Pioneers of the Realms Prophesy

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Word — Pioneers of the Realms through Apostle Greg Crawford

12/9/2023

Today’s blog is a word that the Lord released through me. We had been in a strong prophetic singing around the themes of “Heaven is coming” and we “won’t stop believing”. Then we moved into a spontaneous singing around this. In that setting is when this word came.

I hear the Spirit of the Lord say in this hour,

“There is a rising up of a new pioneering prophet in the land and new pioneering spirit is ones that have a hunger to know the mysteries that are hidden. The ones that Enoch stepped in and saw and experienced. They are the ones that enter into realms and begin to understand how the spiritual dimensions work and how they’re interconnected into the earth. They are beginning to find themselves, like the latter rain prophets of old, they know each other after the same spirit and the same understanding. They’re able to know and hear the same things in the Spirit, and I’m beginning to bring them into a new dimension of the spirit, a new reality of what I want to do in the earth. A greater dimension of knowing who I am and what is in my heart. For while the majority search out what is sitting inside of my heart and the hidden thing.

They longed to look into the mysteries that I’ve hit for the end of the age, and they are now beginning to tap into the areas that I’ve reserved for this hour and reserved for them. They shall be few in number, but they shall gather. Though they shall be few, and what seems to be what they carry, but they shall be much with what they know.

They shall be ones that will begin to shift the earth and begin to shift the atmospheres of the Earth into the atmospheres of heaven. They will understand how to begin to bring that which is upon the earth into alignment, in order with that which is in heaven. For they understand how the heavenly realm works, and they will bring that understanding into the earth. In this hour they are despised and rejected, they are somewhat pushed aside, but yet the truth remains within them. The desire to see my body become who I say it is, is setting deep inside of them. And they are pushing forward into the very depths of my heart to understand my ways and understand my paths.

They will bring these things into the earth, and you will see a generation that will rise after them that will complete the things that they have started. It is a foundation for the restoration of the earth. You will see a generation rise that will have deeper and richer understanding in the embrace of what I have put inside of their hearts. And you will know that I was working all along to bring a conclusion into the earth to bring a finality to the things that you now know. To create something that you did not even understand could be. I say it is a new season and these are coming forth into the earth.

Their voices will become stronger in the days ahead. Their reach will begin to go into nations, they will begin to impact in hidden places and hidden places of men’s hearts. They will confront leaders with the things that they have opposed themselves against. They will begin to set the order and the alignment back, of what is upon the earth. Back into the alignment in order of what is in heaven.

They will see the kingdom come but they will not see it in the fullness with their eyes, but they will see it in the spirit of what they’ve endeavored to place upon the earth. They will see much of what will be, not seeing with their physical eyes. For a generation must emerge that will lay all aside and lay aside that which they’ve received in their eyes, out their heart of the ideas of what they think it must be.

I say a generation is rising even in young ones in this hour that are untainted by religion and untainted by the culture of the world. They are few but they will number greatly when it is finished. For I am doing complete work and a finishing work in the earth. The things that I put my hand to do in this hour through the lives and hearts of many of these pioneering ones that enter into these realms, will be things that you will talk about in the future. They will be things that will set the course for the finality of all things.

I am doing something in this hour, do not despise it. Do not reject it. Do not cast it aside, but say hey God, how can I embrace. Hey God, what must I do? Hey God, what are you doing in the meeting? Ask me the questions and I will give you the answers. I will show you how to be positioned where you need to be. I will show you what you must put your hand to do. I will show you what must occur in your life. I will show you the pathway you must go. You will know that you are working with me and partnering with me.

I say do not worry that you do not understand but worry that your moving in faith. Worry I am doing that which has been placed into my hand. Can you ask for more than what I can do with in this hour? I say there is nothing I cannot do through you and cannot use you for all kinds of things. But I say you must yield to me, and you must yield your mind and your understanding of me. For I will do things that will confound the wisdom that sits inside of you. I will do things that require you to move in greater faith. I will require things for you to step in and trust me in ways that you have not trusted me and I will move you into places where you must confront that which you have never confronted. You must confront the things that oppose you, even your own self that opposes you at times and seasons.

So, I say it is a new day where the realms begin to open in this hour. The things that I have reserved for this hour are beginning to drop into the heavens out of the heavens into the earth to begin to cover it. It will begin to water it back to the original way that I had intended things to be. It is a great time of setting things in order and setting things into alignment for it is my heart that is coming into the earth.

These are the ones that are seeking after that which creation holds to understand the mysteries of creation like my son Enoch, he understood these things. How I worked in spiritual protocol, and that is what I shall bring into the earth in the next season. Be ready and prepared. Be Watching and waiting, learning what I am doing and know the season and the time is setting upon you. And you shall not be disappointed, you shall not be dismayed, and you shall not be left out. You shall be in step in season, and you will be in the very Kairos of my moment because you have understood the Chronos that is setting around you.”

I trust this has been a blessing to you. If so feel free to share this with others. Also feel free to share the resources found at gregcrawford.org.

