Heaven XVII: Daniel's Prophecies
Do you have an indescribable craving in your spirit for something you can't even put to words? Is there a cry in the depths of your being for a walk with God unlike anything you've seen or heard of in any of the people with whom you are acquainted?
Are you thirsting for a place of intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ the likes of which will clearly demonstrate your being One with Him? ... A place of spiritual existence in which the works that Jesus did are commonplace in your life?
Then you know exactly how I felt in 1969 while ministering with Bill Christopulos in Salt Lake City. Brother Bill came over to my house one day after seeing (in the realm of the Spirit) the cry that consumed my whole being. My whole demeanor reflected that cry, that unrest, that place of absolute dissatisfaction with where I was in Christ Jesus. Brother Bill walked in and sat down. Without any greeting or social commentary he just dived in, "Reg, what is it that you want from the Lord?"
There was no hesitation or delay in my response. It simply erupted from my whole being, "Brother Bill, you remember how it was with Elijah and Elisha? You remember the miracles that Elijah did, how he raised the dead, how he demonstrated the power and authority of the Lord in the midst of Israel in a way no prophet before him had done? You remember how when asked that same question, Elisha had the unbelievable boldness -- the unmitigated gall, if you will -- to say to Elijah, "I want double everything you've got in God!"
"Brother Bill, that's where I am. I have some stupendous promises from God. I've seen some of what my destiny should be in the Lord. I really don't know what my full inheritance is supposed to be, but there is a level of dissatisfaction in me that I can't put into words! I've come to the place that I want a double portion of whatever my inheritance was supposed to be in the Kingdom of God!"
He was quiet for a minute, but my answer to his question really seemed not to catch him off guard. "Brother," he said, "I don't really think you know or understand what you're asking for! I don't think you have any idea what it will cost you!"
I interrupted him, "Brother Bill, I don't really care what it costs! I'm determined to have God's best, and I won't settle for anything less!"
If Bill Christopulos found my rather brassy and perhaps presumptuous answer humorous, he kept a straight face while he continued. "You don't understand, Son! It will cost you your friends. It will cost you your family. I will cost you your business. (I was President of Intermountain Electronics Corp. at the time.) It will cost you your standing, your reputation in the community -- and likely your reputation among your fellow-Christians."
The thirst in my being for all that God had for me knew no bounds, and remembering Jesus' promise in Mark 10:30, I had no qualms about responding, "I don't care what it costs! I'm determined to have all that would have been my inheritance in God -- and double!"
Now he smiled broadly. "My brother, God is going to give it to you."
That was 42 years ago. It was 62 years ago that Jesus stood at my bedside and began to lay out His plan and purpose for my life, and to show me a vision of what lay in store. It was 60 years ago today that the Lord took me to Heaven for my first trip and made some very specific promises to me of what He was going to have for me.
In 65+ years of actively walking with the Lord (although there's not a day in my life that I haven't known Him), there isn't a miracle that I haven't seen or been a part of -- with the exception of walking on water, or turning water into wine. I cannot begin to imagine how many folks I've led to a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Wouldn't even try to calculate the number of people healed from every conceivable disease, illness, infirmity or weakness!
I've seen blind eyes healed, the deaf made to hear, the crippled made to walk, arms or legs replaced which had either not grown because of birth defects, or lost through accidents or disease, teeth replaced supernaturally, organs instantly made whole or replaced in their entirety, cancer made to cease completely with formerly cancerous organs or tissue replaced, speech impediments removed, people healed of Parkinson's, Tuberculosis, Asthmatic attacks -- and the list goes on and on.
Thousands of people have been set free from evil spirits -- every kind of demonic activity you can think of. If you've seen the movie, The Exorcist, with its demonic displays and graphically displayed activities, there is nothing in that movie that I've not seen in real life -- and yet I've seen the authority of Jesus' Name (His Onoma) free people completely who've been in that kind of bondage.
I've personally been involved in and seen three people raised from the dead -- not including being raised from the dead myself 28-plus years ago after suffering a massive heart attack. I've seen corruption removed from governments and corrupt individuals removed from office -- sometimes almost instantly -- while the Lord raised up the righteous to replace them.
Consider the Day of Pentecost when seventeen distinct nationalities with their own languages heard people they knew had no prior knowledge of their tongues began to speak fluently in those languages and dialects praising and glorifying the Lord. Not only have I been witness to it on many occasions, I've personally had people come up to me and ask where I learned to speak such perfect Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Castilian (Spanish) or some other language. Obviously it was the Holy Spirit speaking through me, and it was a sign to those who heard.
Does that all sound good to you? Great! But, folks, that's all nothing more than the fulfillment of Jesus' promise that "verily, verily I say unto you, the works that I do shall ye do also....." (See John 14:12)
I'm not complaining about what I've seen and experienced in God -- not by a country mile! But that's just a drop in the bucket! I remember a prophetic Word that came forth one day in the midst of one of our gatherings in which the Holy Spirit said, "All that you've seen and experienced is less than a single drop in a ten-gallon bucket of that which I've prepared for you."
You know what that does to me? You think I've been thirsty before to see the handiwork of the Lord Jesus Christ in my life? There is literally a scream inside of me that I can't even begin to put into words to be so One with the Lord Jesus Christ that when people see me, they see Him; when He speaks or when I see Him do something in the Heavenlies, I can declare those things and call them into being, doing the "greater works" of which He promised in that same commitment that John referenced in John 14:12.
That thirst, that craving is whetted additionally by the promises Jesus made to me as we were preparing to leave Heaven (and I'm somewhat getting ahead of myself in my narrative of the experiences I had during this trip to Heaven) and were standing at the Gate. Add to that the vision He embedded in my Spirit at age seven when He appeared at my bedside, and you have something that can only be described as "a consuming fire!" (See Hebrews 12:29)
So, why am I talking about this now? My discussions in Heaven with David, with Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and now, Daniel, burned something into my inner being I can only describe as being etched, engraved -- carved if you will, in the deepest recesses of my mind and spirit. There has been in me a lifelong recognition that we as the people of God have lived our lives so far beneath God's destiny for us that it is tantamount to our settling for a piece of tinfoil instead of reaching out and taking the handful of gold and diamonds being offered.
That brings me to my continuing discussions with Daniel.
"It seems to me," I said, "that your prayer life and your fasting became a real source of controversy and antagonism. We've all heard -- perhaps more than any other story of you -- about your daily routine of prayers; and how jealous the princes and presidents were of you and your standing with the king. They tricked the king into signing a decree which required all the inhabitants of the land to worship only him, and blocking them from offering a prayer or making a request to God or any idol other than him.
"You went about your daily practice of prayer and intercession and waiting on God as though the decree didn't exist. That resulted in them petitioning the king to have you thrown into the den of lions to be executed because of your disobedience. My question to you is this: what happened to you when you were thrown into the den of lions? I know that the Lord shut the mouths of the lions, but what happened? What took place there?"
Daniel began to chuckle. "To tell the truth, the whole experience was quite astonishing," he said. "You have to realize just how angry King Darius was when he realized what was being perpetrated by these jealous princes and presidents. He and I had really developed a wonderful friendship. God had given me immense favor with him. The presence of the Holy Spirit in my life caused him to desire my presence and companionship on a daily basis. He trusted me and he trusted the counsel of the Lord that came through me.
"There was literal pain in his face as he stood by and watched them throw me into that den. Those presidents, princes and lords wanted to ensure that I couldn't somehow escape from the lion's den so they had a large stone rolled across the mouth of the den. In a way it was almost funny.
"When I picked myself up off the floor of that den after being unceremoniously dumped in, the first thing I saw was the angel of the Lord standing between the lions. They didn't roar. They didn't growl. They didn't lick their lips or make any motions that would indicate their desire to kill and eat me. They were tamed to the point that I was almost tempted to pet them. I didn't, of course, but they were completely quieted. The angel of the Lord made them feel like they had already eaten to the full. They didn't exhibit any hunger or desire for food. They just laid down and went to sleep."
I thought about the whole picture for a minute and then asked, "Did the angel of the Lord stay with you that whole night?"
"Yes, he did," Daniel answered. "He motioned for me to sit down and just rest. I suppose I could have gone to sleep, but I didn't. I just quietly prayed and meditated on what God was doing.
"Even as the new day was dawning, I heard the voice of King Darius as he cried out, 'Daniel! Oh, Daniel! Servant of the Living God! Is your God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver you from the lions?'
"You know the rest of that story. It may not have been very dignified or the usual thing for a king to do, but the king grabbed me and embraced me when his servants brought me up from the lions' den.
"It probably seems a bit extreme, but Darius didn't want even a trace of the kind of jealousy and hatred and conspiratorial conduct remaining among the royalty and nobility of the palace; so he gave the command that every single one of those lords, princes and presidents should be taken, along with their wives and children and thrown into the lions' den. What a picture! You've never seen anything like it!
"In the same way that the angel of the Lord had made the lions feel completely satisfied and full so long as I was among them, when I was removed it was as though their hunger was suddenly increased! They might as well have been starved! As each person was thrown into the den, the lions ripped them in pieces and devoured them before their bodies ever had a chance to hit the ground.
"My deliverance from the lions, and the subsequent devouring by the lions of all those who had conspired against me sent a chilling message to all would-be conspirators. It was a demonstration of the Lord on my behalf of His utter protection and His vindication of my relationship with Him!"
Daniel's very clear description of this event left an indelible picture of God's deliverance in my spirit -- a picture that has lasted with me during the past sixty years, and one I've come to personally appreciate as I have seen the Lord's protection and deliverance of me in rather extreme circumstances when my life was clearly in danger.
Our conversation now turned to some of his rather cryptic but graphic prophecies.
"In the prophetic experiences you had, the Lord opened up much of the future for you and showed you things that would happen well past your lifetime, and things that are happening even now, thousands of years after you prophesied them. You not only saw events to come that were immediate and affected kings like Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar and Darius during the years you served as Prime Minister, you also saw the coming of Messiah, his death and resurrection, and events which would follow in the years afterward.
"The thing that gets a lot of preachers today is the fact that the Lord told you to seal up those things that He showed you until the time of the end. In spite of my youth, I've heard so many theories concerning "the time of the end" as to be ridiculous. Not only that, it causes confusion for many believers. Am I wrong, or am I living in that "time of the end" which the Lord showed you?"
"You know that because of what the Lord showed you concerning Israel more than two years ago," Daniel answered, smiling broadly. "There is a revelation that comes by the Holy Spirit," he continued, "in which the things that have been sealed up are unsealed to and for those who are in union with Him."
Something flashed past me in that moment that I'd seen throughout the Word.
"Can I ask you a question concerning something you saw (recorded in Daniel 7, 8, & 11) and mentioned several times throughout your sharing of the prophecies? Even Jesus made mention of this in His teaching and prophesying."
"Certainly," he responded. "But don't ask me to open the book which has been sealed up. There is a very specific timing in which the Holy Spirit will bring things to your remembrance in years to come -- things you've seen but not understood, things you've heard in the realm of the Spirit for which you've had no context, and fresh revelation. There is a day and an hour for this revelation to come forth.
"Some of those things you will see, hear, and understand before others of your generation. Some of them will be seen and understood by other brethren and shared throughout the body of Christ both before and about the same time as the Holy Spirit begins to reveal them to you. Don't worry or fret if you see and/or hear things that don't seem to mesh with what you are hearing commonly taught.
"In some things you will be a forerunner as you share; in others you will receive revelation and share simultaneously with other men and women to whom the same revelation will be given. At times you will see and hear and speak things that are totally at odds with preachers and teachers who've arrived at what they think is truth but have been steered astray by human intellect and unhearing ears to what the Holy Spirit is saying."
"Now, ask your question."
"You make several references to the 'four winds of heaven.' Jesus uses this same phrase when He is teaching the disciples. Then John refers in Revelation to the 'four winds of the earth.' What does that mean? Is there some great significance to this picture of the four winds?"
As was pretty much true throughout my visits with everyone in Heaven, Jesus either stood by or was fairly close at hand as we conversed. I glanced over at Him and His eyes were twinkling. He nodded His head toward Daniel ever so slightly, indicating that it was OK to answer that question.
"I will take you back first of all to a prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah that Isaiah delivered in which he said, 'and the government shall be upon His shoulder.' That wasn't just the government of Heaven, that was the government of all the nations of the earth. You'll remember that Isaiah prophesied about the government being 'upon His shoulder.' Let me ask you a quick question. Where is your shoulder?"
I'll admit to being caught a bit off guard. Not too certain of where he was going with this, I pointed to my shoulder(s) and said, "right here! On my body."
He laughed and said, "OK. Good. Now, let's apply that picture to the body of Christ -- and actually, when you have your discussion with Paul and the other apostles, they'll expand on this for you, I'm sure. Jesus is pictured as the Head of the body. You and all the other believers in Christ are pictured as the torso, the arms, the hands, the legs and the feet. The torso includes the shoulder. Therefore the government of the nations of the earth -- and in a more practical sense, the area of town, the city, the state and the region where you live -- is upon your shoulder.
"As you get older and more mature this will become much more significant to you. What I'm getting at is that the responsibility for the government of the city, the state or the nation in which you live becomes more and more your responsibility. You have an assignment -- a divine assignment -- to watch over and govern the area in which you live, first and foremost, in the realm of the Spirit.
"Let me make this more personal. In the years ahead, the Holy Spirit will lay upon you a very great and important responsibility to rule through prayer, through intercession, and through decrees and declarations over the area in which you live. It will grip your whole being and you will become the very picture of your name -- Regner -- which means 'King.' Do not be surprised if that rulership or governance takes place in the natural realm. Father God will lay upon you increasing responsibility, and if you commit yourself to His purposes for righteous government, you may find yourself actually serving as I did."
My eyes must have glazed over for a minute trying to take it all in because he said, "Don't think about this too much right now. The time isn't yet. You will likely forget about this conversation -- at least in your conscious memory -- in the months and years ahead, but at the time appointed by Father God it will come back to the forefront.
"Now let me come back to the way your phrased your question to me concerning the four winds of heaven. Whenever you see a reference to the four winds in these prophecies, they always spell a significant change of government in the earth. That's where you -- and every praying and interceding believer -- come in. It is the responsibility of believers to agree with God's plan for Kingdom governance in the earth and to exercise the authority they've been given over the spiritual forces of wickedness that attempt to contaminate the civil governments of this earth.
"Does that make sense to you? Do you understand what I'm saying to you? If you will agree with the Lord for righteous governance over the area in which you live, He will put you in the right place at the right time to enforce and enact His Will!"
Daniel had gone from the smiling, almost jovial, personality to a very serious look on his face. Although the significance of what he was saying would fade away in my consciousness for a number of years, the Lord had used this opportunity to plant a seed in the core of my being -- one that would begin to flower and grow in the years to come, and one that would begin a process of revelation in my spirit concerning the degree of spiritual authority vested in us as sons and daughters of God.
I've really run long in this Coffee Break, but I wanted to finish this phase of my sharing before moving on to my experiences with Peter, James & John and Paul. I won't take the time right now -- or at least during the next few weeks -- to share what Daniel had to say about the 70-weeks prophecy. That's a pretty strong subject, one likely to be filled with some controversy once shared, so I'll wait until later this next year to share what I saw and heard in a separate Coffee Break series.
"In the midst of the turmoil all around us we need to see the coming Kingdom. The shaking has started and the Kingdom of God is about to be manifest in this world like never before. The greatest move of God that the world has ever seen is knocking on our doors if we have ears to hear and inner eyes to see." (Neville Johnson)
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN XVI: Daniel, The Intercessor
Frank Villa is a recent (within the past year) friend, brother in the Lord and co-laborer in the Gospel.
Among my friends I like to describe Frank as a fellow-investor in the Kingdom of God and a broker of Kingdom opportunities. That may sound like a funny way to describe him, but Frank has discovered that it is our investments (our time, our labors and energies, as well as financial giving) in the Kingdom of God that pay the kind of dividends which are reaped not only here but in eternity as well. Whether they describe it like this or not, Frank and Jan (his wife) have entered into a powerful covenant with the Lord.
Let me remind you of this rather remarkable covenant that Jesus made – and this covenant applies only to those who don’t draw back or withhold any part of their existence from the pursuit of excellence in Jesus Christ. First let me take you to the context of this covenant.
Jesus has just finished with His invitation to the rich young ruler to forsake all and come and follow Him. The rich young ruler can’t quite bring himself to make that kind of commitment and leaves Jesus in sadness. Jesus says to His disciples, “Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God.”
He follows that statement by saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle (a very low and narrow gate in the wall of the city of Jerusalem), than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”
Because Peter and several of the disciples are fairly well-to-do businessmen and fishermen, and have a rather abundant supply of resources, this shakes him and he answers, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus now answers Peter like this: “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” The point He’s making is that the ability to prioritize one’s life for the sake of the Kingdom and lay aside possessions is a gift from the Lord.
Peter thinks about his situation, as well as that of James and John and some of the others and seeks to make the point with Jesus that, while they have plenty, their trust is not in their wealth and personal resources. So, he responds to Jesus and says, “You see, Lord, that we have left all our wealth behind and have followed you [not making our well-being and personal comfort our priority].”
