Showing posts with label stewardship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stewardship. Show all posts

Monday, November 28, 2016

Lana Vawser: "The Camels Are Coming With Increase and Provision!" - The Elijah List

Lana Vawser: "The Camels Are Coming With Increase and Provision!"



Nov 28, 2016 The Elijah List

Steve ShultzIntro From Julie A. Smith:
This is a most encouraging word from Lana Vawser and the great provision coming to many in the Body of Christ.
I know that many of you have great visions and projects on your heart for Kingdom purposes...God has put them there...in your heart. AND HE will fund and provide for those projects He is birthing through you!
I felt very encouraged...and basically "gleeful" as I read through this word by Lana. I was smiling the whole time I was reading through it...and I'm sure you will too.
Lana shares this word and revelation from the Lord:
Over the past few weeks, the Lord has really been highlighting "camels" to me...
As I sat with the Lord on this, I felt the Lord saying that, "The camels are coming with increase," and I saw them coming, carrying a double portion. They were coming to bring provision, help and blessing. What these camels are bringing are the finest, most excellent provisions of Heaven that we have ever seen as the Body of Christ. The manifestation of this abundant provision will manifest in many ways, not just materially throughout the Body of Christ.
This is a great season to dream big and walk with God! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List go here.)
Julie A. Smith, Managing Editor
The Elijah List 

Website: www.elijahlist.com
To receive more words like this in YOUR inbox, subscribe FREE to the Elijah List at this link http://elijahlist.com/subscribe.
Enjoy! And thanks for forwarding this to your friends! They can subscribe just below...
Order the Download
Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher
The Elijah List & Breaking Christian News 
http://www.elijahlist.com
P.S. – Oh, and a Quick Note to our readers: To have daily, encouraging prophetic emails from The Elijah List sent to your inbox, just CLICK HERE or go to: http://elijahlist.com/subscribe. PLUS: HEY! Please EXPLORE our more than 4,000 Christian Prophetic books, CDs, and gifts at: elijahshopper.com.
HR


