God's Presence

Acts 2: 1-5 is very familiar portion of scripture: "When the day of Pentecost had fully come they were with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind and filled the whole house where they were sitting." As I read that I became very excited. I thought maybe we stand up too much in church. When the Holy Spirit rushed in they were sitting. God wanted to do something so badly that the people were sitting, waiting, when a sudden a wind came through the house. A strong wind blew through and the whole house was filled. What appeared to be tongues of fire appeared above their heads as they were sitting in God’s Presence and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as God gave them utterance.

Simply put, God visited them while they waited. Pentecost is when God, by His Spirit, came down. The annual Jewish festival known as the Feast of Harvests or the day of First Fruits is a celebration of the first buds of the harvest. Jewish men were required by law to go to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate the major feasts: Passover in the spring, Pentecost which was seven weeks and a day later, exactly fifty days after Passover, and The Feast of Tabernacles at the end of the harvest in the fall. To research this further read Leviticus 23.

Those who became Christians on Pentecost actually were first fruits of a vast harvest of millions of souls. In Acts 2 God came upon the scene in a mighty, rushing wind that appeared to have tongues of fire within the Presence and there was such a dramatic, exponential harvest that three thousand people were saved in one day. Three thousand men and women were baptized that day and there was such a move of God that society was affected and culture was transformed by the radical download of the Holy Spirit of the Living God. In the book of Acts we see that once the Presence of God was manifested the early church of Jesus Christ immediately started to impact their sphere of influence.

As we read the book of Acts in its entirety we realize the impact and power of the Presence of God. Exponential fruit and supernatural happenings transpire when God’s Presence becomes the focal point of a church, people group, or a society. Dramatic results take place when we wait on God and trust that He is going to reveal another aspect of His character and sovereignty. I find that the body of Christ needs to shift our thinking in the way that we perceive the relevance of the church and what our role is in the world system and culture. The Western church in particular has to shift.

At Word Alive International Outreach God has called us to a season of hosting His Presence. In the western church culture we have become acclimated to gathering around a church service that includes announcements, praise, worship and a sermon. Our Sunday morning experience is sermon driven as opposed to Presence purposed. We gather around a message and expect that whoever is communicating that day is going to have a message. I am all for teaching the Word of God, gaining knowledge of scripture so we can build our lives on proper doctrine, but I also believe that if we are not careful we can become so focused on a sermon that we really miss out on what our gathering is supposed to accomplish.

The early church did not gather around sermons. Israel camped and gathered around the Presence of God. We need to change our understanding of attending church and consider gathering with the intention and expectation that as we gather God’s Presence will be with us. My understanding of the revelation that we read in the Bible is that there were no planned teachings before the Presence but rather the revelation came from the manifested Presence.

When Peter preached on Pentecost, he did not preach a message to get the Holy Spirit to come, the Holy Spirit came and a message came out of that and three-thousand were saved in one day. As we gather around and focus solely on the Presence of God we are expecting God’s rhema word to become the message we are hearing.

My prayer for this season is that as we begin to worship God His Presence will descend and we will hear from Him. We may stop and share the Word or we may just continue to worship. In the book of Acts His Presence was there to save, heal and deliver people

Word Alive International Outreach was founded on this philosophy. Our first service was my father’s funeral and the prophetic word for his life was that he would do more damage to the enemies’ camp in death than he did in life. We had bought, and he mortgaged the property our church is built on, and we were given the keys to the building two days before he died. His funeral service is how people found out about the church. We then preached a week of meetings people were saved, healed, delivered, we had our first food distribution and that Sunday we started the church. I believed that if I delivered a good word people would be blessed, tell their family and friends and the church would grow. I had a great word prepared but the more I preached the drier the message became and the more I struggled. Finally I closed my Bible, told the people that I had no idea what I was doing, and that without God’s Presence I was sunk. When I said that, the Presence of God became so rich and thick that we all began to weep and spontaneously worship. That is how the church started.

Throughout the years we have enjoyed many seasons of just being in His Presence. There are always going to be seasons to teach, educate, encourage, and inspire, but never to the point that we do not need and practice the Presence of God. I need Him and cannot accomplish anything without Him. However, changing the way we perceive church takes a shift in thinking. Our mentality and expectation should be that God will meet us when we gather in His Name.

Our dear friend Bobby Connors has reminded God’s people that as a whole we have become far too comfortable with a God Whom we barely know. In many churches around the world when God’s Presence does appear people really do not know understand or know how to respond, what to expect or how to we move forward. We have become so culturally conditioned to hear some music, listen to a message, pray a prayer and go home. The Lord has directed us to gather around His Presence, invite Him and come expecting Him to be with us. That means come to church no matter who is preaching. It is a shift in our thinking. As we are gathering around the Presence of God we must be in place ready to fully participate.

