Discovering The Next Dimension of Worship - Dean Mitchum

Dean Mitchum:

Discovering The Next Dimension of Worship

The Elijah List

Proverbs 25:2 tells us that God likes to hide things, and that is His glory. We get to discover things, and that is our glory. He leaves hints and trails that lead us to the discovery of divine matters and plans for His next move. You can't get to the next move without going to Him.

Right now, the Church is experiencing a great reformation, and worship is being reformed as well. Understanding the Tabernacle of God, from Revelation 21:3, is the key to discovering that next dimension as well as the result of the reformation itself. 

The Tabernacle of David is the framework from which we will discover this next dimension, and God is calling forth a new army of worshipers who are willing to join Him in this season of discovery.

Over twenty years ago, while leading worship in the Charismatic movement, I began to experience some divine discontentment. The way we were doing worship just wasn't hitting the mark. I did all the things that we were taught regarding worship, but still it felt like we came up short.

It slowly occurred to me that we were in the same predicament as the early Church of Acts, chapter 15. 

We preached that God was restoring the tabernacle of David, yet we continued to use the pattern of Moses in worship. This divine discontentment caused me to seek the Scriptures, which led me to chapter 10 of Hebrews. 

(Photo via SXC by Sias van Schalkwyk)

Hebrews 10 explains that Jesus is the veil of flesh, and we are to boldly approach God though Christ. The pattern of atonement found in Moses' tabernacle was not to be used as a pattern for worship. The pattern for worship would be compared to the tabernacle of David.

With this revelation, I could then be free from working my way behind a veil that didn't exist or worshiping with a pre-atonement fear of acceptance. The divine discontentment was resolved once I began to worship after the new pattern.

We are at such a place again: Divine discontentments and distractions are occurring in order that they might prepare us for change. 

Bishop Bill Hamon has declared for several years that we are in the Third and Final Apostolic Reformation. This move is not just a wind or refreshing but a reformation. A form to come out of the form that is. A time where God is changing what is to what will be.

Will There Be A Third Tabernacle Pattern For Worship?

Church history reminds us that whenever a major change happens, music or worship adapts to incorporate those changes, either through practice, doctrine, or message.

When I heard this message along with the Third Day message, I starting praying about the changes in worship and seeking God for direction. Would there be a third tabernacle pattern for worship?

We had experienced the tabernacle of Moses as the first tabernacle. Moving through the outer courts, inner courts, and the holy of holies worship to the tabernacle of David, the second tabernacle. Experiencing worship without a veil, courts, or holy of holies. This transition has taken place for the modern Church over the last 40-50 years or so.

In my quest for direction, the Lord showed me a verse in the book of Revelation. Revelation 21:3 says: "And I heard a loud voice from Heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God."

This passage describes the third tabernacle: the next pattern for worship, a new revelation or understanding of worship. This verse is referring to the City/Kingdom of God, a place where God is. In this place, no symbolism or substitute for Him is needed, because He is there.

The tabernacle of Moses kept us separated from God by a veil. The tabernacle of David brought us into the presence of God without a veil, and the tabernacle of God is bringing God's presence fully into man.

The Scriptures say that God has restored the tabernacle of David (see Acts 15:16). The interesting thing about this Scripture is that David worshipped God in a way that we would after the new covenant was established.

The prophetic nature in the tabernacle of David is amazing. Not only did he worship in a future manner, but he prophesied the coming Messiah. He demonstrated a pattern of relationship in worship that was to come. He reached into a new dimension where Christ would have come, and he brought that to the generations of his day. 

(Photo via SXC by Dorothy Brucks)

This is why the Bible declares David's tabernacle as the pattern for New Testament worship. He was a forerunner. He looked into a future dimension and brought it to the present, long before it took hold.

Discovering the next dimension of worship is our responsibility as prophetic people. We can prepare for worship in the Third Reformation by looking to Scripture and hearing the voice of God. We should begin to worship as if God has already come. 

