|
INTRODUCTION
Prepare to March to Victory
O Lord, my Lord, in myself there is no strength. I move only in Your power. My direction comes from You. Can any nation ever have a victory, that was not first prepared by the Lord, for the Lord of host goes ahead in battle, and the armies of heaven go before man? Who can claim victory in his own name? A small shepherd boy is mightier than a giant, for he knows the God of Israel is with him. The stone will always be directed to its mark. Stand firm in the knowledge that the Lord is with you. See the enemy for who he is. He will fall victim to the mighty hand of God, and the will of the Lord shall prevail over all people and all nations. Every knee shall bow before Him. Kings shall lay their crowns at His feet. He shall be the Ruler of this world. In the Day of the Lord, He shall come with His sceptre like a mighty roaring lion, bearing the fire of judgment. O people, repent, and purify yourselves, for you cannot serve two masters. Choose this day who will be Lord of your life. Be wise, lest time pass you by. Fall to your knees and reclaim this nation. Repent, for the time is short. The warrior King is coming for His warrior bride. Will you be ready with oil in your lamp, or will you be caught begging at the closed door? FOREWORD
And the Lord spoke to me saying, “Go and cry in the hearing of the Church in Canada and say ‘Thus says the Lord.’” “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. (Jer. 2:2) I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness, but when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ and those who handled the law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit (Jer. 2:7-8). Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be very desolate,” says the Lord. “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns – broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jer. 2:11-13) THE LOVE OF THE BRIDE June 20, 1999 To love the Lord is to worship Him, to the point that death no longer matters. We must die to the flesh, though the devil seeks to lure us away. It is a process of loving and worshipping the Lord as opposed to allowing Satan to draw us into his snare, with his deceitful lies. We must recognize the dangers and know that it is a ‘Song of Solomon’ kind of adoration of the Shulamite for the King, that will be able to get us through the difficult times ahead. Only the love of the bride will be strong enough to change people and nations. Only those who seek the bridegroom will be the overcomers. All other flesh shall fall, for all the evil spirits of the devil have now been released, and there is a raging force, intent on destroying as much of humanity as possible. Unless we are experiencing a love affair with Jesus, we shall be easy prey for the evil one. Unity in the body of such overcomers is where our strength and our support will come from, and this unity will give us the power to effect change in the nation by having one strong voice. A new relationship in the body, with Jesus at the centre of it is the only possible one, and no move can take place successfully in these end days, unless it is a covenanting move with the Lord. It must bring the body to repentance, so that we can realign ourselves in purity with His promises for us. If we obey His commandments and do His will and worship only Him in the land, then we will be His people and He will be our God. (See Exodus 19: vs. 5-6). This would be a marriage covenant with Jesus, like Israel had with God, only now Jesus wants our bridal betrothal which means there shall be no other lusts of the flesh, only a passion for Him, and He shall be at the heart of the people and ultimately at the centre of their lives in this land. Our voice as a bride must be heard, if we are to become betrothed, for the betrothal must take place, before the Father can sound the trumpet, signally the return of the groom for His bride. Will you be ready and in place with oil in your lamp, or will you forever be closed out by the door that separates you from the other guests at the wedding celebration? People, awake and come together in unity, if you desire to receive your invitation to the marriage supper of the lamb. Will you be in bridal attire, will you be present as a guest, or will you even be present at all? The decision is in the making in these last days, depending upon our response to the call. We must decide whether we will be salt and light as a unified body, or whether we will cling to our own individual ministries and miss the higher calling of the Lord to come join with Him in repossessing the land. The cost of how we make this decision will be a life or death matter. Will you choose to live with the lamb, or will you choose to die for the devil? There will be no fence-sitting position in our choices. The Lord is calling us out of the institutional church, and into a place with Him, where He is the leader. The message is His. My pen and I merely bring it to you. GRATITUDE June 21, 1999 Gratitude must be an essential attitude of our spirit, before we can go into the presence of God. How can one love and worship Him, yet not feel great gratitude in one’s heart, for His love toward us and for His desire to be present with us? What have we done or what good is there in us, that we should deserve this unending love and mercy that He so lavishes upon us? Would we go to a feast and walk away from the table without saying ‘thank you’ to our host? Would we receive a gift, a valuable gift, and desire it so much for ourselves, that we would forget to thank the person who gave it to us? Would our first response be one of gratitude? Do we take a holiday from the cares of the world and enjoy the rest and beauty around us, such as those times when we