We are in a season that we need to gather around God’s Presence. We do not want to become trapped in a routine of going to church, singing a few songs, listening to a sermon, and then going home in the same spiritually bereft way that we came. Gathering around a message, personality, or an office of the church, whether it be a pastor or evangelists is not what God has called us to do. Worshipping our God is the highest call we can answer so we have started gathering around the Presence of God. I appreciate living a purpose driven life but I love living a Presence driven life. His Presence changes everything.

The church is changing. I received a prophecy last week that there will be a flood in Rome, Italy that will be a prophetic sign of God cleansing the church. The rest of the prophecy was that just as Greece has been shaken so would Vatican City be shaken free from the constraints of intellectual reasoning and the church would be cleansed of the legalistic pattern that we have been in held in religious bondage to. We must begin to understand and embrace the difference between living in the power of God and an intellectual knowledge of Him. God’s Presence is the difference between Spirit led lives as opposed to a religiously dictated existence. As the body of Christ purposes to gather in His Name His Presence will descend and we will hear from Him.

Knowing the Word

By Kent Mattox

It is interesting to discover what people really think about, and think they know, about the Bible. In courtrooms, and to make a point, we swear on the Bible. We own Bibles and many of us invest a great deal of time sending Bibles to nations that do not have easy access to them. The Gideons consider it part of their mission to put Bibles in hotels where the weary traveler can find solace within its pages. In millions of American homes the Bible has a highly visible, prominent place on our coffee tables.  The Bible is available to us but how much do we really know about what is written on its pages?

The real question is do we know the Word?  A shocking statistic is that less than 10% of Americans who profess to be Christians have actually read the Bible. There is no judgment or condemnation in the statistic, just fact. Many of us may have read parts of the Bible, but less than 10 % have read it cover to cover. That is staggering in its implications because that means believers are still not learning the truth of God’s Word for themselves.  We are still counting on someone else to tell us the truth about God’s character and plans for our lives. We don’t actually know the truth for ourselves; we know what someone has told us about the truth.  It only takes ninety hours to read the Bible from cover to cover. So be encouraged, take the challenge.  Read the Bible for yourself and get to know God’s plan for your life.

If you want to get it done in ninety days, read an hour a day; thirty minutes a day will get the job done in six months. In fifteen minutes a day you can read the whole Bible read in a year. It should be our goal to read the whole Bible every year. Every time we read the Word through God begins to reveal the truth to us like never before. If that statistic is even close to true we don’t really understand the Word of God and know the truth because we really believe what someone else has told us from their revelation.  We have not experienced the truth of God’s Word personally.

In John 8: 31-36 we find a very interesting portion of scripture that has been quoted and talked about a lot in church, history and culture. This is what scripture tells us, “Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, if you abide in My Word, you are my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him; we are Abraham’s descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say you will be made free?  Jesus answered them and said, ‘most assuredly I say unto you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but the Son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’”

There are a couple of words, if you are really paying attention to this portion of the Word that should really jump off of the page. First, it is the truth that we know that sets us free.  Too often this truth is misquoted as it is truth only that frees us. That is simply not true. It is the truth we know that sets us free. To know something is powerful within that knowledge. To know is a spiritual word, and is the Greek word gnosis. It means to know intimately. It means to perceive or to recognize at a place of inception or attainment of the truth. It is the same word that is used in Genesis 4:1 at the point of conception. Adam knew [yada] his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain... Cain knew [yada] his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch... Adam knew [yada] his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth... (Genesis 4:1, 17, 25). In the Hebrew language yada means to know. It is a word that means intimate contact. 

It means face to face, and mouth to mouth. It is the intimacy of knowing the truth in such a way that you know it for yourself. It is not somebody else’s truth. You know the truth because you have had a personal encounter with the Truth.  The real question may be what is the truth?  We are asking if to know the truth is to have an intimate encounter with it, then what is the truth? This may be a zinger for some of you, but the Bible on its own is not the truth. It is not the truth, it the truth of God’s character, written in a book for us to learn about Him. The book is not the truth, it is a book, it is a Bible and can be described as a book with instructions for us to live by; the Bible: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. There are words on pages that teach us about Him.