Over the past few weeks, the Lord has really been highlighting "camels" to me. I first came across the divine highlight in Isaiah 60:6 "Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah and all from Sheba will come bearing incense and gold and proclaiming the praise of the Lord." Since then I have been seeing them everywhere and recently a hotel we stayed in our room was 606! The Lord is speaking!
I have been pondering this word for a few weeks and really wanted to hear the heart of the Lord. I was told Chuck Pierce had a word a number of years ago called "The Camels are Coming."
So I wondered why I was hearing it now and seeing them everywhere. As I sat with the Lord on this, I felt the Lord saying that, "The camels are coming with increase," and I saw them coming, carrying a double portion. They were coming to bring provision, help and blessing. What these camels are bringing are the finest, most excellent provisions of Heaven that we have ever seen as the Body of Christ. The manifestation of this abundant provision will manifest in many ways, not just materially throughout the Body of Christ.
The Lord also highlighted Isaiah 60:5 to me, "Then you will be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice; because of the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you."
There is a turning of provision, abundance and wealth of the nations that will be handed to the Church, to extend the Kingdom of God upon the earth. This will be to help the poor, care for the widows and orphans; to see greater extension and generosity/provision flow from the Church. I felt this tremendous shift in the area of finances and provision in the Body of Christ. (Photo via Unsplash)
The Lord is highlighting stewardship in this season and teaching us in greater ways how to steward what He has given to us in every area of life. He's looking for excellence, purity and integrity in our stewardship. As we continue to remain teachable, and move in integrity, humility, character and stay surrendered, He will add more. He will bring greater increase not just financially, but in many areas. Where there has been "lack upon lack" these camels coming are declaring, "Abundant provision for every God-breathed vision."
The Nations Will Come In
The Lord showed me that with the camels coming, there will be increase and abundance of provision, wealth and help, and that there will be major impact on the nations.
God's heart is always for the nations, but in the last few years and especially this season, I have felt His yearning for the nations more than ever. Right now, there is greater fear and upheaval in many nations, but the Lord spoke to me recently that He is doing a great rearranging and reshuffling in the nations. He is moving things in a way that we do not expect but it releasing a domino effect amongst the nations.
Breakthrough, upon breakthrough upon breakthrough and the camels coming in are bringing the provision so the Church can take her place to serve, influence and lead the nations in ways we have never seen. God is bringing the help, the tools, and the provision so when the "call comes" we step in with the GREATEST answer – JESUS. God will also provide us with physical provision to to bless, extend and assist.
Not only is God about to add the provision and resources needed to extend His vision (a vision that He has placed in the hearts of His people that they have been carrying in their hearts through the fire and desert, and it has been tested and tried over and over) the provision will be greater than has ever been imagined (Ephesians 3:20).
ElijahList Prophetic Resources
Stay Low and Crying Out For Wisdom in the Abundant Provision
The abundance that is coming in is going to require a greater level of dependence upon Jesus, surrender to Him and sensitivity to what He is saying. There will be a need for wisdom and discernment like never before, but do not fear! He is releasing grace and He will give wisdom to those who ask (James 1:5) to know how to steward this greater increase, provision and abundance.
Many of you will be catapulted into a new realm of influence in the physical area of finances and abundance. For others, doors are about to open that will place you in positions of influence. Many others of you, your voice is about to get louder, others of you will be given abundant provision to start organizations and centers to help the homeless; to feed the poor and care for orphans.
In the midst of the influence of the Church increasing, I felt such a strong message from the Lord that the enemy will come in and attempt to disqualify and say to many, "You don't have the abundance they have," or, "You don't have the position they have," or, "You are not as gifted as that person." Amongst those lies and that noise, I heard the Lord speak louder above it all, "All are qualified and influencers because you live in Me."
God is awakening His people to the truth that we are powerful in Him! All of our influence looks different, but you are called to go and change the atmospheres and bring the love, truth and hope of Jesus everywhere you go. You are having impact and influence for Jesus everywhere. Trust Him that where He positions you, and the sphere of influence He has given you, and the increases to you in this season are a perfect fit for you! Do not try and be someone else or move in what someone else has. The world needs you and Jesus in you! His plans for you are beyond your wildest dreams (Ephesians 3:20, 1 Corinthians 2:9). (Photo via Unsplash)
Water Pourers
The Lord began to speak to me about many being in a season of wilderness, and many have felt like they have been in the desert and they have been living upon their "stored up revelation and history" with the Lord. Many have been feeling like they have been in a season of wandering and wondering what's going on.
I felt the Lord wanting to encourage you that He has been building endurance, strength and character in you in the desert. That in that wilderness place, He prepared you and you are coming out with a greater capacity to carry revelation of Him and His Word. Greater mantles have been birthed in that deep difficult place where you were constantly pushed and pressed and you had to find that deeper place in Him in the midst of pain.
In the desert and wilderness, where you have learned to store and carry what the Lord has given you and press in for more amongst adverse conditions, the Lord is bringing you out and you will be water pourers for others. What you have gleaned and carried in the desert places is about to be ignited and flow out of you. His living water is about to flood out of you. There is a great birthing upon the Church right now.
I saw this pure, Biblically-based revelation, that has been found in Jesus in the desert, flooding out in conversations, in books, in teaching, in songs, in CDs, in writings, in sermon series, and in prayer gatherings. The lessons learned in the desert season will bring incredible healing, salvation and deliverance to so many people. Freedom is about to explode in proportions across the world like we have never seen. Get ready to hear more and more crazy, amazing, wild testimonies of the power, healing and love of Jesus; and how He saves, delivers and sets free.
Where the enemy has attempted in many ways to "stop His flow" through you, He is declaring over you that you will be a pure flow as you continue to live low.
The camels are coming! There is another game-changer moment upon us! What these "camels" are carrying to you from the Lord will change everything! A shift in gears, a whole new realm of provision, a new level of manifestation of His goodness and kindness, the help of God that you cannot even envision.
I know many have been seeing camels everywhere, but just because God is fun and He wants to confirm His Word to you in fun, creative ways, the testimony out of many of your mouths will be, "Look, there again! Camels continue to appear everywhere!" When you see them, know He is smiling at you and the provision is upon you! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List go here.(Photo via Unsplash)
Lana Vawser
Lana Vawser Ministries 