Apostolic Burden of the Lord Part 2

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Last time we covered what is the Burden of the Lord. If you didn’t read it go back so you have a foundation to launch into part 2. In this writing we will see how burdens from the Lord come. For the most part they are not our ideas or extensions of ideas of ministry we have. Many times, they are contrary to our plans and maybe even our desires. They will take us off our typical course into a course of Gods ultimate plan unfolding. We will look at Nehimiah, an apostolic builder and restorer. A mobilizer of workers and one who sets things in order.

Nehemiah 1:3 (KJV 1900) — 3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

The first thing is he heard. He heard a report. But it was not just idle talk but factual and not with speculation or assumption. Something in this report pricked his heart having a profound effect upon him. Many times, we hear things, and the hardness of our heart keeps us from really hearing. Sometimes something catches our spirit, and we react. This was what occurred to him.

Nehemiah 1:4 (KJV 1900) — 4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

The words were heard by others but no one else responded. The words were actually reserved to have an effect upon one person and that was Nehemiah. The others had become accustomed to hearing reports. But probably because of hardness of heart and loss of faith and hope accepted the state of things. But the words caused Nehemiah to take time to process as he sat. the more he processed the more he wept. A burden doesn’t accept the current situation but has come to change the situation. His weeping went to mourning and mourning turned into fasting and prayer to find the solution.

Nehimiah 2: 11-16   The burden will cause you to evaluate the true conditions firsthand. Burdens take us from secondhand knowledge to first-hand experience. He went by night to examine the assignment. What he saw was different from what others saw. He saw through promise not circumstances. He did not deny what he saw but looked beyond and saw the ramifications. He sees how it affected Gods glory and Gods people. He was seeing with his spirit.

He then is burdened with reality. The reality the burden has within it is holy. It bears the weight of Gods glory and the work that must be accomplished. He sees beyond the natural. Part of this reality is the personal responsibility that comes with burden. Those with a burden see not only the problem, but the role they play in the solution. The only solution or answers that work is from God and you must hear clearly. Because very burden for God will have those who are critical coming from your own camp. Nehemiah 4:10–11. He is able to share the reason for the burden.

Nehemiah 4:14.  (KJV 1900) — 14 And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

Every burden form God is also connected to Legacy.Moses was burdened for the people of Israel. Others had burdens as well like David, Paul, Samuel, all the ones we talk about doing exploits, but seldom do we talk of their burden. Without Gods burden our faith is in vain. Our prayers are lacking, and our impact is greatly diminished. A true burden form God cannot be stopped. It is fulfilling a plan that is required. To me the burden is the key to active faith that produces results. We really only see spiritual changes when we tap into the burden of God, or we get burdened for people where we finally fully engage ourselves. Burden is about transferring. Transferring people from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His son Jesus.

Every burden will create your apostolic vision. Without a true burden then vision is hard to define, and mission is even harder to operate. We see Ezra in chapter 10:1-4 having a burden before he had vision. We see Nehimiah as well in Chapter 1:3-4. Daniel prayed and fasted for 3 full weeks. What God is looking for is not anointing, which is borrowed from him, or giftedness, which is birthed by him, but the greatest need is who will carry His burden. What is your burden today?

Those who carry a God given burden are the ones who will do exploits. There may be suffering but the suffering will bring greater glory. Paul was driven by apostolic burden. Building is also coming from burden. Burden touches almost all things we do and reforms values. The burden just has to be from God to be effective. Jeremiah 20.8 says it was like fire in his bones and he had no choice but to respond. Burden brings you into service. Burden makes you go.

In Galatians 6:1 it says we carry each other’s burdens which the word means heavy crushing loads. But in verse 4 it says each man is to carry his own burden. This burden is “phorton” and is used to designate the pack a marching soldier carries. It also means carrying the ships cargo, which has connotations of being connected apostolically. Paul says you must prove your work, or it must be authenticated to see if it is genuine. He was speaking if your burden is from god or just a good idea.

Then as we look at spiritual fathering, we also see Sons and Daughters are to carry the burden of the Lord spiritual fathers carry. Many times, we seek spiritual fathering, and we only pick and choose what that fathering is carrying and offering. But we neglect that there is more than the positive fun side of spiritual fathering. In Phil. 3:10 Paul speaks of the “manner of Life”. Paul was saying what Timothy received encompassed how Paul carried and exercised his burden as well. The activation of Paul’s burden in Timothy’s life brought him into his own apostolic journey. Timothy as a son was not disjointed from Paul’s burden but embraced it with the assignments given to him.
Paul said he was like-minded in Phil. 2:20. That like-minded was also concerning how  the burden would be completed.

Burden will create a message in you. It will take you on a mission as well. It will give others a vision, so they qualify to have their own. Burden will take you from a second hand knowledge to a first-hand experience. Burden summons us into the destiny we are longing for. Burden has a sense of urgency. It has a sense of responsibility. The size of your burden will also determine your impact on the earth. But because you have a burden doesn’t mean everything is automatic. It requires your response and others as well.

In the book I wrote “Awakened Heart” has a prophetic word coming from Habakkuk. It encompasses an entire chapter. As I was researching for this blog, I found the word burden spoken 45 times in this prophetic word. It seems it must be important to God.

