ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN XIV: Ezekiel, The Prophetic Musician
Barrow, Alaska is the farthest north inhabited place in North America and (to the best of my knowledge) either the farthest north or second farthest north continuously inhabited place in the world.
It is a community where I spent 13 years of my life, both helping my father to build and establish a church and subsequently pastoring in the community years later. It is a place where the sun never sets in the summer for 86 days, and never rises in the winter for 66 days. With a summer temperature average (as judged by the calendar and not the actual summer that takes place) of 39 degrees F, and a winter average temperature of -25 degrees F, Barrow isn’t exactly the tropics. Nevertheless it does have a summer of about six weeks (sometimes longer) with temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s (and on rare occasions and high holidays, in the 70’s).
As I’ve already noted in these Coffee Breaks, Della and I are making preparation to return to the arctic for ministry in Barrow, as well as in Wainwright, Point Hope, Nuiqsut, Atqasuk, Kaktovik (on Barter Island), Kotzebue and Nome – just to name some of the coastal communities. Back in the late 1950’s, my father took Howard Andersen, a Swedish Evangelist, with him and they traveled the arctic coast of Alaska beginning at Kotzebue in a 16-foot open fiberglass boat, conducting evangelistic meetings in every village, community and summer campsite all the way to Barter Island on the arctic Canadian border.
That’s an adventure story worth retelling all by itself one of these days, but that’s not where I’m going today. What the Holy Spirit has put in our hearts is to revisit those communities and to build upon some spiritual foundations that are already laid. At the same time, we have a television producer interested in accompanying us in our travels and working with us to produce a documentary that will tell the story and share the testimonies of some of the folks who are still around whose lives had those spiritual foundations established.
There was a remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit that took place across the arctic in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and generations of families were impacted by that outpouring. In the spring of 1980 while in Barrow, the Lord showed me a new move of His Spirit that would result in people literally falling on their faces in the streets crying out in repentance and turning to the Lord. Roughly 20 years later, Dwain McKenzie (a lifetime brother in the Lord and fellow pastor) was ministering in Barrow and he called me on the phone (Della and I were in Texas at the time) to report that vision coming true as a reality.
Because of the day in which we live and the nearness of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we feel impelled to impart the urgency of the hour and to ensure that folks understand the necessity for the Bride of Christ to “make herself ready” for His coming.
We are looking towards putting together – or more accurately, seeing the Lord put together -- ministry teams to work with us in ministering in these communities scattered throughout the arctic and throughout the Aleutian chain. I’m hoping to meet with a pilot in a couple of weeks who will fly us from village to village and town to town. When Jesus sent forth His disciples, He always sent them at least two by two. They never ministered by themselves. There was good reason for that.
There is simply no substitute for the power of agreement. When you have brethren ministering together who are in harmony with each other, who know each other in the Spirit and not just after the flesh, and know how to operate with an ear to what the Holy Spirit is saying for any and every given situation, what you get are the signs and wonders that Jesus promised. (See Mark 16:17)
You’ll remember what Jesus said in Matthew 18:19: “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”
That word “agree” does not by any stretch of the imagination mean “mental assent” nor does it convey the idea of being in agreement on some issue or another. The Greek word in the original text is sumphoneo – the same word which is the root of our English “symphony.” In a musical sense, this word draws a picture of intertwining notes, always being close to each other, always being in harmony, always flowing together. It denotes perfect accord, united objective and purpose, and the ability to always support the others, flowing, functioning and completing as one.
We have the perfect picture of sumphoneo in Father, Son and Holy Spirit – perfect harmony, perfect purpose, different functions and positions but always working as One.
THAT is what I believe God wants for us as we travel and minister in the villages and communities, and that is what we see the Lord putting together as team ministry.
Hmmmm… I sort of got going there in my introduction. Anyway, Greetings and Salutations! Grab yourself a good cup of some French-Roasted coffee, have a donut or a roll and pull up a chair. Let’s get back to Ezekiel.
Guess I’ve commented on this fact before, but once again I still find it amazing when I think back on my conversations to realize that I was being spoken with like an adult instead of a nine- or ten-year-old. If that fact alone did anything for my understanding it was that in the realm of the Spirit, there is no such thing as “age.”
In Heaven, I was not nine or ten years old. This was something that – while it was as tangible as anything I could see, hear, taste, touch or smell in the flesh – was taking place in the eternal dimension: the Spirit!
You’ll recall the scriptures I quoted in earlier posts such as the one where the Lord speaks to Jeremiah and says, “Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified (or set you apart) you and ordained you to be a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
Then there was the revelation that came to David. “Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days of my life were written, before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:16)
Thus, when I was born, the Lord already knew me and had already placed His call and His ordination into my DNA. I had pre-existed with the Lord in Heaven, just as all of us had. So you’ll excuse me if I tell you that my 69 years here on Earth are a fraction of my existence in the realm of the Spirit. When Ezekiel (and all the others) carried on their conversations with me, therefore, they were conversing with someone whose spirit knew no time and was far older than 9 or 10 years. That revelation still really grips me periodically!
Even so, when Ezekiel was sharing (as noted in the previous post) about things that were going to unfold in my life and warning me not to become reactionary but to hold things steady, he was speaking to me as one who would return to this time-space-based existence out of eternity and have to function throughout the years in time as a representative and voice of the Lord.
This brought our conversation to something I had seen in the 33rd chapter of Ezekiel. God was speaking to him and saying, “Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
"And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.” (Ezekiel 33:30-33)
“Would I be right in thinking,” I asked, “that the Lord was identifying you in the same manner as one of sons of Asaph, Heman or Jeduthun whom David appointed to prophesy musically with their instruments?”
“You would be absolutely correct,” Ezekiel answered. “Although the Scriptures do not dwell on this point – and it probably was not necessary – my family was Levitical. Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun were all Levites. When you follow their lineage throughout the Word, you find those families always involved in prophetic ministry, and always a part of what God was saying to His people. Their heritage was my heritage. Invariably, they would sing the Word and play skillfully on their instruments. That anointing made the message they were sent to deliver something that would remain in the minds and spirits of the hearers.
“God’s Word – all by itself – has an eternal staying power to it, but setting that Word to the music that His Spirit would cause to rise up made it stick in the memories of those who would hear it. The melody that went with that Word would continually rehearse in the minds and spirits of people and cause the Word of the Lord to come back over and over and over. The music gave it a declarative force that people just couldn’t evade.”
Ezekiel paused for a moment in his narrative before becoming more personal.
“My father, like his father before him, and his father before him throughout the generations, was both priest and prophet. He was part of the same thread of singing prophets woven throughout our Levitical heritage beginning with Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun. My father’s name was Buzi. In Hebrew that means “to scorn” or “to be despised.” His name all by itself was a prophetic picture. It was a picture of the state to which Israel had fallen. He was scorned in the same way that Israel and Judah scorned the Law. They scorned and despised the Word of the Lord, and they ridiculed and made light of our acts as priests in the offering of burnt sacrifices for sin.
“Growing up in that environment where I saw what my father endured somewhat prepared me for the role God called me to. I knew the power that could be exercised with music. I knew that the Word could be made extremely effective if it was sung or played on an instrument. It was an easy resolution in my youth, therefore, to apply myself to learning to play various instruments.
“In his day, David developed what we called the “psaltery” – an early predecessor to the guitar you now play. It became my favorite instrument to play and I practiced until my fingers were so sore they could hardly stand to touch the strings. But I stayed with it. Throughout the years, I became skilled at the psaltery and harp so that I could pick one of them up, close my eyes, and just get lost in the reverie of the presence of the Lord.
“As the prophetic ministry began to unfold that God called me to and His Word began to flood my being, it became a cry in my spirit. I literally felt His disappointment at Israel’s backslidings. That cry began to come out of me in songs of tender love and mercy as the Spirit of God yearned for His people’s repentance and return to Him.
“Jeremiah and I prophesied to Israel and Judah during much the same time. What Jeremiah preached and prophesied as declarations and decrees came out of me as songs. Although he and I never actually appeared together in our declarations of the Word God was speaking, it was always clear that we had been sent to Israel and Judah as a prophetic team. We often spoke nearly the same prophetic utterances although we never once compared notes with each other prior to prophesying.
“Sometimes his declarations and decrees were – in my opinion at the time – the more explosive and impacting than those I was commanded to deliver. It seemed that because of my nature and my ability and inclination to impart and convey the Word as a song or as a psalm it lacked the dynamism of Jeremiah’s delivery; and yet I knew that God was using my prophetic methodology and delivery to reinforce that same Word to the people.”
Ezekiel paused in his sharing and I seized the moment to ask him the following:
“As you sang and played on your instruments delivering the Word of the Lord to the people, did you ever feel like it was the Lord who was doing the singing or playing? Did you ever have the sense that you were nothing more than the instrument He was playing?
“Maybe I can put it like this. Did you ever have the sensation that you were hearing the words come out of your mouth but it wasn’t you actually speaking? Did you ever feel that when you plucked the strings of your psaltery or harp that you were watching your fingers perform in a way you knew you couldn’t – that the music coming forth was being supernaturally created? There! That’s what I’m trying to ask! Did you ever feel like your voice was His voice, or that your fingers or hands were His fingers or hands?”
“In a word, Yes,” he responded. “But that response really doesn’t do justice to what I saw, felt and heard. One of my contemporaries, along with Jeremiah, was a young prophet by the name of Zephaniah. He gave forth a short but powerful Word that I think expresses it better than any other way. After uttering an edict of woe, here’s what Zephaniah prophesied:
“For the Lord your God [who is] in the midst of you is mighty; He will save, He will rescue, He will avenge you and get the victory; after which He will rest in silent satisfaction in what His love for you has done. Then He will shout over you with songs of joy and exultation!” (See Zephaniah 3:17 – expanded)
“When Zephaniah let loose with that Word, I honestly could hardly contain myself! He was describing and declaring that the Lord Himself was singing! I knew he had captured the essence of what was happening inside my being when I almost felt like an onlooker to what was happening – even though it was my voice speaking and my fingers strumming and plucking the strings. He was confirming for me what was happening as I sang the prophecies. Those times when I had the 3rd person onlooker sensation were real! It WAS the Lord singing and playing through me and He Himself was crying out to His people.”
Now Ezekiel had me going! I couldn’t resist the next question.
“What I don’t understand is, if the Lord Himself was doing the singing or the playing, and He was pleading with Israel, why didn’t they listen and pay attention? It’s hard for me to imagine that anyone could actually resist the direct voice of the Lord like that!”
His answer was instantaneous. “Let me take you back to the Word that the Lord spoke to me, even in the midst of my singing and prophesying. Remember this?
"As for you, son of man, your people who talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, say one to another, every one to his brother, Come and hear what the Word is that comes forth from the Lord. And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear the words you say, but they will not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after and is set on their idolatrous greed for gain.
“Lo, you are to them as a very lovely love song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument, for they hear your words but do not do them. When this comes to pass – for lo, it will come! – then shall they know, understand and realize that a prophet has been among them.”
“Now you understand, don’t you? The people had shut their hearts off to receive the truth! They listened to the words coming forth, but they heard it as music, as entertainment to please their ears and their souls – NOT as the Word of the Lord. Never mind the fact that they came to listen supposedly to hear what the Lord was speaking, it didn’t fit with their mindset, their personal agenda; and so they ignored it!”
Ezekiel finished his conversation with me like this:
“Your next conversation is with Daniel and he will add to what I’m about to tell you. You may not remember these words and they may disappear from your conscious memory for many years, but the Spirit of the Lord will bring them back to you at the appropriate time. The cry of the Lord in your being has been birthed, but it has yet to come to maturity. In the years to come, you too will begin to prophesy with instruments and declare the Word of the Lord to another generation.
“You too will experience the frustration of people not paying attention or heeding the Word of the Lord and you will cry out for answers. The Spirit of the Lord will bring you back to the same Word that He spoke to me about folks hearing you sing and play and considering you a fine musician, but they will not hear the words that come out of your mouth until they actually begin to see them come to pass.”
He was right! I completely forgot this Word and put it out of my mind until the Holy Spirit brought it back to me at age 33 when I was ministering at Long Beach Christian Center. The Lord reminded me of that Word during a period of extended fasting and prayer and crying out to the Lord for answers. It was during that same time frame when the Holy Spirit brought back Jeremiah’s instruction to me and the prophetic Word God had used him to implant in my spirit.
Next: HEAVEN XV: Daniel.
A paradigm shift is taking place in the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit has been preparing the Bride to show forth the greater works that Jesus promised. We are in the midst of a huge transition. That which God is about to reveal will shake and shatter the religious foundations of the calcified church!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
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Monday, May 16, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN XIII: Ezekiel
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN XIII: Ezekiel
And Another Good Day to You! (Or is that supposed to be “G’Day?)
Sorry. I have lots of Aussie friends – and even a few relatives – but my ability to duplicate their accent is a bit missing.
As something of a follow-up to my last commentary concerning the “flushing” out of the poison in our mouths, Jesse Duplantis recently had one of the best analogies I’ve heard. (Don’t mean to just be quoting Jesse in case it seems that way, but he’s had some rather spectacular and anointed sharing of late that’s worth repeating.) I’ll try to quote or paraphrase him as closely as possible.
“The reason that folks jump all over what they call the ‘Word of Faith’ movement or the ‘Prosperity Doctrine’ is because there are some preachers out there who grab hold of part of the revelation and just focus on that part instead of waiting to get the entire revelation. That places an imbalance on what they teach and causes resulting error.”
Jesse is right! Just because there are preachers and teachers who are labeled “Word of Faith” or “Prosperity” doesn’t mean they have the whole revelation. Their lack of balance, however, does not invalidate the truth of the Word of Faith, nor does it mean that teaching prosperity is heresy. Let’s face it, folks. If a person speaks out against the Word of Faith (and I don’t just mean the so-called ‘movement’) they are speaking contrary to what the Word of God very specifically says!
Hebrews 11:6 very clearly states, “Without faith, it is impossible (see that word, ‘impossible’?) to please God.” The corollary to this is that faith MUST be in our mouths as a part of our normal ordinary speech. It is an incontrovertible truth that you cannot have what you speak against. There’s another side to this, too. Nowhere in the Word are we instructed to call those things that are as though they weren’t! It is fair to say that most things that are exist because someone spoke them into existence one way or another.
Let me give you an example.
A certain person said to me – not once but several times throughout the years – “I’ll probably have or get cancer. It runs in our family, so I guess that means I’ll have cancer.” Sure enough the man came down with cancer. He got exactly what he confessed. He brought into being a disease he didn’t need to have because he spoke unbelief. Meanwhile he was made aware of the promises in the Word concerning healing. With only a partial understanding of the Word of Faith, he began to call his cancer nonexistent.
I understand what he was trying to do, but that was not an exercise of the Word of Faith. He was trying to call those things that are as though they weren’t – and it didn’t work. He should have spoken the truth and said, “I have been diagnosed with cancer but the Word says that Jesus paid the price for my healing – that by His stripes I’ve been healed. Therefore I lay claim to the covenant that I have with the Lord Jesus Christ. I accept and receive healing from cancer by and through the blood of Jesus and in His Name!”
See the difference? The first confession gets you nowhere because it simply isn’t truth. It is nothing more than unbelief masquerading as faith. The second confession acknowledges that you have been afflicted but that Jesus paid the price so that you could be healed of the affliction. That’s the truth, and that’s what you have to walk in.
Unbelief, incidentally, is not a lack of believing. Unbelief actively believes something which is contrary to what God is saying, or what He has said before. For many people, unbelief is far more powerful in their lives than having faith and declaring and decreeing agreement with what The Word Himself says. Unbelief challenges the promises that Jesus made. Unbelief essentially says, “I don’t believe that Jesus will keep His Word to me. Maybe he’ll do it for somebody else but not me.”
Just as faith gives rise to a creative confession, unbelief always gives vent to a negative and (ultimately) destructive confession. That confession declares and decrees a thing in the life of the decreer. What it decrees is exactly what a person believes – even if what a person believes violates the Word of God.
When someone says to me, “I don’t believe that,” or, “I don’t believe that applies to me” they are unequivocally saying that they’ve chosen to actively disbelieve what God says, thus placing their “belief system” above that of the Lord. When someone says to me, “I don’t believe in the idea of Christians living in prosperity,” they are without question denying the very efficacy of the Word and the multitude of promises of the Lord. Deuteronomy 28 – all by itself – should be sufficient to quash that unbelief.
When someone says, “Speaking in tongues is of the Devil,” they blaspheme the Holy Spirit by attributing His work and ministry to Satan. They actively disbelieve Acts 2:39 and dismiss it as not relevant to the present time. They place themselves in grave danger of severe judgment.
Let me get back on track. We don’t know it all yet. In case you hadn’t already figured it out (grin), I’ve made some serious mistakes, errors in judgment and errors in teaching. I was very sincere years ago when I taught against the laws of tithing – and I was sincerely wrong! The problem was that I didn’t have revelation by the Holy Spirit and so I taught from humanly acquired and (very!) erroneous reasoning. Were it not for the grace and mercy of the Lord I would still be caught in that error.
