Him but so must you.

I believe the church as we have known it, is now at a cross roads. The future church will be one who displays and models Gods true and full identity, His Triune identity. An Awakening is at hand where the new church will stand in the glory and splendour of the Fullness of the Spirit. The lack of “Presence” in the church will not be accepted, there is currently a hunger for more, and God satisfies the hungry. The new age movement displays more power than the children of God and the lack is not with God. What is your vision for 2013, vision forces you to follow your its plan and restricts all other options available to you, you become of one mind and come into agreement with the vision of God – your destiny. His vision for you fills every ache of your soul and blesses the nations as a consequence. His Kingdom Come be yours in 2013 and forevermore.

Declan D.

WHO AM I?

Shortly after I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit my whole life changed. One of the most significant changes that I have experienced in this time has been the revelation of true my identity, who I really am. This revelation from the Holy Spirit is changing me. Learning how to live this new identity is so exciting, incredibly challenging and amazingly rewarding. It’s simply learning to live “out of God”, I was created for this, it is simply my calling.

More than any other thing I would suggest, the revelation of one’s identity, is one of the primary functions of the person of the Holy Spirit on earth. As I have been walking through this identity issue, there is going on within me an “exchange”. I am receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit as to who I really am and in this process the Holy Spirit is revealing himself to me as a person, put another way as I get to know the Spirit, I get to know me. The more time I spend with the Holy Spirit, the more I get to know Him, the more I know Him the more He shows me who I am, the more I know my own identity the closer I walk with Him, the closer I walk with Him the further sin or the desire to sin departs from me. Simply spoken this is transformation.

As I was thinking over the new way I was now experiencing God, the Holy Spirit asked me a question which threw me back for a few months. I now think more than two years later I am grasping a new element of my identity, of who I am. One day the Holy Spirit all of a sudden asked me “Why do you take the name of the Lord in vain?" 

My first response was when? How? Where? I told Him I didn’t take Jesus name, or swear by His name or anything of the kind. Before I became a Christian I was guilty of this charge hour after hour. (In fact the day I became a Christian, the first miracle that happened to me was instantly my bad language was removed, this testified that something significant had changed when Jesus forgave me and became my Lord and Saviour). 

As I responded to the Holy Spirit, He replied and said the same thing “Why do you take the name of the Lord in vain?" 

From this point on I noticed a reaction in my spirit whenever I prayed and used the name of Jesus. My spirit was sensing a reaction from the Holy Spirit when at the end of my prayer I used the words “in Jesus name” a question started to burn within me as I tried to grapple with what this might be.  This was pressing hard on my spirit, all of a sudden I just stopped saying those words “in Jesus name”. 

As I prayed in meetings I would just end my prayer without saying those words. I knew that this position I was taking was unbiblical, in the book of Acts we see the example of the apostles in this regard. 

Acts 3:8 says “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” just to give you one example, but though I knew this I was unable to say it. I found it funny when others would say these words for me and that might be all they said. What were they doing? Why were they finishing off my prayers? They had no idea what was going on within me.

As time passed I pondered what the Holy Spirit was asking me “Why do you take the name of the Lord in vain?" In the past two years the Holy Spirit has worked with me on this one. I began to realise my words “in Jesus name” were just that, words, just plain vain words, and in using His glorious name in this way I was guilty of sinning against my Jesus though I never knew it.

Once this realisation sank home with me, I knew I needed to be taught how to move on from this point. Though I now had understanding, how would this new understanding change things? I knew it was offending the Holy Spirit and now more than ever I certainly did not utter those words. It’s amazing once I responded in obedience and stopped praying in Jesus name, the Holy Spirit moved and brought me on this amazing journey of revealing a truth that is changing my identity.

Romans 2:24 says "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of the people of God”. 

I believe I have been guilty of this charge. Many times I have prayed in the name of Jesus just like I said above and today I know those words of mine were just words, little different when Jesus accused the Pharisees of babbling when they prayed. Today when I use the words “in Jesus name” I know the power and authority I release in those moments. 

