Restoring The Roar (Part 6)
1 Thessalonians 5: 23
23 Now may the God of peace sanctify you (make you holy) in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
Proverbs 18: 14
The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble, but a weak and broken spirit who can raise up or bear
We have been declaring that 2016 is the year of the righteous roar.
Last time I shared about hearing the Lord say back in 1991, “I am giving you this land, go in and possess it.” I also shared that there will always be opposition to a word like that.
We looked at how Jesus came in the power of the Spirit from his encounter with the devil in the wilderness back to his local congregation, where he read from the scroll of Isaiah, closed the book, sat down, and declared that this was a now word. And then the opposition began.
There are lots of people who love to talk about revival, and that is not a bad thing, but when you introduce the concept of revival now or the fact that you believe you are already living in revival they can get a bit funny with you.
You get a lot of the same “if’s” that Jesus got.
If you are in revival why are people not falling down in repentance when you walk into a room? I think to myself when I hear that, do you mean like they did every time Jesus walked into a room? Except that is not what happened.
If you are in revival why don’t you go down to the local hospital and heal everybody. Again I think to myself, do you mean like Jesus did at the pool of Bethesda or back in his home region? That is not exactly how it panned out.
People struggle with revival now because they have been programmed with stories from revival past, and have pre-conceived ideas regarding revival future being just like revival past or at least revival past as they have heard it was.
Remember, the opposition begins when you proclaim a now word.
You see, in order to receive what we are believing for you have to fight through the disagreement, you have to push through the opposition.
Remember the woman with the issue of blood. Religious tradition, in fact the law of God himself, said she shouldn’t even be in the crowd that day. But she had heard about Jesus, and that he healed the sick, and she heard it as a now word. And so she kept speaking it out as she pushed through the opposition.
You see, when the word becomes a now word it releases a new thing. The law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The law was in place until the one who perfectly fulfilled the law arrived and established a new and better covenant based upon better promises.
The new covenant is not based on our ability to keep the law, but is accessed by believing the love that God has for us as our heavenly Father, love that he demonstrated at the Cross when he gave his only begotten Son as a perfect sacrifice that was once and for all time acceptable to satisfy his justice and to release all of those who were under the penalty of death.
The new covenant that doesn’t isolate the unclean, but cleanses and includes them.
Now word = new thing.
It was the same with the gentile woman whose daughter was demon-possessed. Even Jesus’ disciples were part of the opposition, telling Jesus to send her away. Jesus himself seemed to be resisting her. But she had heard how Jesus delivered people from demons.
She heard it as a now word, and it brought her into the revelation of the new thing, the new covenant that was going to expand the family of God and give everyone, Jew or gentile the right to be called a child of God, and to sit at his table and receive his life-giving bread.
When you receive the word as a now word get ready to experience the new thing.
2 Corinthians 5: 17 (Amplified)
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Saviour], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].
When you embrace your new spirit life you become more aware of the spiritual opposition. It very often doesn’t make any sense from a natural perspective, just like it didn’t make
any sense for the people in Jesus’ local synagogue to react in the way that they did to the incredibly good news he had just shared with them.
That is why the Holy Spirit gives us the supernatural ability to discern when the opposition we are facing is spiritual opposition. It pays to remember that our battle is always a spiritual battle first.
2 Corinthians 10: 3 – 5
3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.
What are the strongholds? They are the things that make no sense, the mindsets impregnated with hopelessness that cause people (including many believers) to passively accept rather than actively resist something that is contrary to the will of God as revealed in his word. The only thing that religious tradition tends to actively resist is change.
Over the past few months in New Wine Church Stornoway I have been teaching on receiving the land that has been given to us. I have been emphasising that when we say land we should see people because land is always about people, it is for people to occupy.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and filled them with everything that would provide a life of care-free superabundance to be enjoyed in all of its glorious fullness. And then he created the first people.
After they blew it and things had become so dark that all of men’s thoughts were only evil all the time God did a clean sweep and started again with a man called Noah and his family. He blessed them, and told them to refill the earth with people.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is actually the first time that grace shows up in the word of God. It is interesting that Noah means ‘rest’ because our battle is not a flesh battle of striving, it is a spirit battle of resting. Jesus invites us to come to him and learn how to do naturally supernatural living from a position of rest.
I mentioned last time that back in 1991 when the Lord said to me on the top of Ben Bragar, “I am giving you the land ”, that I was in complete agreement with that promise.