Now Jesus responds with a covenant statement: “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” (See Mark 10:17-31)
Are you seeing and understanding the nature of this covenant? Our families, our friends, our relatives, our wealth and possessions get bumped out of first place in our priorities. Jesus obviously didn’t care if people had family and friends, wealth and possessions – in fact, He was promising all that to them! What He was saying was, “You follow after me! You make the Gospel of the Kingdom your priority, even if you have to walk away from your closest family and friends, even if you have to walk away from your wealth. If you’ll do that, I covenant with you to make family and friends, wealth and possessions my promise to you a hundred times greater than anything you walk away from – not only now, but in the ages to come, along with eternal life! But know this! If you have all these things and you are following after me and making the Gospel of the Kingdom your priority in life, you will have persecution because of it.” (My paraphrased rendering from the Greek text)
Whewww!!! How’s that for a mouthful? You get it, don’t you? His promise and covenant to those who receive this gift from God to be able to set aside their family, friends, lands and possessions is that He will restore to them – IN THIS LIFE – all that they walk away from a hundred times over!
It’s really the same thing that Jesus said in Matthew 6:33: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
I’ve said all that to say this: Frank Villa has made it his life’s purpose to promote every opportunity God has directed him to for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear to invest in avenues which provide a financial means to enlarge the Kingdom of God. He and Jan have entered into this covenant with the Lord. It’s the same covenant that Della and I have entered into – hence our great appreciation for Frank and Jan.
Can folks get rich doing this? Sure. But the riches are not for those who just want to have lots of money for themselves. The objective is to ensure that those who are on the frontlines of the Kingdom doing battle with the Enemy and taking back Kingdom territory stolen by Satan have all the resources they need in order to accomplish the mission God has anointed them for.
Remember what I said in one of our last Coffee Breaks? Tremendous opportunities are being given to many to invest in the Gospel of the Kingdom. Those who hear the Word of the Lord and obey every command to invest with their seed sowing and their abundant giving will see their opportunities, their finances and personal resources multiply greatly. This great transfer of wealth into the hands of God’s people, however, is not so they can build a collection of mansions, Rolls Royces or Bentleys (and it’s not that God objects to His people having these things!); the purpose for this great wealth transfer is to capitalize on the moment so that the Kingdom of God expands and multiplies in the earth. Our first priority as believers is to extend the boundaries of the rulership of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.
OK. Time for us to get back to our main discussion. Got a big carafe of some dark-roasted Columbian mixed with some lighter-roasted Swedish coffee sitting on the kitchen counter. Come on by and pour yourself a 16-ouncer as we continue talking about my adventures in Heaven.
It was in the early spring of 1971 after returning from speaking at a Full Gospel Businessmen’s Convention in Phoenix that I dived into a three-week fast. Other than some one-, two- or three-day fasts, I had never really engaged in any fasting to speak of up to this time. Somehow I’d become fixated on the Esther-type of fasting: that’s to say, no food of any kind and no water. I knew Moses had gone twice for 40 days without food or water so it never dawned on me that it took a rhema and an act of God in order to pull off something like that.
“No food and no water” was pretty normal to me and that’s the way I dived into this three-week fast. It wasn’t until I hit the 8th day of the fast that I realized I was in physical trouble. You’ve no idea how rough it is on a person’s constitution to be without water for eight days! It was in my physical weakness that I flipped open my Bible the afternoon of that 8th day. My Bible fell open to the 10th chapter of Daniel. In a split second my conversation with Daniel (20 years before while I was in Heaven) came flooding back and I suddenly knew it was OK to finish out the fast drinking water. Even though Daniel could eat bread on his fast (it just couldn’t be whole bread or sweet bread), I felt restrained from eating any bread.
That fast finished and culminated with the miracle of Eskdale (if you’d like to read that story go to this link – http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal?&=&page_start=540 – and scroll down the page just over halfway. There are three parts to this story.)
Picking up where I left off in our last Coffee Break, my questions to Daniel now centered on his life of prayer, intercession and fasting.
"Where and when did your daily life of prayer and intercession begin," I asked.
"My prayer life began in my youth," he began, "even before we were taken into Babylon. It had become a regular activity for me. While I was still a very young person, my prayer life was resulting in a tangible sense of the presence of the Lord being with me. If daily activities and family affairs interfered for a day or a few days, it soon became clear to me that I was missing out on the immediacy that I experienced with regular and consistent daily prayer."
It was at this moment that he allowed me to see a quick vision of the carrying away into captivity and the long, tiresome and wearying procession. I saw Daniel and his companions as they trudged mile after mile after mile. He also allowed me to see the combination of disappointment and occasional flashes of fear -- a fear of the unknown that lay ahead. At the same time I saw the rising up of hope and determination in him with the knowledge of God's presence. There were flashes of revelation in his spirit that, despite the fact that he was leaving home and all the surroundings he'd known in Judah, he was walking into a destiny that God had purposed for him before he'd ever been born into the House of David.
Daniel now continued his discourse. "During our long trek to Babylon, it became very clear to me that the only way I was going to succeed or prosper in any way in our new and foreign environment was to be constantly in communication and communion with the Lord. I resolved in myself to spend my first waking moments in praise and worship, prayer and intercession and seeking the heart of the Lord for that day. When mid-day came, I wanted to renew and refresh my spirit with His spirit and ensure that my day was completely on track with His plans and purposes.
"When evening came, it didn't matter that I would be asleep during the late hours. I wanted my spirit to be completely in tune with the Lord in such a way that any dreams or visions would be those in which He wanted to reveal more of Himself to me. It was mandatory for me -- a mandate in my spirit from which I could not escape -- that my last waking hour or minutes would be spent in communion with Him."
It was in that moment that I saw what God was doing in me, even at my young age. The very first thing I did each morning when I awoke was to grab my Bible and read. The hunger in me to know the Word was nothing less than voracious. As I read and meditated, there was a place of communion with the Lord that unfolded in the midst of that time. It wasn't a thing where I would grab the Bible, read a few verses or a chapter, put it down and focus on the things that I wanted or needed to do. I enjoyed the presence of the Lord and would read and read and meditate and commune until I heard my Mother call me for breakfast.
The concept of stopping in the middle of the day to read or to pray had not entered my mind or my spirit, but there wasn't a night in which my last activity was to get my Bible and read and read and meditate and commune with the Lord until I fell asleep. In fact, here I was in Heaven, brought here by the Lord while I was doing what I always did: read the Word and meditate on Him before going to sleep.
I realized that the prayer and reading practices of early morning and late evening which had developed -- and my parents readily encouraged -- were very much like that which Daniel lived. Suddenly I related to him in a way that I couldn't put into words, but there was a bond of communication in the realm of the spirit. There was nothing in me at that moment that said my life would unfold like Daniel's life had, nor was there any idea that the Lord would unfold for me that same kind of revelation he experienced.
Daniels' next words to me were almost obvious. I knew where he was coming from.
"Remember Nebuchadnezzar? Remember the dream he had and how when his so-called "wise men, soothsayers and astrologers" couldn't begin to explain or unfold it, he sent forth Arioch, the Captain of the Guard, with an order to kill all his wise men and counselors?"
I interrupted him. "Daniel, how was it that you and Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were incorporated into his wise men? How did you get chosen for that when you were anything but an astrologer or soothsayer or someone who invented connections between the position of the stars or other heavenly bodies and unfolding events?"
Daniel began to laugh. "That's a humorous way of putting things," he said, smiling broadly. "But you are right! Astrology is nothing more than an effort to predict events based on the position and alignment of stars or other heavenly bodies. Those who engage in astrology fail to realize that every constellation was named by God when He created the heavens. The constellations are there as His signs in the heavens so as to confirm His Word -- NOT to predict events in the lives of individuals before they happen.
"Those who seek to use the stars as a means to foretell events or draw personality profiles become the tools and victims of a lying Spirit of Divination because they are not walking and living in a personal relationship with the Lord. Without that place of intimacy and covenant with Him they become subject to lying spirits which purpose to lead them astray, confuse them and sidetrack them so that their focus is not on receiving the life God has for them.
"To answer your question more directly, because we were all of the royal House of David, it was thought that, as members of royalty, we would have had better training, better schooling and -- as a result -- more wisdom and knowledge than the average individual. Add to that the fact that the four of us had an outward manifestation of the Spirit of God upon us which set us apart. Without the king's advisors realizing it, they selected us to become part of the magi because they sensed the Spirit of the Lord God with us; and His Spirit -- all by Himself -- conveys a wisdom and understanding that the natural world does not have."
"Does that make sense to you, my young friend, Regner?" Daniel asked. "Do you understand?"
I nodded my head affirmatively, and he continued the discourse I had interrupted a few minutes earlier.
"Let's get back to my question to you about Nebuchadnezzar's dream and his order to Arioch." When I realized what the king's orders were, namely, to destroy all of the magi because they couldn't tell him what he dreamed, nor give him an interpretation of that dream, I knew immediately in my spirit that the Lord would not only unfold the dream to me, He would also at the same time explain the dream in such a way that I could make the king understand what God was saying."
"God had given me favor with Arioch, the Captain of the King's Guard, so that I was given an opportunity to request time from the king to put the whole matter before the Lord. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were quick to agree with me and we began a time of prayer and intercession and waiting in the presence of the Lord. That same night, God gave me a vision in which he literally put on display for me every facet of the king's dream, along with a full understanding of the events that would follow throughout the centuries to come.
"It was really fascinating to me! It was the first of many like experiences in which the future unfolded in front of me like a scroll. As amazing as it was for Nebuchadnezzar to hear his own forgotten dream read back to him, I was honestly just as amazed to see and hear what the Spirit of the Lord was saying about the kingdoms that would succeed the Babylonian kingdom.
“What it did ultimately was to inspire and compel me towards a life of prayer and intercession more than ever before. Intercession, you see, is more than simply praying intensely over some situation or set of events. Intercession is active participation in bringing to pass the heart's desire and the will of Father God on earth and in the affairs of men. Intercession is what Father God has ordained for us in order that the Kingdom of Heaven and God's rulership be implemented and enforced here."
That last comment sparked a series of questions from me -- and we'll take those up in our next Coffee Break.
Next: HEAVEN XVII: Daniel's Prophecies.
When people are given a glimpse of their individual role in God's destiny, it transforms them and sets them on the course to repentance and the impartation of the Christ-like nature. They see the cause of God and are forever changed and have the joy of their salvation restored. We are seeing that happen now. Strongholds of hopelessness, despair, depression and other oppressive mindsets will be overcome when God's "zoe" life is breathed into an exceedingly great army. -- Paul Keith Davis
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Among my friends I like to describe Frank as a fellow-investor in the Kingdom of God and a broker of Kingdom opportunities. That may sound like a funny way to describe him, but Frank has discovered that it is our investments (our time, our labors and energies, as well as financial giving) in the Kingdom of God that pay the kind of dividends which are reaped not only here but in eternity as well. Whether they describe it like this or not, Frank and Jan (his wife) have entered into a powerful covenant with the Lord.
Let me remind you of this rather remarkable covenant that Jesus made – and this covenant applies only to those who don’t draw back or withhold any part of their existence from the pursuit of excellence in Jesus Christ. First let me take you to the context of this covenant.
Jesus has just finished with His invitation to the rich young ruler to forsake all and come and follow Him. The rich young ruler can’t quite bring himself to make that kind of commitment and leaves Jesus in sadness. Jesus says to His disciples, “Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God.”
He follows that statement by saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle (a very low and narrow gate in the wall of the city of Jerusalem), than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”
Because Peter and several of the disciples are fairly well-to-do businessmen and fishermen, and have a rather abundant supply of resources, this shakes him and he answers, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus now answers Peter like this: “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” The point He’s making is that the ability to prioritize one’s life for the sake of the Kingdom and lay aside possessions is a gift from the Lord.
Peter thinks about his situation, as well as that of James and John and some of the others and seeks to make the point with Jesus that, while they have plenty, their trust is not in their wealth and personal resources. So, he responds to Jesus and says, “You see, Lord, that we have left all our wealth behind and have followed you [not making our well-being and personal comfort our priority].”
Now Jesus responds with a covenant statement: “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” (See Mark 10:17-31)
Are you seeing and understanding the nature of this covenant? Our families, our friends, our relatives, our wealth and possessions get bumped out of first place in our priorities. Jesus obviously didn’t care if people had family and friends, wealth and possessions – in fact, He was promising all that to them! What He was saying was, “You follow after me! You make the Gospel of the Kingdom your priority, even if you have to walk away from your closest family and friends, even if you have to walk away from your wealth. If you’ll do that, I covenant with you to make family and friends, wealth and possessions my promise to you a hundred times greater than anything you walk away from – not only now, but in the ages to come, along with eternal life! But know this! If you have all these things and you are following after me and making the Gospel of the Kingdom your priority in life, you will have persecution because of it.” (My paraphrased rendering from the Greek text)
Whewww!!! How’s that for a mouthful? You get it, don’t you? His promise and covenant to those who receive this gift from God to be able to set aside their family, friends, lands and possessions is that He will restore to them – IN THIS LIFE – all that they walk away from a hundred times over!
It’s really the same thing that Jesus said in Matthew 6:33: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
I’ve said all that to say this: Frank Villa has made it his life’s purpose to promote every opportunity God has directed him to for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear to invest in avenues which provide a financial means to enlarge the Kingdom of God. He and Jan have entered into this covenant with the Lord. It’s the same covenant that Della and I have entered into – hence our great appreciation for Frank and Jan.
Can folks get rich doing this? Sure. But the riches are not for those who just want to have lots of money for themselves. The objective is to ensure that those who are on the frontlines of the Kingdom doing battle with the Enemy and taking back Kingdom territory stolen by Satan have all the resources they need in order to accomplish the mission God has anointed them for.
Remember what I said in one of our last Coffee Breaks? Tremendous opportunities are being given to many to invest in the Gospel of the Kingdom. Those who hear the Word of the Lord and obey every command to invest with their seed sowing and their abundant giving will see their opportunities, their finances and personal resources multiply greatly. This great transfer of wealth into the hands of God’s people, however, is not so they can build a collection of mansions, Rolls Royces or Bentleys (and it’s not that God objects to His people having these things!); the purpose for this great wealth transfer is to capitalize on the moment so that the Kingdom of God expands and multiplies in the earth. Our first priority as believers is to extend the boundaries of the rulership of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.
OK. Time for us to get back to our main discussion. Got a big carafe of some dark-roasted Columbian mixed with some lighter-roasted Swedish coffee sitting on the kitchen counter. Come on by and pour yourself a 16-ouncer as we continue talking about my adventures in Heaven.
It was in the early spring of 1971 after returning from speaking at a Full Gospel Businessmen’s Convention in Phoenix that I dived into a three-week fast. Other than some one-, two- or three-day fasts, I had never really engaged in any fasting to speak of up to this time. Somehow I’d become fixated on the Esther-type of fasting: that’s to say, no food of any kind and no water. I knew Moses had gone twice for 40 days without food or water so it never dawned on me that it took a rhema and an act of God in order to pull off something like that.
“No food and no water” was pretty normal to me and that’s the way I dived into this three-week fast. It wasn’t until I hit the 8th day of the fast that I realized I was in physical trouble. You’ve no idea how rough it is on a person’s constitution to be without water for eight days! It was in my physical weakness that I flipped open my Bible the afternoon of that 8th day. My Bible fell open to the 10th chapter of Daniel. In a split second my conversation with Daniel (20 years before while I was in Heaven) came flooding back and I suddenly knew it was OK to finish out the fast drinking water. Even though Daniel could eat bread on his fast (it just couldn’t be whole bread or sweet bread), I felt restrained from eating any bread.
That fast finished and culminated with the miracle of Eskdale (if you’d like to read that story go to this link – http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal?&=&page_start=540 – and scroll down the page just over halfway. There are three parts to this story.)
Picking up where I left off in our last Coffee Break, my questions to Daniel now centered on his life of prayer, intercession and fasting.
"Where and when did your daily life of prayer and intercession begin," I asked.
"My prayer life began in my youth," he began, "even before we were taken into Babylon. It had become a regular activity for me. While I was still a very young person, my prayer life was resulting in a tangible sense of the presence of the Lord being with me. If daily activities and family affairs interfered for a day or a few days, it soon became clear to me that I was missing out on the immediacy that I experienced with regular and consistent daily prayer."
It was at this moment that he allowed me to see a quick vision of the carrying away into captivity and the long, tiresome and wearying procession. I saw Daniel and his companions as they trudged mile after mile after mile. He also allowed me to see the combination of disappointment and occasional flashes of fear -- a fear of the unknown that lay ahead. At the same time I saw the rising up of hope and determination in him with the knowledge of God's presence. There were flashes of revelation in his spirit that, despite the fact that he was leaving home and all the surroundings he'd known in Judah, he was walking into a destiny that God had purposed for him before he'd ever been born into the House of David.
