2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness, 4 For by these He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust .
I began this prophetic blog months ago and it’s turned into a book concerning possessing great and precious promises that reside in the Bible and will ultimately find their fullness in one generation. I have been very busy with my travel itinerary and have little time to write and edit. I have decided to post multiple articles on this topic and eventually publish a book. What began as a blog has become a Prophetic Manifesto, summoning a new prophetic movement to come forth in the spirit and power of Elijah! I will never give up on believing in the great and precious promises that we as disciples of Christ are called to possess and manifest. I know ONE generation will come to maturity and a fullness of time moment concerning Kingdom stewardship and they will be possessed by the promise giver and release the promises enabling the world to see the LORD’s glory and goodness.
We've Not Believed In Vain - Behold The Key That Opens The Door
I want to declare we’ve not believed in vain, we just lost the key that opens the door to possess the promises. The key is covenant fidelity with the ONE who shed His Blood to purchase us from the slave market of sin and fully redeem us back to Father God as sons of God. Concerning the promises I’m not speaking of our own personal promises but something larger that concerns the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and a generation that has been marked by the LORD for the restoration of all things! Just as individuals carry specific prophetic promises that are written in God’s Book (Psalm 139:16) so too every generation carries prophetic promises to possess and manifest concerning the Father’s redemptive and restoration plan. Acts 13:36 says, “David served the purpose of God in his generation and fell asleep.” Every individual and every generation has been made on purpose for a divine purpose and has a calling to possess and manifest great and precious promises. The key to possessing them is covenant and the key to manifesting them is covenant fidelity. Simply put, covenant fidelity is walking in intimacy with the LORD and living a life worthy of every drop of blood He shed for our redemption and salvation! I will dive deeper into covenant fidelity later in this article.
The Greatest Promises Have Yet To Be Possessed & Manifested
As I stated in part one, anyone with a working knowledge of the Bible can clearly see that there’s multiple passages in the Bible that prophesies that the greatest witness of God’s Kingdom is not a past event but a future prophetic promise. An example of these prophetic promises are:
The latter glory will be greater than the former’ (Hag.2:9),
‘The Bride shall be glorious and radiant without spot or wrinkle’ (Eph.5:27),
‘The Body of Christ shall come to maturity unto the full stature of the image of Christ’ (Eph.4:13).
These are just a few passages that speak of the prophetic destination of one generation in the fullness of time. The fullness of time generation will be the greatest witness and demonstration of the Kingdom of God. Every tongue tribe and nation will not be able to say we did not know, we have not heard. The latter glory of Father God’s House (His Family of Sons) will be the greater glory generation.
Just as Moses came from Mt. Sinai with unveiled face shining with radiant glory there is a greater witness than Moses coming from Mt. Zion with unveiled face releasing the greatest demonstration of the image of God. This is the destination of all generations, this is the generation that all the prophetic promises point to. These promises are waiting for an appointed time of release but also an appointed people who've fully submitted to the process of preparation. They have answered the call to surrender all, they’ve been made ready to steward the open book of the promises of God.
Pitfalls To Possessing The Promises - Time To Examine Ourselves
2Cor. 13:4 For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. 5 Examine yourselves as to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
My purpose in writing this article comes out of great concern for the Body of Christ. I’m not writing to become popular nor the next prophetic superstar which is actually a falling star but to have an honest conversation with the Scriptures without becoming critical and judgmental of the Body of Christ. I’ve actually been through a long season of examining myself to see, If I'm truly in the faith. The faith referenced here by the Apostle Paul is not a mental ascent agreement with the Scriptures but it’s speaking of our lifestyle as a disciple of Christ.
In his letter to the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul is not questioning their salvation but their consecration and covenant fidelity with the LORD! The Church at Corinth excelled in spiritual gifts, possibly more than any other city at that present time, but lacked the lifestyle of a disciple of Christ. The letter to the Church at Corinth (Biblical Book of Corinthians) is a timeless letter that releases the Living Voice of the LORD into this present moment. The Spirit of the LORD is speaking to the Global Church of Jesus Christ and saying, EXAMINE yourself (test yourself) to see whether you are in the faith. We need to understand the truth and depth of this apostolic plumbline statement. The FAITH is not necessarily a doctrinal belief system it’s speaking of our lifestyle as disciples of our Rabbi, Jesus Christ. A disciple was to walk with the Rabbi until the disciple came to maturity and became just like his rabbi in their every day living our worldview! The goal of a Rabbi was to reproduce himself in his disciples and then when they have come to maturity send them (the word for apostle) to go reproduce themselves in others.