Worship with a longing and a satisfaction at the same time. He has completely given Himself to us. All of His goodness, grace, glory, and power without holding back.

We should worship in a way that removes every distraction and item that takes the place of the presence of God and the preeminence of Christ.

Transitioning From the Tabernacle of David To The Tabernacle of God

We are poised for a dimensional transition, and this verse helps us realize the direction we are heading.

Zechariah prophesied:

"The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah.

"In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them" (Zechariah 12:7-8).

What a powerful Scripture of transition and dimensional change. Every existing level is poised for the next dimension, to move us from the tabernacle of David to the tabernacle of God. All the revelation and understanding of this is yet to be revealed, but the call going forth is for us to discover what He wants to do. 

(Photo via SXC by Jen Thomas)

One morning, to no credit of my own study, this verse popped up on my Bible app (Thanks,YouVersion):

"Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of His great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing" (Isaiah 40:26 NLT).

God is calling the army of stars to shine with His light in this next reformation. 

He is calling them forth one by one. He knows their name, and not one of them will be missing. Trust that God knows where to put you and you will not miss out. This is the time to answer the call and accept the responsibility of discovering the next dimension of worship. This call is not for one person to discover but for all who connect with this call.

God is commissioning an entire generation of worshipers for an expedition of discovery – a new prophetic season where multitudes will experience the presence of God in ways they have never known – where we will write the songs of where we are going, sing what we are seeing, and do what we are declaring.

Discovery will not come from our decision but from our encounter with God. The new sound will not come from our playing but from the way we play having been transformed by God.

We will worship for future outcomes. This is the anointing of the prophetic: To see where God is going and act as if we have already been there. This is faith.

Answer the call of discovery and demonstrate that God is with us now. Emmanuel. Who was, and is, and is to come.

Dean Mitchum
Christian International Ministries

Email: dean@deanmitchum.com
Website: christianinternational.com / deanmitchum.com

Dean Mitchum is a proven prophetic worship leader, psalmist, and teacher. Having been the worship pastor and director of worship ministries for Dr. Bill Hamon for the last 17 years, he has taught thousands the understanding and implementation of prophetic and apostolic worship. 

Dean serves as worship leader for Pastors Tom and Jane Hamon at Vision Church @ Christian International. He is the author of Prophetic Worship 101 and Apostolic Kingdom Praise, which has been published in several languages. Dean has recorded 16 worship albums, four prophetic instrumental albums, and recently published a songwriter's course on how to master the process of writing great worship songs. Dean and his wife Lisa have written over 100 songs, many of which are sung in churches around the world. Dean and Lisa have been married for thirty years and have five children and three grandchildren.

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Trailblazers "Ablaze With His Glory - Fierce Lions Against the Kingdom of Darkness" - Elaine Tavolacci

Elaine Tavolacci:

Trailblazers "Ablaze With His Glory - 

Fierce Lions Against the Kingdom of Darkness"

The Elijah List

The Lord is showing me that He is raising up a new generation of trailblazers. Many great men and women of God have passed away within the last few years, but the Lord is raising up men and women who are strong, adamant, uncompromising, and will do great exploits in the days ahead. 

The definition of a trailblazer is a person who blazes a trail for others to follow through unsettled country or wilderness.

"They Have Been Chosen to Deliver"

The Lord says, "I am looking for the trailblazers who will prepare the way to release My glory on this earth as it is in Heaven. I am looking for the leaders who will rise up and help others find their way to what they were called to do. They will not go in their own strength, but they will go in the anointing and authority that I have placed on them.

"They will trumpet My voice and teach others My ways. They will be used to demonstrate My Kingdom with miracles, signs, and wonders following.

"Many of them have been delivered from the depths of Hell themselves, therefore they are adamant, courageous, and fearless against the onslaught of the enemy. They will go into the enemy's camp, and places where others fear to go, to rescue the captives. 

They are as fierce lions against the kingdom of darkness, and they will stand immovable in the face of adversity.

"They will train others how to run, and teach them when to stand. 

