Exodus 16:4 - "Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction."
This is the test of whether we will get up first thing every day and seek fresh "manna" from heaven. This fresh daily word from Heaven will help keep us fresh spiritually. When we stop gathering it every day, we will start to grow stale and often start to deteriorate.
But we need more than this to actually grow spiritually. Growth requires more than what is needed to just sustain us. We need to eat fresh manna from God, but we also need the meat of the word. We will not grow unless we are pursuing more and more depth of understanding, and more increase in our vision.
1 Corinthians 2:10 - "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. "
Joshua 1:9 - "Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
By far the greatest gift ever received by us is the Holy Spirit Himself. Those who discover the value of His presence enter realms of intimacy with God never previously considered possible. Out of this vital relationship arises a ministry of power that formerly was only a dream. The incomprehensible becomes possible because He is with us.
"I will be with you" is a promise made by God to all His servants. It comes when God has required something of us that is humanly impossible.
God doesn't have to try to do supernatural things. He is supernatural. If he is invited to a situation, we should expect nothing but a supernatural invasion.
1 John 5:3,4 - "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."
AFFIRMATION:
The Word is born of God. The Word of God will overcome the world. World-overcoming faith is in my spirit right now.
Romans 12:2 - "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the entire renewal of your mind so that you may prove for yourselves what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you."
The only way to consistently do Kingdom works is to view reality from God's perspective. The mind is the essential tool in bringing Kingdom reality to the problems and crisis people face. God has made it to be the gatekeeper of the supernatural.
In the transfiguration of Jesus He talked with Moses and Elijah. The reality of heaven radiated through Jesus, and He shone with incredible brilliance. His body revealed the reality of another world. The word "transformed" in that passage is the same word for transformed in Romans 12:2.
The renewed mind, then, reflects the reality of another world in the same way Jesus shone with heaven's brilliance. It's not just that our thoughts are different, but that our way of thinking is transformed because we think from a different reality - from heaven toward earth! That is the transformed perspective.
Affirmations:
MY RENEWED MIND ENABLES ME TO PROVE THE WILL OF GOD.
I WILL PROVE THE WILL OF GOD WHEN I PUT ON DISPLAY THE REALITY OF HEAVEN.
AS I COME INTO AGREEMENT WITH GOD'S INTENDED PURPOSE FOR MY LIFE, MY MIND BECOMES A POWERFUL TOOL IN GOD'S HANDS.
Jeremiah 6:19 - "Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people - The fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it."
".....be not drunk with wine...but be filled with the Spirit." - Ephesians 5:18
Our hearts ought to always burn. There is a place where we can live in the unction and the clothing of the Spirit, where our words will be clothed with power.
We have power to loose, and power to bind in the Spirit. If we breathe His thoughts into our thoughts, and live in the unction of the Holy Spirit as He lived, then there will be evidences that we are in Him; and His works we will do -- but only in the Spirit.
There is no limit as to what we may become if we dwell and live in the Spirit. In the Spirit of prayer we are taken from earth right away into heaven -- and it is only in the Spirit that the love of God is shed abroad in us.
As we speak in the Spirit, the fire which burned in the hearts of the two men on their way to Emmaus when Jesus walked with them, is burning in our heart. It is sure to come to pass when we walk with Him, our hearts will burn; it is the same power of the Spirit.
Nehemiah 4:6 - "So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart."
Passion is stamina that says "I'm going to go after this, no matter what happens. If I have to wait ten years, I'm going to get it." Passionate people are those who have discovered something more important than life itself. Jesus told His disciples, "Whoever does not persevere and carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:27)
Affirmations:
I REALIZE THAT GIVING UP FALSE VISIONS AND AMBITIONS FOR MY GENUINE VISION IS THE PATH TO TRUE LIFE.
I AM HUNGRY FOR MY VISION
I NEED PASSION TO FULFILL MY VISION. I NEED PURPOSE TO PRODUCE PASSION
Matthew 16:25 - "For whoever is bent on saving his life(his comfort and security here) shall lose it (eternal life), and whoever loses his life (his comfort and security here) for My sake shall find it (life everlasting)."
