In a survey conducted by the George Barna Research group, they discovered that "Although every individual has been given a different vision from God, research shows that less than 2% have identified God's vision for their lives and for American churches it is just as bad, less than 4% have identified God's vision for their ministry". (this is shocking, it means 98% of believers and 96% of churches don't know God's vision for their life).

Why have so few Christians discovered God’s call? One of the reasons is, that many churches don’t encourage their members to discover their call, instead their main focus is enlisting them in their programs and goals. What the church doesn’t realize is, that if God has called the person to the church, then the fulfilling of their individual call will be one of the many parts that will fit together to fulfill the church’s call.

To illustrate this, lets look at the life of a professional hockey player. He will probably play for a number of different teams in his career. When he is with each team, he needs to participate in accomplishing their team goals. Alongside this, however, he also needs to know what his specific calling is (a defenceman) and needs to work at becoming more and more effective in that area, regardless of which team he plays for. The team rather than keeping the player from doing this, actually encourages him to, because the better a defenceman he is, the more he will help the team.

You will probably be a member in a number of different churches over your lifetime, but you will still only have one call on your life. You may function in a bunch of different roles, but on that day, you will only be held accountable for whether you fulfilled His call on your life.

Col. 4:17 And say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it."

If you don’t know what your call is, then why don’t you take a few minutes right now and pray this prayer, and write down what you hear Him say.

“Dear Father what is Your call upon my life?” – ___________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As a way of confirming this, you might want to go and ask the 5 people who you most respect spiritually and who know you well and ask them point blank:

“In your opinion what would you say is the call of God on my life”? ______________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Judy and I did this 23 years ago and we were amazed at the perceptive answers that we received and how after all these years, how accurate they were.

Once you know what His call is, what do you do next? You need to receive a vision from Him how to proceed. In Prov. 29:18 it tells us that “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. Many people have dreams of what they would like to do, how is that different from a vision. With a dream you are going one way and the dream is going in a completely different direction. With a vision you are taking steps in the direction of the vision.

In my life, I was working as a janitor with a dream of working as a pastor. Even though I was taking no steps toward it, somehow I was hoping that a church would come and ask me to be their pastor. It’s not impossible, but very unlikely.

I then heard from God that He was calling me to be a Shepherd, so I investigated and found out that I would need to do to accomplish this. I now had the steps that would change my dream into a vision.

Step #1 - Was to go to Bible College. So I quit my job and moved my wife and 2 young children from Vancouver out to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Step #2 - While we were in Man. We planted a community church in the small town of Ile des Chenes.

Step #3 - Once I had finished my Bachelors degree, we moved back to Vancouver and I worked as a part-time Intern Pastor (plus 2 other part time jobs).

Step #4 - I was an Associate Pastor in an Evangelical Free Church.

Step #5 - Next I was as the Senior Pastor of 45^th Ave. Gospel Tabernacle

Step #6 - And finally planting Worldshakers Christian Growth Center.

These are steps that transformed a dream into a vision. By the way it took 8 years from start Bible School to planting Worldshakers. In other words it doesn’t happen overnight

Do you have a dream or a vision?

To answer this question check and see if you are taking steps that are headed in the direction towards your vision or are you going the other direction and hoping that it will somehow be dropped into your lap?

Next, the Lord will give you specific burdens, that are for that time and that place. These will change over time and as you change from place to place. This is where the rubber meets the road. It’s how the vision becomes practical.

The first three steps, are also what Jesus tells His disciples to do, when He sends them out. He told them to go preach the gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons. So where is the fourth one? Being involved in street ministry for the past 12 yaers I have noticed something. There are many who receive the gospel, have deliverance, and even some healing, but there is still a downtroddeness about them. I don’t know how else to describe it, but when I read the definition of the Greek word for downtrodden (to crush, bruise, to smite through, shatter, broken by calamity). I knew that it described these individuals. There is an overall brokeness, that doesn’t seem to be repaired by the first three steps. It is vital that we enter into this fourth aspect of Jesus ministry. There are many people out there who are desperate for this to be released in a greater way.