They will reach down to help others out, when they have fallen into a pit. They are those who never settle back into their old ways, or partake of the things that they were once set free from. They will rescue and deliver those whose lives are in disarray, fear, and confusion. They have been chosen to deliver others from the very things that they were set free from, and nothing will derail them from their mission.

"Their Expectations Are Far Above Human Reasoning"

"They will release My glory wherever they go. They will carry My anointing into the highways and the byways, because they have become ablaze with My glory. I have made them to be a flame of fire to carry My Word to the nations. They are those who stand in the face of adversity and will not be afraid to go forth in My power. They are conduits of My anointing because they are not ashamed of My Name or My Word.

"They are unique and have been set apart for such a time as this, and they know that they are chosen for a particular assignment. These trailblazers are steadfast in their convictions and uncompromising in their walk with Me. They are the ones who will go forth and do great exploits, as they are tenacious in faith and not lax in prayer and intercession. They will impart to others what I have given to them.

"Their expectations are far above human reasoning. They will create a path and deliver the captive out of dilemmas because they are the forerunners who will lead people out of the wilderness.

"Just as John the Baptist was called to prepare the way, I am calling the trailblazers of this day to go ahead and prepare the way once again, because I am about to come and release My Glory on this earth, in this time and season," says the Lord.

Psalm 104:4 Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.

Jeremiah 20:9 "Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name." But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not."

John 14:12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father."

Elaine Tavolacci
A Word in Season

Email: Elaine@awordinseason.info
Website: awordinseason.info

Elaine Tavolacci resides in Staten Island, New York. She has been a student of the Word for twenty-nine years. She has a prophetic gift as well as a ministry of encouragement, which teaches the Body of Christ to walk in the fullness of what the Lord has called them to. 

She teaches others how to be overcomers in every area of their lives and understands the power and authority that Jesus has assigned to them. Her ministry, "A Word in Season," has been an encouragement to others for nine years. She has learned the transforming power of the Word of God and encourages others that nothing is impossible with God.

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March 23, 2014 Elaine Tavolacci: Trailblazers "Ablaze With His Glory - Fierce Lions Against the Kingdom of Darkness" From the desk of Steve Shultz: I know there are some great "Trailblazers" who God is raising up... and you'll be greatly encouraged by Elaine Tavolacci's prophetic word here. As Elaine shares: The Lord is showing me that He is raising up a new generation of trailblazers. Many great men and women of God have passed away within the last few years, but the Lord is raising up men and women who are strong, adamant, uncompromising, and will do great exploits in the days ahead. It's truly a Kairos time to be a part of the Body of Christ! Blessings, Steve To receive daily, encouraging prophetic emails from The Elijah List to your inbox CLICK HERE. *** Note from Steve Shultz: Your support for the Elijah List helps to pay the cost to deliver daily Words from the Lord to you for FREE. You help us by simply purchasing your prophetic and other Christian resources from a selection of over 6,000 products directly from us at: elijahshopper.com. We appreciate our dear readers and we thank you for supporting your Elijah List staff! Blessings, Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher The Elijah List & Breaking Christian News  http://www.elijahlist.com http://www.breakingchristiannews.com To subscribe to The Elijah List go to: http://elijahlist.com/subscribe NEW! The Pleasure of His Company: A Journey to Intimate Friendship with God by Dutch Sheets $16.99 Book NEW! Creation Waits for WHO? by Anne Elmer Book, E-Book, Audio Book on CD or Audio Book MP3 $13.99 $10.99 $19.99 $14.99

Prophetic Word for the UK: God's Glory Will Be On Display This Spring - Charles Shamp

Charles Shamp:

Prophetic Word for the UK: 

God's Glory Will Be 

On Display This Spring

Church History in the UK

When we study out the history of revival in the earth over the past several centuries, we can almost single handily point to the United Kingdom as a major hot spot and catalyst for what the Holy Spirit was doing at that time. Almost every major shift of reformation or revival started on these Island nations.

