Let's Dance! by L K Mercer

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47

      If we had continued in this way, we would have taken the world for God by now! Why did we stop? Where is our unity? What happened to our "awe"? What happened to our "glad and sincere hearts"? We can always point our finger in many directions, but maybe we should check the mirror first? Do I have a "glad and sincere heart"? Do I live with "awe"? Do I give without holding back?
     What do you think? This isn't an impossible dream or goal, it did happen and it's what is our ancestry as Christians, if we still lived this way, people wouldn't use the title "Christian" as a derogatory title! They would want to join us! Let's get back to what we are supposed to do, we were called to worship, prayer and fellowship! If we were truly dancing in God's fields of grace, the world would definitely want to join us! Let's do it! Let's Dance!

The Gentle, the Rude and the Great Awakenings By James W Goll

James W. Goll:

The Gentle, the Rude and the Great Awakenings

In the book The Call of the Elijah Revolution, which I coauthored with Lou Engle, I speak of three stages and types of the overall awakening. We can see these three awakenings – the gentle, the rude and the great – in world events and Church history as well as in the Bible.

Gentle Awakening

If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you will know that the past twenty years or so have been marked with a growing awareness of God's desire for intimacy with His people. God's awakening process has taken the form of outpourings of His Spirit that are designed to help people fall in love with Him. These outpourings have been called "The River," or "The Father's Blessing," or simply "Renewal" – or even "Revival." People across the earth have experienced God's presence first-hand and have grown in their freedom to love and laugh and enjoy the goodness of the Lord.
Within the same time frame, an intercessory prayer movement of unprecedented proportions has risen up, one which shows no signs of waning. It has taken many forms, from multiple prayer-oriented ministries such as 24/7, "harp and bowl," worship and intercession, the Global Day of Prayer, to simple, faithful, individual prayer and fasting to name a few. Our ministry hosts an Internet-based Global Prayer Storm where people around the world enter into "The Hour That Changes the World." Christians, especially those in the Pentecostal / Charismatic / Third-wave segment of the Church, have been awakened by their loving Father and are now devoted to "keeping watch" night and day.
This prophetic restoration has come in on the heels of the restoration of evangelism as an important task of the Church. Each of these – prayer, prophecy, evangelism – are aspects of God's gentle awakening.
Alongside signs of revival in the Church, we have seen many developments among the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. Messianic Jewish congregations are multiplying, even within the nation of Israel, and unprecedented waves of immigration from all over the world have swelled the population of that country.
Historically, the Jewish people have experienced waves of revival in terms of coming to faith in Jesus as the Messiah. The first waves, of course, were captured in the first chapters of the book of Acts. In more recent history, in the 1880s through 1900 (prior to World War I), a new wave hit Europe; some say that as many as 100,000 Jewish people came to faith.
Between 1967 and 1975 (at the same time that Jerusalem was being re-established under Jewish control), the charismatic renewal, which gave rise to many of the developments I mentioned just above, was burgeoning all over the world. This charismatic Jesus revolution scooped up many Jewish people across America. That's when Jews for Jesus and other similar organizations were born, proclaiming, "Yeshua is alive!" The news was met with skepticism for sure, but a number of people, especially young people, became His disciples. Messianic leaders, "fathers," if you will, rose up in fulfillment of Malachi 4:5-6 (NKJV):

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

Not only did the "fathers" rise up, but the "children" took hold of the covenant that God had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as they learned how to honor the patriarchs.
In the early 1980s, the nation of Israel experienced a minor revival – which was major for those days. Perhaps fifty to eighty thousand Jewish people became Believers in Yeshua as the Messiah. Subsequent to that, in the early 1990s, significant parts of the former Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine and Belarus) saw stirrings and awakenings. Thousands of "people from the land of the north" emigrated to Israel. Wave upon wave of Jews have come (to faith, and/or to the Land), and they keep coming. While the exact meaning remains a mystery, Revelation 7:4 gives a specific number, 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel, who will be "sealed." The fruit of that sealing is portrayed in subsequent verses:
"Behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb'" (Revelation 7:9-10).
The plan is underway. Gradually and gently, the Jewish people have begun to wake up. Gentile Believers have been waking up too, becoming aware of their responsibilities toward their Jewish brethren even as they become yoked with God's agenda. They have learned that praying for Israel means tapping into God's purposes for the nations of the earth. World revival is coming and so is the Lord Himself – and all of it is connected to the Jewish people. Each of us has a role to play. We have to wake up to the global realities even as we act locally in obedience to the Holy Spirit.
These developments are part of what I am calling the "gentle awakening" where He woos His people. In His kindness and mercy, God wants to restore people to righteousness and true life. When they don't respond to His repeated, gentle overtures, He – still because of his kindness and mercy – resorts to what I call "a rude awakening."

