The man slowly looked up.

This was a woman clearly accustomed to the finer things of life. Her coat was new. She looked like she had never missed a meal in her life.

His first thought was that she wanted to make fun of him, like so many others had done before. “Leave me alone,” he growled….

To his amazement, the woman continued standing.

She was smiling — her even white teeth displayed in dazzling rows. “Are you hungry?” she asked.

“No,” he answered sarcastically. “I’ve just come from dining with the president. Now go away..”

The woman’s smile became even broader..

Suddenly the man felt a gentle hand under his arm.

“What are you doing, lady?” the man asked angrily. “I said to leave me alone.

Just then a policeman came up.. “Is there any problem, ma’am?” he asked..

“No problem here, officer,” the woman answered “I’m just trying to get this man to his feet.. Will you help me?”

The officer scratched his head. “That’s old Jack. He’s been a fixture around here for a couple of years. What do you want with him?”

“See that cafeteria over there?” she asked. “I’m going to get him something to eat and get him out of the cold for awhile.”

“Are you crazy, lady?” the homeless man resisted. “I don’t want to go in there!” Then he felt strong hands grab his other arm and lift him up. “Let me go, officer. I didn’t do anything.”

“This is a good deal for you, Jack,” the officer answered. “Don’t blow it.”
Finally, and with some difficulty, the woman and the police officer got Jack into the cafeteria and sat him at a table in a remote corner. It was the middle of the morning, so most of the breakfast crowd had already left and the lunch bunch had not yet arrived…

The manager strode across the cafeteria and stood by his table. “What’s going on here, officer?” he asked. “What is all this, is this man in trouble?”

“This lady brought this man in here to be fed,” the policeman answered.

“Not in here!” the manager replied angrily. “Having a person like that here is bad for business.”

Old Jack smiled a toothless grin.. “See, lady. I told you so Now if you’ll let me go. I didn’t want to come here in the first place.”

The woman turned to the cafeteria manager and smiled. “Sir, are you familiar with Eddy and Associates, the banking firm down the street?”

“Of course I am,” the manager answered impatiently. “They hold their weekly meetings in one of my banquet rooms.”

“And do you make a goodly amount of money providing food at these weekly meetings?”

“What business is that of yours?”

I, sir, am Penelope Eddy, president and CEO of the company.”

“Oh.”

The woman smiled again. “I thought that might make a difference.” She glanced at the cop who was busy stifling a giggle. “Would you like to join us in a cup of coffee and a meal, officer?”

“No thanks, ma’am,” the officer replied. “I’m on duty.”

“Then, perhaps, a cup of coffee to go?”

“Yes, ma’am. That would be very nice.”

The cafeteria manager turned on his heel, “I’ll get your coffee for you right away, officer.”

The officer watched him walk away.. “You certainly put him in his place,” he said.

“That was not my intent. Believe it or not, I have a reason for all this.”

She sat down at the table across from her amazed dinner guest. She stared at him intently.. “Jack, do you remember me?”

Old Jack searched her face with his old, rheumy eyes.. “I think so — I mean you do look familiar.”

“I’m a little older perhaps,” she said. “Maybe I’ve even filled out more than in my younger days when you worked here, and I came through that very door, cold and hungry.”

“Ma’am?” the officer said questioningly. He couldn’t believe that such a magnificently turned out woman could ever have been hungry.

“I was just out of college,” the woman began. “I had come to the city looking for a job, but I couldn’t find anything. Finally I was down to my last few cents and had been kicked out of my apartment. I walked the streets for days. It was February and I was cold and nearly starving. I saw this place and walked in on the off chance that I could get something to eat.”

Jack lit up with a smile. “Now I remember,” he said. “I was behind the serving counter. You came up and asked me if you could work for something to eat. I said that it was against company policy.”

“I know,” the woman continued. “Then you made me the biggest roast beef sandwich that I had ever seen, gave me a cup of coffee, and told me to go over to a corner table and enjoy it. I was afraid that you would get into trouble… Then, when I looked over and saw you put the price of my food in the cash register, I knew then that everything would be all right.”

“So you started your own business?” Old Jack said.

“I got a job that very afternoon. I worked my way up. Eventually I started my own business that, with the help of God, prospered.” She opened her purse and pulled out a business card. “When you are finished here, I want you to pay a visit to a Mr. Lyons…He’s the personnel director of my company. I’ll go talk to him now and I’m certain he’ll find something for you to do around the office.” She smiled. “I think he might even find the funds to give you a little advance so that you can buy some clothes and get a place to live until you get on your feet.. If you ever need anything, my door is always opened to you.”

There were tears in the old man’s eyes. “How can I ever thank you?” he said.

“Don’t thank me,” the woman answered. “To God goes the glory. Thank Jesus… He led me to you.”

Outside the cafeteria, the officer and the woman paused at the entrance before going their separate ways…

“Thank you for all your help, officer,” she said.