Whether we are discussing the First and Second Great Awakenings, or go further back and discuss the mystics and catholic miracle workers that walked the shores of England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales – God has always seemed to release the fresh movement of the Holy Spirit on these Islands that has gone on to affect the entire earth.

My love for Church history and the moves of the Spirit caused me to recognize that what took place within these nations directly affected America and the move of the Spirit in my nation.

Although we are an ocean away, we are connected in the realm of the Spirit, and as the song of Heaven would arise over the UK, it would carry all the way to the shores of America and revival would begin to come forth in these United States.

Over the past several years as I have been traveling into the UK to minister, my greatest hope and prayer has been that God would once again ignite these Islands with the wild fire of Heaven. 

From the moment that I first stepped into a meeting in the nation of Wales back in 2010, I could feel something fresh was being birthed in the Spirit, something organic, something that would turn the world upside down!

Intercession and Weeping

Several weeks ago as I was ministering in a series of meetings in England, with my good friend Munday Martin, God began to show up in the most powerful way, both within the nightly meetings as well as during the street outreach in the afternoon time.

There were nights where during our preaching, young people would come in off of the streets and walk to the front asking, "What must we do to be saved?" With no alter call or invitation for people to accept Jesus, they were coming to the alter to be born again. The harvest was just that ripe!

On Friday, February 21, as the team gathered for a time of fellowship, the Spirit of intercession came unexpectedly into our friend's home. This was just hours before we were to travel into Lowestoft, the place of the English revival that took place in 1921. It was a revival that went for eighteen months that saw many people come to Christ. A Spirit of intercession came on the team and we all began to pray with fervency.

During that time I found myself on the floor weeping with such a heavy burden from the Lord for the UK. Just as spontaneous as the intercession, so too was a word of the Lord over England. What I have discovered is that what is often released as a mystery in the form of intercession and tongues (if we are faithful to wait upon the Lord), will be revealed as "revelation in prophecy" to show us the future plan of God in a nation so that we will be ready when it comes.

God's Glory Will Be On Display This Spring

This was the word that came forth:

"The wilderness and winter season in England is coming to an end and the people would sing with great joy as it comes. 

This barren land will once again celebrate and flowers will burst forth in spring, bursting into blossom like a symphony of song and color. God's glory will be on display this spring.

"Those who have been weary will be strengthened in their knees. Those who were lame will leap with joy. Those who have been fearful will revive with courage. This is a season and time to take heart. 

God is coming in a fresh way.

"The people will say, 'God is here, right here, on His way to put things right in our nation. Yes He has come! He will save us!' The blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears will hear once again. Those who felt they had no voice will break into a song that Heaven has come!"

The Lord spoke to me that a major shift in the Spirit would come in the spring and wells that were capped over would be opened once again. I felt The Lord speak to me that there are springs of water that will burst out in the spring time and fresh streams will flow.

It will spring up in the spring! Watch for it! They will find natural springs in the spring and this will be a sign of what God is doing in the Spirit. People are going to drink of natural springs and it will be a sign of a new prophetic movement in the nation.

God is changing the waters from bitter to drinkable. New prophetic voices will come forth this year that will cause the axe head to float. There will be signs and wonders and prophets that will move with the government of God. They will decree a thing and it will be established!

"But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it." 2 Kings 6:5-7

Overall, I believe that this word is for all of the United Kingdom and God will use England as a catalyst for revival that will spring into Scotland, Ireland, and Wales and eventually will touch the world. What was left unfulfilled in previous generations will be fulfilled in this one.

There will be voices that will come from the wilderness. Men and woman, that up until this point no one had even known their names, will come with the word of the Lord and an axe will be in their hand to lay at the root of the religious tree. They will cut off the old system. The old religious roots that made the waters so bitter will go and there will be new trees planted in their stead.

These will be trees of righteousness. These will be trees for the healing of the nations. These will be trees for an awakening that will touch the nations!

I am greatly encouraged by what the Lord has shown me and I know we are on the verge of a fresh great awakening that will begin in England and the United Kingdom. Remember friends to take heart in this spring season. Heaven is at hand!