So you've seen The Matrix recently and you're confused? Sure, it was an interesting movie and it had some great special effects, but it seemed somehow spiritual at the same time. Somehow it captured your imagination more than you expected.

You’re not the only one to experience this. The Matrix has become a symbol -- and one that touches most of a generation -- of the shallowness of society and a cry for a reality that transcends human existence. The Matrix is a generation trying to understand God.

Now the truth is that I have no idea if the Wachowski brothers intended to make a description of the Christian worldview and preach a handful of good sermons about how to live the Christian life. Nevertheless, I think they have done it, and done a good job.

Let me tell you what I see in The Matrix.

The theme of The Matrix is that the perception of our day-in day-out world is a hoax. It is an elaborate deception spun by all-powerful machines of artificial intelligence that control us. What a wild fantasy, right? This is fiction, isn’t it?

Isn’t it? Sometimes made-up stories teach us truth better than we think. After all, Jesus did it all the time; He called them parables.

In the movie, the Matrix is a computer simulation: a pretend world designed to capture the attention of the billions of people on the planet & keep them distracted from the real issues of life. That’s just like our life.

Life here & now on planet Earth really is not the ultimate example of “reality.” Reality is the heavenly realms, where things of the spirit dwell. The Bible, which is the ultimate handbook for defining reality, teaches us that this world will pass away, at which time we will see the “real” world. For a preview, read the Revelation of St. John.

This might be a challenge to follow: The Matrix describes two fictional realities, and these represent two true realities, a total of four worlds: the artificial world of the Matrix, which is a picture of life-as-we-know-it on planet earth, the movie¹s real world, where our heroes are outside the program, which pictures the real world as described in the Bible, the spiritual realm, where God makes His home, and which is the pattern for our physical world. Their “real world” teaches us some truths about the reality of our spiritual realm as well.

Unfortunately, in life just as in the movie, there are uncounted millions of human beings that are held captive by the god of this world, having been taken captive by him to do his will, yet possessing no real knowledge of the spiritual realities around them. These have been successfully captured by the enemy, and are being used to feed his purposes.

At the same time, there are a few people who have seen a vision of the greater reality: they know about the true reality, and you can see it in them. They don¹t believe the lie; they don¹t buy the program. They¹ve seen a glimpse of heaven.

As in the movie, there are some who try to gather for themselves the best of both words. They are aware of the real world, and yet they embrace the evil, even after having seen its destructive effects on those around them.

There is room here for a sermon on how we live life: do we believe the Matrix? Or do we live on the basis of heaven? Are we living in light of eternity, or are we just taking up pixels in the Matrix? I want my life to count for something after the computer has bombed.

A generation ago, Larry Norman described it in a song with the line ³This world is not my home; I¹m just passing through.² Using the imagry of the movie, ³This world is just pixels in the Matrix.²

The Matrix includes a number of other interesting characters. Their names give insight into their symbolic roles.

We begin with Neo, the star of the movie. Neo means ³new² of course, and Neo is a picture of the new man, and beyond that, of a new breed of believers that God is raising up. No longer satisfied by being inside or outside the system, Neo looks for the meaning of the Matrix.

At the beginning of the movie, he¹s pretty helpless; he¹s enslaved by the Matrix, and he believes its lie. But he¹s searching. He¹s looking for the truth, though he doesn¹t call it that.

At the same time, Morpheus and Trinity are looking for Neo.

Trinity is a picture of God Himself, though Trinity, in the movie, is a woman. In the movie¹s opening scene, Trinity demonstrates supernatural abilities in resisting the slavery of the Matrix, and in fleeing an Agent. Her character establishes high expectations for the movie's theology, as well as for its special effects.

Morpheus is a another interesting character. In Greek mythology, Morpheus was the god of dreams, the son of Somnus who was the god of sleep. Morpheus rules the thinking in sleep. The matrix, of course, is just a dream while they sleep, and a bad dream at that.

Sleep, in the Bible, is a euphemism for death, but only for the death of believers. Through Morpheus, Neo dies to the world of the Matrix, and is reborn into true spiritual life. Fittingly, Morpheus is black (the color symbolically associated with death), and typically wears, when in the Matrix, leather jackets, made from the skins of dead animals.