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Blessings

Apostolic Burden of the Lord Part 1

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I want to speak on the to topic of burden. Having the right burden will activate your faith, allow you to find purpose, bring you into your destiny and create your future. Without a true burden from God you will go through life and ministry aimlessly wandering.

Jesus was burdened for what would become the church. Paul was burdened for the church. A burden is not pity or feeling sorry for someone. A burden for the Lord is an extension from heaven. When you have Gods burden you will give yourself to it, both like Christ and Paul.

2 Corinthians 11:28 (KJV 1900) — 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

Paul said daily this burden was present. The words come upon is associated with pressure, anxiety and comes from a word describing the force a riotous crowd carries. Without a burden for something you don’t have the perspective to speak into it. Paul was burdened for the church so he could address the issues. Today we move out of need-based perception and seldom burden focus. We have a lot of good suggestions but little change. Burdens from the Lord are catalyst for change.

For myself I am burdened to see Gods people in fullness, I am burdened to see stronger leadership come forth. I am burdened to see those who are disillusioned about God, be shifted.  I am burdened to see us live at a higher spiritual life. You see the message you carry, the way you minister, the things that drive you all come from the true Burden of the Lord you’re stewarding.

Paul was also burdened for his family, and especially his fellow Roman kinsmen. Romans 9:1–5.  He also was burdened for Israel to find salvation. Because of these burdens his teaching reflected upon it and also his energy in travel. Romans 10:1–4. His burden influenced his prayer life. Romans 1:8–12 . And even caused internal conflicts with himself. Colossians 2:1–5. But those burdens would active him into great faith, passion, and spiritual determination. Maybe today what we lack is not more teaching but a real God given burden we are to accomplish with our lives.

Your burden will cause a motivation in your faith to occur. It is actually where true ministry occurs and how new ministries are to be birthed. Burdens from the Lord have the Love from the Lord within them. Without the love behind it there is no sacrifice. Without love there is not willingness to suffer. But with love you will to do extreme faith things.

The burden and the love within it are what forms vision. A vision that has no burden is a religious structure. I feel today we have a lot of structures based around ideas or seeing needs but no real burden. We may have compassion, or sympathy but that is not the burden I’m talking about. The burden is the why you do things and defines the motivations behind actions.

Answering the call is really answering the Burden. A calling without a Burden has no destination. But when burden is acted on it will also release Grace … the ability of God to create change. Think of how many times a burden in prayer receives an answer. It’s because Grace was released. The fullness of grace is present were burden is being nurtured. This is why some do exploits and others don’t. Colossians 4:12–13, 1 Thessalonians 3:10. Burden is a pure form of activating grace!

Burdens will cause us to come out of complacency. We will come into new depths. We will study to find answers to the burden. We will take action, whiles others don’t. We will bring new truth to open ears. We may even find those of like faith, which is really finding faith that is active in the same burden we carry. Burdens always create and build for longevity. The burden of the Lord takes us on a fantastic journey! A journey of apostolic building.

Part 2 we will cover how to acquire the Apostolic Burden of the Lord.

Entanglements of the Stream, Leviathan

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Job 41:1, Psalm 74:14, Psalm 104:26, Isaiah 27:1

In the scriptures, Leviathan is seen as a demonic being we have to deal with. This morning in a conversation, the Lord gave me a great revelation concerning this demonic force and how it works. First, some background on what Leviathan is. It is a seven headed dragon-like creature that was believed to live in the streams. Its counterpart, Behemoth looks like a rhinoceros and lives in the mountains. Leviathan, having seven heads and a singular body, has a primary assignment to create indebtedness. It was called a twisting serpent and was believed to wrap itself around a person’s eyes and cause the inability to see sunlight. It also is seen in Hinduism as one of their gods. It is called a piercing serpent and is seen as piercing the base of the skull with its tail. The base of the skull by those in occultism is looked at as the point of Kundalini and also life force or flow. This is why yoga is so wrong; it tries to trigger this area of the skull. The base of the skull is also the place connected to astral projection and connected to the silver cord found in Ecclesiastes 12:6.

Leviathan is found in the streams or flows of many of the spiritual meetings going on right now in the overall church structure. It does not mean our stream is demonic, but I am speaking of demonic presence trying to come into the stream that is occurring. I believe we may have allowed past and even present streams to become polluted that allow access for this spirit. This demonic spirit is trying to stop others from experiencing the awakening by taking residence in streams and affecting those participating in those streams.

Since part of its assignment is to bring poverty or lack, this seems to be a major hold right now with many apostolic and Kingdom works. Many Kingdom centers and emerging voices and places of awakening are lacking in the area of funds to perform the Kingdom work and assignments. I believe it is directly related to a second indebtedness, an indebtedness to religious systems. This is seen as an obligation to remain in the past structures that have no life. Many in this hour are benefiting from apostolic alignments and from revelatory teaching found in emerging Kingdom centers, apostolic churches and other forerunner type ministries. But at the same time, many are still putting their tithe in past structures or streams due to being “indebted” to that structure by obligations, soul ties or traditions and not by real life-giving relationships. These fading structures should be approached from a missiology perspective by those still attending both them and the emerging move. These structures should not be looked at except through the eyes as a missionary place to minister life-giving flow. They need awakening.   