Charles Shamp, President and Founder
Destiny Encounters 

Email: charles@destinyencounters.com
destinyencounters.com

Charles and Brynn Shamp are the founders of DESTINY ENCOUNTERS. They have a true passion for revival and the glory of God. They boldly declare the Gospel of Christ; ministering freedom, joy, and supernatural healing everywhere they go. They have ministered both nationally and internationally (with such ministers as Jeff Jansen, Munday Martin, Joshua Mills, Mahesh Chavda, Bob and Bonnie Jones) with radical demonstrations of faith seeing lives transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Compelled by the heart of the Father to seek and save the lost, they are releasing God's love to the world seeing the captives delivered, the sick healed, and lives changed. Charles and Brynn believe that through outreach, missions, and crusade evangelism one life changed can impact a nation and transform a generation. Charles and Brynn have answered the call to lead a generation in the movement of both the Word and the Spirit. With the power of an encounter they are truly unlocking a generation's destiny one heart at a time.

Source: The Elijah List

Prophetic Word - March 11, 2014 from Jeremy Lopez

Prophetic Word 

March 11, 2014

Jeremy Lopez - Identity Network

First of all I want to tell you that you are such a blessing to the Body of Christ. I don’t have to even know you completely in the natural to know that so many people’s lives you are going to touch. You are such a light and a beacon to so many people and you are going to lead them with good direction and guidance and instruction. I really felt that in my spirit and I wanted to share that with you. It is good sometimes that we encourage and exhort one another but especially knowing that God shared that with us to tell someone else.

I want to thank you for being who you are in the Body of Christ. You are a big, big blessing.

Here is one thing the Lord spoke into my spirit for you. As I prayed earlier to ask the Lord what He wanted to say to you.

My son I want you to know today that there is going to be a new season approaching you, a new atmosphere, a new environment, one that is going to be different for you. It is not the fact there will be a time bomb effect exploding. It will be a little bit here, a little bit there. Line upon line, precept upon precept, where something is going to be radically changed within your life.

There is such a drive in you, a call in you to want to touch lives and do things for the Kingdom of God. Also remember that there is such a financial ability about to come upon you. It is almost as if there are shackles about to come off of you because you have been faithful to the Kingdom of God, even faithful in small things, you’ve been faithful in small areas.

This is a season where I will make you faithful and ruler over many things. There is a new anointing of authority coming upon you that is going to begin to give you the strength to let your yeses be yeses and your nos be nos.  To begin to speak the word of the Lord and speak the promises of God. And speak and give your word, and when you give your word people are going to look at you and say, “Now that’s a man who follows through with his word. Whatever he tells you he will do, you know he is going to follow through with it.”

Son, that is who you are. You are a man of wisdom and integrity. And in this season you are going to begin to see life, and light to begin to come out of you. The light is going to shine in dark places for people to be able to see and have hope. It is Christ in you the Hope of Glory. And as I work in you and through you I am opening up this season a treasure chest within your earthen vessel, within your belly and I am going to speak treasure to come out of you. I am going to speak wisdom and principles and impartations to come out of you.

But I also am going to release the rivers inside of your belly of creativity. You have got a vast array of creativity. I see light upon light, almost as if you look through a prism, when you shine a light through it you have different colors. That is how it is inside of your belly. It is a prism of many different colors waiting to be released and launched out. God says the light in Me is going to be the light in you. I am going to shine bright through you, and the brilliance and the radiance of My glory is going to shine through you.

I have called you to be such a leader, such a man of integrity in this hour. Be the man with the plan. Always find yourself ready in season and out of season. And I am going to begin to transform and change lives around you. But I also am going to start even with your own natural family. Even those around you that are blood kin to you. I am going to change those you haven’t even seen in a long time, that are in your family. You are going to begin to see transformation take place like never before.