Daniel now continued his discourse. "During our long trek to Babylon, it became very clear to me that the only way I was going to succeed or prosper in any way in our new and foreign environment was to be constantly in communication and communion with the Lord. I resolved in myself to spend my first waking moments in praise and worship, prayer and intercession and seeking the heart of the Lord for that day. When mid-day came, I wanted to renew and refresh my spirit with His spirit and ensure that my day was completely on track with His plans and purposes.
"When evening came, it didn't matter that I would be asleep during the late hours. I wanted my spirit to be completely in tune with the Lord in such a way that any dreams or visions would be those in which He wanted to reveal more of Himself to me. It was mandatory for me -- a mandate in my spirit from which I could not escape -- that my last waking hour or minutes would be spent in communion with Him."
It was in that moment that I saw what God was doing in me, even at my young age. The very first thing I did each morning when I awoke was to grab my Bible and read. The hunger in me to know the Word was nothing less than voracious. As I read and meditated, there was a place of communion with the Lord that unfolded in the midst of that time. It wasn't a thing where I would grab the Bible, read a few verses or a chapter, put it down and focus on the things that I wanted or needed to do. I enjoyed the presence of the Lord and would read and read and meditate and commune until I heard my Mother call me for breakfast.
The concept of stopping in the middle of the day to read or to pray had not entered my mind or my spirit, but there wasn't a night in which my last activity was to get my Bible and read and read and meditate and commune with the Lord until I fell asleep. In fact, here I was in Heaven, brought here by the Lord while I was doing what I always did: read the Word and meditate on Him before going to sleep.
I realized that the prayer and reading practices of early morning and late evening which had developed -- and my parents readily encouraged -- were very much like that which Daniel lived. Suddenly I related to him in a way that I couldn't put into words, but there was a bond of communication in the realm of the spirit. There was nothing in me at that moment that said my life would unfold like Daniel's life had, nor was there any idea that the Lord would unfold for me that same kind of revelation he experienced.
Daniels' next words to me were almost obvious. I knew where he was coming from.
"Remember Nebuchadnezzar? Remember the dream he had and how when his so-called "wise men, soothsayers and astrologers" couldn't begin to explain or unfold it, he sent forth Arioch, the Captain of the Guard, with an order to kill all his wise men and counselors?"
I interrupted him. "Daniel, how was it that you and Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were incorporated into his wise men? How did you get chosen for that when you were anything but an astrologer or soothsayer or someone who invented connections between the position of the stars or other heavenly bodies and unfolding events?"
Daniel began to laugh. "That's a humorous way of putting things," he said, smiling broadly. "But you are right! Astrology is nothing more than an effort to predict events based on the position and alignment of stars or other heavenly bodies. Those who engage in astrology fail to realize that every constellation was named by God when He created the heavens. The constellations are there as His signs in the heavens so as to confirm His Word -- NOT to predict events in the lives of individuals before they happen.
"Those who seek to use the stars as a means to foretell events or draw personality profiles become the tools and victims of a lying Spirit of Divination because they are not walking and living in a personal relationship with the Lord. Without that place of intimacy and covenant with Him they become subject to lying spirits which purpose to lead them astray, confuse them and sidetrack them so that their focus is not on receiving the life God has for them.
"To answer your question more directly, because we were all of the royal House of David, it was thought that, as members of royalty, we would have had better training, better schooling and -- as a result -- more wisdom and knowledge than the average individual. Add to that the fact that the four of us had an outward manifestation of the Spirit of God upon us which set us apart. Without the king's advisors realizing it, they selected us to become part of the magi because they sensed the Spirit of the Lord God with us; and His Spirit -- all by Himself -- conveys a wisdom and understanding that the natural world does not have."
"Does that make sense to you, my young friend, Regner?" Daniel asked. "Do you understand?"
I nodded my head affirmatively, and he continued the discourse I had interrupted a few minutes earlier.
"Let's get back to my question to you about Nebuchadnezzar's dream and his order to Arioch." When I realized what the king's orders were, namely, to destroy all of the magi because they couldn't tell him what he dreamed, nor give him an interpretation of that dream, I knew immediately in my spirit that the Lord would not only unfold the dream to me, He would also at the same time explain the dream in such a way that I could make the king understand what God was saying."
"God had given me favor with Arioch, the Captain of the King's Guard, so that I was given an opportunity to request time from the king to put the whole matter before the Lord. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were quick to agree with me and we began a time of prayer and intercession and waiting in the presence of the Lord. That same night, God gave me a vision in which he literally put on display for me every facet of the king's dream, along with a full understanding of the events that would follow throughout the centuries to come.
"It was really fascinating to me! It was the first of many like experiences in which the future unfolded in front of me like a scroll. As amazing as it was for Nebuchadnezzar to hear his own forgotten dream read back to him, I was honestly just as amazed to see and hear what the Spirit of the Lord was saying about the kingdoms that would succeed the Babylonian kingdom.
“What it did ultimately was to inspire and compel me towards a life of prayer and intercession more than ever before. Intercession, you see, is more than simply praying intensely over some situation or set of events. Intercession is active participation in bringing to pass the heart's desire and the will of Father God on earth and in the affairs of men. Intercession is what Father God has ordained for us in order that the Kingdom of Heaven and God's rulership be implemented and enforced here."
That last comment sparked a series of questions from me -- and we'll take those up in our next Coffee Break.
Next: HEAVEN XVII: Daniel's Prophecies.
When people are given a glimpse of their individual role in God's destiny, it transforms them and sets them on the course to repentance and the impartation of the Christ-like nature. They see the cause of God and are forever changed and have the joy of their salvation restored. We are seeing that happen now. Strongholds of hopelessness, despair, depression and other oppressive mindsets will be overcome when God's "zoe" life is breathed into an exceedingly great army. -- Paul Keith Davis
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Monday, October 31, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: SPIRITUAL DNA
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: SPIRITUAL DNA
In 1996 I had an extended experience in which I was transported back and forth in time as the Lord showed me His plans and purposes for His people. It took place daily over a roughly three-month span. When I say "transported" I'm not talking about being taken physically -- although it might as well have been because of its impact on me -- but rather taken through portals in the realm of the Spirit. That experience is far too lengthy and too detailed to try and share in its entirety in a forum like this, but the revelations and impartations by the Holy Spirit, and the angelic visitations that accompanied it are still producing new understanding in the core of my being on a daily basis.
Let me lay a little foundation for you to help you understand the context of my adventures in the Spirit.
This series of experiences began while Della and I were visiting in the home of some dear friends -- Beryl & Chester Mjolsness -- in Cochrane, Alberta. Beryl frequently drove, along with another very close friend -- Mary Ellen Olnick from Red Deer -- to Post Falls, Idaho to participate in our extended spontaneous praise and worship gatherings where at the time we were based for ministry. That said, from time to time we had our gatherings in their very spacious log home.
When Chester decided to expand the size of the house and add a 3000 square foot addition for his hunting trophies (he was a widely-traveled and well-known big game hunter), Della and I had the rather unusual opportunity to chink the new logs (putting the insulating filler material between the logs to prevent the outside air from coming through). It resulted in periodic trips back and forth to Cochrane, and Della wound up being Beryl's "go-to" person in getting things done around her house.
It was just one of those trips where I had some real time to spend alone with the Lord while Della was helping Beryl. Sitting at a desk in the guest bedroom where we stayed with my Bible spread out in front of me and a computer to take notes with, a portal between time, space and eternity suddenly opened in front of me. An angel of the Lord stood at the portal and beckoned me. The reality of the moment was stunning to say the least. Not until I had stepped through the portal did I realize that what was taking place was happening in the realm of the Spirit, and not in my fleshly body. It began a series of adventures with the Lord that I am sometimes at a loss to really properly explain. Daily, and sometimes several times a day, the portal opened before me and I walked into a dimension where time and space literally spread out before me like a scroll. I was in eternity.
As I was taken from one place and time to another and permitted (instructed, actually) to carefully watch the events unfolding, some of the things I witnessed were spread out over days and weeks, and yet when I returned to the present only minutes or hours (at most) had passed. It gave me a whole new understanding of just how easy it is for us as committed believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to enact the will of God in this realm. The more I experienced this moving between time and eternity, and eternity and time, the veil that separates these dimensions became more and more transparent.
Remember how Jesus instructed the disciples to pray? "Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven......" (Luke 11:2)
This is not a prayer of request. It is not a prayer of asking God to do it. Neither is it intercession. Read it carefully! It is a prayer, a decree, a declaration which reaches through the veil of time and eternity and brings God's Will into the present.
Now, let's rephrase and amplify this into more modern terms:
"Father, you are not just my Father but rather THE Father of an entire family -- our Father! You dwell in the Heavenlies -- all of them -- and your name (your onoma, your character and makeup, your very essence) is Holy. I worship you, and I declare you to be the essence of the Holy of Holies!
"Because you are Father God, because you are in me and I am in you, and you have adopted me into your family by and through the covenant that was ratified in the Blood of Jesus, you have delegated your authority to me to decree your decrees and commands here on earth in the same way you have already declared and decreed things to be in Heaven. Therefore I command your Kingdom to come here on earth. I declare the rulership of your Kingdom to be in force in this part of the earth you have given me responsibility for....."
Are you getting the drift of this? Nothing -- ABSOLUTELY NOTHING -- in this prayer we so tritely refer to as "The Lord's Prayer" incorporates asking, requesting, begging, or coming to Father with hat in hand!
In case you think I've lost it, let me finish this prayer so you can see and understand what I'm talking about.
"I speak by your authority, Father, and command your Word to come alive in my being to produce both spiritual and physical growth and life -- that same kind of growth and life that comes by eating of Your Son, the Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
"I erase from existence (this is the literal translation of the Greek word, aphiemi, otherwise translated "forgive") the offenses, the hurts, the debts and the sins of all those who have done wickedly against me, and that gives me the legal right and authority in Christ Jesus to declare that my offenses, hurts, debts and sins against you are erased."
"We will not be tempted to do or to say things contrary to Your Will and Your Word, Father, because You have delivered us from all evil and from the Fear of Evil."
Matthew adds more worship to the end of this prayer with the ending, "For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen."
I can see the wheels spinning in your thoughts, so let me quickly explain.
When the disciples came to Jesus and said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray," they weren't using a word which describes everything we think of in our modern society as "prayer." They weren't asking Him to show them how to ask, or beg or necessarily make requests of Father. The word translated in this instance "pray" in the Greek text is the word, proseuchomai. This word occurs within the framework of a covenant relationship in which an intimate relationship and bond have been developed.
The disciples were literally saying to Jesus, "Lord, teach us how to communicate properly with Father so as to enact His covenant will and purposes here." And Jesus responded with a clear and concise answer that would make the veil between this earthly realm and the Heavenlies literally transparent and navigable in the Spirit.
The entire plane of reference Jesus was creating for them was one activated by DNA transformation. Let's go back to the Garden of Eden for a minute.
You need to see something that took place when God breathed into Adam the breath of life. Adam had been formed by the hand of God to be an exact duplicate of Himself -- a physical representation, a visible example of what He looked like and how He operated in the spirit realm. Adam was flesh and bone, but not yet living until the breath of God was breathed into him.
Consider, for a minute, the breath of God. That is the same breath that came forth when the words were spoken, "Light BE! The word used here in the Hebrew text is neshamah, and differs from the ordinary Hebrew word, nashaf, which would describe a puff of wind or breath. Dr. William Gesenius, in his Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, tells us that this word -- neshamah -- literally describes the Spirit of God imparting His life and His wisdom.
Adam -- at least at that moment in time -- was no mortal. He was immortal. (Mortality didn't come until Adam ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and took upon himself a part of the DNA of a doomed being -- the Serpent, Satan -- who was no longer an eternal being.) The DNA of God was in him. He was in the likeness and image of God. The way this is phrased in the Hebrew text is that Adam was an exact replica -- a photographic image, if you will -- a veritable model of the Lord God made by God to His specifications.
It was no miracle that Adam could "name" all of the animals and every living creature that walked upon the face of the earth. This "naming" process was not simply calling the animals, "bear", or "lion", or "elephant", or "hippopotamus", or "giraffe" or anything else like that. Out of Adam's mouth came a rhema -- a direct, creative word -- which caused each animal and each species to have a character, a makeup, a personality, and individual essence with specific likes and dislikes, tastes and cravings of its own. Each animal, each species, was distinct. Its nature was spoken into being -- creatively -- by Adam.
Why? Because Adam had God's DNA. He was like God. He was God's model in flesh and bone here on earth. I've heard several rabbis say that the last phrase of Genesis 2:7 should be read, "and man became a living, speaking spirit."
So why am I emphasizing this? It was never God's intention to create mortal beings. Mortality is not part of His DNA. His objective from the very beginning was to create a family of beings who would be like Him, function like Him, speak like Him, breathe like Him, love like Him and exist like Him eternally -- in other words, they would be compatible with Him. They would be His counterpart, His "other self," if you will.
Sin corrupted that. Though the DNA of God was still at the core of the creation of the human race, the contamination of self-will, rebellion, and (what we've come to call) learning created a divide between God and man. For the Lord to receive His due in His creation meant that only He could bridge that divide. The process by which He did that was unique and nothing less than spectacular!
Because the contamination came through eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and that tree was reserved by God unto Himself (the Holy Portion, if you will, in the Garden), John the Baptist prophesied of Him saying, "And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the tree..."
That tree had to be cut down in the realm of the Spirit so that it could no longer be accessed as a substitute for the knowledge and revelation necessary for our redemption. There had to be the cleansing of the contamination to our DNA, and the restoration of our being into that first image and likeness in which God created us.
When I refer to this as "DNA," you all understand that I'm using this in a metaphorical sense, do you not? We are first and foremost spirit beings. Our physical bodies are only containers to house our spirit and our soul. Our spirits existed with God before we ever came to inhabit these bodies. Whether we experience the "twinkling of an eye" transformation of our physical bodies into bodies that never die or whether we depart from them through death, our spirit and soul will return to the Lord.
Lest anyone misconstrue what I'm saying, the "twinkling of an eye" transformation ONLY applies to born-again, committed believers who walk in an intimate love-relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That also applies to those who depart from these bodies through death and return to the presence of the Lord.
Unbelievers will never experience this. And unbelief is not simply a lack of believing these things: unbelief is an active decision and act of the will to oppose the Word and the Will of God.
Now, let's get to an aspect of spiritual DNA, the revelation of which literally unlocks the door of understanding to our operating as true sons of God, heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.
Let me first bracket a statement that comes from personal conviction, and not one that I can absolutely prove from Scripture -- at least not yet. I do this purposely so that no one thinks I'm promoting this as some "new doctrine." It isn't! It has long been my conviction that Adam and Eve saw through the veil that separates time and eternity. I tend to believe likewise that they had the ability to traverse between dimensions as easily as Father God. I have lots of reasons for believing this, but that's not what this Coffee Break is about so we will leave it there for the time being.
In any event, we know that Jesus certainly crossed time and eternity with ease. He was the "last Adam" who came to undo and remove the curse that impaired our God-created ability to live and function as we were intended -- fellowshipping and operating as the family of God. Think about His DNA for a second. Mary was "with child" by the Holy Spirit. That meant that Jesus had Father's DNA! And He made it crystal clear to all of us that it was His intention to bring us back to that same place where He operated -- and operates!
Jesus spells it out like this: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
That "life" He's talking about is "zoe" life! J.H. Thayer, in his Greek-English Lexicon defines zoe like this: the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God, which -- through Him and through Jesus Christ -- is transfused into human nature.
I've partially paraphrased Thayer and bypassed a fistful of other Greek words in order to simplify this translation. You get the idea, I'm sure. We're not talking about life in the sense of "animal life" which is here today and gone tomorrow. We're talking about the very life and breath of Father God, the same life and breath that Jesus breathed.
And, Folks, Jesus didn't come to dispense this kind of life in dribbles; He came to liberally give it to us, as the Amplified Bible puts it: "to the full till it overflows"! He absolutely intended that our DNA be transformed, changed, "conformed to the image" -- that same image He was in!
The apostle Paul puts it very succinctly in Romans 8:29: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
I've underlined four very pertinent words in this verse which, in the Greek text, make it abundantly clear. Here's how I've rendered this verse from the Greek:
"For those whom He knew and had intimate knowledge of (and relationship with) before they came to be born, He also predetermined and limited in advance so they could be jointly formed and fashioned like unto the very likeness, character and makeup of His Son; because His purpose from the beginning was that He (Jesus Christ) would be the firstborn and first-begotten among a multitude of brothers." (Note: There is no female or male in Christ Jesus because we are all -- once again -- first and foremost "Spirit beings"!)
Am I making sense to you? Are you seeing this picture -- this principle?
Again, Ephesians 1:15-23 says that Jesus is the head of the body, and WE are the body. That makes us part of Him. We are inextricably woven with Him. His DNA is our DNA. You see, folks, as I said in our last Coffee Break we have to get our limitations removed. We have to stop thinking "in the box." Religion and religious thinking keeps us boxed in and prevents us from operating in the fullness of the character, the nature and the makeup of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given Himself for us and to us, and His command is that we go forth IN Him with Him IN US!
I had hoped to talk more about the portal between time and eternity in this discussion, but I think I'll hold it for now and share pieces of it as we resume the Heaven experiences in the next Coffee Break.