“On the contrary, Ms. Eddy,” he answered. “Thank you. I saw a miracle today, something that I will never forget. And..And thank you for the coffee.”

If you have missed knowing me, you have missed nothing.

But, if you have missed knowing my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, you have missed everything in the world.

Have a Wonderful Day. May God Bless You Always and don’t forget that when you “cast your bread upon the waters,” you never know how it will be returned to you..

God is so big He can cover the whole world with his Love and so small He can curl up inside your heart..

When God leads you to the edge of the cliff, trust Him fully and let go.
Only 1 of 2 things will happen, either He’ll catch you when you fall, or He’ll teach you how to fly!

The power of one sentence!

God is going to shift things around for you today and let things work in your favor!

If you believe, pass it on.
If you don’t believe, forget it.

God closes doors no man can open & God opens doors no man can close..
If you need God to open some doors for you…send this on.

Have a blessed day and remember to be a blessing…

In bringing the Kingdom relationship with Papa into the world:
You may only give what you have……in your heart
Show what you see……in your heart
speak what you hear…….in your heart

Out of the heart
the mouth speaks
the hand moves
the restoration comes.

http://www.brilliantbookhouse.com/index.php?SESe4=SE4HDMTc1YThhYTNW6e5tipg2r__3sl__vcVm8XE8NfjhmXGImawU__2pl__tYFmLasLtWcq323igkG0hXXOvgkjfsWM__1eq__SE4FT

Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment
Written by: Kris Vallotton

It’s been said that God does nothing in the affairs of men except they pray.  Prayer is the catalyst for worldwide transformation.  Prayer incites the angels, restrains darkness, and releases nations into their destiny.  Prayer is the key to revival, building bridges between what should be and what will be.

The devil also knows the power of prayer and he understands that he can’t stop us from praying.  But he is the master of deception and he tries to convince us that his destructive schemes are “acts of God” so Believers will not release the arsenal of Heaven against him!  Unfortunately, satan has been more successful at deceiving the saints recently than he has for decades.  One of the ways he has shrewdly crept into our society is by convincing the Church that it is our responsibility to release the wrath of God against sinners.  This authorizes the dethroned prince of darkness to kill, steal and destroy while we stand aside applauding the demise of these ravaged people. To make matters worse, this evil prince frames the Lord of Redemption for his crimes, poisoning the people of His passion, which causes many of them to reject His wedding invitation. Meanwhile, those who have been empowered to police this property lack discernment and assist these angels of light in their killing spree.

In the last decade the “Doomsday” prophets seemed to have come out of hibernation. In 1997, my own parents moved out of the San Francisco Bay Area to avoid the wrath of a great earthquake prophesied to strike southern California. This quake was going to destroy Hollywood for its immoral pollution of the media and San Francisco for its homosexual perversion. The word also predicted that northern California would become “ocean front property.”

My mom and dad relocated from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe near Nevada, hoping to find a prophetic “no-fly” zone.  Just about the time my folks got settled, several prophets began to prophesy about an upcoming international famine. This became known around the world as the “Y2K bug.” This bug was going to judge us for making our intellect a god.  It was the perfect “God Scheme.”  The whole plan was to be hidden by our foolish confidence in man’s brilliance. It seemed that the Lord had blinded every computer nerd in the world, keeping them from discovering too soon that we would all be starving over the lack of a digit.  What a way to go! There would be rioting in the streets; people would be fighting off the temptation to cannibalize their neighbors and children!  Businesses and governments would crumble next.  Some even predicted this would start the “Mother of all Wars.”  People streamed in mass to buy generators and guns to protect their food in the “Name of the Lord.” Needless to say, these preparations proved to be pointless, and my parents are still driving for hours to reach the ocean.

September 11, 2001 will forever be branded in the minds of Americans as a monument to murder.   America woke up to the sounds of people screaming, many of them on fire as they exited the black smoke of a man-made hell. Explosions could be heard in the background as buildings crumbled and thousands were trapped in would-be tombs.  Weeping and wailing were heard for miles as people wandered aimlessly through the streets looking for their loved ones. Many jumped to their death from these flaming infernos. Deep sadness and fear blanketed the whole earth as the news spread.  Everywhere, people were crying out for mercy for those who were still counted among the missing.  People were glued to their TV sets, praying, hoping and believing that life would emerge from the rubble.

Although the “Prophets of Doom” had not prophesied this disaster, declarations of darkness began to emerge from what was supposed to be the “House of Hope.” Before we could ask ourselves why such a mindless act of horror would be perpetrated on the lives of the many innocent who died that day, numerous Prophets began to proclaim that this terrorist attack was God’s judgment for the sins of our nation.  Their thesis was that God was angry over the abortion, homosexual, and pornography issues, so he decided to kill a bunch of people to make His point. Can you imagine the grief that beset those who had lost loved ones and were now being confronted by an angry God who wanted to kill more people?  This attitude reminds me of something Jesus said, “In the last days the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12.)

