God is a friend of mine…

At that time Jesus answered and said:

I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.”

And Jesus is saying to you today:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Mat 11:25-30)

“But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
(Acts 1:8)


Angels Among You
[Monday, July 19, 2010]
“Yes, My angels are carefully assigned to watch and operate.  They are sent from the Father.  They are about you now to work and protect with calculated movement.  Know that no harm shall enter your dwelling,” says the Spirit.

Prophetic Scripture:

Psalm 34:7 – The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them.

We are in a season where I believe we will become increasingly aware of the movement of God’s angels working among us.

As you sit reading this just now, angels are carefully assigned to you.

God’s operation of angels is intricately planned for your benefit.  The Bible says further in Hebrews 1:14, that His angels are ministering servants for the heirs of salvation.

Praise God—that is you and I!  Their purpose is to care and minister to us.  Take note that angels are keeping camp in your house.  They want to work on your behalf.  As you obey and speak the Word of God, their ears perk up.

They get excited to do something!  They listen for that Word to come from your mouth (Psalm 103:20), so they have something to work with.

They hear it and go into action—warring, working, planning and serving!  You have nothing to worry about today, angels are watching.

They have been sent from the Father to ensure your security and safety.  Rejoice today, because of the angels no harm will come near you!

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I see within me today the vision of angels around me.  You have promised that they are always near me.  Therefore, I am confident that I am completely protected, from all harm or evil of any form.  I say that angels work now to obey God’s Word in me as I speak it out today.  Thank You Father, for Your ministering angels.  In Jesus’ Name, AMEN.

Copyright 2007-2009 One Voice Ministries. All Rights Reserved.

Our assignment today is to keep calm:

A lesson taken from Two Listeners:

God Calling – Keep Calm:

“Keep your Spirit-Life calm and unruffled.”

Keep your Spirit-Life calm and unruffled. Nothing else matters. Leave all to Me. This is your great task, to get calm in My Presence, not to let one ruffled feeling stay for one moment. Years of blessing may be checked in one moment by that.

No matter who frets you or what, yours is the task to stop all else until absolute calm comes. Any block means My Power diverted into other channels.

Pour forth – pour forth – pour forth – I cannot bless a life that does not act as a channel. My Spirit brooks no stagnation, not even in rest. Its Power must flow on. Pass on everything, every blessing. Abide in Me.

See how many you can bless each day. Dwell much in My Presence.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” – Proverbs 4:23

Shalom,

Skip Barland

P.S.
Let us remember that this country of the free, consisting of 50 states, each originally formed as a sovereign republic, that each one has joined together, and has sworn a oath always to uphold and abide by our U.S. Constitution, before ever being admitted to form these United States of America; and the liberty that we now enjoy as a people was not given to us; but rather it came at a great cost in blood, sweat, hardship, and tears.

So let us not be so easily taken and gullible; and let us not give up on and relinquish what so many have given so much to preserve, in our liberty as a free people.

We must remember: “When it comes to PEOPLE, we should be tolerant; but when it comes to IDEAS, we MUST be critical!”

Lest we make the mistake of having to repeat a history we do not want for our children!

AS TRAVELERS IN TIME… WE ARE EACH PILGRIMS ON LIFE’S PATHWAY!

A few sparks from the anvil on our journey through life!

We are all travelers in time, who have been placed here on earth with one ultimate destination and goal.

Paul described it as a race that had but one prize at the end; and he said we must each discipline ourselves in order that we may win this prize.

Normally in a race the prize goes to the one who crosses the finish line first; but not so in this race.

For those who would win this race, all that is necessary is that we not quit; and that we stay in faith.

Jesus once gave a parable of the Workers in the Vineyard:

Matt 20:1-16

“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. To them he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way.

Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ “They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’

When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ “When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.

When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.

When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’

“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.

Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

In this parable the ones hired at the beginning of the day were promised one denarius as pay for the days labor; and each successive hiree throughout the day agreed to whatever would be fair, showing a trust in the one who hired them, that he would be fair; but at the end of the day, those who were hired early, who had worked through the heat of the day, were not happy with their agreed upon pay, or should I say their “prize?”

What they failed to understand was that their reward, their prize as it were, was not in earthly mammon, in what the world seeks as valuable; but their reward was in the person of Jesus Christ!

As it is, every person’s journey begins the moment they are born into this world; and every person has been given an equal opportunity to reach their goal and obtain their prize; however we each have been given different paths to follow; and every path has been specifically choreographed by the Master for each one of His children, and is specifically designed for their individual personality and needs.

The Bible even tells us that every detail, everyday spent on this path, has been scheduled for us, and has been written in a book; a book with our name on it:

Psalm 139:16-15

16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.
They cannot be numbered!

18 I can’t even count them;  they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,  you are still with me!

Our achieving our destiny and whether or not we are successful at obtaining our goal at the end of our journey, will depend on our determination and our resolve that we shall not quit, nor give up in our ultimate pursuit; and it will require that we will each remain faithful to follow God’s instruction manual and road map for our trip.

Also, and this is most important, we must each learn the absolute necessity, while on our path, that we learn to discern and to obey both the leading and the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Though we each are given a different path to follow, with different circumstances, trials and challenges along the way, nevertheless we each have but one prize to be won at the end of our journey; and there is ONLY but one way for us to obtain our prize.

What is this ‘Prize’ that we all are each destined to strive towards; that the Apostle Paul said that we must discipline ourselves in order to win, or to achieve?

