As I have said in the past, usually God leads strongly on what to say and I get a peace, but there have been times where I have heard Him say, “You write what you want,” in other words, what I think is needful, and He has blessed that. But this time what I thought was needful was not getting it.
A lot is going on in our country--the climate is changing. A lot of the Body of Christ believes they are prepared for what lies ahead, but I am not so sure.
I have been a “Huldah” type prophetess--not really in big demand, and with a word that judgment is coming but there is blessing in it for the righteous, as they stay faithful and true in seeking Him.
The Lord showed me through a number of things -- through prayer, visions and words -- that He is on “a move” that started in the Northeast of the United States (beginning at Toronto) moving down the eastern coastline coming around to the Gulf--and from Texas will move up toward the northwest in a big swath. Friends can confirm that I have been prophesying this vision for well over two years.
I am not sure what all “stops” the Spirit may make, but there is a moving fire of God and some of it will visit Mexico. The seeds are being sown. Ministers have gone to gather seeds for their own congregations and have been sowing them.
I have been through a wave of the Spirit--a heavy outpouring where the power and Presence of God was incredibly strong and glorious and capturing and I grieved when it left this city.
I was a young Christian who was gathered in at that time but got out of it as much as I could and practically stopped all other activities to receive as much as I could. There were visions and visitations and miracles and revelations and phenomenal restorations. When it began to lift, I grieved and cried out to the Lord and He told me that there was sin in the camp.
When the sin visited me, unsolicited, I was confused and baffled. As a young Spirit filled Christian, I thought for a season that mixture must be ok if leadership thought it was, only to find out in a big way that it was not. The world and the Spirit do not mix!
I went through a grieving process as did many who were grieved by the scandals in the Church. The glory had turned to shame.
If you ever meet God and love Him and are intimate with Him, you are never the same. I felt like the young Shulamite looking for Solomon, being abused in the streets, looking for my Lover. I was mocked and scorned in my search at the same time I was protected, but I later found Him who my soul loves and what it was that pleased Him.
My Lover [God] is a gracious lover and He is tender with me. My Lover is a Leader and He leads me in paths of righteousness. My Lover is on a mission to reach the lost and undone and the deceived and sometimes there is hard warfare in the battle. Do I want to be with my Lover? I can be if I so choose.
As in any relationship, the more time and experience you share, the richer is the relationship.
Do I want a part time Husband or a full time One? Some of that decision is mine. I cannot deter my Husband’s Plan. I must ride with Him or wait for Him and both can be difficult. He will not desire a polluted Bride.
As humans, we miss it with God, but we have a High Priest who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities (and weaknesses) and understands since He has tasted it Himself, and He cares and helps and intercedes for us through the Spirit.
We can call on Him for wisdom, insight and understanding and for the Spiritual gifts. The gifts are to help us, not to put on a show and we, the Body, still miss it so often there.
What is on my heart in the Spirit as I write this is: Is it Revival or is it a Rally? Both are good, but they are not necessarily the same.
We need to be renewed and refreshed and rallies are very good for that--but Rallies are not Revival. Revival is where the dead come to life and the manifest Presence of God is seen, felt and physically evidenced.
Revival is a change of mindset that affects ways of living as a lifestyle. Revival is where the Spirit of God will choose to abide in a tangible way. And it is more than a visit--it’s an abiding.
What does Scripture say a God ruled land is? I like the way King David says it in the Living Bible in Psalm 144:12-15 “Here is my description of a truly happy land where Jehovah is God: Sons vigorous and tall as growing plants. Daughters of graceful beauty like the pillars of a palace wall. Barns full to the brim with crops of every kind. Sheep by the thousands out in our fields. Oxen loaded down with produce. No enemy attacking the walls, but peace everywhere. No crime in our streets. Yes, happy are those whose God is Jehovah.”
Have we gotten there yet? I don’t think so! Revival is more than acquiring a comfortable lifestyle. It’s more than an arrival to a certain place. True Revival is the Desire of Israel, the Desire of all Nations. It is Jesus as the full time Husband of His Bride.
We can get so religious, even in these metaphors. We can get on a theme and totally miss the picture of God. Biblical terms can become clichés and knowing the “right” answer gets you in more than your desire for Him. True Spiritual leaders are hard to come by!
But maybe God wants you to be a Spiritual leader. There is a honeymoon, but after that comes a life. When we start becoming competitive and trying to keep up with the Joneses and lusting and coveting after other’s blessings, we may have not seen that the Groom has departed.
