As I stated in my last blog post, the number 12 symbolizes divine accomplishment and governmental perfection. 

This year is about the government of God arising in us. It is a time when heaven will be revealed on earth in a greater way through the people, the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the heirs of God.

This year is about the government of God arising in us. It is a time when heaven will be revealed on earth in a greater way through the people, the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the heirs of God.

For the last 8 years, we have been walking in a prophetic cycle that has been unfolding before us.  It began in 2003 with the prophetic word spoken by Barbara Yoder.  Those who were in attendance will well remember the response of the people.  They began to run the building, forming battalions across the front of the platform. We were so moved by what God was saying to us, about moving us out of an old, hidden place, we could no longer remain in our seats.  It truly was a God moment and we were responding as best we could in that moment.  We were coming to the understanding that we are a people on the move and God would continue to unfold the fuller meaning as we walked in response.

In 2004, Dutch Sheets spoke to us about being on level 11, a level of darkness and confusion.  But, God was moving us up to level 12, a government level with Godly authority.  He paced across the platform with a golden key in his hand saying, I give you the key, I give you the key, and finally placing it in my hands as the leader for Aglow and speaking Isaiah 22:22 over us.  The Key of the House of David I will lay on his shoulder.  So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut and no one shall open.

Two other words given at that same conference stand out to me.  Graham Cook stated that we were a forerunner ministry.  A forerunner is one who goes before or precedes and leads the way for others to follow.   Aglow has been doing things that could be found to be, a running before, a preceding. There was another word that indicated we were entering a season of acceleration.  We all thought it meant a time of great growth.  While we did have a spurt of growth the following year, as I look back, I see something even greater.  I believe it also meant an acceleration of spiritual understanding that would multiply over us.

One other word I want to underscore is about Aglow becoming a prototype ministry.  Now, that is a word to ponder!  And ponder we have for this 8-year prophetic cycle.  I believe that word is in the process of unfolding before us.

At our last Worldwide Conference in Houston, Texas, Johnny Enlow spoke of 3 seasons or stages he sensed were being walked out.

1.  The Awakening, 2008 – 2011
2. The Arising, 2012 – 2015
3. The Shining, 2015 – 2018

These words are taken from Isaiah 60.

The Awakening

I believe we have been experiencing The Awakening as we have been stirred anew through the teachings of Graham Cooke.  The words of life he has been bringing us are truly words of the Gospel. The truth of the life changing reality of the cross is that we now have a new starting place, which is God’s mindset towards you. It’s about living the ascended lifestyle and receiving the magnificent truth of Christ in me.

I believe there is a new anointing on the New Covenant.  These are truths we have known, yet as we are hearing them anew, there is a quickening spirit attached to them. New life, new insights, and new joy are coming into us as we listen, and ingest them.

The Lord spoke two words to me in early January.  I felt He said, It’s been a time of accumulation and now culmination.

When I speak of accumulation, I see things that have been sown in faithfulness in the spirit realm and being stored as treasures in heaven. They are being accumulated in the spirit realm until the time of culmination.   There are things being accumulated you may not even be aware of.  It could look like nothing much has changed…yet you have kept on.  In the midst of it all, you have come into a new relationship with God. Relationships have changed. Some interesting connections with people have been made, and everything has been in the process of being altered in unseen ways.

When things accumulate in the spirit realm, the bowls of heaven are being filled.  When those bowls are filled, there comes a tipping point, a point when they must begin to overflow.  You can call that culmination, fullness, or a tipping point.  What will flow down is a greater anointing and an ability to do what you have seemingly not been able to do in the past season of accumulation.

2012 is an important year because we have reached a point of culmination. It is a time of fullness and something has shifted.  All of a sudden, things will begin to be open before you that were not open before.  Suddenlies will occur…not of your doing, but because of your faithfulness.

The Lord showed me several significant 12’s.

• This is Aglow’s 12^th year of traveling into Israel to bless the land, to pray for the people, and to stand with the tender shoot of Messianic believers in the land.  We will be sowing financially into the land on a consistent monthly basis this year as never before.
• This is the 12^th year for our Diwanaya Arabic television series.  It is now available around the world.  We have heard of thousands who have come to the Lord through this programming.
• 12 regions in the United States have taken teams into Washington DC for one week every single month to pray.  Significant connections have come out of those trips.
• This is the 12^th year since the 9/11 attack, an attack that changed the world.
• 2012 is Aglow’s 45^th year as a ministry.  The number 45 means “preservation.”  God always keeps His word with man.  He preserves it until the fullness of time.