The Prize is Jesus Christ; and for instructions and a road map on how we are to win our destiny, God has given us His Word (the Holy Bible); but many there be that have chosen their own path, and have not even considered God’s directions, and for them the Bible says that their journey shall end in eternal separation from their Creator… or what the Bible calls death!

Won’t you come and join in the adventure?

May we each begin our day today with a renewed focus on our destiny and our ultimate prize; and most importantly may we each remember that the only thing necessary for us to win this race is that we not quit; that we keep our focus on the our Prize, Jesus Christ; and that we remain in faith! Selah

Shalom,

Skip Barland


Faith requires us to broaden the limited boundaries of our imagination in order that we may see the unseen…

God’s Word ALONE is a lamp unto our feet!!!

Faith always involves our taking instructions and doing as our Operations Manual (the Bible) tells us to do; and Jesus even said that both He and the Father would gage our love for them by how well we do this!

Let us learn from the Parable of the Wise Builder (1 of 3)

(2 of 3)


(3 of 3)


Faith sees and speaks of things that are not, as though they were!

Faith involves our broadening the vistas and boundaries of our natural mental capacities, which is the realm of our imagination, and our being able to see things there that are not yet visible to our natural eye!

For truly, as we look at the definition of FAITH, as it is defined in the Bible, we learn that it is the substance of things hoped for; and the evidence of things that are not yet visible nor felt in the natural.

The question is, how else can we get there and see those things that are not as though they are except by way of a sanctified imagination?

As Jesus said: “All things are possible if ONLY you can believe!

There are therefore things in life that we have to believe first, before we can see them; for when we see from our heart, through eyes of faith and love, we open ourselves up to a world that lies beyond our five senses!

Join in on the adventure… won’t you? Let go and let God!!! Selah

In order for us as Children of the Most High, of those who are created in His likeness and after His image, in order for us to break through our natural resistance coefficient, which is this sin ridden and fallen world that we live in, and in order for us to be able to tap into the supernatural realm of which we so readily can read about in the Bible, it is out of necessity that we must start exercising both our faith and our sanctified imitation.

In Proverbs 28:18 we read: Where there is no vision, the people perish.


In this verse of scripture, the word “vision” has to do with the Word of God, which is the only legal means for us to gain both glimpses and access into the Supernatural realm; and God is also telling us here that where there is no “vision” into God’s supernatural Word, there can be no message of life, and the people perish because of it.

Even Albert Einstein realized this secret, when he said:

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.

If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
~ Albert Einstein

In the Bible we are called the “Sons of God,” and it even says that the angels in heaven bend over in awe and amazement, and we are told also in Romans 8:19 that even nature itself longs in earnest expectation as it awaits to see the manifestation in the earth of the Son’s of God! What do you suppose this means?

I happen to be a “Trekkie” fan, and as such, I’m one of those people who enjoy watching science fiction and the high definition graphics and realism that are provided us in our modern day technology, that brings realism to the silver screen; but I also maintain that we ALL are wired that way, and that we have been since birth!

In fact here is one of my favorite lines from another movie, which I actually believe contains more truth than fiction, in what it conveys. Go ahead and take a listen, click here and listen to what Morpheus is saying to Neo about the world that remains hidden from our eyes!

In fact, whether we realize it or not; we are born for the supernatural; even to the extent the supernatural should actually become natural to us, even as it is to God, who is our heavenly Father and our Creator; and even as we can see it was for Jesus… of whom we are told in Scripture (in John 21:15) that He (Jesus) performed so many miracles that there wouldn’t be room enough in all the books in the world (at least in Paul’s day anyway) to tell of them all.

Here’s my point, folks, when our faith is based upon God’s Word and the promises of God’s Word that is what gives both substance and validity to our faith; which in turn gives substance to our hopes; and therein lies the difference between FAITH and PRESUMPTION!

The term “presumption,” which most people in the world operate in today, means to take or do something, or to perform some act, without the proper leave nor allowance to do so… and this is definitely NOT what faith is!

To follow this path will lead you ultimately into error and into false religious cults; and it can also lead into occult activity; but then again the “Occult” is also nothing more than a perversion of the “Truth;” and by that I mean behind the lies that Satan tells there is always a thread that leads to some truth or some history, that Satan has corrupted and hidden from our view, in an effort to discredit it; and thereby to try and keep it from God’s children.

I maintain, as I’ve even heard Kim Clement say, that it should not be the Psychic’s that are out rendering aid to law enforcement agencies, to aid them in their work; and folks you should know also that the only reason why these agencies will allow these sorts of activities, and will sometimes seek it out, is because there is both verifiable power and accuracy there; and these people have often in the past been able to provide supernatural help in solving certain cases; howbeit, its power source is derived from outside of God’s permission, and therefore it is a counterfeit.

But can we not see all throughout the Old Testament, where it was the Prophets of God who heard the secret plans of Israel’s enemies, plans that were made in their bed chambers; and did his prophets not reveal these plans to the leadership of Israel in advance, in order to aid Israel in their battles?

We can know from this that there is a REAL antithesis to that counterfeit gift, that we find in the world, that is truly available through the POWER of the Holy Spirit, to ALL those who are God’s offspring, who are the Sons of God in the earth. Selah

Oh yeah, here’s one last point, that I shall leave with you as a caution and also a warning, as to what the Apostle Paul said in Scripture (see 2 Timothy 3:5), would be one of the main signs that we are living in the Last Days, that will usher in the return of our Lord, Messiah Yeshua, to earth; in that He said That men would be very religious and have a belief in God; but that they would deny the POWER (meaning the Holy Spirit).”

Shalom,

Skip Barland


Our rite of passage and getting our wings… God’s style!!!

Learning to fly like an Eagle!