With this foundational truth established I would ask what type of disciple is the American Church producing? Do we look like our Rabbi Jesus Christ? Do we have His worldview, an eternal worldview? Do we serve the Father’s eternal purpose exclusively or do we have a mixture of our purposes with His purpose? Do we live like our Rabbi doing nothing of our own initiative but only what we see our Father doing? Do we speak our own words and even defend ourselves or do we only speak what we hear Father saying? I know this sounds ludicrous but this is actually how far we have fallen from the original blueprint for discipleship as sons of God. As we examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith or not we must ask ourselves some simple questions.
Have you deviated from the original apostolic blueprint which is the lifestyle that Jesus modeled for us to follow?
Is our worldview eternal or temporal, is it inward focused or Christ focused?
Is our focus on our mandate or the mandate and eternal purpose of the Father in others and in our generation?
Ex. 25:22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat
The LORD is opening the eyes of His People in this hour to return back to the original apostolic mandate and lifestyle that He handed down to His Apostles (sent ones). As the LORD reveals the original blueprint and we move forward in this season of a great reformation there’s a great caution that our generation must heed. We must stay low in humility and only speak from the place that He speaks from, the Mercy Seat! We must guard ourselves from becoming judgmental and even worse becoming an accuser of the brethren. We’re NEVER called to be an accuser of the brethren but always called to be an intercessor of the brethren. Jesus modeled mercy and gave His life for those who called Him a false prophet and Beelzebub. We must follow Him and be willing to give our lives for those that persecute us! There is a very fine line between being a reformer and being an accuser of the brethren. The key is deep intimacy with the LORD and the purification of the motives of our hearts. We must feel what the LORD feels for the Global Body or we will wax judgmental and self righteous really quick! Currently my heart hurts for the people of God and the condition that I see throughout the Body of Christ, which I have termed the Hope Deferred Epidemic.
Getting To The Root Of Hope Deferred
Prov. 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Hope deferred literally makes the heart sick and causes many negative emotional, mental and physical maladies. As we eagerly hope for something significant, and it keeps being postponed, the longing we feel can make our heart sick. Whenever hope deferred is present we must look at our expectations and ask, are they Biblically sound? What is the theological foundation of WHAT we are believing for? Then we need to examine the motives of our hearts concerning WHY are we believing for the promises? The why is just as important and possibly even more important than the what. I know that the Bible says, all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ, but that doesn’t mean that their like a magic genie lamp. You just say the right words with total faith and poof there’s your prophetic promise. I believe most of us have discovered that doesn’t work! The word of the LORD that has been entrusted for me to proclaim is, “Hope deferred will continue to overtake the people of God until true apostolic foundations are restored and the voice of the prophets are plumb back to their original mandate.” The Prophets of the LORD are called to release the unsheathed sound of the voice of the LORD, a sound that causes the faces of God’s people to turn back to His Face. The LORD is releasing the spirit of Elijah once again! Messengers of the Covenant are coming forth to expose the false, restore the true, and make a people ready for the LORD!
Messengers Of The Covenant - The Spirit Of Elijah
Mal. 3:1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.
The LORD has been forging swords - messengers of the unsheathed Word of the Lord! I believe once again we will see cities cut to the heart by the apostolic gospel just as the 1st century saw the world transformed in ONE generation. It seems as if nothing has been occurring but I tell you that your pain has not been in vain but has been part of the LORD's refining and purifying process. Some of you thought you were being attacked by the Devil but it was actually the HAMMER of the LORD striking you and transforming you from a dull blade to one that's sharp! We must remain yielded to the work of the Holy Spirit right now and not settle for false fire or an easier life. We must allow the LORD to burn away some cultural doctrines of human wisdom that have made the cross of Christ powerless and have no effect (read 1 Cor. 1:17). There's coming an unsheathing moment of manifestation just like John the Baptist. This movement of messengers will be made up of those that have made the exodus out of the corrupt system just as John.