"It is God's grace that allows spiritual awakening to recognize the distinction between religious spirits and the Holy Spirit. The religious spirit introduces into the Church the spirit of the world nullifying the grace of God. The views of truth necessary to purify the Church are not such as the world gives, but are such as are communicated by God's Spirit." (Paul Keith Davis)
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
In 1996 I had an extended experience in which I was transported back and forth in time as the Lord showed me His plans and purposes for His people. It took place daily over a roughly three-month span. When I say "transported" I'm not talking about being taken physically -- although it might as well have been because of its impact on me -- but rather taken through portals in the realm of the Spirit. That experience is far too lengthy and too detailed to try and share in its entirety in a forum like this, but the revelations and impartations by the Holy Spirit, and the angelic visitations that accompanied it are still producing new understanding in the core of my being on a daily basis.
Let me lay a little foundation for you to help you understand the context of my adventures in the Spirit.
This series of experiences began while Della and I were visiting in the home of some dear friends -- Beryl & Chester Mjolsness -- in Cochrane, Alberta. Beryl frequently drove, along with another very close friend -- Mary Ellen Olnick from Red Deer -- to Post Falls, Idaho to participate in our extended spontaneous praise and worship gatherings where at the time we were based for ministry. That said, from time to time we had our gatherings in their very spacious log home.
When Chester decided to expand the size of the house and add a 3000 square foot addition for his hunting trophies (he was a widely-traveled and well-known big game hunter), Della and I had the rather unusual opportunity to chink the new logs (putting the insulating filler material between the logs to prevent the outside air from coming through). It resulted in periodic trips back and forth to Cochrane, and Della wound up being Beryl's "go-to" person in getting things done around her house.
It was just one of those trips where I had some real time to spend alone with the Lord while Della was helping Beryl. Sitting at a desk in the guest bedroom where we stayed with my Bible spread out in front of me and a computer to take notes with, a portal between time, space and eternity suddenly opened in front of me. An angel of the Lord stood at the portal and beckoned me. The reality of the moment was stunning to say the least. Not until I had stepped through the portal did I realize that what was taking place was happening in the realm of the Spirit, and not in my fleshly body. It began a series of adventures with the Lord that I am sometimes at a loss to really properly explain. Daily, and sometimes several times a day, the portal opened before me and I walked into a dimension where time and space literally spread out before me like a scroll. I was in eternity.
As I was taken from one place and time to another and permitted (instructed, actually) to carefully watch the events unfolding, some of the things I witnessed were spread out over days and weeks, and yet when I returned to the present only minutes or hours (at most) had passed. It gave me a whole new understanding of just how easy it is for us as committed believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to enact the will of God in this realm. The more I experienced this moving between time and eternity, and eternity and time, the veil that separates these dimensions became more and more transparent.
Remember how Jesus instructed the disciples to pray? "Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven......" (Luke 11:2)
This is not a prayer of request. It is not a prayer of asking God to do it. Neither is it intercession. Read it carefully! It is a prayer, a decree, a declaration which reaches through the veil of time and eternity and brings God's Will into the present.
Now, let's rephrase and amplify this into more modern terms:
"Father, you are not just my Father but rather THE Father of an entire family -- our Father! You dwell in the Heavenlies -- all of them -- and your name (your onoma, your character and makeup, your very essence) is Holy. I worship you, and I declare you to be the essence of the Holy of Holies!
"Because you are Father God, because you are in me and I am in you, and you have adopted me into your family by and through the covenant that was ratified in the Blood of Jesus, you have delegated your authority to me to decree your decrees and commands here on earth in the same way you have already declared and decreed things to be in Heaven. Therefore I command your Kingdom to come here on earth. I declare the rulership of your Kingdom to be in force in this part of the earth you have given me responsibility for....."
Are you getting the drift of this? Nothing -- ABSOLUTELY NOTHING -- in this prayer we so tritely refer to as "The Lord's Prayer" incorporates asking, requesting, begging, or coming to Father with hat in hand!
In case you think I've lost it, let me finish this prayer so you can see and understand what I'm talking about.
"I speak by your authority, Father, and command your Word to come alive in my being to produce both spiritual and physical growth and life -- that same kind of growth and life that comes by eating of Your Son, the Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
"I erase from existence (this is the literal translation of the Greek word, aphiemi, otherwise translated "forgive") the offenses, the hurts, the debts and the sins of all those who have done wickedly against me, and that gives me the legal right and authority in Christ Jesus to declare that my offenses, hurts, debts and sins against you are erased."
"We will not be tempted to do or to say things contrary to Your Will and Your Word, Father, because You have delivered us from all evil and from the Fear of Evil."
Matthew adds more worship to the end of this prayer with the ending, "For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen."
I can see the wheels spinning in your thoughts, so let me quickly explain.
When the disciples came to Jesus and said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray," they weren't using a word which describes everything we think of in our modern society as "prayer." They weren't asking Him to show them how to ask, or beg or necessarily make requests of Father. The word translated in this instance "pray" in the Greek text is the word, proseuchomai. This word occurs within the framework of a covenant relationship in which an intimate relationship and bond have been developed.
The disciples were literally saying to Jesus, "Lord, teach us how to communicate properly with Father so as to enact His covenant will and purposes here." And Jesus responded with a clear and concise answer that would make the veil between this earthly realm and the Heavenlies literally transparent and navigable in the Spirit.
The entire plane of reference Jesus was creating for them was one activated by DNA transformation. Let's go back to the Garden of Eden for a minute.
You need to see something that took place when God breathed into Adam the breath of life. Adam had been formed by the hand of God to be an exact duplicate of Himself -- a physical representation, a visible example of what He looked like and how He operated in the spirit realm. Adam was flesh and bone, but not yet living until the breath of God was breathed into him.
Consider, for a minute, the breath of God. That is the same breath that came forth when the words were spoken, "Light BE! The word used here in the Hebrew text is neshamah, and differs from the ordinary Hebrew word, nashaf, which would describe a puff of wind or breath. Dr. William Gesenius, in his Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, tells us that this word -- neshamah -- literally describes the Spirit of God imparting His life and His wisdom.
Adam -- at least at that moment in time -- was no mortal. He was immortal. (Mortality didn't come until Adam ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and took upon himself a part of the DNA of a doomed being -- the Serpent, Satan -- who was no longer an eternal being.) The DNA of God was in him. He was in the likeness and image of God. The way this is phrased in the Hebrew text is that Adam was an exact replica -- a photographic image, if you will -- a veritable model of the Lord God made by God to His specifications.
It was no miracle that Adam could "name" all of the animals and every living creature that walked upon the face of the earth. This "naming" process was not simply calling the animals, "bear", or "lion", or "elephant", or "hippopotamus", or "giraffe" or anything else like that. Out of Adam's mouth came a rhema -- a direct, creative word -- which caused each animal and each species to have a character, a makeup, a personality, and individual essence with specific likes and dislikes, tastes and cravings of its own. Each animal, each species, was distinct. Its nature was spoken into being -- creatively -- by Adam.
Why? Because Adam had God's DNA. He was like God. He was God's model in flesh and bone here on earth. I've heard several rabbis say that the last phrase of Genesis 2:7 should be read, "and man became a living, speaking spirit."
So why am I emphasizing this? It was never God's intention to create mortal beings. Mortality is not part of His DNA. His objective from the very beginning was to create a family of beings who would be like Him, function like Him, speak like Him, breathe like Him, love like Him and exist like Him eternally -- in other words, they would be compatible with Him. They would be His counterpart, His "other self," if you will.
Sin corrupted that. Though the DNA of God was still at the core of the creation of the human race, the contamination of self-will, rebellion, and (what we've come to call) learning created a divide between God and man. For the Lord to receive His due in His creation meant that only He could bridge that divide. The process by which He did that was unique and nothing less than spectacular!
Because the contamination came through eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and that tree was reserved by God unto Himself (the Holy Portion, if you will, in the Garden), John the Baptist prophesied of Him saying, "And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the tree..."
That tree had to be cut down in the realm of the Spirit so that it could no longer be accessed as a substitute for the knowledge and revelation necessary for our redemption. There had to be the cleansing of the contamination to our DNA, and the restoration of our being into that first image and likeness in which God created us.
When I refer to this as "DNA," you all understand that I'm using this in a metaphorical sense, do you not? We are first and foremost spirit beings. Our physical bodies are only containers to house our spirit and our soul. Our spirits existed with God before we ever came to inhabit these bodies. Whether we experience the "twinkling of an eye" transformation of our physical bodies into bodies that never die or whether we depart from them through death, our spirit and soul will return to the Lord.
Lest anyone misconstrue what I'm saying, the "twinkling of an eye" transformation ONLY applies to born-again, committed believers who walk in an intimate love-relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That also applies to those who depart from these bodies through death and return to the presence of the Lord.
Unbelievers will never experience this. And unbelief is not simply a lack of believing these things: unbelief is an active decision and act of the will to oppose the Word and the Will of God.
Now, let's get to an aspect of spiritual DNA, the revelation of which literally unlocks the door of understanding to our operating as true sons of God, heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.
Let me first bracket a statement that comes from personal conviction, and not one that I can absolutely prove from Scripture -- at least not yet. I do this purposely so that no one thinks I'm promoting this as some "new doctrine." It isn't! It has long been my conviction that Adam and Eve saw through the veil that separates time and eternity. I tend to believe likewise that they had the ability to traverse between dimensions as easily as Father God. I have lots of reasons for believing this, but that's not what this Coffee Break is about so we will leave it there for the time being.
In any event, we know that Jesus certainly crossed time and eternity with ease. He was the "last Adam" who came to undo and remove the curse that impaired our God-created ability to live and function as we were intended -- fellowshipping and operating as the family of God. Think about His DNA for a second. Mary was "with child" by the Holy Spirit. That meant that Jesus had Father's DNA! And He made it crystal clear to all of us that it was His intention to bring us back to that same place where He operated -- and operates!
Jesus spells it out like this: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
That "life" He's talking about is "zoe" life! J.H. Thayer, in his Greek-English Lexicon defines zoe like this: the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God, which -- through Him and through Jesus Christ -- is transfused into human nature.
I've partially paraphrased Thayer and bypassed a fistful of other Greek words in order to simplify this translation. You get the idea, I'm sure. We're not talking about life in the sense of "animal life" which is here today and gone tomorrow. We're talking about the very life and breath of Father God, the same life and breath that Jesus breathed.
And, Folks, Jesus didn't come to dispense this kind of life in dribbles; He came to liberally give it to us, as the Amplified Bible puts it: "to the full till it overflows"! He absolutely intended that our DNA be transformed, changed, "conformed to the image" -- that same image He was in!
The apostle Paul puts it very succinctly in Romans 8:29: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
I've underlined four very pertinent words in this verse which, in the Greek text, make it abundantly clear. Here's how I've rendered this verse from the Greek:
"For those whom He knew and had intimate knowledge of (and relationship with) before they came to be born, He also predetermined and limited in advance so they could be jointly formed and fashioned like unto the very likeness, character and makeup of His Son; because His purpose from the beginning was that He (Jesus Christ) would be the firstborn and first-begotten among a multitude of brothers." (Note: There is no female or male in Christ Jesus because we are all -- once again -- first and foremost "Spirit beings"!)
Am I making sense to you? Are you seeing this picture -- this principle?
Again, Ephesians 1:15-23 says that Jesus is the head of the body, and WE are the body. That makes us part of Him. We are inextricably woven with Him. His DNA is our DNA. You see, folks, as I said in our last Coffee Break we have to get our limitations removed. We have to stop thinking "in the box." Religion and religious thinking keeps us boxed in and prevents us from operating in the fullness of the character, the nature and the makeup of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given Himself for us and to us, and His command is that we go forth IN Him with Him IN US!
I had hoped to talk more about the portal between time and eternity in this discussion, but I think I'll hold it for now and share pieces of it as we resume the Heaven experiences in the next Coffee Break.
"It is God's grace that allows spiritual awakening to recognize the distinction between religious spirits and the Holy Spirit. The religious spirit introduces into the Church the spirit of the world nullifying the grace of God. The views of truth necessary to purify the Church are not such as the world gives, but are such as are communicated by God's Spirit." (Paul Keith Davis)
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: LIMITATIONS
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: LIMITATIONS
Della has been working during the past few months at a home for developmentally handicapped (reduced mental faculties) people. These are folks, some of whom have the development of a six or seven-year-old, and a few with perhaps teen or pre-teen mental states who are in their 40's and 50's. It has been a real education for both of us. What has been evident is that in each case there is clear demonic activity with a couple of very severe cases that have a proclivity for violence.
Several weeks ago, she began taking her Bible with her, bringing some of the residents of the home out to a quiet place in the back yard and reading and praying with them. The spiritual impact of that one act alone was nothing less than dramatic. Now, each day when she arrives, she is greeted with, "Are we going to read out Bibles now?" or some similar question.
There are a couple of residents who have been easily triggered into screaming rampages or violent outbursts. With these folks, Della has begun praying with them each day and getting them to follow her in prayer, repeating after her something like the following: "Father, in the name of Jesus, I take authority over my mind and my thoughts. I place them under submission to you. I receive a Spirit of Peace in my being and I submit myself to you. Restore my mind. Restore my brain. Restore me so that I can achieve the destiny you have planned for me. I declare this in the name of Jesus. Amen."
To say that it has had an effect in them is an understatement. It gives a whole new dimension to the power and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ that we can release with the words that come out of our mouths.
Obviously, Della isn't there in this group home every day, but other health workers in the home have seen what a difference this is making and they are picking up on it. With one resident in particular who is still easily distracted and set off, some of the health workers immediately stop this individual and initiate a declaration similar to the following: "I am at peace. Those are not my thoughts and I command them to leave now in the name of Jesus."
Without fail, it works! It gives an added dimension of understanding to what Paul wrote in II Corinthians 10:4-5, which reads: "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
Folks, we need to wake up and realize that we tend to operate with limitations placed upon ourselves by our own minds, our thoughts, and by a demonic predisposition Satan takes advantage of when he sees the open door. We've got to get out of our mental boxes and discard the limitations of religion, religious doctrines, the traditions of men and the demonic restrictions we've allowed as a result.
Notice that I listed "demonic restrictions" last in this list. Satan has no power over us that we don't give him; and we open doors of opportunity for his ingress into our lives by our thoughts and our failure to "bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." I can't tell you how often I've heard (and continue to hear) people blame God for their state or for the misery they are in. It isn't His fault: it's ours for not believing and acting upon the authority given to us by virtue of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
That's not to say that we won't still experience mishap and difficulty: we do and we will. Jesus made the statement, AND the promise, "In the world ye shall have tribulation(thlipsis: pressure, heavy burdens, anguish, persecution): but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
Hmmmm.... Looks like I just kind of dived in and forgot to say Good Morning to y'all! GOOOODDD MORRRNNNIIIINNNG !!! This is the best day of your life! Sure it is!
While we're still on the topic of dealing with emotionally and mentally handicapped or disadvantaged people, let me tell you about a remarkable event unfolding with our daughter, Rebekah. Like her mother, she works in a home dealing with some developmentally disabled or handicapped people. One of her charges is a young man who is in his late twenties. Several weeks ago she called us quite disturbed because the young man in question was waking up in the morning with what appeared to be bite marks and scratches all over his back. The injuries were clear and unmistakable. The other health workers in the home simply dismissed it as his having nightmares, sleep-walking and injuring himself in the process.
Rebekah has seen enough with our ministry throughout the years to know better and she called to ask what she could do about it. We told her to first document each instance, and if possible to get the agency responsible for the home to install a night-vision camera in the young man's room. The agency refused the request so Rebekah decided to do what she's seen us do and what we have challenged her to do in years gone by.
The young man in question has been greatly tormented for years, and yet he is -- and has been -- a Bible-believing Christian. Rebekah took him to some scriptures to show him how Jesus dealt with these issues, and made it clear to him that she felt he was dealing with evil spirits. He had grown up in a home where he was taught that Christians couldn't be tormented by evil spirits. It's a nice religious doctrine that pacifies a lot of folks and makes them feel good momentarily, but it doesn't get them the help they need, or the deliverance that Jesus paid for on their behalf.
After showing him some pertinent scriptures, Rebekah recommended that he pray with her and take authority over the evil spirits that had been tormenting him and command them to leave him in Jesus' name. He did so immediately.
We've shared with Rebekah the event that happened with Smith Wigglesworth many years ago (and a similar thing happened to Kenneth Hagin) in which he awoke one morning early to see Satan standing over him. Smith Wigglesworth looked up at him and said, "Ohh! It's only you," and turned over in his bed and went back to sleep.
Rebekah shared this with the young man and told him that he could do the same thing. Other than that, she said, "Just tell the demon or Satan to get out of your room and leave you alone in the name of Jesus."
A couple of nights later, that's exactly what happened. The young man woke up feeling pain in his back and turned over to see a demon standing there with his fingers dug into his back. He yelled at him, "Get out of here in the name of Jesus, and don't come back!" The young man was quick to tell Rebekah about it the next morning, and he was ecstatic! "It worked! It worked! Satan left me alone! He stopped scratching and biting me and left."
