Sound of Thunder – Part 3 – Karen Austin

Sound of Thunder – Part 3

So even in this time I’ve said to make sure that you have gatherings and you be at gatherings where the rain is being poured out, because I desire you to be so saturated by My Spirit that it will bypass your mind. Because in the days to come, you must be led of the Spirit. For those truly are the sons of God and the sons are the ones who are led by the Spirit. And you must be totally intoxicated, filled, filled, filled by My Spirit because if you are not, you can be washed under the flood that is coming. You must be as the five wise virgins. You must be filled with oil. You must be filled with oil and at the moment that I come down and the lightning strikes, you will illuminate and be light in the darkness.

And I say that there are different types of oil that are being poured out in this season. Be very careful of the oil that you put into your lamp, because there will be oil they will say you can get and it has a cheap price. And as the saying goes, “You get what you pay for”. The same as in the realm of the Spirit. Because this oil, this rich oil that I am talking about, there is a high price. And the high price is when others are playing, you are praying. When others are crying, you will be laughing, because you will be filled with My Spirit and that Spirit is the Spirit of joy because the joy of the Lord will be your strength. No, you will not laugh at the calamities and the things that will come upon the earth, but you will laugh at the enemy. When you laugh at the enemy, you join with Heaven because did I not say that I laugh in the Heavens?

Know that I have everything under control, everything under control. Everything under control! You must remain in My perfect love because it is perfect love that casts out fear. And fear will be rampant in this day and in this hour. But you shall be far from it, says the Lord, as you keep yourself filled with My love, filled with My peace, your oil filled. And because of those that the enemy would send along your path, that will appear as those who are righteous who would try to steal the oil, I am increasing the discernment in these days, because you will need it and you will need to know the difference. But My sheep, they know My voice.

So keep your eyes upon Me and the more that you spend time with Me, the more that you are in My presence, the more that you are in My Word, you will become acclimated to the feeling, the senses, the smell, the sight of the Spirit of God, that when you come into contact with that which is false, you will know immediately, because you have been with the real.

Heaven Recognizes Love – Karen Austin

“Be not afraid to love those who seem to need it the least for I AM your reward. Some of the ways you love will not be rewarded on earth, but oh, I have a crown of righteousness stored up for you! Not one good thing you do on earth will be forgotten in Heaven for all these things I make note of in the Books of Heaven. You will be surprised at some of the things you thought were so small and you may even forgot about. But when you come to receive your eternal rewards, that which you thought was small was actually large in the Kingdom of Heaven. No, not one thing done in the name of love goes unnoticed by Heaven. When you love, you partner with Heaven. You open a way for a little of Heaven to be expressed on earth. So be not afraid to partner with Me in the days of darkness, hate and oppression, for love always wins. Yes, love always win for I AM love and My seed is within you!

Walk and Remain in Love – Karen Austin

“Love is a strong force that not even hate can overcome. Even death cannot overcome love. This is a truth that you must grasp in these last days for love will shield you. Love will guide you. Love will be your reward. [Song of Solomon 8:6-7 & Luke 6:35 NIV]

Be a people who refuse to let go of love, for the love of many will grow cold [Matthew 24:12]. But those who are Mine will remain vibrant and alive because of My divine love flowing through them. Where you see love, you will always see My heart and My will. Those who walk in My love will be a sign post to others pointing to Me. For the world would say, “How can you still love after all that was done?” “How can you love God after all that you have been through?” Oh, but they have no idea of the pure love between a Father and his child. It will be My love flowing in you and through you that will empower you to carry on.

Those who remain in love will shine bright in a world of darkness. Their light will not go out but will live on in the lives of others, for love is eternal” [1 Corinthians 13:8 GNT].

“Then the godly ones will shine like the brightness of the sun in their Father’s kingdom realm.” Matthew 13:43

Will you believe the lie? – Gary Florence

Several months ago I was sitting in church and out of nowhere I heard within side of me “You have no voice.” I knew it was a lie but it was so convincing and felt so real that I allowed it to silence me. If we believe a lie long enough it can become truth to our emotions. Week after week I would go and just be quiet not saying anything, then about 3 weeks ago I heard “If you will humble yourself under God’s arm in His timing He will lift you up.” I kept hearing this verse over and over then one day I believed the Lord said to me “You need to humble yourself and ask your church family for help.”

I grew up in a culture that asking for help was a sign of weakness. When I was younger and played sports I remembered when I would get hurt my coach would say things like “shake it off” or “rub some dirt in it.” So finally at our home group last week I shared with them what was going on in my life and asked them for help. They gathered around me and prayed and spoke words of encouragement and broke the lie off of me. Your breakthrough may be found in a little word like “help”.

There are people all around you that need to hear your voice. You may come in contact with a mother who has had one of those weeks, where all she has done is wiped snot from her child’s nose and cleaned up dirty diapers and she is wondering is there more to life than this. Is this what God has called me do to and you could be that voice to remind her of her destiny and to encourage her. There may be someone who is trying to make ends meet and pay a mortgage and put food on the table. Your voice may be just what they need to hear at that moment. Will we allow a lie in our life that tells us we have no voice and to be silent or will we allow truth spoken from someone else because we have humbled ourselves and asked for help so we in turn may speak words of truth and encouragement to someone else?

Yes you and I have a voice. So if you see yourself in me and that your voice has been silenced ask the Lord if He desires you to humble yourself and ask for help from your brothers and sisters in Christ and then see what He is about to do in your life and the lives of those around you waiting to hear your voice again.