Leviathan’s seven heads represents the double mindedness and inability to make a full commitment to embrace the light and revelation that lies before us. This demonic force comes to wrap in a twisting motion around us and to take the truth and twist it as well creating many iniquities.  The truth of freedom, awakening, reformation and Kingdom has been twisted by those who want to deny its graces upon others. The wrapping of its long neck over the eyes is the stoppage of revelation coming that “seeing, we might see and be converted.” The neck represents the will and it is allowing its will to cover instead of God’s will to fully cover.

Many outside of the Body are experiencing this in full force right now. Many are in such tight bondages and they are having such a hard time seeing truth. We have many different types of belief systems going at the same time. We are disjointed on End Times, Israel, the existence of five-fold ministry and function, the existence of the Holy Spirit, Kingdom/Church, open Theism, hyper- grace, and other multi- head beasts all fighting for a voice in the midst of the stream of truth. Many have taken over the stream fully and have become the main voice. Many of these streams are polluted and Leviathan is sitting in the midst of the streams controlling them.

 The covering of Leviathan is scales of pride (Job 41:15). This pride is very evident in the Body of Christ. It says the scales are joined one to another. Pride seems to connect to others walking in pride and when this occurs, it becomes a covering we think is impregnatable. This is reflected in many pastoral gatherings, alliances and meetings. As we try to participate in supporting these gatherings, we do not fit many times. Do not come under these coverings. What you submit to, you then are indebted to. The verse goes on to say ‘his heart is as stone’. This is the outcome of pride, hardness of heart. Pride protects what must be changed. This demonic force has tried to stop the changing of hearts in this current move from unfolding. Pride is such a terrible thing in men’s lives. The unwillingness to admit to a need or a lack causes stoppage of God becoming strong in our weakness. When we say we are without need we then enter into self deception. This spirit has led many into this place. If not careful, they will become reprobate in mind. I strongly urge you to read all of Job 41 and see the things we are combating.

I hope these things make sense to you. I am seeing very clearly the struggles so many are going through are directly related to this demonic force. It is stopping the embrace of truth, awakening, etc. It has positioned itself in the streams of the past to try and stop the flow of new streams emerging today.

Our hope is found in Psalm 74:13 As God says He will break the head of Leviathan and feed it to the people in the wilderness. I think of a song Ric Pino sings and the words go like this “He gives us giants for our bread”. The victory of defeating this power will be living bread for us. He goes on to say He will dry up the streams he is living in. We better be sure we have the right stream flowing.

In Isaiah 27:1, He says He will take His sword and slay Leviathan. That sword is in us. It says He will both punish and slay. I believe that punishment will come through the Saints, the holy remnant rising and standing against him. For seven heads we have something more, the seven-fold spirit of God. The seven lamps are burning. Seven graces and divine enablement’s. Seven mysteries of Christ the great warrior and conqueror of all demonic powers. When his will no longer is wrapping us and his scales of pride no longer covering us, we then can free others.

It seems to work with Diana in Acts 16. Diana means fully enlightened, but flow restrained.  We can have great enlightenment, which I believe we have, but something is restraining us. It’s the entanglement of a Levithan spirit. It is not so concerned if you get revelation but is concerned if you flow with revelation. It tries to slow the process of flowing by blinding what revelation we currently have. It tries to twist it. It tries to restrain it. If you desire or have to have more and more revelation but never do anything about it, you are falling into a spiritual trap. Our stagnation allows an entanglement to occur.  

It’s time to defeat leviathan in our own lives and then in the lives of spiritual structures and in the culture. We do this by speaking the truth in love. We do this by doing works, so our faith is not dead. We do this by realizing I no longer live but Christ lives in me and through me and the life I now live I live by faith in the son of God.

What Are You Carrying?

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Romans 11:29 (KJV 1900) — 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

The question many people have is what do I have to offer? We think we need to have developed to some grand place of spiritual power and knowledge before we actually have something to give to others of value. Yet we have the Holy Spirit and Jesus present with us all the time. We actually are never in lack of resources to draw from.

All of us are called to be conformed to the image of the son. This calling is a reflection of Christ living in and through us. We have a mission to the world to display this wonderment of Christ in us the hope of glory. We have been graced for this display and empowered to show forth His glory working in our lives. This is the highest calling and most important. Now for some they will be given assignments and task that seem small and insignificant, but God uses them to form us and see how we steward opportunities given. For others they will be given specific functions in the body that come with a lot of responsibility. To whom much is given much is required.

So, we all are carrying calling. Many are called but few chosen. The choosing is the hand picking of God for a specific task. We have confused calling and chosen. We all have been invited to produce what has been given for us to carry. But many believe unless they have been recognized, titled and positioned they are not able to produce. The fruitfulness of what you carry is seen by those you influence in thinking and actions. How you release your passions and how they affect things others value.

What you’re also carrying is your giftings. Gifting is natural and spiritual. They are deposits of potential or enablement to do something supernaturally by Gods empowerment. Gifts come not for us, but again to serve the body of Christ. They come to empower us for acts of service and not for us to feel good about ourselves. That will come because we see lives changed and know we had a part to play in it.