Romans 11:29 - "For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable. (He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace, or to whom He sends His call.)"
Written into the spiritual DNA of every believer is an appetite for the impossible that cannot be ignored or wished away.
The Holy Spirit, the very Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, lives in us, making it impossible for us to be content with what we can only see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. Our hearts know there is much more to life than what we perceive with our senses; we are spiritually agitated by the lack of connection with the realm of the supernatural.
In the end, nothing satisfies the heart of the Christian like seeing so-called impossibilities bow their knees to the name of Jesus. Anything less than this is abnormal and unfulfilling.
Affirmations:
BAD TEACHING AND DISAPPOINTMENT HAVE ROBBED ME LONG ENOUGH OF THIS REALITY.
I REALIZE THAT THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE BEGINS WITH THE REALIZATION THAT WE WERE PUT HERE TO DO THE WILL OF GOD ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
Luke 11:2 - "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth."
In Psalm 27:8 David said, "When You said, 'Seek My face' my heart said, 'Thy face, Lord, I will seek.'" God is saying to you, "Seek My face." What is your response? Is it like David's? Are you saying, "Thy face God, I will seek." Or are you saying, "When I get caught up at work, or when things slow down a bit..."? The time is NOW and by next month "this time" may have passed. Seek Him now, while He can be found, as the Scripture says (Isaiah 55:6).
Acting in the spirit of sacrifice He will come to you and His reward will be with Him:
Wherever His presence is, healing is. Wherever His presence is, restoration is. Wherever His presence is, peace is. Wherever His presence is, prosperity is. We WILL See the Goodness of God
Psalm 27 ends with "I would have lost heart if I had not believed I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13 Seeing the goodness of God – here, in our life – is the fruit of intimacy with God; it is part of the reward. Seek Him now. Seek His face and see His Goodness. Can you sense His desire for time with you?
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 -- "Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."
To repent means to "turn around and go in the opposite direction, change our minds, purposes, and what motivates our thought life." Repentance enables us to walk in a new direction.
Our lives are totally changed when we repent of our bad thinking. When our mind is renewed with the word of life we are transformed from glory to glory into His image. Repentance creates a passionate desire for intimacy with God.
As we repent and turn to God; we are recharged, awakened, and invigorated; we rise up in His healing, delivering power.
ENLARGING OUR EXPECTATION
Isaiah 54:2 -- "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes."
To walk in our DESTINY we must learn new ways and walk out of the old ways and comfort zones of the past. Now is the time to enlarge, stretch, lengthen, strengthen, spread abroad, resettle, inherit and inhabit the new places. It is time to let go of the old and reach for the new, embracing the high calling of God in our lives, to win souls and DISCIPLE new believers.
The Holy Spirit has a divine plan. He will lead and guide us into the new by teaching us how to walk in resurrection power. Like Esther, we were created for such a time as this.
AFFIRMATION:
I ask largely so that my joy may be full.
John 16:23,24 -- "In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full."
Luke 24:5,6 - "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen."
Jesus is not among the dead, lifeless religions of the world. He is where the action is: saving the lost, healing the sick and raising the dead. If He is alive, then His Word is alive.
Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
The same supernatural power that raised Him from death is in His word. We were brought forth from death in trespasses and sin by the very same Word of His power - the Word of God which lives and abides forever!
Ephesians 2:5,6 - "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
We are just as alive as He is. His life is living in us now. Not after we get to heaven - NOW! Maybe now we can begin to see what the Holy Spirit is telling us in 1 John 4:17: "......as he is, SO ARE WE in this world" - NOW. Now we are the sons and daughters of the Living God. 1 John 5:1 tells us "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."
Affirmations:
JESUS IS ALIVE. HIS WORD IS ALIVE. I AM ALIVE.
HIS FAITH, WHICH HAS BECOME MY FAITH, IS ALIVE.
