Prophecy: You Can Sound the Alarm, But ... Jennifer LeClaire

Do you believe in miracles? (Flickr )

Prophecy: You Can Sound the Alarm, But ...

9/29/2015 JENNIFER LECLAIRE  charisma magazine 

Nine months ago, I heard in my spirit a strong and clear word from the Lord. This encounter was at a stadium prayer event that changed my mind about the supernatural—and signs and wonders have been following me ever since.

I'll always remember it. It was January 24, 2015 at The Response prayer rally in Baton Rouge. Thousands of people were crying out to God for our nation when I heard the words below in that still small voice I so love. I've waited nine months to release them on this platform because I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of what the Lord was saying—and I was waiting for His timing. I believe the time is now. Here is the prophecy:

"My blood is sufficient. My covenant is sure. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is truth. You need not operate in fear but embrace the power to cleanse that's inherent in repentance. I want to cleanse America. But it starts with purifying your hearts.

"The church in this hour must herald the message of repentance in the same way as preachers in the Voice of Healing movement heralded the message of healing. Then will you see the manifestation of My presence and the wells of the supernatural will be unlocked and many who are lost will be restored to My love.

"It starts with the message of repentance. This is the message that I need you to shout from the rooftops in this hour. Everything the church needs to fulfill her call in this hour flows from a contrite heart. You can sound the alarm but without repentance it will fall on deaf ears.

"Many are entering eternity every day without My Son because they have not heard this message. Some of them are sitting in the church right now. Start there with this message and it will position the church to rise up in My power for My glory."

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When I asked the Lord how the voice of healing preachers heralded the message of healing, He gave me three points: repetitive, passionate and scriptural.

The Voice of Healing preachers were repetitive. You heard many of the same core messages about God's power to heal and deliver over and over again in these tent meetings. The Voice of Healing preachers were passionate. Think of A.A. Allen jumping up and down and Jack Coe's exuberant singing. And, of course, the Voice of Healing preachers were scriptural. These preachers knew that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word (see Rom. 10:17) and they kept their messages in line with the Word of God.

Two-Sides to One Word

After much prayer, I've come to the conclusion that there are two sides to this prophetic word: We need to repent in the sense that we need to ask forgiveness of our sins and stand in the gap for our nation. Indeed, we need to see repentance in the church—widespread repentance. But it's not just changing the way we think about sin—and turning away from it—that is required in this hour. We need to change the way we think about the supernatural.

When Jesus rebuked the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida for not repenting after they saw the mighty miracles He did (see Matt. 11:20-21), that word repent is the Greek word "metanoeo." Metanoeo means "to change one's mind, i.e. to repent; to change one's mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins."

The spirit of religion, along with a lukewarm mindset, prayerlessness and the tradition of men, has all but killed miracles, signs and wonders in our churches. Paul saw this threat in his day, which is why he gave his spiritual son Timothy this advice about those in the church that "have a form of godliness but deny its power." In 2 Timothy 3:5 he said, "Turn away from such people."

We need to turn away from thoughts that limit God in our lives. We need to turn away from a powerless expression of the gospel. We need to turn back toward faith in God to heal the sick, cast out demons and, yes, even raise the dead. God is a God of miracles! Jesus walked on water. Jesus healed a man born blind. Jesus healed the deaf and dumb. Jesus fed many thousands of people with a few loaves and fishes—more than once. Jesus raised people from the dead. Jesus healed a man's withered hand. Jesus turned water into wine. Jesus healed a paralytic.

Getting Back to the Great Commission

I could go on and on—and it wasn't just Jesus. The apostles and the disciples in the book of Acts did miracle after miracle—even special miracles so that handkerchiefs which Paul had touched were brought to the sick who were then healed (see Acts 19:11-12). And Jesus told them, "Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me will do the works that I do also. And he will do greater works than these, because I am going to My Father. I will do whatever you ask in My name, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:12-13).