Giftings are always given to help fulfill the ultimate call with your life. Giftings will actually point to your call and will give you a hint of what your calling might really look like. If you know your calling likewise you can then see what giftings it may require as well.

Both calling and gifting activated is what opens opportunities for you to be asked to do certain ministry assignments or roles. Your ministry is how you serve others in your calling and gifting. Calling and gifting both require obedience. Your obedience is what creates the ministry you will have. Ministry is the expression of both calling and gifting. It becomes the fruit of what both combined will produce.

 Ministry is when you have been chosen. It is the divine enablement of God. Many may be called to do ministry yet never seem to get there. The reason is the gifts and calling are without repentance. What does that mean? God has determined a set way to be chosen. It is by activation of what we carry, specifically calling and gifting. Repentance means not so much sorrow but a change of mind, metanoia. God is not changing his mind how he has determines a set order of roles and responsibilities. But we need to determine to change our mind! You see repentance, changing of the mind is directly connected to calling and gifting. We have to decide to reflect and serve. We have to decide to activate and do. We have decided to be obedient. Because we know what we’re carrying.  

When you know what you’re carrying you are no longer striving. You relax into what is inside of you and operate from it. You work your faith towards perfecting it. And like Peter you can come to rest, even in a prison cell, know that the circumstance is not the end, because what I’m carrying will get me out of the situation.

When I was in the hospital in Sept of 2018 it did not look good. I was losing weight. My entire colon was infected. It looked like I was dying, and I probably was. Thousands of people were praying but I kept getting worse. God then spoke clearly to me and said, “Stop having them pray for you but pray for the message inside you that your carry will live. Your temporal but the message is eternal.” I told people to pray for the message inside me to live knowing I would have to live because I was carrying it. 3 days later I left the hospital. A valuable lesson indeed. But that’s also the power residing inside of us that we are carrying.

Here is Your Battle Plan!

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This is small portion of a Class I recently taught in Legacy School our online school.

Paul told Timothy a valuable insight. It was a charge he gave him. A charge was a command that was not to be taken lightly and was expected to be heeded. Paul gave 6 charges to Timothy over the 2 books written to him. This is the first or foundational charge. The word commit following the word charge was the passing of the charge into the hands of Timothy to steward.

1 Timothy 1:18–19 (KJV 1900) — 18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightiest war a good warfare; 19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

The word war means to make a military expedition, to lead soldiers to war or to battle, (spoken of a commander). It is a verb or action word. Paul was expecting Timothy to go on military conquest, campaign, or a mission. He was to be strategic in the advance of the kingdom. But not by natural means but by spiritual means. It was to be a “good” warfare. The word “good” means excellent in nature. It would hold the nature of Christ and the spirit of excellence. It was a battle that was to be done a certain way. As he did this the outcome would be a warfare. The word warfare means a military campaign, military service, or discharge of apostolic duties. It is the word Strateia which is the root of our word strategy. These means it would be calculated and planned. It is also a noun and descriptive of something accomplished. The outcome of deciding to lead others would result in strategic warfare that would require precise planning.

Paul refers to how to strategize in this warfare, it is found in the prophetic words Timothy had been given when he was commissioned. It was what God said over his life. Paul connects the warfare that it is related to what was said prophetically over Timothy. The ability to lead others is related to the prophetic words spoken over our lives. It also holds the strategy we are looking for in how to conduct our campaigns, mission and visions. It is connected to kingdom exploits and advancements. This tells us how prophesy will also reveal what kind of things will try to stop us from fulfilling our destiny. Paul was saying to Timothy the battle is not just about your life, but it is about Timothy’s destiny upon the earth and the work he had been assigned for the Kingdom of God.

Paul tells us the destiny and fulfillment of Timothy’s words will not occur by himself, but he will need to enlist other soldiers to war with him. The destiny was not about Timothy’s life but what Timothy was to accomplish with His prophetic words. He had been given the weapon of war within his prophesy and instruction to convey the importance of what he carried to others. The prophecy would hold such hope, power and vision that it would convince others to aid Timothy and join alongside him. Paul would tell him later to find faithful men able to teach others also. This is not just doctrinal instruction but prophetic strategy that would be sustained to generations coming forth from the prophetic word.

The Power of Prophesy over a life is a seldom accessed or seen as tool of warfare. Your prophetic words are a battle plan for your life. These words must be worked out and strategized over. They must be safeguarded as well. Paul would also warn Timothy that as a good solider he was not to be entangled with the affairs of this live. The entanglements come to dimmish the prophetic words over His life. This prophetic word carried great force and power and worldly affections would reduce its impact. A strong word requires the application of force and resistance to whatever would hinder them from fulfillment.

Perhaps if prophetic words were not so flowery but carried the sense of true kingdom destiny others would engage into them. Perhaps if prophesy were at a higher level, we would have the strategy we are looking for. Make war with your prophesy. Your prophesy is your battle plan given to you by God to fulfill.