walk on the beach and feel the lap of the waves on our feet, yet not feel compelled to thank the great provider for the peace and rest and joy of His presence in all that is around us? When the season pours forth a bounty of fruit, are we grateful for the freshness and the sweetness of taste that we enjoy? Will we consider the sacrifice of the cross and be grateful to the Lord for having given us the greatest gift of all, that any man could receive, which is the gift of life? Will we take that gift, mock it, and hand it back to the donor, or will we fall flat in praise and gratitude, knowing we are unworthy recipients of such selfless giving? O foolish men of this world, so tied into your own self-importance and the pleasures of the flesh, will you look up to the heavens and give gratitude to your Father who created all things and provided them for your pleasure? Will you continue to march down the slippery path to death, having never come into that closeness to which gratitude and worship lead, allowing you to enter into the very presence of God, Himself? Men of God, how can you seek His face, yet never fall in gratitude before Him? It is not our worldly pleasures that satisfy, but only the presence and the relationship we have with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that will bring total and complete satisfaction into our lives. Only a love for the Lord and a gratitude in our spirit, will make it possible for us to willingly die for Him and to serve Him even unto death, in these dangerous days ahead. THE WINDS OF CHANGE ARE COMING June 24, 1999 As I listened to the wind on the lake, and the rain hitting against my window outside, I received the message that the winds of change are coming. I had previously had a vision from the Lord of a horse-drawn casket draped in a flag, being very reminiscent of both Kennedy’s and Lincoln’s funerals. It seemed to be a state funeral, and in both cases mentioned, they were heads of state who had been assassinated, or more specifically, ‘shot down’. Then I saw a vision of a crinoline skirt, and I was made to think that it was old fashioned or of a day gone by. I asked the Lord to reveal to me the meaning of what I was seeing. He reminded me of another vision I had seen, of a small dark cloud forming over the lake, coming toward the land, and I felt that I was sitting in church with this little but significantly dark cloud moving toward me. The Lord made me think that the church for centuries, has been moving away from its apostolic foundation into theologically divided groups where pastors or ministers have separated and have protected their own individual flocks. They have congregated together into buildings, and in the process of forming fellowships, have moved into secure comfortable relationships, for the most part in what are large warmly heated buildings, with pews that seat the people. They, in turn, face a raised lectern or pulpit, from which the pastor preaches from above to his flock below. The concerns of he flock, become in many cases, the focus of the pastor, rather than any sort of focus on Jesus. The Lord made me feel that many of the old ways of the church would be taken away and buried, much as the caskets in a state funeral are carried away. He is now going to call us to a new covenanting relationship, where He is the shepherd and leader of the flock. It will not be an exclusive group, for it will be open first, to all people of this nation, and then ultimately to all the peoples of the other nations of the world. He is going to put an end to ministries that put the life of their individual churches ahead of a relationship with Him. There is not one person who cannot have a relationship with Jesus, but it does not follow that this one person will necessarily be part of a church body. It is not a requirement for Jesus, that He can only reach His flock if they are under submission to another authority. Jesus can reach anyone He so chooses, be it an Eskimo in the most northerly parts of the world, or the likes of myself, who used to be seated regularly in the back seat of the United Church, submitting to the rules of the institution, yet never really having a relationship with Jesus and the Father. However, most of us who have come to know Him, will wish to seek out a fellowship that will line up with our own passion for Him and our common belief in the truth of the Word. Jesus collected His apostles around Him like a mother hen would collect her chicks, and He lived with them night and day, teaching them intensively for a short period of time. This is the essence of being an apostle. It involves a close personal relationship with Him, in which He, Himself, is the teacher. No other man can fill His shoes, nor can any other man appoint someone to the office of the apostle. Paul shows us the spiritual pattern for the choosing of modern-day apostles, as to how the Lord will choose them himself, and then teach them by divine revelation, usually with spiritual encounters in the heavenlies, which are often accompanied by heavenly visions and dreams. The move ahead will be an apostolic move, that will involve messengers who are clearly receiving their messages from Jesus. Individual ministries will have to give way their authority to Jesus, and listen to what the Lord has to say to the church. The true church in turn, will then be able to speak into the nation with authority and with numbers, as they start to come together into a unity which will have a voice. The Lord is calling forth today, a group of people who will come together and repent for their national sin, just as was required of Israel, before God would restore His favour to this nation, which continually fell away by embracing idolatry time and time again. I believe