Army of the Lord

How to Battle the Wolves – Karen Austin

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Today I want to address something that is very important for the days that we live. This subject was spoken of as a warning repeatedly in the Scripture. What I want to address today is the wolves in sheep’s clothing infiltrating the church and social media. I came across this very subject three times today so I know it is on the heart of the Father.

1 Peter 5:8 “Be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack.”

As believers, we inherently want to think the best of everyone and that everyone else who claims to be a Christian has the same character qualities that we work to reflect. It is actually difficult to even write about anyone who would pretend to be a Christian so as to influence others’ lives, decisions and morals negatively. I remember when I was first saved, I believed every Christian was as passionate about Jesus and wanted to reflect His character as I did. I was so disheartened when I found out that wasn’t always the case.

Some of these wolves are very easy to pick out. The mistruths they slyly speak are so out of line with Scripture, that if you read the Word at all, you will quickly recognize them as false. Religion is quick to quote the Word in situations, but it is absent of the heart of the Father. Love always overcomes law. This is another excellent example of why it is so very important to read and study the Word. Here you will not only read about His will, but you will get to know His character. This makes it quicker to discern the true followers of Christ from the false.

The enemy will stop at nothing to get his agenda accomplished…even deceiving well-meaning Christians. For many, many years he has been quoting scripture with a twisted application. This is what is hard for immature believers to discern. They reason, “Well yes, the scripture does say that so it must be true.” His goal is to mislead and manipulate the Word to lead many astray. The problem is, many wolves know the scriptures better than most would think. Their goal is to get us to question ourselves and what we really believe.

When we begin to see the miraculous, signs and wonders, we must look at the fruit of the one ministering. Who do they associate with? I have witnessed so many humble ministers who that are so easy to know they walk in purity and the fear of the Lord. I’m not speaking of false humility…that is another subject. We know even the enemy performs signs and wonders. Remember the miracles the magicians of Pharaoh performed at the time of Moses.

2 Thessalonians 2:9 “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,”

Matthew 24:23-25 “…false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time.”

~~to be continued

We Are Not Alone – Frank Work

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Alright, let me be the first one to say that I have not always been one who enjoys fellowship. In fact, I could say, besides being around my wife, children, and grandchildren, I was pretty much a loner. Sure, I had people I was acquainted with and sometimes hung out with, but really other than that, I was a lone wolf. Now I am sure some of you are quoting this scripture out loud or in your head, Hebrews 10:24-25;

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Let’s look at verse 24 for a moment. I love “And let us STIR up one another to LOVE and good works.” One of the reasons we are to come together is not just for church on Sunday morning, but also because we need to be stirred up during the week. We need our fellow brothers and sisters to STIR us so that we know what the love and heart of Jesus is. He shows us through His bride, and His bride is US! Some of you who may read this have that lone-wolf mentality. You may really believe that you can only accomplish the works of God on your own. No one else understands you, right? Only God really gets you, am I right? I am going to say this as nicely as I can, and with as much love as I can put into words..ready? You are allowing yourself to be deceived by the enemy and allowing yourself to succumb to his lies if you believe for one minute that anyone is a one-man army. You cannot, and will not, accomplish your true destiny in the Lord unless you come alongside other believers to accomplish the will of the Father. Those of us who do this have an Old Testament mentality, while prostituting New Testament grace. What does that mean?

In the Old Testament God would use individual men and women to accomplish whatever mission He had. The people were scattered and prone to the worship of idols on their own. God was distant from them because of the sin in their lives, and because of that sin God could not see them, it was only by His divine and Holy Spirit could He see man in the Old Testament. There were times when God would, through the power of the Holy Spirit, meet face to face with man, i.e. Moses. Or God would communicate through His angelic messengers much like He did with Daniel. God would choose men and women whose hearts were turned towards His, and their desires were His desires, even from their birth. Joseph, Samuel, and Daniel are a few examples. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention David, who had a heart after God’s own. That isn’t to say that they were “prepared” when called, for God knows the heart of men, and sees the wickedness it could achieve. So God has to teach us and fill us with His wisdom, so that when we turn, much like King Saul, we have a new heart.

1 Sam 13:14 “But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

Now though we have the gift of salvation and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It is only because of that shed blood, that now, the Father can look upon His people, and gather them to Himself. It’s the only way God can see us, is by the very blood that Jesus shed upon the cross. Without the blood of Jesus, we are far from God because God cannot look upon sin. It is because we are covered in the blood of He who is without sin, that the Father can now look upon us. Acceptance of Jesus as our Savior is more than just entering into the kingdom of Heaven, it’s also about being in a relationship with our heavenly Father and acknowledging that Jesus is Lord over all. See though here is the kicker in all this, Jesus came and is now, preparing His bride for His coming, the bride being the body of believers who have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior. Romans 10:8-9

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

We are all joined by the blood, therefore we are joined together as the bride. We cannot possibly function effectively apart from the rest of the bride, since we are joined in the spirit by the blood of Jesus. We are not to be alone in this fight, we are not be subject to the trials of this world as individuals, but as joint heirs, Romans 8:17 speaks specifically on this,

17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

The enemy wants you to believe that you can do this on your own. You can’t. The enemy wants you to isolate yourself from the body, you should not. The enemy wants you to be ineffective in your calling, I beg you not to listen. Trust me from one who knows, has been there, and has bought the t-shirt. Being alone in the body of Christ is a surefire way of allowing the enemy a foothold in your life. You have no accountability, you have no support system and you have no one to encourage you. Yes, you can say Jesus can do all that, and He can. He does it through His bride; when you separate yourself from the bride, you separate yourself from Him. We are not to walk this earthly world alone, I am learning this anew every day.

