2 Chairs + 1 Journal = Peace

I like to pull out a kitchen chair across the table from me and invite Jesus to sit and fellowship with me. I’ve found that personal invitation to Him enriches and strengthens my life, and enhances the closeness I feel with my Lord and Savior. I ask the Holy Spirit to lead me in worship and prayer and conversation with Jesus.

After I pray in the Spirit and read /study the Word, I tell Him what’s on my mind: whether it’s for a solution I need, or sharing feelings of sadness or anger, and I’m brutally honest with myself and with God. For most of my life, I have prayed, “God, always give me a love for the truth, no matter what it is, no matter if it hits me and I need to change my thinking or behavior. I want to live a life based on honesty with You, myself, and others.” He knows my thoughts and feelings anyway, and it keeps me emotionally and mentally healthy as I unload my burdens on Him.

I ask Him, “Jesus, is there anything You want to say to me?” And then I write in my journal our conversation. I hear Him as I am quiet and His thoughts come to me.

The words I wrote down this morning could just as well apply to the Church of Jesus Christ.

Jesus to me: “You honor Me by walking in integrity of heart. I appreciate your love for the truth; you will be kept from deception.

I have heard, and am answering, your prayers for your family. You have decreed Divine Order, and so it shall be established. I will make the crooked places straight, and the rough places a plain. I will strengthen you and uphold you; I will put My words in your mouth, and no one can stand against them. Every high thing shall come down; every stronghold shall be broken in answer to your prayers, and for the sake of My covenant with you.

Righteousness shall be exalted in this land once again. My truth shall occupy the public square, and many shall be turned from giving ear to the devil’s lies, and shall embrace the Truth. Many shall turn to Me and be saved! I rejoice to see the fruit of My suffering! You make my heart glad, and I rejoice because of your holy warrior spirit given by Me, and accepted by you! I will do great things through you—things you do not even know yet. But I keep My word; you will not be disappointed, because you hope in Me!

Do not be distraught over negative things you see and hear, for I am at work in America, in My Church, and in your family. Be at peace, My Sister; I fight for you. The battle is Mine. Wear the shoes of peace I have given you, and stand your ground. Do not be moved off My word, off My promises, for they shall surely come to pass.”

Me: “Thank You, Jesus, for speaking to me, for encouraging me. I put on the shoes of peace, and walk in love and victory, holding high the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God! I am more than a conqueror, because You have already won the battle against the enemy. I stand firmly in Your victory! You are my King forever! You are to be obeyed! Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall declare that you alone are Lord!”

Copyright © 2016 Elaine Beachy

Your Vote Matters to God

What a tumultuous political year this has been! I have been in much prayer and fasting for our nation over the past year. I have read and watched several reliable, proven prophets of God all say that God has raised up a Cyrus to save America from destruction. I have watched these words come to pass as one outsider candidate, Donald J. Trump, stunned the political operatives and pundits with unexpected victory after victory. While certainly far from perfect, (and not my choice from the primaries), he nevertheless fits with startling accuracy the Scripture from Isaiah 45. He would be our 45th president, and on his first full day in the Oval Office, he will be 70 years, 7 months, and 7 days old. (I also find it interesting that the Israeli calendar year is 5777.) I have watched him make mistakes in word and deed that would normally bring down any candidate. Yet, miraculously, he has survived. I see it as none other than the hand of God.

Evangelicals turned against him because he wasn't "holy." Pundits ridiculed him. The media marginalized him. But God sustained him. And God is changing hearts and minds to now support him.

I was greatly blessed by our pastor's (Gavin Lubbe of Living Faith Church) sermon Sunday morning. Here are some of my notes and thoughts:

• Forget opinion! As a Christian, you are to be defined as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God. An ambassador of a country is to speak on behalf of his ruler--not spout his own opinion.
• As a Christian, you are a person of influence for God in the earth. You are to speak for the King, our Creator.
• How can you be a person of influence if you don't vote in Tuesdays' presidential election? Or how can you be a person of influence if you vote for a peripheral "candidate" who's barely even in the running, and has no chance on earth of being elected? You waste your influence, and it's bad stewardship. And how can you be an influence for God's Kingdom if you cast your vote for a platform of beliefs that are anti-God? You can't.
• Voting is serious business, and a Christian's vote needs to be informed by Kingdom principles. We must know God's Word, and know that He wants righteousness to exalt a nation!
• If you ask the wrong question, you end up with the wrong answer. The question should not be, "Who should I vote for?" The question must be, "What should I vote for?" We are not to vote personalities. We are to vote the party platform that the candidates represent, for they are representatives of that ideology.
• The Democrat party fought to take any reference to God out of their platform. That same party says it's just fine to kill a helpless, innocent baby in the womb up to the very moment of birth.
•  They also fight to change God's definition of marriage, from between one man and one woman to a definition that sanctions same sex people as legitimate "marriage" couples.
• God creates and values life. (Proverbs 24:11-12; Proverbs 6:16-19. God hates hands that shed innocent blood. In Matthew18:1-2, Jesus called forward a little child. "See that you do not despise one of these little ones." A child is helpless and innocent.
• God defines marriage as between one man and one woman. "A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." (Matthew 19:5; Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:31; Mark 10:7)
• God warns against rejecting Him. Romans 1:28 says, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting."