It seems that many of God’s Prophets are slow learners as a whole new wave of prophetic judgments are being released over San Francisco, Northern California and Hollywood again. These judgments are predicated on a huge misunderstanding of New Testament prophetic ministry in the Church today. The Church needs to realize that the crucifixion of Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets!  We need to stop doing for the devil what he can’t do for himself!

Let’s take a look at the goal of New Testament ministry and means of achieving it according to the Apostle Paul. He wrote:

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17-21.)

Two things come to light in these passages: number one, New Testament ministry is the “ministry of reconciliation”. And number two, the way God reconciles people to Himself is by “not counting their trespasses against them!” In the Old Testament the primary role of the Prophet was to decree judgments for national transgressions because sin required judgment under the Law. But in the New Testament, the crucifixion of Christ paid the price that judgment required, thereby fulfilling justice and ultimately releasing mercy to millions of sinners who didn’t deserve it (people like you and me, for instance).

It never seems to dawn on some Believers that we didn’t get into the Kingdom through our works but through His (Christ’s).  Sinners who discipline themselves into good behavior are still sinners who are in need of a savior.  No one can behave their way into Heaven!  Trying to get into Heaven through disciplined behavior is called self-righteousness and it is ugly to God!

Jesus said, “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it (Luke 16:16). The Law said, “You can’t come into the Kingdom because you haven’t kept all the rules!”  The Prophets continued the same theme, proclaiming judgments on the world for their (our) wickedness. But then, suddenly, something amazing happened; unrighteous people began turning the Cross of Christ into a battering ram and through a violent act of grace they forced their way into the Kingdom!

Jesus told us, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men” (Matthew 5:13). In Jesus’ day, they didn’t have refrigerators to store their food.  Salt was the primary means by which they preserved their meat and poultry.  Through this analogy, the Lord is teaching us that the Church is the element in society that preserves the culture from the wrath of God and the destruction of evil forces.  A great example of this is Joseph, who released a corporate blessing through his righteous life.  His presence in Egypt caused the Israelites and the Egyptians to be spared from a worldwide famine.

Jesus also said that when salt becomes tasteless, it is not good for anything except to be walked on by men.  In other words, the people of that day would taste the salt and if it was no longer salty, they knew that it would not keep their food from spoiling. It’s important to remember that Jesus is not really talking about preserving meat, but describing the Body of Christ.  So what does it mean to become tasteless?  It implies that we have stopped preserving the world. You can tell when the Church has become tasteless because we begin to prophesy against the people we are supposed to be preserving.

Not only is the Church preservation (salt), but we are also revelation (light).  In the book of Matthew Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14.)  What does it mean to be light, and what is it that we are illuminating? We are shedding light on the nature of God; how He thinks and acts in the affairs of men.  We are the revelation of the Father and His love letter to the world.  We re-present Christ to the lost. The world looks to us to understand world events through the eyes of God.  When we misrepresent our Heavenly Father, the world gets a warped perspective of God.

James and John are a good example of how many misrepresent God.  The “Sons of Thunder” wanted to call fire down to consume a city, but Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what spirit you are of” (Luke 9:54-55.)  It is interesting to me that this was this same John who wrote to the Beloved and exhorted us, “Not to believe every spirit, but to test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (I John 4:1.)  I imagine that he received the revelation that even Jesus’ own apostles could be influenced by hell through his own experience of listening to the wrong spirit.

Notice how his exhortation continues in the same chapter: “Beloved, let us love one another . . . There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” (John 4:18.)  These verses were written in the context of testing the spirits.  In other words, we test the spirits by examining them in light of the virtues of love.  When we read love’s virtues that are spelled out in the letter to the Corinthians, and understand that fear has no place in love, we find ourselves wondering what spirit is encouraging these judgment prophecies.  The greatest tragedy is that the revelation the world receives from these voices causes them to believe that our Father is an angry God who is looking for an opportunity to punish people.

The apostle John laid his head on the chest of Christ and was transformed from an angry, “son of thunder” into John the beloved. It is time for the prophets of God to lay their head on the Master’s chest and hear the heart beat of Heaven again.

Jesus said, “If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness” (Matthew 6:23)!  If we are the light of the world and we are speaking against the people who are already lost in night, how great is the darkness!  In the same way, when we represent God as someone who wants to destroy America because forty million babies have been aborted in our country, we perpetuate the very problem that we are trying to cure.  People are killing their babies because they don’t know or understand the love of the Father.  Does it make sense that we tell people that God is so angry that we are killing our young that He is going to teach us a lesson by killing a bunch more people?  Is our Father so single-dimensional in His being that He only has one response to anything man does wrong?

Can you imagine the negative impact it would have on your daughter if she came to you to tell you that she had an abortion, and in response you flipped out and tried to kill her?  If you reacted out of rage, I would suggest that your lack of love is a large part of her decision to have the abortion in the first place.