HIS FAITH IS A LIVING FORCE. HIS FAITH. HIS HOPE. HIS LOVE. ALL THREE ARE ALIVE IN ME, READY TO DO THE SAME WORKS THAT THEY DID WHEN HE WAS HERE ON EARTH IN HIS BODY.
Luke 9:23 - "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."
Spiritual storms, winds, and billows will blow into our lives, pulling us this way and that. Sometimes, in the face of winds and danger, we know there is a place of safety in God, but still, we don't fly to that safe place in Him. Instead, we fly away, resisting the wisdom that tells us to fly to Him. Why do we all seem to do this?
Because we all know in our spirits what flying toward Him will mean. We know it will require first going to the Cross.
Peace, safety, comfort, rest are found in God, but testing and discomfort are also woven into His design. Therefore, we should turn around and start running toward what is uncomfortable, because that is exactly where we are going to find Him. We will find our rest only after we choose to nest on a crossbeam.
David knew this. In Psalm 84, he tells us to fly to that place in God – the secret place, often the place of our greatest testing, known only to God and us. By abiding in this place, we build a strong history with God. Every trial and storm He brings us through becomes a part of the nest. Day by day, He lines our nest with His faithfulness, His goodness, His mercy, and His comfort. We rest secure in His strong tower, built to last.
Exodus 33:18,22,23 - Then Moses said, "I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!" And it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. "Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen."
When Moses saw the Lord's back, what did he see?
When we think of seeing His glory we think of everything from beautiful colors to some perception of His nature.
Is it possible that Moses prophetically saw the stripes that were on His back? Remember, the Lord was crucified from the beginning. When He created the world He knew that He would also have to suffer and even die for it, yet He continued. There is nothing else that will ever more fully reveal His glory. When we truly behold what He did for us we will be changed.
Colossians 1:13,16,17 - "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist."
Matthew 3:13-17 - 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan [River], to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him [vigorously protesting], saying, “It is I who need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” 15 But Jesus replied to him, “Permit it just now; for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John permitted [it and baptized] Him. 16 After Jesus was baptized, He came up immediately out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he (John) saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him (Jesus), 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased and delighted!” The Amplified Bible
The Scripture (Matthew 3:13-17) tells us that when John baptized Jesus in the river, the heavens opened up with the voice of the LORD declaring that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus says something very interesting during this moment when He tells John the Baptist that this had to be done in this particular manner. Although John felt insignificant, Jesus was saying that he had to be the one to activate the destiny. God is calling for the leaders of today to get back into the river where what you do will open the heavens.
The river has many applications throughout the Word of God and our spiritual walk. However, the most significant is that the river is a place of life. It's the place where we discover our true identities as sons of God (discovering our CALLING in Christ) and the place (spiritually speaking) where we are baptized in Holy Spirit. When we recognize that we are positioned in the river, in the things that we set ourselves to do, we discover that Heaven will open and declare what is needed to activate our DESTINY.
John the Baptist was a forerunner. Not only a voice but an individual who paved the way for what was coming. A forerunner is someone who is willing to make a way for others when there is no way. A forerunner is someone who isn't willing to go down the same road again and again, but one who is determined to discover beyond natural limitations or boundaries.
LEADING SONS INTO THEIR DESTINIES
In this day there is a call for forerunners to be fathers. There is a real need in our day to see fathers arise to not only love sons but to lead sons into their destiny. We need fathers who are willing to raise sons and set them into God's PURPOSE for their lives. When fathers have no desire to go beyond the realm of the known, they begin to build their private empires to keep everyone close to them at all times. However, when a father has the heart of a forerunner, he will raise sons to discover the revelation of their DESTINY.
The Lord is calling you to the river. He is calling you to do what must be done and in so doing, Heaven will open and declare the mandate upon your life. What you do as a forerunner is just the beginning, while what you do as a father will turn generations to shift the fatherless to their PURPOSE in Christ. The river is calling YOU!
