THE FINAL CHARGE

I see more and more how the Lord is working - He is truly, and I mean this in the very strongest way, bringing His Bride out of the apostate church, out of Babylon, and into true unity of the Spirit.
Yet, there are those few who for now have to guide them, for as they come out, they are going to need direction and guidance like never before.
As I write this, the Lord places this on my heart: Just as in the World War I and II when the soldiers fought in the trenches, there came a time when the leading commander would order his men to go over the top for one final push. At this time the men would pile over the top of the trenches for the final charge as the bullets fly, mortars explode and (excuse my choice of words) all hell break loose. You see, THIS IS IT SAYS THE LORD - THE FINAL PUSH. THIS IS IT, THE FINAL CHARGE. And while bombs may explode and spiritual bullets fly, now is the time to go over the top and charge in the strength of His might. Israel is gathering her children - the lines have been drawn. All hell will break loose and there will times of confusion and times of chaos - but out of the darkness the Lord charges with His light. Out of His children the light must shine and with the double-edged sword in our mouth we will be victorious.
This we need to understand - as God calls His Bride OUT, then there is still a choice who wants to follow and who wants to stay. Who will make that decision and who will trust the Lord?
But this I know - His Bride is gathering, beyond walls, beyond religion, beyond doctrine - coming out for the true purpose of serving Him and only serving Him in Spirit and Truth! O glory to glory - the power and the truth of the Lord, says He, is so mighty and powerful - It breaks, it breaks and it tears and destroys everything exalted against Him.
So the Lord says can we need see and understand - THIS IS IT! Get ready says the Lord. Bear your arms. For the enemy awaits but the Lord says listen to His voice and His command and victory will be yours. Advance my children and be not afraid. Let your eyes be on me and be utterly devoted to ME!
We wait for unity of the church in terms of denomination and in terms of doctrine. O cries the Lord - can't we see He brings us into unity of Spirit and truth - HIS WAY - beyond borders, beyond time, space and dimension. Let us look around and realise it is already happening! The Bride is forming to form an army who seeks only HIM and the Truth and the Way and the Life! Can we feel it cries the Lord? It is coming ... powerful and strong. Gird your loins. Raise your shields. Over the top. For the enemy has been given into our hands - the Lord commands us to go and tell the people the truth - He has prepared the way. He has prepared the land. O glory and glory.
Feel it says the Lord. Let us look around. Let us see it in the eyes of the people. There is such a hunger and a such a thirst and such a need and such a reawakening - yet the Lord calls upon His commanders to step forward and to lead and to be strong!
Be strong cries the Lord for the darkness will not enfold you! Be strong says the Lord for the victory is His! He cries feed my sheep - feed them good and pure. Feed them life and living waters. Lead them home. Lead them strong.
The final push - yeah, it is here. Israel gathers. The Lord is moving. The Spirit is pouring. For this is the time - choose right. The Bride comes together - so mighty and loved. Yet the Lord calls for a Church who walks after His heart. David had the Lord on His heart day and night - yeah says the Lord, day and night, day and night - always on David's mind. Giants fell. So we will slay the giants one final time. So the darkness will resist, one final time. But the Lord is the Lord of Hosts.
The Lord brings me back to 2 Kings 11: 18 (again and again): It is about the king who made a covenant with the Lord - the devoted king's reaction was for along with the nation to go about the land and smash and destroy everything that stood against the Lord! In 2 Kings 23 Josiah did the same - he went about destroying and smashing every altar, every high place and everything that worshipped not the Lord. It was an intense deliberate action of destroying and destroying.
Are we hearing the Lord? Smash all things that serve as idols! Not just putting them aside, but smash them, destroy them, absolutely wipe them clean from the land. LET NOTHING STAND IN MY WAY SAYS THE LORD!!! NOTHING. My people He says, go forth and destroy every unholy stronghold and every idol, first in your life and then by the truth and by the Spirit set others free by your devotion unto Him. In Deteronomium 6 the Lord says love Him alone and He alone! Smash, says the Lord. Remove by force all that stands against me, first in one's own life.
Yet, after these two kings had smashed, others came afterwards and again raised altars to foreign gods. The Lord says be careful that once you have smashed in your life, do not erect the idols and false altars again. But as we stand against all things unholy, the Lord will honour and remember. Moses smashed the first commandments when the people served the Golden Calf. Unholy things cannot be allowed to stand - let us look deep into our hearts for the Lord is calling His Davids' and Moses' and all those who serve Him so diligently.