When we reveal God to the world, it is essential that we communicate light, life and love.  Love doesn’t punish or create fear.  I personally don’t believe that God is mad at sinners.  I do think that He is grieved over the world’s destructive behavior. But grief and anger are not the same thing.

Every time we see the heartless acts of destruction that deeply wound the heart of God, we must remember the depths of God’s desire to share love. The nature of love is that it requires us to be able to choose.  If God took away our choice, people could only behave in the way that God programmed them to.  Wars would cease, hunger would end, and poverty would only be an ancient memory.  But the desperate cry of the human heart that beats with passion for a loving relationship with the most beautiful Being in the entire universe would be gone too.

Day after day, a loving Creator looks down on a broken planet longing for the day when the object of His affection will walk hand in hand with Him into indescribable beauty in the halls of eternity. In the meantime, the destruction continues, not because God is angry with man, but rather because men choose to kill, steal and destroy.  This is the fruit of those who have chosen the wrong lover (satan).

Meanwhile, a hateful enemy is stalking a wounded and desperate people. He is seeking to paralyze us with fear, demoralize us with his arrogant boasts of destructive predictions, and harden us with hopelessness. Yet still, the future belongs to those who pray.  Prayer is the bridge between what should be and what will be. The diligent prayer of a righteous people will ultimately determine the destiny of our children.  Therefore, it is our responsibility to leave to those yet to be born a world in revival as their inheritance. Hanging in the balance of eternity is the ultimate climax of our Creator – the kingdoms of this world becoming the Kingdom of our God.

http://www.stonesalive.org/godisno.html

Several years ago while filling the role of pastor in the local church I met with people who were in some kind of trouble every day. In the open meetings I had told the people over and over about how God by his Son and his Holy Spirit had come to my rescue hundreds of times. In my marriage, business, my job, friends, really difficult things where I did not know what to do! I always told them that He would do the same for them too. Because of the very idea of being a child of the King, Over the years with Jesus, I have become a person who has learned in life not to take “no” for an answer to what this world tries to offer me. I am always amazed how many times the Lord’s word spoken through me or my children overcomes really big obstacles just because we back up again and give things the extra “push”.

Those desperate people who came to the pastor’s office to look for answers to their difficult problems were really honestly searching for what to do. But as we talked, I kept hearing people say “well, ya know, God is still in control” or “why did God allow this?” Then they went on to tell me why the thing that they were praying for or the other disappointment in their life had fallen through and cheated them of God’s best. But, “Oh well, God is control.”

In 1988, a ministry associate of mine wrote a paper for a pastors association we both worked with. She called it “Study for Leaders”. It is a simple one-page list of attributes of these two words and how the patterns of control really operate through God’s enemy, not Him even though God could take control of literally everything in the universe at any moment he chose. I summed it up as simply the cry of a culture that had lost touch with the concept of authority.

The American culture of the 1980’s began to see the erosion of the foundation of authority that built the U.S. I had grown up around authority, gone to military school as a boy and worked in corporate America, so I had come to expect everyone to just understand this principle. I was wrong. As I observed people interacting with life, especially their little children, it was obvious they had no personal ability to operate in authority with the simplest things. Often rare assertive personalities would come along grasp the operation of authority…but it was often mixed with ego or anger. I stood in a doorway at Kmart for about 5 minutes while a mother attempted to coerce plead, beg and negotiate with a 3 year old who did not want to go to the car. I stood watching this amazing spectacle just to see how long she would tolerate the child’s resistance to her.

In the 60’s there began a strong wave of resistance brewing in the nation’s schools and colleges to resist authority at any cost. That was producing a generation of people who “questioned authority” just as the popular bumper sticker of the 80’s proclaimed. Worse yet, they even were beginning to suspect those who had any office of authority and teach hatred for them. This seemed to be a complimentary wave of thought that fit in with feminist movements, radical politicians, and people who felt in some way left out by our culture. They seemed to focus on a confusion of authority and abuse of power. Since there are always some good examples of abuse those got the attention. The other 98% who were handling their responsibilities well didn’t sell news and so the writers and reporters just ignored the good people. Even in the late 80’s it was really fascinating to see a rather small woman principal of a high school where almost nothing got around her authority and peace reigned in a school of over a thousand kids. Good examples were everywhere at one time.

This really bothered me because I could see immediately that this confusion was causing people to miss their own personal authority as believers in Jesus and losing ground daily in life’s spiritual battles. While at the same time a larger issue was building around the idea that “God is in control”: That larger issue was that the people who actually believed this twist were beginning to sound more and more like victims to everything. That fit with another major wave in the culture- Victim Mentality. If you reason this out in its most simple form this companion idea says that if God is in control, we have none at all. We are just little worms (created in his image?) who have nothing to do with our outcomes! Conveniently, we have no responsibility for what happens either.

I finally got irritated enough in my spirit and started to really search the scriptures and ask God for his ideas on how to help us.