Identity and Design

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At the creation account we see God saying, “let’s make man in our image”. He was telling all that he had already created a type of heavenly council. But then God says l am going to make man in my image. Every person has been made in the image of God taking on certain attributes. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made. We all have our own personalities and even Gods imprint of uniqueness. Our facial features, how we walk, talk, think, come to conclusions and even our fingerprints and DNA are all unique to us. I believe we each are given a very small percentage mix of God that makes up all these things on our life. If we could put everyone together, we would see the total reflection of God. This uniqueness is our design by Father God.

Psalm 139:13–15 (KJV 1900) — 13 For thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvellous are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, When I was made in secret, And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

We also have an identity as Sons and Daughters grafted into the family of God. We are being made conformable to the image of the son or take on an identity of sonship reflecting the identity of Jesus. Identity comes from the Son Jesus. We are reflecting on him through us, and we all are on this same journey to be conformed to the image of the son. We seem to be settled that we all are sons and daughters.

We never attack each other for being a son or daughter or taking the privileges of sonship. We never attack the reflection of the son as we would be attacking the son himself. But what we do attack is the design of each other. We attack how we act out how we are made. How we do things, how we conclude our thoughts in reasoning, and even the giftings a person may have that are both natural and spiritual. These become friction points in relationships.

We are also all struggling with our own design being expressed. We may hold back because we are not accepted or feel we will be rejected. We only do certain things and do not fully move in the strengths of our design to not offend others. Now design is not something we hide behind for unredeemed areas of our life. When I talk of design, I’m talk inf Gods reflection in you. Because we may not be settled in our design and how we walk it out we may and do struggle when others express of their design. We become critical, judgmental and can even close someone down from functioning. I have seen this happen many times and seen the missing answer not being able to have expression.

We have been in a season of identity truly being discovered but now we are now transitioning into Gods design for us. The word design means:

  • a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is built or made.
  • an arrangement of lines or shapes created to form a pattern or decoration.
  • decide upon the look and functioning of (a building, garment, or other object), by making a detailed drawing of it.

Within your design 3 distinct areas that make up the whole of you. We could call it spirit, soul and body but I call it your human makeup, your spiritual life, and your spiritual DNA.

Your human makeup is what we see to deal with mostly. It is your emotions and how they are managed. It is how you think and conclude conversations. It is the way you reason or deduce thoughts being conveyed and heard. It is how you come to conclusions and values you form. It is how you conduct yourself in life and walk out life with others. It includes your natural talents and abilities. For the most part this is a majority of our design and because of this it also is the interaction part of us with others. It becomes the expression of the rest of our design as well. Because it is the primary interactive area it also is what people focus on to attack or receive.

The second area of design is your spiritual life. It is the things of the spirit you have experienced that have formed you. It also is the way you prophesy, teach, preach, witness, testify, and express yourself. It holds all the activity of the spirit including graces and spiritual giftings. It is the interaction of your spiritual life flowing outward through your natural design.

The third area is your spiritual DNA. This is who you are to God and his plan for your life. It is how you allow the Son to reflect through you. It is what you’re reproducing and the revelation of Gods glory in and through your life. It is the very deep essence of Gods image within you.

Your design is a sum total of all three of these Gods deposit within you and how he made you to reflect those deposits. Your design is the total reflection of Christ through you. It is how you do things. It is how you lead your life. It’s how you function in the body. How God designed you is to reflect the identity he has assigned you. This is why overflow or function comes from identity. When we settle both identity and design, we then have a flow in two areas, and we end with overflow. True ministry comes from overflow, or you could say comes from being settled in who you are and what you carry.

The main design element for all of us is LIFE IN THE SPIRIT. 

  • Designed to answer the why’s
  • Designed to create an open spiritual atmosphere.
  • Designed to give opportunities.
  • Designed to have Creative worship.
  • Designed to produce Revelatory teaching.
  • Designed to encounter God on a personal level.
  • Designed to see yourself through Gods eyes.

Fathering Grace Vs Apostolic Grace

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What is the difference between apostolic grace and fathering grace? We seem to have a lot of people overlapping of what is fathering grace and apostolic grace. Apostolic grace is a grace to an apostle to help ministry leaders be effective towards the Body of Christ, but fathering grace is more towards an individual. Apostolic grace comes to reorder, realign and redefine. Fathering grace comes to form and mature. So, the foundations of both are very different. Apostolic grace is a foundation based on doctrine. Fathering grace is a foundation based on love, acceptance and trust. Apostolic is visionary, for a larger picture for ministry, and the fathering grace is visionary for the individual.

Many times, we see that apostles are also fathers. But not all fathers are apostles. It’s two distinct different types of grace. Sometimes those two things overlap in an individual’s life. We need to understand which grace is actually working. Everybody needs both in their lives but for different reasons.  You’re drawing from a different Grace for different outcomes. Sometimes one is more dominate in your life and other times you need both to impart into your life.

Spiritual fathering has a divine connection that aligns you to a spiritual father. There’s a grace for connecting to that father. There’s a grace of how your hearts would be connected. The alignment you have with an apostle is around your assignment and mission in the earth. Your specific assignment needs that apostle’s insight. So, the difference is apostolic grace deals with ministry and its issues while fathering grace deals with living life out together and doing life together. One is equipping you to do ministry, and the other is equipping you to do life.