As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings; so the LORD alone did lead him…” Deut. 32:11-12

THE MOTHER EAGLE “STIRS THE NEST”

Eagles are born to fly and to soar high above the clouds, and so are we as God’s children.

Now wait until you get a load of how they are taught to fly!

The maturing eagle is taught to fly when the mother eagle “stirs the nest.”

Do you understand what that is?

Those little eagles are not in any hurry to get out of their nest.  They are growing and their mom and dad are feeding them every day, and they are having way too much fun getting fat.

Their nest has been made out of thorns and briars.  That is how the father and mother eagle build their nest.  Say, how would you like to have your bed made out of things like that?

But that is only the outer shell.  They line that outer shell with animal skins and fur and they make it very comfortable for those little baby eagles; and so they are in no hurry to get out of that nest.

There is also lesson here for human parents too.  If you make it too comfortable at home your children will never want to leave home.

We could learn something from father eagle and mother eagle, for when it comes time for those little baby eagles to start flying, the first thing they do is stir the nest.

The mother eagle hovers over the nest and starts fluttering and flapping those powerful wings and that blows all of the loose feathers and fur away from those baby eagles.

The next thing she does is to go and take her powerful beak and tear that nest all to pieces.  She pulls out all of that fur and those animal skins and all of a sudden those little baby eagles are sitting on thorns.

That will move them out of their bed real quick will it not?  And then she starts flapping her powerful wings and then they start to get the lesson.

They think she wants them to start learning to fly.  Therefore they start flapping their wings a little bit imitating their mother.  And then she flaps her wings again.  And they will start flapping their wings again.  And then one day she screeches real loud and she swoops down and she places one of those baby eagles on her wing.  And they go up to 5000 feet and perhaps 7000 feet and then she starts swooping and soaring around through the sky and all of a sudden she tips her wings and the little baby eagle falls off.

He starts to do somersaults and flap his wings as he is heading down to the ground and all of a sudden before he goes splat on the ground she swoops down and picks him up on her wings and takes him up again to 2000 feet, to 5000 feet and perhaps to 7000 feet.

She repeats that process over and over and over again until that little baby eagle is able to fly.  That is the way the mother eagle teaches her babies to leave the nest.  She stirs the nest.

Well God the Father is compared in the Bible to the father and mother eagle.  God also will teach his children to fly high.  In the book of Exodus the Bible says,

Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:  ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.(Exodus 19:3-5).

Well I thought the above flight lesson would go nicely with the lesson below, which is called the “Cherokee Legend” which is the rite of passage an Indian boy must go through on his way to manhood.

The similarities of both examples, to that in the life of a Christian are absolutely stunning!

Just think of it folks, you could go to Disneyland and just about have to mortgage you house these days, in order to take your whole family; and take them on rides like Space Mountain, where we get jerked first this way, and then the other.

Well God gives us that kind of excitement for free… and it’s all a part of our training!

So think about that little baby eagle, or the young Indian’s rite of passage next time you are tempted to complain; and just figure… hey, we don’t have it so bad after all!

Enjoy the adventure,

Skip Barland




Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth’s rite of Passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him an leaves him alone.  He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.  He cannot cry out for help to anyone.


Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm.

The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could  become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold.


It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him.

He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.


We, too, are never alone.

Even when we don’t know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us.

When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.


Moral of the story:

Just because you can’t see God, doesn’t mean He is not there.   “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

If you liked this story, pass it on…

Famed Gospel singer Walter Hawkins… Has gone up Yonder!!!

Walter Hawkins graduated to Glory this past Sunday…

Get down one more time…


A tribute to a brother…
Famed Gospel singer Walter Hawkins…

Has gone up Yonder!!!

(May 18, 1949 – July 11, 2010)

Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, composer, and pastor, Walter Hawkins died Sunday at his home in Ripon, California after losing a battle with cancer. He was 61.

According to his older brother, Edwin Hawkins, Walter fought an arduous battle with pancreatic cancer. “Today, I lost my brother, my pastor, and my best friend… Bishop Hawkins suffered bravely but now he will suffer no more and will be greatly missed,” he said.

The gospel singer was born in Oakland, California and obtained his divinity degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

In 1972 he recorded his first album ‘Do Your Best.’

In 1973, he became a pastor and founded the Love Center Church in Oakland.

The Mercury News reports that Bill Carpenter, a friend and family representative said that Hawkins garnered nine Grammy nominations after recording a series of albums. Hawkins’ ‘The Lord’s Prayer,’ won him a Grammy in 1980.

Hawkins was once married to gospel great Tramaine Hawkins, but the union ended in divorce.

Hawkins is survived by two children, Trystan Hawkins and Walter “Jamie” Hawkins Jr., an R&B singer; a daughter-in-law, gospel singer Myiia “Sunny” Hawkins; two grandchildren, Jamie-Daniel and Jahve; and his siblings, Carol, Feddie, Edwin, Daniel, and Lynette.

R.I.P.

FAITH IS… Letting God have it all!!!

FAITH IS…

Faith is reaching out in trust, standing on the promises of God’s Word, when all else has failed!

Faith is standing on promises that are in opposition to every circumstance and feeling that you have; that says that though I die, I will die trusting in God’s faithfulness! Faith is giving God room to do the unexpected in your life, by not limiting your possibilities, and by availing yourselves of options you may not have otherwise considered possible!

FAITH IS MAKING ROOM FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT TO MOVE IN YOUR LIFE!!!


When all seems lost… there is God!!!

When life seems to have passed you by and all seems lost; when circumstances and problems mount and all you can see is more of the same; now is the time to dig in, tie a knot at the end of your rope, for your salvation is near!