Where we seemingly get off track, and miss the point, is that we do not understand that God is not interested in us memorizing 66 books of the Bible. In actuality, even if you re-read the book you can know the book and still not know the truth. In John 8:31-36 Jesus is talking to the religious Pharisaical men of the day and He is saying if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. They respond by saying we have never been enslaved to anybody. We are sons of Abraham. We know the Torah, we have memorized it every day. Jesus said, “If you really knew the Truth, you would know me. The One you are saying you know is the One who sent Me. I am the actually the One that you think you know, that you really do not know because I am right here.”

In John 5:39 Jesus said, “You search the scriptures because you think they will give you eternal life, but the scriptures point to Me.” The whole purpose of the Bible is to reveal the Truth, and the Truth is not a language, the Truth is not a doctrine, the Truth is not a religion, the Truth is a Person and His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. When you know the Truth, Jesus Christ, who God sent will make you free.  God uses the Bible to teach us Who He is. I believe the Bible from cover to cover. I believe the Book, but I do not worship the Book because the Book is just a Book. The Bible is here for one reason and that is to reveal the Truth of who Jesus Christ is to us. Jesus comes off the pages of this Book and introduces Himself to you and becomes reality, not religion.

Getting to know the truth through an intimate relationship with Christ is a life-giving experience.  But most of us know the truth a different way. The Bible is not the truth, God is the Truth. Reading the Bible is the best way to know the Truth, and the Truth is Jesus.  When truth gets transferred from person to person, and we believe what somebody else has told us instead of experiencing the truth as a personal reality it is still truth but it loses the message God is communicating to us. That is why there are so many people that could go to church for years and still not believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit gifts are available to them. In their quest somebody told somebody who told somebody else that the gifts are no longer available, they were only for biblical times, centuries ago. The good news for us is that when we know the Bible, we know the Truth and the truth is we still live in biblical times and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for all of those who know the truth.

It is important to read the Bible for ourselves, not to learn doctrine, even though that is okay. We study the Word so that Jesus can reveal Himself to us and we can continue to have personal encounters with Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. So that now that you know that you know that you know, that you know the truth. John 17:3 tells us, “This is eternal life, that you might know God, and know Jesus, Who God has sent.” Eternal life is not knowing the truth about Heaven. Eternal life is knowing the Truth of Who Jesus is, and why He was sent to earth and mankind, by God. Luke 24 is a very practical application of the difference knowing the Word can make when we really want to know more about Jesus. Two travelers are on the road walking from Jerusalem on the Road of Emmaus. These two travelers had been to Jerusalem, Jesus has been crucified and buried in a tomb and they are confused. They have co-labored with the other disciples with the understanding that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that He had come to save Israel, deliver them from the oppression of Roman tyranny and bring great restoration to their nation.

They had been in Jerusalem during the drama of the last several days as Jesus was crucified, put in a tomb, and they think wait a minute, how did this all transpire and what is the purpose of this? We thought it was supposed to take place this way, yet it did not happen the way we thought, and had been told it would happen. They were discouraged, despondent and confused and they were trying to figure it all out.  In Luke 24, Jesus, who was supposedly in a tomb, shows up on the road to Emmaus. Jesus, Who is supposed to been dead, and laid out in a tomb is somehow alive and He is walking with these two travelers on the road to Emmaus.

Not surprisingly they did not perceive Who He was.  That is why the Word of God is so important. We can have spiritual experiences but until you get into the Bible you will not understand Who Jesus really is. As He walked along the road with them He did not try to convince them of who He was. Luke 24 describes the scenario, “He said to them, ‘O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and entered His glory?” In other words, He is talking to them and saying you read the prophets, don’t you understand the truth? Don’t you realize it was prophesied about Me, that I would suffer and that I would enter into glory. Beginning with Moses and discussing all of the prophets, He recounted all of the scriptures and the things concerning Himself throughout the Word.

As He shared the Word something powerful begin to transpire. They drew nigh to the village where they were going and He indicated that He would have gone further, but they constrained Him saying abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass that as He sat at the table with them He took bread blessed it broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were open and they knew Him. That is that same word gnosis, to know Him intimately. From that we see that after He had taken the Word of God and broken open and fed them the Word of God, their spiritual eyes were opened and they knew the truth and the Truth they knew was Jesus.

No one had to prove to them that Jesus was resurrected. Jesus proved it to them Himself by demonstrating that the prophecies that were written had been fulfilled. They did not hear that He was resurrected from the disciples. Their eyes were opened and they knew that Jesus was the Resurrected Christ, the Son of the Living God. Their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our hearts burn within us did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road?” He opened the scriptures to us.  The Holy Spirit wants us, as followers of Christ, to have a spiritual experience with the Bible so that when we read it our hearts burn within us.