Apostles are very transparent about their life and ministry, where spiritual father is transparent about what is going on in their heart decisions. They both will impact a life giving flow, it is just coming from a different source with a differnet expectation of result. Both will champion your call, giftings and your abilities. But a spiritual father is going to champion your heart.

It is the role of the son our daughter to pursue the spiritual father and what that father has experienced.  The same with the Apostle, but the pursuit is drawn upon the grace and revelation of what the apostle is carrying. Spiritual Fathers create opportunities so spiritual sons and daughters can see what’s really setting inside of them. Apostles create assignments, to move the kingdom of God forward and pull those under them into that assignment.

Many times, these things may overlap because the assignment may also demand some changes in the heart, and the changes in the heart will also release you into assignment. So, everyone needs to determine who is your apostle, and who is your spiritual father. I’m an apostle too many right now probably 20 or 30 different ministries and people are looking at me as an apostle helping them and giving oversight into their ministries. But I also have about that many spiritual sons and daughters that I’m raising and causing to come into their fullness. It is a season for me of more sons and daughters coming towards me.  

I believe the early church looked at their sons and daughters and saw the grace gift of fivefold ministry upon them. And as they did, they decided this person has a calling or a grace gift into a certain function. Today, we have been training people basically backward. We’ve been training them in a school of ministry to teach them a grace gift, when a grace gift is actually something that’s occurring inside your heart. I believe the early church picked and chose fivefold ministry out of sons and daughters. This foundation of sonship meant discipline, obedience, loyalty, sacrifice, commitment, and long list of things was already in place that didn’t cause the problems we see today. It was a heart that had been formed not forming after coming into a five fold grace. From that point they further trained them to understand all of the fivefold graces. Notice I didn’t say trained them into a grace but to understanding those graces. They trusted the Holy Spirit to make them be who God wanted them to be.

Both the apostolic and fathering grace is present upon the earth. Both have certain outcomes. Both are needed. Let’s not get confused and make them the same thing. By doing so we step around the processes and demands both require. The process of Spiritual fathering produces the foundation of a prepared heart. The Process of an Apostle builds upon the heart and demands a response of action from the heart. The Fathering process is a time process while the Apostolic is an action process. The Spiritual father allows for growth to occur over time. Eternal values are formed. Decisions are not just spontaneous but well thought out and contemplated.

The apostolic now takes the authentic sure belief formed in a spiritual son or daughter and says time to activate you into the destiny your father saw in you. The apostle places things in the pathway of the person to find and encounter to finalize their value and worth in ministry. They bring people into destiny by discovery while the spiritual father raises them by assurance.

I will say this both graces are not a one, two, three, step type process, but more a spiritual artform of knowing each person individual life and who God says they are. Both are probably the greatest degree of empowering and working with the Holy Spirit in a process. Both have setbacks and pitfalls. But both are the highest degree of honor and value we can give to others, to believe in them how God does and to see them how God sees them in fullness.

Praying With Assignment

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I was up in the night contemplating the prayer life of the church and how much prayer is done daily on a global scale. The hours and numbers of those praying. The energy it represents and how much is happening and also how much for all the effort is not happening. I have just come out of a dynamic prayer meeting which had much heart felt repentance and open confession of lack and need for God to intervene. It was powerful. Why are some prayer meetings so strong and good and then others seem flat?

As I contemplated this in the night I reflected on the early church of Acts. They had both individual prayer and corporate prayer. They also prayed with different types of prayer based on the current moment and need. Theses are thanksgiving, supplication, faith, agreement, intercession, binding and losing, and imprecatory. I have written about these before in my blog post and in my book on imprecatory prayer. They knew which type of prayer was needed for each situation. It was not one fits all. That is the first reason some prayer meetings are good, and others aren’t. We are hitting and missing with our approaches.

I also reflected back to the single focuses of the church in Acts 2:42. To stay in the apostle’s doctrine, prayers (plural) fellowship and breaking of bread. The apostle’s doctrine was to implement the doctrines of Christ and bring forth the Kingdom. It is listed first as a target to hit, then prayers plural is listed as this is a tool to accomplish this. The fellowship or intimacy was with God and each other and able to happen because of the times of prayer.

I then was reminded how they prayed in Acts 4 they prayed for boldness and suddenly the place was shaken and instantly they received boldness. The response was directly tied to the prayer and the prayer was based on advancing the kingdom. They said the one thing they lacked to be effective and cried out in desperation for it. God answered and they were forever changed. The right prayer meeting does not give you relief but produces lasting change. What a powerful prayer meeting. It reminded me of the one we had just had. Our prayer was not about meeting our needs but about shifting us for service.

Jesus said don’t pray for what you need for your father in heaven knows before you ask. Matt 6:8. Then he gives the Lord’s prayer in the next verse. He gives the model for prayer with the emphasis on the Kingdom and the power and the Glory. It seems the personal prayer was for the examination of ourselves and the corporate prayer a defined intention.