Because the movie¹s producers are (presumably) not Christians, their picture of God is a little confused. (How like our world!) Morpheus and Trinity share the place of God. Think of Morpheus picturing God the Father, and Trinity as the Holy Spirit and you have a good beginning point.

Agents are a picture of a demon: they represent ultimate, captivating evil, and they are not hesitant to possess humans for their own purposes. In the introduction, Neo is ³bugged² by the agents, inhabited by a small, living enemy, from which Trinity (God) will eventually set him free. It had to be Trinity: who else but God can set you free from demonic inhabitation? But watch out, you'll have to bare a little of yourself while He does it.

So the new man is led by God Himself, in response to his searching, to the place of death, where he chooses the red pill and dies to himself. In a dramatic (and slimy) scene, Neo comes to his senses, and finds the reality that he has been enslaved. Now that he has ³died,² he is quickly released by the enslavers, passing through a passable image of baptism on his way to ³the real world.²

There is a betrayer in the movie; his name is Cipher (or ³zero, nothing²). More about him later.

Tank is the good guy that teaches Neo about fighting, and who later provides him with an amazing amount of weaponry. He & his brother, Dozer, were born in the real world, ³a genuine child of Zion.² The brothers cannot enter the Matrix; their role is exclusively in the areas of training Neo and providing support for those warriors that do enter the Matrix. Tank & Dozer are pictures of angels, ³ministering spirits,² sent from the heavenly realm to minister to the saints, who are Neo and his partners.

The symbolism behind the ship¹s name, Nebuchadnezzar, is more obscure. Historically, Nebuchadnezzar was the great king of Babylon who captured Jerusalem and carried the rebellious and sinful nation of Judah captive. In this case, the ship is destined, by its name, to defeat the system of evil being perpetuated. In both cases, historically and symbolically, Nebuchadnezzar is God¹s servant, humbling those who think themselves undefeatable.

The plot revolves around the question of whether Neo is ³The One,² a messiah figure. The point is important enough that early on in the movie, Neo is identified as ³My messiah.... my own personal Jesus Christ,² just before he meets Trinity. If that weren¹t enough, on board the Nebuchadnezzar, Neo is housed in a room whose steel door contains the image of a cross. In one of the movie¹s few shortcomings, no reason is ever given for the high expectations of him: why is Morpheus convinced that Neo, rather than any of the billions of other nice guys, is ³The One.²

After a period of searching for truth, Neo is re-born into a cosmic war of good vs. evil. He is discipled by Morpheus, which consists primarily of rebuilding his wold view so as to allow him to know true reality in the context of his life in the Matrix, and herein lies another sermon. One of my greatest challenges in my life on earth is to let go of the lies that have bound me, and live by the rules of heaven. ³For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.² Neo must learn to overcome the world. Morpheus, ³death to self,² is the teacher.

The school is a karate facility, where Neo is taught, not so much ³mind over matter² as ³mind over perceived reality.² The challenge is to bring the rules of ³the real world² into his activities in the Matrix. Is our challenge as Christians, isn¹t it? Live in this physical realm, but live according to the laws of heaven.

Morpheus encouraged Neo to fight without the limits of what appears to be real; instead, to remember that what appears to be real is only an illusion, only the Matrix: an illusion created by the enemy in order to keep me occupied while he drains my strength for his own purposes.

A good deal of the movie¹s attraction is in the attractiveness of the possibility that an average guy, like Neo, could be a hero, a savior even. Though confused, Neo doesn¹t believe himself to be anything special, and certainly this is characteristic of a significant portion of the movie¹s target audience. Nevertheless, the loser becomes a hero, and the movie¹s financial and emotional success is assured.

Beyond the stereotypes, there is a lesson: Neo does become the powerful one, the enemy of all that is evil, but he does it the right way: he comes to God [Trinity], dies to himself [Morpheus], submits to discipline, and finally seeks the good of others [the captive Morpheus] over his own. Then he risks himself for his brothers and sisters, to the point of laying down his life. Only then does he walk into true authority that Morpheus has been preparing him for.