When I started reading the Word I had a powerful encounter with the Lord and you did not have to tell me to read the Bible. I craved it because I wanted to know Him. Some days I understood what I was reading and some days I didn’t. However, I kept reading until the words on the page began to give me life. The Word came alive to me.  When we read the scripture with understanding the Word comes alive so now when we read the Bible it is not some boring theological discourse but a life giving message and love letter from God.   

The Spirit of God begins to move when we read the Bible and He begins to take the words, letters and the chapters of this Bible and causes them to come to life in our lives. Then, it is not just a book filled with doctrine and theology that we are trying to prove. We do not have to prove that Adam and Eve existed, lived in the garden and made a bad choice that had resultant consequences. We know for a fact, that to this day, people make bad choices and suffer the consequences of those choices.

That is the truth. I don’t have to believe that Abraham actually existed. I do not have to prove that, it does not matter to me whether it happened or not. God speaks to us to take steps of faith and move out and trust Him in areas just like our example Abraham did. You cannot read Psalms and not know they are true because we have all had sleepless nights, walked dark paths,  had sorrow and hopeless times that we did not think we were going to get through. The book of Psalms comes to life because we have experienced the same life situations.

If you will read this Book you will experience Jesus Christ, the Truth and you will begin to know Him. If you already know Him, you will know Him better. He is like a diamond; every time you turn Him He has another facet to show you.

That is why the angels cry Holy, Holy, Holy! They cry Holy twenty-four hours a day because as soon as they say Holy, God has done something else to reveal His personality. They cry holy, and then they see something else. By the time they cry out Holy God has revealed another aspect of His nature and character. In Genesis, He is the seed of the woman, in Exodus, He is the Passover lamb,  in Leviticus He is the great high priest, in Numbers, He is the cloud by day and he fire by night, in Deuteronomy He is the prophet like Moses, in Joshua, He is the Captain of the host of my salvation, in Judges, He is the judge and the law giver, in Ruth, He is my kinsman redeemer, in first and second Samuel He is the prophet in first and second Kings, He is the reigning King, in Chronicles, He is the Messiah from the tribe of Judah, in Ezra, He is the faithful scribe, in Nehemiah, He is the rebuilder of the walls of broken lives, in Esther, He is our Mediator  that stands in intercession, in Job, He is the Dayspring from on high, in Psalms, He is the Lord who is my shepherd, in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes He is the wisdom of God, in Song of Solomon, He is my lover and my bridegroom, in Isaiah He is the Suffering Servant, my Messiah, in Jeremiah and Lamentations He is a weeping prophet, in Ezekiel He is a four-faced creature and in Daniel He is the fourth man in the fiery furnace. In Hosea He is the bridegroom, in Joel, He is the baptizer with the Holy Ghost and fire, in Amos, He is the burden bearer, in Obadiah, He is a mighty savior, in Jonah He is a forgiving God, in Micah He is a messenger with beautiful feet, in Nahum He is the avenger of God’s elect, in Habakkuk, He is the Great Evangelist crying for revival, in Zephaniah He is the Restorer of the Breach. In Haggai, He is the cleansing fountain, n Zachariah, the piercer, in Malachi, the Son of righteousness that arises with healing in His wings. In Matthew, He is the Messiah, in Mark the miracle worker, in Luke He is the Son of man, in John, the Son of God, in Acts, the Ascended Lord, in Romans, the Justifier, in Corinthians, the last Adam, in Galatians, the One who sets me free. In Ephesians, He is the Christ of unsearchable riches, in Philippians, the God who meets all my need. In Colossians, He is the fullness of the Godhead, in Thessalonians the soon coming King, in Timothy, the Mediator between God and man, in Titus, my blessed hope, ­­­­­­­a friend that sticks closer than a brother. In Hebrews He is the Blood that washes away all my sin, in James He is my great physician, in Peter He is my chief shepherd, in John, He is my everlasting love, in Jude, He is the God my Savior, in revelation, He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!  The Word reveals Jesus as the Son of God on every page but that is only part of Who He is and what He came to do in the earth.

When you read it next year you will have yet another revelation of Who He is. The Bible is designed to reveal the Son of God to us so the Truth of Who He is will become life to us.

There is no way you can be deceived once you know the truth, because the truth will actually come and live on the inside of you.  We have been taught that we need to obtain the truth, no, you already have the truth. All the Word does is bear witness with the truth that is already in us. In 1 John 2: 27 the Word reminds us that the anointing that abides within us teach us all things. You do not need a man to teach you because when you seek Him through the Word the Spirit of Truth, Who lives on the inside of you, will reveal Himself to you.  