John 14 states that Caleb was kept alive, preserved 45 years for the fulfillment of the word God had given him.   Moses said to him, Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.  So Caleb inherited Hebron saying, I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.  Now, give me this mountain!

There is a new awakening upon us.  And it has come with a quickening a spirit. New foundations are being laid which will enable us to overcome the roots of our history and continue moving into the fullness and future of God’s plan for Aglow.

The House of Lydia

Chuck Pierce spoke to us that, This is the year that women will build the House of the Lord from nation to nation. Chuck spoke of four houses, one of them being the House of Lydia.  I just returned from Europe, after meeting with all of our European leaders there.  They were so alive with all that had been spoken in Houston.

As I shared about the House of Lydia I said, This is the House of Europe.  Recall that when Paul was told to leave Asia and go to Macedonia….that was a call to Europe.  The first ones he met were a group of women who had been meeting on the river bank, praying.  It was because of Paul and Lydia’s meeting that the purpose for Paul’s visit to Europe began to unfold.  I told the European leaders that this was the year, the time, the hour for them to arise in the leadership and be used to impact Europe in a meaningful way.

Aglow is no longer a hidden women’s group.  We are a movement; we are on the move.

God has given us keys we have forgotten about….but those keys are for this season.

Rise up and build, O Aglow women and men!

Twelve is a significant number.  It is the number of government and it
symbolizes divine accomplishment and governmental perfection.

The year 2012 is about the government of God arising.  If we want to see the government of God arise in the earth, we must first allow it to arise in us, His people, in a greater way.

Because God’s work is always a continuum, the new didn’t begin with the midnight stroke of a clock on December 31^st.  What God has been building in our lives is ongoing and eternal.  It is line upon line, truth upon truth, and experience upon experience. Therefore, we have not started something new in 2012, but we are continuing in the path He has set before us.

We must remember that our starting point is the resurrection.  We rose with Christ to a new life.  Now, THAT was a new beginning!  We begin with who Christ is in us and for us!  We are alive to Him and to all that He wants to do in establishing His government and His righteousness in us.  He is helping us learn to live and abide in our new identity.

This year, as God continues His work in us, let us allow the increase of His government in these areas:

• Receiving and then expressing His goodness daily.  You cannot give away what you have not first experienced for yourself.   So, expect and receive His goodness every day and then show someone else that aspect of His government.
• Living in a limitless way….not measured, showing God’s abundant heart towards all.
• Being more astonished at who God is for us rather than feeling overwhelmed by circumstances.
• Processing everything through God’s majesty.

This is a year to live with excitement and expectation! Expect God’s divine work to manifest through you on a daily basis. His work in us is part of establishing His government in the earth.

Romans 12:2 urges us to, not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Give up old mindsets and let them be replaced with a renewed mind.

The Benaroya Hall, in downtown Seattle, is a 2500 seat performance venue and it was filled to capacity.  As we were seated, my eyes were immediately drawn to the simple but elegant decorations setting the atmosphere for this beautiful event.  There were several Christmas trees with white, sparkling lights, and a huge wreath of greens with their lights.  It was dramatic in its simplicity.  The atmosphere of the season was filling the air.

As the lights went down, the members of the orchestra took their seats.  Then the conductor walked on stage, taking his center stage position.  Every orchestra member’s eye was focused on him in readiness for his first signal.  There was a pause.  He then lifted his baton, and pointed towards the wind instruments.  With the first stroke of the conductor, every wind instrument played a single note simultaneously.  They were obviously tuning their instruments so that the sound they would make for the glorious musical event of the evening would be beautifully coordinated and in tune with each other.

It is a fact!  God uses ordinary people.  Think about Abraham.  He was a man born into a family that served idols.  Neither his background or beliefs made him a likely person for God to choose for the purpose of recovering man from his sinful situation.  At that time, Abraham wasn’t even a believer!  Yet, God’s intention for him was that through him and his descendants, God’s authority and glory would be expressed in the earth.  Amazing!

Our journey is about discovering who we already are in Christ and behaving and thinking accordingly.

The journey we have been on has been referenced in letters to the field, blogs, and through information on our website.  New life has been forming over this ministry. Something of the Spirit has been stirring up our depths with a greater desire to move into a deeper level of relationship with God and to be a greater expression of His life, His goodness and His love in the world.  While on this journey, new dreams have been forming and new life has been taking shape.