the Lord is going to require the ministries of the churches to come together in an alliance and step out in faith with Him, in order to repossess the nation for Jesus. They will no longer be able to just rest in their denominational churches, but will have to put on the sandals of the disciples and restore the covenant that this nation has lost with God. Then, and only then, can we raise children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord, in order to restore a generation of children to the Father that otherwise would be lost. The responsibility for allowing this covenant to be broken in our nation, must fall squarely on the shoulders of the ministries of the churches, and the Christians who took the comfortable route of silence, with regard to the growing sin in the land. Ministries may need to forego their own agendas, and make way for the Lord, who is calling for the last time to His church, the bride, to come out of the institution and to come together in passionate love for Him. At the same time we must hear His message and obey His will for us, rather than listening to the desire of our own hearts and our own wills. This is the time for the Lord’s return for His true church. Are you willing to step out in faith, and make the sacrifices necessary to be part of the pure and spotless bride for whom He is coming and is longing? RELEASING OUR INNER LIMITS June 30, 1999 Releasing our inner limits comes through prayer, as it releases the power of the Holy Spirit within us. Without making this contact between the spirit of the natural body and the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, there cannot be a working unity. We might envision our minds as windmills that give power to the bodies in which the dwell. If the wind of the Holy Spirit is not present in the body, then the arms of the windmill lie dormant. The result is that we walk in our own strength and not in the strength of God which brings unity with Him and direction over our works, in accordance with His will. The highest level of prayer comes when we are in the presence of God, and speak with Him in a face to face relationship. Our prayer life should be pressing toward an ever increasing desire to be closer to the throne room of the Father. Most of us need to reach for this level in these end times, for it will almost be a requirement if we are to survive the battle ahead with the devil in our lives. Men’s flesh constantly is striving with the cares and desires of the world, which interfere with the plans of God for us. Therefore, we must be completely and totally apart from the world and braided together with the Lord, so we can move forward as one. Moses is an example of a chosen servant, who spoke face to face with God. Perhaps because of his experience on Mt. Sinai, where God revealed His glory to him, we can see from the glowing countenance of Moses, that we are capable of being totally transformed, by the very presence of God in our lives, when we are in that perfect relationship of oneness with Him. There are other examples of this high level of prayer. We see it in Daniel’s relationship with God, how his constant prayer and faithfulness that set him apart from others, brought about a supernatural protection for him in the lions’ den. We also see in Elijah’s special relationship with the Father, how he was able to call down the fire of God, releasing divine power that far superseded any human limitations. This prophet did not see death but was ultimately taken up to God in a whirlwind. Joshua led an army to victory after face to face prayer with God, and again we see how prayer and obedience led to God supernaturally causing the walls of Jericho to fall down. All of these men of leadership, had a ‘throne room’ level of experience with God. We should always be striving to reach this closeness with Him in prayer. It first requires repentance. Then the releasing of our own inner limits comes through a high level of communication with God, which prepares the way for His acting supernaturally through us, just as He did in the great men and prophets of ancient times. Jesus is our example of a perfect relationship with the Father, and the miracles that result from just such a relationship. We must always look to the highest and seek Jesus’ presence in our lives and prayer lives. He in turn can lead us to the Father, who enables our inner limits to be released, allowing us to perform beyond our natural abilities, as we become one in spirit and purpose with the Spirit of the Father. IS GOD TRYING TO RATTLE OUR CAGES July 2,1999 Do we find ourselves imprisoned in boxes of religiosity and theology, that place us behind bars and keep us from relating first to our Lord, and secondly to those around us? Are we looking out at the world through these confining bars with greatly impaired vision, that keeps us from seeing real truths? Our denominational churches, with their diverse theologies and ritualistic practises, not only keep us hemmed in, but they also hinder God in many cases from reaching us in any form of real relationship with Him. Some of these practises can look very good to our fellow man, but in fact, they do nothing more than serve the flesh. Don’t we all admire that good and selfless person, who does all the work behind the programs of the church, that make it such a beehive of activity? But if we examine all the activity in that person’s life, or perhaps more appropriately in our own lives, and ponder what is really going on, are we likely to find a close relationship with Jesus and His guiding hand behind it all? Might we discover that we are not following His will, but rather are doing our own ‘do-good, feel-good’ works, that act as pacifiers to our souls that are starving for lack of