Greg Crawford

Category: The Kingdom of God

  • Hold Fast Oh Voices of God

    We must not lose heart in this hour. We must not give into the spirit of “dismay.” ( Ezekiel  2:6) We must not allow fathers to consume their sons by undue demands beyond true relationships. And sons to be in a place of consuming their fathers with lives not redeemed in areas. ( Ezekiel 5:10 )Our Faces must be set at this time before cities (Ezekiel 4:3) we must prophecy against it. We must know there is a spirit of deception meeting in cities to plan how to deceive. There are many rebellious in His house and in the nations. (Ezekiel 8:6) We have blown the trumpet to sound the trumpet of preparedness, but not many have responded. ( Ezekiel 7:14) Our nation rest in economic collapse ( Ezekiel 7:12-13).

    Though they are rebellious and stiff necked. (Ezekiel 3:14)    Though the idol of music called worship and baal and other abominations that have defiled the temple and made it unholy. ( Ezekiel  8:8-12 ) has not shifted His glory resting over it. It is standing still at times stable, as the throne over whatever transitional place we are at. (Ezekiel 3:23)   It is moving at times, to move us further. (Ezekiel 10:4)

    The hand of the Lord is strong upon us. (Ezekiel 3:14)  Stronger than we realize. We can access the courts of heaven of our God. (Ezekiel 8:16)   He has made our foreheads and faces stronger then the faces and foreheads of our enemy. ( Ezekiel 3:8) We will hear his voice, (Ezekiel 3:16)receive his breath (Ezekiel 3:27) and see his glory. (Ezekiel 3: 10) His glory will shift us and move us and finish in us what His dabar over us has declared. (Ezekiel 3:17) We will find the hidden doors of God and revelation and mystery’s will unfold. (Ezekiel 8:8) We have authority over cities (Ezekiel 9:1) As we exercise our authority, then God can move in our cities.

    God will siege the cities to the degree we decide to siege the cities. We must prophecy and decree. (Ezekiel 4:7) He will bring coals from the alter and scatter them in our cities. (Ezekiel 10:2)  He will show His glory. (Ezekiel 10:4) We will hear the sounds of heaven. (Ezekiel 10:5)    He will open ancient ways to us. He will open his word as honeycomb to us. (Ezekiel 3:3) He will bring the mark upon our heads, as we cry out against the abominations. (Ezekiel 9:4) He will cleanse, He will speak. He will do as He sees fit.

    We must go both in bitterness and the heat of the sprit in this hour. The bitterness of a rebellious house and sinful world, the heat of His spirit burning within us wether they listen or not. ( Ezekiel 3:14) We must eat the roll that he has provided, so a sweetness is in our mouth. ( Ezekiel 3:3)The ancient house of God has not moved or dissolved. Its elders remain. The court is in place. The door of invitation still remains.  Draw near. Come close. Go through. Be marked for God. Be His Voice!!!

  • Worship Leading not Performing, Selahs, Moravians

    I felt like I needed to write some things about worship and specifically worship leading. Just like a leader who oversees a service so a worship leader is overseeing a segment of that service. Worship is about 50% of every service and good flowing worship will either prepare hearts or make hearts distant from God.

    Worship is to be an expression of the heart and for a worship leader their heart must be right to lead others and release others hearts as well. If a worship leader is distant from God or not connected then the only place you can lead people is into that disconnect as well. As my son says the only place you lead people is to the place you are at.

    In scripture the worship leaders in David’s Tabernacle were called “masters of the song”. This in Hebrew translates “Carries of the prophetic burden” Worship is more than songs being sung or a time for a person to perform or showcase themselves, but worship is fulfilling an ongoing plan of God of connecting with His people and His people connecting with him.

    The practical’s need to be in place before we go into deeper veins of spontaneous free flowing worship. Some of these are introducing new songs after familiars songs are sung. Avoid long instrumentation, unless an atmosphere of reflection has been established. Seeing what songs are “connecting’ or have an anointing upon them for that time and then working around these. Also songs with lots of words, or musical transitions, a lot of times stop the flow of worship in a person heart. This has more to deal with selection and song writing but is something to be aware of. Also knowing when a set is over by judging the room and if people are connected or not. Just because there is a song set does not mean that set has to be done.