But that's not the end of the story. This happened more than two weeks ago, and the young man has been able to have a complete night's rest every night since, and the demon has not returned. That's not to say that Satan has given up on the young man yet, but he has had his first taste of Jesus' authority being operational in him and it is making a radical change in his whole makeup.
It's a funny thing! When folks begin to really taste of the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ operating in them, it alters their whole outlook on things. The fear which has been so resident and controlling in their lives begins to dissipate -- and if there is one common denominator in the developmentally disabled, it is FEAR! Once that fear begins to leave, their ability to reason returns or begins to develop the way God designed for them.
Kenneth Hagin used to tell the story of how he was urged to go and see a young woman in a mental asylum. This lady was locked in a padded cell, and had been there for many months. The Holy Spirit directed him to read to her from the Scriptures, pray over her -- and tell her every single day that Jesus loved her, and he did too. For one solid year he did this as the Holy Spirit instructed him. In that year, the woman's whole demeanor changed. She was transferred from the padded cell to the general population of the institution.
When Kenneth Hagin's year was up and the Holy Spirit said to him, "You're through. You've done all that is needed," he went his way and as time went by stopped thinking about the lady. Several years passed and one day he received a phone call from a lady who asked him to come to her place of business.
When he walked into the place, a well-dressed and elegant woman rose from her desk and shook his hand. "Brother Hagin, do you remember me?" she asked. He looked at her and confessed that he did not. "I was that woman in the padded cell in the insane asylum that you ministered to for a solid year."
She proceeded to tell him how she had grown up in the midst of extreme physical abuse and how it had driven her over the edge until she completely lost her sanity. During her growing up years she had been prevented from attending school and had no education whatever. She thus lacked any people skills and any ability to cope with her environment. When she was locked away, everyone gave her up totally considering that she would be institutionalized for the rest of her life.
Hearing the Word day after day, hearing the prayers, the declarations and prophetic decrees over her, and hearing that Jesus loved her (and Kenneth did too) slowly but surely brought her back to sanity. She learned to read by reading the Bible. In due time she was released from the insane asylum as completely sane and emotionally stable. In the years that followed she learned math and became financially proficient, eventually forming her own business. Her company became one of Texas' major trucking and transportation companies, and she became a pillar of society. More than that, she became a living, breathing testimony of how the love of Jesus transforms and restores an individual thought completely lost to society.
Are you beginning to get the drift in these events? These are miracles that are happening "outside the box." They go past the mental limitations -- the religious limitations -- that we tend to put on ourselves or allow Satan to trip us with.
How often have you heard someone say, "Oh, I can't do that!! That's for someone a whole lot more "spiritual" than me." Or maybe it came out like this: "I just don't have the faith for something like that."
Something like WHAT? Something that Jesus did? Something that He commanded us to do? Since when is it OUR faith that accomplishes it?
Jesus put it like this: "Have the faith of God." (Mark 11:22) Our KJV renders it, "Have faith in God," but that's not how the actual Greek text reads. OK, so if we are commanded to have God's faith, how do we get there?
Again, Jesus didn't leave us without clear and unmistakable answers. Consider how the apostle Paul put it in Romans 10:8: "The word (rhema: direct, spoken and uttered word) is near you, in your mouth and in your heart -- that is, the word (rhema: direct, spoken out loud word) of faith which we are preaching." (NASB)
Again Paul writes in the same place, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema: direct, spoken out loud word) of God." (Romans 10:17)
Get it? We hear Him speak it inside ourselves. It may be quiet, it may be nothing more than a prompt, it might even be a whisper, but it is still something we hear. He doesn't shout it, He simply speaks it into us.
It becomes alive and active once we put wind to what we hear -- that is to say, it comes forth from our vocal cords in agreement with what the Lord is speaking in our spirit.
What happens, then, when we hear that prompting inside and respond to it by speaking what we hear is that we see tangible results -- the kind of results that Della has seen with the people she's working with, the kind of results that Rebekah has been seeing, the kind of results that Kenneth Hagin saw when he responded to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and spent that year reading and praying and speaking to that woman in the institution.
Roughly three months ago while gathered for prayer with a group of local pastors and church leaders, one of the men shared a prayer request for his granddaughter who was struggling with epileptic seizures. He had requested prayer for her a couple of times previously and we had all prayed our usual prayers of agreement for her healing and deliverance both times.
This time was different. As he shared how she was being battered about by the Enemy and the number of seizures was increasing dramatically, anger against the Enemy rose up in me in a way that's hard to put into words. There was a passion that came out of the core of my being. The Word of the Lord spontaneously came out of my mouth and I began to decree and declare the Word of deliverance for this young woman. I commanded that spirit to loose her from that moment forth and declared her complete healing and restoration from any physical or mental or emotional damage done to her on the basis of I Peter 2:24.
Her deliverance, her healing and her restoration were already paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ and He deserved to get from her what He paid for! Now bear in mind that this young woman is not someone I've ever met -- and still haven't to this day. She was many miles distant from our gathering.
Though I did not quote this particular Scripture, it is one that has come to mind more often in recent weeks and months than at any time previously, namely, "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." (Psalm 107:20)
Jesus fulfilled that prophecy on several occasions. I remind you of the Centurion who said to Jesus, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." (Matthew 8:8)
Jesus did so. He sent His Word and the Centurion's servant was healed instantly.
The same thing happened when the Word of the Lord -- a rhema -- came out of my mouth. That was three-plus months ago, and the young woman has never had a seizure since. She was healed and completely delivered from those epileptic attacks.
One of the problems we all have as Christians is that we tend to think that this will work for someone else -- and it certainly worked for Jesus -- but "we're just not Jesus!"
Bahh!! Humbug!! Talk about a lie of the Enemy! Let's see, the last time I looked, God's Word hadn't changed. Last time I checked, Ephesians 1:15-23 still says that Jesus is the head of the body, and WE are the body. That makes us part of Him. We are inextricably woven with Him. His DNA is our DNA. (And I'll talk about that more in our next Coffee Break.)
You see, folks, we have to get our limitations removed. We have to stop thinking "in the box." Religion and religious thinking keeps us boxed in and prevents us from operating in the fullness of the character, the nature and the makeup of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given Himself for us and to us, and His command is that we go forth IN Him with Him IN US!
More on this topic in our next Coffee Break.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Della has been working during the past few months at a home for developmentally handicapped (reduced mental faculties) people. These are folks, some of whom have the development of a six or seven-year-old, and a few with perhaps teen or pre-teen mental states who are in their 40's and 50's. It has been a real education for both of us. What has been evident is that in each case there is clear demonic activity with a couple of very severe cases that have a proclivity for violence.
Several weeks ago, she began taking her Bible with her, bringing some of the residents of the home out to a quiet place in the back yard and reading and praying with them. The spiritual impact of that one act alone was nothing less than dramatic. Now, each day when she arrives, she is greeted with, "Are we going to read out Bibles now?" or some similar question.
There are a couple of residents who have been easily triggered into screaming rampages or violent outbursts. With these folks, Della has begun praying with them each day and getting them to follow her in prayer, repeating after her something like the following: "Father, in the name of Jesus, I take authority over my mind and my thoughts. I place them under submission to you. I receive a Spirit of Peace in my being and I submit myself to you. Restore my mind. Restore my brain. Restore me so that I can achieve the destiny you have planned for me. I declare this in the name of Jesus. Amen."
To say that it has had an effect in them is an understatement. It gives a whole new dimension to the power and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ that we can release with the words that come out of our mouths.
Obviously, Della isn't there in this group home every day, but other health workers in the home have seen what a difference this is making and they are picking up on it. With one resident in particular who is still easily distracted and set off, some of the health workers immediately stop this individual and initiate a declaration similar to the following: "I am at peace. Those are not my thoughts and I command them to leave now in the name of Jesus."
Without fail, it works! It gives an added dimension of understanding to what Paul wrote in II Corinthians 10:4-5, which reads: "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
Folks, we need to wake up and realize that we tend to operate with limitations placed upon ourselves by our own minds, our thoughts, and by a demonic predisposition Satan takes advantage of when he sees the open door. We've got to get out of our mental boxes and discard the limitations of religion, religious doctrines, the traditions of men and the demonic restrictions we've allowed as a result.
Notice that I listed "demonic restrictions" last in this list. Satan has no power over us that we don't give him; and we open doors of opportunity for his ingress into our lives by our thoughts and our failure to "bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." I can't tell you how often I've heard (and continue to hear) people blame God for their state or for the misery they are in. It isn't His fault: it's ours for not believing and acting upon the authority given to us by virtue of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
That's not to say that we won't still experience mishap and difficulty: we do and we will. Jesus made the statement, AND the promise, "In the world ye shall have tribulation(thlipsis: pressure, heavy burdens, anguish, persecution): but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
Hmmmm.... Looks like I just kind of dived in and forgot to say Good Morning to y'all! GOOOODDD MORRRNNNIIIINNNG !!! This is the best day of your life! Sure it is!
While we're still on the topic of dealing with emotionally and mentally handicapped or disadvantaged people, let me tell you about a remarkable event unfolding with our daughter, Rebekah. Like her mother, she works in a home dealing with some developmentally disabled or handicapped people. One of her charges is a young man who is in his late twenties. Several weeks ago she called us quite disturbed because the young man in question was waking up in the morning with what appeared to be bite marks and scratches all over his back. The injuries were clear and unmistakable. The other health workers in the home simply dismissed it as his having nightmares, sleep-walking and injuring himself in the process.
Rebekah has seen enough with our ministry throughout the years to know better and she called to ask what she could do about it. We told her to first document each instance, and if possible to get the agency responsible for the home to install a night-vision camera in the young man's room. The agency refused the request so Rebekah decided to do what she's seen us do and what we have challenged her to do in years gone by.
The young man in question has been greatly tormented for years, and yet he is -- and has been -- a Bible-believing Christian. Rebekah took him to some scriptures to show him how Jesus dealt with these issues, and made it clear to him that she felt he was dealing with evil spirits. He had grown up in a home where he was taught that Christians couldn't be tormented by evil spirits. It's a nice religious doctrine that pacifies a lot of folks and makes them feel good momentarily, but it doesn't get them the help they need, or the deliverance that Jesus paid for on their behalf.
After showing him some pertinent scriptures, Rebekah recommended that he pray with her and take authority over the evil spirits that had been tormenting him and command them to leave him in Jesus' name. He did so immediately.
We've shared with Rebekah the event that happened with Smith Wigglesworth many years ago (and a similar thing happened to Kenneth Hagin) in which he awoke one morning early to see Satan standing over him. Smith Wigglesworth looked up at him and said, "Ohh! It's only you," and turned over in his bed and went back to sleep.
Rebekah shared this with the young man and told him that he could do the same thing. Other than that, she said, "Just tell the demon or Satan to get out of your room and leave you alone in the name of Jesus."
A couple of nights later, that's exactly what happened. The young man woke up feeling pain in his back and turned over to see a demon standing there with his fingers dug into his back. He yelled at him, "Get out of here in the name of Jesus, and don't come back!" The young man was quick to tell Rebekah about it the next morning, and he was ecstatic! "It worked! It worked! Satan left me alone! He stopped scratching and biting me and left."
But that's not the end of the story. This happened more than two weeks ago, and the young man has been able to have a complete night's rest every night since, and the demon has not returned. That's not to say that Satan has given up on the young man yet, but he has had his first taste of Jesus' authority being operational in him and it is making a radical change in his whole makeup.
It's a funny thing! When folks begin to really taste of the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ operating in them, it alters their whole outlook on things. The fear which has been so resident and controlling in their lives begins to dissipate -- and if there is one common denominator in the developmentally disabled, it is FEAR! Once that fear begins to leave, their ability to reason returns or begins to develop the way God designed for them.
Kenneth Hagin used to tell the story of how he was urged to go and see a young woman in a mental asylum. This lady was locked in a padded cell, and had been there for many months. The Holy Spirit directed him to read to her from the Scriptures, pray over her -- and tell her every single day that Jesus loved her, and he did too. For one solid year he did this as the Holy Spirit instructed him. In that year, the woman's whole demeanor changed. She was transferred from the padded cell to the general population of the institution.
When Kenneth Hagin's year was up and the Holy Spirit said to him, "You're through. You've done all that is needed," he went his way and as time went by stopped thinking about the lady. Several years passed and one day he received a phone call from a lady who asked him to come to her place of business.
When he walked into the place, a well-dressed and elegant woman rose from her desk and shook his hand. "Brother Hagin, do you remember me?" she asked. He looked at her and confessed that he did not. "I was that woman in the padded cell in the insane asylum that you ministered to for a solid year."
She proceeded to tell him how she had grown up in the midst of extreme physical abuse and how it had driven her over the edge until she completely lost her sanity. During her growing up years she had been prevented from attending school and had no education whatever. She thus lacked any people skills and any ability to cope with her environment. When she was locked away, everyone gave her up totally considering that she would be institutionalized for the rest of her life.
Hearing the Word day after day, hearing the prayers, the declarations and prophetic decrees over her, and hearing that Jesus loved her (and Kenneth did too) slowly but surely brought her back to sanity. She learned to read by reading the Bible. In due time she was released from the insane asylum as completely sane and emotionally stable. In the years that followed she learned math and became financially proficient, eventually forming her own business. Her company became one of Texas' major trucking and transportation companies, and she became a pillar of society. More than that, she became a living, breathing testimony of how the love of Jesus transforms and restores an individual thought completely lost to society.
Are you beginning to get the drift in these events? These are miracles that are happening "outside the box." They go past the mental limitations -- the religious limitations -- that we tend to put on ourselves or allow Satan to trip us with.
How often have you heard someone say, "Oh, I can't do that!! That's for someone a whole lot more "spiritual" than me." Or maybe it came out like this: "I just don't have the faith for something like that."
Something like WHAT? Something that Jesus did? Something that He commanded us to do? Since when is it OUR faith that accomplishes it?
Jesus put it like this: "Have the faith of God." (Mark 11:22) Our KJV renders it, "Have faith in God," but that's not how the actual Greek text reads. OK, so if we are commanded to have God's faith, how do we get there?
Again, Jesus didn't leave us without clear and unmistakable answers. Consider how the apostle Paul put it in Romans 10:8: "The word (rhema: direct, spoken and uttered word) is near you, in your mouth and in your heart -- that is, the word (rhema: direct, spoken out loud word) of faith which we are preaching." (NASB)
Again Paul writes in the same place, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema: direct, spoken out loud word) of God." (Romans 10:17)
Get it? We hear Him speak it inside ourselves. It may be quiet, it may be nothing more than a prompt, it might even be a whisper, but it is still something we hear. He doesn't shout it, He simply speaks it into us.
It becomes alive and active once we put wind to what we hear -- that is to say, it comes forth from our vocal cords in agreement with what the Lord is speaking in our spirit.
What happens, then, when we hear that prompting inside and respond to it by speaking what we hear is that we see tangible results -- the kind of results that Della has seen with the people she's working with, the kind of results that Rebekah has been seeing, the kind of results that Kenneth Hagin saw when he responded to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and spent that year reading and praying and speaking to that woman in the institution.
Roughly three months ago while gathered for prayer with a group of local pastors and church leaders, one of the men shared a prayer request for his granddaughter who was struggling with epileptic seizures. He had requested prayer for her a couple of times previously and we had all prayed our usual prayers of agreement for her healing and deliverance both times.
This time was different. As he shared how she was being battered about by the Enemy and the number of seizures was increasing dramatically, anger against the Enemy rose up in me in a way that's hard to put into words. There was a passion that came out of the core of my being. The Word of the Lord spontaneously came out of my mouth and I began to decree and declare the Word of deliverance for this young woman. I commanded that spirit to loose her from that moment forth and declared her complete healing and restoration from any physical or mental or emotional damage done to her on the basis of I Peter 2:24.
Her deliverance, her healing and her restoration were already paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ and He deserved to get from her what He paid for! Now bear in mind that this young woman is not someone I've ever met -- and still haven't to this day. She was many miles distant from our gathering.
Though I did not quote this particular Scripture, it is one that has come to mind more often in recent weeks and months than at any time previously, namely, "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." (Psalm 107:20)
Jesus fulfilled that prophecy on several occasions. I remind you of the Centurion who said to Jesus, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." (Matthew 8:8)
Jesus did so. He sent His Word and the Centurion's servant was healed instantly.
The same thing happened when the Word of the Lord -- a rhema -- came out of my mouth. That was three-plus months ago, and the young woman has never had a seizure since. She was healed and completely delivered from those epileptic attacks.
One of the problems we all have as Christians is that we tend to think that this will work for someone else -- and it certainly worked for Jesus -- but "we're just not Jesus!"
Bahh!! Humbug!! Talk about a lie of the Enemy! Let's see, the last time I looked, God's Word hadn't changed. Last time I checked, Ephesians 1:15-23 still says that Jesus is the head of the body, and WE are the body. That makes us part of Him. We are inextricably woven with Him. His DNA is our DNA. (And I'll talk about that more in our next Coffee Break.)