God’s promise is never to leave you, nor forsake you; and though it appears from all you can see that He has done just that; and all rhyme and reason seems to have escaped you as to why, know this, God is NOT a man that He should lie!

When circumstances and life seems to contradict God’s Word, and when everything indicates otherwise, this is God’s test.

Faith in what you can see and what you already have is NOT faith at all; but rather FAITH by definition, as we read in Hebrews chapter 11, is based on nothing more than a HOPE; and it is made evident in things that are not yet felt nor seen in the natural.

Faith always sees through the eyes of the spirit, those things that are not yet visible, and are not yet manifested in the natural; but are nevertheless promised in God’s Word!

Faith also will cause us not just to see, but also it will cause us to speak of those things that are not, as though they were; just as we can learn from the “Father of Faith,” father Abraham himself:

Romans 4:17-21

17(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

18Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

19And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb:

20He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

21And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

So regardless of where you are today; or what’s going on in your life; it matters not what problems, trials, or tribulations have encroached upon your life, God is still on His throne; and is no further away than the very next breathe that you take.

Do not look for Him in heaven above, nor scan the horizon for a some sign of his presence!

Rather look inside your own heart (your spirit man); for the evidence you seek will not be found in anything you can see, feel, or touch; but it will be found in the FAITH that says I don’t care what happens; I don’t care what circumstances or problems are thrown at me; I will not let go, and I will not abandon my trust and hope in God, that He shall perform His Word in my life EXACTLY as it is written in His Word, and exactly as He has promised. Selah

Shalom,

Skip Barland

GOD IS HOLDING ON TO YOU… and He will NEVER let you go!!!

Click here to hear Sid Roth’s interview with Grace Williams

Meet Grace Williams…

“Grace is a worship artist, ordained psalmist, songwriter/producer.
 She operates with a Davidic anointing to capture the fresh sounds of heaven.
 Her angelic voice brings healing, peace and comfort to the nations. 
Listen and you’ll hear a voice within her voice moving you closer to the heart of God. 
Catch this messenger of the Spirit…It’s more than music!”

My story begins pretty much at birth when I was born prematurely with water on my lungs. My chest would concave several inches as I gasped for breath in intensive care. Doctors gave up all hope for my tiny frame to survive as I lost a third of my body weight just struggling to breathe. On the 10th day I was miraculously healed and sent home with the name, Grace…”when God does what we can’t do”.

My mother remembers an angel visiting me in my crib when I was a few months old and then I was filled with the Spirit when I was three years old. My mom was rocking my sister to sleep praying in tongues when she surprisingly heard beautiful melodies wafting from her toddler. I was singing in tongues and shortly after I heard a piano for the first time at a neighbor’s Bible study. I reached my tiny hands up stroking the keys and said, “Mama, I want one of these.” 
The rest is history as I continue to be love sick for the Lord. I have always felt God’s presence singing over me and sensed His calling to echo His voice to the nations. I am continuing in the journey of my great, great, great, great grandfather, Orceneth Fisher, a holiness preacher who carried the Glory and traveled the West Coast igniting Revival Fires as an early apostle to California. The Fire of His holy zeal still burns within me as this is my inheritance!

I currently minister in our family church www.ocremnant.org in Orange County, California where God is stirring the Revival embers.

http://gracegrace.com/users/awp.php?ln=109708&p=home


It is oh so comforting for me to know and to understand that as a Christian, meaning I am a covenant child of God, who has been born-again, and has made Jesus Christ (Messiah—Anointed One) both Lord and Saviour of your life, that I will never have a circumstance or problem that God is not with me!!!

How people in the world get along without this relationship, and without the knowledge of this awesome potential that is made available to every child of God, through Jesus Christ; and of God’s longing and love for each one of his estranged children, to have them reconciled back into His eternal family… is just beyond me how they cope?!

For that is the ONLY hope any of us have in this world!!! Selah

Let us ALL be about our Father’s business today, to let the world know about Jesus, and who He is!!!

Shalom,

Skip Barland

God’s Prophetic Word for America today…

For the Lord says, sound the Shofar and warn my people!!!

Go, set a watchman, Let him declare what he sees!” (Isa 21:6)

For surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
(Amos 3:7)

Below is an Interview with Kim Clement, who in 1996 predicted the attack of 9/11; and again he gave a prophecy on Katrina, 5 weeks before it happened:


Listen again to another modern day prophet as he shares what God has shown him about America’s future:

Hank Kunneman is a proven Prophet, click here to hear what God is telling him about America’s future.


There is ALWAYS hope, and God’s promise always is that when the enemy comes in as a flood, that the Lord will raise up a standard against him; and that move will ALWAYS be a supernatural move of the Holy Spirit. Expect it America, for this is our only hope as a nation!

Below Chuck Pierce shares what God has shown him lately what is to happen, regarding the Gulf Region, and the ongoing crisis there.

As much as I hate what I see happening to our nation, and the malaise and blindness that seems to be so pronounced among our citizens, and the absolute corruption and debauchery of our politicians, we must nevertheless remember that ultimately God is in control, but it is for us, who are His covenant children in the earth, to believe, and have faith; and to pray and intercede for our nation.

God has his way of reaching into places no one else can go, and He has His ways of changing the hearts of men; or hardening them, as we can see in Scripture.

The message for today is that we here in America are at a crossroads; and that also applies for Obama.

Pray for this man that he will respond to the Lord, and that he be saved; or that God will remove him from office.