    The goal of worship is not to practice worship, perform worship, or get your own way as a worship leader, but to bring people into an encounter with God and make an atmosphere that people can express their hearts. In other words the practical’s need done before we move onto greater things.

    There are three descriptions about what we sing in scripture. A psalm is a prewritten set piece of music. A hymn is a spontaneous singing of past songs. A spiritual song is spontaneous singing of a new song. A new song is the place of life, and the breath of God is released into people’s hearts.

    Once we are doing the practical’s we then can move on into spontaneous songs and specifically the technique of the Selah’s. The word Selah is generally translated a pause or reflection. A further examination of the word we actually see it has those descriptions but it means to hold the musical pause or reflection under tension until the next prophetic dimension is released. It actually has nothing to do with mediating upon what has been said etc.  Since worship leaders are carriers of a prophetic burden it would make sense that prophetic tensions would be part of leading in songs. Worship leaders need to learn to hold these tensions until the next one is released to maintain an ongoing ever expanding dynamic of worship in a worship set.

    The Moravian’s were skillful in both creating these spontaneous songs and also in holding prophetic tensions with instruments. Their understanding of these tensions made them seek ways to hold tensions with instruments and hence they invented the pipe organ and the trombone among others.  The Moravian’s were the first to establish 24 hour worship and maintained it for almost 100 years! To be a worship leader in their meeting you had to be able to connect 15 hymns in a row with a spontaneous song in between each one! This creative flow they operated in, led them to building instruments for musical tensions, and the spontaneous creative flow opened a door way of 3500 new songs being released yearly. Because of the heart of worship being so deep in them they memorized both the music and words to all of these. Think of that next time you have to look at an overhead while in worship and let’s open up greater dimensions of worship in our hearts much like the Moravian’s and their followers.

  • Common, Unclean, Dishonoring

    Hebrews 12:14 —14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

    Today we have so many topics we hear preached on but one, holiness. We just did a weekend in this area and for many it was an eye opener. We are just not as holy as we think we are. The Bible says to follow holiness which without no man will see God. A current generation is desiring to see God. The word “See” means with the actual eye. It is the word we get optometrist from. And following means to purse, run after, to press into.

    For the most part we view holiness by definition. Holy means to be set part, consecrated etc. It is a process we enter into at salvation. But holiness means the process has come to a point of existence or is completed. The main reason we seem to be stuck in consecration or sanctification is because we remain at the cross instead of desiring to go to the throne. The cross is more than salvation and freedom from sin. If that was the totality of what it represents then we are hopeless indeed. The cross is the beginning of living a holy life to become holiness before God. The cross focuses on us and the throne on Him. For the most part we want to continue in sin or in what we know to be unclean or profane, knowing there is a provision of forgiveness, mercy and grace. The cross starts a process of becoming clean before God. As were the throne is a present tense cleansed.

    So the question is why are we not moving from cross to throne, from a process of being holy to a process of holiness. There e is a very simple reason. When we see holy and holiness in scripture we also see other words along side, unclean and profane. We immediately jump to the simple conclusion we know what is unclean, or profane and thus we know what holiness is. It is the opposites of these. But the definition of these words carries far more weight. You see what has happened is we have taken holy things and polluted them. We have made holy things common and thus made them unholy. We do not have reference for God, His spirit, His word, His worship, His leaders etc. We have grown accustomed to things and we no longer hold them as valuable. The words unclean also means to take away honor were honor was once given. It means to take away the purity of something and make it COMMMON!

    Even the cross has become common place. Salvation has become simple and all-inclusive instead of exclusive. We have 2 main types of meetings as believers, cross and spirit. Cross being son, self and overcoming problems and sin. Spirit being gifts, manifestations and teaching. We do not have “Father God” type meetings. (Fathers loves – Toronto is cross meetings) I am talking about the holiness of God, awe-struck, sovereign presence, breath of God type meetings. We love to hang in cross and spirit meetings because nothing is really required out of us. We don’t have to live a disciplined life to participate. But Father meetings requires only the holy approach. We have seen revivals and moves of God around the cross and spirit but not fully around the Father. The awakening that is coming will encompass all three and bring the fullness of Holiness.