We can only do this in the Lord's wisdom, in His truth and in His love and in His Spirit. Only by His way! Yet, in Him, we must advance, go over the top and smash and destroy. Do we hear HIM? Every high thought against Him must be brought low. Everything that exalts against Him and His truth will be brought low. The Truth will set people free - ONLY HE WILL SET PEOPLE FREE. So, let us lead people to Him and Him alone - let us be strong and seek that the Bride comes out, pure and singing and rejoicing!
O yes, now is the time. Many have gathered in the Valley of Decision - so many need truth and guidance. Who shall lead them to the MASTER? Who shall lead them to the throne room? Who shall be part of HIS ARMY?
Who is this King of Glory! He is mighty and strong and He has come for His children.
So be strong and be blessed
For the Lord cries to be free in Him for then you will know freedom!

Cross and Crown

The following continues to be a reminder to us to bolster our understanding and grasping of His ways. Let us keep in mind the Lord calls us to obedience, He calls us to keep His order, He calls us to worship Him as I Am and He calls us to seek Him daily to receive a fresh revelation of Him. If we seek Him, then He will go ahead of us to prepare a favourable path.
Of late, I have had this longing in my heart: Lord, let what we do in the temporary resound for eternity in the heavenly courts. Lord, let what I do be so that my name shall forever be on though lips.
How then have I pondered do we do this. How do we reach such a truth in our walk on earth? Since it doesn't matter if we do all the works yet can't walk like Jesus did and know Him truly, then works is not the answer. True works should always be the outflow of our walk with God. How then? Simply through what extend we have allowed the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to change us to become more like Him. It is only when we love like Him, walk like Him and like Jesus have a true and living relationship with the Father that would cause our names to resound. It is when we do this that we will in our existence glorify Him. For this reason our eyes are not set on the temporary, but the eternity, yet it is in the temporary where we need to make a statement that will resound forever.
It is only our character that proves if we are truly children of God, not our works. No matter what works we do, it can be without the character of Jesus and can easily fool and deceive. Preaching to millions, evangelising, baptising or whatever form of work unto God could have the appearance of Godliness yet it can be without true power or anointing. Sons and daughters are truly known by their fruits.
Character is the key to making an eternal difference. For only through character, implying the way we behave, the way we react, our attitude and so forth serves as the key to what extend we have submitted and allowed God to change us. None better of this is the illustration of the temptation of Jesus in the desert.
And here we take a pause for a second, for if we can grasp the following in Spirit, it will change a lot about our spiritual walk. It is the same if we can grasp the true extend of God's order and how we need to follow Him, it is the same when we can understand that if we truly live like Him then all authority in Heaven guides us.
In the desert, Jesus could have destroyed the devil with one quick word. Here was Jesus, face to face with a fallen angel. He could have said to the devil be gone and be bound. Have we ever thought how easy it could have been for Jesus to do this? He could have swept the devil aside, marched out of the wilderness full of glory, angels by His side. He could have picked up His crown, forced everybody to worship Him, crushed the Roman Empire, enforced His laws, sparing 2000 years of suffering. He could have made a massive spectacle and statement in the desert. He could have performed all kinds of wonders and miracles. All the grains of sand could have turned into bread and fish. Wine and water could have flowed out of the rocks in streams. Yet He didn't. He let the devil taunt Him for forty days then left.
He chose the crown and the cross.
The devil tempted Jesus with fame and glory. He tempted Him to make bread and be provided for without having to deal with the hunger and pain. He tempted Him to ask for His Father with divine protection without having to fear and to be insecure. He tempted Jesus with instant fame, wealth and riches. He tempted Jesus to a human without the added implications. He wanted Jesus to pick the crown without the cross. He wanted Jesus to make a triumphant statement that He is God. When Jesus chose not to submit to instant fame and glory, when he chose not to submit to instant glorification and quick answers, then Jesus ran the risk of losing appeal. Later on, He would risk loosing His disciples and a great following. Jesus chose not power, fame and glory on earth. He chose love and divine truth. He chose the cross, and for that His glory resound for eternity in heaven.
Why did the Father not allow for such quick action? God the Father throughout the Old Testament knew that by power and dominance you could have people who obey through law, yet truly a man's nature and character is only changed through love. Love responds to love. Wonders and signs and miracles builds not character. It only provides for a quick kind of faith. It is temporary and fleeting. It gets the blood running: that's all. Jesus chose to leave the dessert humble and pure, embarking on a three-year journey during which His character was on display to the world. He chose not to rule with a hammer, but with love. He chose to allow man's free will to be protected. The reason why Jesus has had such an impact is because the lost, the sick, the sinners and the rejected were drawn to Him because of His righteous character that represented the ideal nature of the Father. Because of His Holiness, because of His love and because He did not judge but stood for mercy and grace is why the lost found strength in Him.