Psalm 115:16 says “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth He has given to man”. 

We mere humans have been given dominion on earth. Did you ever wonder of all places, why God decided to place man on earth, the same place He had cast down the fallen angel and all his hordes onto? 

Why make it so difficult for us having such a “powerful foe” opposing us. It did not take long until satan stole our authority in the garden when man (we) disobeyed God. 

God foresaw it and purposed a plan in us that pleased Him. Gods plan was to use His created beings (us) who worship Him to be the very agents to dislodge the enemies on this earth. After Jesus defeated him on the cross, God saw it proper that we His followers should make captives of our captors (Isaiah 14:2). 

We are purposed for it. I and you are uniquely made (Psalm 139:13-16), I and you are uniquely for a purpose, God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), I and you are uniquely placed in this generation, in the exact street you live (Acts 17:26) and I and you are uniquely gifted to bless those we live amongst (1 Peter 4:10-11). I can do best and you can do best, that for which the Father has designed you. If I don’t do it then another may do it but not to the mark that God ordained, it will be somehow flawed because if I fail to do so anything else is plan B. Just look at How God trusts and believes in me, no one else has this trust in you or me, no one. I am completely trusted by the Father and you too.

Isaiah 53:5 says Jesus has done it all, He has taken care of the sin issue and the disease issue “He was pierced for our transgressions….the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed."

Notice it’s all past tense, His work is finished as Jesus said on the Cross “It is finished”, ours is only starting and the starting point is that place of rest which Jesus restored. Jesus died on the cross for me, He took my place. In fact Jesus died as me, If I believe I have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). When I enter into the covenant of His Blood, I take His identity, I no longer live, but He lives in me. For the joy set before Jesus, He endured the cross. What was this joy? Yes it’s me and you. Imagine He considered it a joy to inherit us and became obedient to death on a tree. He did it because He loved us and if that was all He still would have done it, but no, that’s just a small part, there is much more, He did it also to defeat the work of the enemy on earth and we are part of that plan. 

Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases (It was the same when He sent out the 72), Luke 10:19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy. 

Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

So as you see all authority has been given us His followers.  Many of us talk about the great commission but few of us focus on the “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”. One of the most challenging of those commands is found in Matthew 10:7-8 as you go, preach this message: "The kingdom of heaven is near. 'Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Notice we are not commanded to pray for it). 

When the Holy Spirit connected these two verses for me it was an amazing revelation to me. Having been Baptised with the Holy Spirit three years ago this burning desire to move in healing prophetic evangelism has captured me, but my theology was stifling me. Now all of a sudden the display of the power and glory that accompanied the first Christians in the book of Acts was now within my realm of possibilities. This single revelation from the Holy Spirit removed from me ignorance in connection with healing and the gift of healing, removed the question in my head as to whether healing was for today and now for the first time my head and heart had come into agreement with scripture that physical healing was indeed for today. More than that, I now know I have authority to heal the sick. More than this I now am seeing breakthrough and release testimony. The people of God lost their way as it says in the Old Testament when they forgot about testimony and remembered it no more.

At a conference recently the Holy Spirit said to me “You have permission”. These words have been finding a home within me this last two months, at the time of hearing this it was hard to digest. As time passed it became more difficult. Tell me where does the authority in these words end? Think about it, to me there seems there is no end. Authority is nothing without power and power becomes nothing without authority. 

Acts 1:8 provides the answer to the power issue, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you”. This is not a salvation issue, over and over again in the New Testament we see that the believers were Baptised with the Holy Spirit. If they were already believers they already had been sealed with the Spirit, just read the Book of Acts and see it. How did I miss this truth for years? Who said the Christian life is boring, my journey these last three years has just been amazing, just utterly incredible and day by day, revelation after revelation I am finding out for the first time who I am. Just when you think you have a handle on it all another door opens. Right now the Holy Spirit is highlighting a word for me which is responsibility, and I know I will now learn from Him what this is all about. I sense a jigsaw coming together.