Luke 1:15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Is. 40:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD;
At this point, I believe it’s important to demystify the truth concerning the spirit of Elijah. The mantle or spirit of Elijah is simply an expression and an anointing of God’s Spirit to awaken His People and summon them to return to covenant fidelity. Covenant fidelity is faithfulness, complete loyalty and wholehearted devotion towards the LORD and no other. It’s the same as the marriage covenant: you should remain loyal, faithful and have no other lovers. James 4:4 says friendship with the world is hatred towards God and makes us adulterous people and an enemy of God. The ministry of the spirit and power of Elijah is given at the times of transition to awaken people from apathy and make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Preparing people for the Lord doesn’t mean making a people ready for the rapture! nWe’re preparing a generation to become the possession and habitation of Christ. The Messengers of the Covenant are to call the Bride to divorce the spirit of this age and renew her covenant vows with The One who shed His blood on her behalf. On a New Covenant level it’s the summons to return back to the very purpose that their lives were redeemed by blood, the Blood of God - Jesus Christ!
The hour is crucial there is no time to waste. It’s time for a supernatural sound and voice to be released. The people of God (the Body/Bride of Christ) must be made ready to stand with Him in His latter glory dispensation. The latter glory dispensation will shake the thresholds and the foundations of everything that is not in plumb line alignment and truly founded upon the ROCK of Christ.
The Fullness of Time - The Ministry of The Spirit of Elijah
The ministry of John the Baptist was a mere shadow of the ministry of the spirit and power of Elijah before Jesus fully discloses Himself to the Globe. I say a mere shadow because that’s what Hebrew 10:1 says concerning the Old Testament. There is coming, a New Covenant expression of the spirit and power of Elijah will be so weighty in the Glory and will far exceed the Old Covenant expression of the ministry of John. With that said, there are still expressions of the ministry of John that will give us a glimpse and some clues to the Messenger of the Covenant movement that the LORD will commission to restore His People back to true apostolic Christianity and get them ready for the latter glory realm of His Kingdom. Before Jesus was unveiled as the Messiah, John the Baptist was raised up to call the covenant people to REPENT and return back to wholeheartedness. John wasn’t commissioned in just one day but was made ready and strengthened in the wilderness. He had to stay submitted and hidden - UNTIL the day of manifestation.
Luke 1:80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his manifestation to Israel.
This is similar to Elijah who was commanded by the LORD to HIDE in the ravine - UNTIL! Because John submitted to the process of preparation he grew strong in spirit! He was sent forth with a supernatural sound that caused all of Jerusalem and Judea to make a journey out of their comfort zones and into the wilderness to behold the Voice of the Word of the LORD!
Making a Generation Ready For The Latter Glory
Lev. 10:1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. 3 And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’ ” So Aaron held his peace. 8 Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying: 9 “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, 10 that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean,
The Body of Christ in our nation is not prepared for the Glory of God to fill our temple. The glory of God is far different than the anointing of God. The glory of God comes whenever He begins to unveil Himself and manifest His Kingdom. I heard the LORD say, “tell My People what they seemingly got away with under the anointing will kill them in the glory, get My People ready for My Glory!” There are many stories that are snapshots concerning this truth. One is found in Leviticus 10:1-10. There is a divine protocol concerning entering the glory of God. Leviticus 10 tells the story of Aaron the High Priest and his sons who failed to follow the priestly protocol for entering the Holy Place where the Shekinah Glory of God manifested. God instructs Aaron after the carelessness of his sons to inform the levitical priesthood to not be intoxicated when they enter the Glory Realm. Aaron’s two sons Nadab and Abihu broke the protocol and offered unauthorized (strange) fire and they were immediately struck down in that realm. They crossed a threshold into a different realm and it cost them their lives. Their carelessness to the glory protocol was linked to being intoxicated. What they did in the outer court was overlooked but to be intoxicated and careless in the full disclosure of Yahweh’s Glory was far different. Ananias and Saphira is a New Testament example of the weightiness of a glory dispensation (read Acts 5:1-f).