Pray also for the success of this effort to return American back to our Constitutional roots, and that we will be successful at reestablishing our Constitutional Republic; and pray most of all for a Spiritual Awakening and Revival to be sparked in our land. In Jesus’ name… Amen. Selah

Shalom,

Skip Barland



From: The Elijah List [mailto:propheticword@elijahlist.com]
Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 12:32 AM
To: theskipper@cox.net
Subject: Chuck Pierce: The Gulf Region will See God’s GLORY!


Chuck Pierce:

The Next Move of God! Get Ready—the Pot is Boiling! The Gulf Region will See God’s GLORY!

I hope each of you is interacting with the “Issachar Devotions”. This is a special month for you to understand “God’s TIME and Calendar” in a new way! Many are beginning to understand the redemptive gifts that are activated within us when we are grafted into God’s covenant plan.

The Next Move of God!

Recently, the Spirit of the Lord spoke and said, “There is a DEEP MOVE of MY SPIRIT coming into the earth realm. The Glory of God fills the heavens. But if you will look at the Gulf region of America, you will see that the glory that would fill the earth like waters cover the sea is not moving. I am going to move in an incredible way. I will have a deep move. Get ready to ride the waves of the next move of God!

Below, Robert Heidler shares on the Next Move of God:

God is doing an incredible work in our day! He is restoring His Church to the purity and power the early Church experienced. He is reconnecting the Church to its covenant root, so the life-giving sap of that root (Romans 11) can flow into every branch, producing the great last-days revival.

The Spirit of God is moving! He desires to bring His Church into third-day resurrection power! But we’ll never appreciate what God is doing today unless we understand what happened to the early Church.

The early Church was the most powerful entity the earth had known. It spread all over the world and nothing could stop it. Persecution only purified it and made it grow faster! Yet in the fourth century, satan found a way to destroy the early Church.

By the end of the fifth century, the Church the apostles planted was dead! The Church became a powerful political organization, but lacked the life of God.

For 1000 years, very few in the Church even knew how to get saved! If we see how the early Church died, we will be able to appreciate and flow in the great work of restoration God is doing today!

The Spirit and the Bride: A History of the Moves of the Spirit!

We are on the verge of the next move of Holy Spirit in the earth. That is why it is crucial to understand the history of the moves of the Spirit so we can “SEE” the next move of God forming.

Jesus alluded to Himself as “The Bridegroom.” God is not a God who distinguishes our gifts and callings based upon gender!

Therefore, all males in the Kingdom of God must pursue the Bridegroom. All males and females together in the Kingdom make up what is called “His Bride.” Husbands learn how to love the Church by the way they love their bride.

I actually think married men learn how to love themselves based upon their understanding of their bride. To “pursue the Bridegroom” must be a phrase that is understood by male and female alike.

The Bride, of course, is the Church! The Church is a pure virgin that will pursue (2 Corinthians 11:1-2). These are those, who by faith through grace, have pursued Him to form a relationship and go with Him throughout the earth. This can be to people, nations, highways and byways, based upon us following Him, the One we love.

My whole testimony revolves around two statements, “I will restore what you have LOST” and “Follow ME and you will see revival and restoration!” These two statements have built my life pursuit of our Lord!

In Revelation 21:9 the Church is called “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” In the Old Testament, Jehovah and the Jewish nation were Husband and Bride. He was betrothed and married to His nation.

The prophet Hosea best revealed the relationship of a husband and unfaithful bride. As a whole, the nation of Israel rejected and was unfaithful to the One who formed them and developed His relationship with them, the people and the land.

As the Church pursues the Bridegroom and matures in this relationship, Israel will be restored by grace, forgiven, and reinstated as a nation to the firstborn, first-wife status that God intended in His origination.

This will give Israel a unique status among nations as God’s elect nation (Romans 11). This will bring them back to their call as “Bride.” All nations will then reconcile around this call and restored status.

We, the Church, the Body, the Bride of Christ, must pursue our Lover as He sends us to gather His inheritance among the nations (Psalm 2). We are being fragranced as a Bride through the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit. The Bridegroom rejoices over the Bride! We must not hesitate in our comfortable beds to open the door and leave our bedroom chamber to frolic after our Lord as He leaps from mountain to mountain, the cultures of our society.

The Word and the Spirit!

We are in a time to understand reality. Reality is when Spirit and Truth come together and we worship. To discern the world around us, we must understand both Spirit and Truth. The Woman at the Well experienced the reality of Jesus. You can also! Many people do not understand how revelation works. Without revelation, we perish or enter into humanistic thought processes.

Armed and Dangerous!

We are in a tremendous season of warfare. Warfare is conflict. Many of our books deal with spiritual warfare.

Things are getting darker and darker. Many do not understand spiritual warfare and the grace that we have been given to fight. Spiritual Warfare is wrestling and outwitting the enemy who would love to get an upper hand on you.

I See A Boiling Pot!

As I said last week, “I saw a boiling pot!” What does this mean to us? When I see something in the spiritual realm, my first step is to go the Word for an objective interpretation.

In Jeremiah 1:13, God showed the prophet a seething pot toward the north. Ezekiel 24:3 defines this boiling pot as an emblem of war. When this pot boils over, there are lands that will end in desolation. This verse reveals that from the north, evil comes. There was a steam that was rising representing an evil force in the atmosphere. This thick vapor would spread over the land.

I see war on the horizon. Many factions are in the midst of us, and war is being pieced together.

Someone asked me if I think we will be invaded in this land. I said to them, “We have so many factions vying for control that we must see that all the elements for a major conflict are already growing in our midst.”

There are religious factions warring against the next move of the Spirit of God.