Since earliest ages God has been given such bad press because his children really misrepresent Him. I found that God has truly been misrepresented again in this era by thousands of preachers, and popular Christian songs who innocently blast out this message on national TV and radio and recorded media. Just because we missed the significance of this principle in the scriptures. Just for fun, try telling the Iranian cab driver God is in control. Or the fireman’s wife from NYFD whose husband did not survive 9/11 that God is the one behind that! No wonder the world thinks God is such an untrustworthy beast. I have been at funerals and met the kids of believers who said “whatever that god thing was about with my dad is not for me”. When the people of God represent our father like this- it is no wonder that our neighbors have no interest in doing what we are doing!

As I studied this, I found that most people say this mantra about God because they are trying to communicate that he is sovereign. They say that when they are facing trials and they want to get the idea over that He is bigger than these little world situations and most of all somehow He has an answer. And they are right in their head but their mouth is betraying them.

Now the point. Go re-read the first chapters of Genesis. Look at the amazing sweep of authority God was attempting to invest in Adam. If you look close God reveals his role of not controller, but initiator and a giving father. The reality is: he gave Adam and his descendants the whole world! The whole enchilada man! Just a small problem though – he lost it. The entire Old Testament is stories about living in the environment of “the fall”. So on with the sequence- Adam fell, his offspring were born fallen and most of all they were forced to submit to their new master who took the keys from Adam – Satan. If you haven’t discovered yet, Satan or Lucifer the fallen one is the real author of destruction and death and he hates you.
What a mess! What are we going to do?

But cheer up! Jesus the messiah came to get it ALL back. But now comes the missing pieces….very few of God’s children who have come to know his son by the new birth understand all the pieces they are missing. We know it should be better here, and we who have left all and followed Jesus should have a more victorious life…and on and on. The church has made up all kinds of apologies for why uncle Elbert died of cancer. And mom died of this and you are dying of something else! We are really great at apologizing and explaining why our prayers don’t work! And God is in control? Really?

Uh, this God desires you die to leave your little kids on the street and your spouse to work it out some way…really? This is THE God? Or maybe it is “a” god. Maybe your god is asleep like Elijah told the boys on Mount Carmel about theirs? No, what is asleep is our belief system. Most of the Church has never really put the whole picture together.

Jesus is graphically represented in at least a hundred movies as the suffering savior who went to the cross. He still hangs pathetically on the Catholic cross. But most of us didn’t get the whole transaction down that happened in just 3 days. Since you can read for yourself I’ll just give you the punch line- He got the keys back! He raised from the dead! He made a show of Satan openly. (Col 2:18) He toured the city with many dead saints that he rescued and showed himself to anyone who needed to see…and left a written legacy that has survived 2000 years of attempts to hide the truth.

Appropriation
You see God is really into authority, not control. He left us more in control here than He is. YES, if He decided today to change any of this or to fulfill some of his prophecies about the end of things…bye, bye! He can override anything at anytime. But he plays by the judicial rules. The ones he made to begin with and He will not violate them. He is truly the final word in the universe. But that is not our problem. The problem is: what is going down until he does pull the time plug? While we still have time to labor. Should we be like some of my friends in the 70’s who ran up their credit cards because they thought He was going to come next year and take them with him? He said we were to make his enemies his footstool! *What does that look like? It surely isn’t paying 30% interest on credit cards to some heathen. It isn’t bowing to sickness and disease and begging for health care. It isn’t doing most things that Christians do just living because they don’t know what else to do. I have listened to saint after saint tell me blood curdling stories about exploitation and destruction of their lives and families only to hear them say “why didn’t God do something” or “When is he going to help me?”

Let’s add some new pieces:
We didn’t understand that the Son Jesus is seated at the right hand of the father until the enemies are made a stool for his feet. He won’t come do it! He ain’t moving! The angels are not going to do it because they are assigned as our servants to help us do it! **The bible calls us the “heirs of salvation”. This is about appropriation. Everything that came via the cross and resurrection has to be appropriated! When I met Jesus I only knew how to appropriate my salvation. Soon thereafter I learned he was a healer…but Jesus didn’t run me down and force me to get healed. I had to do something to make it happen. We are supposed to bring the rule of God into this earth and most of the church doesn’t even know that Heaven is still waiting on us! We don’t even know we are the rightful heir. My African mentor, Benson Idahosa would say Welch! Heaven has been waiting for 2000 years!

While he was here, Jesus barely mentioned being born again, but boy did we get that! Thousands of churches will preach this message to other Christians again this week who are already born again! Jesus talked more about the Kingdom than a lot of other stuff we insist on preaching. The word “kingdom” appears 119 times in the Gospels in my bible and its always in a conversation with Jesus. Maybe we don’t seem to get the impact of what a Kingdom is-
• It has a king
• It has subjects (people)
• It has a domain (like lands or property)
• The king rules (government)
• The king has enforcement (armies, etc.)
• Every thing in the kingdom is subject to the rule of the king.