You see, folks, we have to get our limitations removed. We have to stop thinking "in the box." Religion and religious thinking keeps us boxed in and prevents us from operating in the fullness of the character, the nature and the makeup of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given Himself for us and to us, and His command is that we go forth IN Him with Him IN US!
More on this topic in our next Coffee Break.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Friday, September 16, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: KNOW WHAT YOU BELIEVE !!
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: KNOW WHAT YOU BELIEVE !!
Greetings to all of you, and Blessings!
The past six-plus weeks since I last posted a Coffee Break have been eventful to say the least. Della and I were gone to a prophetic conference in Canada for nearly three weeks. When we got back, Della was asked to lead the memorial service for her uncle who had just passed away.
No sooner had that taken place when the sewer pipe to our upstairs bathroom decided to let loose and pour sewage down through the wall and ceiling of the dining room below. Our insurance company was slow in getting someone to come out and clean things up and dry out all of the water-soaked areas so -- being a carpenter (having helped my father build six of his seven churches) and skilled in most of the building trades -- I dived into (ummm....that might be the wrong term) the project and started tearing out the upstairs bathroom. Having done that, I began taking apart the ceiling in the dining room to let it air out.
Wrong move! Ever taken a shower in the sewer? I don't recommend it. Everything rained down on me. I want you to know I didn't waste any time afterwards in getting into a real shower and getting all that gunk off me. It was funny, but not funny if you know what I mean.
When the water remediation folks showed up to start drying things out with their equipment, all the fans and dehumidifiers caused the breakers to kick in the electrical panel -- twice in a row. My main computer was on when the breakers kicked and then came back on.
Even though I have a RAID array for safety's sake, it still took out the boot sector to my hard drives, and I was offline for days. The folks at Dell sent a technician with a pair of new drives to replace the bad ones, but it still took days to rebuild the RAID arrays with all of my backup data and get my system restored. Good thing I had everything backed up or I'd have been a sunk duck!
The fun continues as we wait for the restoration process to be complete. It's a pretty good spiritual illustration. You think things are taken care of in your life and you're crusin' along with the Lord; and all of a sudden something breaks and a whole lot of sewage comes out that you were not prepared for. Think maybe the Lord just might be permitting all of this to happen so that real cleaning, repair and restoration can take place? Yup. I think so.
Well, I thought I'd be able to get back to my experiences in Heaven, but that's going to wait a little longer. There are some things that need some immediate attention and there is a priority in the realm of the Spirit to cover these things. I'll get back to my experiences in Heaven in due time -- and I may yet do one more piece on Israel.
During the past month or so, participating in a conference with Chuck Pierce, Paul Keith Davis, Joshua Mills and Charlie Robinson -- not to mention the conference in Lancaster, California with Paul Keith, Neville Johnson and Sadhu Sundhar Selvaraj -- we've seen a consistency and a continuity of the message of the Holy Spirit to the Bride of Christ today. No matter where you turn, the Word of the Lord is the same.
The Holy Spirit is after a people who are more in pursuit of the indwelling presence of the Lord in His fullness with the accompanying manifestation of the greater works that Jesus promised -- more in pursuit of Him than they are in pursuit of their pet doctrines.
That may seem like a strange thing to say so let me be clear. I'll make it personal so no one takes offense or thinks I'm pointing fingers. There are lots of things that I believe. There are many things I have experienced in a lifelong walk with the Lord. But -- and here's the catch -- there are many things that I know, not just because I've experienced certain things, not because I've studied and researched and done a lot of academic pursuit of knowledge, (and I do love Biblical history!) but because they have been revealed by the Holy Spirit in my inner man.
If that sounds self-serving, it isn't meant to be. Here's how the angel of the Lord put it to John: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." (Revelation 2:17)
"Hidden manna" is something that comes by revelation -- not by study and research and careful calculation. There's a huge difference between "doctrines" and revelation. I grew up in traditional Pentecostal circles with a lot of "doctrines" being taught -- and a lot of those doctrines were predicated in study, research, mathematical calculations or even some personal experiences -- but they didn't produce the kind of inner life that the Holy Spirit is looking for in us.
Once again, let me repeat: there are lots of things that I believe. But believing is a whole lot different from knowing! Again, let me build some fences around what I'm saying. Let me give you some examples.
I know that Jesus is coming soon. How do I know that? First, because He says so in His Word. Secondly, because I've had personal visitations from the Lord, along with angelic visitations to specifically confirm that fact. My knowing is based in a combination of the Word -- and if it isn't in the Word, you'd better really consider what you think you know -- and in that which has been revealed by the Holy Spirit.
Now, watch!
I believe that we only have a few years before Jesus comes. I don't believe He will come this year, or next, or even the next year after that. Why? Because that isn't what the message of the Holy Spirit is in the body of Christ today. That doesn't mean I'm right -- and no one would rejoice any more than me if I were wrong -- but here's why I take that position. Consider what John wrote as he closed out the Revelation.
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17)
The Bride of Christ is not saying, "Come, Lord Jesus." The Holy Spirit is not saying, "Come, Lord Jesus." What the Spirit and the Bride are saying is this: "Get the spots and wrinkles out of your garments, people! Make yourself ready to receive Him."
Consider these two scriptures: (1) (Ephesians 5:25-27) "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (2) Revelation 19:7-8) "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."
If there is any message being trumpeted by the true prophets in the body of Christ today, this is it: Invite the Spirit of Judgment and Burning into your life to cleanse every last vestige of religion, every last vestige of flesh, every last vestige of sin or error of any kind! Make yourself ready so that Jesus truly receives the inheritance He paid for with His blood!
In Paul's instruction in the letter to Ephesus, he precedes his statement about the Lord giving Himself with a command to husbands to love their wives in the same way that Jesus gave Himself for His Bride. While Paul is speaking to husbands and wives, he does make it clear that Jesus gave Himself totally, completely and without reservation in order to redeem for Himself that people He designed for Himself before time began.
For Jesus to truly receive His inheritance in His people, they likewise must give themselves totally and unreservedly to Him -- no matter the cost -- so that His Glory can be seen in them, so that His presence will be seen, and so that all that He is will be demonstrated and manifested in the earth.
Sorry to have spent so much time on this topic. There's a whole lot more here to talk about -- and maybe in the future I can do a specific Coffee Break on the coming of the Lord -- but that's not what this discussion is all about today. What I'm getting at is that -- because of the above Scriptures -- I believe there are some things absolutely necessary to be accomplished in the Bride of Christ before Jesus can come. Understand?
What I believe is a bit different from what I know. I don't know the day or the hour that Jesus will come, and I refuse to speculate on it or guess at it. There is an alert that takes place in the realm of the Spirit for those who are prepared and there's no guesswork to that alert.
There are times and seasons in God, and we certainly know the season of Jesus' return. And it is important for us to know the times and the seasons. That said, my objective is to allow the Holy Spirit to do whatever it takes in me so that when the Lord Jesus Christ does return, He can receive in me everything He paid for. Am I clear?
One more clarification on this topic so there is no misunderstanding. I was awakened a couple of years ago early one morning with the audible voice of the angel of the Lord speaking. I sat up straight in bed when I heard it. He said to me, "You have no idea how soon the return of the Lord Jesus Christ really is!" Now there's an attention getter!
There is an alert that has gone forth in the earth today, but that alert is somewhat akin to the parable that Jesus gave in Matthew 25. The virgins (representing those who had their garments clean and spotless) were first made aware that the Bridegroom was on His way. That's the alert that has gone forth. The Bridegroom has delayed His coming so that He will have a Bride who is ready for Him. In Jesus' parable, there was a second alert, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him." That alert has not taken place yet. Those who have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying will hear that alert! What the Holy Spirit is saying is, "Bride, get yourself ready." He has not yet said, "Come, Lord Jesus." OK?
Good! Let's move on.
Some of you may wonder why I've taken this path in our discussions today. Folks, because of what God is doing in the earth today and because of what He is saying to the body of Christ, it is imperative that I share the following with you.
It has been clear for some time now that there is a clear dividing taking place among Christians -- a separating, if you will -- that is making many believers uncomfortable. After all, we well remember Paul's declaration in Ephesians 4 (verse 3) in which he instructs us to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." But Paul didn't leave it there. Watch what he writes a few verses later.
"And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers for the perfecting (katartismos: the complete furnishing) of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect (teleios: complete) man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Christos: the Anointed One, and His anointing)"
HELLO?????
Unto a perfect man? Unto the measure (metron: the rule or standard of judgment; the determined extent, the measured portion) of the stature (helikia: maturity) of the fullness of Christ? Us? Now, before we get to Heaven?
That's it, folks! NOW, not in "the sweet bye and bye."
One of the difficulties in the body of Christ is a wide spread of doctrines that push many things way off in the future, or "when we all get to Heaven" as if Heaven is our objective. Heaven is not our objective! Heaven is only home-base for the future.
By the same token, there are many things -- interpretations of prophecies, for example -- that get shoved into the 1000-year reign of Christ on the earth (the Millennium, if you please). The problem is these interpretations is that they fail to give the Lord Jesus Christ His due in us. Sometimes I wonder if people really understand what Jesus did for us, and if they understand what it cost Him.
Let's see if I can put this another way.
Every Christian believer knows that Jesus died on the Cross for him or her, and that their salvation from Hell rests in that fact. But does every believer understand that what Jesus paid for on the Cross goes way beyond "fire insurance"?
Fire insurance -- deliverance from the penalties of sin and an eternal damnation in Hell -- is only a fraction of what Jesus paid for. Let me digress for just a second.
If you go to Costco or Sam's Club or Wal-Mart or Safeway (or whatever) and you decide to purchase something, do you not expect to get what you pay for? Do you expect, for example, to plop down the cash or a check (or a debit card) for food or household goods, and then walk out of the store and leave them behind? If you paid for them, don't you deserve to get what you paid for? Aren't you legally entitled to get what you paid for?
Now, let's apply this principle to the price that Jesus paid. Let me take you to a transliteration of Isaiah 53:3-5 that I did from the Hebrew text:
(3) He is disdained and scorned, and considered as having ceased to exist by men: a man of anguish and pain, and has known grief by seeing and experiencing it; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was disdained and scorned, and we maliciously fabricated, invented and treated His suffering and death as void.
(4) Surely He has suffered and accepted as His own our maladies, our anxieties, our calamities, our disease and sicknesses, and carried our anguish, pain and grief: yet we fabricated and maliciously invented His being stricken violently, beaten, punished, wounded and slaughtered as if by God -- choosing to believe that God browbeat, demeaned and looked down upon Him.
(5) But He was broken and profaned for our rebellion, our revolt, our apostasy and our [religious] quarrel against God; He was crushed, oppressed and smitten, and (emotionally) broken into pieces for our perversity, our evil, our mischief, sins and faults; the breaking and ridiculing of our peace, our welfare, our prosperity, our health and our safety was upon Him; and with His bloodied and blue wounds we are cured, mended, repaired and made thoroughly whole.
THERE!! That's what Jesus did, and that's what it cost Him! Understand?
Now! Consider Paul's prayer and admonition.
" I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 1:18-20 NASB)
Lastly, do you understand the word, "Salvation"? Do you know that this word was never intended to be just about "fire insurance"? This word is a translation of the Greek, sozo, (to protect, to deliver, to rescue, to defend, to save, to heal, to preserve, to cause to prosper, to make [completely] whole). It is the equivalent of the Hebrew, yasha (and its derivative, ye shu ah), with the same identical meanings.
Having said all of that, what do you believe? Now then, what do you KNOW? If Jesus paid for your salvation, has He received it yet? He paid for your defense from the Enemy. Do you KNOW that He is your defense? He paid for your healing. Do you KNOW that you are healed? He paid for your deliverance from poverty. Have you received, or do you walk in the totality of abundance that He paid for?
If Jesus paid for all of this with such a high price, has He received in you what He paid for?
What do you believe? What do you KNOW? It isn't your faith by which you receive all of this: it's Jesus' faith!
See you again soon.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
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CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Greetings to all of you, and Blessings!
The past six-plus weeks since I last posted a Coffee Break have been eventful to say the least. Della and I were gone to a prophetic conference in Canada for nearly three weeks. When we got back, Della was asked to lead the memorial service for her uncle who had just passed away.
No sooner had that taken place when the sewer pipe to our upstairs bathroom decided to let loose and pour sewage down through the wall and ceiling of the dining room below. Our insurance company was slow in getting someone to come out and clean things up and dry out all of the water-soaked areas so -- being a carpenter (having helped my father build six of his seven churches) and skilled in most of the building trades -- I dived into (ummm....that might be the wrong term) the project and started tearing out the upstairs bathroom. Having done that, I began taking apart the ceiling in the dining room to let it air out.
Wrong move! Ever taken a shower in the sewer? I don't recommend it. Everything rained down on me. I want you to know I didn't waste any time afterwards in getting into a real shower and getting all that gunk off me. It was funny, but not funny if you know what I mean.
When the water remediation folks showed up to start drying things out with their equipment, all the fans and dehumidifiers caused the breakers to kick in the electrical panel -- twice in a row. My main computer was on when the breakers kicked and then came back on.
Even though I have a RAID array for safety's sake, it still took out the boot sector to my hard drives, and I was offline for days. The folks at Dell sent a technician with a pair of new drives to replace the bad ones, but it still took days to rebuild the RAID arrays with all of my backup data and get my system restored. Good thing I had everything backed up or I'd have been a sunk duck!
The fun continues as we wait for the restoration process to be complete. It's a pretty good spiritual illustration. You think things are taken care of in your life and you're crusin' along with the Lord; and all of a sudden something breaks and a whole lot of sewage comes out that you were not prepared for. Think maybe the Lord just might be permitting all of this to happen so that real cleaning, repair and restoration can take place? Yup. I think so.
Well, I thought I'd be able to get back to my experiences in Heaven, but that's going to wait a little longer. There are some things that need some immediate attention and there is a priority in the realm of the Spirit to cover these things. I'll get back to my experiences in Heaven in due time -- and I may yet do one more piece on Israel.
During the past month or so, participating in a conference with Chuck Pierce, Paul Keith Davis, Joshua Mills and Charlie Robinson -- not to mention the conference in Lancaster, California with Paul Keith, Neville Johnson and Sadhu Sundhar Selvaraj -- we've seen a consistency and a continuity of the message of the Holy Spirit to the Bride of Christ today. No matter where you turn, the Word of the Lord is the same.
The Holy Spirit is after a people who are more in pursuit of the indwelling presence of the Lord in His fullness with the accompanying manifestation of the greater works that Jesus promised -- more in pursuit of Him than they are in pursuit of their pet doctrines.
That may seem like a strange thing to say so let me be clear. I'll make it personal so no one takes offense or thinks I'm pointing fingers. There are lots of things that I believe. There are many things I have experienced in a lifelong walk with the Lord. But -- and here's the catch -- there are many things that I know, not just because I've experienced certain things, not because I've studied and researched and done a lot of academic pursuit of knowledge, (and I do love Biblical history!) but because they have been revealed by the Holy Spirit in my inner man.
If that sounds self-serving, it isn't meant to be. Here's how the angel of the Lord put it to John: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." (Revelation 2:17)
"Hidden manna" is something that comes by revelation -- not by study and research and careful calculation. There's a huge difference between "doctrines" and revelation. I grew up in traditional Pentecostal circles with a lot of "doctrines" being taught -- and a lot of those doctrines were predicated in study, research, mathematical calculations or even some personal experiences -- but they didn't produce the kind of inner life that the Holy Spirit is looking for in us.
Once again, let me repeat: there are lots of things that I believe. But believing is a whole lot different from knowing! Again, let me build some fences around what I'm saying. Let me give you some examples.
I know that Jesus is coming soon. How do I know that? First, because He says so in His Word. Secondly, because I've had personal visitations from the Lord, along with angelic visitations to specifically confirm that fact. My knowing is based in a combination of the Word -- and if it isn't in the Word, you'd better really consider what you think you know -- and in that which has been revealed by the Holy Spirit.
Now, watch!
I believe that we only have a few years before Jesus comes. I don't believe He will come this year, or next, or even the next year after that. Why? Because that isn't what the message of the Holy Spirit is in the body of Christ today. That doesn't mean I'm right -- and no one would rejoice any more than me if I were wrong -- but here's why I take that position. Consider what John wrote as he closed out the Revelation.
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17)
The Bride of Christ is not saying, "Come, Lord Jesus." The Holy Spirit is not saying, "Come, Lord Jesus." What the Spirit and the Bride are saying is this: "Get the spots and wrinkles out of your garments, people! Make yourself ready to receive Him."
Consider these two scriptures: (1) (Ephesians 5:25-27) "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (2) Revelation 19:7-8) "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."
If there is any message being trumpeted by the true prophets in the body of Christ today, this is it: Invite the Spirit of Judgment and Burning into your life to cleanse every last vestige of religion, every last vestige of flesh, every last vestige of sin or error of any kind! Make yourself ready so that Jesus truly receives the inheritance He paid for with His blood!
In Paul's instruction in the letter to Ephesus, he precedes his statement about the Lord giving Himself with a command to husbands to love their wives in the same way that Jesus gave Himself for His Bride. While Paul is speaking to husbands and wives, he does make it clear that Jesus gave Himself totally, completely and without reservation in order to redeem for Himself that people He designed for Himself before time began.