He made an impact because He chose to die on the cross, choosing to suffer in love so that His character and His holy nature and His righteousness serves as an eternal example of how we should walk with God. Jesus embarked on a three-year character journey of righteousness. His contagious and infectious nature and character that spoke of purity and holiness and love affected the hearts and minds of those who sought Him, especially the sinners, the sick and the lost. His contagious nature affected a sick society.
Jesus was only interested in the invincible eternal Kingdom. He was not interested in the kingdoms of this world. He hardly gave any political advice. He didn’t slam the Roman Empire. His ways are the ways of the Father. His ways speak of those poor in Spirit, those righteous, those pure, those humble, those meek and those contrite in Spirit - in other words, those whose character reflects the ideal nature of the Lord.
Jesus did not place much emphasis on signs, wonders and miracles. It is not character or faith building. He rather wants us to walk like Him in character and nature. For that, a journey of struggles, a journey of decisions, a journey of choices and a journey of trial and tribulations exist. It is so in order for us to walk like Him in character. Quick fixes, quick solutions or a dominant signs from above was not the way of Jesus. A journey was involved of love, of drawing ever more closer in trust and faith to the divine King.
Three times Jesus was tempted to betray the cross by the devil: in the desert, in the garden and on the cross. When he faced Pontious Pilate, Jesus did not act with power and glory. He was tempted by the government of this world and by the people to quickly fix His problems. Jesus didn't. He chose love and the cross. He chose character and faith and trust above the circumstances and above the ridicule. He chose to complete he journey despite the persecutions. Jesus held onto His path.
As in the dessert when the devil wanted God to show His full power and betray the cross, so we want so many times God to rather show up as the dominant, powerful and all consuming fire. We want answers now, we want healing now, we want deliverance now, we want and we want and we want. We seek answers immediately, we seek signs and miracles, we want to seek the sick healed now and we to see Him move in enormous power. Jesus was tempted with this and in the dessert as in the Garden of Gethsemane, but God did not move.
We want the crown but not the cross. We want the shortcuts and the quick provisions and the quick solutions. Jesus didn’t offer a quick solution in the dessert. He rather showed that through the journey of character where we learn to love like Him, walk like Him and be like Him is where the truth lies to having a true relationship. Character determines how much we have allowed for the Spirit to be God in our lives. In the dessert God understood free will cannot be compromised and man's loyalty and obedience will not be brought through a display of power and brutal force. Man's obedience unto God has been brought by the shed blood of Jesus who chose to die on the cross as the Suffering Messiah so that we could be set free in righteousness.
Do we still serve today the Jesus who chose both the crown and the cross? Do we only want the cross? It seems man wants what the devil offered in the dessert. Man wants the miracle, mystery and authority. He wants to skip the trials, tribulations, suffering and everything that goes with being human. Man wants to skip the responsibility of taking responsibility for his actions. God's children don’t want the pain of being human. Man wants what the devil offered: provision of bread without the work, protection without the obedience and trust unto Him and man also wants the kingdom of this world by bowing to another master. Jesus chose the hard road and that drew people to Him and that pleased the Father.
Today, we want to serve a God who pours out all kinds of miracles, signs and wonders. Oh yeah, we want that crown, leave the cross. We want to serve the Jesus who is the mighty Teacher, but everything He did was a portrayal of the character of the Father. The entire Beatitude is a portrayal of the Father and the Son and the Spirit. It speaks of character. The ideals of the Beatitudes and all that Jesus spoke and showed cannot be reached upon a journey where we only seek God as the Lord of wonder and miracle. Such ideals we can strive for when we choose to walk the road that Jesus did, meaning taking that walk to Cavalry and resisting the temptations of the devil and this world. Quick solutions, easy answers, powerful displays of miracles lead to weak faith and even weaker character.
The Lords wants strong character and strong faith. Jesus showed us how. He did miracles, but many times He wanted no one to know about it. He may have healed the sick, but Jesus greatest purpose was the healing of the spirit and the soul. He reached out to the lost, the sick and the sinners because they had a different disease, namely rejection and that they were unloved and unwanted. Jesus restored love and acceptance unto them because of His character that was formed on his three-year journey. Jesus raised Lazarus unto the glory of God and display true power of death. Oh yes, the Lord still heals today divinely, but God seeks above all else the true healing of spirit and soul. Our greatest miracle is salvation. Love is God's greatest weapon on earth.