In one quiet scene, Neo wanders into the control room, where Cipher is busy at work on the computers. Startled by Neo, Cipher quickly shuts off the screens that reveal his work, and starts talking quickly, distracting both Neo and the viewer from his actions. In these few unguarded moments, Cipher reveals his heart: he discloses his fixation on women in the Matrix, his bitterness against Morpheus, and offers Neo a drink of the alcohol that Dozer makes to degrease the ship¹s engines.

Cipher¹s values are clearly focused on the things of the flesh. In his first epistle, John described Cipher¹s vices: ³the lust of the flesh [alcohol], the lust of the eyes [women], and the pride of life [his attitude towards his captain].²

Cipher is a man obcessed by bitterness, and he is unable to cope with it. His life revolves around his lusts and his determination to get what he wants for himself, until it leads him to dinner with demons, and a covenant to betray his team and his captain so that he can have the illusion of comfort.

Cipher's theme is ³Ignorance is bliss,² though he is not the least ignorant of his bitterness or his betrayal. I¹ve met too many ³Ciphers.²

There are a number of interesting, ongoing symbols in The Matrix. One of the more fascinating is Morpheus¹ long, black, leather coat, which he wears when he¹s inside the Matrix. A coat is the modern equivalent of the biblical mantle: the symbol of his leadership.

After Morpheus and Neo visit the Oracle (an interesting story in herself), our heros are betrayed by Cipher led to capture them by Cipher¹s cell phone. When Morpheus discovers the trap, he removes his mantle -- his long black coat -- and leaves it behind.

This is, in the short term, a delightful picture of his willingness to sacrifice his position, much like Joseph with Potiphar¹s wife, in order to escape the snare of the enemy. In the long run, this scene is the last time that Morpheus is the leader of the saints, for in this scene, he sacrifices himself physically, that Neo can escape and grow into his calling. Neo¹s freedom at the expense of Morpheus¹ captivity creates a crisis in Neo, and one predicted by the Oracle earlier.

Later, when he comes back into the Matrix in order to rescue his mentor, Neo is wearing the long black coat, though not a leather one. From that point on, Neo is the leader, around whom the others gather. And Morpheus no longer wears the black leather coat.

The mantle has been passed.

Morpheus¹ sacrifice exhibits the attitude of John the Baptist: ³He must increase, but I must decrease.² His own role is diminished, but the team is strengthened.

The Oracle is a wonderful woman. Surrounded by expectation and spiritual exercises, she remains a spunky grandmother baking cookies in the kitchen. And yet, she functions as a prophet, establishing each member of the team in his or her position, pointing the way to the important markers in their future, speaking in obscure word pictures, and yet cutting to the heart of the matter directly. Isn't that how God uses prophetic ministry in our lives?

Another ongoing symbol in the movie is spiritual warfare. The activity of the movie surrounds the theme of the saints (Neo & company) waging war against the demonic realms (the machines and their demonic servants, the agents).

The weapons of their warfare include hand-to-hand combat, which we expect, and several things we wouldn¹t normally expect: self sacrifice (Morpheus' and Neo's, both of which we¹ve already referenced), love (specifically Trinity¹s declaration of love for Neo, which delivers him from death), faith (as evidenced by her declaration that neo is ³the One² even as Cipher was attempting to kill him).

The greatest successes in the spiritual warfare happen in the context of teamwork. As Neo and Trinity work together, relying on the lessons they¹ve learned in the ³real² world, they overcome tremendous odds in the famous lobby scene. That scene is a such a rush!

THE CORRIDOR OF PORTRAITS --

While praying today, the Lord opened a beautiful vision to me. I found myself in a very long hallway and at the opposite far end of this hallway was a fireplace burning in a room. I began to walk down the corridor and saw blank canvases hanging in a row all autographed by an artist named Jesus.