spiritual food? Are we experiencing a joy and a communion in love with the Lord, or are we running full speed in order to avoid hearing His call on our lives? Do we purposely put ourselves in cages in order to do our will and not His? We see those who manifest powerfully, some performing great warrioring prayers with marvellously religious overtones, and others following all the conferences in order to experience the group emotional releases of joy and excitement. Yet these same people cannot see the greater plan that God has for this nation in these end times, nor do they seem to care about it. To some degree, we are all guilty of choosing to remain in the river of experience, rather than to dive into the will of the Lord and to begin to hear His plan for us. Perhaps it is because we suspect that it will not be quite as pleasant as our earlier pleasures, when we first came to know the Lord. God is calling now for a true church to come out from her denominational cages and to come out from any other cages which she might have built around herself, so that she can come into an open and free alliance, that will move as he leads rather than as individual ministries have led in the past. These ministries have often kept us serving their own self-supporting agendas as well as the needs of the local institutional life. If we continue to remain behind the bars of religiosity that bind us, we most certainly will not hear the call of the bridegroom. We could easily miss being a part of the plan that the Lord has for us in these end days, that will be both dangerous and very exciting at the same time, while we await and long for our Lord’s return. THE MARRIAGE BED IS UNDEFILED July 2, 1999 Marriage is a special relationship ordained by God and bound by a covenant made between two partners out of love for each other. The marriage bed is a place of passion, of giving and receiving, of serving and experiencing love together. To be in perfect relationship, there must be a total and complete commitment on the part of both parties involved. There is no room for a third party in the relationship, as it is a bond between just the two involved partners, putting closure on any other past or present relationship that might interfere between them. Our relationship with Jesus as the bride of Christ, must be as pure and undefiled as that of the marriage bed. We cannot have any other loyalties that could come before Him, be it the church, the family, our jobs, or even our times of recreation. If we love anything more than we love Him, we are not fit to be His bride. We must come to Hm in passion, for what man wants a woman that only loves him sometimes, and what bride wants a bridegroom who has no passion in Him, but rather pacifies her while his thoughts are fixed on his next sporting event for the week? Our Lord is calling out a bride from the institutional church, one that He can love passionately and who will love Him in return with the same passion. He died for this world and suffered for His bride’s sin, and now it is her time to die to this world and to bestow her passion on Him. The bride and Bridegroom must move together as one, while we, the bride, must serve Him unto death. She was bought at a price, which means she must die to the pleasures and rewards of this world, so that she can enjoy the treasures which her bridegroom is storing up for her in the next one. It means we will be called to ride in the armies of earth along side of the Lord, as He rides on His white horse, leading the armies of heaven in battle against the armies of hell. We will be required to make the call with Him to those who will hear, to repent and come to Him first in their personal lives, and then in their corporate lives. It means as a church, we must repent of our sins and of the nation’s sin, so that we can restore to this land our covenant with God, which, by our silence as institutions, has been broken and destroyed. Every manner of sin and sexual immorality has led to the defilement of the church and the land. We, the bride, must come out of it and come together in an alliance that allows her to be heard, and once more restore the relationship between Canada and God. Just as Israel was constantly called back to repentance by the prophets to return from her evil ways and once more worship the God who had brought her out of Egypt and into the promised land, so too, shall we be called into national repentance, before God will restore this land. The Lord will accept nothing less than an undefiled nation and an undefiled marriage bed. Come, O bride of Christ, arise, join together the body, so that we may be ready and pure to enter into the chambers of the Bridegroom, for He is coming sooner than you think. Will you be in readiness as we approach that day, for His perfect loving is waiting for you and me? THE SANDALS OF ISRAEL July 2, 1999 God is making a move in these end days, that is going to require His true church to walk in the sandals that Israel walked in, as they left Egypt for their trek through the wilderness and into the promised land. These were sandals that did not wear out. Like the nation Israel, the church must come out of the Egypt in which it is enslaved, as the Lord leads us into unity and then into the nation. It will be neither easy nor comfortable, for it will take us on an arduous journey that will require sturdy footwear. The first move will be a coming together of the covenanting people of God in order to congregate in unity, so that they can be led. This unity finds its common foundation back in its apostolic roots, and will grow out of a passion for Jesus and the knowledge of the fulfilment of the truths of the scriptures in Him. This unity means coming together in an alliance from all the various