We have to take a step of faith and begin to read the Word for ourselves. If you know Him today, you will know Him even more tomorrow. And if you do not know Him you will know Him like you have never known possible. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Word describes Him to us from Genesis to Revelations and when you are Presence driven to know more about Him and His kingdom there are answers to all of our questions. This is how the Word describes Him: He is my king. He is a seven way king. He is the king of the Jews, that’s a racial king. He is the king of Israel, that’s a national king. He is the King of righteousness, He is the king of the ages, He is the king of heaven, He is the king of glory, He is the king of kings and the lord of lords, that’s my king, David says the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handy work. My king is a sovereign king. No means of measure can divine His limitless love, no far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of his shore less supply. No barrier can hinder Him from pouring out his blessing. He is enduringly strong, He is entirely sincere, He is eternally steadfast, He is immortally graceful, He is empirically powerful, He is impartially merciful, do you know Him today? He is the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He is God’s Son, He is a sinner’s savior. He is a centerpiece of civilization. He stands in the solitude of Himself, He is august, He is unique, He is unparalleled, He is unprecedented, He is the loftiest idea of literature, He is the personality idea in Philosophy,  He is a supreme problem in higher criticism,  He is the fundamental doctrine of true theology, He is the cardinal necessity for spiritual religion, He is the miracle of the age,  He is the superlative of everything good you choose to call Him, He is the only one qualified to be an all sufficient savior. He supplies strength for the weak, He is available for the tempted and the tried, He sympathizes and He saves, He strengthens and He guards and He guides, He heals the sick, He cleanses the lepers, forgives sinners, He discharges debtors, He delivers captives, He defends the feeble, He blesses the young, He serves the unfortunate, He regards the aged, He rewards the diligent, He beautifies the meek. My king is king in the key of knowledge, He is the wellspring to wisdom, He is the way of deliverance, the pathway to peace, the roadway of righteousness, the highway of holiness, the gateway of glory.  His office is manifold, His promise is sure, His light is matchless, His goodness is limitless, His mercy is everlasting, His love never changes, His word is enough, His grace is sufficient, His reign is righteous, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I wish I could describe Him to you, but He is indescribable. He is in comprehensible, He is inconceivable, He is irresistible, can’t get Him out of you mind, you can’t get Him off your hand, you can’t live without Him and you can’t live with Him, the Pharisees couldn’t stand Him but they found out they couldn’t stop Him, Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him, witnesses couldn’t get their testimonies to agree, Herod couldn’t kill Him, Death couldn’t handle Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him, THAT’S MY KING!

Embrace the Apostolic Call

Mark 13: 7-8 is happening even as this article is being written, "But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows." This is not the end but Matthew 25:13 tells us to pay attention to what is happening around us, "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."

The news is filled with wars, natural disaster, and yet another high school shooting that involved loss of lives. There is turmoil all around us but let me remind you this is not the end, this is the beginning. This is the greatest time in the history of man to be alive in the Kingdom of God. During the month of February my wife and I found ourselves in the position of being stranded during the recent tornados and then a snow storm. In my experience I have found that sometimes the Lord has to shut us down to speak to us.

During our time of waiting for the weather to clear there was a major shift in the spirit realm. The Lord visited Bev and me as profoundly as He did when He called me to preach over twenty four years ago. In this visitation the Lord reminded me of the dream that He had given me that Word Alive is an air craft carrier that carries five thousand men and women. That prophetic word has been spoken over our church by prophets and we have been reminded over the years as to what the job of an air craft carrier is. An air craft carrier does just that, it carries men and women where the need is. The apostolic anointing that God has imparted to this house is for sending teams of men and women around the world. As He reminded me of the dream He began to speak a revelation about the authority of the Kingdom. It is the time and season, for us as the body of Christ and as a church, to begin to move and live in the authority that establishes the presence of the Kingdom of God on earth. We need to begin to walk in bold authority that speaks to tornadoes, earthquakes and all manner of natural disasters, take authority over them and see them dissipate.

Bev and I started building the church twelve years ago as an apostolic training center to equip believers and send them around the world to do the works of the Kingdom of God. In this visitation the Lord reminded me of this vision. In the first dream I was wearing an officer’s uniform I was trying to find socks to match because I was being commissioned. We as a church were trying to find socks and the only color I could find were khaki colored. It was one of those dreams in which you are frantically trying to find something very specific but cannot locate it.