Rude Awakening

When people turn their faces to the wall and refuse to wake up to the Lord's gentler awakenings, they set themselves up to be shaken awake, rudely. Central to the Lord's awakenings is holiness. The prophet Amos described how He drops His plumb line to see how the obedience of His people measures up.

Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. The Lord said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold I am about to put a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer. The high places of Isaac will be desolated and the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste. Then I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword." Amos 7:7-9

When God's plumb line, which is His absolutely perfect standard of righteousness, exposes how sinful people are, He begins to set off alarms to get their attention. This can entail much shaking and quaking, often quite literally. Natural disasters fall into the category of rude awakenings, as do terrorist attacks and wars.
God wants to wake up as many people as possible in time for the global great awakening that lies in the near future. Time is growing too short for a merciful God to wait for everybody to respond to His gentle awakenings.
Rude awakenings often are not pleasant. In fact, they can feel like one disaster after another. And yet they can be effective. Rude awakenings drive people to their knees in surrender to their sovereign Lord. People repent, which is another way of saying they begin to line up with that divine plumb line.
Where Israel is concerned, the rude awakening can be used to drive people back to their ancestral land. It can give them a new heart a "heart of flesh," to replace the old, stony heart of blind disbelief.
This is truly "life from the dead" for the Jewish people and for the world (see Romans 11:15). It will precede the greatest awakening of all time and the final return of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
The whole world is gripped in a war. Some, speaking prophetically of the days in which we live, term it "World War III." It's a war of terror and jihad in which radical Islam is out to destroy the West, including Israel. Threats are credible. Violent death occurs daily. And yet most Westerners are quite comfortable, relatively unaware of the situation and, for the most part, unaffected by it. They ignore the defiant threats of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the late Osama bin Laden while they concern themselves with personal matters.
This world war touches every continent. It features human rights abuses, genocide, corruption, and overt hatred, which are, more often than not, clothed in religious terminology. It's a spiritual war with physical manifestations. Now hear me out: It's going to get worse. The right response is not fatalism or denial, it's prayer, and lots of it. Pray for protection and relief, and don't forget to focus sharply on the real goal – awakening. Nobody should sleep through such a rude awakening. It's time to wake up! Why? Because God declares it is also going to get better! The dark will get darker and then light will shine and penetrate this temporary present darkness!

Global Great Awakening

On the other side of the gentle and rude awakenings lies the greatest awakening of all time! This awakening will affect all people, because it is the prelude to the climax of the ages, the return of Jesus/Yeshua, Christ and Messiah. No one knows fully what this awakening will look like.
But we do know how to prepare for it. What should our preparations look like? For starters, they should include a response to the voice of God, whether His voice is an inaudible whisper or He is shouting through our pain (to paraphrase C. S. Lewis).
Having gotten their attention, God is calling to action a large number of Believers across the earth. These Christians are radical. They have heard His call to become modern-day Nazirite. They are single-minded and single-hearted, sold out to the task of reclaiming a lost world for the Kingdom of God. Disregarding the high personal price, they have banded together and are willing to live sacrificially and to pray and fast and take a stand for righteousness and revival.
The goal of their prayers is the ultimate awakening of Israel. "All Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove ungodliness from Jacob'" (Romans 11:26). The second part of that passage is quoted from the prophet Isaiah, who wrote, "'A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,' declares the Lord" (Isaiah 59:20).
The prophets pointed to this. Jeremiah wrote (31:34): "...'They will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,' declares the Lord, 'for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.'"
This is a final awakening, a pronouncement of the story to God's chosen people, the Jewish people. The last days are upon us. Whether you're a Gentile or a Jew, wake up. Don't miss the Day of His manifested presence and His soon-coming!
May Jesus be exalted in all things!
James W. Goll
Encounters Network • PrayerStorm • Compassion Acts
Email: info@encountersnetwork.com
Available on Elijah List at https://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=10276