denominations, to form a strong voice, not another institution. It will represent the covenanting peoples and churches that passionately believe in Jesus and His divinity. To believe in Jesus, means you must accept that He came into the world as the Son of God, and that means no other religion is in any way either equal or meaningful to God. The Lord Jesus has clearly stated that he is the only way to the Father (John 14:6). It means “0” tolerance in this land for sin, but it also means a free will and freedom for people to choose to worship in whatever manner they wish. However, it does not mean that we remove the truths of the Bible from the schools, the courts, or the government, in order to suit these freedoms. We truly will return Christianity to its rightful place in every area of the country. Secondly, once this unity is established, we then make Jesus and the Word our only guide for the decision-making of the body, regarding the laws of the land. Our pattern of Israel, shows the Lord appointing a messenger, but it is in fact, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, that was ultimately God’s way of leading Israel through the wilderness, and not the messenger, himself leading. It was Moses who interpreted God’s will for the people, and on the advice of his father-in-law, Jethro, he established a group around him that judged and took care of the daily camp decisions. So likewise, for this alliance to function properly, a board of good strong ethical people, would be required to steer the actual day to day management of the body. Once the board of leadership and support is in place, then God will bring down His power upon this body and will prepare it in the Spirit, to move at His bidding. Our faith in Him will be our strength, and we will need as much faith as the size of a mustard seed, for Him to work through us. Thirdly, the Lord Himself, will lead us and work supernaturally, to guide and protect us. We will find ourselves walking in the sandals of Israel that will not wear out on our feet. There shall be a scarcity of the true word except among His chosen people, but the sword of the tongue, will cut like a knife through the false doctrine of secular humanism. I believe that God will work both supernaturally and quickly, as He begins to fulfil His purposes through His covenanting church. We see in Noah, God’s use of remnant theology, and supernatural intervention for the preservation of man. In Joseph, we see the saving of His family, a kind of remnant once again being sustained. In the warning that Moses gave the people, (see Deut. 4: vs 27-31) the same pattern is evident, as he says they would be a scattered people, yet a remnant of obedient people would be returned to the homeland. Is the Lord not once again going to draw out a remnant of His obedient people from the snake infested waters of the institutional church in order to raise a people up to be His bride, one that will move into this land, calling with the Lord to those who have ears to hear? This will be the bride, in perfect harmony with the Lord, calling to prepare the nation for His return, for He is coming soon to rule all nations of this world. Put on your sandals and take up your rod, for the march is ready to begin. We are about to step into the waters in faith, and call upon the Lord to bring down the walls, as we enter the land and repossess it for Jesus. This will be His people and His land and He shall have dominion from sea to shining sea. PRAYER FOR UNITY When, O Lord, has a nation ever been given more, and has ever shown less gratitude to You, O Lord, our God, giver of all good gifts? Your judgment is coming upon this land, but Lord, hear our cries of repentance for the sins of our nation and the sins of the churches, for not having kept our covenant with You. O Lord, turn back Your wrath upon Your people, who have transgressed in sin, as we remained silent to the idolatry spawned by secular humanist thinking. We have allowed it to open the doors of the land to violence, pornography and all forms of sexual immorality. We pray for the unity of the true body of believers to come forth in boldness and speak into this nation. We pray for restoration of her past glory, when she raised the banner of the Lord high in her schools, in her homes, in her courts, and in her government. Restore her we beg, O Lord, to a former righteousness, and to the path on which she once walked side by side with You and Your Word. Forgive us Lord, for we have grievously sinned. Bring us together, that we may march in unity to reclaim Canada for You, O Lord, who one day shall be mighty Ruler over all the peoples of this earth. Amen CONCLUDING PRAYER O Lord, my Lord, the desires of this world hold little attraction, as I press on toward the call for Your will to be done in me. I have set my eyes on the prize, which is to dwell in heavenly places with You. Each pain of this world increases the purification that allows me to draw closer to the holy of holy place. I see the veil split and the Lord calling me in to look at the gold of the ark and to touch it. “Come precious one,” He says, “sit on the Mercy seat, for it is here that my glory rests.” My heart breaks open in awesome worship and gratitude to my Lord, by Whose love and suffering I have been brought to such a special place. Is any pain of this world not rewarded a thousand times over, as we work our way into the presence of God? I thank You, my Lord, for the trials of this world, that I might share but a portion of the glory with You. For You, my Jesus, are the desire of my heart, and my fervent prayer, is to live in the house of the Lord forever. This is the goal upon which I have set my sights, and I pray Lord, that You shall keep me to the end. Amen |