We were being commissioned to take the ship and I believed the socks spoke of wrestling with immaturity and fleshly issues while we were maturing, being prepared and readied. That has been and is a part of the process but when the Lord began to speak in this recent visitation He said that the khaki socks actually represent authority, not fleshly issues. We are moving into maturity and as a church we are to no longer to call ourselves a child. We are to have authority and dominion over strategy and plan of the enemy and to begin to speak to and curse sickness and diseases such as cancer and aids. That is the anointing that God is calling us to walk in.

In Genesis 3:15, we see that the Seed, Jesus Christ, will crush Satan under His heel, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." In Exodus 3: 2-6 the Angel of the LORD appeared to him (Moses) in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, so he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground." Moreover He said, "I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses was being commissioned to walk in authority to lead the Israelites.

When Joshua met the Captain of the Lord of Hosts in Joshua 15: 14-15 the Lord said, "As Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?" Then the Commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so. Joshua was being commissioned and God told him wherever you step that land I will give you. On and on in scripture it says when Israel was going to the Promised Land He said step into the Jordan and the Jordan will dry and split so that you may Passover.

In the New Testament in Luke 10:19 declares, "Behold, I give you power to tread over scorpions and snakes and nothing shall by any means harm you." In Romans 16:23 we see, "…the God of all peace shall surely crush Satan under you feet." I woke up after this encounter with the Lord and read the in my morning devotion it is time to put your foot down.

One hour after I had read my devotional Chuck Pierce called me and said that he called because he had been studying scripture for two days and that the Lord had spoken to him that people were at a crossroads and cited the place Moses had found himself with Pharaoh behind him and the Red Sea in front of him. That was a real crossroads experience for Moses and the Lord told him to not pray about it anymore to get up and stretch forth his rod and cause the sea to part. Chuck told me that when he read Exodus 14: 15-1, "…the LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea." The Lord said, "Call Kent and tell him it is not time to wait on the baton to be activated it is time to stretch the baton and split the sea and move into the move of God."

Something shifted in the heavens over our church that night and it is time to walk into a brand new authority as an apostolic training center which literally means that we are a sending place. We find ourselves in a exciting time and place. One of our faithful friends and part of our church Steve Goodson called me right after Chuck and was crying and trembling under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He said, "Get ready, and open your mouth, I am getting ready to move in the Spirit in a way that you have never dreamed, seen or imagined. Chuck said that he thought it very important that he come and commission us to this place with a true spirit of evangelism Bev and I, as your pastors have been out of the pulpit for three weeks, yet because we are functioning in an apostolic anointing and our expectations are not based on one person to deliver the word of the Lord, we continue to thrive and move in the spirit while we have been out in the field. It is a great testimony of what God is doing in our lives and of what we are all called to do. I believe that we are on the verge of the greatest move of God that we have ever seen. It is prophetic and very powerful that we are moving as an apostolic people that God can move in and through to accomplish His plans and purposes.

God was so specific when we were called to establish Word Alive International Outreach that we are an apostolic training center and that we were to establish the this work to further the kingdom of God and send teams of men and women around the world from here.

God has orchestrated everything to this point and now it is time to stand on His Word and promises just as Ephesians 6: 6-13 instructs us to do, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil: For we do not wrestle against flesh, and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Once all of our armor is in place and our capacities have been enlarged we have to stand, and do all to withstand the enemies’ strategies and spiritual wickedness that has come against us and take the sword of the spirit and begin to declare that God promises are real and begin to pursue His promises with passion.

Breathing Room

A majority of Americans, especially those of us who are Christians, are living life, but we are just surviving, not thriving. The definition of thrive means to grow vigorously, to gain wealth, prosperity and possession; to reach a goal or a destination in spite of circumstances. Yet we are living pay check to pay check, and are barely making it. We are not really able to pursue our dreams or our kingdom purposes because we do not have the resources to do anything beyond pay our bills to make sure that are personal hierarchy of needs is met. We are locked into a barely making it existence because we need the resources that we generate to survive because of the life style we have created.

Financial stress is completely normal in our culture today. We see people living under the yoke of this responsibility every day. People who are living pay check to pay check, making normal monthly payments, paying off debt, who are trapped by worry, anxiety and fear.

As a result of living beyond our means tension in our relationships and marital discord has also become normal. It is better to live in a home that is paid for with peace in your marriage than to live in a big place, and about to get a divorce because you cannot control the impulse to keep spending on whatever is the next big thing. Our societal norms and what culture has dictated are not working. We need to transition in our thinking; the Israelites’ sojourn into Egypt is a great example of what God wants to do for us. In Psalm 105:37 we are reminded that God brought them out with silver and gold and there was not one feeble among all their tribe. The key is that God brought them out. God is about to bring His people out of financial despair. Gods’ plan for them, and for us, is not to survive but thrive.