A man is truly tested by his character. We want those quick answers and we want God to show up in fire and fury, but God wants sons and daughters who have sought Him earnestly, who held unto Him in truth and faith during all seasons, who have chosen both the crown and the cross, who have chosen character above wonderful works, who have chosen to resist the temptations of the devil and rather obeyed the Lord.
Jesus chose twelve disciples of character. He chose not the rich, the powerful, the politicians or the even the religious. He chose mere who were poor in Spirit, hungry for truth and righteousness.
It amazes me the backdrop to Jesus giving His Sermon on the Mount. Here was Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, having beaten the devil at his own game, having survived the dessert for 40 days, to truly begin His ministry among the people. The people on the other hand were expecting a Messiah who would tell them to be strong and defeat the Romans. They expected encouragement and a sound Winston Churchill speak to be brave, to be powerful, to be strong, never to give up and to keep on fighting. Jesus was faced with such a crowd at the beginning of His ministry. How easy it would have been for Jesus to stand on the Mount in a display of glory. He could have sealed the allegiance there and then. What Jesus told them must have astounded them. He gave them a sermon exactly the opposite to what they wanted to hear! He told them to love their enemy, He told them to feel blessed when persecuted, to love, to be holy, to be meek, kind, gentle, pure of heart and poor in Spirit. Jesus risked loosing a whole lot of supporters because He didn't put on a performance, didn't seek their approval to what he said or did, didn’t seek to appease the religious authorities and neither was He there to destroy any earthly Kingdom. He stood on the Mount to advance the eternal Kingdom and laid the principal of His constitution that focuses on character and choosing both the crown and the cross.
Jesus took on the religious authorities, not Rome. He took that which corrupts character and obedience unto the Father unto the cross. His focus was not for glory on earth or fame or wealth. He was focussed on the Father's will.
What do wee seek? Do we advance the Kingdom or do we advance ourselves in the failing kingdoms of this world?
We need to abstain from evil, but not abstain from doing good. We must love and be charitable, to the extend we love our enemies. We must be pure, humble and true unto Lord. We must cast aside sadness, doubt and anger, for these speak not of faith. We must be true oaks of righteousness. We must seek modesty, simplicity, charity, faith and truth.
Let us fear the Lord and also fear the work of evil, for it destroys the character of the virtuous. As a stone that is tossed up into the sky will never reach heaven, so is a man without a virtuous character, for he will not touch the heavens. A virtuous character opens the door to the throne room, invited, to speak to the Master.
Let us be those who stand for truth yet we draw the sinners so that they may the Father and His redemption by the Blood. Jesus was a friend of sinners, yet uncompromising in His virtue and holiness. The Church today repels the sinners and struggles in the mire of sin and unholiness. Where is the character?
So, let us then be pure of heart, let us be meek, peacemakers, righteous and poor in Spirit, for then the lost, sick and sinners will be attracted to us. Let us walk thus in true divine character, for the rewards are great in eternity, where our names will be spoken and what we do will indeed have an everlasting impact.

Reflection on our Walk

Shalom saints of the most High, may we forever strive to live for Kadosh Hashem, the Sanctification of His Name
Maybe what I write here is only a need for my heart to pour out or maybe this is something that is true for many:
You see, I have danced and sang and clapped and stomped my feet in the Charismatic churches
I have spoken in tongues, I have seen people slain in the Spirit and I have seen tears of joy and laughs of freedom
I have run and flowed with the Pentecostals
I have been drunk in the Spirit, crawled and cried and laughed
I have swayed my sword among the Spiritual Warriors, waging war in the heavenlies, finding a demon in everything, finding a demon in nothing, raising my voice and shaking my fist at the devil's hordes
I have walked with the Reformists
I have heard the sermons of the Restorers
I have been silent like the Mystics, drawing inwardly
I have believed like the preachers of the Word and Faith movements
I have seen much, heard much, read much
Only now do I see even this can you leave you empty
You see, I have walked that path of seeking every revelation, every knowledge and every understanding
The Lord has granted me such, Insight, truth, understanding, strategy, wisdom and teachings
I have sought it all, studied it so deeply, delving deeper and deeper. It is all good.
Yet now I realise we can be filled with the greatest of knowledge, we could have talked in a million tongues, we could have seen thousands slain in the Spirit, we could have baptised so many, taught and preached to so many, we can be so Spiritual, so full of Revelation, but even all of this can mean nothing. It truly can leave us empty, never knowing the Lord. Indeed, without true love even thins can leave a bitter taste.