That said, I’d hate for someone to take something I taught 10, 15 or 20 years ago from an incomplete place of understanding and suggest that I currently preach and teach that same error.
(Unfortunately, folks who condemn many of the so-called “Word of Faith” and “Prosperity Teachers” do exactly that, taking things they said as many as 20 or 30 years ago and repeating them as current doctrine when in fact they have grown in their understanding and areas of teaching as the Holy Spirit has continued to unfold revelation from the Word.)
Thank the Lord for His instruction and correction. Thank God for His patience with me in my stupidity and His grace to bring me out of error. I’m still learning and still growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
OK. Enough of that. Let’s move on.
Ezekiel has long been one of my favorite prophets. It didn’t used to be that way, but when I began to have some of the same experiences and same visions he had, it changed my perspective and gave me a real appreciation for him. Little did I realize when I was talking to him that less than two years later I would experience his “wheel in the middle of the wheel” in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
Ezekiel was a Levitical priest who when he was introduced to me appeared in priestly garments. I’d have guessed him to be roughly 5’10” or 5’11” tall, and “lean and mean” if you get the metaphor. He was no spindly-looking guy, however. He had soft facial features – the look of someone who has spent a lifetime in the presence of the Lord.
Here again was someone whose appearance belied the mental images which came from seeing all the “stuff” he went through, and the requests the Lord made of him in order to become a literal prophecy himself to the nation. Stop and think about it!
What do you think a guy would look like to whom the Lord first said, “Take this roll (scroll) and eat it?” OK, how about this one:
“Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.”
Then the Lord follows that one up with, “And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.”
Got the picture? Ezekiel is commanded to lie on his left side for 390 days as a sign to Israel. Next he’s commanded to lie on his right side for 40 days. Each of those acts becomes a prophecy to Israel.
But wait. It gets even stranger yet!
“And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.”
So Ezekiel is commanded to shave his head and his beard and use the hair in four different ways to prophesy. Do you think this might look strange?
Try this one on!
“Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.”
Say what?
“And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them. Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.”
Wheww!!! Yecchh! “Prepare thy bread (with dung)?” Think you could do that? Somehow I doubt it! And we think some of God’s people today are strange! And this was just a sampling of the very unusual things God required of him as he became the prophetic Word of the Lord to Israel.
Now you begin to get the idea why I began my questions with Ezekiel like this: “Did you think you’d lost your mind, or maybe that you were hearing things, when the Lord asked you to do all that strange stuff? I mean, WOW! I know you were supposed to represent a prophetic picture to the people, but I don’t remember anyone else ever being asked to do such odd things, ‘cept maybe Isaiah once or twice.”
It seems that my questions often provoked laughter on the part of the individuals being questioned, and Ezekiel was no exception. Put in the perspective that I had just shared, he couldn’t help but laugh. In fact, it caught his “funny bone” to the point where he almost doubled over laughing.
“I guess I’d never thought of it cumulatively like that,” he responded, “but I see what you’re driving at. As you’ve just pointed out, Isaiah was required to walk about for three years naked and barefoot in order to become a prophetic message to Egypt and Ethiopia.
“When the Lord first began to instruct me in this strange behavior, He warned me that Israel was extremely rebellious and that they would react vehemently to the Word I was sent to deliver. If you remember how He spoke to Jeremiah, He instructed him not to pay attention to the reactions of the people. He told Jeremiah that they would fight against him and try to take his life. He repeated Himself several times to Jeremiah when He said, “Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee.”
“What God said to me was, “And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.”
“The parallel was identical. God was letting me know that these people were like poisonous scorpions and that they would try to sting me and infect me with their poison. I knew in my spirit that I was going to be an illustrated prophetic Word of the Lord – one that would be so graphic the people would not be able to get the picture out of their minds. The Lord was so serious about them receiving this message that He was making me into something that was pretty extreme in order to get His Word engraved in their spirits.
“That didn’t mean the people were going to hear and obey the Word. In fact, He said to me, “For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.”
Ezekiel paused and said, “Are you understanding this?”
I nodded my head. “That’s pretty extreme! Obviously it is very important that God’s people hear the warning because of the things that are going to happen.”
“There’s more, but before we continue there are some things I need to share with you, young man. The Lord Jesus arranged this trip for you because there are some things that need to be planted in your spirit. He has some important assignments for you – just as He had for me, for Isaiah and for Jeremiah. Much of what I’m about to share with you will fade from your conscious memory for several years because the timing of what I have to say is for a day that awaits you.
He continued. “A day will come when you will cry out to the Lord asking Him concerning the events that will be unfolding at that time. The Spirit of the Lord will bring this conversation back to you and remind you of your calling and purpose. He will time it in such a way that your purposes in God will begin to flower and mature.”
Now my curiosity was piqued! I stood up straight and waited to see what Ezekiel was going to say.
“I’ve just told you what the Lord spoke to me when He first called me. I wasn’t being sent to other nations and other peoples. I was being sent to the House of Israel. Though there will come moments in time when you will address people who are not of the house and family of God – and you will see them quickly and readily respond to the Word of the Lord – God is sending you primarily to His people.
“When He sent me to the houses of Judah and Israel, He specifically warned me that I would be addressing a very stubborn and rebellious people who did not want to hear the Word I was speaking. The same is true for you. In the years to come you will find yourself delivering the Word of the Lord to people who call themselves believers, members of the body of Christ … Christians. But they will be locked into doctrines, teachings and mindsets that have blinded them to the calling and purposes of God in their lives.
“Many will rebel against the Word of the Lord that you speak. You will be despised, rejected, regarded as heretical, spoken evil of, conspired against, thrown out of places, and some of them will even try to kill you. Do not, for a moment, allow any of that to affect you. Do not in any way compromise or water down the Word of the Lord which He gives you to speak. Their lives and their spiritual futures depend on your faithfulness to deliver God’s Word.
“That doesn’t mean all of them will reject the Word. You will certainly see results, and God’s Word will certainly come to pass. But be prepared, young man! There will be times when your obedience to the Word of the Lord will cost you everything. Never fear. There is a day of harvest and a day of reward and you will see and experience it. Don’t be intimidated by the long wait. Do not, under any circumstances, allow what seem to be interminable delays and the rejections you will certainly experience cause you to quit and give up. You’ll never regret enduring and persisting in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances.”
My conversation with Ezekiel still had a little ways to go, and I’m running long today, so let’s hold it for our next Coffee Break.
Next: HEAVEN XIV: Ezekiel, the Prophetic Musician.
A shaking is going on the midst of God’s people! Jesus is coming back for a Bride without spot or wrinkle. It is imperative that we as His people yield to the fire of the Holy Spirit and the purification processes He is bringing us to. The fire is not for our destruction, it is to get rid of the bondages that keep us from reaching His destiny for us!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization fhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifor 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.
And Another Good Day to You! (Or is that supposed to be “G’Day?)
Sorry. I have lots of Aussie friends – and even a few relatives – but my ability to duplicate their accent is a bit missing.
As something of a follow-up to my last commentary concerning the “flushing” out of the poison in our mouths, Jesse Duplantis recently had one of the best analogies I’ve heard. (Don’t mean to just be quoting Jesse in case it seems that way, but he’s had some rather spectacular and anointed sharing of late that’s worth repeating.) I’ll try to quote or paraphrase him as closely as possible.
“The reason that folks jump all over what they call the ‘Word of Faith’ movement or the ‘Prosperity Doctrine’ is because there are some preachers out there who grab hold of part of the revelation and just focus on that part instead of waiting to get the entire revelation. That places an imbalance on what they teach and causes resulting error.”
Jesse is right! Just because there are preachers and teachers who are labeled “Word of Faith” or “Prosperity” doesn’t mean they have the whole revelation. Their lack of balance, however, does not invalidate the truth of the Word of Faith, nor does it mean that teaching prosperity is heresy. Let’s face it, folks. If a person speaks out against the Word of Faith (and I don’t just mean the so-called ‘movement’) they are speaking contrary to what the Word of God very specifically says!
Hebrews 11:6 very clearly states, “Without faith, it is impossible (see that word, ‘impossible’?) to please God.” The corollary to this is that faith MUST be in our mouths as a part of our normal ordinary speech. It is an incontrovertible truth that you cannot have what you speak against. There’s another side to this, too. Nowhere in the Word are we instructed to call those things that are as though they weren’t! It is fair to say that most things that are exist because someone spoke them into existence one way or another.
Let me give you an example.
A certain person said to me – not once but several times throughout the years – “I’ll probably have or get cancer. It runs in our family, so I guess that means I’ll have cancer.” Sure enough the man came down with cancer. He got exactly what he confessed. He brought into being a disease he didn’t need to have because he spoke unbelief. Meanwhile he was made aware of the promises in the Word concerning healing. With only a partial understanding of the Word of Faith, he began to call his cancer nonexistent.
I understand what he was trying to do, but that was not an exercise of the Word of Faith. He was trying to call those things that are as though they weren’t – and it didn’t work. He should have spoken the truth and said, “I have been diagnosed with cancer but the Word says that Jesus paid the price for my healing – that by His stripes I’ve been healed. Therefore I lay claim to the covenant that I have with the Lord Jesus Christ. I accept and receive healing from cancer by and through the blood of Jesus and in His Name!”
See the difference? The first confession gets you nowhere because it simply isn’t truth. It is nothing more than unbelief masquerading as faith. The second confession acknowledges that you have been afflicted but that Jesus paid the price so that you could be healed of the affliction. That’s the truth, and that’s what you have to walk in.
Unbelief, incidentally, is not a lack of believing. Unbelief actively believes something which is contrary to what God is saying, or what He has said before. For many people, unbelief is far more powerful in their lives than having faith and declaring and decreeing agreement with what The Word Himself says. Unbelief challenges the promises that Jesus made. Unbelief essentially says, “I don’t believe that Jesus will keep His Word to me. Maybe he’ll do it for somebody else but not me.”
Just as faith gives rise to a creative confession, unbelief always gives vent to a negative and (ultimately) destructive confession. That confession declares and decrees a thing in the life of the decreer. What it decrees is exactly what a person believes – even if what a person believes violates the Word of God.
When someone says to me, “I don’t believe that,” or, “I don’t believe that applies to me” they are unequivocally saying that they’ve chosen to actively disbelieve what God says, thus placing their “belief system” above that of the Lord. When someone says to me, “I don’t believe in the idea of Christians living in prosperity,” they are without question denying the very efficacy of the Word and the multitude of promises of the Lord. Deuteronomy 28 – all by itself – should be sufficient to quash that unbelief.
When someone says, “Speaking in tongues is of the Devil,” they blaspheme the Holy Spirit by attributing His work and ministry to Satan. They actively disbelieve Acts 2:39 and dismiss it as not relevant to the present time. They place themselves in grave danger of severe judgment.
Let me get back on track. We don’t know it all yet. In case you hadn’t already figured it out (grin), I’ve made some serious mistakes, errors in judgment and errors in teaching. I was very sincere years ago when I taught against the laws of tithing – and I was sincerely wrong! The problem was that I didn’t have revelation by the Holy Spirit and so I taught from humanly acquired and (very!) erroneous reasoning. Were it not for the grace and mercy of the Lord I would still be caught in that error.
That said, I’d hate for someone to take something I taught 10, 15 or 20 years ago from an incomplete place of understanding and suggest that I currently preach and teach that same error.
(Unfortunately, folks who condemn many of the so-called “Word of Faith” and “Prosperity Teachers” do exactly that, taking things they said as many as 20 or 30 years ago and repeating them as current doctrine when in fact they have grown in their understanding and areas of teaching as the Holy Spirit has continued to unfold revelation from the Word.)
Thank the Lord for His instruction and correction. Thank God for His patience with me in my stupidity and His grace to bring me out of error. I’m still learning and still growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
OK. Enough of that. Let’s move on.
Ezekiel has long been one of my favorite prophets. It didn’t used to be that way, but when I began to have some of the same experiences and same visions he had, it changed my perspective and gave me a real appreciation for him. Little did I realize when I was talking to him that less than two years later I would experience his “wheel in the middle of the wheel” in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
Ezekiel was a Levitical priest who when he was introduced to me appeared in priestly garments. I’d have guessed him to be roughly 5’10” or 5’11” tall, and “lean and mean” if you get the metaphor. He was no spindly-looking guy, however. He had soft facial features – the look of someone who has spent a lifetime in the presence of the Lord.
Here again was someone whose appearance belied the mental images which came from seeing all the “stuff” he went through, and the requests the Lord made of him in order to become a literal prophecy himself to the nation. Stop and think about it!
What do you think a guy would look like to whom the Lord first said, “Take this roll (scroll) and eat it?” OK, how about this one:
“Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.”
Then the Lord follows that one up with, “And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.”
Got the picture? Ezekiel is commanded to lie on his left side for 390 days as a sign to Israel. Next he’s commanded to lie on his right side for 40 days. Each of those acts becomes a prophecy to Israel.
But wait. It gets even stranger yet!
“And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.”
So Ezekiel is commanded to shave his head and his beard and use the hair in four different ways to prophesy. Do you think this might look strange?
Try this one on!
“Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.”
Say what?
“And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them. Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.”
Wheww!!! Yecchh! “Prepare thy bread (with dung)?” Think you could do that? Somehow I doubt it! And we think some of God’s people today are strange! And this was just a sampling of the very unusual things God required of him as he became the prophetic Word of the Lord to Israel.
Now you begin to get the idea why I began my questions with Ezekiel like this: “Did you think you’d lost your mind, or maybe that you were hearing things, when the Lord asked you to do all that strange stuff? I mean, WOW! I know you were supposed to represent a prophetic picture to the people, but I don’t remember anyone else ever being asked to do such odd things, ‘cept maybe Isaiah once or twice.”
It seems that my questions often provoked laughter on the part of the individuals being questioned, and Ezekiel was no exception. Put in the perspective that I had just shared, he couldn’t help but laugh. In fact, it caught his “funny bone” to the point where he almost doubled over laughing.
“I guess I’d never thought of it cumulatively like that,” he responded, “but I see what you’re driving at. As you’ve just pointed out, Isaiah was required to walk about for three years naked and barefoot in order to become a prophetic message to Egypt and Ethiopia.
“When the Lord first began to instruct me in this strange behavior, He warned me that Israel was extremely rebellious and that they would react vehemently to the Word I was sent to deliver. If you remember how He spoke to Jeremiah, He instructed him not to pay attention to the reactions of the people. He told Jeremiah that they would fight against him and try to take his life. He repeated Himself several times to Jeremiah when He said, “Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee.”
“What God said to me was, “And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.”
“The parallel was identical. God was letting me know that these people were like poisonous scorpions and that they would try to sting me and infect me with their poison. I knew in my spirit that I was going to be an illustrated prophetic Word of the Lord – one that would be so graphic the people would not be able to get the picture out of their minds. The Lord was so serious about them receiving this message that He was making me into something that was pretty extreme in order to get His Word engraved in their spirits.
“That didn’t mean the people were going to hear and obey the Word. In fact, He said to me, “For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.”
Ezekiel paused and said, “Are you understanding this?”
I nodded my head. “That’s pretty extreme! Obviously it is very important that God’s people hear the warning because of the things that are going to happen.”
“There’s more, but before we continue there are some things I need to share with you, young man. The Lord Jesus arranged this trip for you because there are some things that need to be planted in your spirit. He has some important assignments for you – just as He had for me, for Isaiah and for Jeremiah. Much of what I’m about to share with you will fade from your conscious memory for several years because the timing of what I have to say is for a day that awaits you.
He continued. “A day will come when you will cry out to the Lord asking Him concerning the events that will be unfolding at that time. The Spirit of the Lord will bring this conversation back to you and remind you of your calling and purpose. He will time it in such a way that your purposes in God will begin to flower and mature.”
Now my curiosity was piqued! I stood up straight and waited to see what Ezekiel was going to say.
“I’ve just told you what the Lord spoke to me when He first called me. I wasn’t being sent to other nations and other peoples. I was being sent to the House of Israel. Though there will come moments in time when you will address people who are not of the house and family of God – and you will see them quickly and readily respond to the Word of the Lord – God is sending you primarily to His people.
“When He sent me to the houses of Judah and Israel, He specifically warned me that I would be addressing a very stubborn and rebellious people who did not want to hear the Word I was speaking. The same is true for you. In the years to come you will find yourself delivering the Word of the Lord to people who call themselves believers, members of the body of Christ … Christians. But they will be locked into doctrines, teachings and mindsets that have blinded them to the calling and purposes of God in their lives.
“Many will rebel against the Word of the Lord that you speak. You will be despised, rejected, regarded as heretical, spoken evil of, conspired against, thrown out of places, and some of them will even try to kill you. Do not, for a moment, allow any of that to affect you. Do not in any way compromise or water down the Word of the Lord which He gives you to speak. Their lives and their spiritual futures depend on your faithfulness to deliver God’s Word.