Email: lanavawser@gmail.com
Website: www.lanavawser.com
Lana Vawser is an active member of the Australian Prophetic Council and releases prophetic words for the Body of Christ and nations, and is featured regularly on The Elijah List and in Charisma Magazine. She is also an itinerant preacher and revivalist who is traveling regularly with her family, seeing powerful moves of God. Lana has a strong, prophetic voice and has a heart to see the Body of Christ develop deep intimacy with Jesus and actively hear His voice each day. She also has a heart to see people set free and walk in all that Jesus has purchased for them as they carry Christ into their world each day, awakened to His nature and who they are in Him. Lana is married to Kevin, and they are living in Brisbane, Australia, with their two sons.
To receive more words like this in YOUR inbox, subscribe FREE to the Elijah List at this link http://elijahlist.com/subscribe.
ElijahList Prophetic Resources

Sunday, April 24, 2016

STEWARDSHIP by Morris E. Ruddick (SIGN)

SIGN

STEWARDSHIP
 
(c) Morris E. Ruddick
 
 
Stewardship is the effective management of the responsibilities and resources with which we have been entrusted. Stewardship requires the wisdom to master the responsibility. It involves diligence and excellence in bringing result. The result is to bring increase, to creatively nurture the resource to advance the process.
 
We've been addressing the topic of Jewish business secrets. Effective stewardship is an expectation and commitment required of each member of the community, and the businesses in the community, each according to their own talents and abilities, to do their part. It is also a commitment by the community to nurture its destiny and future by preparing each generation to assume their roles in this pathway.
 
When stewardship is operating in community according the books of Moses, it results in disproportionate achievement. Jews have a track record as disproportionate achievers. It is written that diligence is an invaluable possession for the one who knows how to apply it. Diligence produces excellence. Diligence involves hard work. The operational word for "work" in the Hebrew language is avodah. The meaning of this word "avodah" bears on the Jewish mind-set toward work. Avodah shares the root word with three Hebrew words: purpose, passion and future. Work provides the purpose and passion setting the stage for the future. It is vital to good stewardship.
 
Mentorship is also an important part of stewardship and very Jewish in its practice. Moses mentored Joshua to do what he did. Joshua served Moses alone in this capacity. He didn't have several mentors. His mentor was Moses. Joshua may not have been the only one Moses mentored, but Moses was Joshua's only mentor. In the process, Joshua learned how Moses related to God, how he thought and the skills he employed to lead the Israelites.
 
In this process, Joshua accomplished many exploits, which included leading the defeat in the battle with the Amorites, as well as being one of the spies who reconnoitered the promised land. However, it was not until Moses died, that the baton was fully passed to Joshua. Only then did Joshua enter the fullness of his destiny. The process involved all the factors of faithful stewardship.
 
Roughly two-thirds of the parables of Jesus have a business context. Jesus had a lot to say about stewardship. He placed great importance on faithful stewardship. He told the story of an unfaithful steward who was slack about his responsibilities. However, when he learned that he was about to lose his position, realizing his future was in jeopardy, he immediately began shrewdly recovering from his laxness. The point was that the steward knew what to do and cleverly began putting things in order. He was commended by his master for his creative way of turning things around. A good steward prepares for every eventuality. A good steward knows how to act wisely and decisively when under pressure.
 
There was another steward that Jesus spoke about who also was also lax in the way he managed his responsibilities because his boss was absent for a time. When his boss returned unexpectedly and discerned the situation, this steward failed to do anything. He was held accountable. The management of one's responsibilities calls for faithfulness in the commitment.
 
