The heart of prophetic training (R. Loren Sanford)

Have been reading R. Loren Sandford's book "Understanding Prophetic People", and just had to journal this passage down, because it is hardhitting, but oh so true. In 1 Samuel 19, it is said that Saul was hunting David down to kill him, and on his way, he met a company of prophets, and also prophesised. This is a sobering passage, a stark reminder that because God's gifts and calling are irrevocable, we can be rotten to the core, and yet, still retain the gifts. Are we walking right with God? The plumbline is not whether we are flowing in the gifts; the plumbline is the fruit/ the character of our lives. This line by Sandford is convicting - "Good water pumped through a dirty pipe exits the water tap coloured by the condition of the pipe".

Here is an extract from his book:

The heart of prophetic training has little to do with learning about dreams, visions and methods of hearing God. Rather, it has everything to do with character development, brokenness and humility. Intimacy with God is the goal. The sin nature and its practices constitute obstacles to achieving that goal. Without the crushing and breaking of the sinful practices and structures of the flesh brought about by the wilderness and the dark night, otherwise good words can and do produce decidedly bad fruit. Good water pumped through a dirty pipe exits the water tap coloured by the condition of the pipe.

Character is everything. The prophet must be dead to self and alive to God... the essence of our training must be loss of control and surrender to the hand of God, even in suffering. So do you still want to be prophetic?

When all has been stripped away, what remains? What value is there in standing naked and broken before God? The answer is the inestimable value of knowing to the core of myself that I am a son, that I am loved and that He is my Father. This is my whole identity. Am I a prophet, a healer, a leader? Recognised or ignored? Well-known or labouring in obscurity? These things no longer matter. What remains is that I am His, secure in His arms. Nothing more. And should that not be enough?

A new leadership is soon to emerge. They labour in hiddenness under limitation, learning the sweet simplicity of nothing more than sons and daughters, but they must soon be revealed and released. In brokenness and humility, walking in the depth of His love, this new generation will be safe to wield the power of God because those elements of flesh that would have abused the flock or usurped the glory of God will have been crucified with Christ. This must be the goal, not building great ministries or expanding our influence.

Dwelling in the house of the Lord

"One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock." (Psalm 27:4-5)

A week ago, the Lord led me to this awesome truth in Psalm 27. One of the words I've been getting is that 2012 will be a year of storms. But the Lord has been good to provide as many promises of refuge and security as well. What I didn't know before is that there is a place where we can be concealed, and literally hidden, from the Enemy. A place where he cannot touch us, because he cannot see us. That place is God's dwelling place, his tent.

I realised that the promise in Psalm 27:5 follows Psalm 27:4, where David longs to dwell in the house of the Lord. The benefits of abiding in His presence are many. Safety from the enemy is one. I want, I want, I want to dwell in God's house!

But to dwell in God's house requires holiness.

"Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not trust in an idol, or swear by a false god." (Psalm 24:3-4)

The realisation that God is holy, and he cannot tolerate sin, makes Jesus' atonement all the more precious. We can draw near to God, and enter into the Holy of Holies, and not just visit, but stay in God's presence, because Jesus' blood has made the way. This morning, God gave me just a sense of how holy He really is. To know how Holy He really is, is to be filled with gratitude that we can now "come boldly to the throne of grace".

I like this commentary by Matthew Henry.

"All God's children desire to dwell in their Father's house. Not to sojourn there as a wayfaring man, to tarry but for a night; or to dwell there for a time only, as the servant that abides not in the house for ever; but to dwell there all the days of their life, as children with a father."

I believe this is not just speaking of eternal life, as a promise for after we die. But it is a truth we can enter into now.

Jesus has paid the highest price for the veil to be rent, and for us to be able to now dwell in the Father's house, in His presence, communing with Him face to face. I want to be like Elijah, who says "the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand."

The Lord God Before Whom I Stand

I am reproducing this article from Full Gospel Family Publications (www.characterbuildingforfamilies.com) because every word here resonated with me. God has been speaking exactly the same things to me this past 12 months, about standing in His presence. It is a precious place to be.

The Lord God Before Whom I Stand

For many years now, my heart's cry has been to see and hear in the Spirit as accurately as Elijah and Elisha did. Elisha seems to have been more of the seer, while Elijah was the one who knew the voice of the Lord. I love His voice -- more than just about anything.

One of the phrases Elijah used repeatedly was, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand." Standing before the absolute Potentate of the entire universe -- what an awesome privilege! Yet, it is the place God wants every New Testament believer to have. Throne room access was purchased for us by Jesus' blood, but very few of us have it as an experiential reality in our lives. Why? It is about relationship. Although Elijah lived under the old covenant of the law, he managed to tap into what God desires for the Spirit-filled believer today. Elijah knew experientially, vividly, what it meant to "stand before the Lord." What did he have that so many of us -- even baptized-in-the-Spirit, tongue-speaking, faith-declaring believers -- are lacking?