“That doesn’t mean all of them will reject the Word. You will certainly see results, and God’s Word will certainly come to pass. But be prepared, young man! There will be times when your obedience to the Word of the Lord will cost you everything. Never fear. There is a day of harvest and a day of reward and you will see and experience it. Don’t be intimidated by the long wait. Do not, under any circumstances, allow what seem to be interminable delays and the rejections you will certainly experience cause you to quit and give up. You’ll never regret enduring and persisting in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances.”
My conversation with Ezekiel still had a little ways to go, and I’m running long today, so let’s hold it for our next Coffee Break.
Next: HEAVEN XIV: Ezekiel, the Prophetic Musician.
A shaking is going on the midst of God’s people! Jesus is coming back for a Bride without spot or wrinkle. It is imperative that we as His people yield to the fire of the Holy Spirit and the purification processes He is bringing us to. The fire is not for our destruction, it is to get rid of the bondages that keep us from reaching His destiny for us!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization fhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifor 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, March 18, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN XII: Jeremiah
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN XII: Jeremiah
Howdy, Howdy, Howdy!
During the last three weeks or so, Della has been experiencing increasing pain in her jaw from what turns out to be an abscessed tooth. She’s been having dental work done, and our dentist, Dr. James Stevens, has been giving her antibiotics to bring down the infection. The antibiotics have not worked adequately and yesterday, with the pain at an absolute crescendo, Jim opened it up and irrigated the area within the tooth.
Della said that when the infection began to flush out it smelled worse than the sewer. The stuff coming out of her mouth was incredibly rank. When the irrigation procedure was finished it had made a huge difference in her pain level. There’s still more work to be done (and expected to be completed over the next few weeks), but the reason I’m sharing this is because of something the Holy Spirit spoke to Della as she experienced the smell of the poison coming out of her mouth.
“This is a picture of a situation that exists in the Body of Christ right now,” Della heard the Holy Spirit say. “So many Christians have death in their mouth. The words that they speak towards one another, or towards leaders throughout the Body with whom they disagree, or towards those who embrace doctrines they either don’t understand or feel are heretical, are nothing short of excrement in my ears and in my sight. They are a stench to me!”
No kidding! There are fistfuls of believers who think nothing of blasting this movement or that movement, speaking all manner of evil against leaders and preachers with whom they disagree. Somehow they’ve anointed themselves to be the arbiters of what truth is and what heresy is. All you have to do is go into any search engine online and type in the name of some prominent evangelist, prophet or leader and you wind up getting links to scores of posts which delight in roasting that person.
Just as an example, in my last Coffee Break I mentioned the fact that we have partnered with Kenneth Copeland and Jesse Duplantis (among others) in their ministry efforts over the past few years. From some of the unbelievably hateful responses I received, you’d have thought we were partnering with Satan. The word that came to Della in that dental chair could not have been more accurate or timelier (and she was totally unaware at the time of the email responses I’d been receiving). The Holy Spirit finished His Word to Della with the following:
“Just as you have needed your mouth to be flushed and irrigated in order to be cleaned of the infection and poison, so does the Body of Christ also need its mouth flushed and irrigated. The words that come forth out of the mouths of Christians must reflect the life, the health, the healing and the wholeness that is in Christ Jesus and not the hate and venom that comes from the Accuser of the Brethren. That infection and contamination can never be a part of the speech of My people if they expect to be the solution to the sin, sickness and death in the world.”
That word could not have been more graphic! It was a perfect illustration. Let me share a quick personal experience for clarity and we’ll move on.
I was just thinking back to an experience Della and I had some years ago when the Lord first began to emphasize to us the need to alter the way we speak of other believers and leaders in the Body of Christ – and especially those with whom we vehemently disagree. Della happened to be traveling in the southeast doing her jewelry shows. In a hotel one night listening to a preacher on TV for just a few minutes – one with whom we often disagreed – the Lord said to her, “I want you to sow a $1,000 seed into that ministry.” She immediately began to argue with the Lord about it, but He made it abundantly clear that we were to do this.
She called me on the phone and told me what the Lord was saying and I began to sputter, “But, but, but … this guy isn’t …” and I never got to finish what I wanted to say. I began arguing with the Lord that this particular preacher wasn’t a man of integrity when it came to finances. Wow! Did I ever feel His disapproval! He simply said to me, “I trust him, and that’s all that matters.” Yikes! Got the message!! Brother, did I ever!
We sowed that seed as soon as it was possible. The Lord honored our obedience and multiplied it back to us many times over. He also taught us to shut up when it came to speaking out against preachers with whom we had issues and leave the judging to Him. You see, we judge by outward appearances, by what we hear and see and think we know; but the Lord judges them by their heart, by their obedience to Him and what He has commanded them specifically. That’s what counts in His sight.
We don’t get a vote in the matter, and we don’t get to decide whether folks are pleasing the Lord or not. We don’t get to criticize them. That’s not our privilege. God frequently calls flawed men and women to His service. He is the one who qualifies and justifies those whom He calls. What we do get to do – and are so commanded – is to pray for them and intercede on their behalf.
Della’s experience was a fresh reminder that the Body of Christ needs to be warned on this subject. Otherwise they are touching the anointing (and the anointed) of the Lord – and He has issued strong warnings against those who do! There are personal consequences folks don’t even want to think about.
The way the book of Jeremiah opens up makes it apparent that Jeremiah was pretty young when the Lord first called him to be a prophet. God’s instruction to him to “Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak” was of particular interest to me because of my earlier experiences with angels, and the fact that Jesus had appeared to me at age seven and called me.
When he was first introduced to me, he wasn’t anything like I had envisioned. My mental image of Jeremiah stemmed from his being frail and pretty thin following his having been pulled from the mire in the dungeon in the days of the king, Zedekiah, where he was close to starving to death. You wouldn’t call him muscular, but he sure was fit and in great physical condition. My guess was that he stood roughly 5’10” in height.
My questions to Jeremiah began with the subject of his very youthful call by the Lord. “You were obviously surprised when you heard the Lord call you. Did you see Him? Did He appear to you in person? Or did you just hear His voice in your being?”
“I was about your age,” he answered. “In those days, people didn’t see angels very often but God has a way of speaking into you so clearly that no one could ever mistake Him for anyone else. That’s the way I heard Him.”
“You are basically saying the same thing that Abraham said to me when I asked him a similar question,” I responded. “His answer to me was that ‘when you’ve heard the voice of God, there is no other voice.’”
“That’s right,” he said, nodding his head. “There are many voices in the world, and many sounds, but when a person hears the voice of God, it isn’t a voice anyone – Satan included – can counterfeit. There is absolute authority when He speaks. There is a sound to His voice unlike any other. There is complete peace. Once you’ve heard Him no one will ever convince you otherwise.
“I’m sure Satan would like to copy Him as much as possible, but there is no peace in his voice – no peace, whatever! And, his voice lacks authority. Deception is his major tactic, but if you are paying attention to the sound of his voice, you quickly realize who is speaking.”
“When the Lord first began to give you His Word to deliver to the nation and to the kings, you were still young like me, weren’t you?” I asked.
“Yes. And that was why He told me that I would go to whomever He sent me, and that I was to speak boldly whatever He instructed. When I first went into the streets of Jerusalem to declare His Word, He used my young age as an illustration of what He was saying to the nation. My size and age became a visible sign to them of His Word.”
Jeremiah continued. “You, my young friend, are being prepared and groomed by the Lord to deliver His Word. Though that day is not yet, there is a time appointed for you by Father God to deliver His Word to the nation, and to many leaders. A day will come when you will speak to kings, to governors, to leaders in all walks of life and at every level of society. God will have prepared His Word in you in such a way that you will be His Word.”
Jeremiah’s statement was something that would become embedded in the core of my being, and a Word that Holy Spirit would later confirm again and again.
I am reminded of how in the years since that Word would be executed in me. My first experience came when I was given the opportunity to lay hands on the native King of the Solomon Islands. That followed a few years later when I was sent to deliver a prophetic word to the governor of Alaska – a word, incidentally, which the governor received and which altered the course of affairs for the whole state as well as shaking up Alaska’s political world. Not long thereafter I was instructed to pour oil upon and commission a young woman to become the City Manager in place of a corrupt predecessor in Barrow, Alaska. That took place seven months before the corrupt manager was indicted and removed from office.
And those are but a few of the events that have followed as the Word of the Lord has been being built and established in me. And it continues to this day.
Throughout the years I’ve heard Jeremiah often referred to as “the weeping prophet.” That certainly was not the way that he came across to me in our conversation, although I could perhaps get a sense of why some folks would think that as we continued talking.
“One of the things that is true today in your world, as much as it was in my time, is the fact that the priests and prophets (you don’t call them that – you use over-generalized terms like “pastor” or “evangelist” or “missionary” of your age fall into the same traps that they did in my day. As the Word of the Lord is being revealed throughout the years and truths lost throughout the centuries are being restored to God’s people, those in places of leadership tend to fear what they perceive as change or alteration to what they’ve preached.
“I’m sure that you’ve heard the phrase “comfortable gospel” or “comfort zone” growing up in church. If you remember some of the prophecies the Lord gave to me concerning Israel’s spiritual leaders, you’ll remember this:
“For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”
“The covetousness spoken of by the Lord isn’t necessarily referring to money or possessions. It applies to the positions of authority and influence. When these “covetous” leaders hear something that could take away from their places of power, they tend to quiet the mouths of those who would speak or share something contrary to their traditional and often “comfortable” doctrines – teachings that won’t disturb the status quo and cause people to begin seeking after something besides that which they offer.”
Jeremiah continued, “You, my young friend, are going to encounter this in the years to come. The Lord will reveal things to you that you must share with God’s people – truths that have not been taught or emphasized, and truths that are critical to their spiritual growth and understanding of their relationship to Him. You will encounter opposition from many leaders and people regarded as “elders.” Just as God said to me, ‘Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee,’ I’m saying the same thing to you. Do not – under any circumstances – allow the intimidation of those in high places to alter or influence the Word that Father God gives you to speak. Deliver it exactly as He says whether people like it or not.”
It was a sobering but critically important message for me to consider and hang on to. To some of those of you who read this it may seem like a pretty stern message to give to someone not yet ten years of age, but it was a strong Word from the Lord that was permanently etched in my spirit from that moment on. I had good reason to remember that instruction many years later when I stood before a group of pastors and church leaders whom I loved and respected and rebuked them with Jeremiah’s words for not teaching and preaching the truth of the message of deliverance from evil spirits.
(They had been preaching that once a person is ‘saved’ he is automatically free from evil spirits. There is nothing automatic about it. We’ve been given the authority as believers to kick out demons, but if we don’t exercise that authority we’ll never be completely free!)
True to the Word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, these leaders fought against me and ordered that I was not to even enter any of their churches. Also true to the Word of the Lord, He was with me to deliver me and some years later, the senior pastor in this group repented and asked for my forgiveness. Every one of their churches ultimately began preaching the message of deliverance.
My conversation with Jeremiah ended on the subject that had colored my imagination of him as frail and weak.
“You remember,” I queried, “how during the reign of Zedekiah some of the captains and elders of the people got the king’s permission to throw you into prison, and then into a muddy pit to let you die? You were there long enough that your body became so weak and frail they finally had to haul you out with dirty old rags because your flesh would have ripped apart had they used coarse ropes. Did you ever feel like the Lord had gone back on His Word to deliver you during the days or weeks you struggled to stay alive?”
“Never,” he responded. “It never crossed my mind. I knew this was just part of my journey as a prophet to a rebellious nation. The nation as a large part had rejected God’s leadership and had gone chasing after false gods that would allow them to live as they pleased. Sure, there were many people who followed after the Law of Moses and the traditions of the Elders but as Isaiah before me had mourned, God was sick of their burnt offerings and sacrifices. They had become meaningless traditions – religious practices without life or significance.
“You can expect persecution, imprisonment, slander, false accusations and terrible treatment at the hands of those who reject the Word of the Lord – especially when they are afraid of the people they serve and fear for the loss of their status and position. God had never failed to deliver me in the past. I had no reason to think He was suddenly going to forsake His promises me.”
“How did you cope with the long darkness and the ick of the mud for so long?” I asked.
“You can’t even think about it,” he answered. “If you do you’ll be constantly in torment. The answer to that kind of predicament is to focus on the Lord and to remember what His promises are to you. Another thing you can do – and should do – is to sing praises to the Lord. Keep your focus on Him no matter how long it takes. He will deliver you as He has promised.”
Jeremiah’s counsel to me was etched indelibly in my spirit and in my subconscious. Throughout all the years of ministry since, his words and his instruction have been triggered in my memory whenever events have turned against me because of the Word of the Lord.
Two prophets remained yet for me to visit, and I was anxious to meet them. My conversations with Isaiah and Jeremiah had been both uplifting and encouraging – really important, in fact – and I was excited to have the opportunity to talk to Ezekiel and Daniel.
Next: HEAVEN XIII: Ezekiel.
A shaking is going on the midst of God’s people! Jesus is coming back for a Bride without spot or wrinkle. It is imperative that we as His people yield to the fire of the Holy Spirit and the purification processes He is bringing us to. The fire is not for our destruction, it is to get rid of the bondages that keep us from reaching His destiny for us!
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.
Howdy, Howdy, Howdy!
During the last three weeks or so, Della has been experiencing increasing pain in her jaw from what turns out to be an abscessed tooth. She’s been having dental work done, and our dentist, Dr. James Stevens, has been giving her antibiotics to bring down the infection. The antibiotics have not worked adequately and yesterday, with the pain at an absolute crescendo, Jim opened it up and irrigated the area within the tooth.
Della said that when the infection began to flush out it smelled worse than the sewer. The stuff coming out of her mouth was incredibly rank. When the irrigation procedure was finished it had made a huge difference in her pain level. There’s still more work to be done (and expected to be completed over the next few weeks), but the reason I’m sharing this is because of something the Holy Spirit spoke to Della as she experienced the smell of the poison coming out of her mouth.
“This is a picture of a situation that exists in the Body of Christ right now,” Della heard the Holy Spirit say. “So many Christians have death in their mouth. The words that they speak towards one another, or towards leaders throughout the Body with whom they disagree, or towards those who embrace doctrines they either don’t understand or feel are heretical, are nothing short of excrement in my ears and in my sight. They are a stench to me!”
No kidding! There are fistfuls of believers who think nothing of blasting this movement or that movement, speaking all manner of evil against leaders and preachers with whom they disagree. Somehow they’ve anointed themselves to be the arbiters of what truth is and what heresy is. All you have to do is go into any search engine online and type in the name of some prominent evangelist, prophet or leader and you wind up getting links to scores of posts which delight in roasting that person.
Just as an example, in my last Coffee Break I mentioned the fact that we have partnered with Kenneth Copeland and Jesse Duplantis (among others) in their ministry efforts over the past few years. From some of the unbelievably hateful responses I received, you’d have thought we were partnering with Satan. The word that came to Della in that dental chair could not have been more accurate or timelier (and she was totally unaware at the time of the email responses I’d been receiving). The Holy Spirit finished His Word to Della with the following:
“Just as you have needed your mouth to be flushed and irrigated in order to be cleaned of the infection and poison, so does the Body of Christ also need its mouth flushed and irrigated. The words that come forth out of the mouths of Christians must reflect the life, the health, the healing and the wholeness that is in Christ Jesus and not the hate and venom that comes from the Accuser of the Brethren. That infection and contamination can never be a part of the speech of My people if they expect to be the solution to the sin, sickness and death in the world.”
That word could not have been more graphic! It was a perfect illustration. Let me share a quick personal experience for clarity and we’ll move on.
I was just thinking back to an experience Della and I had some years ago when the Lord first began to emphasize to us the need to alter the way we speak of other believers and leaders in the Body of Christ – and especially those with whom we vehemently disagree. Della happened to be traveling in the southeast doing her jewelry shows. In a hotel one night listening to a preacher on TV for just a few minutes – one with whom we often disagreed – the Lord said to her, “I want you to sow a $1,000 seed into that ministry.” She immediately began to argue with the Lord about it, but He made it abundantly clear that we were to do this.
She called me on the phone and told me what the Lord was saying and I began to sputter, “But, but, but … this guy isn’t …” and I never got to finish what I wanted to say. I began arguing with the Lord that this particular preacher wasn’t a man of integrity when it came to finances. Wow! Did I ever feel His disapproval! He simply said to me, “I trust him, and that’s all that matters.” Yikes! Got the message!! Brother, did I ever!
We sowed that seed as soon as it was possible. The Lord honored our obedience and multiplied it back to us many times over. He also taught us to shut up when it came to speaking out against preachers with whom we had issues and leave the judging to Him. You see, we judge by outward appearances, by what we hear and see and think we know; but the Lord judges them by their heart, by their obedience to Him and what He has commanded them specifically. That’s what counts in His sight.