In still another illustration of the importance of stewardship, Jesus told about three stewards whose work was evaluated by their boss. One steward brought about a lot of increase. He was not only commended by his boss, but given a promotion and entrusted with more responsibility. The story speaks of the favorable response and joy of his boss due to this steward exceeding expectations. However one of the other stewards was timid and afraid to take any risks, so he hid his boss' assets. He returned everything in-full upon his boss' return. But the boss wasn't pleased. Because the steward had failed to bring about any increase, he deemed the steward to be worthless.
 
The expectation of stewardship is to make a difference, to challenge the status quo and bring change and increase. The expectation is based on each person's abilities.
 
The Dynamics of Stewardship
Good stewardship, whether in business or in building the community entails three key factors: giving or generosity, managing, and bringing increase. Each of these dimensions draws from and builds on the other. Each is vital to not only good business practices, but maintaining a fertile environment for opportunity both for current and future generations. It is the God-focused business model of Abraham which draws from community, while spawning community-builders who produce the difference seen by those in the surrounding societies.
 
Generosity. The spirit of generosity or tz'dakah operating within the community recognizes the responsibility and commitment of the members toward one another. It is a social system that fosters opportunity and cares for the needs of its own. It is written: "Do good to all men, but especially the household of faith." When tz'dakah prevails in the community, it ensures the maintenance of the community as a safe place that takes care of its own.
 
Managing. Managing change is a necessary part of any business. It incorporates the diligence of providing a service or product with greater excellence than that offered by competition. Stewardship is the mastery of this process of managing one's assets creatively so that it brings increase.
 
Increase. It is written: "I am the Lord who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go." God's expectation is for us to align our ways with His so that, for our benefit and destiny, we also will perform with His nature. In this process we are, like Abraham, blessed to be a blessing. It is the means by which both families and communities are fed and strengthened for the future.
 
Once again, this dynamic of stewardship operates both for the benefit of individuals, but also the community and future generations. Let me illustrate with the story of a Christian businessman who lived during the days of WWII. His name was Robert LeTourneau  Mr. LeTourneau owned a successful manufacturing company. One night he had an unusual dream. In his dream he saw a blueprint, a scaled drawing of a new form of machinery. He wondered about the meaning of the dream, but then a few days later, he had the same dream with the exact same blueprint with specifications for a type of machinery that didn't currently exist.
 
The third time he had this dream, he realized it was God who was showing him something, the specifications for a more advanced type of earth-moving equipment than was currently on the market. He realized his manufacturing company had the capability to start building this type of equipment.
 
He developed the prototype. Then he began manufacturing this equipment. This new earth-moving equipment was an instant success in building new roads. When the US government learned about this new technology, they came, looked it over and began making purchases in order to build runways for airfields where the US was at war in the Pacific. By some estimates, this equipment was able to build a runway ten times faster than previous equipment they had been using.
 
Mr. LeTourneau's company began experiencing dramatic growth. Being a committed believer whose spiritual gift was giving, he decided he wanted to test what would happen if he increased his giving from his current contributions of roughly 10 to 15 percent of his profits to 25 percent of his profits. His company expanded even more.
 
After a period of time, he increased his contributions to 45 percent of his company's profits. Still, there was plenty of operating capital for growth and his profits soared with the increase in the sales volume. He eventually increased the ratio of his contributions to 95 percent of his company's profits. The company flourished and Mr. LeTourneau lived very well on the 5 percent.
 
Mr. LeTourneau became well known for his statement: "You cannot out-give God." Of course this man had the gift of giving with the necessary faith to progressively build his generosity to that level. He likewise took tangible steps to this most unusual example of generosity. Nevertheless, he is a great model of how these three factors of stewardship blend together: giving, managing and increase.
 
Robert LeTourneau's generosity not only served the interests of his nation and the cause of freedom. He made possible the building and endowment of a Christian college. He supported many timely initiatives and helped a lot of people.
 
