By Jorge Parrott

Breathe deep! It’s time to clear out the old air. Do you hear some of your friends and family, (or perhaps yourself), speaking from places of weariness, anxiety or fear? We need to remember our first love, Jesus and what He really has done and is doing for us.

Many of us, including me, need to take a fresh look at faith with the eyes of our heart wide open. We are in a new season and, as many are sensing, there is a fresh, new breaking free from the old tired mindsets and habit patterns that ensnare us in the idolatry of the mind and emotions. Certainly, it is time for the saints of the Most High God to step into this profound and greater realization of the battle in our minds, and how each moment contains a doorway to eternity. Let us grasp with every fiber of our being how the Holy Spirit equips us and helps us to walk in the fullness of His joy and all the fruit and gifts of the Spirit.

The world is hurting and as darkness spreads the Lord sends us, His Ambassadors, into the darkness to dispel the lies and hatred, and also to prophesy and declare ‘meat in due season’ to the nations of the earth.  As we worship and rejoice even in the midst of trials, we choose to tune out the static and interference so to hear the fresh wind and the whispers of His Holy Spirit in order to enjoy God, the very reason we were created for.  Isn’t it time to get over ourselves and step into the realm of the beauty of His holiness? Do you see the Lord sitting in heaven and laughing? We are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.  Are we there yet?

We have read many times the Scriptures about faith, but did it really create lasting change in us? Did we really receive the hope-filled revelation that it is possible to live in a new creation reality? Do we really know the truth and power that the living Word contains for us? My prayer is these verses will become alive with the fire of the holy fear of the Lord in startling new, cathartic ways to reinvigorate and re-fire your zeal to believe. “The work of the Father is to believe.” (John 6:29). If we did believe the way we are created to believe, our lives would be full of supernatural expectation and dramatic God-moments of exhilaration. How do we get there together?

Here’s an important mention from Watchman Nee on the danger of performance-based, spectator Christianity.  If a church service doesn’t welcome and go after the presence of the Holy Spirit and isn’t allowed to flow in the Holy Spirit, we may not be walking in the fullness of JOY the Lord intended. Romans 14:23 – “But the one who has misgivings feels miserable if he eats meat because he doubts and doesn’t eat in faith. For anything we do that doesn’t spring from faith is, by definition, sinful.” (TPT)

Next, let’s look at who we are in Christ.

 

 “My old identity has been co-crucified with Messiah and no longer lives; for the nails of His cross crucified me with Him. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives His life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God Who loves me so much that He gave himself for me and dispenses His life into mine!” Galatians 2:20 The Passion Translation (TPT)

He Pulls Us Out Of Our Graves!

This union we live in says we are empowered by the faith of Jesus, the Son of God.  We are each given a measure of faith, but I am here to tell you the faith of Abba Father is so set on you He will pull you out of the grave whenever He wants to, so you will know the joy of His resurrection.

Ezekiel 37:13 shouts; “Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.” (NKJV)

He is God and we are not!

“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith Who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2, NKJV)

Lazarus’ faith in the tomb was down to zero. He lay dead and stinking for three days, but Jesus’ faith raised him from the dead. His faith won’t let us get away or fail. Remember, even failure in man’s eyes might mean success in God’s eyes.

We can access the faith and ability of Yahweh through Jesus and engage and partner with Him as His humble clay vessels. Dreams and visions like in Joel 2 and Acts 2 are accelerating. Why not take full advantage of this season to be alive in Christ as never before?

Faith can be measured, as we walk out our obedience!

Once, in India, a deaf and mute man was brought in. One of our teammates said, ‘I don’t know if I have faith to pray for this man.’  Faith rose up in me and I quoted Scriptures about how we are each given a measure of faith and I called upon what the Word and the Lord said, and the Lord healed that man. The next day he gave his heart to the Lord. We were all blown away by the love and power of the Lord to move in an area of anti-Christian idol worship to bring His light, peace, and love.

“And without faith living within us it would be impossible to please God. For we come to God in faith, knowing that He is real and that He rewards the faith of those who give all their passion and strength into seeking Him.” (Hebrews 11:6, TPT)

The Terminal Bride Arose At The Last Minute!

Once I was in the capital of Guatemala at an inner-city church. The pastor was also a Medical Doctor. He said a woman whom I had met previously was in the hospital with stage four cancer, and she wanted me to come and see her and attend her wedding in the hospital. I got there and prayed simple prayers of how much the Lord loved her. She began to vomit, and our precious Lord healed her! She made plans previously to marry her fiancé at the hospital once I got there. Amazingly she was healed, and she put on her wedding gown and got married and went home from the hospital after the wedding that day. What a picture of the global bride of Christ who will be healed and made whole just before the wedding! In a flash, in an instant, like a lightning bolt from heaven, a convergence of the righteous prayers aligning through the generations (as in Hebrews 11:37-40), God’s best will win and He will return for His spotless bride without wrinkle, for the most spectacular Wedding of all eternity! We all are invited!

We possess His divine sonship. Allow Him to change you completely and eternally now.

“Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that He has lavished on us! He has called us and made us His very own beloved children. The reason the world doesn’t recognize who we are is that they didn’t recognize Him. Beloved, we are God’s children right now; however, it is not yet apparent what we will become. But we do know that when it is finally made visible, we will be just like Him, for we will see Him as He truly is.  And all who focus their hope on Him will always be purifying themselves, just as Jesus is pure.” 1 John 3:1-3

We have to cast off doubt, fear, shame, rejection and focus on single-mindedness and childlike faith and obedience. Maturity and discernment along with obedience at every turn enable us to be conformed into His perfect image.  Jesus is the spirit of prophecy and He speaks to the completion of every good work He started in you now. (Rev. 19:10)

Get excited about Jesus! Will you prove to the world that the Father sent Jesus?

“I pray for them all to be joined together as one even as You and I, Father, are joined together as One. I pray for them to become one with us so that the world will recognize that You sent Me.” (John 17:21 , TPT)

We are removed from the law of sin and death.

“Listen to the truth I speak to you: If someone says to this mountain with great faith and having no doubt, ‘Mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the midst of the sea,’ and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done. This is the reason I urge you to boldly believe for whatever you ask for in prayer—believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:23-24 , TPT)

God Gives Us Capacity To Operate At His Level

If there is no joy, there is no faith. You lack nothing and we need to get it deep inside every cell in our being that there is no excuse to not surrender and yield to our Lord and Master.

“For the “law” of the Spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated us from the “law” of sin and death.” (Romans 8: 2, TPT)

Faith is the key to sanctification, holiness, and purity. Our righteousness is as filthy rags, but we step into the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  The picture that, stand up and step forward.

As shepherds, we are always looking for gems. We are miners in the deep looking for treasures that God’s love can turn into their recognition and awareness of their identity in Christ. Let us not overlook the weak and the ‘no names’, but sow into them and speak into them.  Like Apostle Paul ‘wanting to see everyone complete in Christ’. The Lord will sort out who may be the next Smith Wigglesworth, Billy Graham, Aimee Semple McPherson, or Shawn Bolz.

“We have boldness through Him, and free access as kings before the Father because of our complete confidence in Christ’s faith-fulness.” (Ephesians 3:12, TPT)

JOY is the foundation of faith! This is your time to take the land He has already given you.