There are doctrines of demons contending for the minds and time of God’s men and women. Leaders are being tested in their faithfulness toward the Lord and His ways of doing things. There are national representatives from other nations vying for information that will produce control. Mammon is influencing many against God’s purposes.

Another issue in the pot is the selfishness of many. God addressed all of Israel over the priests’ selfishness. Wars come from selfishness (James 1).

In the days of Hannah, God’s Kingdom needed a new representative. Eli and his sons had been tainted in leading the people toward the Lord.

The normal practice at Shiloh was for the priest to receive whichever part came up from the boiling pot on the end of the fork. Eli’s sons insisted on taking what they wanted, when they wanted it.

They selected the best parts for themselves. They preferred the meat being roasted rather than boiled. They refused to yield the fat for burning on the altar. God withdrew His presence. God is looking at our giving and what we are taking as well.

Hannah travailed to bring forth a new leader for a new season. God wants His presence to fill the atmosphere and His glory to cover the earth.

Jeremiah saw this boiling pot. The pot was a large kettle that was evidently sitting on a fire. A wind was blowing to keep the fire hot and the pot boiling.

In 1 Samuel 2:14, this word is also translated as “kettle”, and the word “cauldrons” is used in 2 Chronicles 35:13.

In Job 41:20, the smoke from the nostrils of the Leviathan pours out like smoke from a boiling “pot.” This causes me to see the Gulf beginning to boil and Leviathan creating stirring war over the issues that are loosed now in the earth.

Get ready—the pot is boiling! This nation is beginning to simmer. Watch around November for the pot to start boiling over.

Yes, we can pray… but in our prayers we must declare that the fire of conflict be turned down. Mammon is blowing a wind of confusion. Focus! Focus! We can gain momentum in these times that are heating up.

Watch Russia! Watch its influence in Syria and Iran. Watch as Russia attempts to align with Great Britain. Learn the concepts of war in a time of war.

Passover and Go Beyond!

We just celebrated the 4th of July. That is America’s Independence Day. Most nations have an Independence Day from someone or some type of captivity. The greatest Biblical basis for a nation being liberated was Passover. The nation of Israel, who had been submerged into the nation of Egypt, was liberated by the powerful acts of God through His servant, Moses. The Blood was the defining force of this liberation. The power of that Blood is available to each of us today through the Spirit of the One who gave His life as a sacrifice for us. Know His Blood! Know how to receive His Spirit! Know how to be liberated!

At Passover this year, we declared a shift in the timing of the Church that will bring us back into sync with the POWER of the BLOOD and DELIVERANCE! In the early Church, Passover was one of the most important times of the year.

However, when Constantine “legalized” Christianity, Passover was forbidden. In Syrian and Greek culture, Passover was not allowed to be incorporated into the worship service. Slowly, the power of His Blood was displaced as the central focus of corporate gatherings.

Passover is our Redemptive Feast linked with crossing over and entering resurrection power through His Blood! God gave us this Feast to help us celebrate that we are redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb out of the hands of the enemy!

It’s a joyful time to remember that Jesus died to set us free, so we can enter into every promise! Our Passover Celebration is a time to decree that the Church recognizes HIS BLOOD is active in the world to redeem mankind.

Don’t miss entering into and redeeming the time so you continue in this new season “free” and fully liberated!

The Power of Music and the Effects of Violent Worship!

My life is filled with music. My family loves music. We go to plays, concerts, and musical performances. We attend jazz festivals and outdoor music gatherings. We watch musicals. All of my children are musical. For some, music seems to be their goal. Sound and music play a great part of our lives. The people I minister with are musical. If they are not gifted musicians, they are worshippers. In Heaven, worship and musical sound are one.

Here is an example of music, sound, and violent worship. The Lord said that “the Kingdom is filled with violence, and the violent take it by force.” However, many of us cannot visualize what this looks like.

Wherever I minister, music and sound set the stage for the release of God’s will into the place I have been called.

Last year, I had a team ministering in Paris. Key leaders and influencers from the city were with us. In my heart I had this desire arise to go through the city and “sow joy.” During our worship, I kept hearing the Holy Spirit saying, “The sound of joy is in you!” He kept saying this over and over again.

Then He showed me that we, the people of God, must release the sound of joy!

No matter what our natural circumstances or situations dictate, and no matter what we feel physically, we have a sound of joy to release.

We must employ the law of sowing and reaping, and sow from the joy in us which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. As we release the sound of joy from the earth, He releases His joy from Heaven based on Psalm 16:11, “In His Presence, there is fullness of joy and at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

That joy becomes our strength to produce supernatural victory! I knew that I could find the sound in Heaven that would produce joy in the people of Paris as I ministered and visited the city.

Heaven is filled with sound because Heaven is filled with worship. When we enter the Throne Room and come boldly before the Lord, we have access to the same worship sounds of Heaven.

We also have access to the same emotion of Heaven. Sound creates movement. Worship, sound, and music are important. Your conscience is like a window between your soul and spirit. Make sure nothing is clouding your conscience. Sound that leads you into movement and worship will cause your conscience to remain in alignment with God.

The conscience is one of the absolute authorities of our life. When our conscience is aligned and interacting with the Word of God, the “window” remains clean and open. The conscience is the lamp of the body. The conscience is the eye of our spirit that causes us to see into the heavenly realms.

Clean and open your window and receive the sound of the Lord! Let the wind of the Spirit bring the sound that you need through the window of Heaven and into the place where you are standing.

“Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5, NASB).

Unshakable praise must keep going forth in your life. Unshakable praise plows through the hardest ground. When the ground is hard, when the circumstances are adverse, God’s favor is on the one who will praise.