So what do I say? just to recap, He has given me authority to trample, Faith to believe, Words which become Spirit, and told me to go and move in his authority, told me I am as He is (1 John 4:17 “because as He is, so are we in this word”). He has put His words in my mouth, He has given me permission. He has told me He Knows me and not just my name, He has anointed me, He has released me in His authority, I could keep going. 

Just who am I? My mindset as a Christian for the first 20 years of my Christian walk has been a concentration on sin, my last three years an encounter with the Spirit where Truth is being revealed. A word I received from Spirit three years ago was 1 John 2:27 “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you, but as his anointing teaches you about all things"…. It has been so rewarding being taught by the Spirit, just sheer transformation. 

Many days I sat in tears just coming to terms with what He was teaching me. One of the favourites The Spirit has taught me is found in Numbers 6:24-27  “The Lord bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” 

I as a man can put the Lords name on a person, and because I do this simple act the Lord will bless them. Who am I, what is this call that I a child of the King possess.

Some might accuse me of being out of control, but you cannot be a Christian unless you are out of control, unless you wish to be one of the nominal kind. The measure you use defines the measure God uses so if you limit God you have limited yourself. To be a Christian and ALIVE you must surrender full control to the Holy Spirit and that place is achieved only when you are full with the Spirit, when you are filled with the Spirit, you are out of your own control and in His control. The ones who retain control are really the ones out of control because the scripture says God controls all things unless you hold out. I am the kingdom come, the kingdom of God is within me, I need to learn how to release that which is within. Unless you know who you are you are not in a position to release anything. Peter at the Gate of Beautiful could only give away what he had, and to give it away He had to know He had it. 

We are called to live from Heaven on earth, I am a citizen of heaven living on earth. My home is with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I am a Spiritual nomad, or if you like a “Spiritual Traveller”. Elijah was one, Elisha was one, Jesus, Philip, Paul and lastly John as can be seen from the Revelation4:1-2 “there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit" When John entered in at once he was in the Spirit, and we know from Romans the Kingdom is in the Spirit. All these years I have been an unbelieving believer, believing the bible but not really believing and accepting it for what is says. I challenge you, Dare to believe what it says.

Now just when I think I have this prayer thing figured out, the “in the name of Jesus” thing, the Spirit is telling me to stop praying. Scary for some but humbling for me. We pray for things that are already within our grasp. Many pray that God would come down and change our circumstances or touch our sick neighbour etc, but the truth is God came as a baby, grew in favour with the Father, died for the world and opened a way through His blood for the forgiveness of sin and thereby reconcile all who would call on His name. God has come and you are the answer to the prayer you make, many times God is not in your prayer, He is awaiting your faith to step into that which Jesus has already given you, He is waiting for you to take that authority that He has given you. The Holy Spirit is telling me to declare it, decree it and proclaim it and walk in it. The other night at 3am two men were damaging the bus shelter by our house, I could see them through the bedroom window but I did not engage with them. I had just asked the Holy Spirit that day to teach me how to walk in the heavenly realm. I commanded the two men to stop in the name of Jesus and do you know what happened..Nothing (I was speaking to them as flesh men). Just then I said “I bind you in the name of Jesus” (I spoke into the heavenly realm), instantly the two men stopped and walked away. Those men were drunk and in that state had opened themselves to the influence of a spirit of destruction. When I spoke into the spirit realm the authority of Christ was released and the inferior authority of the demonic spirit was instantly bound. When I release His words, all changes.