Faith and Stewardship
It is written that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Good stewardship requires the faith to hear and obey God. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, of things not seen. Abraham pleased God because he considered that which was not as though it were. Abraham believed and acted on what God had told him.
 
God speaks and things are created. Abraham joined in the creative process of birthing what God told Abraham when there was no evidence in the natural of God's word to him. In doing so, Abraham was bridging the seen world with the unseen world. It was a different way of responding to the reality around him.
 
The opposite of faith is fear. The dimension of fear that has the most subtle influence on business success is a poverty spirit. There is a Western saying: "Penny wise is dollar foolish." In other words, those with a poverty spirit are so obsessed with the pennies that they lose dollars, because they've lost their grasp of the big picture.
 
A poverty spirit is a fear of risk. Yet, faith and risk must be taken to bring increase. Stewardship requires confidence and is efficient. A poverty spirit tends to waste time rather than maximizing time and is very inefficient. We've mentioned the parable in which the steward who brought about no increase was considered worthless. He was the one with the poverty spirit.
 
Faith is working smart and applying diligence to the work being done. You have to spend money to make money. My friend Stan Bullis has developed a model for his companies, which is a reflection of the mix of the creative, of tz'dakah, and of bringing increase. Twenty percent of his companies' profits go back into company growth, another twenty percent is for charitable purposes and the remaining sixty percent is for employee bonuses according to each employee's responsibility and role in bringing about the profits.
 
Stewardship and Planning
A Jewish proverb states that the naive believes anything, but the prudent man is cautious and considers well his steps. That caution is not being reluctant to act, but rather taking the time to adequately do your homework. In Jewish culture, this is a way of thinking and looking at things. Due diligence is required when taking a look at any type of opportunity.
 
Before you can get the right answers to something you need to be able to ask the right questions. This involves doing your homework, looking into a matter and doing investigative research.
 
An essential part of stewardship is planning. Planning in business is preparing your business for the future, for alternatives that may take place, in order to wisely be prepared to take advantage of the opportunity that may emerge.
 
The first step in business planning is the research required to look at every facet of the steps ahead, including trends and the expectations for the future. Planning is a process just as good stewardship is a process. Planning maps out the steps needed to accomplish a set of wisely, clearly-defined goals.
 
Iridium is the company that launched satellite phone technology. However, over the twelve years from its start, instead of adapting to market conditions and the demands of the market, Iridium held to their original business plan. Business is the art of managing change. The market acceptance of new technology will change over time. It involves a dynamic known as the product life cycle curve.
 
There are innovators and then early adopters, the consumers who are inclined to try new things. But then market acceptance tends to slow as technology faces the hurdles of increasingly greater challenges in market acceptance. Iridium operated on the basis that they had the best thing going, which they indeed did and that the market would come to them. But it didn't. They did not adapt to the needs of the market and they ran out of money before the market ever caught up with them.
 
Wise planning results in a different way of thinking. We're going to be discussing this type of creative thinking in another of this series. It is the type of thinking that is constantly revaluating the assumptions of each business proposition and the conditions evolving in the marketplace.
 
Wise planning constantly readjusts the goals and strategies to seize the opportunity needed for the momentum to achieve the optimum long-term impact. It is interesting that companies that begin with bottom-up foundations that start small versus those whose beginnings are developed through fast-track top-down accelerator strategies have a higher ratio of long-term success.
 
Stewardship and Mentoring
We've established that stewardship is the effective management of the responsibilities for which we've been entrusted. Those responsibilities include both resources and people. Businesses utilize both. So does community. Community also not only is the means to enhance the gifts and destinies of the businesses and people within the community, but portends a future purpose of the community itself.
 
As such, mentoring is a vital part of community stewardship. It is the preparation made by one generation for the future role to be served by the next generation. It is the means by which the older, successful generation imparts their gifts and the wisdom of their journey of life to select, potential leaders they choose to mentor.
 