Don’t Drink From The Cup of Time & Space - Drink from the Cup of Eternity
Eph. 5:15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
1Pet. 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 11 Beloved, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
Remember the Old Testament is a shadow of the fullness of the image to come forth in the New Testament or the New Covenant. The New Covenant priesthood is in the order of Melchizedek, which is an eternal priesthood. In the New Covenant, Jesus Christ (Yeshua, the Messiah) is the High Priest and we’re the priest of the Kingdom which is the fullness of the shadow system portrayed by the Levitical Priesthood. Please read the entire chapter of Hebrews 7 and 1 Peter 2 to gain insight concerning these basic foundational truths. I love 1 Peter 2:9 because it reveals our true identity and function in the earth no matter what our profession or career is. Peter declares by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that we‘re a royal priesthood. We are royalty, we are priests! Royalty speaks of our identity as sons of God and priests speak of our function as we walk in a human body. We must grasp the importance of this truth if we’re going to fulfill our apostolic mandate and live a life that the Kingdom of God can testify to. Peter says, I URGE you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from fleshly desires.
The LORD is restoring this foundational truth; we are sons of God that we’'re called to operate as priests of the eternal kingdom. The earth is not our home, it’s our assignment or assigned place. We’re on a divine assignment as ambassadors from the realm of eternity on behalf of the Kingdom of God. Our assignment is to bring the culture of the Kingdom and transform the earth to look like the eternal Kingdom of God. If we're shaped by culture then we CANNOT shift nor shape culture. We presently have a gospel and a Jesus that’s been shaped by 1,800 years of culture and it’s powerless to transform culture. We have enough Jesus to get to Heaven but not enough to bring Heaven to earth.
When we drink the wine of time and space it intoxicates us and we begin to get overtaken by the spirit of this fallen age and began to get sucked into a consumer Christian mentality building our own little kingdoms rather than being a sent son who’s willing to allow their lives to be a seed sown so that many seeds can be produced for the eternal Kingdom.
John 12:24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a seed of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
The gospel of the Kingdom is a call to surrender all and be given over to serve the eternal purpose of God. This is the first step to discipleship in following Jesus the pattern son. Jesus modeled the pattern that leads us to maturity as sons of God. Maturity is not mandatory to get to Heaven but it is to manifest Heaven on earth! Sonship is about stewardship not salvation. Maturity into sonship is required to be entrusted with the true authority of the Kingdom Come. There’s such a failure in American Christianity to call people to what Jesus emphatically calls us to. We will NEVER SEE the great and precious promises manifest if we don’t return back to the blueprint for sonship! A messenger movement must arise in the spirit and power of Elijah and summon the people of God back to the foundational truths that have been lost.
An Eternal Worldview Must Be The Bedrock/Foundation of Our Lives
1Pet. 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly desires which wage war against the soul.
As we enter the climax of redemptive history those on the earth must have an eternal worldview. I cannot and we must not, under emphasize this truth of possessing an eternal worldview. Living from the eye of eternity will be absolutely necessary because the unveiling of the fullness of Christ will cause our temporal structures to violently shake and many with a temporal worldview will be devastated and begin to doubt everything they ever believed. As Christ Body, we must be made ready to STAND with Him on that day and understand our role in releasing His Voice which actually causes the shaking! The Global Body of Christ must have His worldview which is eternal, and as Revelation 12:10 says, be willing to love not our lives even unto death. We desperately need to understand our role of STANDING with the LORD at the climax of redemptive history and the consummation of the ages. The Body of Christ will stand with the LORD as co-laborers, co-heirs and covenant partners in the Kingdom coming in its fullness. There’s multiple scripture passages that reveal our role in releasing His voice, decrees and judgments in the fullness of time. (read Ps. 149:6-10, Hebrews 12:25-29, Jer. 15:19).
Ed, I believe that this is the most significant Word I have heard in decades. The timeless Truth of His Word bringing us all into the true son's and daughters of God that ALL creation is waiting for.