There is a party platform that lines up with God's Word: the Republican platform. And the man running for president embraces that platform, and Donald J. Trump has my vote. Because of God's help and the support of godly people (and many not so godly!) he will make America great again!

You may say, "Well, I don't agree with the Democrat platform, but I'll just vote for their candidate. No. Your vote follows you -- it represents who you are. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Note: Pastor Gavin mentioned no names or parties. Those are mine.

Copyright © 2016 Elaine Beachy

 

The Shift Conference, Part 3

The sounds of the Fred Cleveland band Friday evening accompanied the songs of praise to Jesus as the crowd at the altar danced and leaped for joy at His presence. After the last words trailed off, instrumental worship continued to rise. What followed was what I can only explain as “instrumental tongues” as beautiful sounds rose in crescendo of sustained praise. It was like everyone’s spirit, soul, and body stood at attention to give a focused standing ovation to Jesus, our Commander in Chief! I could imagine Him standing down center as we crowned Him our Lord and King! It was wonderful.

I had an aisle seat, and as the crowd moved to return to their seats, I turned around to greet someone behind me, and was joyfully surprised to see Lance Wallnau, the speaker for the evening, standing right in front of me at just that moment! He shook hands with Dave and then with me, as I exclaimed how honored I was to meet him in person!

Lance Wallnau is a catalytic thought leader. An internationally recognized speaker and business consultant, he is one of the premiere speakers about cultural transformation and the seven mountains. Find him online at lancewallnau.com. (Source: Charisma News Online) I would also add that I consider him a gifted prophet and teacher. God also told him to write a book, God’s Chaos Candidate, and it made the Amazon best-seller list in three weeks!

 A few minutes later he delivered a powerful message based on Hebrews 12:26, “whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.’” (NKJ) He spoke on the power of our words, including self-talk, the power of focus (on the word of God) and the body (acting in line with our words and focus). The most powerful moment of the evening was when he talked about the movie, The Gladiator, and talked about the power of standing in unity with shields locked together as one (our shield of faith). When believers come into unity, all things are possible, even with a remnant of us. We can shift the atmosphere in our thinking and our homes, and in our nation.

As a prophetic act of faith that we stand in agreement with God for righteousness to be established in us and over our country, Lance had us stand with right arm raised, and on the count of 3, bring down our arms with full force, and shout, “As One!” in full agreement with one another. Lance declared that things of the enemy were going to break off God's people -- sickness, depression, anxiety, spirits of suicide, etc. I’m telling you, that was such a powerful moment! The atmosphere was charged with joy as shouts of praise and victory, accompanied by applause, erupted to God! After we did the prophetic act over ourselves, we repeated it for our nation, and the same response occurred. I know something shifted in the atmosphere over D.C. and our nation! And in myself, too.

Lance then asked the crowd how many want to enlist in God’s army. As nearly as I could see, every hand was raised high in the air. Lance was amazed. He spoke to us about how we are to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3), and that God will train us to submit to the process. “You’re willing to pay the price if you see the picture of what you’re getting,” Lance said. He reminded us of the Scripture in Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame. . .” He said how he had a new revelation of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when He came three times to His disciples and found them sleeping. Lance said, “I used to think He came to see if they were awake and praying with Him; but now he believes Jesus came to them to remind himself why He was doing this. “For the joy set before Him. . .” Wow. Powerful.

I am rejuvenated by the wind of the Holy Spirit from attending just one day of The Shift conference in D.C.! Thank you, Georgian and Winnie Banov of Global Celebration, for putting this weekend together. Thank you, Lance Wallnau. And Thank you, Father, for godly men and women who have paid the price of discipline through obedience to be leaders in the body of Christ. We ordered the entire set of conference DVD’s because we couldn’t go on Saturday when Lance and Cindy Jacobs ministered.

This song is kind of a capstone of my and Dave’s experience on Friday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfndppG5NZE

Copyright © 2016 Elaine Beachy