    The most defining thing of why we no longer see holiness, is things that should be holy are treated as common. We believe meetings and gatherings will just be “common” so we don’t attend. We believe there is no value in attending, or if we do go we don’t really participate whole heartedly. Our conversations are unholy in Gatherings as we talk not about kingdom but what is common. Our actions, our thoughts, drift into worldly things Even that which should be holy we treat as common, such as communion, preaching, worship.  When we look upon the world we have no standard of holiness, so we view the world differently and define what is unclean not by Biblical terminology but by cultural acceptable terminology. As Leonard Ravenhill put it, “it is no longer adultery, it is having an affair. It is no longer fornication; it is sex outside of marriage. We have taken the sting out of sin”. Sin has become to familiar with and common as well.  We no longer call things in the world unholy or unclean. We open the door to all to come and join in with a meeting that is supposed to be Holy and we wonder why God is not showing up.

    We need to search our hearts and see the places we have made God common. Where have we not showed honor and thus allowed unholiness or that which is unclean to come in.  Leaders preach a message on holiness and see what God will do as you restore things back to being uncommon and clean again.

  • Culture War

    We all see the culture war occurring in front of us daily. We hear reports, have discussions and form our opinions how to resolve things. Many Christians fight for cultural preferences as if they are heaven or hell, or eternal issues. Then when we bring forth things of the kingdom we don’t fight for these or absolute truth with the same passion and we wonder why the church is losing the culture war. We are not only not relevant, but have allowed the culture around us, by our own voice, to be most relevant .

    As Children of God we are not fighting for political gains, cultural influences or even to change culture. We are to be children first of a spiritual political group call the Ecclessia of the Kingdom. We are to be part of an economic group called the Blessed of God. Philippians says our conversation is in Heaven. The word conversation means business, conduct, administration, and employment. We are to be concerned about the economy of God, which is the spiritual well being of Gods Kingdom on the earth and how it influences the hearts of men. We are to bring the influences of the Kingdom of God and allow truth to influence first the culture of the individual heart, to the point of it bringing cultural change because of the internal kingdom shifts within those hearts.  We can easily see this pattern in scripture as people abandoned idols, changed religious practices and changed their values, and what they spent their lives on as truth prevailed in their hearts and caused cultural shifts in their lives. When enough of the masses shifted individually we then saw a cultural shift within a nation. This is a spirtual awakening and not convincing words of mans wisdom. This pattern is in scripture and in human history.

    The real war is not about political or economic agendas. The real war of culture right now is if the Kingdom of God will hold influence in the earth and if the souls of men will be influenced by it. It is a war between good and evil. Between darkness and light. It is a war between the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. A war between the breath of God or the breath of man. It is a war of what our focus is, what is temporal and passing or what is eternal and everlasting.

  • Culture War

    We all see the culture war occurring in front of us daily. We hear reports, have discussions and form our opinions how to resolve things. Many Christians fight for cultural preferences as if they are heaven or hell, or eternal issues. Then when we bring forth things of the kingdom we don’t fight for these or absolute truth with the same passion and we wonder why the church is losing the culture war. We are not only not relevant, but have allowed the culture around us, by our own voice, to be most relevant .

    As Children of God we are not fighting for political gains, cultural influences or even to change culture. We are to be children first of a spiritual political group call the Ecclessia of the Kingdom. We are to be part of an economic group called the Blessed of God. Philippians says our conversation is in Heaven. The word conversation means business, conduct, administration, and employment. We are to be concerned about the economy of God, which is the spiritual well being of Gods Kingdom on the earth and how it influences the hearts of men. We are to bring the influences of the Kingdom of God and allow truth to influence first the culture of the individual heart, to the point of it bringing cultural change because of the internal kingdom shifts within those hearts.  We can easily see this pattern in scripture as people abandoned idols, changed religious practices and changed their values, and what they spent their lives on as truth prevailed in their hearts and caused cultural shifts in their lives. When enough of the masses shifted individually we then saw a cultural shift within a nation. This is a spirtual awakening and not convincing words of mans wisdom. This pattern is in scripture and in human history.

    The real war is not about political or economic agendas. The real war of culture right now is if the Kingdom of God will hold influence in the earth and if the souls of men will be influenced by it. It is a war between good and evil. Between darkness and light. It is a war between the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. A war between the breath of God or the breath of man. It is a war of waht our focus is, what is temporal and passing or what is eternal and everlasting.

  • What Does God Say?