We don’t get a vote in the matter, and we don’t get to decide whether folks are pleasing the Lord or not. We don’t get to criticize them. That’s not our privilege. God frequently calls flawed men and women to His service. He is the one who qualifies and justifies those whom He calls. What we do get to do – and are so commanded – is to pray for them and intercede on their behalf.
Della’s experience was a fresh reminder that the Body of Christ needs to be warned on this subject. Otherwise they are touching the anointing (and the anointed) of the Lord – and He has issued strong warnings against those who do! There are personal consequences folks don’t even want to think about.
The way the book of Jeremiah opens up makes it apparent that Jeremiah was pretty young when the Lord first called him to be a prophet. God’s instruction to him to “Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak” was of particular interest to me because of my earlier experiences with angels, and the fact that Jesus had appeared to me at age seven and called me.
When he was first introduced to me, he wasn’t anything like I had envisioned. My mental image of Jeremiah stemmed from his being frail and pretty thin following his having been pulled from the mire in the dungeon in the days of the king, Zedekiah, where he was close to starving to death. You wouldn’t call him muscular, but he sure was fit and in great physical condition. My guess was that he stood roughly 5’10” in height.
My questions to Jeremiah began with the subject of his very youthful call by the Lord. “You were obviously surprised when you heard the Lord call you. Did you see Him? Did He appear to you in person? Or did you just hear His voice in your being?”
“I was about your age,” he answered. “In those days, people didn’t see angels very often but God has a way of speaking into you so clearly that no one could ever mistake Him for anyone else. That’s the way I heard Him.”
“You are basically saying the same thing that Abraham said to me when I asked him a similar question,” I responded. “His answer to me was that ‘when you’ve heard the voice of God, there is no other voice.’”
“That’s right,” he said, nodding his head. “There are many voices in the world, and many sounds, but when a person hears the voice of God, it isn’t a voice anyone – Satan included – can counterfeit. There is absolute authority when He speaks. There is a sound to His voice unlike any other. There is complete peace. Once you’ve heard Him no one will ever convince you otherwise.
“I’m sure Satan would like to copy Him as much as possible, but there is no peace in his voice – no peace, whatever! And, his voice lacks authority. Deception is his major tactic, but if you are paying attention to the sound of his voice, you quickly realize who is speaking.”
“When the Lord first began to give you His Word to deliver to the nation and to the kings, you were still young like me, weren’t you?” I asked.
“Yes. And that was why He told me that I would go to whomever He sent me, and that I was to speak boldly whatever He instructed. When I first went into the streets of Jerusalem to declare His Word, He used my young age as an illustration of what He was saying to the nation. My size and age became a visible sign to them of His Word.”
Jeremiah continued. “You, my young friend, are being prepared and groomed by the Lord to deliver His Word. Though that day is not yet, there is a time appointed for you by Father God to deliver His Word to the nation, and to many leaders. A day will come when you will speak to kings, to governors, to leaders in all walks of life and at every level of society. God will have prepared His Word in you in such a way that you will be His Word.”
Jeremiah’s statement was something that would become embedded in the core of my being, and a Word that Holy Spirit would later confirm again and again.
I am reminded of how in the years since that Word would be executed in me. My first experience came when I was given the opportunity to lay hands on the native King of the Solomon Islands. That followed a few years later when I was sent to deliver a prophetic word to the governor of Alaska – a word, incidentally, which the governor received and which altered the course of affairs for the whole state as well as shaking up Alaska’s political world. Not long thereafter I was instructed to pour oil upon and commission a young woman to become the City Manager in place of a corrupt predecessor in Barrow, Alaska. That took place seven months before the corrupt manager was indicted and removed from office.
And those are but a few of the events that have followed as the Word of the Lord has been being built and established in me. And it continues to this day.
Throughout the years I’ve heard Jeremiah often referred to as “the weeping prophet.” That certainly was not the way that he came across to me in our conversation, although I could perhaps get a sense of why some folks would think that as we continued talking.
“One of the things that is true today in your world, as much as it was in my time, is the fact that the priests and prophets (you don’t call them that – you use over-generalized terms like “pastor” or “evangelist” or “missionary” of your age fall into the same traps that they did in my day. As the Word of the Lord is being revealed throughout the years and truths lost throughout the centuries are being restored to God’s people, those in places of leadership tend to fear what they perceive as change or alteration to what they’ve preached.
“I’m sure that you’ve heard the phrase “comfortable gospel” or “comfort zone” growing up in church. If you remember some of the prophecies the Lord gave to me concerning Israel’s spiritual leaders, you’ll remember this:
“For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”
“The covetousness spoken of by the Lord isn’t necessarily referring to money or possessions. It applies to the positions of authority and influence. When these “covetous” leaders hear something that could take away from their places of power, they tend to quiet the mouths of those who would speak or share something contrary to their traditional and often “comfortable” doctrines – teachings that won’t disturb the status quo and cause people to begin seeking after something besides that which they offer.”
Jeremiah continued, “You, my young friend, are going to encounter this in the years to come. The Lord will reveal things to you that you must share with God’s people – truths that have not been taught or emphasized, and truths that are critical to their spiritual growth and understanding of their relationship to Him. You will encounter opposition from many leaders and people regarded as “elders.” Just as God said to me, ‘Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee,’ I’m saying the same thing to you. Do not – under any circumstances – allow the intimidation of those in high places to alter or influence the Word that Father God gives you to speak. Deliver it exactly as He says whether people like it or not.”
It was a sobering but critically important message for me to consider and hang on to. To some of those of you who read this it may seem like a pretty stern message to give to someone not yet ten years of age, but it was a strong Word from the Lord that was permanently etched in my spirit from that moment on. I had good reason to remember that instruction many years later when I stood before a group of pastors and church leaders whom I loved and respected and rebuked them with Jeremiah’s words for not teaching and preaching the truth of the message of deliverance from evil spirits.
(They had been preaching that once a person is ‘saved’ he is automatically free from evil spirits. There is nothing automatic about it. We’ve been given the authority as believers to kick out demons, but if we don’t exercise that authority we’ll never be completely free!)
True to the Word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, these leaders fought against me and ordered that I was not to even enter any of their churches. Also true to the Word of the Lord, He was with me to deliver me and some years later, the senior pastor in this group repented and asked for my forgiveness. Every one of their churches ultimately began preaching the message of deliverance.
My conversation with Jeremiah ended on the subject that had colored my imagination of him as frail and weak.
“You remember,” I queried, “how during the reign of Zedekiah some of the captains and elders of the people got the king’s permission to throw you into prison, and then into a muddy pit to let you die? You were there long enough that your body became so weak and frail they finally had to haul you out with dirty old rags because your flesh would have ripped apart had they used coarse ropes. Did you ever feel like the Lord had gone back on His Word to deliver you during the days or weeks you struggled to stay alive?”
“Never,” he responded. “It never crossed my mind. I knew this was just part of my journey as a prophet to a rebellious nation. The nation as a large part had rejected God’s leadership and had gone chasing after false gods that would allow them to live as they pleased. Sure, there were many people who followed after the Law of Moses and the traditions of the Elders but as Isaiah before me had mourned, God was sick of their burnt offerings and sacrifices. They had become meaningless traditions – religious practices without life or significance.
“You can expect persecution, imprisonment, slander, false accusations and terrible treatment at the hands of those who reject the Word of the Lord – especially when they are afraid of the people they serve and fear for the loss of their status and position. God had never failed to deliver me in the past. I had no reason to think He was suddenly going to forsake His promises me.”
“How did you cope with the long darkness and the ick of the mud for so long?” I asked.
“You can’t even think about it,” he answered. “If you do you’ll be constantly in torment. The answer to that kind of predicament is to focus on the Lord and to remember what His promises are to you. Another thing you can do – and should do – is to sing praises to the Lord. Keep your focus on Him no matter how long it takes. He will deliver you as He has promised.”
Jeremiah’s counsel to me was etched indelibly in my spirit and in my subconscious. Throughout all the years of ministry since, his words and his instruction have been triggered in my memory whenever events have turned against me because of the Word of the Lord.
Two prophets remained yet for me to visit, and I was anxious to meet them. My conversations with Isaiah and Jeremiah had been both uplifting and encouraging – really important, in fact – and I was excited to have the opportunity to talk to Ezekiel and Daniel.
Next: HEAVEN XIII: Ezekiel.
A shaking is going on the midst of God’s people! Jesus is coming back for a Bride without spot or wrinkle. It is imperative that we as His people yield to the fire of the Holy Spirit and the purification processes He is bringing us to. The fire is not for our destruction, it is to get rid of the bondages that keep us from reaching His destiny for us!
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.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN XI: Isaiah
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN XI: Isaiah
Good Morning and another Best Day of Your Life!
Anyone who knows Della and me is well aware of the fact that we have for a long time partnered with Kenneth Copeland Ministries and Jesse Duplantis Ministries. They are not the only folks we partner with, but I bring this up today just because of something Jesse Duplantis recently shared at his church fellowship in Destrehan, Louisiana. (I’ll share that momentarily.)
Most of my friends and family know that I’ve been a sci-fi aficionado all of my life, and especially a fan of the whole Star Trek genre. I’ve had a lifetime interest and involvement in science (and even have a few contributions to the realm in broadcast engineering and scientific research) and especially in space travel – an interest I would attribute to the first trip I had when the Lord was taking me to Heaven where I got to see our Solar System from an astronaut’s perspective, as well as a good part of the universe. That interest resulted in my working for NASA in its early days and being able to participate in the launches of some of our first astronauts.
I said all that to say this: Jesse had an absolutely phenomenal parallel adaptation to the line heard at the end of every single Star Trek episode. That line normally begins, “Star Trek: the final frontier! These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It’s five-year mission is to seek out………etc.” Jesse’s adaptation was for believers who understand our commission from the Lord Jesus Christ, and his line goes as follows:
“MINISTRY: The final frontier! These are the voyages of the Children of God. Our lifelong mission is to seek out new souls for His Glory and Honor, to fill new hearts with His presence and power; to teach and preach the uncompromised Word of God; to boldly go where Jesus Christ tells us to go! Live Long and Prosper!”
Pretty cool, don’t you think? Thought you’d appreciate that!
Up to this point in sharing these experiences I have for the most part stayed in one area of Heaven. My substantive conversations began with Abraham, and then went to Isaac and Jacob. As already noted I did have a conversation with Joseph but it was not part of this visit, and I will address that conversation in a later post.
My conversations with the three major patriarchs all took place in an area of Heaven that seemed to be pretty much like an agricultural area. When I spoke with David, we moved about a bit more, and of course I saw the same temple he and Moses had seen – the same temple that became the pattern for Moses’ tabernacle and David’s “Holy of Holies” tabernacle. Although with each of these discussions we periodically “transported” (for lack of a better description) to places, or into visions of places and events where they had some rather distinctive experiences, it seemed that we pretty much stayed in the same area of Heaven.
When my conversation with Samuel concluded, Jesus now came to my side and He said, “You’ve asked to talk to some of the Old Testament prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. They are in another part of the city, so let’s take a walk. We could go there instantly as you’ve already seen possible, but let’s just walk for now. I’ll show you more of Heaven as we walk and I’ll take you to the area where they reside.”
Let me try to draw this picture for you so that you can at least have some inkling of what it was like. Jesus took my hand in His and we began to walk. I think I’ve already noted that the streets were nearly transparent. The concept of gold so pure that you can almost see through it like glass is a concept we just don’t relate to here. There were places where I could see through the streets to another tier or level below in Heaven. Being a city 1500 miles wide by 1500 miles deep by 1500 miles high makes it almost like a planet with different continents or countries – and in many respects that is what it is like.
In the same way that we have different kinds of architecture and different flavors in the styles of our towns and cities, Heaven has that – and more! This first street we began our walk on seemed to be almost like some of the older cities in Europe with fairly narrow streets and older-styled (I don’t know what to call it) architecture. By the way, if you’ve ever wondered where the Romans and the Greeks and other cultures – Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs, for example – got their architecture, they didn’t invent it! It existed here in Heaven long before Earth ever saw it.
We walked along one street where the “homes” (if you want to refer to them that way) were domed palaces – gorgeous mansions of stupendous beauty and style with their colonnades. I made some comment to the Lord about this and asked Him if this is what He was referring to when He said to the disciples, “In My Father’s house are many mansions … I go there to prepare a place for you.” (See John 14:2)
He put His finger across His mouth to silence my question and simply responded, “Wait and see.”
If I haven’t mentioned this before, it is just an oversight but one of the most powerful things that happens in you when you are in Heaven – and probably more accurately, just being with the Lord and walking with Him – is the overpowering sense of His love. It is impossible for anyone to hang onto past hurts, resentments, offenses or differences of any kind with any person or group of people when you are blanketed by His agape love. All of that fades into nothingness. It simply doesn’t exist anymore. If you were to even stop to think about it for ten seconds, you would wonder why it was ever so important to you or consequential in any way.
The agape love of the Lord Jesus Christ is simply miraculous beyond words! Once you experience this, Jesus’ answer to Peter’s question really makes sense.
Peter, you’ll recall, said to Jesus one day, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? ‘Till seven times?” Jesus’ answer was something that has befuddled many folks – and especially Christians caught in the dilemma of repetitious offenses of the same nature by the same individuals. “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” (See Matthew 18:21-22)
Seems impossible, doesn’t it? It is! It is literally impossible to anyone who loves with phileo – human love, brotherly love. On the other hand, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ – agape – is limitless. Suddenly, the offenses seem trivial and worthless – not worth a split second’s consideration! When one is swept by the love of the Lord and lives in that overwhelming presence, so many things we consider important suddenly fade into irrelevance.
(Note: I’m not going to launch into a dissertation on agape here, but it is important to note that despite our ability to dismiss and remit those wrongs against us, those who commit the offenses still have to come to grips with the consequences of their attacks, their trespasses, misdeeds or breaches.)
OK, I’m a bit off-target here so let’s get to my meeting with Isaiah. Here was a man whose very demeanor exemplified agape. There was a softness and tenderness to his character. That’s not to say that anyone else was brittle or abrasive in any way. There just was something distinctly different about him, and that difference triggered my first question.
“Unlike any of your predecessors or successors as prophets in Israel, you seemed to have an acceptance that spanned generations. Kings sent for you, anxious to know what God was saying. It seems to me that you had access where others didn’t. How did that happen?”
“Growing up as I did in the lap of luxury and having access to the privileged life of a family already respected and held in esteem in Israel, I saw the blessing of the Lord in ways many (if not most) of my fellow-Israelites seemed to be missing. Early in life I recognized that we were a nation quickly retreating from our relationship with the Lord God.
“Many years before, God had given to King David the promise that the long-awaited Redeemer and Messiah would come through his lineage. There was a yearning in me that was increasing with the years to find out more about this coming Messiah. As much as I could I spent more and more time in prayer, intercession and waiting on the Lord. The prophetic call on my life and the anointing for it came in the midst of that.
“My increasing heart’s desire was for our people to know the true nature of the Lord and to embrace the Covenant He had (and has) with us. We were a nation of people set apart unto Him for the purpose of showing the world what it could have and how His Blessing could alter them for the better. With my whole heart I sought for a way to communicate the heart of the Lord – not only to our nation, but to the surrounding nations as well.”
Isaiah was a man with the bearing of one who possessed and operated freely with authority. He clearly was accustomed to exercising authority. His next comments began to fill out the picture much more plainly.
“My father was an elder in Judah. I was a part of the house of David and related to the kings of Judah so it gave me ready access to the courts of the kings. For a time during the reign of Uzziah I served as a governor in Judah.
“It was while I was serving as governor – my last year in that position, in fact – that I began to have such visions as I had never had. I began to clearly see the heart of the Lord for His people. For the first time in my life I realized how futile and how insufficient the burnt offerings and sacrifices were in God’s eyes. There was little meaning to them in the eyes of the people. They had become routine, ritualistic and without any life.
“The Lord began to give me some very strong rebukes to the nation and to the priests and leaders. Part of the rebuke came as a vivid picture of the way they treated sin and how inconsequential they considered some of their acts to be. If you remember how the Lord gave it to me, it went like this:
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” [See Isaiah 1:18-20]
“The Lord was basically saying to the people, ‘You treat your sins as though they be a redness in the skin when leprosy first begins; I’m telling you that I see your sins as the whiteness that happens when leprosy is far advanced. You see some of your sins as a dark red – such as that which happens when leprosy begins to advance to a dangerous stage – but I’m telling you that I see your sins like the fully-flourished leprosy (like wool) when flesh begins to fall off and people begin to lose parts of their body.
“It was about as graphic an illustration as I could give them! It was something they would quickly relate to, and it grieved me in my heart to have to say it to them. Nevertheless, they had to hear it, and they had to hear it in a way that quickly grip them and stop them in their tracks. It didn’t dawn on me at the time that this was a word of warning to the king, Uzziah, because of the arrogance and self-sufficiency that had developed in him towards the Lord. He was in mortal danger because of what was happening in his mind and heart. Not long thereafter, he tried to enter the Temple and offer up incense – something reserved exclusively for the priests.
