Another Coffee Break: A PROPHETIC LOOK AT 2012, Part 2
Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning!
No, my record isn't broke, I just need another cup of java to get my juices flowing for the day. (Grin) You can have some, too, you know. Join me for a cup, why don't you, and let's get right to our discussion.
Whenever a person comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, makes Him to be the Lord of their life, and permits the process of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, a transformation process begins. Listen to the way Paul describes it in his second letter to the Corinthian Ekklesia:
"Wherefore, if any [person] be in [Christ] the Anointed One and His anointing, he is a newly formed creation; the old [nature] has perished and dissolved away; the whole [being] has causatively changed and re-ordered so as to become freshly new." (II Corinthians 5:17, my translation and amplification)
What Paul is saying is that there is a change of our DNA. God's DNA has been put into our being -- and that very act compels a transforming process to begin in our being. It's not instantaneous! Not by any means. The shock factor of that kind of change is more than subnormal human flesh can withstand. God's purpose is to bring us back, to restore us to a place of "normalcy" -- that place we were originally designed for so that we can fellowship with Him, interact with Him on a minute-by-minute, second-by-second basis AT HIS LEVEL of interchange!
That injection of His DNA into us leads us to a moment of time in our lives where a supernatural transaction takes place in the realm of the Spirit. A contractual agreement occurs between us and the Lord. That agreement is going to lead us to covenant, but we're not there yet. When that transaction, that agreement occurs in us, it takes place below the level of our consciousness. Something happens subconsciously that is ironclad in our beings.
Let me describe this in personal terms, relating it back to something that happened to me at age nine.
There was a day, a moment in time, when I was out on the playground of our public school, playing on the rings, grabbing them and running around the pole until I became airborne for a few seconds hanging onto the rope as it swung me around the pole. As clearly as I've ever heard the voice of the Lord speak, I heard Him say to me (as he flashed me back in a split second to the experience I'd had a couple of years earlier when Jesus appeared at the foot of my bed and proceeded to lay out His plan and purpose for my life), "Will you go wherever I send you? Will you speak to whomever I instruct, regardless of whether it is an individual or a group of people? Will you say to them exactly what I tell you?"
I was honestly surprised at the questions, but without hesitation I blurted out loud, "Yes, Lord! You know I will. I thought you already knew that!"
His chuckle at my response resonated in my whole being, and yet I knew something tangible had taken place. His answer to me was to the point, "It was necessary for you to say so." In that moment I knew for the first time that just thinking my agreement with Him wasn't enough; it had to be verbalized.
My speaking -- verbalizing -- my personal agreement with Him set in motion a series of events that continue to this day. A contractual agreement had been made in my spirit two years earlier, but now that agreement had become a covenant relationship. The things that He had spoken to me earlier, and the promises He made to me in the weeks that followed when He took me to Heaven for the first time did not come to pass instantly. There was a process of DNA transformation that had begun in me. I was on a path to become something He was making of me. There was a day yet to be realized when His destiny for me would be fulfilled.
So, why am I sharing all of this? There are tens of thousands -- hundreds of thousands, even -- of people who will see and read this word to whom something very similar has taken place. There has been a moment in time -- perhaps in the recent past, and perhaps in the distant past -- when a contractual agreement has been struck in which you have agreed with God's call and purpose for your life. You've been on a trek ever since then; a trek which has been leading you toward your destiny in God.
Again, whether recently or at some time in the past, that contractual agreement with the Lord became a covenant engraved in your spirit, etched in your DNA. God's DNA has been changing you, transforming you, molding you and bringing you to the place where you can fulfill and accomplish all that God has placed in the core of your existence.
2012 is a year for that destiny to be manifested and for you to take your place in God's economy. Folks, as the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman Ekklesias, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."
You understand, don't you? The world, our society, this nation is literally on a razor's edge screaming out for the "greater works" generation to be revealed. I'm referring, of course, to Jesus' promise to believers when He prophesied, "Verily, Verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do because I go to my Father." (John 14:12)
Paul would never have written what he wrote concerning the earnest expectation of all creation (literal Greek) waiting for the manifestation of the sons (huios: fully matured and released with Father's full authority) of God had it not been for the fact that there was going to be that day of release. Let me take a couple of minutes to explain this term: huios.