Fallow ground will break up. Declare the plow of praise will cut through the ungiving earth and make a way for the good seed of the Word to be planted.

The Word of God tells us to submit ourselves to God, draw near to Him and then resist the devil. I believe that as we worship and submit ourselves to a holy God, we can come into intimate contact with Him. Even though we walk here on the Earth in our worshipful submission, we ascend into Heaven. As we individually seek God and ascend into the Throne Room, we can hear the sound of Heaven in our spirit man on Earth.

Prophetic Word Released: Songs and Sounds

Recently in a worship service, LeAnn Squier, an amazing musician and psalmist, began to prophesy. I began to hear and release revelation along with her. The Spirit of God began to speak to us the following:

“I am creating a unique identity in My people. Even in searching for the sound of your sound, your identity is found in the unique sound within you. I am removing from you the noise of the world’s confusion. This noise has made you something that I never intended you to become.

“I am going to begin to pour such a pure stream of sound from Heaven around you that you will hear who you are to become. You won’t sound like any other individual and the place on earth where I have positioned you will not sound like any other location.

You are in My time, so you will not sound like another day, century, or decade. You will have a sound for now. You will have an identity that is unique and unmistakable. There are ten thousands of ten thousands of voices that are going to begin to join with your sound. This sound will be poured from Heaven, but then rise back from the Earth.

“I am tipping My golden chalice from My heavenly palace and disseminating and depositing thousands and thousands of songs and sounds in you, the sanctuary of your dwelling and the land around you.

You will birth words that express and sounds that impart and deliver the voice of what I have done and what I am doing to the societal culture around you. This will not be a sound that has one local expression, but will be linked together with harmonies of others around the world. This sound will produce a joy in the lands of the earth.

“There is a voice. The sound of My voice is going to come in an unmistakable clarity. Begin to look for the new expression. Begin to look for the new words. Begin to look for the new sounds that are going to accurately express the sound of this pouring out of this drink offering that I am delivering. I am giving assignments! Some will sing! Some will orchestrate! Some will create the movement of dance to the sound. You will bind the enemy in chains and break the back of principalities that are controlling and resisting the movement of My Spirit in the earth.

I am reordering your day with sound and the music of Heaven. This day will not sound like nor look like any other day.”

Chuck D. Pierce
Glory of Zion International Ministries

Email: chuckp@glory-of-zion.org

Listen to an interview with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Obama, that aired on Israeli National TV…

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love her!!!”

(Psalm 122:6)



Now that Prime Minister Netanyahu has returned to Israel after meeting with President Obama, hope has been renewed for better relations between the two old allies.

President Obama has appeared across Israel on a major TV interview in an effort to reassure Israeli citizens. But the fact remains: major tension still exists over the issue of settlements in Israel and what the response should be to the threat of Iran completing their nuclear weapons program. ~ Dr. Michael Evans (Your Ambassador to Jerusalem)

The above interview between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Obama was aired today (on Friday) over Israel’s television, on Channel 2.

I truly feel that our nation is in serious trouble today, and that we as a nation are treading on very thin ice for a lot of different reasons; and I also feel (as I’ve said many times before) that we are also at a very definite crossroads too, as a nation; and that what we do now, and decisions that we make as a nation, will determine whether or not we shall even exists as a free nation in the future.

As a case in point, we have a man who now sits in the White House, who himself has failed to even produce or show evidence that he is in fact a U.S. Citizen; and the more we go down this road, with all the stonewalling by this man and his administration on this issue, those allegations appear to be true.

He also claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and says he is a Christian; however from all the evidence and the fruit that we can observe from his life and by what he says, the evidence would certainly indicate otherwise. And as if that were not bad enough, he has also been recorded as saying he is of the Muslim faith… but truly he cannot be both a Muslim and a Christian, and that’s for sure!

In fact from all of his rhetoric and posturing, the evidence would certainly seem to indicate that truly he in fact a Muslim; and has only cloaked himself as a Christian for political expediency. Obviously, he never would have been elected to office otherwise, if he were an admitted Muslim.

He also claims to be a friend of Israel; and yet he has verbally and politically sided with Israel’s enemies; and is even today exerting pressure on Israel, as have also the last several administrations before him (in both Republican and Democrat alike), going all the way back to the Ronald Reagan Administration, trying to pressure Israel to give away more land for peace… and this goes against a direct warning and commandment from God (in Joel 3:2) for nations not to do this, lest they be Judged by God.

Not only that, but we are also living in a time when our nation is fighting for its very life and survival; and is experiencing the worse financial recession and crisis since the Great Depression.

And in spite of that, we have an administration in Washington DC today that is going against our U.S. Constitution, and is implementing both policies and laws, many of which by the way were first signed into law through Executive Orders by Former President Bush, that are in direct conflict with our U.S. Constitution; and therefore they are illegal… and yet nobody, including our U.S. Supreme Court is saying anything or doing anything to stop it!

It certainly appears on the surface anyway that our nation has all but lost its moral compass, and is on its way down, headed towards our own demise, as a Republic anyway.

This also once happen before as well to a once great empire, called the Roman Empire; and their downfall, as it would appear ours will be also if we don’t change directions and repent, was more attributed to their own internal immorality, as a people; and the internal greed and corruption of its politicians. Doesn’t that sound familiar?

Is history repeating itself here in America? Well that is the 64 thousand dollar question… isn’t it? I can only say that it certainly appears that way!

All I can say is, we need to pray folks, and we need to both “watch and pray;” and by that I means we can’t afford to be so naïve and blasé about what’s going on in our country and in the politics of our country.