Christ came into my life when I became a believer, The Spirit of Christ came upon me when I was Baptised with the Holy Spirit. God’s agenda is “release”, I am enabled by the Spirit to release his Kingdom, I am the will of God prophesied. In the last days I will pour out my Spirit was the prophetic word of God, I am that Kingdom come, the Kingdom of the Spirit. I am transformed, that is who I am. The title of this paper posed a question “WHO AM I?”. The answer is in the question. I am who I am because the ancient “I AM” lives in me. He has given me identity, and that identity is His very presence within me enabled by His anointing upon me the Baptism with the Spirit. He makes me who I am, He makes me His Kingdom come. I live because He lives, I breathe because He gives me breath, I awaken because He opens my eyes. I am nothing without the Father, He sustains my every moment. I am revival and do you know what, you can be all this too. Dare to believe it and find yourself living it and not just talking it, though talking it prophesies it over your life. The cries of my earlier blogs have become my testimonies of today, God’s transformation power is extravagant. I praise Him because today He is enabling me live extravagantly and you know what I’m only starting to live this amazing marriage with my redeemer, and I live it through the enabling of the Spirit. Thankfully to this point He did not divorce me. Dare to believe it.

God does not do ordinary. If you just pray ordinary God does not need to be God and move – we can do this and answer those prayers ourselves. If fact many say we are the answer to the prayer ourselves and that is true because our prayer and expectation so ordinary. We are not the ones who can answer the extraordinarily un-unimaginable prayers, we are not the one who delivers the signs and miracles – but we are asked to step out and believe and as we step HE WILL MOVE. Become a people who move God.

You must make a space for God to move – God does the supernatural “stuff” but only for an expectant heart. Dare to believe it and be transformed.

Declan D.

Windmills

The following is a word that Lionel has had on his heart to share with us:

"While I was attending Core church for the visit of John Arnott of Toronto on afternoon of Saturday 10 November (and so good to see such a crowd there), and during the extended worship time, the revelation word of the Lord came to me:

I saw a large number of mines with much activity in different parts of Ireland, mining the dark ore, and drawing it to the surface, for export to the industrial areas of Ireland and abroad. Thirty years ago I had witnessed the extensive operations of Tara Mines of Navan in action, and remember the long railway wagons piled high with ore for delivery to Drogheda and abroad for processing. 

And then I saw that near to each of these mines were two types of mill – windmills (like Blennerhassett in Kerry) and watermills with huge timber mill wheels, being turned by relatively small streams.

The windmills were drawing up water from the depths of the earth, and the watermills were driving the grinding stones making flour out of the wheat grains. There were a few persons involved in tending and caring for these mills and the output of same, and where people were coming to each mill and gathering their fill of water and flour, to make the bread. All so vivid to an avid bread-maker!

An incomplete understanding came with the pictures:-

The mines and mining industrial scene is like a type of the church of this land, like a large industry involving huge energy (costly to the people), machinery, and activity. It was somehow smoggy like a Welsh coalfield village. I felt that I knew these people, but indistinct in appearance. 

The mills represent those small groups of people who are energised by the wind of the Spirit and the river of Life, content with the simple inspired activities, in harmony with the Life Force, giving freely of the fruit of the wind and water.

The fact that the activity of these people was close to the mining activity appeared to suggest to me that they were part of the wider whole scene involving the mining and the mills, but “driven” by a different inner force.

Reflection:

Where am I and where are you in the picture story? 

I felt that the fact that some people in the pictures were vaguely familiar indicated to me that I am somehow a part of this mining community and activity, but my desire, longing and motivation of my heart is in the activity of the mills. I love the fresh bread of the Presence.

At least the pictures and understanding are instructive for me, and hopefully corrective of the thoughts and intentions of my heart. 

As a member of Trinity Community I find this both disturbing and challenging."

Lionel Mackey

The Shepherd Who Led A Nation

The Old Testament is full of heroes. All through it, we come across a great man or woman of God who was provided to them at the right time.

When we read the story of Moses, it's obvious that the hand of God was on him all the way through his life. His first few months in Exodus are nothing short of miraculous. His mother was not going to let her son be killed by Pharaoh, so she hid him for 3 months. At this stage, it was getting too difficult to hide him any longer, so she sought God and then built him a crib that was made to float on the water.
Interesting how she trusted God to look after a helpless child so much, that she placed him in a river known for it's crocodiles!