Within Jewish business culture, serving an apprenticeship is a form of being mentored. An apprentice is one who is learning the tools of the trade. That means not only the tools of the business, but the tradecraft of running the business. That is stewardship from a business perspective.
 
Mentoring entails a meaningful, proactive dialogue between the generations on the strategies and subtleties of the management of vital responsibilities, for business and for the community. It is an essential dimension in the proactive planning for the future. It is the means to enhance the wisdom of the emerging generation to lead. It is the process of revealing the ways of God and how to walk them out with an undivided heart. It is imparting the blessings of God from one generation to the next.
 
Moses wrote about these things. He said: Tell these things to your children and your grandchildren. He made a point that doing so should be a lifestyle: Tell them these things when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. It is an ongoing attitude of both the apprentice and the one imparting the skills and wisdom. It incorporates the blending of the perspectives of the spiritual, the economic and community with the secrets of what operationally binds them together. It triggers an unveiling of the dynamics of the destiny of the Jews as a prophetic people of God.
 
When I was a boy, my father was a very busy man. He was general manager of the manufacturing company that was the major employer in my hometown. He was also the mayor of my hometown. He loved the people he worked with and they loved him. Yet he made the opportunity to take me with him. We were always talking. I attended meetings and sat quietly and listened as my dad conducted his business.
 
As I grew up, I also heard stories about his grandfather, who had immigrated to America from Ireland by himself at the age of 16. My dad told me how of all his grandchildren my dad was the one my great-grandfather chose to take with him to the rural church meetings he held. He was a circuit preacher in a time and area when the communities didn't have churches.
 
My dad got involved in Little League baseball so he could help coach me in this skill and we could share in this sport. My dad was my greatest mentor. My dad always sought for me to have opportunity that he had not had.
 
Yet, there were many others my dad mentored. He mentored a young man who had immigrated to the US and had a talent. This man could repair anything. Eventually he became maintenance manager of the manufacturing company my dad ran.
 
As a father, and as a business and community leader, my dad was a mentor as he had learned from his grandfather. There were certain people in whom he invested his life and ways. As a mentor he was an example in the way he lived his life. During the days when Jesus had His earthly ministry he taught many people. However, he chose twelve to be his disciples. These are the ones he mentored. Then there came a time when he told them, I no longer call you disciples, but friends.
 
A mentor is an investor in people. A mentor is someone who spends time with you, who is willing to show you the ropes, who sees your potential and prepares you for the next level of opportunity enfolding before you. Then there comes a time when the process shifts. Within the Jewish community an important first step in this shift is a rite of passage called the bar mitzvah. For women it is the bat mitzvah. It is a rite of passage into adulthood recognized by the community.
 
Effective stewardship is the responsible administration of the secrets with which we've been entrusted spiritually, economically and leadership-wise. Stewardship prepares us for the future to creatively prosper our community, our businesses and our culture from one generation to another. Stewardship releases a powerful dynamic, an authority which we'll discuss in a future session called dominion.
___________________________________________________
 
Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner and spokesman for the higher dimensions of business leadership since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation and designer of the God's Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program, Mr. Ruddick imparts hope and equips economic community builders to be blessed to be a blessing where God's light is dim in diverse regions around the globe.
 
He is author of "The Joseph-Daniel Calling;" "Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;" "The Heart of a King;" "Something More;" "Righteous Power in a Corrupt World;" "Leadership by Anointing;" and "Mantle of Fire," which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders with destinies to impact their communities. They are available in print and e-versions from www.Amazon.comwww.apple.com/ibooksand www.BarnesandNoble.com.
 
Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts are enabled by the generosity of a remnant of faithful friends and contributors whose vision aligns with God's heart to mobilize economic community builders imparting influence and the blessings of God. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to PO Box 370291, Denver CO 80237 or by credit card at http://strategicintercession.org/support/
 
Likewise, email us to schedule a seminar for your group's gathering on the Joseph-Daniel Calling or on anointing the creative in business.
 