Everlasting Love – Karen Austin

“Tell My people that I love them with an everlasting love. My love is no greater for them when they are in a season of blessing than in a time of warfare and transition. My love is a constant of which they can always be sure!

The enemy of their soul tries to persuade with his lies to doubt My love for them. Tell My people if they continue in My love and always remain steadfast, assured of My love, they will always come out victorious. For their faith works by love and being confident in My love for them [Galatians 5:6]. I have done all that is necessary for their victory through the greatest sacrifice I could make – My very own Son.

Forget not all that was done for you. Because of love, He left the place of glory to come to a sin filled earth. Because of love, the sick were healed and the possessed were delivered. Because of love, the beating, taunting and scourging was endured. Because of love, even as the very drops of His blood was pour out – love was crying out “Father, forgive them”. Love is the basis for all that I do. Nothing will ever change the love I have for you.

Journal entry 12/8/15 (to be continued).

For now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and mysteries[s] as though reflected in a mirror, but one day we will see face-to-face. My understanding is incomplete now, but one day I will understand everything, just as everything about me has been fully understood. Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love—yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.” 1 Corinthians 12-13 TPT

Where will this battle find you?

stand upThe world is turning faster than we can keep up with it. At times, we aren’t even sure if we can keep our balance with all the turmoil that surrounds our lives. The world’s view of relationships, especially marriage, is becoming skewed at best. Divorce rates in the body of Christ are at an all-time high, and we as the church have no one to blame but ourselves. We are allowing the enemy of our souls to rip the very fabric of our vows of matrimony apart at the seams. Marriage is no longer viewed as something sacred or something to be cherished. It’s a checklist of possibilities that no longer hold any value in the culture of today. We laugh away divorce as though it’s no more valuable than a stick of gum or a penny we find on the street. We aren’t concerned anymore about the likelihood that we will find a lifelong mate, in whom we can place our trust, our devotion, and, more importantly, our heart. Why is this? Why aren’t we fighting for our marriages?

Putting things into perspective, though, I can say that my wife and I have been close to being casualties of this war against marriages. This battle has been a long and sometimes very brutal conflict, which has led to the death of many marriages and relationships in Christ. The enemy is constantly trying to rip marriages apart, for one of the foundations of our faith is really based on marriage to Jesus, and an understanding of what it means to be a bride as it pertains to the body of Christ, awaiting her bridegroom, who is Jesus.  We watch with jaded eyes as our young people are being manipulated by the concepts and precepts of this world, who themselves are embracing a Hellenistic society where everything is permissible, and the idea of “living for the day” is being recited in volume that can’t be hushed by standing by and doing nothing.  We are losing, plain and simple. We are losing a battle that should be easily won. We are losing because we want to lose. We don’t want to fight anymore. We have become so exhausted from the trials of our own lives that we aren’t willing to fight for the next generation because the scars on our backs are too deep and too painful.

There is hope, though; there is always hope.  J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, “Even Darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it will shine out all the clearer.”

Our light into the darkness is the fire of Christ that burns within each one of us, the light of hope and the light of glory. We aren’t alone by any stretch of the imagination, unless we want to be. Why do we choose to be alone? Because we have allowed ourselves to fall sway under the influence of many possible reasons. Shame, guilt, condemnation, fear, and the list is endless as to what may influence our choices to stand and fight as a congregational team, or stand and fall as an army of one. In the past, I have often thought, “I don’t need anyone else, I can do this on my own.” That, my friend, is a lie, plain and simple, a lie we tell ourselves daily. Either we are choosing to make wrong decisions, or we are being influenced by the power of the air, or really both.

We will struggle in this lifetime; we will struggle as Christians. For us to believe anything different is to believe in a doctrine of demons. This new wave of prosperity Christianity is robbing God of His glory and robbing the believer of the true power of Jesus. Why would James write the following scripture?

James 1:2-4 “2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

Our faith must and will be tested. Our marriages will be tested, our relationships will be tested. Our belief system will be tested. Everything in our lives will be tested, so that through this testing, our faith will be established in Jesus, and not in our own strength. We cannot and will not allow this world to catch us off balance! We will stand and fight the accuser of our souls and the enemy of our Lord. We must war for the salvation of our children and our grandchildren. This isn’t a choice, this is a mandate. Do not let the blood be on your hands because you sat and did nothing, when God in His word warns us. Stay with me, folks, don’t let me lose you, for scripture will always speak in ways that man cannot.

Ezekiel 33:1-6

33 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, 3 when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.

Simply put, if we who know the truth, and the truth is Jesus, and his scriptures are His words, if we sit and do nothing, then the blood of the lost and the broken will be on our hands. If we do not warn those who have fallen sway under the power of darkness, we will answer for not heeding the trumpet call of the Lord.

Is there someone that you know needs your prayers? Pray for them. Is there a co-worker who you know is distraught and struggling? Ask the Lord to give you the words of comfort to speak. Is there a marriage, or better yet, is your marriage breaking apart before your eyes? Stop fighting one another, swallow your hurt, your pride, and your shame, and seek the Lord together. Has your life become cold and lonely? Do not fret and do not fear, because my friend, you are not alone in this fight. The body of Christ will stand with you. The Lord of Hosts will stand with you. I will stand with you. Believe in prayer, believe in scripture, most of all, believe in Jesus, the lover of our souls and the Redeemer of our spirits.