Yet, God of course, could be trusted. He watched over Moses in such a way that he was attended to by his sister, nursed by his mother and then raised in a palace by the king's daughter. One act of trust in God made Moses a prince and it was this position that was going to make him a leader.

Moses as a young man, had now been raised in the palace. He knew about the one, true God and refused to worship the false gods of Egypt. He had been trained to be a prince, to live a life of authority and to see things as one who cared for those who were under his authority. This is why Moses was so angry when he saw a Hebrew man being mistreated by an Egyptian. The prince checked that the coast was clear and he killed the Egyptian, buried him in the sand and thought he got away from it.

Yet the next day, when he saw 2 Hebrews quarreling, the one who started the argument questioned Moses' motives, wondering if he was going to "Kill me as you did your fellow Egyptian?"
This must have really scared Moses as he fled the land and went to the land of Midian.

I was thinking about this and The Lord reminded me of a story a friend told me about something that happened to him on one continent, which he realised afterwards, was of the enemy.
He arrived back in Dublin, and a good while later (I seem to recall that it was a number of months), a similar situation came up when a person he was talking to, spoke of the incident in the other country, saying that he had no authority because of it.
This was in a different city, in a different land, on a different continent and in a different language, with different people, yet he was challenged by the enemy specifically.
He recognised this straight away and was able to deal with the situation, thanks to the Holy Spirit giving him wisdom to do it.
I wonder if this is what happened with Moses? Was the devil having a go at him directly? Did someone witness the fight or was it the enemy who was accusing him?

Our God is bigger than anything the enemy can throw at us, so even when the enemy tries to flex his muscles across different continents, you need to remind him that he has no authority over us, other than any that we give him (letting the enemy into situations gives him sway over how we act and react). Jesus defeated him on the cross and his victory is eternal. 
Jesus spoke in Matthew 28 v 18 saying:

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."

So if Jesus said He has all authority in heaven and on earth, then the devil has none!

But back to Moses, he had glanced to see that there was nobody watching him and then killed the Egyptian. If nobody saw him, how did this Hebrew know about it?
The enemy is known as the accuser of the brethren, he will throw your past failures at you in an attempt to stop you fulfilling your God given position that has full authority over him.
It was the Hebrew who started the fight that accused Moses, and Moses fled, knowing that he'd be in serious trouble for killing an Egyptian.

Moses had been trained to take care of those under him, and in doing that, he got into trouble. Moses had the mindset of a prince and that meant he had great concern for the people under him.
A prince takes responsibility and acts out of authority.

When Moses stopped running, he was thrown straight into another conflict. He stepped into the place where others were being bullied and stood up for them, only this time, he was rewarded for his deed, and got a wife and a family along with a job as a shepherd. (Exodus 2)

Moses, who had been stepping into situations and standing up for others, was now tasked with looking after a flock of sheep.

The man who was born a Levite, had married into a Levite family and was in the process of becoming one of the greatest men to walk this planet, who would soon see the Glory of God Ex 33 was watching sheep in the desert when he was called into his ministry at the burning bush.

Sometimes, God needs to take us back to basics before He will allow us to move into the place He has destined us to be. This time with Jethro would have been a time of real teaching for Moses, after all, Jethro was a priest and Moses would have sat with him, learning the ways of the Lord that he had missed out on while he was in Egypt.

Moses had moved from the palace where God wasn't honoured, to a desert where God was present. He had moved from a time of barrenness to a time of abundance.

The thing that amazes me is that Moses was around 80 years old when this happened. God is not concerned about our age. He looks at our heart (1 Sam 16v7) and will call us into where He wants us to be, when we are ready. It took Moses 80 years to be ready to lead the Israelites, so don't ever listen to the lie that you're too old!