To accomplish that God has given authority to accomplish was what Jesus preached. He intended The Church (not religion) to complete this work. Just in case we misunderstood he gave an little example of the kingdom coming:

Matt. 12:28 -
“But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” Satan and his demons had ruled over man for thousands of years. People ran from demoniacs – they are dangerous. Jesus came to them and brought the rule of the kingdom over them. It was no EXORCISM. Jesus was not laboring, chanting, ranting or raving. By ruling the spirits and the spiritual world, he enforced peace for the people who he touched. Rule means the ability to have supreme command over, and the ability to make law and enforce it. The book of Hebrews firmly established Jesus as the high priest. Jesus told John the apostle about a coming kingdom of priests. (They are not going to rule heaven, God needs no help with that) The priesthood of the believer has been demonstrated every time a man or woman of God has taken up the mantle and stood against darkness. That differs greatly from ruling and standing over other people. Religion controls and rules the people. The priestly saint rules over darkness. When this kingdom of God arises, darkness flees the world systems. No, don’t go visualizing a new world system, just priests who are also kings right now where we are.

Is God a ruler? Absolutely! Am I saying that man is more powerful than God? No! The only question is how He (God) has chosen to rule. It is the prerogative of the king to say who carries out his rule. God has chosen mankind. (even you might qualify)

Jesus has made it possible for you to be one of his kings. Should you choose to accept this mission.

In addition, I thoroughly enjoy talking to people about the Kingdom and perhaps help them to uncover their heart’s desire.  Cause most all heart’s desires are given by Papa and it is a sign and wonder to uncover them and help people to see that Papa is good and he has good for them and He has a plan for their life that is awesome!

On the trip out I had a seat mate that was a Christian man who ran a cabinet business but whose heart was to counsel people with the love of God, in particular, married couples.  What an absolute wonderful dream and vision given by Papa.  He related to me how a few years back his marriage was just one step away from divorce.  But God intervened and caused him to see his wife through Papa’s eyes.  They have a completely new relationship now based on His love flowing through them.  Awesome!!  This guy is going to be used by Papa to restore many marriages.

On the trip back I had husband and wife seatmates that are currently in property management in Florida but at one time were missionaries with Christian Missionary Alliance and have brothers still on the foreign mission field.  They were such a wonderful couple that Papa has used in so many ways.  It was wonderful to just share what Papa has done and is doing.  The heart desire of this marvelous lady of God is to write travelogues.  Her and her husband love to travel and she loves to pass on what they have seen.   Sounds great and I fully expect to see her blog out soon.  I’ll post it as soon as I know about it.

At the wedding as the brothers waited at the front they beheld their brides walking down the aisle. And they took their hands and said their vows and lifted the veils to behold the faces of what had been their identical brides.

He beheld her and saw all that he had imagined her to be.  All the things he had pointed out were still there and seemed to have become greater. She stared down at the floor with shame, her pursed lips downcast.

He beheld her and saw all that he had imagined her to be.  All the things he had pointed out were still there and seemed to have become greater. She stared across the room with honor, her small ribbon around her neck only adding to her beauty.

Which is how your bridegroom treats and looks at you?

Which is how you treat and look at your Lord’s bride?

I am called to behold the glory of my God and King and to proclaim His glory to all.  I am called to proclaim to the heavens, to the earth and to under the earth the wonder of My King and of His bride, His body, the people of His name. I join with my Father and my King to speak that which is not as though it is.  For it is He who is at work in His bride both the will and the way for His good pleasure.  I proclaim that the work He began He is able to bring to completion.  His bride is clothed in robes washed in His own blood and they are white as light as they cover her.  Her face is radiant like the sun as she beholds His face. For my…. our battle is not against flesh and blood, not against our brothers and sisters, not against His bride, not against those who He loves (the world), but against principalities, against powers, against the lords of this age, rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in the heavens.  I am called to cry out for vengeance against those spiritual forces who would accuse His body, His bride and I proclaim vengeance against those spiritual forces who would try to steal kill and destroy those who he gave His life for.  I join with my brothers and sisters around the world, His bride, His church to go forth daily and destroy those works of the evil one, not with persuasive words but in demonstration, manifestation of the Spirit and power.  I proclaim that His church is rising up by His hand and doing works such that have never before been seen and that we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us so… I proclaim that today my King’s glory goes throughout the earth through His people to destroy the works of the evil one.  This day His body goes forth into Wal-Marts, Safeways, Kohl’s, into bars and restaurants, into offices, cubicles, smoking rooms, on airplanes, trains and buses, into the homeless shelters, on street corners… into the world … to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers and HIV infected, pronounce forgiveness of sins, to preach great news to those who are bummed, to bind up the wounds of the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those that are bound, to proclaim the time of His favor, and the day of vengeance of our God upon the forces of the evil one, to comfort all that mourn, to raise the dead (physically, mentally and spiritually), to give hugs and have the world taste and see that He is good that He loves each and every one of them.