The supernatural is part of the Great Commission! A lost and dying world doesn't want to engage with a lukewarm religion. In fact, it's obvious that the world finds lukewarm Christianity tasteless. When Jesus issued the Great Commission in Mark 16, He was very clear that "these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

We need to repent—to change the way we think about the supernatural. We need to believe God to walk in His supernatural power. People are dying and going to hell because the power of the gospel has not been demonstrated. Religion in many cases has replaced relationship. It's time to press into what God wants to do in this hour—and I believe He wants to restore the supernatural to the church in a convincing way. Like Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but power" (1 Cor. 4:20). 

Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, co-founder of awakeningtv.com, on the leadership team of the New Breed Revival Network and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening; Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan's Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter. Jennifer's Periscope handle is @propheticbooks.

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Rick Joyner: The Great Commission - What Is the Work of Ministry?

Rick Joyner:

The Great Commission - What Is the Work of Ministry?

The Elijah List

A map will not help us unless we know where we are on the map and where we want to go. Before we can get to where we're going in fulfilling our purpose, we must first know where we are and where we are going. Then we can easily see the next step.

Let us briefly consider how future leaders of the Church are now being prepared compared to those in the early Church.

Most seminaries do a good job of laying a foundation of sound doctrine. However, ministry today is built mostly on knowledge and how to present it, such as good teaching and preaching principles. Certainly this is a necessary element of ministry, but there is far more to being a New Testament ministry according to Ephesians chapter 4, which is to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry.

What Is the Work of the Ministry?

The basic work of the ministry that we are called to as members of the Body of Christ is first to be the extension of Christ on the earth today. 

His Body is what He works through now, just as His literal body was what He worked through when He walked the earth. He wants to do everything through His people now that He did when He walked the earth. (Photo via Wikimedia)

When Jesus walked the earth, He taught, healed the sick, and set the captives free. He trained His followers to do what He did and then sent them out to do it. Today most of the ministry of the Church involves teaching, with some charitable work, and a few that also include healing and deliverance.

With those that include healing and deliverance, it is something they do, but rarely release others to do. Some do a little more by training people how to pray for the sick, prophesy, and be the evangelists we are called to be, but where is there even one place that all are being equipped and released to do the whole work of the ministry?

Watching God Move

John Wimber may have been one of the most effective leaders to break this mold and train and release people to do the work of the ministry. The Vineyard Movement that he raised up sent great shock waves throughout the worldwide Body of Christ as multitudes were trained, equipped, and released to do the works that Jesus did. While this was happening, The Vineyard Movement was the most exciting in the world to be a part of. (Photo via Wikipedia)

The Vineyard Movement was messy as the people learned and matured, just like the Lord's own meetings tended to be. One thing The Vineyard was not was boring. I was in more than one meeting in which a raging demon-possessed person would come screaming and thrashing about. Yet each time, the person left "in their right mind," free.

In many meetings, we witnessed extraordinary miracles. Such grace from God was upon The Vineyard for a time that there was a sense of awe and wonder greater than the world's entertainment could match.

There is nothing more interesting than God and nothing more exciting than watching Him move. There is nothing more boring than religion, and we are about to be delivered from religion to follow the Lord, not just men. We can also be sure that He has again saved His best wine for last.

Rick Joyner
MorningStar Ministries

Email: info@morningstarministries.org
Website: morningstarministries.org

Rick Joyner is the founder and executive director of MorningStar Ministries and Heritage International Ministries and is the Senior Pastor of MorningStar Fellowship Church. He is the author of more than forty books, including The Final Quest, A Prophetic History, and Church History. He is also the president of The OAK Initiative, an interdenominational movement that is mobilizing thousands of Christians to be engaged in the great issues of our times, being the salt and light that they are called to be. Rick and his wife, Julie, have five children: Anna, Aaryn, Amber, Ben, and Sam.

To subscribe to The Elijah List go to:http://elijahlist.com/subscribe

Rick Joyner: Why is Koinonia So Important for The Great Commission? - The Elijah List

Rick Joyner:

Why is Koinonia So Important 

for The Great Commission?

The Elijah List

Why is koinonia [fellowship] so important when we are talking about The Great Commission? One reason we have failed to fulfill The Great Commission has been our tendency of making converts rather than disciples. 