For Jesus to truly receive His inheritance in His people, they likewise must give themselves totally and unreservedly to Him -- no matter the cost -- so that His Glory can be seen in them, so that His presence will be seen, and so that all that He is will be demonstrated and manifested in the earth.
Sorry to have spent so much time on this topic. There's a whole lot more here to talk about -- and maybe in the future I can do a specific Coffee Break on the coming of the Lord -- but that's not what this discussion is all about today. What I'm getting at is that -- because of the above Scriptures -- I believe there are some things absolutely necessary to be accomplished in the Bride of Christ before Jesus can come. Understand?
What I believe is a bit different from what I know. I don't know the day or the hour that Jesus will come, and I refuse to speculate on it or guess at it. There is an alert that takes place in the realm of the Spirit for those who are prepared and there's no guesswork to that alert.
There are times and seasons in God, and we certainly know the season of Jesus' return. And it is important for us to know the times and the seasons. That said, my objective is to allow the Holy Spirit to do whatever it takes in me so that when the Lord Jesus Christ does return, He can receive in me everything He paid for. Am I clear?
One more clarification on this topic so there is no misunderstanding. I was awakened a couple of years ago early one morning with the audible voice of the angel of the Lord speaking. I sat up straight in bed when I heard it. He said to me, "You have no idea how soon the return of the Lord Jesus Christ really is!" Now there's an attention getter!
There is an alert that has gone forth in the earth today, but that alert is somewhat akin to the parable that Jesus gave in Matthew 25. The virgins (representing those who had their garments clean and spotless) were first made aware that the Bridegroom was on His way. That's the alert that has gone forth. The Bridegroom has delayed His coming so that He will have a Bride who is ready for Him. In Jesus' parable, there was a second alert, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him." That alert has not taken place yet. Those who have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying will hear that alert! What the Holy Spirit is saying is, "Bride, get yourself ready." He has not yet said, "Come, Lord Jesus." OK?
Good! Let's move on.
Some of you may wonder why I've taken this path in our discussions today. Folks, because of what God is doing in the earth today and because of what He is saying to the body of Christ, it is imperative that I share the following with you.
It has been clear for some time now that there is a clear dividing taking place among Christians -- a separating, if you will -- that is making many believers uncomfortable. After all, we well remember Paul's declaration in Ephesians 4 (verse 3) in which he instructs us to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." But Paul didn't leave it there. Watch what he writes a few verses later.
"And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers for the perfecting (katartismos: the complete furnishing) of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect (teleios: complete) man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Christos: the Anointed One, and His anointing)"
HELLO?????
Unto a perfect man? Unto the measure (metron: the rule or standard of judgment; the determined extent, the measured portion) of the stature (helikia: maturity) of the fullness of Christ? Us? Now, before we get to Heaven?
That's it, folks! NOW, not in "the sweet bye and bye."
One of the difficulties in the body of Christ is a wide spread of doctrines that push many things way off in the future, or "when we all get to Heaven" as if Heaven is our objective. Heaven is not our objective! Heaven is only home-base for the future.
By the same token, there are many things -- interpretations of prophecies, for example -- that get shoved into the 1000-year reign of Christ on the earth (the Millennium, if you please). The problem is these interpretations is that they fail to give the Lord Jesus Christ His due in us. Sometimes I wonder if people really understand what Jesus did for us, and if they understand what it cost Him.
Let's see if I can put this another way.
Every Christian believer knows that Jesus died on the Cross for him or her, and that their salvation from Hell rests in that fact. But does every believer understand that what Jesus paid for on the Cross goes way beyond "fire insurance"?
Fire insurance -- deliverance from the penalties of sin and an eternal damnation in Hell -- is only a fraction of what Jesus paid for. Let me digress for just a second.
If you go to Costco or Sam's Club or Wal-Mart or Safeway (or whatever) and you decide to purchase something, do you not expect to get what you pay for? Do you expect, for example, to plop down the cash or a check (or a debit card) for food or household goods, and then walk out of the store and leave them behind? If you paid for them, don't you deserve to get what you paid for? Aren't you legally entitled to get what you paid for?
Now, let's apply this principle to the price that Jesus paid. Let me take you to a transliteration of Isaiah 53:3-5 that I did from the Hebrew text:
(3) He is disdained and scorned, and considered as having ceased to exist by men: a man of anguish and pain, and has known grief by seeing and experiencing it; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was disdained and scorned, and we maliciously fabricated, invented and treated His suffering and death as void.
(4) Surely He has suffered and accepted as His own our maladies, our anxieties, our calamities, our disease and sicknesses, and carried our anguish, pain and grief: yet we fabricated and maliciously invented His being stricken violently, beaten, punished, wounded and slaughtered as if by God -- choosing to believe that God browbeat, demeaned and looked down upon Him.
(5) But He was broken and profaned for our rebellion, our revolt, our apostasy and our [religious] quarrel against God; He was crushed, oppressed and smitten, and (emotionally) broken into pieces for our perversity, our evil, our mischief, sins and faults; the breaking and ridiculing of our peace, our welfare, our prosperity, our health and our safety was upon Him; and with His bloodied and blue wounds we are cured, mended, repaired and made thoroughly whole.
THERE!! That's what Jesus did, and that's what it cost Him! Understand?
Now! Consider Paul's prayer and admonition.
" I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 1:18-20 NASB)
Lastly, do you understand the word, "Salvation"? Do you know that this word was never intended to be just about "fire insurance"? This word is a translation of the Greek, sozo, (to protect, to deliver, to rescue, to defend, to save, to heal, to preserve, to cause to prosper, to make [completely] whole). It is the equivalent of the Hebrew, yasha (and its derivative, ye shu ah), with the same identical meanings.
Having said all of that, what do you believe? Now then, what do you KNOW? If Jesus paid for your salvation, has He received it yet? He paid for your defense from the Enemy. Do you KNOW that He is your defense? He paid for your healing. Do you KNOW that you are healed? He paid for your deliverance from poverty. Have you received, or do you walk in the totality of abundance that He paid for?
If Jesus paid for all of this with such a high price, has He received in you what He paid for?
What do you believe? What do you KNOW? It isn't your faith by which you receive all of this: it's Jesus' faith!
See you again soon.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
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All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
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Friday, July 15, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: ISRAEL & THE PSALM 83 PROPHECY, Part Three
ISRAEL & THE PSALM 83 PROPHECY, Part Three
“Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day; I’ve got a wonderful feeling…..!
OK, sorry ‘bout that. Sometimes those oldies from years gone by seem to run through my mind. Anyway, Good Mornin’ to ya! This is the best day of your life!
I’d really like to get this series finished. Della and I will be doing a considerable amount of traveling during the next month, and it’s likely I won’t have a lot of opportunity to do much posting until we return.
Della’s uncle, Jesse Evans, went home to be with the Lord in this past week so there’s a lot of family activity ongoing as preparations are made for the respective memorial services, etc.
The responses from readers to this series on Israel have been pretty amazing. The comments from them have been overwhelmingly positive and we’ve been adding about a hundred new subscribers to our database every couple of days. Wow! That said, there sure have been a few folks whose religious indoctrination just won’t let them accept that the prophecies in the Old and New Testaments apply to both natural and spiritual Israel, or that the term “God’s Chosen People” has a natural as well as a spiritual implication. What they don’t seem to realize is that they are arguing with God’s Covenant – not with Israel. (But that’s another topic.)
Oh well! Trying to convince folks who don’t want to accept that the Word has much greater depth to it than a simple surface explanation is an exercise in futility. All I can do is share the Word and the revelation I have and leave it there for folks to deal with. Hey! If you have a struggle with anything I’m sharing, put in on the shelf. Don’t simply discard it. The Holy Spirit just might accidentally bring revelation to you that differs from what you think you already know. D ‘ya think?
Let’s begin today with something I said in the last Coffee Break. What happens in and with Israel is a direct prophetic correlation to what God is doing in the earth! It is a picture of the in-gathering together, the great harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ taking place around the earth even as we speak. It is the fulfilling of Paul’s prophecy in Ephesians 1:18-19: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (NASB)
Jesus’ inheritance is found not only in the Gentile “church” – it is found in Israel and in the Jews! That inheritance is so multi-faceted and multi-layered as to defy description.
[Note: I really don’t like the term “church” because of the pictures it conveys which are so contrary to everything we know about the early believers. They had Ekklesia – not the structured “church” concepts familiar with western society today.]
Let’s get back, now, to the way Asaph prayed against the enemies of the Lord.
Once he has described the ten nations or tribes who assemble themselves against Israel, he now launches into a character description of them, describing past victories God has given Israel, and likening the character and nature of those past enemies to those assembled against Israel. Asaph could easily have named many other enemies whom God had given into Israel’s hands, but he chose these specifically because of the way their names – their makeup and essence – paralleled those of the ten-nation confederacy.
Let’s take them in order as they are described:
(1) First, he describes the Midianites. The name “Midian” in Hebrew means strife. Midian, you’ll remember, was descended from Abraham’s lineage through Keturah. Not part of the covenant family through Isaac, the Midianites still dwelled in relative peace with Israel for several generations. Think back to Jethro, the priest of Midian, who became Moses’ father-in-law, and – through wise counsel to Moses – brought forth the form of government that served Israel for hundreds of years through tribal councils, elders and chosen representatives. (We know this form of government today in the U.S. Our nation’s founding fathers called this a “republican government.”)
The peace and tranquility between Israel and Midian did not last once Moses led Israel out of Egypt toward their promised inheritance in Canaan. Midian had grown to occupy part of the territory God promised to Abraham through Isaac, and they feared Israel. Once Israel entered the land they were occupying, Midian formed an alliance with the Moabites and turned on their erstwhile brethren.
(2) Next we have Sisera, Captain of the Host for the Canaanites under Jabin, their king. Sisera’s name is Egyptian and translates out as “servant of Ra.” The Canaanites we know from Genesis 9:25 where this firstborn son of Ham bears the curse of his father’s sin for committing a homosexual act against his father, Noah. Canaan fathered each of the seven nations whom God commanded Israel to destroy and erase from the land of promise. [That’s a separate study which you can find in the Coffee Break archives (http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/)] The Canaanites were sworn enemies of Israel and continually sought to prevent them from receiving God’s promises to Abraham.
(3) Jabin, the king of the Canaanites, whose name means “to separate mentally, to be cunning, to understand,” thought to use his cunning and craftiness against Israel in order to keep them under subjection to himself. He built for himself an arsenal of 900 chariots made of iron to go with an army that the Hebrew text describes as “locusts” for their multitude. For twenty years Jabin had held Israel in fear and had ruled them, manipulated them and made them a laughingstock in the land. Because Israel had made the unbelievably stupid mistake of following the gods of the Canaanites and bowing to them, the Lord permitted them to come under Jabin’s dominion as punishment. (More on this in a moment.)
(4) Next we have Oreb, whose name means “raven.” In scripture the raven was forbidden to eat because it was an unclean bird, feeding mostly on carrion or dead birds and animals. One notable characteristic of the raven was its tactic of picking out the eyes of helpless birds or small animals and then feeding on them while they still lived. Oreb came by his name honestly as a prince of the Midianites. He specialized in preying upon the weak or defenseless among Israel, picking them apart and utilizing their resources for himself.
(5) His companion prince was a man named Zeeb whose name means “wolf.” The Hebrew term for him was “yellow” – a descriptive word for someone who was cruel and treacherous. Wherever we see Oreb in Scripture, we see Zeeb. These two Midianite princes worked together as a treacherous pair killing, persecuting, terrorizing the Israelites and continually committing acts of war against pockets of Israelites.
(6) Then we have Zebah, a Midianite king whose name says it all in Hebrew: slaughter; sacrifice (as in offering up animals [or in this case, people] as burnt sacrifices.
(7) Finally we have one more Midianite king, Zalmunna, whose name in Hebrew translates literally to: “shade has been denied.” It is a perfect description of one who deliberately removes any available protection and goes out of their way to expose a person (or a group of people) to the kind of danger that will ultimately take their lives in a cruel and debilitating manner.
Now, consider what happened in history to each of these individuals. See how history graphically portrays the significance of Asaph’s prophetic prayer.
(1a) Though the Midianites were permitted periods of time by God to persecute Israel because the nation had departed from worshiping Him, in battle after battle beginning with their confederation with Moab when Balak tried to bribe Balaam to curse Israel, God continued to rout them with Israelite leaders and armies who were severely outnumbered and out-weaponed.
(2a) Sisera represented the Egyptians, and in this case, had become confederate with the Canaanites. The Canaanites represented five separate lesser tribes who had banded together because they were not large in size. The banding together enabled them to become a mostly cohesive people who, because of their Hamite lineage, had grown into the most corrupt and sexually perverse people among the seven nations God covenanted to give to Abraham. Sisera stands out in Asaph’s prophecy because of the way in which he died (see Judges 4).
He was an arrogant man who thought his incredible military strength would be more than sufficient to defeat Barak’s piddling 10,000 men. He was wrong! Sisera died at the hands of a woman – Jael – who drove a nail into his temple while he slept, thinking he was safe and secure in hiding in an Edomite home. The Edomites were no particular friends of Israel (think Esau vs. Jacob), but one of the families of Edom – Heber, the Kenite (and father of the Kenizzites) – had become integrated into Israel’s history and heritage through Caleb, and then Othniel. Sisera never bothered to check out the family where he tried to hide, and died in his sleep.
(3a) Jabin, the Canaanite king, had been allowed by God for a period of twenty years to subdue Israel, and he thought himself secure with his expert Egyptian commander, Sisera. When Barak – with the prophetess Deborah – came out against Jabin’s forces in order to free Israel from tyranny, he felt absolutely confident in his military might to put down the rebellion. Judges 4:23-24 tells us that following Sisera’s death and the utter defeat of his great armies, Barak hunted him down to his death and destruction.
(4a & 5a) When you consider the story of Gideon (Judges 7) and how once again the Lord used a tiny contingent of 300 men to roust the armies of Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian. Their army had been joined by the Amalekites, the Syrians and (from all we can tell) Ishmaelites. The number of people gathered together in the Valley of Jezreel was “as grasshoppers for multitude.” In order to appreciate Gideon’s feat consider this. A rabbi once told me that the sound generated by the breaking of the pitchers from Gideon’s high perch above the valley would be analogous to the sound of hundreds of swords being drawn at once from their scabbards.
Add to that sound the picture of all the lights spread out in single file on the hilltops, and it created the illusion of a vast army coming against them in the middle of the night. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all of the Arab nations were (and still are for the most part) ruled by and through fear and terror. Their reaction to this sudden explosion of sound and light created utter panic causing them to turn on one another in the darkness and kill each other. Of one hundred thirty-five thousand soldiers pitted against Gideon, only 15,000 survived.
(6a & 7a) Those 15,000 fled to a placed called Karkor, a relatively walled up (and “dug in” according to Gesenius) secure place east of the Jordan, along with the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna. The two princes, Oreb and Zeeb, had already been killed, and now it was time to take out the kings. Gideon’s band of 300 – even in their weakened and wearied state – took out the 15,000 and brought Zebah and Zalmunna to him. Judges 8:21 tells us that Gideon killed the two kings with his own sword and took the large royal medallions that hung on the necks of their camels. There is a great significance to taking these medallions because they had the images of the gods that the Midianites worshiped. Thus, Gideon not only took out their armies, but also took away from them the symbols of the gods they worshiped, demonstrating that the God of Israel was supreme over all other gods.
There is a side note to this story worth telling. As Gideon and his men pursued after Zebah and Zalmunna, they came to a place known as Succoth. Succoth, at that time, was occupied by Arab families who had not joined in the battle against Israel. When Gideon requested food and provisions for his band of 300 in their wearied state, they stubbornly refused assistance of any kind despite the obvious victories God has wrought through Gideon. Gideon warned them that there would be retribution for their passive assistance to the Midianites, and when he and his men returned from the victory at Karkor they stopped at Succoth, took the elders of the city, and rather than kill them, he sent a message to all who would provide aid and assistance to the enemies of Israel by whipping them with thorns and briers.
Gideon’s great victories over the Midianites, their kings and their princes, with his tiny band virtually ended the power of Midian, and except for harboring Hadad, an enemy of Solomon, many years later it was the end of their military forays against Israel.
There is one more picture here relevant to these great victories. Judges 6:34 tells us that “the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon.” This is a unique phrase in the Hebrew and it literally tells us that “the Spirit of the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon.” Get it? When God’s enemies rise up against His people, the Lord clothes Himself with them in such a way that they become Him on the battlefield.
Now you begin to get the picture and the great significance of Asaph’s prophetic prayer, and why he prayed the way he did. He was prophesying the same kind of doom and destruction against a confederacy of ten nations who thought to wipe Israel off the map. He is saying to the Lord – or more accurately, the Lord is saying through Asaph – “Do to these nations and peoples exactly what was done to the Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Midianites, the Moabites and the Syrians (and all of the other unnamed Arab peoples) who pitted themselves against God!”