EMPTY CANVASES

I was fuddled and wondered why anyone would hang up empty canvases autographed by the artist as if they were works of genuine art. As I progressed down the hall I began to see a few lines here and there on some of the painting but could not make out any figures or face. As I continued down the corridor the paintings began to take shape. I began to see faces and outlines and figures of people. All were lovingly autographed with the signature of Jesus. At last, magnificent charcoal sketches began to appear and I could make out whole faces. These sketches were stunning in their detail and beauty. I kept walking, pausing to admire the masterpieces when suddenly colors began to appear in the paintings. There were a few splashes of color here and there but the amount kept increasing with each step. These half-finished paintings were even more haunting in

their beauty than the charcoal sketches.

A FEW BRUSH STROKES MISSING

As I neared the end of the corridor the paintings were almost complete. Some merely lacked a few brush strokes to be finished and all were indescribably exquisite. The had all been painted by a Master.

Then I entered what I immediately understood to be the family room. There were glorious completed portraits of people from every kindred and tongue, people and nation hanging everywhere. They made up a mural of the grace of God and, by comparison, made the Mona Lisa look like bad street graffiti. Over the roaring hearth was a life-size portrait of Jesus that seemed to glow, lighting up the room. What really struck me was how every painting in the room (and those nearly completed ones in the hall) could look so different from each other but still look like Jesus. There was a definite family resemblance in each portrait that looked like Jesus.

THE HOLY SPIRIT QUIETLY ASKED ME A QUESTION

As the vision ended, I felt the Holy Spirit quietly ask me a question: Child, where would you like your portrait hung?

Then I understood the vision. Those at the beginning of the hall were those who had trusted Jesus as Savior but then wouldn't let him touch them again. The whole hall was a picture of people who had progressed to various places of their sanctification and then stopped and refused to go any further with God. Some were hung so close to the family room it was a heartache to see them outside in the corridor. They were almost redone and transformed into the image of Jesus.

ALL PORTRAITS BELONGED TO JESUS--EACH WERE HIS

All the portraits were indeed autographed by Jesus and each was his. Those in the family room were those who had fully yielded their lives by always saying "Yes" to him when he asked - whatever he asked. This is not a picture of salvation by works but of the people bowing their wills to God and walking his narrow way - who had lived their lives to please Him alone.

The Lord was asking me if I would go all the way and let him paint his masterpiece in me. He calls us to be transformed into the image of his dear Son. The Christian landscape is littered with what Jesus referred to as 'half-finished towers', people who started well but then somewhere along the way got hurt, offended, or just began to drift away.

I looked at the blank canvases, the babes in Christ who wouldn't grow up, and realize that I have indeed let God touch me many times. A holy fear fell on me as I contemplated being hung up as a half-finished or even nearly finished masterpiece. I've grown faint and weary with trails and have been tempted to just quit. After seeing the faces of those who had quit in the portraits, I determined anew to run the race set before me, finish the course, and hear, "Well done, you good and faithful servant." I want my finished portrait hanging in the family room so I can dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Child of God, where do you want your portrait hung?

Bryan Hupperts SheepTrax Ministries, Inc. PO Box 270256

St. Louis, MO 63126 http://members.igateway.net/~bryanh

In the last Firefall we reported on the words that came out of the Apostolic council. One of words was “There is also a new Samuel Generation of young children who will prophesy and restore the word of the Lord to their generation”

We recently had two very profound experiences that brought this word to life. In Dec. 99 we went for the weekend to train a church in doing deliverance and on the Sun. night we heard from the Lord that He wanted us to prophetically pray over their children (ages 3-12). As we started to prophesy over them, the children asked if they could share what they were getting as well. While we were totally open to that and were blown away by what happened. The children would share first and then the adults and there was no difference. The children's words were just as accurate and powerful as the adults.

Then at the end of Jan. 2000 we went to another church to teach them deliverance and we were also led to pray prophetically over their kids and the same thing happened all over again. As this was taking place, I saw a vision: I saw a meeting where there were about 200 children and they were doing everything: teaching, playing instruments, leading worship, dancing, prophesying, praying, etc. There were adults, but they were around the outside, so to speak for protection.