Each conference (particularly since 2003) has been filled with profound messages, and prophetic words spoken to Aglow of God’s intent for this ministry.

A prophetic word is God’s way of telling you how He views you.  He speaks into the present, from our future, and calls us into our identity.   Prophetic words connect us with the next stage of our identity.  We become pregnant with promise and promises are designed to possess us for the purpose of God.

Aglow isn’t the same ministry we were in the early days of our inception.  We had an identity then and it served a purpose.  But times have changed and God has been preparing a people for the time in which we live.

Part of the change is the establishing of a new culture…a heaven to earth culture that dominates our thoughts and changes our mindsets from measure to fullness, from limited thinking to limitless possibilities.   He wants us to open up to all that heaven wants us to be.

Our journey is about discovering who we already are in Christ and behaving and thinking accordingly.

Be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.  Eph 4: 23-24

Walking in your true identity is the key to your transformation.  When you realize that Jesus didn’t die for you, but He died as you, then you also realize that you now live from a different starting point.  Your former self has died and you now live from the resurrection side of the cross as a new creation.  You were in Christ when He went to Calvary and you now live from a whole new vantage point because Christ lives in you….as your life! 

Because He lives in you, you have the mind of Christ.  That means we refuse to entertain thoughts that are detrimental to our identity.  God will take the places where we struggle most and turn those places into a place of radiance.  He will transform fear, anger, impatience, insecurities and weakness into limitless possibilities.  You are His sign and wonder in the earth.  You are a witness of the truth and power of the resurrection every day!

You have a new identity!   Go to war with the things that you have allowed to coexist with your faith.  Live in your new identity.  Live in fullness.  Enjoy the limitless possibilities of who you are in Christ.  It is the time of your arising…it is the time of Aglow’s arising!

…the door to the last season has closed. Not IS closing, but has closed.

As I have had time to reflect following the conference, I sensed that the door to the last season has closed.  Not IS closing, but has closed.  There was a sealing of our future, our destined purpose, and our inheritance.

I also sense that there has been a ‘rebuilding of the foundation,’ both personally and corporately. New ways of thinking and seeing are overtaking old ways and old mindsets.  Something new is arising! We heard these words through Graham Cooke:  Aglow has passed her tests.  God trusts you.  He has heard your cries and now the days of laughter have come.

Graham spoke to our leaders from over 100 nations in a 2-day, pre-conference meeting and the primary focus of his messages was: Rising to be the fulfillment of your desire and expectation in your communities and nations!  Do you have dreams about doing something in your community?  The question is, are you prepared to become the answer?  You have a green light!  Partner with God for all the possibilities you see before you.  You are a sign and a wonder waiting to be seen, but you need to stand up to be seen.

Chuck Pierce said, This is one of the most significant meetings we’ve ever had in Aglow. God wrote the Word around a harvest calendar, not a Roman calendar.  We are being recycled back into a harvest anointing that we will see in every nation.  We need to develop a mind for the future, and the future is linked with expectations.

Aglow will be used this year to establish the House of the Lord from nation to nation.  You will be sought after, requested.  Every nation will learn this year how to use the home to establish the ‘House.’  The House of the Lord is forming in a way we have never seen the House before, Chuck declared.

Ray Hughes referred to the time of creation as, the manifestation of God’s desire as the earth was brought into being.  With the sound of the words Let there be came the visible realization of His purpose.  When God later instructed Moses to speak to Pharaoh saying, Let My people go…that they may worship Me, the purpose was so that the children of Israel would get their sound back.   Remember, Miriam worshiped with a new song. It was a shift from the sound of prisoners making bricks to the sound of a people who understood their song was tied to their destiny!

Johnny Enlow encouraged us to, Let God’s light and glory arise upon us and take that light into the spheres of influence in the earth.

Graham, speaking in the closing session, stated that, The real church is rising up!  We are here to be overwhelmed by God and we must live as the beloved of Christ.

Since conference, the words of Isaiah 58:12 have resonated in me: Those from among you, shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell in.  I believe the restoration of our foundation, both personally and corporately, has been taking place. We are now positioned to raise up the foundation of the next generation, and through them, future generations.  We are a Let there be  generation that has the power to shift society, shift the church, and shift the home for the purpose of establishing The House!