Lesson From My Deck by L K Mercer

This last spring there were some beautiful petunias at the store, some were a vibrant purple and some a delicate shell pink with tinges of a deeper pink. I couldn't choose so I bought both colors and brought them home to plant. I enjoyed them on our deck with the colors a cheerful accent to the green of the trees across the lake. One day I looked out to see the whole plant wilted and no flowers! Checking closer there were about six big, fat, ugly worms eating away! I pulled the worms off and through them over the edge of the deck to their own fate. In one short night they had eaten over fifty percent of the plant and it was pathetic. I have been watering the plant now(for about two months), with little hope of it even surviving. I had started to pull the plants out and put something else in the pot to grow, but the plants still had a little(very little!) life in them and I didn't have the heart to deny them a chance at survival and yet here it is again blooming! It has happened so slowly that I hardly even noticed that it was blooming until there were several beautiful flowers.  There are so many thoughts available in this one example I don't want to even limit the lessons learned from this one example by encompassing it with my thoughts and words. Okay, just one thought, from despair and little hope to blossoms and beauty! Okay, one more, faithfulness (keep watering) and results!

Praising God!

     I used to see God in the glory of the sunrise and sunsets, and in the majesty of the mountains but now, He's everywhere! I watch the little ants running to the "treasure" they've found and then back to their home to stash it away, never even aware of me looming over them! How much they are like people in our world! I've watched them and compared them in my meditations, they are so oblivious to me even being in "their" area, just as many people live their lives oblivious to God's presence and I wondered what God could see in us?
     In church yesterday we were singing praises, I was singing and meditating on the greatness of God, many times in instances like that, God communicates with me. This time He flashed a picture of all of those "ants" stopping in their race to gather goodies and turning in one accord and bowing(as all of the people were doing in praise), He said "See, this is why I love people". When we take time to stop our race, to praise God, to focus on Him, we become irresistible! He loves our praises!

It's a good day!

     It's a good day. Sometimes it's a challenge to see the good in the situation for me, I know some people are always praising God, but even in scripture it says to embrace our trials. So yes, some days are trials! I am one of those people that have a balance that seems easily shaken(I know being easily shaken is not a good way to be, and I long to grow more stable, however this is my current state of being), Lane is pretty well balanced all of the time! How does he do it?! I've wondered why God created hormones, mosquitoes, ticks and mean people! and a few other things, but that's a whole 'nother topic. I never know if I'm off balance because of hormones, sugar intake, lack of sleep, wrong focus, or what, but it does me make thankful for days like today when everything seems lined up well! Thank You Lord!
     We have survived Lane's first week of school and he is already being stretched and me too! I think it's good I'm not in the classes, they encourage you to "not" ask questions and I thrive on asking questions. We are to become like children and do you know of many healthy children that aren't questioning everything? So, I wonder how well I would do in a class where you're supposed to be seen and not heard, that's the setting I grew up in and I'm so thankful that I did learn to be considerate of others, however in a learning environment I would want the freedom to question. The questions aren't the issue stretching Lane, it's more the schedule!

Bear Fruit! Bring Glory to God~ John 15:4-8

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
  “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. John 15:4-8

     I asked my Lord how I can bear fruit, my world is very limited right now? He told me there is a season for all things. He doesn't expect to see fruit in the fall and winter, but when the spring comes followed by summer, there should be fruit aplenty! Sometimes we have to wait and that isn't always easy to do, but if we abide in Him and He abides in us, then we can trust and wait. It will happen in the right time.
     I've recently heard a message from our pastor, that most people that are suffering from depression are "out of God's will". I believe that and have done the same thing myself, but sometimes when you're out of God's will, it's hard to find your way back. Stop, ask, listen and then follow, you may have to ask more than once, but most likely you'll have to learn to listen. He will bring you back and then you will be part of the vine and then in your season, the fruit will be there.