“Next, I had to liken Jerusalem and its leadership to that of a prostitute who sold herself to the highest bidder. Many of the priests and the princes in Judah had abandoned their responsibilities for the sake of their own financial gain.”
As Isaiah was sharing these graphic portrayals of what God had given him to speak to the people, I couldn’t help but cringe. My mouth must have really turned down and my facial expression very sour as he was giving his descriptions, and he caught it immediately.
“You see?” he said. “You are reacting just like the people did when I delivered that word to them. It wasn’t pleasant, I know, but they needed to hear it in the same way you did. They needed to have the Word of the Lord impact them in such a way as to cause them to change their lives and alter their path before God.
“It was in Uzziah’s last year as king of Judah, however, that I began to see the Lord as never before. That was when I saw Him seated on His Throne with all of the hosts of Heaven on display, the seraphim speaking and crying out, shouting, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts! The whole earth throughout is filled with His Glory!’”
I interrupted his narrative to ask, “You mean you actually saw this? Like seeing into Heaven itself? It wasn’t just a vision?”
He nodded his head and laughed. “Are you here in Heaven with me, now, or is this a vision you’re having? Does it matter? Would this be any less real to you if you thought this was a vision as opposed to being here?”
I got it immediately. Though I’d seen my body lying in the bed as I gripped Jesus’ hand and we were soaring heavenward leaving my bedroom behind, being here in Heaven was as tangible as if being here in my physical body. And it really didn’t matter! It wouldn’t have impacted me any greater had I been there physically in flesh and blood.
Isaiah continued. “You need to see this picture, Son! The impact of the seraphim speaking was so powerful that it literally caused the doorposts and the threshold of the Temple to shake and move. That’s when I knew I was unfit to stand and speak on behalf of the Lord. Whatever I’d seen, whatever I’d learned, whatever I thought I knew just didn’t stand up to His Glory and His presence!
“That’s when one of the seraphim came down and put a hot coal on my lips and told me that my natural tendencies and character bends or flaws towards committing certain sins, as well as the sins of my past, had all been erased, blotted out, and made as though they’d never existed. For the first time in my life I suddenly felt like I could actually speak on God’s behalf without any fear of contaminating or altering His Word in any way! It was life-changing! You can understand, therefore, why when I heard the voice cry out, ‘Whom shall I send or who will go for us,’ that I felt free enough to answer, ‘Here am I, Lord. Send me!”
A vision of what Isaiah had seen flashed before me and relating to what he’d experienced was easy. My reaction was an unqualified, “WOW!”
“Whatever happened to me in that moment transcended everything in my past. I felt clean! From that day forward change took place in me. Over the years that followed there was a continual pursuit to know the heart of the Lord as I had never known. I desired to know and understand the revelation of the coming Messiah.”
“It must have been very rewarding to you, then, to have the Father reveal Jesus to you in the way that He did,” I responded. “The prophecies you were given concerning His coming were the most detailed and specific prophecies I believe I have seen anywhere in the Word. There were other prophets, of course, to whom the Lord gave revelation concerning His coming, His life and His death and resurrection, but no one that I can think of offhand who received such a revelation as you did.”
“Most of my successors received some marvelous revelations of His coming and His life, and one ought not diminish in any way that which the Father revealed to them or consider it of less importance. You are correct, however, in saying that what He gave to me was very specific and detailed. Those revelations, given over a span of some 50 years, became the very foundation of Israel’s expectation of what to look for in the years ahead.
“It was an honor that no words can properly express. That He would entrust that revelation to me and permit me to share it with the nation as the foundation of what they should be watching for…… well, you understand! Each successive revelation brought change to me and to my character.”
I would like to go into more depth in my conversations with Isaiah, but what I’ve shared here captures the most important aspects of the time I spent with him. We’ll move on and pick up in our next Coffee Break with my meeting the prophet, Jeremiah. From Jeremiah we’ll discuss the meetings and conversations with Ezekiel and Daniel before moving on to the Apostles.
Next: HEAVEN XII: Jeremiah.
Though 2011 has already been a difficult year – and it is going to get even more difficult in the weeks and months ahead -- God is going to show His hand on behalf of His people, especially those who believe His Word and trust Him implicitly!
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.
Good Morning and another Best Day of Your Life!
Anyone who knows Della and me is well aware of the fact that we have for a long time partnered with Kenneth Copeland Ministries and Jesse Duplantis Ministries. They are not the only folks we partner with, but I bring this up today just because of something Jesse Duplantis recently shared at his church fellowship in Destrehan, Louisiana. (I’ll share that momentarily.)
Most of my friends and family know that I’ve been a sci-fi aficionado all of my life, and especially a fan of the whole Star Trek genre. I’ve had a lifetime interest and involvement in science (and even have a few contributions to the realm in broadcast engineering and scientific research) and especially in space travel – an interest I would attribute to the first trip I had when the Lord was taking me to Heaven where I got to see our Solar System from an astronaut’s perspective, as well as a good part of the universe. That interest resulted in my working for NASA in its early days and being able to participate in the launches of some of our first astronauts.
I said all that to say this: Jesse had an absolutely phenomenal parallel adaptation to the line heard at the end of every single Star Trek episode. That line normally begins, “Star Trek: the final frontier! These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It’s five-year mission is to seek out………etc.” Jesse’s adaptation was for believers who understand our commission from the Lord Jesus Christ, and his line goes as follows:
“MINISTRY: The final frontier! These are the voyages of the Children of God. Our lifelong mission is to seek out new souls for His Glory and Honor, to fill new hearts with His presence and power; to teach and preach the uncompromised Word of God; to boldly go where Jesus Christ tells us to go! Live Long and Prosper!”
Pretty cool, don’t you think? Thought you’d appreciate that!
Up to this point in sharing these experiences I have for the most part stayed in one area of Heaven. My substantive conversations began with Abraham, and then went to Isaac and Jacob. As already noted I did have a conversation with Joseph but it was not part of this visit, and I will address that conversation in a later post.
My conversations with the three major patriarchs all took place in an area of Heaven that seemed to be pretty much like an agricultural area. When I spoke with David, we moved about a bit more, and of course I saw the same temple he and Moses had seen – the same temple that became the pattern for Moses’ tabernacle and David’s “Holy of Holies” tabernacle. Although with each of these discussions we periodically “transported” (for lack of a better description) to places, or into visions of places and events where they had some rather distinctive experiences, it seemed that we pretty much stayed in the same area of Heaven.
When my conversation with Samuel concluded, Jesus now came to my side and He said, “You’ve asked to talk to some of the Old Testament prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. They are in another part of the city, so let’s take a walk. We could go there instantly as you’ve already seen possible, but let’s just walk for now. I’ll show you more of Heaven as we walk and I’ll take you to the area where they reside.”
Let me try to draw this picture for you so that you can at least have some inkling of what it was like. Jesus took my hand in His and we began to walk. I think I’ve already noted that the streets were nearly transparent. The concept of gold so pure that you can almost see through it like glass is a concept we just don’t relate to here. There were places where I could see through the streets to another tier or level below in Heaven. Being a city 1500 miles wide by 1500 miles deep by 1500 miles high makes it almost like a planet with different continents or countries – and in many respects that is what it is like.
In the same way that we have different kinds of architecture and different flavors in the styles of our towns and cities, Heaven has that – and more! This first street we began our walk on seemed to be almost like some of the older cities in Europe with fairly narrow streets and older-styled (I don’t know what to call it) architecture. By the way, if you’ve ever wondered where the Romans and the Greeks and other cultures – Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs, for example – got their architecture, they didn’t invent it! It existed here in Heaven long before Earth ever saw it.
We walked along one street where the “homes” (if you want to refer to them that way) were domed palaces – gorgeous mansions of stupendous beauty and style with their colonnades. I made some comment to the Lord about this and asked Him if this is what He was referring to when He said to the disciples, “In My Father’s house are many mansions … I go there to prepare a place for you.” (See John 14:2)
He put His finger across His mouth to silence my question and simply responded, “Wait and see.”
If I haven’t mentioned this before, it is just an oversight but one of the most powerful things that happens in you when you are in Heaven – and probably more accurately, just being with the Lord and walking with Him – is the overpowering sense of His love. It is impossible for anyone to hang onto past hurts, resentments, offenses or differences of any kind with any person or group of people when you are blanketed by His agape love. All of that fades into nothingness. It simply doesn’t exist anymore. If you were to even stop to think about it for ten seconds, you would wonder why it was ever so important to you or consequential in any way.
The agape love of the Lord Jesus Christ is simply miraculous beyond words! Once you experience this, Jesus’ answer to Peter’s question really makes sense.
Peter, you’ll recall, said to Jesus one day, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? ‘Till seven times?” Jesus’ answer was something that has befuddled many folks – and especially Christians caught in the dilemma of repetitious offenses of the same nature by the same individuals. “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” (See Matthew 18:21-22)
Seems impossible, doesn’t it? It is! It is literally impossible to anyone who loves with phileo – human love, brotherly love. On the other hand, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ – agape – is limitless. Suddenly, the offenses seem trivial and worthless – not worth a split second’s consideration! When one is swept by the love of the Lord and lives in that overwhelming presence, so many things we consider important suddenly fade into irrelevance.
(Note: I’m not going to launch into a dissertation on agape here, but it is important to note that despite our ability to dismiss and remit those wrongs against us, those who commit the offenses still have to come to grips with the consequences of their attacks, their trespasses, misdeeds or breaches.)
OK, I’m a bit off-target here so let’s get to my meeting with Isaiah. Here was a man whose very demeanor exemplified agape. There was a softness and tenderness to his character. That’s not to say that anyone else was brittle or abrasive in any way. There just was something distinctly different about him, and that difference triggered my first question.
“Unlike any of your predecessors or successors as prophets in Israel, you seemed to have an acceptance that spanned generations. Kings sent for you, anxious to know what God was saying. It seems to me that you had access where others didn’t. How did that happen?”
“Growing up as I did in the lap of luxury and having access to the privileged life of a family already respected and held in esteem in Israel, I saw the blessing of the Lord in ways many (if not most) of my fellow-Israelites seemed to be missing. Early in life I recognized that we were a nation quickly retreating from our relationship with the Lord God.
“Many years before, God had given to King David the promise that the long-awaited Redeemer and Messiah would come through his lineage. There was a yearning in me that was increasing with the years to find out more about this coming Messiah. As much as I could I spent more and more time in prayer, intercession and waiting on the Lord. The prophetic call on my life and the anointing for it came in the midst of that.
“My increasing heart’s desire was for our people to know the true nature of the Lord and to embrace the Covenant He had (and has) with us. We were a nation of people set apart unto Him for the purpose of showing the world what it could have and how His Blessing could alter them for the better. With my whole heart I sought for a way to communicate the heart of the Lord – not only to our nation, but to the surrounding nations as well.”
Isaiah was a man with the bearing of one who possessed and operated freely with authority. He clearly was accustomed to exercising authority. His next comments began to fill out the picture much more plainly.
“My father was an elder in Judah. I was a part of the house of David and related to the kings of Judah so it gave me ready access to the courts of the kings. For a time during the reign of Uzziah I served as a governor in Judah.
“It was while I was serving as governor – my last year in that position, in fact – that I began to have such visions as I had never had. I began to clearly see the heart of the Lord for His people. For the first time in my life I realized how futile and how insufficient the burnt offerings and sacrifices were in God’s eyes. There was little meaning to them in the eyes of the people. They had become routine, ritualistic and without any life.
“The Lord began to give me some very strong rebukes to the nation and to the priests and leaders. Part of the rebuke came as a vivid picture of the way they treated sin and how inconsequential they considered some of their acts to be. If you remember how the Lord gave it to me, it went like this:
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” [See Isaiah 1:18-20]
“The Lord was basically saying to the people, ‘You treat your sins as though they be a redness in the skin when leprosy first begins; I’m telling you that I see your sins as the whiteness that happens when leprosy is far advanced. You see some of your sins as a dark red – such as that which happens when leprosy begins to advance to a dangerous stage – but I’m telling you that I see your sins like the fully-flourished leprosy (like wool) when flesh begins to fall off and people begin to lose parts of their body.
“It was about as graphic an illustration as I could give them! It was something they would quickly relate to, and it grieved me in my heart to have to say it to them. Nevertheless, they had to hear it, and they had to hear it in a way that quickly grip them and stop them in their tracks. It didn’t dawn on me at the time that this was a word of warning to the king, Uzziah, because of the arrogance and self-sufficiency that had developed in him towards the Lord. He was in mortal danger because of what was happening in his mind and heart. Not long thereafter, he tried to enter the Temple and offer up incense – something reserved exclusively for the priests.
“Next, I had to liken Jerusalem and its leadership to that of a prostitute who sold herself to the highest bidder. Many of the priests and the princes in Judah had abandoned their responsibilities for the sake of their own financial gain.”
As Isaiah was sharing these graphic portrayals of what God had given him to speak to the people, I couldn’t help but cringe. My mouth must have really turned down and my facial expression very sour as he was giving his descriptions, and he caught it immediately.
“You see?” he said. “You are reacting just like the people did when I delivered that word to them. It wasn’t pleasant, I know, but they needed to hear it in the same way you did. They needed to have the Word of the Lord impact them in such a way as to cause them to change their lives and alter their path before God.
“It was in Uzziah’s last year as king of Judah, however, that I began to see the Lord as never before. That was when I saw Him seated on His Throne with all of the hosts of Heaven on display, the seraphim speaking and crying out, shouting, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts! The whole earth throughout is filled with His Glory!’”
I interrupted his narrative to ask, “You mean you actually saw this? Like seeing into Heaven itself? It wasn’t just a vision?”
He nodded his head and laughed. “Are you here in Heaven with me, now, or is this a vision you’re having? Does it matter? Would this be any less real to you if you thought this was a vision as opposed to being here?”
I got it immediately. Though I’d seen my body lying in the bed as I gripped Jesus’ hand and we were soaring heavenward leaving my bedroom behind, being here in Heaven was as tangible as if being here in my physical body. And it really didn’t matter! It wouldn’t have impacted me any greater had I been there physically in flesh and blood.
Isaiah continued. “You need to see this picture, Son! The impact of the seraphim speaking was so powerful that it literally caused the doorposts and the threshold of the Temple to shake and move. That’s when I knew I was unfit to stand and speak on behalf of the Lord. Whatever I’d seen, whatever I’d learned, whatever I thought I knew just didn’t stand up to His Glory and His presence!
“That’s when one of the seraphim came down and put a hot coal on my lips and told me that my natural tendencies and character bends or flaws towards committing certain sins, as well as the sins of my past, had all been erased, blotted out, and made as though they’d never existed. For the first time in my life I suddenly felt like I could actually speak on God’s behalf without any fear of contaminating or altering His Word in any way! It was life-changing! You can understand, therefore, why when I heard the voice cry out, ‘Whom shall I send or who will go for us,’ that I felt free enough to answer, ‘Here am I, Lord. Send me!”
A vision of what Isaiah had seen flashed before me and relating to what he’d experienced was easy. My reaction was an unqualified, “WOW!”
“Whatever happened to me in that moment transcended everything in my past. I felt clean! From that day forward change took place in me. Over the years that followed there was a continual pursuit to know the heart of the Lord as I had never known. I desired to know and understand the revelation of the coming Messiah.”
“It must have been very rewarding to you, then, to have the Father reveal Jesus to you in the way that He did,” I responded. “The prophecies you were given concerning His coming were the most detailed and specific prophecies I believe I have seen anywhere in the Word. There were other prophets, of course, to whom the Lord gave revelation concerning His coming, His life and His death and resurrection, but no one that I can think of offhand who received such a revelation as you did.”
“Most of my successors received some marvelous revelations of His coming and His life, and one ought not diminish in any way that which the Father revealed to them or consider it of less importance. You are correct, however, in saying that what He gave to me was very specific and detailed. Those revelations, given over a span of some 50 years, became the very foundation of Israel’s expectation of what to look for in the years ahead.
“It was an honor that no words can properly express. That He would entrust that revelation to me and permit me to share it with the nation as the foundation of what they should be watching for…… well, you understand! Each successive revelation brought change to me and to my character.”
I would like to go into more depth in my conversations with Isaiah, but what I’ve shared here captures the most important aspects of the time I spent with him. We’ll move on and pick up in our next Coffee Break with my meeting the prophet, Jeremiah. From Jeremiah we’ll discuss the meetings and conversations with Ezekiel and Daniel before moving on to the Apostles.
Next: HEAVEN XII: Jeremiah.
Though 2011 has already been a difficult year – and it is going to get even more difficult in the weeks and months ahead -- God is going to show His hand on behalf of His people, especially those who believe His Word and trust Him implicitly!