2016 Copyright Morris Ruddick -- sign@strategicintercession.org
 
Reproduction is prohibited unless permission is given by a SIGN advisor. Since early 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors and leaders committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For previous posts or more information on SIGN, check:http://www.strategicintercession.org
 
Morris Ruddick
Global Initiatives Foundation
www.strategic-initiatives.org
www.strategicintercession.org

Global Initiatives is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 organization
Global Initiatives Foundation, PO Box 370291, Denver, CO 80237

Thursday, April 9, 2015

THE ANCIENT CHALLENGE (c) Morris E. Ruddick

Morris Ruddick

SIGN

THE ANCIENT CHALLENGE

(c) Morris E. Ruddick


At the crux of today's culminating, age-old drama of good against evil have been game-changers, leaders with alliances both from within and outside the community of God's people, whose righteous response to His standard would advance His purposes.

This advance has been demonstrated with strategies impacting the infrastructures of culture, economies and power. Yet, the most important elements for historians: God and His chosen people Zion have largely been ignored in recording the story of man. Understanding the times and knowing what to do rest on a realistic grasp of the historic strategies employed by God and His chosen.

Abraham established the community model for God's people to live in self-sufficiency, as a people of God. Isaac gleaned the secret of God's economy and supernaturally prospered through God, despite the impact of famine. Joseph demonstrated how stewardship that abides in God's presence can influence the spiritual climate of a society and release God's authority within its infrastructures, to overcome impending evil and to accomplish God's purposes.

Moses provided the framework for the Abrahamic model to inoculate itself from the subtle wickedness of the surrounding world and become a society of the righteous, living for God. David demonstrated the leadership response to God's guidance needed to shape a society of diverse factions into a Kingdom of God's people, that would prompt awe for God and His people from all those around them.

Jesus raised the bar to the ancient challenge and opened the gates to the authority that governs cultures, economies and power. In so doing He set the Kingdom standard for applying righteous power in a corrupt world.

The world has reached just such a flashpoint.

A frequent question concerning the calling of modern-day Josephs has been "when will the time of the Josephs manifest?" The answer is the same as it was in the days of Joseph the Patriarch: "When God speaks to Pharaoh." However, the prelude to God speaking to Pharaoh will be shaped by the amassing of prayers and steadfast faith demonstrated by the stewardship of the Josephs.

There's a shaking taking place all around us. God is allowing the box to be rattled so that we begin looking outside-the-box instead of at ourselves. The time of Joseph was a time in which God's plan was far bigger than the status quo and the short-sighted religious, ambitious thinking of even God's chosen. So it has been that the role of game-changers has never been limited to the parameters of the "box."

With evil coming out of the closet today at unprecedented levels, the challenge, as it has reemerged across the centuries, is for God's people to stand against evil. With that will be the emergence of the leaders, the game-changers, whose influence impacts culture, economies and power to embrace this mandate of the ancient challenge.

Read the full article:
http://strategicintercession.org/2015/04/the-ancient-challenge/
___________________________________________________

Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner and spokesman for the call of God in the marketplace since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation and designer of the God's Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program, Mr. Ruddick imparts hope and equips economic community builders where God's light is dim in both the Western and non-Western world.

He is author of "The Joseph-Daniel Calling;" "Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;" "The Heart of a King;" "Something More;" "Righteous Power in a Corrupt World;" and "Leadership by Anointing," which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders called to impact their communities with God's blessings. They are available in print and e-versions from www.Amazon.comwww.apple.com/ibooksand www.BarnesandNoble.com.

Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts are enabled by the generosity of a remnant of faithful friends and contributors whose vision aligns with God's heart to mobilize the persecuted church to be the head and not the tail. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to PO Box 370291, Denver CO 80237 or by credit card athttp://strategicintercession.org/support/

Likewise, email us to schedule a seminar for your congregation on the wisdom the persecuted church has for the West or on anointing the creative.