In this season I have given you a strong anointing. You have an anointing to start something. It is time to rev your engine. It is time to put your key into the ignition and start it and crank it up. The car won’t go unless you crank it up. It is the season you have the keys, you hold the keys to begin to unlock, to loose and to turn on. You must understand that you first and foremost must first rev your own engine before you can rev the engines in lives of other people. You must get yourself in the place to jump start yourself. Be motivated and encouraged in My strength and My glory and My kingdom to where everything you do in your life will begin to be with top quality.

This is a season for you to understand that you are going to begin to touch. Here is what the Lord began to put in my spirit – I heard the name Tom or Thomas. This is going to be in the next year to two years, you are going to come across a Tom, or a Tommy or a Thomas – that is how the Lord put it to me, because he actually goes by three different names to different people in his life. You are going to run across a Tom, Tommy or Thomas, and when you do you, remember this word, for I am going to give you a word of prophecy for him, in the sense of a word of encouragement, a word that is going to begin to speak into his life and it will begin to help transform his life.

Get ready son for I see different places with your face on it. I am going to cause your face to be made known. In fact I will confirm it with you, that you are going to be in a conversation within the next six to 12 months, and when you are, this person to whom you are talking to will say, “Hey, you know what, I totally get it. I am very good with faces and not names. That is actually going to be a confirmation to let you know that your face is going to be made known among people that you talk to everyday. Everyday people you come across will remember your face. And people will say, “You must have a twin, because your face looks so familiar to me.”

These are going to be signs to you to let you know that I am working in you and through you and that people will remember your face. As they remember your face they are also going to remember how you touched their lives, whether it is in passing conversation, whether it is a joke, whether it is laughing, or whatever you give to them is going to be part of My kingdom being stretched in you to begin to plow the ground of their heart, to begin to let them know there is hope and a bright future for them as well says the Lord.

Wow.

Jeremy Lopez

Identity Network

March 11, 2014

Prophetic Word Testimonies:  Identity Network - Jeremy Lopez

Tiffany Ann Lewis: To Lean Or Not To Lean?

Tiffany Ann Lewis:

To Lean Or Not To Lean?

I would like to talk about Sampson and something that is seldom brought up: his natural strength. Generally, when we think about Sampson, we think about his supernatural strength or his fall to temptation resulting from dabbling with Delilah; however, I believe there is something else to be revealed here that we can all benefit from. 

I believe Sampson's greatest folly was not leaning on God because of his natural strength.

You see, I don't picture Sampson as a wimpy lad wandering around waiting for the Spirit of the Lord to come upon him, empowering him. The Bible says he was a warrior, so I believe he had plenty of natural strength of his own. He had to be ready to battle 24/7, in season and out.

Beloved, I believe that each of us has some natural strength that makes it possible to walk out what God has called us to do. Let me explain. There is a call, there are gifts, and there are talents – three different things. Each of us has received a call from God to be the light to the world around us. The gifts of the Holy Spirit empower us to reflect that light through the talents God has given us.

His Anointing

How that glorious Light is expressed through us will be uniquely different for everyone. A talent represents any kind of natural resource we are given. For example, a worship leader isn't a worship leader just because they can play an instrument or sing. A worship leader is called by God to lead others into His presence.

Furthermore, God may give that leader a supernatural gift of being able to hear His voice through the music so he/she can prophesy. Nevertheless, that individual has a natural talent of making music; there is skill that he/she needs to utilize in order to make that joyful sound to the Lord. With all that said, natural talent/strength can make beautiful music, but it can only touch the soul realm of the listener. 

Only the anointing of His Spirit will touch the heart.

The problem arises when we begin to gain confidence in our natural skill. I used that example because I was a worship leader long before I was a pastor, and it taught me a lesson I pray I never forget. When I began leading worship, I was scared to death. I would spend days praying and fasting in hopes that I could get all the way through a song without falling on my face.

Thankfully, over the years, I grew more confident and I didn't feel sick to my stomach every time I led worship. Unfortunately, as I gained confidence, I wasn't praying with the same intensity to make it through a service as I did in the beginning. 