His plan was for them to prosper and thrive in Egypt. They were to be examples of His goodness and mercy. However, they, just like many of us, were absorbed into the culture and barely survived. God is ready to deliver us out of spiritual Egypt and take us forward to financial freedom with more money than month, with a bit extra left over.

A working definition of extra is the amount available beyond what is necessary. It’s the difference between what you have and what you need. So financially we could say this, if you earn $3,000.00 in US currency a month and you spend $2,500.00 you have $500.00 beyond what you have spent. If you earn $3000.00 and you spend $3,000.00 you have zero left to create a bit of breathing room.

If you earn $3,000.00 and you spend $3,500 is another whole issue. Financial breathing room is what is available beyond what is necessary. What can this kind of freedom look like financially in our everyday lives? It is having money left over at the end of the month. It may be hard to believe but it is possible and it is a good goal to have.

Extra money at the end of the month means that you will have money available to help somebody in need. It means having money to give without feeling stressed about it. It could be having money available to do something you enjoy; it could be having money available to spend time doing something special with your family. With a bit more financial freedom perhaps you could hire someone to help you in your house or with your lawn.

That kind of freedom gives us the ability to be financially at rest and not be anxious, or worried, living in fear that we are on the verge of losing everything. Most people do not have that kind of security. But God wants us to have financial security. Proverbs 21:20 is a great verse to commit to memory, "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has." In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all that he has. We could say it like this, a foolish person lives pay check to pay check and devours all that he has.

The house of the wealthy is financial freedom. It is not the two income household, or the six figured income that is wise, it is in the house of the wise that there is plenty. God has financial wisdom for us if we would just grab hold of His principles and begin to live our lives in financial liberty. When we begin to walk as God wants us to walk according to Psalm 84:11 there is no good thing He withholds from those who walk uprightly. God is wisdom and when we embrace His wisdom it will radically change our lives.

In 1Timothy 6:6-10 we see these two different kinds of families, one wise and one foolish: "Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

Godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. Paul is talking about the spirit of contentment. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Paul said if we can just live contentedly in God He can, and will do, powerful things in our lives. God has plans for us that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He is not trying to keep us under His thumb, threatening us if we get off track. The narrow way to God is not about sin, the narrow way is about wisdom.

Luke 6:48 tells us what wisdom looks like, "He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock." A wise man hears God, acts upon what he hears and builds his house on a rock. When the storms and winds blow his house will not be moved.

In Matthew 25: 1-10 we see the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

"And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut." A wise virgin has plenty of oil to keep their lamps shining brighter and brighter.

Proverbs 1: 1-7 tells us that wisdom cries out for us, " To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion, a wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

Wisdom is better than rubies, gold or silver. God talks so much about foolishness versus wisdom. A foolish man doesn’t hear or obey God. There is such an emphasis on sin in the church but God spoke more often about obtaining wisdom that He did about sin. There is so much good counsel in the Word of God to avoid foolishness and to seek wisdom. Yet we see people everyday who live foolishly. I Timothy 6:10 describes what happens, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

Creating Margin:Scheduling Our Time

We really need margin in our lives to become aligned with the will of God. He has some important things for us to accomplish during our lives and He also has a purposed way for us to do them but culture keeps pulling us in another direction. The definition of margin is, “the amount available beyond what is necessary.” In other words it is the difference in what you have and what you need. That is called margin. When we plan and schedule our daily lives margin is having more than enough time. Enough time would be having time to listen to your children without continuing to think about work. Margin, or extra time, would make room for us to be interrupted and be happy about it. Margin would be having time to rest, relax and reflect.

Margin is about having time with people that we love and not always fighting because there is never time to connect intimately. Margin is about having plenty of time with the Creator and Sustainer of this Universe, God. Margin for most of us is the thing we simply do not have. I believe God has given me a mandate to help us create margin in the major areas of our lives. All of us would like to have a bit more time for ourselves to enjoy extra time, more time to spend with people we love, and more time to spend with God. I know I would like to have more time to spend with God and those I love.