Elijah was a diligent seeker. Hebrews 11:6 says, "... he [God] is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." Elijah went after his God with his whole heart. He listened to the Lover of his soul with intensity, because he loved God's voice. What do you think Elijah did during the years of the drought he had prophesied, while he sat by Cherith Brook (1 Kings 17:5, 6)? He didn't just think, from morning until night, about the next meal of bread and meat that the ravens would bring. He spent time with God, interceding for his beloved people Israel and listening to God's heart.

God holds up Elijah as an example for the rest of us:

James 5:16-18 -- The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. He prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth fruit.
Elijah did not begin his life as an intercessor and listener at Cherith. The time spent alone with God there was an extension of what was already Elijah's way of life. He already clearly understood what it was to stand before the Lord. We know this, because when he first appears in the Bible, a virtually unknown prophet, he tells King Ahab that he comes in the authority of one who stands in the Presence of the Lord. (1 Kings 17:1)

Sometimes people get a wrong idea of what decreeing things is all about. They use Elijah as an example of decreeing and receiving. They say that because we speak, our innate authority as believers makes it happen. I think there might be a little more to it than that.

God did not hold back the rain for three and a half years just because Elijah spoke it. Elijah's decree was established because he was in intimate communication with God, and he knew that it was God's directive that it was not to rain until Elijah said so. He had his decree from the throne room, where he stood and received God's counsel. He spoke what he had heard from God. This is why some Christians decree right and left, yet nothing happens. They didn't get it from the throne room; they just thought it was a good idea.

Jesus Himself said, "I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things. ... for I do always those things that please him." (John 8:28, 29) Jesus also said, "I speak that which I have seen with my Father ...." (John 8:38) I think that is what Elijah also experienced: doing and speaking what he had seen and heard in the very Presence of God.

I am suggesting that when Elijah said, "The LORD God of Israel ... before whom I stand," what he was talking about was knowing experientially what it was to stand in the actual throne room of heaven, and it was from that experience that he derived his prayers, his strategies, and the amazing decrees that he so boldly pronounced (and which God backed up with thunderous answers).

Elisha also knew what it was to stand before the Lord. He referred to his relationship with God in the same words as Elijah had used before him, which is not surprising, since he received Elijah's mantle. No doubt during the years that Elisha served as a prophet-in-training, Elijah poured into him all that he knew about having intimacy with God.

I believe Jeremiah and Samuel both "stood before the LORD" as well. God promised it conditionally to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 15:19 -- "... and you shall stand before me." The condition which Jeremiah was required to meet in order to stand before God was that he needed to repent of questioning God's faithfulness and truth. He needed to repent of doubt. He needed to "take forth the precious from the vile" so that he could be God's mouthpiece -- which meant separating out of his life wrong speech and carnal ways of acting and thinking, but especially the speaking part. (See Jeremiah 15:15-19.) Samuel must have "stood before the LORD" also, because "the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground." (1 Samuel 3:19) This involved prophesying and decreeing.

What is standing before the Lord like? In detail, what is involved? I have pondered these questions a great deal, and I believe the Lord has given me some understanding on the subject:

It is standing at attention before Him in His throne room as His servant,

watching for the least gesture of His hand or the least eye contact,

knowing what He wants and moving to do it.
This requires an acute sensitivity to Him. Psalm 123:2 -- Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God ....

It means having face-to-face relationship with God (intimacy).

It means to be one who is invited into His war council room, to take counsel with Him for His strategies.

It is a place of honor, and is not to be taken casually. Although it is every believer's potential privilege, not everyone achieves this kind of intimacy with the Lord. It is not an easy place to come into. It requires a total abandon of all self into the Lord's hands. It involves painful refining at His hand.
I began to wonder just how close to God Elijah stood. Was he standing at a distance in a massive palace, just one attendant among thousands and thousands, waiting his turn and hoping to be noticed and called upon? At first glance this may seem like a foolish question, but since I desired to stand before the Lord like Elijah did, I desperately wanted to know how close I could get! As I pondered my question, God simply spoke to me, "Put your hand in Mine." Mentally I obeyed, putting my hand in the hand of the King on the throne. And then He quietly said, "This is how it is." I suddenly understood what Elijah had experienced. He did not receive his revelation in an impersonal manner from the Lord. He took the hand of the King, gazed intently into His eyes, and they communed over the plans of God. Awesome! It was an entirely new idea for me. It has revolutionized my intercessory prayer life.