This is the time of our arising.  This is the time of purpose.  This is the time when our song has shifted to the sound of victory.  God is putting keys into our hands that we have forgotten about.  They are linked to promises He has spoken over us.  Don’t put what you have heard on a shelf.  Walk in your identity.  Now is the time of our arising!

The book is entitled, The View From Above, Living Life From God’s Perspective. It contains some of the truths that have been so meaningful to me over the course of my journey as I have learned, and am still learning, to live from His perspective.  You will find nuggets of truth that will shift your belief system from an earthly viewpoint to a heavenly perspective.  When you see life from God’s point of view, you will walk in joy, peace, wisdom, and victory for every situation you face.

Every challenge we face contains a core dilemma that brings us to a decision point in our lives, to a critical place where the question that matters most is: What am I going to believe about the situation I am facing?

With a shift in perspective, our beliefs and points of view on every situation would radically change.  We would joyfully see each challenge as an opportunity to enter into a glorious process that will inevitably culminate in a personal upgrade and a way to discover anew God’s heart for us in the given situation.  He longs to share His delight in us.

However, this is not only an individual process, but a corporate process. Times have been changing.  The world is a far different place today than it was a few years ago.  That is true politically, governmentally, economically and culturally.  But a glorious truth is that in the midst of the changes we see, God has been forming a people for the time in which they live. It is a people so overtaken with His Majesty, so overtaken with awe at who He is and who He is for them that they are not overtaken by things taking place around them.  Their hearts are fixed, steadfast and totally focused on God, the only source of true authority in the earth.  For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.  Rom 13:1 Just think, God uses everything to glorify Himself. 

We are here to bring a radiant sense of who He is.  They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.  Ps 34:5 Let your heart become steadfast.  Let your eye become single.  Let your perspective always bring heaven into every situation and conversation.  Be radiant!

The View From Above is being debuted at the Aglow International Worldwide Conference, in Houston Texas, Sept 29-Oct 2, 2011. I hope to see you there.

For those living in the Northern Hemisphere June, July and August is the time of year when we look forward to living a more leisurely lifestyle in one form or another.  The warmth of the summer sun draws us out of our indoor living patterns into the mountains for hikes or camping, the beaches for long walks on the sand or fun in the surf, and a block of time to enjoy the longawaited vacation holiday.  During this allotted time away from our daily responsibilities and usual routine of activity we assume that we will really rest.

Have you ever tried to rest, but find it impossible due to inner turmoil, stress, and feelings of responsibility? Our minds stay engaged, mentally calculating the things that need to be accomplished when we get back from our time of rest?

The truth is that rest isn’t just about finding time for a leisurely, second cup of coffee in the morning,  or deciding to take an afternoon off, or even finding time for your anticipated vacation holiday.

Rest begins in your heart and flows out of your relationship with God.  It comes from a place of complete dependence upon Him and total confidence in who He is for you.  It is that inner life of the Spirit that anchors you in times of busyness, distress or pressure because you not only know who you are, but more importantly, you know who He is in you!  You can actually be at rest in every situation as you walk through your day.

Let me give you an example of someone who lived knowing who He was and who God was for Him:

Jesus had just returned from His encounter with the enemy in the wilderness and was beginning His Galilean ministry. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood to read from the prophet Isaiah.  All eyes were fixed on Him and they marveled at the words which He spoke.   However, when He said to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing, those in the synagogue were filled with wrath; so much so that they, Rose up and thrust Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.

Now, if that happened to any one of us, our first impulse would be to flee as quickly as possible, but not Jesus.  Luke 4 continues, then passing through the midst of them, He went His way, as though He didn’t have a care in the world!  Do you mean He didn’t run?  Do you mean to say that He calmly continued to walk right through the midst of this angry mob who was trying to kill him?  Now THAT is peace, and rest.

Jesus was never moved by external things because He lived by His inner life and the communion He had with His Father.  He knew who God would be for Him in the midst of every trial, every disturbance, every misunderstanding and occurrence of blindness on the part of people.  He was not affected by the emptiness of the people around Him.  He was there to bring light.

For those who could hear and see, His words were transforming.  And for those who rejected Him, He knew they did not have the power to take His life.  There was only one Source of power and He walked in communion with that Source every minute of every day.

Rest does not come from feeling strong and confident in ourselves, but in knowing how powerful the Lord is in our lives.