Folks, if we are going to change, and see our nation turn back to God, it will only be the Believers in our country, the Christians (according to what the Bible says in 2 Chronicles 7:14), who have access to God through prayer, who are the ones to effect such a change; and to that end Christians have to be more proactive at all levels… including politics!

Our problem today is that our government is only an extension and reflection of the people who elected them, and so my concern is that the majority of our citizens today are also without a moral compass; and are ignorant of what is going on.

A lot of that I think it is because of the fact that our media is lying to us; and is purposefully supporting a whole different agenda, as is this current administration; and most of the general public are fast asleep, and are none the wiser… and we just can’t afford this folks!

We have to do better than this, if we are to survive, and reestablish our Constitutional Republic, and preserve our Liberty; because not only are we repeating history, if we don’t change our ways; but to add insult to injury, we are actually making the very same mistakes as did another nation in recent history, in that we are experiencing the same problems and are making the exact same mistakes as did the people in pre-Nazi Germany, in the 30’s, that gave way to the Nazis and to Hitler!

The handwriting is on the wall folks, and the question is, does anyone else notice… and does anyone care?

On that note, I will just end with this admonition, let us all continue to pray for a major Spiritual Awakening and Revival in our land, because seriously without our having that intervention from God, we are NOT going to make it!!!

Shalom,

Skip Barland


TRUST GOD IN ALL THINGS!!!

The Lord is our Shepherd… and He wants to lead us in every area of our life; but as sheep it is for us to follow!


Below, is another excellent devotion from David Wilkerson on this subject of trusting God in any and all situations of our life.

The point was made by David that he was trusting God in some areas, but not in others… and so the message God gave to him was that “God wants it all;” and by “ALL” He means all.

The apostle Peter (in 1 Peter 5:7) tells us to cast the total of our cares upon Him; in other words this means to roll them off of our shoulders, and on to Christ; and it goes on to say we are to do this because Satan roams about to and fro in the earth seeking those whom he can devour.

Now why is that? Why would my carrying burdens make me susceptible to attack by the enemy?

Well I believe the answer is because fear and doubt, when harbored and entertained in the life of a believer, in believing or accepting something as truth that is not, these emotions and feelings when allowed in our life can become a stronghold, and therefore they become a calling card for any demons in the area to get involved in our life

Apprehension and fear work counterproductive to faith, and they are the antitheses of faith; as are also haughtiness, bitterness, and unforgiveness too.

These emotions will light us up like a porch lamp on a warm summer’s night, and all the demons in the area will be attracted to us like a magnet when we are harboring emotions and feelings like these, that are in disobedience to God’s Word in and violation of our covenant.

God created us for intimate fellowship, and that means there is no part of our live that we should keep for ourselves, and say this is for me; and this is for God… God wants it all!!!

However if we insist on keeping our hurts, our anger, our resentments and turn away from God’s invitation to give it all up to Him, then He will just let us go our own way, and sink ourselves deeper in the mire of our life; until such time as we get tired of our stubborn disobedience and we call out to God for help and deliverance.

God is a gentleman and He will not ever force His will upon us; but life, such as it is, has its way of making those corrections for us, and believe me, it is NOT fun!!!

It is much better for us to begin by following the instructions in the Manual (our Bible), right from the get go; and thereby avoid a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering.

God will not settle for second best in our life, and He won’t be a backseat driver either!

Either we relinquish full control over to Him, through our becoming intimately acquainted with the Holy Spirit, our being filled with His power, and our following His instructions and guidance in our life; or we are on our own… and that is the only two choices we have. Selah

This is a hard lesson to learn, for sure… but it is an important one!

Shalom,

Skip Barland


—–Original Message—–
From: DAVID WILKERSON TODAY
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 12:01 AM
To: devotions-en@lists.worldchallenge.org
Subject: HE WANTS IT ALL


HE WANTS IT ALL

by David Wilkerson | July 8, 2010

“Blessed are all they that wait for him…. thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry…and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left…. Ye shall have a song, as in the night…and gladness of heart” (Isaiah 30:18–19, 21, 29).


Isaiah was saying, “If you’ll just wait on the Lord—if you’ll cry out to him again, and return to trusting him—he’ll do for you everything I’ve said and more.”

God can merely speak a word, and the enemy will falter before us: “For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down” (Isaiah 30:31).

Beloved, there is no matter our Father can’t solve, no battle he can’t win for us, with a mere word from his lips.

Isaiah says “the breath of the Lord” will consume everything in our way (Isaiah 30:33). Yet, this process of trusting God in all things isn’t easy.

Recently I sought the Lord about a situation concerning our church building here in New York City.

I told God, “I trust you about this, Father. I have sought you about it, and I will be at peace about it.”

Here is how he answered me: “David, I’m amazed that you can trust me with your real estate, finances and other material things. Yet, you still won’t trust me with your physical well-being.”

I’d been very aware of my age. And I’d been overly concerned about what would happen to my family after I’m gone.

Now the Lord’s convicting words hit me like a thunderbolt. I’d put every material concern into his hands, but not the eternal concerns. I realized, “Lord, you want me to trust you with everything, don’t you?”

Yes, dear saint, he wants it all—your health, your family, your future. He wants you to entrust him with every matter. And he wants you to live in quietness, confidence and rest.

So, go to your secret closet and get alone with the Lord. Bring everything to him. He has promised, “You’ll hear my word behind you, telling you which way to go. This is the way—now, walk in it.”

The evidence of faith is rest. Trust faith results in peace of mind. And true faith trusts all things into his hands.