When I look at the bride of my King that is what I proclaim and that is what I see.

I have been pondering some things recently. You might call it my personal theodicy (theology of suffering). I am a simple little lady who lives in the bush and loves kids so don’t be expecting anything too complicated.

To me everything boils down to the centrality of the goodness in the character of God and His love. I’ll explain more in a bit.

Let me first tell you my journey a little. I was born missing my left hip, leg, kidney, severe scoliosis and had 23 surgeries by the age of 13. I was given a death sentence at birth. Jesus ultimately had other plans! YAY!

I have been in meetings where people have rather rudely insisted on praying for my healing and then yelled at me for having no faith when the leg didn’t manifest on cue. Well I wasn’t the one praying, hmmmmm. I have conversely received veiled threats when I prayed for people TO be healed. I have had people tell me I would never see a creative miracle until I had enough faith for my own. I have had leaders (none were any one you would know, no worries) be downright abusive in public in this whole arena. People have screamed at me to my face and over email that they thought I of all people would understand suffering was from God to teach us to blah de blah de blah… Can’t win some days, so one day I stopped trying. Then I started preaching what I believe- woa baby I opened a can of worms with that one!

For years I thought God wanted me like this… I mean look how much He uses the fact of my visible brokenness where He calls me. I really believed it. I don’t anymore. But it has been a 10 year journey.

In 1998 I had a vision of me dancing in Africa and spinning around to land on my left leg. At the time, India was my sole focus so I didn’t get it. Oh ok random vision. In 2003, Jesus showed me the infamous parts room in heaven. He took me to a section of packages and pulled one out with my name on it that had EVERYthing I was missing. He told some angels to take it to shipping. Oh ok, that’s nice. I still didn’t get it.

In 2005, after avoiding all conferences charismatic for like 5 years because I was tired of feeling like I had a bulls eye on my back regarding prayer for the miraculous, God sent me to Toronto for my one and only meeting there to date. There my saga really took a turn for the wild side.

What changed everything? Someone was the face of His love to me in this area of my life. I saw a beautiful woman named Mary-Pat from OH who was one of the attendees and she so radiated Jesus, I walked up to her in the aisle. We both looked at one another and decided simultaneously a hug was in order. It was like a magnet in the spirit. Boom we crashed to the floor. She took me in her arms and began to pray. I had NEVER felt God’s love like I felt it that day before. She began to pray for my leg to grow and healing to come, among other things.

My heart leapt for the first time really to believe maybe God did want this for me. Love changed EVERYTHING.

We incidentally went on to become good friends and she has become my spiritual mama. She and her husband are the leaders and pastors of an amazing church and ministry in OH where I now call home. They have become dearly loved family. She never pushed the healing or miraculous- she just lived it every day. The biggest creative miracle in my life thus far was the miracle of faith being created in my heart for myself.

I met Jesus when I was 7. He walked into my room and I met him. We talked and He gave me promises I am still walking out. So why didn’t He bring the leg with Him then? I don’t know. He’s God. I’m me. I am learning that there is an element of mystery in this life of faith… and that is more than ok. Until we are willing to embrace the mystery of God in things we don’t understand, we will limit in some sense the revelation of His majesty around us. It is ok not to know. Over the last 5 years or so, many things have settled in my heart. Most of them revolve around Who God is, and Who He isn’t.

Do I think God designs or desires sickness or suffering to teach His kids a lesson? Absolutely categorically not. I believe we would call that abusive parenting. He no more does that than a good loving parent would stick a 2 year olds hand into the fire to teach her about “hot”…

So if God desires my healing, why isn’t it already fully manifest? Why is it I have had most of the main heavy hitters pray for my mostly deaf left ear and it is still largely the same? Again I don’t know. There is a lot I don’t know. And that is ok. I am still journeying.

But this I do know. I used to weep every time I would go forward for healing especially of the ear and again it would not happen. I cried buckets into the dirt in Mozambique and more this last trip to the USA in SC. But in October 08 I realized something. When standing for a healing or miracle, the enemy’s trick so often is to pummel us with hope deferred and fear if it doesn’t happen right then. Mangy lying devil. The ONLY thing my ear NOT getting healed meant was it IS STILL GOING TO BE!!!!

I am learning I have a choice. Do I look at the absence of my leg or the presence of His promise? God is good. So what would happen if I went home to be with Him with one leg never having received the full manifestation of the promise? I don’t believe that will happen but I will tell you this- I now would rather choose to believe in the face of circumstances screaming the opposite and hope against hope and stand in Who I know God to be: I now would rather stand in faith for the fullness of God’s best that Jesus purchased on the cross for me and err on the side of radical trust in His promise and character than settle for letting my circumstances or lack of experience in an area define my theology. I will not reduce my theology to my experience or lack thereof.