There are too many ministries where the blessings are more the standard than the Spirit and work of God. It grieves me. When you hear frequently from the pulpit things like, “When I went to Alaska, when I went to the Grand Canyon on vacation, when I went to London on business and enjoyed all this and that (speaking of the pleasure more than business), when we to the Lourdes, when we went on our motorcycle trip...” a standard of lifestyle has been set up that is based on the blessing more than the Spirit.
This is a dangerous mindset for the pulpit. I doubt you will hear, “When my son was in jail, when my daughter got pregnant out of wedlock, when my staff members betrayed me, when the money was stolen from the church...” No, a “comfortable” lifestyle has been set up as a standard for the church and it becomes a social setting rather than a Spiritual one for ministry.
It’s not that the blessed lifestyles are wrong, it’s that the ministry of the Lord is left out.
Carlton Pearson publishes a great magazine called Higher Dimensions Digest that is fabulous for the ministry that is in it, and last month there was an article in there by T.D. Jakes that really ministered to me on burn out. In it he stated that the ministry cannot be your family. It doesn’t mean that we are not related as Christians but that ministers must have a separate life from their work with the flock.
When the ministry is used as an alter ego (or altar ego), trouble is coming. When the ministry is used as a power play to influence people to your advantage, it is wrong. It takes a wise mind to understand this, because personal testimony is so very important to overcoming the enemy.
The Spirit knows the truth and He will convict you if you are not doing it right. Blessings are not wrong and people should know that they can be attained, but when you become a hero for your lifestyle, Jesus may no longer really be the One on the Throne!
“The earth IS the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” [Psalm 24:1], but more is going on than a temporary lifestyle. Eternal destiny hangs in the balance. Future destiny is in the balance for your offspring for which you will be accountable. You ARE your brother’s keeper!
There must be a balance in your ministry and in your personal life and you should have both if you are a true Christian. I’d like to say that again. Being a Christian is not just about going to church and having “a covering” that approves of you. Being a Christian is about pleasing Christ, the Ultimate Anointed One.
Are you about your Heavenly Father’s business? He is working!!!
Jesus gave His LIFE on a Cross for this work and didn’t brag about His vacations or who’s who doing what. History cannot be changed but the present can be, so don’t brag about the past! You have influence and God given responsibility for the future by what you do today. And if you desire the position of “overseer,” you desire a good thing but there is an accountability with the Most High. There is Grace, but there is also Truth.
At the International Charismatic Bible Ministries Conference this year (which was wonderful!), U.S. Congressman Ernest Istook explained to us the importance of the Religious Freedom Amendment (HJ Res.78) which would reverse the trends of our government that has been suppressing our religious expression in the schools and market places of our society. I am all for this, as we should not be ashamed of our heritage and life that blesses all!
But as I was sitting there as he was explaining how Christmas was to be changed to be called a Winter Holiday and Easter a Spring Vacation and feeling insulted at the other aggressive acts against my faith, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Now you know how I feel.” I was stunned.
He said, “I have set up Feasts and you (your society) has changed them to different names and times.” As Christians we celebrate the spirit of the Feasts, but we call it Thanksgiving and Easter and other things than what He has called it and call it by another secularized name. In these latter days, we will return to the first institutions.
In the meantime, we must do everything we can to glorify the True God of Israel. I used to think that Israel was only for the Jewish people. I was all for them returning to their land and claiming it and living there as they so desired. But Jerusalem is a burdensome stone for the nations. Whether we want it or not, what happens there affects the rest of the world.
The Jewish people do not have the answers in themselves. They will continue to war with their neighbors and the rest of the world until the Spirit of Messiah comes to visit their land. Christians have more answers than the pure Israelis or Palestinians.
The Lord showed me two types of blindness going on over there now. Both are Biblically recorded. The first is found in Romans 11:25 where is says “blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles [or heathen or unbelievers or nations] be come in.”
They have a faith in God and a knowledge of God and an inheritance that they live on that much of the world does not see, but they also have a blindness to God’s Plan for the rest of the world’s inclusion in His Love dominion.
The other blindness is found in Jeremiah 2:2. I kept asking and asking the Lord why the Palestinians and Arabs could not come to a mutual agreement on what seemed plain to me. The Lord spoke to me that they were a land not sown by the truth of the Gospel and therefore they could not trust.
It reads in Jeremiah 2:1-2: “Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.” The chapter can make a good study. The land is not sown with the Gospel--the Good News of the Love of God for people created in His image who have a destiny in Him. This Gospel is for all the world, not a select few. Our prayers for the 10/40 window will make a great difference. The times are winding up. We must go with His Plan. May God bless you in all that you do.
Also in this Issue:
He Who Restrains - by David Stewart
Prophetic Spirit or Psychic Spirit???
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Back to Pam Clark Prophetic Ministries Home Page
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 09, 1997