In Acts 12 Peter is in prison and the church is praying without ceasing for his release. A specific focus of why the meeting has been called. It was a continuous meeting probably with people in shifts coming and going. The assignment was driving them and the vision of the outcome. When Peter knocks on the door their assignment is completed. The ramifications of this a new season of Spiritual history is about to unfold. The transition from Jerusalem to the world.

Again, in Acts 13 as they were ministering to the Lord the Holy spirit said, and Paul and Barnabas were chosen for an assignment. THEN they prayed before they were sent out. This prayer was for the corporate assignment that had just been spoken by the Holy spirit. It seems the meeting was not so much a prayer meeting seeking direction as it was a meeting of simply ministering to the Lord. The word ministered means to serve the state at your own cost, to do service, to discharge an office.

I have been in all night prayer meetings and after doing it a few times and seeing pillows and sleeping bags come in the door it kind of lost its purpose. In Africa they have asked me if I wanted to call prayer vigil or all-night prayer. I asked the host pastor why? It seemed he felt the anointing was needing empowered by prayer or needed to increase and prayer was the answer. I told the pastor these people are up early and are working all day. They are coming here in the evening and the meetings are running long. This is the third day with one more to go. Why would I put this on the people?

I know every move of God was birthed from prayer. I know nothing moves without prayer. I also know the very much needed times of prayer and have seen the changes that occurred. I’m just saying perhaps our model of prayer, the scheduled structures we have created, and our approaches need to have more of an intentionality about them to make them more of a special moment. I have done this with communion. I only do it when Holy Spirit prompts me to. This makes it hold greater value when we do share communion and takes away the religious pattern and traditions.

Perhaps we should not call prayer meetings on a schedule but schedule them when there is a real need. How many times do people ask,” Are you going to the prayer meeting tonight?” If there is not a sense of urgency in gathering to get answers then why is there a meeting. Are we caught in traditions?

So, what am I trying to say in all of this? I am seeing the direct correlation to not having prayer meetings to have prayer meetings, but they should always have a greater purpose and vision. Something beyond our own selves. They should reflect on the assignments and kingdom advances. They should be part of a flow. To me this is why prayer meetings seem to have low attendances, because these things are not seen. If you reflect on your prayer meetings the most successful were the ones with these elements or the dealing in hearts to be prepared for service. So like spiritual flow in a service, or flow in worship, maybe we need to have a spiritual flow in prayer meetings. Each one seen in the Bible produced an eternal result.

Hope for Tired and Rejected Leaders

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Easter, the cross, the tomb, the resurrection. Power of God upon the earth. Promise of God fulfilled. A kingdom birthed. Freedom in grace has come. Yet in the midst betrayal, rejection, and even those closes failed.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it. As I’m reading the account of history like so many, I want to point out some silent sufferings that all leaders go through and to bring hope to your labor of love. He speaks to the betrayal of Judas. Sitting amongst them with all the privilege yet to sell the greatest privilege for 30 pieces of silver. Can you imagine what Christ is thinking. This is what my life, my words, my messages and experiences are worth to this one. Yet he believed in him all the same.

He turns to Peter and says to him “When you’re fully converted” Matt 22:32 then strengthen your brethren. He saw a man still not convinced, still doubting still not full committed. Yet he saw a greatness within him yet to be seen. An assignment for his future given even unconverted! Imagine how he wished he could finish the process he started in both of these. To see the outworking all the investment and be satisfied he had done the work. Yet at times leaders have to say I have done all I can.

Then as he goes to the garden and in the greatest transition of heaven to earth, the moment of the secret of his life and ministry is being revealed, the disciples could not tarry an hour. As Jesus prayed in the in the garden for the cup to pass, sweating blood as he now begin the final process of being poured out, knowing he must fulfill his purpose upon the earth. The disciples could not overcome their flesh and sleep. The greatest moment Jesus needed them to be connected, yet he went the course by himself. Imagine even seeing the drops of blood yet not inquiring. I imagine Jesus like so many leaders asked the question to himself, when is it enough? I have poured myself out and it’s not good enough.

But what I see is Jesus could have seen failure. Failure of ministry. Failure to convey truth. Failure to grow leaders. But he was focused not on what was temporal, or his eyes saw. He was focused on what he had placed in the spiritual realm, what was eternal. Perhaps these men would eventually capture it, perhaps not. But it was placed in the spiritual realm and others would now have a chance to capture it. I learned a long time ago, what you say and do is not for who is in a room, but what you place in the spiritual realm so others can catch it.

As leaders we go through times of the cross and resurrection. At times we are at critical moments and those around us don’t understand the importance of a moment. I am telling you I understand. But my hope is not in people. It is in knowing and doing what is eternal. It is placing things in the spiritual realm for those who truly desire it. Just like the disciples were not convinced so many today are not as well. Jesus didn’t try to convince them, he made them think on the things he spoke with conviction. The power of resurrection is also the power of conviction and as Jesus moved in resurrection power. The early leaders found the same path also releasing the spirit of conviction to change mindset by metanoia, actions of the hearts, and the laying down of worldly pursuits for that which was eternal. Take heart leader. Move in resurrection power in your words and deeds. Stay focused on the eternal for the it all that will remain when all is said and done. Let God sort the ones who are to come along.