Although there are other applicable words in the Greek and Hebrew texts that refer to sons, let me take the three principal terms used in the New Testament. The first word is paidion. This term is generally applied to a young child (there is another word that describes a babe-in-arms) between the ages of 2 and 12 years. The next word is teknon. This describes someone who has reached the age of bar mitzvah -- usually 12 years of age -- and has yet to reach a point of maturity in life and training. Between 12 and 30 years of age a young man is being groomed to step into his father's business and labors. This is an intense period of preparation, teaching, practice, making mistakes and learning "by the things that he suffers." (see Hebrews 5:8)
At or about age 30 (the determination of the exact timing is made by the father) the teknon becomes huios. At this point in Hebrew tradition and practice, a public ceremony takes place in which the father openly says of his son, "this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." A ritual and celebratory commissioning upon the son now takes place in which his father's full authority and signatory power is given. From this moment forward the son has the full signatory power of the father, he can conduct business in his father's name, he can make contracts or covenants on behalf of his father and his father will back him up 100 percent! The son is now huios. He is taught and trained, practiced and seasoned in making decisions that his father approves of and is pleased with, and he now acts as the direct agent of his father in all matters.
What we see taking place in Matthew 3 and Luke 3 perfectly describe a process that unfolds the transition from teknon to huios. Luke tells us that "Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age." Both Matthew and Luke report that following Jesus' baptism (I'll speak to the significance of this at a later time) everyone heard a voice speaking out of Heaven as Father said of Him, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." It couldn't possibly have been more significant to those who saw and heard. It was a familiar phrase every householder was familiar with. Both Matthew and Luke report that as Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove.
Thus we see Jesus (1) being publicly marked with Father's approval, (2) being commissioned and sent forth under the power of the Holy Spirit and (3) having the signet, the seal of approval under which Father's business would now be conducted in the earth.
So why am I going into all this detail? Because I want you all to see a process that Jesus went through as the Pattern Son. We as committed believers have been adopted into the Family of God. For us to be released to do what Father says, to conduct His business and to demonstrate that Kingdom to which we now belong, there is a process that unfolds.
I've said this before and I'll say it again: there's no such thing as "automatic" in the Kingdom of God. Certainly we receive our "fire insurance" when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and so long as we walk with Him we can kiss Hell goodbye. But that's not what being a Christian is all about! Being delivered from an eternity in Hell and having Heaven as our future eternal base of operations goes with the package of accepting Jesus Christ, but that's nothing more than "paidion."
Actually it would be more proper to use a different Greek term in this instance, and that word is nepios. Nepios defines a child between the period of time between circumcision (8 days old) and 2 years. If you want to get really technical you can define a brand new Christian -- one just saved and prior to circumcision (water baptism) -- by the Greek word, brephos. Brephos is literally a child just delivered from the birth canal.
Now that I've really bored you with technical definitions, let's get to the heart of the matter. You see from the Greek terms a progression from the new birth to the place of maturity. Under no circumstances would Father release to a brephos, or a nepios, or a paidion (you get the picture) the stamp of approval and full authority that comes with the maturity and seasoning that it takes for one to become huios.
Many years ago when my daughters, Danielle and Rebekah, were in their teens I had a newspaper business with the Anchorage Daily News. Our family vehicle at the time was a new Chevrolet Lumina mini-van. There was no way I was going to hand them the keys to the car and let them take off on their own on the streets of the city. Danielle was 14 and Rebekah was 12.
Periodically I had extra large newspapers, and hundreds of deliveries to make. If I wanted either of the girls to help me (at 3:00 AM) I would awaken them and tantalize them with the car keys. It didn't take any great persuading for me convince them to help me when they got to drive the car and follow me down the streets. They were, at that point in their lives, teknon. There was a measure of trust and authority that I could release to them at that age, and it was a necessary release that would become a natural part of their existence in the years to come. Huios was yet to come.