Also at the second church, a mother and her 5 year old, from the 1st church, came to their Sat. night open meeting. Near the end of the meeting, the young boy came up with his mother and said that he heard the Lord say, "that we were suppose to get in a circle and hold hands." I didn't really sense a confirmation and basically just dismissed it.

The next day, however, as our team got together in prayer I found out that my wife and 2 others had heard a similar word, but had dismissed it as being kind of cheesy. We then realized, that when the adults weren't listening, the Lord had found a little 5 year old who had enough courage to say it and I didn't listen. I repented before the Lord and phoned the little boy and asked him to forgive me for not listening and encouraged him that even though we didn't do it, he indeed had heard the Lord and had done the right thing. From now on, by God's grace I will be very much more responsive to hearing what He may be is saying out of the mouth of babes.

When Jesus came to the temple the first time the children cried out

THE VISION

I was shown a huge mountain with many levels on it, and I saw that lots of children and young people were gathering around its base. The gathering was quickly expanding and there appeared to be no access point for the children to move from the base onto the higher levels of the mountain. I sensed a growing restlessness among the young people, who looked at the mountain with such intense desire to climb into the higher purposes of God.

On the mountain itself stood many adults, all of whom were busily engaged in speaking to each other, but were totally oblivious to the huge number of children that were appearing at the base of the mountain. While the adults were busy with each other, some of the children fixed their eyes on the top of the mountain and began to climb. The cliff face was extremely sheer and dangerous, but they set their faces like flint and looked towards Jesus. Their hands were torn on the rock face as they sought clefts, but in tenderness, I saw the Lord illumine the places in the rock where they could place their feet and hands. The Lord was with His children. The adults had become a stumbling block to the little ones on the mountain, and I felt the Father's wrath at the condition of the mountain, which represented His Church.

A SHAKING ON THE MOUNTAIN AND TREMORS ON THE EARTH

The Father sent a shaking on the mountain and in tremors on the earth, and the angels were released and began circuiting the mountain. The young people were hidden in the Glory, assisted by the angelic host. Just as Moses was hidden in the rock, so were these children and young people who had been holding on for dear life to the cliff face. As the Glory of God passed by, their faces were transformed with the radiance of Christ.

In the shaking some of the adults were taken off the mountain, and these represented adults who would not acknowledge the place children and young people have within the army of God. The Spirit impinged those adults who remained on the mountain and they fell to their faces, in deep repentance for their part in holding back the little ones. The Spirit worked a deep and mighty work of repentance and restoration and I heard Him speak:

PROPHECY

"I will return the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the Father, and on this mountain I will

bring a shaking and I will remove every obstacle from the footpaths of My children. See, I will create a Way, a clear way for My children to climb, to walk into the higher purposes that I have for them.

For I am raising up my Enoch's, from amongst the smallest and the weakest I am preparing My Joshua's to take the land, My Joshua's to take the land, and they shall break forth clad in the mighty array of My Holiness, and they shall be clad experientially in My Righteousness, and they shall gird themselves around with the purity of My Truth, and they shall carry aloft shields of faith that are no longer withheld from them, for they shall be uplifted by the prayers of the saints and they shall raise heavenward the Sword of the Spirit as the anointing is released among them.

A MIGHTY ARMY

And they shall march forth a mighty army, and their war cry shall echo throughout heaven and earth as they are released into their destiny. And I shall shake this mountain, says the Lord, and release faith to My children and the immovable misconceptions of your mind will melt away, they will melt away as My Glory is released; they will melt away as the adults come in humility before Me. Yes, I will bring restoration, says the Lord, to this land where broken relationships have severed divine connections that I have prepared since eternity.