    Today I woke up fighting overwhelming discouragement. I have fought this before but today it was so much stronger than any time in the past. As I wrestled with this, the desire to just quit was the thing I was fighting. I was remembering the prophetic words over my life. The mandate for the state the Lord had spoken. I was also reflecting on the suffering over the years and the things I have had to endure. I know another race is in front of me. Do I have the strength to run it? Will the words be fulfilled or would another end up finishing for me? Am I truly a wise master builder? If others are not running with me I just don’t know if I can do this next leg. Where are the prophets who are to be standing alongside me?  Will anyone run with me? Am I going alone? I know what God has said but it sure seems to be not unfolding. I guess today like David I must encouragement myself again in the Lord.

    As I started to write this and got the first paragraph typed out the phone rings. A prophet from another state calls me directed by God to call at that exact moment. He speaks prophetically to me for 20 minutes. He knows nothing and I have had no conversation with him for some time. He starts by a warning of the prophetic attack now started against those young ones under me. (confirming what God was showing me last night)That I have been appointed to pray for them (God spoke this in the night for me to step things up)and this is why I today have felt such an attack.  He speaks the exact scripture God called me with Luke 4:18. He speaks of who I am to minister to. He sees a vision and gives this to me. He speaks of the forerunner call, the investment of God and the Holiness needed. (Holiness is my focus and God is giving me much deep revelation on it recently).  When it is all done the discouragement is lifted and I am ready to face the day.

    Some times when we hit the wall like this God steps in and bring you back on course. He knows what we can endure and the breaking point as well. He also can send anyone, at anytime, from any distance, to speak directly to us with a sure word, on time and filled with Him. If you are fighting discouragement God knows your heart and he will send His voice to you once again. He will never give up on the destiny of our lives. It is the carnal mind that fights against God. The warfare rest there. Let your heart connect with His heart and there will be no room for discouragement.

  • From Sub-culture to Counter Culture

    In this hour of the Church, with so much upheaval and division over political agendas and candidates, we need to be sure we are advancing the Kingdom of God and not the kingdom of man. As  those who are the true Ecclesia, we must begin to take our role as governing the spiritual realms to establish a Kingdom upon the earth that the structure of man, both political and economical, would be willing to participate in and draw wisdom from it.

    As the Church, we have become a subculture like any other subculture within our nation. We have less voice than the recent rising voices of homosexuality, women’s rights, etc. This is due to the eroding away of the Church’s culture of morality and holiness and allowing ourselves to lose footholds we once had in place. For the most part, we have become irrelevant in the decision making process of our government.

    We are in dire need of a true spiritual awakening. An awakening that would once again position us as a voice within a culture. Our biblical knowledge from the tree of good and evil is not enough  to convince the gainsayers that we have the goods. We must eat from the tree of life to confound the wisdom of the wise and allow virtue to flow forth touching hearts and shifting culture.

    In our last Awakening Fires gathering, our speaker Eric Reeder, had a divine revelation from Act 3. “Why are we constantly passing by what is broken to go and enter into a place (the temple) that Jesus said was no longer relevant?” Amazing revelation! When we look more closely, we can see that once virtue flowed, holiness came and position in culture was shifted from inside the walls to Solomon’s porch. That positioning caused a great stir as it came from a Psalms 133 posture. The previous Psalms were spoken as they ascended the steps of the temple to the porch. Psalms 133 was spoken as they stepped onto the porch.

    This touching of a small part of the culture, a man begging at the gate Beautiful, allowed Peter and John to have a platform, Solomon’s porch, from which to begin to educate the people. As I look at things, it appears we want all or none, when in reality the Biblical pattern was portions were given to show stewardship of truth before more was given.  Eventually the whole was impacted and felt the effect of the Kingdom. Not all became Christian, which is not really our assignment. Our real assignment is to make disciples, thus disciple nations. That is about Kingdom impact more than conversions. Conversions without true deep discipleship will not change nations but will create a subculture within a nation. For the most part, this is what we have done. We have healed them at the gate to only drag them into the temple into what is no longer significant, thus keeping them in an old model and not putting them on Solomon’s porch, a place of audience before nations and a place nations came to hear the wisdom of God.

    Maybe we need to stop walking by what is broken. Maybe once people are healed, we need to no longer bring them into what is insignificant. Perhaps we are not the voice of the hour because we have not stewarded what is within us by allowing the virtue to flow out of us to impact the world around us.