The next part of Moses life centered around the Israelites leaving Egypt. God uses him mightily and sent plague after plague until Pharaoh relented and let them go. Then, when they left, he realised his mistake and chased them down.
Moses, by this stage, knew his God much better than he had as a younger man, and he just trusted Him to fulfill the prophecy that he had been given in Exodus 3v8

"So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites."

God had spoken, Moses knew God's promise had not been fulfilled so he knew God was going to help them out. God allowed them to cross the sea on dry land and they entered the desert and the first major step in the direction of the promised land.

God knew that everything that had happened in Moses' life was helping him to become the man God saw him to be. He became a prince, to speak up for the weak, he became a shepherd, to hear from the Lord, he became a leader, to rescue a nation and he became a man who saw the Glory of God.
God is the only one who can turn any situation around in your life. He is the only one who can bring about an outcome that even in your wildest dreams, you never could have seen.
He can use a child who was condemned to death before he was born, to stand before a king as an 80 year old man, tell him to let his slaves be freed- and by the way, why not give us a load of gifts too while you're at it.

Whatever is going on in your life, God can help you. Moses demonstrated the relationship that could be attained with God in the old testament. Jesus allows all of us to step into that right now, and the situation, whatever it is, is never too big for God to intervene in.

Roger C.

The Father’s Cry

I am hearing and have been hearing a cry from the Father in recent months that I have not heard before. Maybe I have not been able to hear His cry before or maybe I have been crying so loud that I drown out His cry. Maybe my crying has brought me to a place that I can hear His cry. I don’t know for sure but I do know I hear His cry today.

When I reflect on this, I have many thoughts and they all seem to point in the same direction. I am asking why is the church today so hurting? Why such brokenness, turmoil, un-happiness, despair, defeat and lacking? Why do we see so little of the Kingdom? Why do we not see prosperous souls? Why do we see so little testimony of the abundant life that Jesus spoke about? Why do we see more defeat than victory, a remnant and not the many or nothing like the nations spoken of in the great commission? Why is our vision so small, why not the immeasurably more that Paul speaks of in the Book of Ephesians? Are these matters connected with our poverty of vision? Does God sense the lacking in our heart and therefore allows our environment reflect that poverty of spirit? Have we become a people afraid to dream and as a result have grown content with that which we now possess? 

By now you have the gist of what I am seeing and sensing and it’s not my intention to be judge, indeed I am not or I don’t wish to provoke you to become judgemental. I am just speaking the questions that my heart is asking God.

In church now for almost a year the same prophetic words are being spoken over and over again. I divide these words into two categories or groups. One speaks of an outpouring of the Spirit amongst us (river flowing, rain falling, downpour, flood, glory and a flow of liquid molten rock). The other speaks of a blockage, restriction, holding back or being held back (oil wells capped, shackles on our ankles, dehydrated church, feet stuck and a body buried alive reaching out to be rescued). The words appear to be at odds with each other though I sense they are incredibly linked, the outpouring is the solution to the dehydration . One suggests amazing potential in our body but the other suggests there is something holding it all back. One soaked with God ordained blessing and favour, the other hemmed in awaiting release by man. 

Do you ever ponder these words we hear every other week? Do you ever wonder what it is that God is saying? Do you ever feel when we meet as a body something is wrong, something missing? Do you ever feel what we experience resembles religion more so than intimacy or encounter with the living God, if we don’t move into what the Father is saying its religion we have. Many days I feel robbed in the body and yet my heart so desires to be there because that is where we should be. Am I the only one who feels like so? For years I lived out of a poverty spirit, today I don’t accept it. I sense we are being robbed and God too. In Lucan congregation two years ago, a word “we are being robbed” was spoken in our meeting, today I sense the same thing happening.

Where are the ones that live out of Christ’s victory? Where are the ones who are more than conquerors? Where are the ones who will do greater than that which Jesus did? Where is the one that trusts fully in Christ? A verse recently shared with the body 1 John 5:18 “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him”. Why does sin prevail in individuals saved by Christ? What is wrong? 