When we read Elijah's story, we see that he never said, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I have stood." His words were, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand." It is always a present tense expression of his relationship with his God. I believe that Elijah not only phrased it in the present tense; he lived a present tense experience of continually being in the throne room. That is where God wants to take modern-day believers as well. It is possible to come to the place of being so continually in the Lord's Presence, that it is as though we never step out of the throne room. We commune constantly with the King of Kings. I'm not there yet, but I'm convinced that that's what God desires -- here on earth, not just after we die. It's a goal to reach for, to hunger after, to get as near to as we possibly can.

So, where do we start? Once again, it is the way of the Diligent Seeker: "... He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6) I'm on my way. Would you like to come along?

WHY by Nichole Nordeman

Hugely moving song about Jesus' death on the Cross from the perspective of a little girl. Heard it at the Watchnight Service at Cornerstone this evening and it really gripped me!

I love your presence (Jenn Johnson)

Franklin D. Roosevelt - strength of spirit

A couple of weeks ago, I was channel surfing, and landed on the History Channel. It was airing the tail end of a documentary on Pearl Harbour, and I lingered because the story has always fascinated me. But the next programme was what got me hooked. It was about Franklin Delano Roosevelt - then President of the United States - at the time of the Pearl Harbour bombing.

Before watching the programme, I didn't know anything about FDR. After watching it, I was really taken by him, and felt that I needed to study more about his life. Throughout it all, I felt God was saying something to me - about how to develop a strong spirit.

But first, here are some nuggets about FDR, and why I consider him to have incredible strength of character:

1. He was president of the United States from 1933-1945, which meant he was leading the nation through one of its most difficult periods of history (The Great Depression, and World War II). The people were frightened, the nation was in an unprecedented and very troubled time, and he gave them leadership and hope.

2. At the age of 39, he was diagnosed with polio, which left him paralysed from the waist down. In the book "Character Above All" (Edited by Robert A Wilson), it is written: "The actor Gregory Peck recalled waiting at a harbor when he was a boy to catch his first glimpse of the President. Like most Americans, Peck had no idea that Roosevelt was a paraplegic. While he knew that Roosevelt had had polio when he was younger, he had no understanding of the full extent of his disability, no idea that he had to call for his valet every morning to help him get out of bed. Because there was an unspoken code of honor on the part of the press never to photograph the President looking crippled, never to show him helpless, never to show him on his crutches or in his wheelchair, most people simply assumed that the polio had left him a bit lame but that he could still walk on his own power.

"So when the young Gregory Peck stood on the dock that day and saw Roosevelt being carried off the boat like a child, he was so stunned that he started to cry. But then, Peck recalled, Roosevelt instantly put everyone at ease. As soon as he was placed in his chair, he put his hat on his head, placed his cigarette holder in his mouth, waved to the crowd, and smiled his dazzling smile, and suddenly Peck said, 'I started clapping and everything was fine. He seemed with every gesture to be saying, 'I'm not pitying myself, so why should you worry about me?"

His wife Eleanor Roosevelt called the polio "his trial by fire". "I think probably the thing that took most courage in his life was his mastery and meeting of polio. I never heard him complain. He just accepted it as one of those things that was given you as discipline in life." After his struggle with polio, he seemed less arrogant, less smug, less superficial, more focused, more complex, more interesting. "There had been a plowing up of his nature" Frances Perkins commented. "The man emerged completely warm-hearted, with new humility of spirit, and a firmer understanding of philosophical concepts."

When he died, the nation mourned greatly for him, which underlines just what a strong, well-loved leader he was in a time when the US was in the crucible of fire (and despite he having to deal with his own disability). The New York Times editorialised that "men will thank God on their knees a hundred years from now... that FDR was in the White House."

All this was fascinating to me. What gave FDR so much strength, that he could not only carry himself but an entire nation through a troubled time; and give himself and them hope to overcome? It is said that one of the most significant achievements of his presidency is "the renewal of courage and hope and faith of the American people".

In an essay of FDR by author Doris Kearns Goodwin, she says the strength came from "an inner well of serenity ... which proved to be an unending source of spiritual refreshment for Roosevelt".

An inner well of serenity. Those words jumped out at me. It is a stillness, a calmness, an inner peace in spite of the outer turmoil, an unshakeable confidence. It is about having an anchor for the soul.

The verse that keeps coming back to me is:
"I have set the Lord always before me,
Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved (shaken)." (Psalm 16:8)

I am definitely not there yet. But I know this is a quality that God wants to cultivate in His people. We cannot be spiritual warriors unless our hearts are still even when there is trouble all around.

This is an old song by Don Moen that I started to sing tonight - God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Amen.

I need you more (Kim Walker)

Beautiful, beautiful song, which expresses a deep, heartfelt love for the Lord!



I need You more, more than yesterday
I need You Lord, more than words can say
I need You more, than ever before
I need You Lord
I need You Lord

More than the air I breathe
More than the song I sing
More than the next heartbeat
More than anything
And Lord, as time goes by, I will be by your side
Cause I never want to go back to my old life.

We give you the highest praise...