If we don’t walk like Jesus did, believe like He did, obeyed like He did, loved like He did, well, in the end it all means nothing. Jesus pleased the Father and He ate with sinners. He never put on a show, never performed and never tried to be something He was not. I think that today a flesh and blood Jesus would not find a place in our churches. My Jesus picked up a rugged cross on His back that was ripped, bloodied and bruised and broken. He died in anguish for our sins. My Jesus never sought fame, titles or to please - He sought for His Father to be glorified and for man to again have peace in the truth that He brought.
Yes, we can be so full of it, yet if we don’t have a living, real, true and deep relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, well then it all means nothing. We have become a generation so full of revelation and teaching yet we do not live in the reality of His presence. We sit for ages in churches, listen to thousands of sermons, becoming spiritual, yet never just living and abiding in His presence. We talk and talk yet we fail to carry the cross. We jump and up down, our tongues alive with Scripture and language, yet the heavenlies and the earth still awaits for the sons and daughter to reclaim their place.
It reminds me of a song by U2- Bono sang that he had held the hand of the devil and spoke in the tongues of angels, yet he still hadn't found what he was looking for. I believe we find many things when it comes to the spiritual - revelations, miracles, speaking in tongues, falling down in the Spirit, shaking the heavens with might and fury. Yet, do we truly find the Lord? Do we truly and really find Him? How much of what we hear is truly the Father? How much what we experience is really the Sprit? Imagination, escapism and emotionalism can play tricks on our minds. You see, if we find the Lord and truly have a relationship with Him, then we will change for the good. We will then live and talk and walk and breath like Jesus.
I guess what I'm trying to say is best illustrated by the life of Johnny Cash, the famous country singer. Here was a man who experienced a life of drugs and alcohol. As a boy he sang gospel, but when he started singing professionally, well he needed to sing his own brand of music to sell albums. He had an incredible career, in the end, he had also had an incredible and long lasting marriage. At the end of his life, a year or so prior to his death, he finally recorded his first and only gospel album.
On a day in the early part of the century, at the age of 70, he phoned his producer with this idea of making such an album. So the producer met Johnny in a cabin. Johnny was there, with his guitar. Without any thrills and show, he simply sang 20 or so songs from his mother's old hymnbook. He regards this as his greatest album that he ever made! He recorded the album by just humbly playing his guitar and singing from his heart the most beautiful old hymns that he learned as a boy. When he recorded, he never sang for anyone that day, but he sang for the Lord. The most amazing this is that Johnny always felt that during his entire life and career he was working towards this one goal: to make a album to glorify the Lord. I recommend this album by and by (My Mother's Hymn Book). It speaks of a man who had run with demons and angels, yet in the end he just came to the Lord as he is. In the end, it seems as if he realised that what it is all about is our relationship with God and that the Father just wants our love. This counts far more than our countless endeavors.
The Lord just wants us to walk with Him, as we are, no thrills, no show and no performance and know Him deeply. Johnny sang a song a long time ago called Walk the Line. It's like the Lord is saying just Walk the Line with Him, in His presence, abiding in Him. All the revelations, all the knowledge and all our spiritual days of soaking and dancing means nothing if we can't love like He does, if we can't live like He wants us to live and if we can't love Him above all else. Everything else is but a sideshow. What is real is when we walk with Him in love during the day and night. We need to come to Him in simplicity and adoration, just as we are, just like Johnny did with his guitar and a life that was full of ups and downs. From a heart that is real and true comes true adoration.
I was listening to this song Sunday morning, It sums a lot how I feel these days:
There's a harp in my heart, and only You can play it
There's a song in my broken soul, and only You can sing it
You're so unpredictable God, just like the rhythm, the rhythm of weeping
And my life is still so upside down, but you keep on coming, coming around
You keep on reaching, even though I let you down.
I hear those curfew bells are ringing, but I just can't stop my singing.
I've got to tell just one more person, never give up, keep on dreaming
Quieter than rain, He knows all your pain
Oh, I wish you would put those words in my mouth
To tell the world what you are really like
Not a dead God who lives in some building
But a Father of kindness, a Son of forgiveness, A Spirit who helps me
Yeah, that is who you are
There is a cry that I have had that I could love my brother
And not look at his race, his religion or his colour
You love those Presbyterians, you love the Buddhists and the prostitute,
You are not like us, you never change
You see through our sin and you love us anyway
And the cry of my heart: Jesus, let us be like you but Lord, show us who You are and not what man thinks You ought to be. Show us Lord so that we can walk the line.
So these days I grow silent. Oh, how I truly what to know the Lord. Everything else pales and grows faint in the light of His love and glory.