The Great Commission is to make disciples. If disciples are not being made, then we are failing in our commission.

What a disciple is has been clearly defined by the Lord. True discipleship is rarely found among Christians today. One reason for this is that true discipleship is not possible without koinonia, as we read in 1 John 1:7, "But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship (koinonia) with one another, and the Blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

As we have covered, this Scripture makes it clear that we simply cannot abide in the light without having koinonia. This is also essential for our cleansing.

I often say jokingly, but truthfully, that we simply cannot mature in Christ the way we are called to without all of the frustrations and irritations of Church life. The frustrations and irritations, the hurts and disappointments, are only a small part of what this experience is meant to be, but they are essential to our development. There are certainly far more positives to experiencing koinonia than negatives, but the challenges help us to mature.

The True Church Life

Either idealism about Church life or rejecting the Church will lead us far from the path of life. True Church life, koinonia, can be one of the most wonderful things we ever experience and one of the most difficult, as is true of any relationship, including marriage. As the Lord taught in the Parable of the Sower, many will depart when testing comes. Many depart from Church, and many are now even departing from marriage when the tests come.

You can never pass a test by quitting.

The breakdown of marriage is related to the breakdown in Church life and vice versa. The same thing that heals one will heal the other as well. The Cross is a vertical post that represents our connection to God and a horizontal one that represents our connection to one another.

One thing that taking up our cross means is that we must have both of these in our lives. Of course, our connection to God eclipses the importance of our connection to one another and must always be kept first. But if we have this and keep it first, we will also have the other. As John also wrote, we cannot love God who we do not see if we do not love our brother who we can see (see I John 4:20-21).

So, what can we do to promote koinonia in Church life? First and foremost, we must seek the presence of the Lord above all things. What good is the most glorious temple if God is not in it? Then we need to pursue relationships, not just wait to be pursued. Barnabas had to go and get Paul. Then they needed to get in the right place before either of them could get released into their own ultimate calling.

In those days, this was a supreme effort. It must have taken months for Barnabas to travel to Tarsus and then back to Antioch. Today it is hard to find those who will drive more than thirty minutes to church. What makes something a treasure is that it is either rare or difficult to obtain.

Koinonia is one of the greatest treasures we can have in this life. It is not cheap or easy to find, but it will be found by those who value it enough not to give up on its pursuit. 

The city that God is building, that which Abraham sought, and all true sojourners seek, is built on Jesus with koinonia.

Seeking the presence of the Lord is far more than seeking His blessings, which so much of the present emphasis of church teaching is based on today. He will bless many things He will not inhabit. When He says that wherever two or more are gathered in His name He will be in their midst (see Matthew 18:20), the word "gathered" does not mean merely occupying the same room or space.

It is where they have been "assembled together" like the parts of a bicycle have been assembled together. This is why we are told to "not to forsake the assembling together" (see Hebrews 10:25). This is not just a warning not to miss meetings, but to not fail to be assembled together as we are called to be.

(Photo via Stock.xchange by Timo Balk, edited by Tawny Nelson)

To build a Church where there is actually Church life, koinonia, we must do things to intentionally promote interchange between members. This can include small groups, church fellowship dinners, mission trips, and various other activities. However, gatherings that really lead to koinonia will center on the presence of the Lord. All others can be helpful in getting to this, but just gathering together for activities can fall far short by themselves.

In every spiritual pursuit, we must keep in mind this principle: Between the place where we receive the promise of God and the promised land, or the fulfillment of the promise, there is almost always a wilderness that is the exact opposite of what we have been promised. This wilderness is meant to prepare us for the promised land. Do not be shaken when you start to pursue koinonia and the opposite seems to happen with relationship challenges breaking out everywhere. This is just a sign that you are indeed on the path.

Rick Joyner
MorningStar Ministries

Email: info@morningstarministries.org
Website: morningstarministries.org

Rick Joyner is the founder and executive director of MorningStar Ministries and Heritage International Ministries and is the Senior Pastor of MorningStar Fellowship Church. He is the author of more than forty books, including The Final Quest, A Prophetic History, and Church History.