Some years later Della and I were living in south Texas. Rebekah had moved with her family to be near us. When Della and I left on a trip for Alaska and were going to be gone for awhile, we handed the keys to our home to Rebekah, along with a signed document that gave her the authority to act on our behalf in our absence and conduct any necessary business. For all practical purposes, she became huios. Rebekah's two boys, Andrew and P.J., now were given the key to our garden tractor and both permission and responsibility to keep our yards, lawns and orchards cared for. They got to experience the same release and trust their mother had experienced years before.
That's a pretty feeble illustration, but you have the picture by now. This is what the Lord has been doing with us. Depending on the degree of our responsiveness and obedience to the direction of the Holy Spirit, we've been learning from Him and being given greater and greater levels of responsibility and authority. We've been brought to a point where Father can say of us, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."
There is no substitute for that moment in our walk with God. The level of confidence that is released in us is beyond measure. With that moment comes a directive concerning Father's business, a commission, and with that commission the authority and power to back us up as we fulfill His destiny in us and for us.
There are many believers who are reading this who've been experiencing this process I've just described. You've walked with the Lord for years. You've experienced the pain and the correction that comes with disobedience, along with the love and grace Father gives to us as He patiently deals with us and gives us the opportunity to do it again. For many of us, Father's mercy is nothing less than astounding as He picks us up following our failures and continues to encourage us to move in Him and with Him to a greater and greater degree.
2012 is a year of Huios! Father has determined within His economy to see many, many, many "sons" follow our pattern Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, in not only performing the works that Jesus worked (which, as He Himself noted, were Father's works), but also "greater works."
If you haven't already seen this in your spirit, let me give you a snapshot.
Stilian Mihailov is the regional bishop for the Church of God in the Stara Zagora region of Bulgaria. As you can imagine, true Christianity in this region of the world comes at a great price and believers had better have the goods if they are to stand in the face of certain persecution for their testimony.
As we sat at lunch one day, Stilian shared with us the story of a brother in one of the churches he is responsible for. This particular brother was being chased by two men who intended at the very least to do him serious bodily harm, if not kill him, for his testimony. As he came to a lake with no place else to run, he simply took off running across the water. [Yes, that's what I said! NOT wading into the lake!] As he neared the middle of the lake the two very surprised and frustrated antagonists decided to run around the lake and catch him on the other side. The believer simply stood still in the middle of the lake and watched them run. When they had passed the middle point he simply turned and ran back across the lake the direction he had come. His would-be attackers couldn't believe what they were seeing and simply gave up their pursuit. They left him alone from that day forward.
A brother in the Lord whom I have known in years gone by was Mel Tari, the author of "Like a Mighty Wind." As Mel once related it to me, in order to reach ministry destinations entire groups of people needed to cross a river. Instead of me telling you the story, watch this YouTube video uploaded from Patricia King's XPMedia site as Mel relates the story himself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93TKE8_4QC0
I have been in meetings where people were healed en masse of certain diseases. There was no healing line, and the person ministering at the time didn't call certain people out of the audience. He simply decreed the Word of the Lord over certain specific diseases or sicknesses, swept his hand over the people and longtime, chronic diseases simply disappeared. Those people were asked to please go home, see their physician and get a thorough checkup, and then report back with the physician's signed release. This is not a one-time event! I've seen this over and over, and the phenomenon is increasing.
John G. Lake (1870 - 1935) was a kind of modern forerunner for this "greater works" movement that's really beginning to unfold in this day and hour. He was famous for going into hospitals and literally cleaning them out, with every single person in the hospital being healed, no matter what the affliction, disease or sickness might be. Medical doctors testified that they watched (in microscopes) viruses die on contact with his hand.
We need to stop for today, but I've scarcely scratched the surface and haven't even begun to reach the core of what I need to share with you. Let's pick this up next week, shall we?
"There is a difference between a politician and a leader, and we are in desperate need of not just a leader, but a great leader. It is not the government that needs changing as much as the election process. America is now facing some of the most potentially deadly crises we have ever faced, in a time when the world is more dangerous than it has ever been. It is understandable that so many would be pining for another Reagan, but for what we are facing, we need a combination of Washington, Lincoln, Churchill, and Moses." (Rick Joyner)
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
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