You see, we believe on the mountaintop (love believes all things), but we receive in the valley, and love is the activator and the energiser and the motivator for the active and aggressive expectancy that keeps us in receiving mode.
Exodus 17: 8 – 13
8 Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Moses was on top of the ridge with his hands held high, and Joshua was in the valley in the midst of the battle, facing the opposition. As long as Moses’ arms were lifted up, with the help of Aaron and Hur, there was victory on the battlefield.
There must be a connection maintained between believing and receiving. Spirit prayer, spirit praise, and spirit proclamation all maintain that connection.
We can have perfect confidence in our ability to win every battle because our commander is continually in position praying for us and ensuring our victory.
Joshua just had to look up from the valley floor and see Moses’ arms lifted high to know that the battle was won, and we simply need to keep looking to Jesus who is the author and the finisher of our faith to be assured that our victory in every skirmish is guaranteed.
Previously we looked at three guys who recognised that the life we have been created to live is first of all spirit life.
Caleb had a different spirit, Daniel had an excellent spirit, and David after he had messed up cried out to God for the restoration of a right, steadfast, stable, faithful spirit.
It is interesting that each of these guys also had revelation of the connection between land and people.
Caleb believed that God had promised the land of abundant provision to his people and refused to be intimidated by the opposition.
Daniel excelled as an exile in an alien land and acted as a protector of his people by maintaining a kingdom first position within that land regardless of the opposition. He also received insight into God’s timetable for restoring his people to their own land.
David was the greatest king ever over the nation of Israel and the people were blessed and prospered more in the land during his reign than under any other king. As a result of David’s leadership they successfully dealt with all of the opposition.
It is easy to get excited in church, but the land we have been given to possess is not in church where there is agreement. It is outside where there is disagreement.
That is why it is time for the righteous to roar. It is time to move from passive acceptance to active and aggressive expectancy.
IT IS WRITTEN….IT IS FINISHED….GOD LOVES ME….I AM RIGHTEOUS….I AM HEALED…..I AM DELIVERED….I AM PROSPEROUS…..JESUS IS LORD…..
Jesus ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father. He never gets weary and so he is interceding for us continually, praying that our faith that is the guarantee of victory in every battle will not fail.
When Jesus ascended he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, to equip the church with the word of faith. The word that ensures victory.
Remember what Jesus did after that first attempt to bring the prophetic word to his local townspeople in Nazareth? He did the smart thing and walked away. Later on he gives us some insight following another visit to the same region when he says that a prophet is not without honour except in his own country and among his own people.
The prophetic word isn’t always received with open arms, and so there will often be opposition. But only the prophetic word brings heaven to earth and clears the land for the people to live in the fullness of the Father’s provision and protection.
Many years ago the Lord said to me that if love doesn’t work then don’t try anything else. If someone doesn’t respond to the message and ministry of the Father’s protection and provision today then stay in love and believe that they will be more open to receive tomorrow or the next day or next month, or next year, or in ten year’s time. Love never fails, quits, or gives up.
One of the things that has left generational scars on the psyche of the people of the highlands and islands of Scotland is what happened when greedy and arrogant men cleared the land of people, driving them from their homes, in order to graze the land with sheep.
In a similar way there are those today who are self-appointed guardians of dead religious tradition who seek to protect that tradition at the expense of precious people who are dying without God and without hope when they were created to live a life of carefree superabundance. That is not natural, that is spiritual.
Jesus commissioned us to invade the land with the good news of his kingdom, and it’s all about people. When he delivered his mission statement in his home town it was all about people. When he commissioned his disciples to go and preach the good news of the kingdom it was all about people. Hurting, broken, disenfranchised, marginalised, oppressed, people. He said heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, drive out demons.
We are to cover the land we have been given with this message of good news, informing people that they can have access to all of heaven’s resources and be equipped for victory in every battle. Our local churches should be places from which the land can be redeemed for the people who were created to live there in care-free superabundance.
It might not sound very religious, but it is the now word that Jesus, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, released into the earth.
Remember, we were born to roar.
“When lions roar loudly and deeply – terrifying every creature within earshot – they are saying, ‘I am here, this is my territory, get out of here.”
This is our territory and so the spiritual opposition needs to hear the roar of spirit prayer, the roar of spirit praise, and the roar of spirit proclamation that brings healing to the broken-hearted, preaches deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, that sets at liberty the oppressed, and announces the year of the Lord’s favour and the time when the free favours of God profusely abound.
Release the roar…..