Let's Go! (Sept 4, 2011)

Wow, what a beautiful day! It revives the spirit to have a day this beautiful! Windows open, cool breeze, hummers busy at the feeder, ripples dancing across the lake with the sun casting shining reflections! Geese flying overhead inviting with their honks to join them in their trek south~ my spirit dances within me and says let's go!

Choose life! (Deut 30:19)

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ... Deut 30:19 (this is one of the verses noted to myself in the flyleaf of my bible)

What to write!

I've found that it can be challenging to write when I actually have an audience! I have written a journal for myself for years, that was much easier! Now when I write I wonder what someone will think about the different statements or ideas I post, but if I'm going to keep posting anything I'm going to have to go back to the journal style, as if I'm just writing my thoughts for no special intended audience. I realize that everyone is on a different level of existence and understanding. It would be impossible to write something that appeals to everyone. If you find something here that you enjoy, I'm glad, if not, I regret it, but at least it didn't waste a great deal of your time, most of my posts are fairly short! =}

Warrior's Prayer

     I'm not saying that I walk in victory everyday, but I do find this prayer to help me overcome an unseen force that wants to hold me back either through emotions, thoughts or even physical pain. I've been reading this prayer every morning for a few weeks now and it is making a change in my life.
     Please try reading it daily, even if you can't focus on all of the words, I read it out loud in the room because there is an unseen enemy that needs to hear it as well as declaring it for yourself and to God. Lane ordered this somewhere online for me, so I'm not claiming credit for it, but now him and I both are reading it every morning.
     Recently I was going through a real battle with depression and tears(I didn't even know what I was depressed about or why the tears were rolling out of my eyes), but the first thought I had in the morning was a negative thought, something to the effect of "another long, empty, pointless day"....see how that is from the enemy? That thought held me in bed, until this prayer came back to mind!
     After reading it for a couple of weeks now, I could kind of hit some of the high points, and was able to repeat parts of it, touching on each part of the armor. Now my goal is to keep the idea of it with me throughout the day. Every time a negative thought hits me, I'm pulling out a part of the Warrior's prayer that applies (this will be a challenge, I'm assailed with negative thoughts).
     If this is an issue for you as well, please, just for an experiment, try reading this prayer out loud every morning for a few weeks, but when the battle against you intensifies, don't stop, that's when you need to repeat it again. This morning I awoke, had a few negative fleeting thoughts, repeated it to myself as best as I could while still laying on the bed and shortly found myself telling my Lord, Thank You for this day that You've made, this day that You've given me to live in Your glory! What a difference from laying there thinking "why get up?"!
(it might be good to print or copy it off and keep it where you will see it each morning? I keep my copy with my bible that I read each morning)

Warrior's Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Your warrior prepares for battle.

Today I claim victory over Satan by putting on

the whole armor of God!

I put on the Girdle of Truth!

May I stand firm in the truth of Your Word

so I will not be a victim of Satan's lies.

I put on the Breastplate of Righteousness!

May it guard my heart from evil

so I will remain pure and holy,

protected under the blood of Jesus Christ.

I put on the Shoes of Peace!

May I stand firm in the Good News of the Gospel

so Your peace will shine through me

and be a light to all I encounter.

I take the Shield of Faith!

May I be ready for Satan"s fiery darts of

doubt, denial and deceit

so I will not be vulnerable to spiritual defeat.

I put on the Helmet of Salvation!

May I keep my mind focused on You

so Satan will not have a stronghold on my thoughts.

I take the Sword of the Spirit!

May the two-edged sword of Your Word

be ready in my hands

so I can expose the tempting words of Satan.

By faith your warrior has put on

the whole armor of God!

I am prepared to live this day

in spiritual victory!

Amen