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.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN X: Samuel
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN X: Samuel
Greetings!
A few weeks ago, I shared with you the transition we’ve been going through with our ministry and the fact that we have suspended our regular daily operation of River Worship Center in preparation for team ministry traveling throughout the arctic.
Shortly thereafter, I talked with Dwain McKenzie (who has been a lifelong friend and co-laborer in the Gospel) who, with his wife Suzy, has moved back to Alaska and currently lives in Glenallen. Dwain said that he was going to Barrow to preach for a couple of weeks (the church there (AofG) had just lost its pastor, and he would try to get a sense of what the Spirit of the Lord was doing and saying on the arctic coast.
I just talked with him yesterday and it turns out there is good reason for the emphasis the Holy Spirit has been putting in Della and me to return to the north and minister in the villages. Every single AofG church across the north coast – Point Hope, Wainwright, Barrow, Nuiqsut and Kaktovik on Barter Island – are without pastors. Not only that, both of the Presbyterian churches in Wainwright and Barrow have lost their pastors. An old friend of ours who was the Presbyterian pastor in Barrow back in the 1960’s – John Chambers – has returned to Barrow to preach on an interim basis, but as he indicated, “this is strictly temporary until we can find someone permanent to take this church.”
What has happened is that (and I don’t want to point fingers here judgmentally) people who should be true shepherds and remain with their people until other shepherds can take over the responsibility have simply walked away from their pastorates like “hirelings” would.
Ezekiel had a strong Word from the Lord concerning this. “And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
“Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
“Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
“For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” (Ezekiel 34:5-12)
Pretty strong, isn’t it? Della and I both understand why also the Holy Spirit has made clear to us that we will take on this ministry throughout these communities at our own expense. That’s to say, the Lord will make provision for this ministry – this team ministry – without any need for us to “take up offerings” in the villages in order to travel and teach, preach and prophesy the spiritual health these folks need.
It is the Lord Jesus Christ who will direct the gathering. He is, after all, the Chief Shepherd! It is the Holy Spirit who will deliver the people from all the places where they have been scattered. It is His calling and His responsibility that He is implanting in us in order to “heal the hurt of the daughter of My people.” (Jeremiah 8:11)
Now, let’s get on with today’s sharing. Oh…and by the way…better get your cup of java poured if’n you haven’t already.
When I wrote about David in this series, I commented that he perhaps more than any other Biblical character has had an impact on my life. The things he shared, the Psalms he penned, and the life of praise and worship he led have been a part of my thought processes and unfolding revelation in my spirit for nearly sixty years as of this writing.
As a young boy, however, my experiences with angelic appearances and that first appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in my bedroom at age seven prompted my mother to take me to the events surrounding the calling of the prophet Samuel as a youngster as it is described in Scripture. Mom had a way of sharing events and stories from the Bible so that you were almost a participant in those Biblical events. She had a flair for the dramatic and loved to dramatize Bible stories so that my brother and I – and all the kids she taught in Sunday School – were immersed in the events by her story-telling. Mom realized that the Lord was dealing with me and revealing Himself to me in a way that – in many respects – paralleled that of Samuel.
That said, I was anxious to talk to Samuel in person when the Lord gave me the opportunity to meet and talk to anyone I desired during that first trip to Heaven. The fact that the Lord first called him in his early youth made him someone I could easily relate to, and I wanted to hear him talk about what he experienced.
Samuel was another one of those folks I had a mental image of as an aged prophet. It was easy to see him as an eight-year-old with Eli, the High Priest, and I could envision him much later in life as the old bearded prophet and mentor of David. What I saw in fact was very much like everyone else – a young-looking, but mature man who was hale and hearty, filled with vim, vigor and vitality. Seeing Samuel was one more reminder that folks don’t age in the presence of the Lord. In fact, age is totally irrelevant since we as spiritual beings are eternal, made in the image and likeness of the Lord God. There is nothing about Jesus that is old, and despite the fact that Father God is described as “the Ancient of Days” He simply does not age in any way.
My first question to Samuel related to his age when he first heard the voice of God. “How old were you when you first heard the Lord call your name?”
He smiled as he responded, “Not that far off from where you are now – and perhaps closer to your age when the Lord Jesus first appeared at your bedside to call you. I was eight years of age. Unlike your experience, however, visions, dreams and angelic visitations had become a rarity in Israel. Though the priesthood should have been regularly experiencing communication with God because of entering into the Holy of Holies once a year, it had been generations since there had been a High Priest who really reverenced the Lord, or had any real perception of what it meant to fear the Lord and His Holiness.
“Eli had received the Word of the Lord concerning his lack of respect for the sacrifices and the way in which he permitted his two sons to continue as priests despite their utter disregard for the Lord as well as their perverse behavior and contamination of the sacrifices – and he did nothing to stop them. But he had never personally received angelic visitations; and he had never personally heard the Lord. For that matter, neither had any of his recent predecessor High Priests. There simply was no open vision of the Lord or of the Heavenly realm in those days. We had no visible manifestation of the presence or power of God in the way that Moses and Joshua had experienced.
“All of Israel knew – I knew – that we were a people who were supposed to be chosen by God. I knew that we had priests who were supposed to represent us before God, but I’d never seen any demonstration of Him that I was aware of, and I’d certainly never heard of anyone hearing or talking to God in any recent times. When the voice of God first spoke in my hearing, it was different from Eli’s voice and yet I thought instinctively that it had to be Eli calling me from another room. I had no expectation of God talking to me. After all, I was a young boy! Who was I that He would talk to me?!”
This was different. In my conversation with Abraham earlier, he had said, “Once you’ve heard the voice of God, there is no other,” meaning of course that His voice is distinctively different from all human voices. That begged the following question from me.
“How would you have not known instantly that this was the Lord speaking?” I asked. “Surely you would have known in your inner self that it was God!”
My question came from my own reference point, of course. I’d had three years of non-stop visitations from angels, followed by the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ at my bedside. His voice was filled with an indescribable peace and presence I don’t to this day know how to adequately put into words. No one would ever be able to tell me I hadn’t heard or seen Him, and no one would ever be able to sell me on a Him being a false Christ or demonic apparition. In the years since that event I have seen demonic spirits visibly and I can promise you that there is no peace or presence of the Lord that accompanies them.
Samuel answered me, “Thinking back, I did know the difference but as I said, there had never been any reference point for the voice of the Lord to me. I just didn’t know Him yet and He had never revealed Himself to me up to this time. My reactions were based in my own reasoning. It had to be Eli calling me. Who else would it be?
“Not until it had happened three times and Eli instructed me to say, ‘Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth,’ did it actually register that this was truly the voice of God. Then when the Lord spoke to me and told me what He was going to do to Eli and his household, the last thing I wanted to do was to share any of it with Eli.
“Eli’s acknowledgement and acceptance of that Word of judgment sealed in me the realization that God had indeed talked to me and that the Word was going to be fulfilled. I never had to guess again as to whether it was the Lord speaking. I knew! In the months and years that followed, He spoke to me on numerous occasions – and each time He spoke I received more revelation of Who He is. There was a distinct impartation and revelation that came with His voice and an inner knowing that He would fulfill everything He spoke to me.”
Everything Samuel was speaking confirmed my own personal experiences with the Lord up to this time. I could easily recall the pictures – the visions, if you will – of the Jews being able to return to their homeland as Israel was once again declared a nation.
Those pictures had been engraved in the back of my mind, and not too many months thereafter I saw a copy of Life Magazine with photographs of the very same thing. The Lord had said to me during that first visitation that Israel was being restored as a nation, and now I had seen the photographic proof exactly as He had implanted the visions. The Word of the Lord had been confirmed to me in the same way that He had confirmed His Word to Samuel.
“One more question before I change the topic,” I said. “How many years went by before God’s judgment fell on Eli and his house? When did you become the High Priest in Israel?”
“There is one thing you ought to keep in mind,” Samuel answered. “This will help you in the years to come in understanding that God has a specific timing in the way He does things. He’s not in a hurry, and He is never late. There is a mathematical order to Him and numbers with God have great spiritual significance. Because of that there is a principle of maturity and responsibility.
“Within the life of Israel as a people, when a young man is first released into his years of training and preparation by his father to assume the family name and responsibility, he is usually about twelve years of age. There have always been a few exceptions – me being one of those exceptions – where the training begins earlier. That period of training usually lasts about seventeen years, give or take a couple depending on the responsiveness of the young man.
“Usually by the age of 30 the father calls friends and family together and there is a public ceremony or pronouncement that the son has accomplished his years of preparation and is now taking on the responsibility of the father’s business. The son now has the authority to speak and act in his father’s name; and everything he does from now on carries the weight of his father’s character and integrity – his name and his rank.
“That tradition has come out of the way God has dealt with His people. Isaac was nearing 30 years of age when Abraham was instructed to offer him up as a sacrifice to the Lord. If you remember your Scriptures, Jesus was about 30 years of age when Father God placed His stamp of approval on Him and released Him to minister and to speak in Father’s name and on His behalf.
“In that same way, I was about 30 years of age when the Philistines invaded Israel and took the Ark of the Covenant. The two sons of Eli were killed in the ensuing battle and Eli fell over and broke his neck, dying instantly when he heard the news. Though Eli had in many ways mentored me for more than 21 years, it was the continual and growing relationship with Father God throughout those years that prepared me. It was His voice that released me. It was His voice in me and through me that caused Israel to respond and accept me as God’s spokesman to them.
“The Word of the Lord was holy to me. I reverenced Him and I reverenced His Word; and I wasn’t about to allow anything He revealed to me go to waste. With Eli’s death, I now had a solemn responsibility before Israel to act on their behalf towards God and plead Israel’s case. My relationship of trust with Him made it imperative that I do or say nothing to lose His trust, nor Israel’s trust.”
We now switched topics as I asked him, “Would you tell me about anointing both Saul and David to become King over Israel? What was so significant about pouring oil over them? Why did that set them apart?”
“You’ll remember that God instructed Moses to set Aaron and his sons apart from the rest of Israel’s leadership. A specially prepared oil was poured upon them, and then rubbed on them. It signified the anointing of the Spirit of God. The oil represented the Holy Spirit. The rubbing in meant that this was something more than “skin deep.” It was to saturate them in such a way that they became a separated people unto the Lord. The Lord would hear them when they interceded and offered up the sacrifices for the sins of the people because He had set them apart for that purpose.
“In that same way I was acting on behalf of the Lord to set Saul apart to become God’s leader and king over the people. Israel’s elders had decided they didn’t want to be different from the other nations in having a High Priest and Prophet to judge them. Rather they wanted to have a king so they would look like the other nations surrounding them. I warned the elders that this would be a huge mistake, but they wouldn’t listen. So the Lord picked someone out of their midst who would look like a king in their eyes and in the eyes of the surrounding nations.
“When I first poured the vial of oil on Saul, you’d have thought he had become a prophet like me. The impact of that anointing caused an impartation of the Spirit of God to Saul and when he came in contact with a company of prophets he began to prophesy as though he’d set apart as God’s spokesman to the nation. You’ll remember that it didn’t take long for the people to accept him as their king.”
“I guess I don’t understand why he rebelled against the Word of the Lord the way he did,” I responded. “How could someone with the anointing he had get so far out of line? What would make him think he could get away with offering sacrifices in your place? Why, after such exacting instructions from the Lord through you, would he save Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive and keep the best of the sheep and oxen?”
Samuel laughed. “The anointing is not a substitute for relationship,” he said. “The anointing is an empowering that comes by the Spirit of God so that a person can accomplish tasks that would normally be beyond their capability. You are forgetting also what happened with Lucifer. Remember how Isaiah prophesied of him how he had become lifted up in his own eyes and thought he could take over the throne of God? If Lucifer could fall like that, men can fall as well.
“Even David with his anointing, his heart after the Lord and the wonderful experiences he had in God messed up. David’s salvation was his intense desire to please God and to fulfill His heart’s desire. David’s salvation was the fact that he truly knew how to repent. Saul wasn’t the least bit sorry for what he had done; he was only sorry that he got caught.
“David was a different breed entirely. Israel never had another king like him. It wasn’t just his anointing, either; it was his pursuit of the Lord and his desire to see that Israel became a living picture of God’s chosen people in the earth. David wanted to see that the Lord received the honor and Glory due Him.
“The day I was instructed to pour oil over David and anoint him to become King of Israel, when I saw him I knew the Lord had deliberately chosen him and that the timing in his choosing was specific so that Israel – and the world around – would have a revelation of the Lord God in a way that had never before taken place. Although I didn’t get to see it in the natural, I certainly got to witness it through the eyes of the Lord once I was here with Him.”
That, my friends, is as far as I can take this discussion today. I’ve run a bit long, but I’m sure you will appreciate the significance of the revelation that unfolded in this conversation.
Next: HEAVEN XI: Isaiah.
Though 2011 has already been a difficult year – and it is going to get even more difficult in the weeks and months ahead -- God is going to show His hand on behalf of His people, especially those who believe His Word and trust Him implicitly!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
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.
Greetings!
A few weeks ago, I shared with you the transition we’ve been going through with our ministry and the fact that we have suspended our regular daily operation of River Worship Center in preparation for team ministry traveling throughout the arctic.
Shortly thereafter, I talked with Dwain McKenzie (who has been a lifelong friend and co-laborer in the Gospel) who, with his wife Suzy, has moved back to Alaska and currently lives in Glenallen. Dwain said that he was going to Barrow to preach for a couple of weeks (the church there (AofG) had just lost its pastor, and he would try to get a sense of what the Spirit of the Lord was doing and saying on the arctic coast.
I just talked with him yesterday and it turns out there is good reason for the emphasis the Holy Spirit has been putting in Della and me to return to the north and minister in the villages. Every single AofG church across the north coast – Point Hope, Wainwright, Barrow, Nuiqsut and Kaktovik on Barter Island – are without pastors. Not only that, both of the Presbyterian churches in Wainwright and Barrow have lost their pastors. An old friend of ours who was the Presbyterian pastor in Barrow back in the 1960’s – John Chambers – has returned to Barrow to preach on an interim basis, but as he indicated, “this is strictly temporary until we can find someone permanent to take this church.”
What has happened is that (and I don’t want to point fingers here judgmentally) people who should be true shepherds and remain with their people until other shepherds can take over the responsibility have simply walked away from their pastorates like “hirelings” would.
Ezekiel had a strong Word from the Lord concerning this. “And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
“Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
“Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
“For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” (Ezekiel 34:5-12)
Pretty strong, isn’t it? Della and I both understand why also the Holy Spirit has made clear to us that we will take on this ministry throughout these communities at our own expense. That’s to say, the Lord will make provision for this ministry – this team ministry – without any need for us to “take up offerings” in the villages in order to travel and teach, preach and prophesy the spiritual health these folks need.
It is the Lord Jesus Christ who will direct the gathering. He is, after all, the Chief Shepherd! It is the Holy Spirit who will deliver the people from all the places where they have been scattered. It is His calling and His responsibility that He is implanting in us in order to “heal the hurt of the daughter of My people.” (Jeremiah 8:11)
Now, let’s get on with today’s sharing. Oh…and by the way…better get your cup of java poured if’n you haven’t already.
When I wrote about David in this series, I commented that he perhaps more than any other Biblical character has had an impact on my life. The things he shared, the Psalms he penned, and the life of praise and worship he led have been a part of my thought processes and unfolding revelation in my spirit for nearly sixty years as of this writing.
As a young boy, however, my experiences with angelic appearances and that first appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in my bedroom at age seven prompted my mother to take me to the events surrounding the calling of the prophet Samuel as a youngster as it is described in Scripture. Mom had a way of sharing events and stories from the Bible so that you were almost a participant in those Biblical events. She had a flair for the dramatic and loved to dramatize Bible stories so that my brother and I – and all the kids she taught in Sunday School – were immersed in the events by her story-telling. Mom realized that the Lord was dealing with me and revealing Himself to me in a way that – in many respects – paralleled that of Samuel.
That said, I was anxious to talk to Samuel in person when the Lord gave me the opportunity to meet and talk to anyone I desired during that first trip to Heaven. The fact that the Lord first called him in his early youth made him someone I could easily relate to, and I wanted to hear him talk about what he experienced.
Samuel was another one of those folks I had a mental image of as an aged prophet. It was easy to see him as an eight-year-old with Eli, the High Priest, and I could envision him much later in life as the old bearded prophet and mentor of David. What I saw in fact was very much like everyone else – a young-looking, but mature man who was hale and hearty, filled with vim, vigor and vitality. Seeing Samuel was one more reminder that folks don’t age in the presence of the Lord. In fact, age is totally irrelevant since we as spiritual beings are eternal, made in the image and likeness of the Lord God. There is nothing about Jesus that is old, and despite the fact that Father God is described as “the Ancient of Days” He simply does not age in any way.
My first question to Samuel related to his age when he first heard the voice of God. “How old were you when you first heard the Lord call your name?”