Deuteronomy 30:19 - "I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life."
He was saying, "Stop procrastinating and hoping you will eventually get somewhere in life. Decide whether you're going to get a curse or a blessing. Decide whether you're going to die or live."
Affirmations:
I AM NOT DESIGNED TO DRIFT - I AM DESIGNED FOR DESTINY.
I AM NOT GOING TO PROCRASTINATE ON MY DREAM AND DRIFT ALONG, ENDING UP WHEREVER THE LUKEWARM TIDE TAKES ME.
I MAKE A PLAN AND FULFILL IT.
Revelation 3:15,16 - "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
John 3:34 - "For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure."
The Holy Spirit desires you to live daily in the fullness of the Lord so that Jesus will receive glory and honor through His great power working in and through you. Jesus said to the Father, “As You sent Me, Father, send them!” (John 20:21). God will empower you, just as He did Jesus, to walk out the fullness of your DESTINY, with that same unlimited anointing of the Holy Spirit! (John 3:34). This fullness is available to every believer, for we have inherited the blessing and privilege to know the mysteries, secrets, and thoughts of God (Rom 8:16).
"And said, Verily I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." Matthew 18:3
We can walk in stability and confidence with Him, if we hold to the potential that rests within us before the Lord in simple child-like trust -- we will be enabled to rise above the limitations that we place upon ourselves, and enter into all that He has made available for us.
We need only to realize that we are a new creation - that old things have passed away and our life is hidden in Jesus, and that our strength comes from Him. With David, we should be able to say, "The Lord is my light and my salvation..." (Psalm 27:1). If we will meditate on the past victories that we gained by placing our lives in His hands, this will become personally real to us.
Paul said, "I press toward the mark..." (Philippians 3:14). This "mark" is our CALLING in Christ. We look past our vacillations to see there is within us a deep inner determination to press through to the place where our responses no longer emerge from our Adamic nature, but from the new creation that we have become.
Matthew 6:9-10 - "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Many people are confused about the will of God on earth, believing that it is fuzzy and vague.
The will of God is simply this: "On earth as it is in heaven." When we pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done," we're praying for the King's dominion and will to be realized right here, right now. God has not kept His desires secret: He wants the reality of heaven to invade this rebel-torn world, to transform it, to bring it under His headship. What is free to operate in heaven - joy, peace, wisdom, health, wholeness, and all the other good promises we read about in the Bible - should be free to operate here on this planet, in your home, your church, your business, and your school. What is not free to operate there - sickness, disease, spiritual bondage, and sin - should not be free to operate here, period.
Affirmations:
I REALIZE THAT I AM PUT HERE TO DO THE WILL OF GOD ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
I EMBRACE THIS LIFE-TRANSFORMING UNDERSTANDING OF "NORMAL CHRISTIANITY".
MY ASSIGNMENT AS A BELIEVER ON EARTH IS TO DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL.
AS I MAKE THIS MY PRIMARY UNDERSTANDING OF GOD'S WILL, THE OTHER AREAS THAT TROUBLE ME SO MUCH WILL SEEM TO SORT THEMSELVES OUT.
Ephesians 3:16 in the Amplified reads, "May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His Glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the Holy Spirit {Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality]" We can live in the Fresh Anointing that brings strength to strength living in these times! The greater the challenges that arise to confront us, the greater the favor, grace, and power the Lord releases to and through us. In Psalm 92:10, "But my horn (emblem of excessive strength and stately grace) You have exalted like that of a wild ox; I am anointed with Fresh OIL!" AMP
John 8:36 - "If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
Loose yourself from all entanglements, soul ties, dead works, wrong relationships, wrong mind-sets. Be free from all false expectations, man's expectations, religious expectations; every expectation that does not come from the hope and expectancy that He gives to you. So you must be emptied of all the things that hold you in the earthly realm, repent and turn away from those things that break His heart.
Set your priorities in order for He is taking you into another realm of your faith walk. You are going from Faith to Faith and Glory to Glory.