Rest means to be free from anxiety or disturbance…to remain confident…to live in a state of peace in mind and spirit.  If you have inner agitation, you will have no power to cope with the outer things that come to you.

In returning and rest you shall be saved; quietness and confidence shall be your strength.  Isaiah 30:15

Strength for your walk depends on your relationship and communion with the Lord.  Being inwardly quiet and calm, you are able to approach all outward things in the same way and same spirit.

Be at rest!

Please indulge me and allow me to continue with this line of thought, even beginning this blog with the lyrics from another song of the same era, made popular by the Beatles.  The title is, Can’t Buy Me Love.  The lyrics are simple and straightforward.

I’ll buy you a diamond ring my friend if it makes you feel alright.  I’ll get you anything my friend, if it makes you feel alright….cause I don’t care too much for money; money can’t buy me love.

It’s a silly song, with a catchy beat, but the reality of the message is not sosilly.  The reality is you can’t buy what you need most…..love.

Love is a gift.

You can’t earn love.

You can’t buy love.

It’s simply not for sale.

Love is a treasure.

For all too many, the journey to know real love has been a pathway strewn with hurts and disappointments, leaving wounds in the heart.  Yet, a profound truth is that all the agony, the sadness and the confusion of former days has now become the fertile ground for a greater capacity to love and trust.  You have moved beyond your woundedness to realize that your heart is indeed anchored in God’s love for you, and you can now be less dependent on the praise, the response, or even the blame of others.  You have grown to a place of greater ability to give love without expecting in return, realizing that in the giving of love you also have a return within your own heart.

The more you have opened your wounds up to be healed by His love, the more that the place of woundedness has been turned into a place of love and of understanding for others pain.  You have found the treasure of God’s love in your own process of healing.  The desire you have for God’s unconditional love is the fruit and evidence of having been touched by that love.   If you want to know how love is really supposed to be, you have to go to its source.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  I John 4:11

Give your love as a precious gift, a unique treasure and a healing balm to others.

Love warms the heart.  Love cushions life’s blows.  Love turns troubles into triumphs

Give love freely.

Rejoice in the ties of love He has placed in your life.

Ask God to continue to bring you to maturity and give you the capacity to love as never before.

For God is love! I John 4:8

What the world needs now is love, sweet love…

In the mid 1960’s, there was a pop song that shot to the top of the charts and stayed there for a long time.  Both the melody and the lyrics were simple.

What the world needs now is love sweet love, it’s the only thing there is just too little of…

What the world needs now is love sweet love, no not just for some, but for everyone…

Whether the words of love are sung in the grandeur of the theater or in the simplicity of a pop song, the message is clear…… the heart of the world cries out for love.

The words of scripture also make it clear that the world needs love.  Love is the foundation of God’s plan.  When Adam sinned, the plan remained unchanged at its core.  God made a way to draw mankind back to Himself and it was in the context of love, sacrificial love.   His love is not an earthly kind of love that can wax and wane at the slightest infraction.  It is a love that is non-negotiable.  God is not merely loving… He IS love.

Everywhere Jesus went, He found hearts that were hungering for love.  He reached out to the Samaritan woman letting her know that there was a source of life and love that went beyond what she had been able to gather together for herself in the form of human love.  Mary Magdalene was transformed by His gracious, freeing love and forgiveness.  Impulsive and self seeking Peter found forgiveness and restoration from the very one he had denied, Jesus.

We, too, have come to know this kind of love and restoration.  As followers of Jesus we have been called to share this amazing, transforming love with the world.  He has not asked us to do something for which He has not also provided the power to do it.  Think of the empowering words of Paul in Romans 5:5 and again in Ephesians 5:2:

The love of God HAS BEEN poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Walk in love as Christ also has loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

What does His love look like through us?

• It stands in the face of rejection, wrong attitudes, opinions, and hurtful words.
• It gives back a quiet spirit, a gentle response and a feeling of acceptance.
• It extends a heart of compassion to those lashing out in pain.
• It is a giving of yourself to others without demanding a giving in return.

Are you aware that you communicate even without words?  You either bring an atmosphere of love and acceptance or of fear and withholding.  The more you become anchored in God’s deep love, the more freely you will be able to trust yourself to others and be able to freely give the love He has shed abroad in your heart.

Love covers.  Love embraces.  Love understands.  Love speaks honestly.  Love forgives. Love cares.  Love gives.

Now abides faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
I Cor 13:13

Let love triumph!