He smiled as he responded, “Not that far off from where you are now – and perhaps closer to your age when the Lord Jesus first appeared at your bedside to call you. I was eight years of age. Unlike your experience, however, visions, dreams and angelic visitations had become a rarity in Israel. Though the priesthood should have been regularly experiencing communication with God because of entering into the Holy of Holies once a year, it had been generations since there had been a High Priest who really reverenced the Lord, or had any real perception of what it meant to fear the Lord and His Holiness.
“Eli had received the Word of the Lord concerning his lack of respect for the sacrifices and the way in which he permitted his two sons to continue as priests despite their utter disregard for the Lord as well as their perverse behavior and contamination of the sacrifices – and he did nothing to stop them. But he had never personally received angelic visitations; and he had never personally heard the Lord. For that matter, neither had any of his recent predecessor High Priests. There simply was no open vision of the Lord or of the Heavenly realm in those days. We had no visible manifestation of the presence or power of God in the way that Moses and Joshua had experienced.
“All of Israel knew – I knew – that we were a people who were supposed to be chosen by God. I knew that we had priests who were supposed to represent us before God, but I’d never seen any demonstration of Him that I was aware of, and I’d certainly never heard of anyone hearing or talking to God in any recent times. When the voice of God first spoke in my hearing, it was different from Eli’s voice and yet I thought instinctively that it had to be Eli calling me from another room. I had no expectation of God talking to me. After all, I was a young boy! Who was I that He would talk to me?!”
This was different. In my conversation with Abraham earlier, he had said, “Once you’ve heard the voice of God, there is no other,” meaning of course that His voice is distinctively different from all human voices. That begged the following question from me.
“How would you have not known instantly that this was the Lord speaking?” I asked. “Surely you would have known in your inner self that it was God!”
My question came from my own reference point, of course. I’d had three years of non-stop visitations from angels, followed by the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ at my bedside. His voice was filled with an indescribable peace and presence I don’t to this day know how to adequately put into words. No one would ever be able to tell me I hadn’t heard or seen Him, and no one would ever be able to sell me on a Him being a false Christ or demonic apparition. In the years since that event I have seen demonic spirits visibly and I can promise you that there is no peace or presence of the Lord that accompanies them.
Samuel answered me, “Thinking back, I did know the difference but as I said, there had never been any reference point for the voice of the Lord to me. I just didn’t know Him yet and He had never revealed Himself to me up to this time. My reactions were based in my own reasoning. It had to be Eli calling me. Who else would it be?
“Not until it had happened three times and Eli instructed me to say, ‘Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth,’ did it actually register that this was truly the voice of God. Then when the Lord spoke to me and told me what He was going to do to Eli and his household, the last thing I wanted to do was to share any of it with Eli.
“Eli’s acknowledgement and acceptance of that Word of judgment sealed in me the realization that God had indeed talked to me and that the Word was going to be fulfilled. I never had to guess again as to whether it was the Lord speaking. I knew! In the months and years that followed, He spoke to me on numerous occasions – and each time He spoke I received more revelation of Who He is. There was a distinct impartation and revelation that came with His voice and an inner knowing that He would fulfill everything He spoke to me.”
Everything Samuel was speaking confirmed my own personal experiences with the Lord up to this time. I could easily recall the pictures – the visions, if you will – of the Jews being able to return to their homeland as Israel was once again declared a nation.
Those pictures had been engraved in the back of my mind, and not too many months thereafter I saw a copy of Life Magazine with photographs of the very same thing. The Lord had said to me during that first visitation that Israel was being restored as a nation, and now I had seen the photographic proof exactly as He had implanted the visions. The Word of the Lord had been confirmed to me in the same way that He had confirmed His Word to Samuel.
“One more question before I change the topic,” I said. “How many years went by before God’s judgment fell on Eli and his house? When did you become the High Priest in Israel?”
“There is one thing you ought to keep in mind,” Samuel answered. “This will help you in the years to come in understanding that God has a specific timing in the way He does things. He’s not in a hurry, and He is never late. There is a mathematical order to Him and numbers with God have great spiritual significance. Because of that there is a principle of maturity and responsibility.
“Within the life of Israel as a people, when a young man is first released into his years of training and preparation by his father to assume the family name and responsibility, he is usually about twelve years of age. There have always been a few exceptions – me being one of those exceptions – where the training begins earlier. That period of training usually lasts about seventeen years, give or take a couple depending on the responsiveness of the young man.
“Usually by the age of 30 the father calls friends and family together and there is a public ceremony or pronouncement that the son has accomplished his years of preparation and is now taking on the responsibility of the father’s business. The son now has the authority to speak and act in his father’s name; and everything he does from now on carries the weight of his father’s character and integrity – his name and his rank.
“That tradition has come out of the way God has dealt with His people. Isaac was nearing 30 years of age when Abraham was instructed to offer him up as a sacrifice to the Lord. If you remember your Scriptures, Jesus was about 30 years of age when Father God placed His stamp of approval on Him and released Him to minister and to speak in Father’s name and on His behalf.
“In that same way, I was about 30 years of age when the Philistines invaded Israel and took the Ark of the Covenant. The two sons of Eli were killed in the ensuing battle and Eli fell over and broke his neck, dying instantly when he heard the news. Though Eli had in many ways mentored me for more than 21 years, it was the continual and growing relationship with Father God throughout those years that prepared me. It was His voice that released me. It was His voice in me and through me that caused Israel to respond and accept me as God’s spokesman to them.
“The Word of the Lord was holy to me. I reverenced Him and I reverenced His Word; and I wasn’t about to allow anything He revealed to me go to waste. With Eli’s death, I now had a solemn responsibility before Israel to act on their behalf towards God and plead Israel’s case. My relationship of trust with Him made it imperative that I do or say nothing to lose His trust, nor Israel’s trust.”
We now switched topics as I asked him, “Would you tell me about anointing both Saul and David to become King over Israel? What was so significant about pouring oil over them? Why did that set them apart?”
“You’ll remember that God instructed Moses to set Aaron and his sons apart from the rest of Israel’s leadership. A specially prepared oil was poured upon them, and then rubbed on them. It signified the anointing of the Spirit of God. The oil represented the Holy Spirit. The rubbing in meant that this was something more than “skin deep.” It was to saturate them in such a way that they became a separated people unto the Lord. The Lord would hear them when they interceded and offered up the sacrifices for the sins of the people because He had set them apart for that purpose.
“In that same way I was acting on behalf of the Lord to set Saul apart to become God’s leader and king over the people. Israel’s elders had decided they didn’t want to be different from the other nations in having a High Priest and Prophet to judge them. Rather they wanted to have a king so they would look like the other nations surrounding them. I warned the elders that this would be a huge mistake, but they wouldn’t listen. So the Lord picked someone out of their midst who would look like a king in their eyes and in the eyes of the surrounding nations.
“When I first poured the vial of oil on Saul, you’d have thought he had become a prophet like me. The impact of that anointing caused an impartation of the Spirit of God to Saul and when he came in contact with a company of prophets he began to prophesy as though he’d set apart as God’s spokesman to the nation. You’ll remember that it didn’t take long for the people to accept him as their king.”
“I guess I don’t understand why he rebelled against the Word of the Lord the way he did,” I responded. “How could someone with the anointing he had get so far out of line? What would make him think he could get away with offering sacrifices in your place? Why, after such exacting instructions from the Lord through you, would he save Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive and keep the best of the sheep and oxen?”
Samuel laughed. “The anointing is not a substitute for relationship,” he said. “The anointing is an empowering that comes by the Spirit of God so that a person can accomplish tasks that would normally be beyond their capability. You are forgetting also what happened with Lucifer. Remember how Isaiah prophesied of him how he had become lifted up in his own eyes and thought he could take over the throne of God? If Lucifer could fall like that, men can fall as well.
“Even David with his anointing, his heart after the Lord and the wonderful experiences he had in God messed up. David’s salvation was his intense desire to please God and to fulfill His heart’s desire. David’s salvation was the fact that he truly knew how to repent. Saul wasn’t the least bit sorry for what he had done; he was only sorry that he got caught.
“David was a different breed entirely. Israel never had another king like him. It wasn’t just his anointing, either; it was his pursuit of the Lord and his desire to see that Israel became a living picture of God’s chosen people in the earth. David wanted to see that the Lord received the honor and Glory due Him.
“The day I was instructed to pour oil over David and anoint him to become King of Israel, when I saw him I knew the Lord had deliberately chosen him and that the timing in his choosing was specific so that Israel – and the world around – would have a revelation of the Lord God in a way that had never before taken place. Although I didn’t get to see it in the natural, I certainly got to witness it through the eyes of the Lord once I was here with Him.”
That, my friends, is as far as I can take this discussion today. I’ve run a bit long, but I’m sure you will appreciate the significance of the revelation that unfolded in this conversation.
Next: HEAVEN XI: Isaiah.
Though 2011 has already been a difficult year – and it is going to get even more difficult in the weeks and months ahead -- God is going to show His hand on behalf of His people, especially those who believe His Word and trust Him implicitly!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
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.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN IX: Moses & Israel
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: HEAVEN IX: Moses & Israel
Good Morning!
Longtime friend and former VP of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Jim Bramlett, sent me the following link to some pretty amazing footage out of Egypt. At about 1:19 into the piece shown on MSNBC (see the piece on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWQKOj9Sxkg) there is a very clear image of a pale green rider on a pale green horse appearing in the crowd, riding through the crowd and vanishing into thin air. As Jim aptly comments, “Has the Lord actually allowed us to see the horse and rider of Revelation 6:8, in Cairo? The word "pale" in that above verse is the Greek word chloros (Greek # 5515), which means green.”
The timing of this is absolutely fascinating since Della and I have been discussing this pale rider in Revelation 6 during the past couple of weeks with Mary Ellen Olnick – our close friend and sister in Red Deer, Alberta. There is another fascinating prophetic word which seems to be unfolding as we speak – and it is one you don’t hear much about among so-called “end-time” preachers – and it is extremely relevant to this day and hour. That is the ten-nation confederacy and conspiracy against Israel revealed by Asaph in Psalm 83.
When you understand the modern-day significance of each of the nations or tribes mentioned in verses 6 – 8, you literally have a picture of the nations or Islamic peoples that fill the Middle East, including (but not limited to) Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. I will try to do a specific Coffee Break on this prophecy in Psalm 83 in the days to come. The events revealed in this Psalm bear watching at this critical juncture in history.
In my entire lifetime, I’ve met one – perhaps two – people who’ve had similar experiences to mine of being in Heaven and having conversations with people there – especially Biblical characters. I’ve met or heard of many people throughout the years who’ve been to Heaven, but the experiences that the Lord gave to me seem to be fairly unique – so much so that there are folks who question the validity of the things I’m sharing. Nevertheless, my parents, my brother, an evangelist by the name of Homer Rugwell and a missionary sister named Harriet Brown were all present in our home the morning after this event and heard me share these experiences.
As already noted, this is the first time in my life I’ve ever put down on paper the details of my experiences – many of which are as fresh today as they were all those years ago. Throughout the years, I’ve shared bits and pieces with some folks – some of the conversations with Abraham, or David, or perhaps one of the prophets or the apostles, but never the complete experience.
Obviously my objective here is to encourage and to lift up brothers and sisters in the Lord. If there could be said to be a central theme to my encounters and conversations in Heaven, that theme would be the importance of hearing and responding to the heart’s desire of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an assignment and a commission from the Lord as believers everywhere. That commission is to see the Kingdom of God rule and reign over the entire earth.
Our assignment is to see that Jesus Christ receives His full inheritance in us. We’ve been redeemed from the curse by the Lord so that He could have the family He started out to receive in the first place. Father sent Him here so the covenant first established through Adam could be restored. Jesus paid for it, folks, and He deserves to get what He paid for!
My experiences in Heaven cumulatively gave me a revelation of Jesus Christ in a dimension that has grown throughout the years. Every conversation, every encounter, every experience enlarged my understanding of the Lord Jesus, His plan and purposes, Who He is in us, and who we are in Him. In the years that have passed since these trips took place there has been increasing revelation of the whole purpose of creation and seeing the intent of the Lord to have for Himself a family of beings who are just like Him with His likeness and image.
Thus far we talked about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David – and now Moses. I will try to finish my conversations with Moses in today’s sharing.
My conversation with Moses now turned to Israel and his experiences in leading them in the wilderness. I won’t try to cover every detail because it would make this discussion overly long, so let me just cover two or perhaps three major points of my conversation.
I was, of course, very interested in the ten plagues that God brought upon Egypt when Pharaoh rebelled against the Word of the Lord; and I was likewise interested in the parting of the Red Sea. We had some discussion on those, but the three major things I want to focus on in this Coffee Break are (1) the return and reports of the spies when they were sent into the Promised Land; (2) Moses’ own disobedience to the Lord when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it; and (3) his personal reaction at seeing the Promised Land from Mount Pisgah, and not being able to enter.
Our discussions now turned to the period of time not long after Israel had left Egypt. They were encamped near Kadesh (their first encampment there) in the wilderness of Paran.
“You sent the twelve spies to have a look at the Land of Promise,” I said to Moses. “When they returned after almost six weeks, they were bearing a gigantic cluster of grapes on a staff between two of the men. They all talked positively about the land as being a ‘land of milk and honey’ and showed some of the fruit of the land including pomegranates and figs. Yet ten of the spies were warning against going into the land because of the presence of strong, walled cities with giants. In fact, their statement was one filled with fear and trembling saying that they were grasshoppers compared to the giants, and that there was no way they could take the land.”
Moses’ face became stern as he thought back to the event.
I now put the question to him, “Why after being so recently delivered from Egypt by the hand of God with such a powerful demonstration were they so afraid to go into a land God had already promised? Did they really think the Lord would not deliver them from the giants?”
“You are looking at something that has baffled many people throughout the centuries – and yet it is a natural reaction for a people who grew up with a bondage mentality. Think about it for a minute!
“Here is a nation of people who had never had a land of their own. They had the promise and covenant that God made with Abraham that He would give them this land, but it really wasn’t real to them. Israel had prospered greatly in Egypt during the years that Joseph was Prime Minister and for many years thereafter under the Pharaohs who were part of that dynasty.
“When a different Pharaoh came to the throne of Egypt through a series of wars and assassinations who was not part of that previous dynasty, he had neither knowledge of Joseph nor any interest whatever in retaining any friendship with the Hebrews. They were leaches on “his land” as far as he was concerned and he was going to use them to create a name and memorial for himself.
“Israel became a worker class of people under him and his successors. For centuries they were systematically pillaged and used. Generations of people grew up being told daily that their lives were worth nothing. They were treated continually as the scum of Egypt.
“You don’t grow up being programmed daily like that and not have it affect your whole mindset – your way of thinking.”
“But,” I argued, “Israel had a Covenant with God that had to have been a constant remembrance for them. They had to have known that they were His Chosen People!”
Moses chuckled. “It’s one thing to be reminded of that heritage and another thing altogether to rise above that in the face of daily hard labor and bondage to a Pharaoh whose servants did everything they could to demean, to insult, to put down and to create in the minds of the people that the only reason they were alive was to serve him.
“The people had no self-worth, no image whatever of who God was, nor any life track record of God’s intervention and provision for them as a people. They still thought of themselves according to all they’d been programmed with under Pharaoh.
“Sure, God had delivered us from Egypt’s power with a series of breathtaking plagues upon the Egyptians! He had done the unthinkable and impossible by opening up the Red Sea for us so we could escape from Pharaoh. He subsequently destroyed Pharaoh’s royal armies as the waters rushed back over them when they tried to follow. It should have been enough, but for that generation it wasn’t.”
“Joshua and Caleb were certainly of a different mindset, then,” I answered. “How could they be so different from the other leaders?”
“If you talk to them, you’ll realize that they had a level of faith that exceeded the unbelief of their fellow-spies. When God began to show His hand on behalf of our people, both of them were filled with faith and courage and an unwavering trust in God. They were a different breed somehow. They were almost oblivious to the obstacles and dangers that lay ahead. They certainly were aware of them, but God’s Word and His promises to take us into a land and give it to us obliterated the obstacles as far as their thinking went. They were a joy to watch and be with!”
Perhaps one of the most fascinating things that took place during my discussions with Moses – and I have shared this as happening with some of the others – was the vision of seeing Moses in the midst of the actual circumstances that unfolded. In some cases those visions have stayed with me in more clarity than the conversations.
I saw the Red Sea open for the Israelites and then close over the pursuing armies. I saw Moses strike the rock in his anger against Israel’s rebellion. I was also able to see what he saw from Mount Pisgah. It was like being there in person in many instances. The conversations were often reinforced by the seeing of the events as they had unfolded centuries and millennia before. Many of those pictures are etched in my mind and in my spirit as though I had been a first-person participant or observer.
This discussion began with my question. “Moses,” I asked, “What provoked you to strike the rock after the Lord had instructed you to speak to it? You had done so well in leading Israel up to that point. From all I’ve read, the Lord was pretty happy with you.”