Though we understand and identify sin easily, sensing that we are not who we are meant to be is somewhat harder than knowing we sin. On the cross Jesus said forgive them Father for they do not know what they do, even then they did not sense what was really going on. Many today don’t discern either and may feel its normal and therefore they don’t know that they are living in a place of “lack”, or living with a poverty of spirit mentality. But there are also many who know it and don’t know how to respond or react in that place. I was there for years and not one recognized it. Why? Why did I live with such pain and hurt for years and it go undetected? Why?

Jesus’ death was for a purpose. Don’t allow yourself miss any of that which the Father intended for you. Jesus deserves every ounce of what he put into the cross. The cross is a gate to life. Life is not at the gate, but through the gate. Don’t stay at the gate, gates are access points. The Father cries that you come to Him, coming to Him is entering His presence, not staying at the gate. I stayed at the gate for 20 years. Why?

When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, we read after Jesus came up out of the water in John 1:29-34 that the Spirit came down and remained on Him. Note it says “remained on Him”. Isaiah 42:1 talks of God putting the Spirit on the Lord (note - not in Him). When you become a Christian you receive the Spirit into you. The Baptism with the Spirit is completely different. Grasping this single point helped change my life. 
Looking back at Jesus it then says ‘Then Jesus full of the Holy Spirit was led by the Spirit into the desert’. To be led also means follows, so Jesus followed the Spirit. 
We can read in Luke 4 what happened to Jesus in the desert…three times Jesus defeated the devil and Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. Jesus demonstrated what so many of us miss and I have missed this for all these years since I became a Christian. Fortunately for me “a knowing” inside of me that there was something wrong caused me to literally cry and call out to God for the more I read about in His word but had not ever experienced. 

Today I hear the Father crying, it’s a cry of his broken heart, a cry that says I want you, it’s a cry that is saying God is also missing something. Please don’t jump on this comment, yes I know God is complete and therefore does not lack, but amazingly He allows Himself be in that vulnerable place of missing you. Jesus cried over Jerusalem, reflecting the Fathers heart, please hear what I am saying, the Father is crying over you, there is more than you currently experience, much more.

Am I speaking clearly above, do you hear me, listen and wait until you hear the Father’s cry yourself? Today most of the church lives in a salvation mindset, one which says I’m saved by the cross of Jesus, I am a Christian. Many Christians are afraid to move from this position. Jesus never told His disciples to wait for the cross or indeed at the cross, but He did tell them to wait for the Holy Spirit. The salvation mindset is better than nothing but if that’s all you have, you are living out of a poverty mentality. There is much more than the cross. 

In the Old Testament we read of Moses’ Baptism, he brought God’s people out of captivity and baptized them so to speak when they came through the Red Sea. This signifies the Baptism of Repentance. A poverty mentality came over those people in the desert. Joshua and Caleb thought differently though. They did not fear the enemy like so many then and so many today. I was there for many years but not so today. Today I believe what the bible says and I trust in Christ, experiencing the reality of this has been an amazing breakthrough for me. I always believed it in my head, I trusted Christ but I doubted much because I did not experience it. 

When I was baptised with the Holy Spirit and experienced the Holy Spirit in my life everything changed instantly. Joshua in the Old Testament also baptised the people of God when they went through the Jordan River on dry land to enter the Promised Land. This was the second Baptism of the Old Testament. Jesus had a second Baptism and now I know I have had a second Baptism. Believe me this is outside the box for me because my background or my experience of Christianity did not have a shelf for the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Note when Joshua brought the people of God through the Jordan River, they did not stay at that place where they entered the Promised Land, they captured and possessed the land. God is calling us to possess our spiritual birthright, our land, our nation. That’s our co-mission from the Father.