He is also the president of The OAK Initiative, an interdenominational movement that is mobilizing thousands of Christians to be engaged in the great issues of our times, being the salt and light that they are called to be. Rick and his wife, Julie, have five children: Anna, Aaryn, Amber, Ben, and Sam.

To subscribe to The Elijah List go to:http://elijahlist.com/subscribe

How Social Media Will Help Us Finish the Great Commission - Charisma Magazine

How Social Media Will Help Us Finish the Great Commission

 2/20/2014 BRANDON COX  CHARISMA MAGAZINE

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Social media, such as Facebook, is a great way to spread the gospel. (creationswap.com)

The church is living in an age of tremendous evangelistic opportunity.

As we venture into the social, digital era, the gospel can travel further and faster than ever before. If the church is a vast volunteer army of people carrying the Good News of Jesus to the least, the lost and the last, then it is safe to say this army is better equipped and more effectively mobilized than any other age to carry out its marching orders — the Great Commission.

We began planting Grace Hills Church in the summer of 2011 and officially launched weekly services in a local movie theater in January 2012. We don't have a building. We don't have a sign. We've never done a direct mail campaign or sent any postcards. We don't advertise in the local newspapers or on television or radio. But in January 2014 alone, we met almost 100 new people in our weekend services. How? Facebook.

Each week, we post a short video just a few minutes long that explains who we are as a church, what we value and what we will be talking about in our upcoming weekend services. We then "boost" that post so that it sees thousands of eyes within a 10-mile radius around our community, and we challenge all of our faithful attendees to watch it, "like" it and share it with others. On Mondays, we look through our communication cards to see how our guests heard about us, and it's not difficult to spot the pattern: Facebook, Facebook, Facebook.

Why Social Media Works

There are plenty of skeptics who may read this and scoff. I've heard every conceivable criticism of social networking. It feeds narcissism, keeps us shallow, distracts us from real life relationships, wastes our time. While each of these arguments certainly can have some merit, they also represent a merely partial understanding of what is happening in our culture. 

The fact is, most people are online. This is true of at least 95 percent of the unchurched people in our community, and it's even true on many mission fields. I was in Haiti a couple of years ago, and no one I met owned a television. Many didn't have electricity at all. But they owned smartphones and charged them at charging stations around the community. 

Not only are most people online, but most people are also engaging in social networking. Every age group, from kindergartners to retirees, is connected socially. Today's youngest generation doesn't "connect" and then "disconnect" as we did 20 years ago. Most kids have no idea what it means to "dial up." Instead, the Internet is like a cloud in which we live and breathe. It is real life. Social media is about real conversations about real issues happening between real people in real relationships. And social media really works for spreading the gospel.

But Social Media Only Works If ...

Please don't misunderstand. Social media is not the universal cure for society's ills. It doesn't cleanse us from sin or feed all of the longings of the human soul. But it is a tool, a vehicle for sharing God's truth. Just as the early apostles used papyrus and the Reformers used the printing press, today's most effective Christian leaders and churches are using the Roman roads of our day — social networks. But it only works if we choose to engage.

Social media will only help us spread the gospel if we are bold enough to embrace the change happening around us, if we are wise enough to empower people with the tools to share Jesus relationally, and if we are courageous enough to engage the conversations happening in our culture and even step out and lead those conversations.

We still need healthy churches into which we can receive newcomers. We still need a clear gospel, a unified body and a process for making disciples and deepening the walk of new believers. But social media affords us the chance to return to social, relational, viral, mobile methodologies for passing the gospel along to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Brandon Cox is the founding pastor of Grace Hills Church in northwest Arkansas. A pastor since age 19, he has served in small churches as well as at Saddleback Church, one of America’s largest and most influential churches. He is an editor, mentor and community facilitator for Pastors.com and Rick Warren’s Pastor’s Toolbox, one of the world’s largest online communities of church leaders. He’s an avid, top blogger and lives in Bentonville, Ark., with his wife, Angie, and their two awesome kids.