It’s Time for the TRUE SONS of God to Arise – Barbara Potts

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“Thy Kingdom come… on earth as it is in Heaven.”   We pray it – but are we doing it?  Is our focus in life merely trying to “be a good Christian” or to reveal the Kingdom?

Paul identified a group of people that all of creation is waiting to see:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.  –  Romans 8:18-19

Jesus said some amazing things in John 14, beginning at verse 12:

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. …23  “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

We are called to be awesome!:  We are called to do the works that Jesus did; and even greater works!  —  We are called to pray with the expectation of answers! —  We are the habitation of the Most High God!

For several years I have been on a journey of discovery about who we are and what we have in Christ, and how to reveal the Kingdom as a “son of God” according to Romans 8:19.  Positioning is the key here. Ephesians 2:6 tells us that we are raised up together with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places.  The reality is that all we have in Christ in the heavenly places can be manifested on earth – now.  Jesus didn’t die just to win our salvation, but to give us The Kingdom.  He said, “I am the Door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)  We enter by the Door of salvation and then we go to and fro in the Kingdom!  Salvation is just the first step into a whole new life!  We need to pursue life in the fullness of what Christ died to give us.  Luke 12:30-32 tells us:     

Your Heavenly Father knows your every need and will take care of you.  Every day He will supply your needs as you seek His Kingdom passionately above all else!  So don’t be afraid, dear friends, Your loving Father joyously gives you His Kingdom-realm with all its promises!  (The Passion Bible)

Let me give you a little Kingdom analogy to put this in perspective.  My husband and I love to hike.  When you are hiking in mountain country sometimes there is a long hike just to get to the foot of the mountain. This hike along the trail to the mountain affords you a beautiful, yet limited, view.  And then as you are making the ascent, you are so focused on where to place your foot that you only see what is directly ahead of you.  When you finally reach the summit and turn around to see from whence you have come, it takes your breath away. A whole new vista is opened up to you that was there all the time, but which you could not see from your earthbound vantage point . This is life in the spirit that reveals the Kingdom!  I feel like most of my Christian life I have been hiking along the valley and now I am climbing the mountain.  I am not talking about having a “mountain-top” experience in the traditional sense. I am talking about gaining a Kingdom perspective that lifts you out of the natural and into the supernatural, out of time and  into eternity, out of  limitation and into “nothing is impossible.”

This is how Jesus lived on earth.  As He was the Kingdom personified – so should we be!

Paul tells us in Colossians 3:1-5 (The Passion Bible) 

Christ’s resurrection from the dead is your resurrection too.  This is why we are to yearn for all that is above for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power; honor; and authority!  Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm. Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God as you live within the Anointed One…. And every time Christ Himself is seen for Who He really is, who you really are will also be revealed, for you are now one with Him in His glory!

As we are one with Christ, all that flowed out of His life should flow out of ours… Jesus commanded the elements, walked on water, exercised authority over demons and sickness, made Himself invisible and walked through crowds, saw inside of people’s hearts,  accelerated time,  turned water into wine, multiplied bread and fish, and raised the dead!

Our instructions are to PRAY: “Thy Kingdom come … on earth as it is in Heaven…” (Matthew 6:10) and to DO:  “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do.”  (John 14:12)

Only a supernaturally living people can accurately reflect the image of a supernatural God. —  Those who transcend earthly constraints to access the heavenly realm to bring the reality of  the life of His eternal Kingdom here on earth – now – as it is in Heaven.

“For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”                                      

May the sons of God arise!

The Call is Coming. Are You Ready? – Frank Work

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I was praying one morning this week and this is what I felt the Lord was speaking to me about the urgency of the body of Christ rising up and taking their place on the front lines.

The Holy Spirit is speaking. The Holy Spirit is moving. The Holy Spirit is empowering the saints of God. We need to stay focused on His word, His heart and His love. It’s so easy to stray away from our focus of Him when we get caught up by fear, panic and confusion. My belief is that one of the greatest silent killers of our faith has been our inability to discern truth. When we find the truth of God’s heart on a situation, we can find peace. When we look for truth from other sources, i.e. television, social media, newspapers and so on, we start to stray away from the truth that the Holy Spirit is trying to infuse us with.

“Well Frank I listen to this pastor, or this prophet or this evangelist and they say…”

I say let’s make sure we are lining up what they are saying with the word of God. I say, let’s make sure we aren’t straying away from the precepts of what God is trying to tell us through His word. Let’s not be a body of believers who are swayed by every wave of teaching (Ephesians 4:14), but we are being transformed and renewed daily by our time with the Lord. That we are testing every spirit

1 John 4:1-3

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”

That we haven’t become stagnant in our faith because of the recent isolation from one another. That Jesus is with us, and for us. Hebrews 12:1 tells us “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

Let that sink in to the very deepest parts of your spirit. That we are being rallied to the front lines, that we being called in to our destinies. That we ARE the light of Christ that goes forth, by the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, into the enemy’s camp to set the captives free in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord of Host!

Our General and Commander is calling! The trumpets are sounding! The host of heaven are yelling their battle shouts! Will you join them? Will you be saints of God that He has called you to be? The Lord told Joshua to be strong and courageous 3 times. I will respond three times. Say it with me!

YES LORD!

YES LORD!

YES LORD!