We would all be blessed with more time, when we see how important time is, but the truth is even if all of sudden God said, “Poof,” and there were twenty five hours in the day we would probably still not have enough time. It is unlikely that most of us would actually spend that time on important things. The reality is that culture has a way of overwhelming whatever margin we have. The last time you had an unexpected day off chances are pretty good that you did not spend extra time with God. Chances are also pretty good that you did not spend time with your loved one and chances are pretty good that what you did was run errands, caught up on chores, tried to get ahead at work and caught up on some emails. Chances are there are many things that felt urgent and that overwhelmed you. You missed another opportunity to enjoy what was truly important in your life.

Culture is like this: If you have ever driven a car and the tires are out of alignment as you keep driving the car keeps pulling one way. Culture is continually trying to pull us off the center as we are going down the road of life. Ephesians 5: 15-17 is a very interesting scripture and tells us this, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” As we look into effectively scheduling margin in our lives we need to begin to ask a different question than we normally ask. We need to be wise and understand what the Lord’s will is when we start scheduling our lives. Perhaps we should look at how we plan things a bit differently.

If the Word directs us to walk wisely then maybe we should ask different questions. When we schedule where we are going and who we are seeing and what we are doing our first question should be, “Is that a wise decision?” A good example of the question to ask is this, “Is it wise to spend extra time doing this considering that I have teenagers at home who only have a little bit more time in my house before they go off into the college world, or would it be wiser for me to spend time with them right now than do something else?”

Start asking, “Is this wise, since I’ve really been so busy that I’ve not had time to do a Second Saturday serve, I’ve not had time to do a life group, I’ve not had time to do some things that are important, so is it wise?” Tell yourself, “Maybe I should put something important in that time slot instead of saying yes to every request. You may be responding with, “I’ll be there,” and even though it’s not wrong, as a matter of fact it may be and probably is something good but, is it wise? Is it wise you’ve been so busy at work you’ve not had quality time to spend with your family?

It is a much better question to ask ourselves when scheduling time, is it wise? What really struck me is that we only have so many days. Everybody is going to die. The last time I checked the mortality rate was 100%. It is in all our destinies to die yet most of us live like we are going to live in these natural bodies forever. Psalm 90: 10-12 in the NIV version tells us this, “All our days may come to seventy years or eighty if strength endures.” God’s Word tells us we may live to seventy years of age, and by strength, to eighty. If we live a normal, healthy life, without catastrophe or illness we should make it to seventy and by strength to eighty and of course there are some we know that surpass eighty but most of us live to around seventy or eighty. Thank God for eternal life but my point is that as we live out our allotted days God wants us to number them and realize that every day is important. We must make wise decisions when planning and scheduling our lives because you just have a few of them.

What struck me is how much time we spend on things we don’t even give a second thought. In a life time you will spend six months at traffic lights waiting for them to change, you will spend one year of your life looking for misplaced items, you will spend eight months opening junk mail, you will spend two years returning phone calls and leaving messages, you will spend five years waiting in lines, and you will spend three years of your life in meetings.

The list goes on and on and does not even include sleeping. You will spend roughly one third of your life sleeping which by the way, if you live to be seventy-five comes to twenty-five years. There’s not a lot of time to do everything God has asked us to do so we really need to use our time wisely.

So, how do we use our time wisely? I have one key here, learn to say NO. That is very difficult for me and it is going to be difficult for you. What is wild is that it is not just that we have to say no to things, we have to say no to good things and that is what makes it difficult. We have to learn to say no to good things to make room for important things. Here is another really simple key to creating extra time that you can devote to doing something important. You can say no to this activity and that will buy extra time and create margin. The average American watches television twenty eight hours a week. Twenty eight hours a week is an average of four hours a day that the average American watches television. Say no to sitting in front of the television and yes to spending quality time playing board games, laughing, sharing God’s Word and being together. Turn the TV off and catch up on some emails so you won’t have to take time away from them on Saturday when you want to spend time with your family.

You can recreate your own lists of things to create margin. To create margin in our lives there are good things we are going to have to say no to.

We must learn to have the courage and faith to say no to many good things so that we can say yes best things. Good things become the enemy of best things. That is why we must live carefully, not as unwise, but wise people. God has a lot to say about prioritizing time. Matthew 6:33 is all about us living successfully in this life because of God’s purposes and plans, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Seek first the kingdom of God, the kingdom in his righteousness, and all these will be added to you as well. Sometimes I get so busy with good things that I don’t seek the best, His kingdom and His righteousness.

When I get busy with other things my life gets off kilter. When we keep our priorities right with God, He will order our days. Number one, the first thing we should prioritize in our life is our intimate time with God because it is the most important thing we can do. When we daily align our hearts with God’s Word, and His presence, we position ourselves to get more done with the time we

have and create margin to enjoy this life we are living.