God is who He says He is. Period. Jesus paid the price for my healing. Period. I will never again say results of living in a fallen world are the designs of my Father. No I was disabled because we live in a world that is still under the curse of sin and we have an enemy that was out to kill me and thwart my destiny. In Jesus he loses every time. So no matter what my eyes see, I will not ever stop saying God is Who He says He is. I am going for His best in every area of my life.

And I believe with every breath I breathe my leg is coming, my ear will open, my back will straighten, and my Jesus will get ALL the glory. I have seen Him create eyeballs and open blind eyes, restore hearing and heal the lame. It is not difficult for Him. And evidently the ones that said I had not enough faith until I received my own healing to see the miraculous for others were not very accurate. I do believe in my case that there is a timing issue and that He intends to get the maximum mileage out of this miracle. However I no longer am even willing to box in what that means. He is God. He is good. He is my Papa and I will wait in expectancy.

It could happen tonight and I walk out of my dusty little room tomorrow with an urgent need to go shoe shopping in Sudan. It is so close my spirit feels like I could touch it.

The biggest questions in my heart were not ultimately about healing, but about knowing Papa’s love for me. Once my heart was settled in His embrace and knew His love for me, believing for my healing was a no brainer. Sometimes it is way easier to believe for another than for yourself. BUT in my case that boiled down to a heart issue. Deep inside I was afraid. It has been a journey of letting Papa love me past fear and into freedom. I am not defined by my leg OR my miracle when it comes. I am defined by what He says. He loves me. I get to be His little girl trusting Him to do what HE says and help me walk into the fullness of what Jesus accomplished on the cross in my life. But I get to be His little girl. He is my Papa and the leg is coming in His timing. My testimony is not He is good because of a miracle, but that He was good before I even believed Him for it.

I am declaring its arrival daily. I even have a tape measure with me to check the progress. I have a left slipper tucked away for its appearing. I wanted running shoes but Papa decided prophetically my first steps on my new leg need to be firmly planted in rest. It is just a matter of time before the thing that is not is called into being. My three year olds practice regularly on me. I have more faith in their prayers than most adults I know combined!

There are a lot of humanistic natural interpretation and academic discussions of the will of God flying about. His will is defined by His nature and He will not will anything He is not. He is love. Jesus as the exact representation of His Father healed every person who needed it He encountered.

Faith is the evidence of things not seen. It is a gift and it is a choice. It is a gift of grace. And it is a choice to believe Papa is Who HE says in His Word and His Word made flesh in His Son. We are on a journey into His heart. We don’t have to figure it all out. Just let Papa pick us up on His lap and sing His songs of love over us as we rest in Him. He has it covered and He is good. As we choose to believe for healing in the face of a religious world that chooses doubt, we don’t have to explain it to them or even engage their argument. We really don’t. God is who he says. So we take it all back to WHO He is, Who Jesus showed Him to be. That is always the measure: not man’s reasoning or even our natural facts. Facts are real but Truth is bigger than facts. And Truth is found in one place only- Jesus. He is truth and He is love and HE never fails.

Michelle Perry

I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree.  The last class I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with. Her last project of the term was called “Smile.” The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions. I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway, so, I thought this would be a piece of cake, literally. Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald’s one crisp March morning. It was just our way of sharing special playtime with
our son.

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did. I did not move an inch… an overwhelming feeling of
panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved. As I turned around I smelled a horrible “dirty body” smell, and there standing behind me were two poor black homeless men.

As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was “smiling”.  His beautiful brown eyes were full of God’s Light as he searched for acceptance.  He said, “Good day” as he counted the few coins he had been clutching.  The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the other gentleman was his salvation.

I held my tears as I stood there with them. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted. He said, “Coffee is all Miss” because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

Then I really felt it – the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the liquid brown eyes.

That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging my every action. I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray.  I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the gentleman’s cold hand.  He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, “Thank you.”

I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, “I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope.”  I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, “That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to give
me hope.”  We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give.

We are not church goers, but we are believers.  That day showed me the pure Light of God’s sweet love.  I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand.

I turned in “my project” and the instructor read it. Then she looked up at me and said, “Can I share this?” I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.  She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God share this need to heal people and to be healed.

In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald’s, my husband, son, instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student. I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn: UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.

Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this and learn how to LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS – NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.

I would add that this unconditional acceptance is what our Father has for each of us.  No matter how dirty we are, no matter how we smell, our Father through Jesus loves us and is ready to provide the warmth, the care the answer to our heart’s need.

I find that I, too often, want to change my message. Nuance it differently for different audiences. Sometimes this may be appropriate. But what if I could be the same man everywhere? Have the same message with anyone? What if I was – like Jesus – a man who lives these thoughts:

*Bring and live life
*Encouragement not condemnation
*Relationships matter
*Religion isn’t the answer
*Love the poor, serve the hurting
*The towel (of foot washing fame) is greater than the sword
*God invites people in
*God’s parties are for all. Only the religious keep people out

I think all of us need that. The smallest group of our closest friends as well as the crowds we don’t know. This is the message of Jesus’ Kingdom.