I believe we are limiting the gospel today and as a result we pick up only a little of the plunder that Jesus left at the foot of the cross when he defeated death. The plunder is the spoils of war for the victors. Who are the victors? If we are honest we have to admit that we have left far too much at the foot of the cross for far too long. More and more I am believing that we have a “remnant expectation”, we dare not expect much by way of miracles, signs and wonders or a harvest because if we allow ourselves have great expectations, we believe we will be disappointed. I use believe this now I know otherwise because I have seen it and tasted it. I believe we are on the brink of an amazing revival in Ireland, this revival is birth in the Holy Spirit, the unknown person of God in this country. Those who step into the Spirit will walk in revival. I know because I can testify to it and so can a number of others amongst us. Am I saying that I am better than you or a better Christian? No not at all, I am saying I am not settling for less and I expect exceedingly more than that which I have now begun to see.

During the week I read Isaiah 41, I found myself asking where are the Christians such as Isaiah prophesied?

"8 But you Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, 9 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11 “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. 12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. 13 For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. 14 Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you,” declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15 “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. 16 You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the LORD and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Where are the ones that claim Jesus’ victory over the enemy? Where are the ones He made into a threshing sledge? Where are the ones that crush mountains? Where are the ones that move with the wind of the Spirit? Today after spending 20 years having my mind battered by the enemy, I have moved into the place of Christ’s victory and I experience His victory in my mind and as a result in my body. The taunts of the enemy are feeble now and I just tell him “IT IS FINISHED” at the cross and he is on his way then. Simple but effective, freedom by the Spirit as promised.  

In all the fuss of life have you like me left the Holy Spirit out of the picture. Isaiah 10:27 says that it’s the anointing that breaks the yoke. The yoke upon me was broken when I was baptised with the Holy Spirit. Today I am seeing Christ’s victory manifest in my life. The person of the Holy Spirit has changed my life completely and in the Holy Spirit I now walk in the presence of the Father. He fights for me and walks before me, it’s a wonderful transformation that I have experienced. This week I was challenged to see the body of Christ as my body. In response to this challenge I write this paper and say to you, this body of mine sees the Father crying for you to experience all of what He has for you. As you experience this abundance, do you know I am going to be blessed because you will become a revelation of the Fathers glory on earth, namely Christ? (1 John 4:17).   

We read in Isaiah 42:16-17

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. But those who trust in idols, who say to images, 'You are our gods,' will be turned back in utter shame”

Are you willing to walk in ways unknown to you, along unfamiliar paths because if you are Jesus will lead you there. He will do for you as He has for me, turn the darkness into light before you. To do so you must turn from your idols. Now an idol is an Old Testament word that few of us understand, it simply means something that’s man made and the worst idol of all is religion. Religion is not about which church you attend it’s about the affection and state of your heart.

Isaiah 43:18-21

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past See, I am doing a new thing! …… I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. …… I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise”

I am hungry for the new things of the Father. Are you? To drink from His river requires a heart set on pilgrimage as said in Psalm 84, a heart that says I have had enough of the old, I want new wine. Andrea Wigglesworth carried a similar prophetic word to us last year. Andrea cried “out with the ordinary in with the extraordinary”. 

Today the Father lays before us a “new thing”, though there may be shackles before us or indeed holding us back, if we are willing to take hold of the Father’s promises, He is willing to break those shackles. For some it’s taking hold of the promises, for others it repentance and forgiveness that will break the shackles from your feet, but I guess it both these for most of us and I believe this is an individual thing and indeed a corporate thing for the body. It’s time, it’s time for release and taking hold of His Kingdom. Don’t wait for tomorrow, tomorrow never comes.

Romans 14:17 says “For the kingdom of God is in the Holy Spirit”. I challenge you to adapt a “kingdom mindset” and leave behind a “salvation mindset”. This nation of ours is crying like the Father, our nation crys for an encounter with the living God. I cried for this encounter for years and that desire has and is being fulfilled. Today I hear the Fathers cry, something I never heard before, it’s so beautiful and intimate, it will make you cry. Experience the Father and you will be transformed.


Declan D.