Yup. Let me paraphrase the rest of this prophecy.
“O my God, make them like a wheel (that goes in circles around itself), as stubble before the wind. As fire burns wood and flames consume a mountain, so create a firestorm and tempest against them, and make them afraid to ever come against You again! Shame them, O Lord, not to their utter destruction but so that those who remain will seek after You. Let those who reject You for their false gods be forever confounded, put to shame and perish, that men worldwide may know that You, Yowd Hey Vav Hey (Jehovah), are the Most High God over all the earth!”
That, my friends, is exactly what we are about to see. Whether it happens within a year, two years, five years – or whenever it takes place – these same peoples of whom Asaph prophesies will rise up against the Lord God saying, “Let us take and possess the houses of God for ourselves.”
The Lord will respond with a roar! He will clothe Himself with Israel and the world will see a military victory that will make the Six-Day War look like an afternoon skirmish.
There is one other factor to consider in this prophecy.
Pay attention to each of the ten nations, where they are located, and the culture, the philosophy, and the religion of each of them. Religion – no matter by what name it is called – is and has always been the enemy of God. Every religion has at its roots man in control, or man being the final arbiter of himself.
Let’s make one thing clear, too. True Christianity is not a religion. In fact, it is anything but! Christianity is a personal, intimate relationship with a living God – a living Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Those who truly worship God worship Him in Spirit and in Truth! True Christians are those who know, understand, and walk in the love of God – and I don’t mean the “sloppy agape” that has permeated the church world. Yes, there is a religion that calls itself “Christianity,” but denies the power of God, and puts on a façade that seems to have the form of Godliness, but lacks in the signs following that Jesus promised.
Folks, true Christianity has the signs following. It does! The sick are healed, the dead are raised to life, the lepers are cleansed, demonic prison bars are smashed as people are set free from evil spirits, and people’s lives are radically changed for the better. Anything that calls itself “Christianity” that lacks this evidence is a poor substitute religion.
That said, when you look at the ten nations or groups identified by Asaph’s prophecy, there is a common denominator in today’s world: Islam! Asaph’s prophecy in Psalm 83 spells the end of Islam. It is the coup de grace to a religion that has imprisoned men and women and children for centuries, taken away basic freedoms guaranteed by God, and forced people to worship a false god – the same false god that the Canaanites served, the same false god that the Midianites served, the same false god that the Lord God warned Israel NEVER to serve: Baal.
Never mind the fact that Baal is now called “Allah.” Allah is none other than an incarnation of the demon, Baal, and he is about to suffer a defeat such as the world has never known!
Buckle your seatbelt! Baal has never gone down without a fight in the past, and he is about to mount the greatest attack on the people of God – Israel and Christians – such as recorded history has never known. But the Lord – through Asaph – makes us a solemn promise in this prophecy. Baal and his servants – his followers – will see such shame that the world will fear and reverence the Lord God and honor Him as Yowd Hey Vav Hey!
Believe me! When God comes to your defense when you’re under attack by the Enemy, He has a spectacular way of doing things – and He often does it conditions we would consider impossible.
Because of our travel schedule, I’m not sure when the next Coffee Break will be published, but I will try to get one or two out while we are on the road.
As Christians we have a mandate from the Lord to bless Israel. Those who bless Israel are blessed and become a blessing themselves. God’s promise to Abraham was, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
“Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day; I’ve got a wonderful feeling…..!
OK, sorry ‘bout that. Sometimes those oldies from years gone by seem to run through my mind. Anyway, Good Mornin’ to ya! This is the best day of your life!
I’d really like to get this series finished. Della and I will be doing a considerable amount of traveling during the next month, and it’s likely I won’t have a lot of opportunity to do much posting until we return.
Della’s uncle, Jesse Evans, went home to be with the Lord in this past week so there’s a lot of family activity ongoing as preparations are made for the respective memorial services, etc.
The responses from readers to this series on Israel have been pretty amazing. The comments from them have been overwhelmingly positive and we’ve been adding about a hundred new subscribers to our database every couple of days. Wow! That said, there sure have been a few folks whose religious indoctrination just won’t let them accept that the prophecies in the Old and New Testaments apply to both natural and spiritual Israel, or that the term “God’s Chosen People” has a natural as well as a spiritual implication. What they don’t seem to realize is that they are arguing with God’s Covenant – not with Israel. (But that’s another topic.)
Oh well! Trying to convince folks who don’t want to accept that the Word has much greater depth to it than a simple surface explanation is an exercise in futility. All I can do is share the Word and the revelation I have and leave it there for folks to deal with. Hey! If you have a struggle with anything I’m sharing, put in on the shelf. Don’t simply discard it. The Holy Spirit just might accidentally bring revelation to you that differs from what you think you already know. D ‘ya think?
Let’s begin today with something I said in the last Coffee Break. What happens in and with Israel is a direct prophetic correlation to what God is doing in the earth! It is a picture of the in-gathering together, the great harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ taking place around the earth even as we speak. It is the fulfilling of Paul’s prophecy in Ephesians 1:18-19: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (NASB)
Jesus’ inheritance is found not only in the Gentile “church” – it is found in Israel and in the Jews! That inheritance is so multi-faceted and multi-layered as to defy description.
[Note: I really don’t like the term “church” because of the pictures it conveys which are so contrary to everything we know about the early believers. They had Ekklesia – not the structured “church” concepts familiar with western society today.]
Let’s get back, now, to the way Asaph prayed against the enemies of the Lord.
Once he has described the ten nations or tribes who assemble themselves against Israel, he now launches into a character description of them, describing past victories God has given Israel, and likening the character and nature of those past enemies to those assembled against Israel. Asaph could easily have named many other enemies whom God had given into Israel’s hands, but he chose these specifically because of the way their names – their makeup and essence – paralleled those of the ten-nation confederacy.
Let’s take them in order as they are described:
(1) First, he describes the Midianites. The name “Midian” in Hebrew means strife. Midian, you’ll remember, was descended from Abraham’s lineage through Keturah. Not part of the covenant family through Isaac, the Midianites still dwelled in relative peace with Israel for several generations. Think back to Jethro, the priest of Midian, who became Moses’ father-in-law, and – through wise counsel to Moses – brought forth the form of government that served Israel for hundreds of years through tribal councils, elders and chosen representatives. (We know this form of government today in the U.S. Our nation’s founding fathers called this a “republican government.”)
The peace and tranquility between Israel and Midian did not last once Moses led Israel out of Egypt toward their promised inheritance in Canaan. Midian had grown to occupy part of the territory God promised to Abraham through Isaac, and they feared Israel. Once Israel entered the land they were occupying, Midian formed an alliance with the Moabites and turned on their erstwhile brethren.
(2) Next we have Sisera, Captain of the Host for the Canaanites under Jabin, their king. Sisera’s name is Egyptian and translates out as “servant of Ra.” The Canaanites we know from Genesis 9:25 where this firstborn son of Ham bears the curse of his father’s sin for committing a homosexual act against his father, Noah. Canaan fathered each of the seven nations whom God commanded Israel to destroy and erase from the land of promise. [That’s a separate study which you can find in the Coffee Break archives (http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/)] The Canaanites were sworn enemies of Israel and continually sought to prevent them from receiving God’s promises to Abraham.
(3) Jabin, the king of the Canaanites, whose name means “to separate mentally, to be cunning, to understand,” thought to use his cunning and craftiness against Israel in order to keep them under subjection to himself. He built for himself an arsenal of 900 chariots made of iron to go with an army that the Hebrew text describes as “locusts” for their multitude. For twenty years Jabin had held Israel in fear and had ruled them, manipulated them and made them a laughingstock in the land. Because Israel had made the unbelievably stupid mistake of following the gods of the Canaanites and bowing to them, the Lord permitted them to come under Jabin’s dominion as punishment. (More on this in a moment.)
(4) Next we have Oreb, whose name means “raven.” In scripture the raven was forbidden to eat because it was an unclean bird, feeding mostly on carrion or dead birds and animals. One notable characteristic of the raven was its tactic of picking out the eyes of helpless birds or small animals and then feeding on them while they still lived. Oreb came by his name honestly as a prince of the Midianites. He specialized in preying upon the weak or defenseless among Israel, picking them apart and utilizing their resources for himself.
(5) His companion prince was a man named Zeeb whose name means “wolf.” The Hebrew term for him was “yellow” – a descriptive word for someone who was cruel and treacherous. Wherever we see Oreb in Scripture, we see Zeeb. These two Midianite princes worked together as a treacherous pair killing, persecuting, terrorizing the Israelites and continually committing acts of war against pockets of Israelites.
(6) Then we have Zebah, a Midianite king whose name says it all in Hebrew: slaughter; sacrifice (as in offering up animals [or in this case, people] as burnt sacrifices.
(7) Finally we have one more Midianite king, Zalmunna, whose name in Hebrew translates literally to: “shade has been denied.” It is a perfect description of one who deliberately removes any available protection and goes out of their way to expose a person (or a group of people) to the kind of danger that will ultimately take their lives in a cruel and debilitating manner.
Now, consider what happened in history to each of these individuals. See how history graphically portrays the significance of Asaph’s prophetic prayer.
(1a) Though the Midianites were permitted periods of time by God to persecute Israel because the nation had departed from worshiping Him, in battle after battle beginning with their confederation with Moab when Balak tried to bribe Balaam to curse Israel, God continued to rout them with Israelite leaders and armies who were severely outnumbered and out-weaponed.
(2a) Sisera represented the Egyptians, and in this case, had become confederate with the Canaanites. The Canaanites represented five separate lesser tribes who had banded together because they were not large in size. The banding together enabled them to become a mostly cohesive people who, because of their Hamite lineage, had grown into the most corrupt and sexually perverse people among the seven nations God covenanted to give to Abraham. Sisera stands out in Asaph’s prophecy because of the way in which he died (see Judges 4).
He was an arrogant man who thought his incredible military strength would be more than sufficient to defeat Barak’s piddling 10,000 men. He was wrong! Sisera died at the hands of a woman – Jael – who drove a nail into his temple while he slept, thinking he was safe and secure in hiding in an Edomite home. The Edomites were no particular friends of Israel (think Esau vs. Jacob), but one of the families of Edom – Heber, the Kenite (and father of the Kenizzites) – had become integrated into Israel’s history and heritage through Caleb, and then Othniel. Sisera never bothered to check out the family where he tried to hide, and died in his sleep.
(3a) Jabin, the Canaanite king, had been allowed by God for a period of twenty years to subdue Israel, and he thought himself secure with his expert Egyptian commander, Sisera. When Barak – with the prophetess Deborah – came out against Jabin’s forces in order to free Israel from tyranny, he felt absolutely confident in his military might to put down the rebellion. Judges 4:23-24 tells us that following Sisera’s death and the utter defeat of his great armies, Barak hunted him down to his death and destruction.
(4a & 5a) When you consider the story of Gideon (Judges 7) and how once again the Lord used a tiny contingent of 300 men to roust the armies of Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian. Their army had been joined by the Amalekites, the Syrians and (from all we can tell) Ishmaelites. The number of people gathered together in the Valley of Jezreel was “as grasshoppers for multitude.” In order to appreciate Gideon’s feat consider this. A rabbi once told me that the sound generated by the breaking of the pitchers from Gideon’s high perch above the valley would be analogous to the sound of hundreds of swords being drawn at once from their scabbards.
Add to that sound the picture of all the lights spread out in single file on the hilltops, and it created the illusion of a vast army coming against them in the middle of the night. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all of the Arab nations were (and still are for the most part) ruled by and through fear and terror. Their reaction to this sudden explosion of sound and light created utter panic causing them to turn on one another in the darkness and kill each other. Of one hundred thirty-five thousand soldiers pitted against Gideon, only 15,000 survived.
(6a & 7a) Those 15,000 fled to a placed called Karkor, a relatively walled up (and “dug in” according to Gesenius) secure place east of the Jordan, along with the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna. The two princes, Oreb and Zeeb, had already been killed, and now it was time to take out the kings. Gideon’s band of 300 – even in their weakened and wearied state – took out the 15,000 and brought Zebah and Zalmunna to him. Judges 8:21 tells us that Gideon killed the two kings with his own sword and took the large royal medallions that hung on the necks of their camels. There is a great significance to taking these medallions because they had the images of the gods that the Midianites worshiped. Thus, Gideon not only took out their armies, but also took away from them the symbols of the gods they worshiped, demonstrating that the God of Israel was supreme over all other gods.
There is a side note to this story worth telling. As Gideon and his men pursued after Zebah and Zalmunna, they came to a place known as Succoth. Succoth, at that time, was occupied by Arab families who had not joined in the battle against Israel. When Gideon requested food and provisions for his band of 300 in their wearied state, they stubbornly refused assistance of any kind despite the obvious victories God has wrought through Gideon. Gideon warned them that there would be retribution for their passive assistance to the Midianites, and when he and his men returned from the victory at Karkor they stopped at Succoth, took the elders of the city, and rather than kill them, he sent a message to all who would provide aid and assistance to the enemies of Israel by whipping them with thorns and briers.
Gideon’s great victories over the Midianites, their kings and their princes, with his tiny band virtually ended the power of Midian, and except for harboring Hadad, an enemy of Solomon, many years later it was the end of their military forays against Israel.
There is one more picture here relevant to these great victories. Judges 6:34 tells us that “the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon.” This is a unique phrase in the Hebrew and it literally tells us that “the Spirit of the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon.” Get it? When God’s enemies rise up against His people, the Lord clothes Himself with them in such a way that they become Him on the battlefield.
Now you begin to get the picture and the great significance of Asaph’s prophetic prayer, and why he prayed the way he did. He was prophesying the same kind of doom and destruction against a confederacy of ten nations who thought to wipe Israel off the map. He is saying to the Lord – or more accurately, the Lord is saying through Asaph – “Do to these nations and peoples exactly what was done to the Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Midianites, the Moabites and the Syrians (and all of the other unnamed Arab peoples) who pitted themselves against God!”
Yup. Let me paraphrase the rest of this prophecy.
“O my God, make them like a wheel (that goes in circles around itself), as stubble before the wind. As fire burns wood and flames consume a mountain, so create a firestorm and tempest against them, and make them afraid to ever come against You again! Shame them, O Lord, not to their utter destruction but so that those who remain will seek after You. Let those who reject You for their false gods be forever confounded, put to shame and perish, that men worldwide may know that You, Yowd Hey Vav Hey (Jehovah), are the Most High God over all the earth!”
That, my friends, is exactly what we are about to see. Whether it happens within a year, two years, five years – or whenever it takes place – these same peoples of whom Asaph prophesies will rise up against the Lord God saying, “Let us take and possess the houses of God for ourselves.”
The Lord will respond with a roar! He will clothe Himself with Israel and the world will see a military victory that will make the Six-Day War look like an afternoon skirmish.
There is one other factor to consider in this prophecy.
Pay attention to each of the ten nations, where they are located, and the culture, the philosophy, and the religion of each of them. Religion – no matter by what name it is called – is and has always been the enemy of God. Every religion has at its roots man in control, or man being the final arbiter of himself.
Let’s make one thing clear, too. True Christianity is not a religion. In fact, it is anything but! Christianity is a personal, intimate relationship with a living God – a living Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Those who truly worship God worship Him in Spirit and in Truth! True Christians are those who know, understand, and walk in the love of God – and I don’t mean the “sloppy agape” that has permeated the church world. Yes, there is a religion that calls itself “Christianity,” but denies the power of God, and puts on a façade that seems to have the form of Godliness, but lacks in the signs following that Jesus promised.
Folks, true Christianity has the signs following. It does! The sick are healed, the dead are raised to life, the lepers are cleansed, demonic prison bars are smashed as people are set free from evil spirits, and people’s lives are radically changed for the better. Anything that calls itself “Christianity” that lacks this evidence is a poor substitute religion.
That said, when you look at the ten nations or groups identified by Asaph’s prophecy, there is a common denominator in today’s world: Islam! Asaph’s prophecy in Psalm 83 spells the end of Islam. It is the coup de grace to a religion that has imprisoned men and women and children for centuries, taken away basic freedoms guaranteed by God, and forced people to worship a false god – the same false god that the Canaanites served, the same false god that the Midianites served, the same false god that the Lord God warned Israel NEVER to serve: Baal.
Never mind the fact that Baal is now called “Allah.” Allah is none other than an incarnation of the demon, Baal, and he is about to suffer a defeat such as the world has never known!
Buckle your seatbelt! Baal has never gone down without a fight in the past, and he is about to mount the greatest attack on the people of God – Israel and Christians – such as recorded history has never known. But the Lord – through Asaph – makes us a solemn promise in this prophecy. Baal and his servants – his followers – will see such shame that the world will fear and reverence the Lord God and honor Him as Yowd Hey Vav Hey!
Believe me! When God comes to your defense when you’re under attack by the Enemy, He has a spectacular way of doing things – and He often does it conditions we would consider impossible.
Because of our travel schedule, I’m not sure when the next Coffee Break will be published, but I will try to get one or two out while we are on the road.
As Christians we have a mandate from the Lord to bless Israel. Those who bless Israel are blessed and become a blessing themselves. God’s promise to Abraham was, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
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