FYI, if you want to read about this event, take a look at Exodus 17 to begin with, and then read Numbers 20.
Moses’ eyes seemed to look off in the distance as he remembered the events. “Let me refresh your memory concerning the striking of the rock,” he said. “You’ll recall that shortly after we left Egypt, the children of Israel were a pretty angry and fearful lot of people.
“They became angry over not having enough food. Aaron and I took things to the Lord and He sent Manna from Heaven to feed them. They complained about not having meat and the Lord sent them the quail in abundance. Then they complained about not having water to drink.
“We were at Mount Horeb when the answer of the Lord was to strike the rock. Water came forth like a river out of the rock. It flowed down the hill and through the camp of Israel like a gusher. So long as we were camped there in Rephidim they had that water from the rock flowing continually. It was a perpetual miracle in their sight.
“Now,” he continued, “Let’s skip forward in time for more than 35 years. I had been through a lot with Israel. Despite all the miracles God had done for us in Egypt, leaving Egypt and our years in the wilderness, despite the fact that He had clearly demonstrated to the surrounding nations His Blessing on us and the fact that we were a unique people in the earth, there was still non-stop complaining, criticism and accusations against the Lord in our midst.
“Honestly, I’d had about all I could take! We had seen the nonstop provision of the Lord through all of our years of wanderings. We were nearing the end of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness while the generation that came out of Egypt died off. You remember what happened when certain of the fathers in Israel decided they were going to appoint for themselves a captain or leader and head back to Egypt because of the fear generated by the negative report of the ten spies? God had said to them that their generation would wander in the wilderness for forty years – that their carcasses would bleach in the desert while their children were taken into the Land of Promise.
“Just as God had said, that generation was dying off. In fact, most of that generation was already dead by this time. The nation had been watching as God’s Word was being fulfilled before their eyes. They were watching the judgment of the Lord upon a rebellious generation. Here we are now at Kadesh. My sister Miriam had just died and been buried.
“The place where we were encamped was quite dry and there was no ready water supply. Once again the grumbling and complaining started, and I was being accused of bad leadership. The same old accusation began making the rounds again that I had led Israel to this desert place to kill them off. My frustration level was at its limit as it was with Aaron, my brother.
“We went into the Tabernacle and fell on our faces before God crying out for answers. The Word of the Lord was clear and unmistakable. ‘Take the Rod of Authority and stand before Israel. Speak to the rock,’ He said. ‘Do this in their presence before their eyes. Watch me bring forth water out of the rock once again.’
“I really had no excuse for striking the rock. God’s Word was clear. ‘Speak,’ He said. Not ‘strike’ like He had the previous time. When I stood before the people this time, I was seething inside. Anger took hold and in that moment of emotional upheaval I disobeyed the Lord. Not just once, but twice I struck that rock – hard!
“God still showed His hand of deliverance for the people that day and water came out of the rock in abundance. My disobedience, however, and my moment of irritated rebellion cost me! The Lord immediately spoke to me and judgment was in His voice. That single act and emotional outburst had a prophetic significance I failed to see in that moment and it was going to cost me the privilege of leading Israel into Canaan.”
Implicit in Moses’ voice was a warning – not only to me but to all of us as believers – not to succumb to our emotions in times of stress, frustration and anger: particularly when we have heard a direct Word from the Lord which requires specific obedience.
“Those words from the Lord must have really sounded throughout your whole being from that moment until He took you to Mount Pisgah a couple of years later to see the land you could have and should have entered,” I said.
He nodded his head. “There was disappointment in me, of course. Standing and looking over the land, seeing the treasure that God had in this place for His people was awe-inspiring. At the same time, there was an indescribable peace inside my being. God was a Covenant-keeping God!
He had promised this land to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. He had instructed me to lead their descendants – His chosen people – from bondage and poverty to this wealthy place. He had kept His Word and I had been God’s instrument of promise to accomplish it.
“At one hundred twenty years of age, I was as strong as the day I left Egypt – perhaps stronger – and yet I knew that the assignment for taking this land and routing its wicked occupants belonged to Joshua, and the next generation. I was very grateful to the Lord for the privilege and the responsibility He had entrusted to me, and Israel was taking Canaan!”
That has to be it for today. There was more, of course, but I want to move on to one more individual whose life and calling made a huge impact on me as a young person – especially in view of how God had already been dealing with me.
Next: HEAVEN X: Samuel.
Though 2011 has already been a difficult year – and it is going to get even more difficult in the weeks and months ahead -- God is going to show His hand on behalf of His people, especially those who believe His Word and trust Him implicitly!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
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.
Good Morning!
Longtime friend and former VP of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Jim Bramlett, sent me the following link to some pretty amazing footage out of Egypt. At about 1:19 into the piece shown on MSNBC (see the piece on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWQKOj9Sxkg) there is a very clear image of a pale green rider on a pale green horse appearing in the crowd, riding through the crowd and vanishing into thin air. As Jim aptly comments, “Has the Lord actually allowed us to see the horse and rider of Revelation 6:8, in Cairo? The word "pale" in that above verse is the Greek word chloros (Greek # 5515), which means green.”
The timing of this is absolutely fascinating since Della and I have been discussing this pale rider in Revelation 6 during the past couple of weeks with Mary Ellen Olnick – our close friend and sister in Red Deer, Alberta. There is another fascinating prophetic word which seems to be unfolding as we speak – and it is one you don’t hear much about among so-called “end-time” preachers – and it is extremely relevant to this day and hour. That is the ten-nation confederacy and conspiracy against Israel revealed by Asaph in Psalm 83.
When you understand the modern-day significance of each of the nations or tribes mentioned in verses 6 – 8, you literally have a picture of the nations or Islamic peoples that fill the Middle East, including (but not limited to) Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. I will try to do a specific Coffee Break on this prophecy in Psalm 83 in the days to come. The events revealed in this Psalm bear watching at this critical juncture in history.
In my entire lifetime, I’ve met one – perhaps two – people who’ve had similar experiences to mine of being in Heaven and having conversations with people there – especially Biblical characters. I’ve met or heard of many people throughout the years who’ve been to Heaven, but the experiences that the Lord gave to me seem to be fairly unique – so much so that there are folks who question the validity of the things I’m sharing. Nevertheless, my parents, my brother, an evangelist by the name of Homer Rugwell and a missionary sister named Harriet Brown were all present in our home the morning after this event and heard me share these experiences.
As already noted, this is the first time in my life I’ve ever put down on paper the details of my experiences – many of which are as fresh today as they were all those years ago. Throughout the years, I’ve shared bits and pieces with some folks – some of the conversations with Abraham, or David, or perhaps one of the prophets or the apostles, but never the complete experience.
Obviously my objective here is to encourage and to lift up brothers and sisters in the Lord. If there could be said to be a central theme to my encounters and conversations in Heaven, that theme would be the importance of hearing and responding to the heart’s desire of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an assignment and a commission from the Lord as believers everywhere. That commission is to see the Kingdom of God rule and reign over the entire earth.
Our assignment is to see that Jesus Christ receives His full inheritance in us. We’ve been redeemed from the curse by the Lord so that He could have the family He started out to receive in the first place. Father sent Him here so the covenant first established through Adam could be restored. Jesus paid for it, folks, and He deserves to get what He paid for!
My experiences in Heaven cumulatively gave me a revelation of Jesus Christ in a dimension that has grown throughout the years. Every conversation, every encounter, every experience enlarged my understanding of the Lord Jesus, His plan and purposes, Who He is in us, and who we are in Him. In the years that have passed since these trips took place there has been increasing revelation of the whole purpose of creation and seeing the intent of the Lord to have for Himself a family of beings who are just like Him with His likeness and image.
Thus far we talked about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David – and now Moses. I will try to finish my conversations with Moses in today’s sharing.
My conversation with Moses now turned to Israel and his experiences in leading them in the wilderness. I won’t try to cover every detail because it would make this discussion overly long, so let me just cover two or perhaps three major points of my conversation.
I was, of course, very interested in the ten plagues that God brought upon Egypt when Pharaoh rebelled against the Word of the Lord; and I was likewise interested in the parting of the Red Sea. We had some discussion on those, but the three major things I want to focus on in this Coffee Break are (1) the return and reports of the spies when they were sent into the Promised Land; (2) Moses’ own disobedience to the Lord when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it; and (3) his personal reaction at seeing the Promised Land from Mount Pisgah, and not being able to enter.
Our discussions now turned to the period of time not long after Israel had left Egypt. They were encamped near Kadesh (their first encampment there) in the wilderness of Paran.
“You sent the twelve spies to have a look at the Land of Promise,” I said to Moses. “When they returned after almost six weeks, they were bearing a gigantic cluster of grapes on a staff between two of the men. They all talked positively about the land as being a ‘land of milk and honey’ and showed some of the fruit of the land including pomegranates and figs. Yet ten of the spies were warning against going into the land because of the presence of strong, walled cities with giants. In fact, their statement was one filled with fear and trembling saying that they were grasshoppers compared to the giants, and that there was no way they could take the land.”
Moses’ face became stern as he thought back to the event.
I now put the question to him, “Why after being so recently delivered from Egypt by the hand of God with such a powerful demonstration were they so afraid to go into a land God had already promised? Did they really think the Lord would not deliver them from the giants?”
“You are looking at something that has baffled many people throughout the centuries – and yet it is a natural reaction for a people who grew up with a bondage mentality. Think about it for a minute!
“Here is a nation of people who had never had a land of their own. They had the promise and covenant that God made with Abraham that He would give them this land, but it really wasn’t real to them. Israel had prospered greatly in Egypt during the years that Joseph was Prime Minister and for many years thereafter under the Pharaohs who were part of that dynasty.
“When a different Pharaoh came to the throne of Egypt through a series of wars and assassinations who was not part of that previous dynasty, he had neither knowledge of Joseph nor any interest whatever in retaining any friendship with the Hebrews. They were leaches on “his land” as far as he was concerned and he was going to use them to create a name and memorial for himself.
“Israel became a worker class of people under him and his successors. For centuries they were systematically pillaged and used. Generations of people grew up being told daily that their lives were worth nothing. They were treated continually as the scum of Egypt.
“You don’t grow up being programmed daily like that and not have it affect your whole mindset – your way of thinking.”
“But,” I argued, “Israel had a Covenant with God that had to have been a constant remembrance for them. They had to have known that they were His Chosen People!”
Moses chuckled. “It’s one thing to be reminded of that heritage and another thing altogether to rise above that in the face of daily hard labor and bondage to a Pharaoh whose servants did everything they could to demean, to insult, to put down and to create in the minds of the people that the only reason they were alive was to serve him.
“The people had no self-worth, no image whatever of who God was, nor any life track record of God’s intervention and provision for them as a people. They still thought of themselves according to all they’d been programmed with under Pharaoh.
“Sure, God had delivered us from Egypt’s power with a series of breathtaking plagues upon the Egyptians! He had done the unthinkable and impossible by opening up the Red Sea for us so we could escape from Pharaoh. He subsequently destroyed Pharaoh’s royal armies as the waters rushed back over them when they tried to follow. It should have been enough, but for that generation it wasn’t.”
“Joshua and Caleb were certainly of a different mindset, then,” I answered. “How could they be so different from the other leaders?”
“If you talk to them, you’ll realize that they had a level of faith that exceeded the unbelief of their fellow-spies. When God began to show His hand on behalf of our people, both of them were filled with faith and courage and an unwavering trust in God. They were a different breed somehow. They were almost oblivious to the obstacles and dangers that lay ahead. They certainly were aware of them, but God’s Word and His promises to take us into a land and give it to us obliterated the obstacles as far as their thinking went. They were a joy to watch and be with!”
Perhaps one of the most fascinating things that took place during my discussions with Moses – and I have shared this as happening with some of the others – was the vision of seeing Moses in the midst of the actual circumstances that unfolded. In some cases those visions have stayed with me in more clarity than the conversations.
I saw the Red Sea open for the Israelites and then close over the pursuing armies. I saw Moses strike the rock in his anger against Israel’s rebellion. I was also able to see what he saw from Mount Pisgah. It was like being there in person in many instances. The conversations were often reinforced by the seeing of the events as they had unfolded centuries and millennia before. Many of those pictures are etched in my mind and in my spirit as though I had been a first-person participant or observer.
This discussion began with my question. “Moses,” I asked, “What provoked you to strike the rock after the Lord had instructed you to speak to it? You had done so well in leading Israel up to that point. From all I’ve read, the Lord was pretty happy with you.”
FYI, if you want to read about this event, take a look at Exodus 17 to begin with, and then read Numbers 20.
Moses’ eyes seemed to look off in the distance as he remembered the events. “Let me refresh your memory concerning the striking of the rock,” he said. “You’ll recall that shortly after we left Egypt, the children of Israel were a pretty angry and fearful lot of people.
“They became angry over not having enough food. Aaron and I took things to the Lord and He sent Manna from Heaven to feed them. They complained about not having meat and the Lord sent them the quail in abundance. Then they complained about not having water to drink.
“We were at Mount Horeb when the answer of the Lord was to strike the rock. Water came forth like a river out of the rock. It flowed down the hill and through the camp of Israel like a gusher. So long as we were camped there in Rephidim they had that water from the rock flowing continually. It was a perpetual miracle in their sight.
“Now,” he continued, “Let’s skip forward in time for more than 35 years. I had been through a lot with Israel. Despite all the miracles God had done for us in Egypt, leaving Egypt and our years in the wilderness, despite the fact that He had clearly demonstrated to the surrounding nations His Blessing on us and the fact that we were a unique people in the earth, there was still non-stop complaining, criticism and accusations against the Lord in our midst.
“Honestly, I’d had about all I could take! We had seen the nonstop provision of the Lord through all of our years of wanderings. We were nearing the end of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness while the generation that came out of Egypt died off. You remember what happened when certain of the fathers in Israel decided they were going to appoint for themselves a captain or leader and head back to Egypt because of the fear generated by the negative report of the ten spies? God had said to them that their generation would wander in the wilderness for forty years – that their carcasses would bleach in the desert while their children were taken into the Land of Promise.
“Just as God had said, that generation was dying off. In fact, most of that generation was already dead by this time. The nation had been watching as God’s Word was being fulfilled before their eyes. They were watching the judgment of the Lord upon a rebellious generation. Here we are now at Kadesh. My sister Miriam had just died and been buried.
“The place where we were encamped was quite dry and there was no ready water supply. Once again the grumbling and complaining started, and I was being accused of bad leadership. The same old accusation began making the rounds again that I had led Israel to this desert place to kill them off. My frustration level was at its limit as it was with Aaron, my brother.
“We went into the Tabernacle and fell on our faces before God crying out for answers. The Word of the Lord was clear and unmistakable. ‘Take the Rod of Authority and stand before Israel. Speak to the rock,’ He said. ‘Do this in their presence before their eyes. Watch me bring forth water out of the rock once again.’
“I really had no excuse for striking the rock. God’s Word was clear. ‘Speak,’ He said. Not ‘strike’ like He had the previous time. When I stood before the people this time, I was seething inside. Anger took hold and in that moment of emotional upheaval I disobeyed the Lord. Not just once, but twice I struck that rock – hard!
“God still showed His hand of deliverance for the people that day and water came out of the rock in abundance. My disobedience, however, and my moment of irritated rebellion cost me! The Lord immediately spoke to me and judgment was in His voice. That single act and emotional outburst had a prophetic significance I failed to see in that moment and it was going to cost me the privilege of leading Israel into Canaan.”
Implicit in Moses’ voice was a warning – not only to me but to all of us as believers – not to succumb to our emotions in times of stress, frustration and anger: particularly when we have heard a direct Word from the Lord which requires specific obedience.
“Those words from the Lord must have really sounded throughout your whole being from that moment until He took you to Mount Pisgah a couple of years later to see the land you could have and should have entered,” I said.
He nodded his head. “There was disappointment in me, of course. Standing and looking over the land, seeing the treasure that God had in this place for His people was awe-inspiring. At the same time, there was an indescribable peace inside my being. God was a Covenant-keeping God!
He had promised this land to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. He had instructed me to lead their descendants – His chosen people – from bondage and poverty to this wealthy place. He had kept His Word and I had been God’s instrument of promise to accomplish it.
“At one hundred twenty years of age, I was as strong as the day I left Egypt – perhaps stronger – and yet I knew that the assignment for taking this land and routing its wicked occupants belonged to Joshua, and the next generation. I was very grateful to the Lord for the privilege and the responsibility He had entrusted to me, and Israel was taking Canaan!”
That has to be it for today. There was more, of course, but I want to move on to one more individual whose life and calling made a huge impact on me as a young person – especially in view of how God had already been dealing with me.
Next: HEAVEN X: Samuel.
Though 2011 has already been a difficult year – and it is going to get even more difficult in the weeks and months ahead -- God is going to show His hand on behalf of His people, especially those who believe His Word and trust Him implicitly!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
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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