THE CHILDREN WILL CARRY THE ANOINTING

The children shall carry the anointing, the children will carry the anointing and that which is immovable shall be shaken, that which is not of Me will be removed. This is a new day; this is a new day. My Enoch's and My Joshua's shall take the land and they will know an intimacy with Me and they shall know a holiness that has hidden from My people for many decades, a holiness and a purity but they shall not be alone, for without the undergirding of your faith, without your release, they are held in prisons, they are held and bound, their hands are bound by the false boundaries My Church has placed upon them. I will tolerate this for no longer. No longer, says the Lord, will My children be held captive, it is time for My children to be released into their kingdom destinies and to march forward and to take this land for My Name." Amen

Catherine Brown

Last year at a conference at Celebration Community Church in San Jose, we expereinced a very unusual event. As we were all in worship at the begining of the evening, the children, ranging from 5 yrs. to 16, came from their class rooms and began to march around the sanctuary with banners and flags. This was unrehearsed and unprovoked. As they twirled and danced around the auditorium, the adults in attendance began to follow the children! The Lord spoke prophetically that night and said, If you will be foolish enough to follow the children, they will lead you into revival...

That night we all did! The children then began to prophecy on the microphone, again unrehearsed and unprovoked, and by word of knowledge call out hurting and sick people. This is a landmark event, as the children are revealing the Father's heart like we have never witnessed before...

Revival is coming, but in a package that we may not have expected...Blessings! Chad Taylor

VISION: SONS OF GLORY ("PUSH CHURCH, PUSH!!)

-- A Vision by Catherine Brown, West Kilbride, Scotland

VISION OF THE SONS OF GLORY

While in a time of prayer and worship, I saw a vision of the earth splitting wide open and one by one, young men and women were attempting to come forth from creation. As I looked more closely, I saw that there was a covering over the place where the young people were trying to come out of. It had the appearance of an amniotic sac and the young people were struggling to push their way out. I immediately was impressed by the Holy Spirit, that this was a birthing process and that it was also a difficult birth.

I heard the Spirit say "Push Church, Push".

The young people were growing so weary from the birthing process, that I sensed there was a possibility that some would be lost. I then saw a picture of birth and the head of a tiny babe was crowning and then receding. The labor pains were extremely intensive but the child was unable to stay in the position for birth, the head was going back and forth and back and forth and the baby was becoming exhausted.

I felt specifically this picture of birth referred to the vision of the youth coming forth as part of the Lord's end time army, with particular application to the late teenage years and the twenty's. Just like the image of the tiny babe, they too were spiritually exhausted and needed birth assistants to stand with them for a safe 'delivery'

THE OLDER GENERATION IS THE FOUNDATION

The experience of the older generation (David) laid the foundation for the younger generation (Solomon) to build upon. It was with great joy that this sacrificial giving was made. David prepared the way for his son to move into the fullness of all that God had prepared for him. In deep humility David paved the way for the next generation to step into the purposes of God, without any loss of his own authority, integrity or unique position in the Lord. The consecration of the Temple was carried out by Solomon, who lovingly embraced the mantle of his forefathers, which was passed from father to son. This coming together of the generations in complete unity

preceded the GLORY falling upon the people.

"When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple" 2 Ch 7:1

THE GENERATIONS MUST WORK TOGETHER

David of himself could not build a house for the Lord's Glory. But with his son, who understood that peace and rest are in the Glory, together with the worshippers, they saw God's Glory come down. This is a picture for the Church today. The generations must work together in unity if we are to see the Glory fall WE MUST HELP BIRTH THE NEXT GENERATION. EVERY WARRIOR IS NEEDED

Catherine Brown

Sometimes it hurts. Never did God ever promise it would not hurt, only that He would get us through it and it would work together, with the rest of our life, for the best. (Rom. 8:28)

We keep climbing up on the cross and begging for all to see our sacrifice. What is it Dolly Parton says? “Get off the cross… somebody needs the wood”! It seems that our measure of ourselves is in accordance with how much we suffer. Wrong! God says to measure ourselves only by His yardstick.

“Please Lord, let us see ourselves as you do!” Oh, what a brave prayer. If you want to see what you’re really like, get close to God. His glory shines into all the dark places of your heart and brings them into the light. Yuck!! But, this is the only sacrifice He really wants

Ps 51:16 - You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Matt 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Col. 3:12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Just get closer. Know Him. Seek Him. Love Him… Above all else! Don’t be too concerned about measuring up if you are seeking Him above all else. God’s idea of “good enough” is Jesus and He sacrificed Him for you (Rom 8:32-39). Enough Said!!