Now, there is nothing wrong with confidence, but so often, as our confidence grows in that area, our prayer life diminishes in it.

Our Own Strength

In the Bible, prayerlessness is symbolized by sleep. It's no coincidence that Sampson was sleeping on Delilah's lap when his hair was cut. When he woke up, he just assumed that he could operate once again as he had always done before. 

Beloved, please hear this: Just because God anointed what you did yesterday, doesn't mean that He's anointing it today.

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Evidently it was worth repeating, because it's quoted twice: both in Proverbs 14:12 and in Proverbs 16:25. So often we run out and do something assuming it will work just because it's worked for us in the past. Sampson ran out in the way that seemed right to him, and his enemies captured him. 

His greatest deception was not Delilah; it was his own strength. The deception comes when our natural talent causes us to lose sight of our utter dependency on God.

It would be very easy for me to lean on my experience or a good song list in order to lead worship "well," but then I wouldn't be leaning on Him anymore – I'd be leaning on my knowledge. Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." 

Sampson woke up finding himself once again in a situation where he needed to use his strength, and he said, "'I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!' But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him" (Judges 16:20).

Sampson got up and ran out as he had many times before, but notice, this time he didn't even know that the presence of the Lord had left him. O' God, how sad...how is this possible that he didn't even know? He must have been doing things for a long time in his own strength if he couldn't even discern the difference between when God was with him and when He wasn't.

Remember to Lean!

Tears sting my eyes and I tremble deep inside because I know firsthand what it's like to run out apart from the presence of the Lord. I know what it feels like to have turned left when God has turned right, only to find myself standing in my own strength and not His. I read this Bible passage and an alarm goes off in my spirit as if the Lord is shouting, "Warning, warning, please remember to lean!" 

What will it take us to get there? Does God have to cut our hair, or can we realize it through this glimpse into Sampson's life?

We have an opportunity right now to learn from Sampson's mistake. My calling today as a pastor is different than it was as a worship leader, and it's very different from Sampson's, and your calling is probably quite different from mine. However, one thing that we all have in common is our total dependency on Jesus Christ to help us walk it out.

The Lord wants us leaning on Him in all things, always! 

Seriously, think about it: all things, always – in raising our children, in doing our job, in all day-to-day affairs. He wants us leaning on Him emotionally, physically, and spiritually. He wants us leaning on Him for our next meal, our next promotion, and our next breath, in all things, always.

The Lord is inviting us today to take this leaning position. May we respond and choose to lean. Amen and Amen.

Tiffany Ann Lewis
Dancing With the Flame of the LORD Ministries

Email: tiffanyann@tiffanyannlewis.com
Website: tiffanyannlewis.com

Tiffany Ann Lewis is a prophetic worship leader and Bible teacher with a unique focus on Biblical Hebrew, and whose heart has been passionately awakened by a God who sees us in our shortcomings, loves us in spite of it all, and calls out to us so we can live (Ezekiel 16). Her vision is to create an atmosphere in worship where we can meet with God face-to-face, where the Spirit of God moves freely, releasing emotional, spiritual, and physical healing, and igniting a passion for our Heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus. 

Tiffany Ann has been ministering for over 15 years in the Body of Christ through worship and the Word. Her newest opportunity will be to serve as an Adjunct Professor of Biblical Hebrew at the Quest Bible Institute in Georgia where she is also a fully matriculated student enrolled in a graduate level Biblical/theological studies program at Quest Bible Institute and Seminary. Upon completion of her studies she will be awarded a Master's degree in Biblical Studies.

Tiffany and her husband Rodney have been married for more than twenty years and have one darling daughter, Ashley, a glorious granddaughter, Gloriana, and two precious pups that are also a part of their family.

From the desk of Steve Shultz:

There are some great life-lessons for us to glean on from Tiffany Ann Lewis' latest article. What she speaks about here – we've all been through!

It's always good to LEAN on the LORD and not ourselves, nor lean on our own understanding.

Enjoy this word!

Steve

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