2015 Copyright Morris Ruddick -- sign@strategicintercession.org

Reproduction is prohibited unless permission is given by a SIGN advisor. Since early 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors and leaders committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For previous posts or more information on SIGN, check:http://www.strategicintercession.org
Morris Ruddick
Global Initiatives Foundation
www.strategic-initiatives.org
www.strategicintercession.org

Global Initiatives Foundation is a tax-deductible 501 (c) 3 ministry

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

UNLOCKED - SIGN (c) Morris E. Ruddick


Morris Ruddick

SIGN

UNLOCKED

(c) Morris E. Ruddick


"I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open." Isa 22:22 NIV

Just prior in this sequence of scripture, the prophet had spoken words of judgment against a leader who had fallen short, who was misusing the authority of his office. In establishing his replacement, a unique mantle was bestowed, with an authority that dovetailed with that of David's line, an authority to lock and unlock spiritual gates.

David's greatest exploit was in overcoming the divisions within the community of God's people and aligning them to pursue God's Kingdom purposes, as one. That factor is the substance of a genuine Kingdom leadership mantle.

The significance of rightly shepherding God's people is illustrated by this Isaiah 22 story of the mantle being stripped from Shebna and then bestowed to Eliakim. The change involved one whose stewardship, on behalf of God's people, fell short as it passed a subtle threshold, losing its focus -- from its design to mobilize and align God's people -- to Shebna becoming obsessed with power and the personal benefit from his position.

A full grasp of the scope of this Kingdom leadership dynamic is vital to the preparation of the Body needed for this hour. It is vital to wielding the key to unlocking the bondage of corruption and releasing the transformation that affects societal change.

The Hurdle to Unlock

One of the biggest, if not the biggest gap in the Church today -- is the need for something practical and engaging, to enable each believer to WALK OUT A CALL OF GOD.

We've emerged at a change of generations with a "me-too" orientation. We've confused the tactical with the strategic. We've made models out of what may have been simply successful stepping stones for a time, stepping stones never intended as the standard or the model to be followed. Short-sighted misuse of tactical means for strategic ends can impede the unlocking and passage into new gateways.

Volunteerism, for example, is not an end in itself, but rather the steps in the path toward its adherents correctly identifying and then being prepared for release to walk out their own callings. Mimicking success, instead of following the move of the Spirit, of the cloud by day and the fire by night, can be a trap. It impedes maturity within the Body needed to rightly discern and engage in God's strategies for the times.

The blind-spot at the core of such subtle snares is akin to the downfall of Shebna, of becoming in-bred and self-serving. This deception short-circuits the big-picture purposes of the Spirit. The momentum for this misaligned zeal is driven by the overuse or misapplication of early-stage successes and priorities.

This in-bred myopia can breed lone-ranger congregations. Progressively misaligned priorities result in a failure to interact with, pray with and work together with other believers within the surrounding community. It waters down the important factor of how we seek the Lord together. It results in falling short in mobilizing God's people to discern and walk out the calling of God for the day at hand.

In-bred myopia masks the keys needed to unlock the strategies needed to avoid the mix between the collisions taking place due to the "me-too" and "Shebna empire," lone-ranger, short-sighted expenditures of energy and anointing.

There have been almost overwhelming inroads of darkness operating within our cultures, seats of power and economies. However, as God's people, we have a disproportionate advantage. David identified and unleashed that advantage.

The goal is the alignment and mobilization of a people who become the true demonstration of the reality of God for which the world longs. The strategy was soundly implemented by David. Its dimensions are so significant that reference is given to them from the Prophets. to the Book of Acts, to Revelations.

These dimensions are referred to as the key of David and the tabernacle of David.

The Mantle of David

David's role in overcoming all the strife and division -- in bringing the community of God's people together carries significance very close to the Father's heart. It is the standard for the Kingdom. It is the standard to release Body maturity. It represents the crux of turning, the key that unlocks the power in which Light disperses darkness.

This unlocking is also uniquely tied to another dimension tied to the mantle of David, referred to as the tabernacle of David. The tabernacle is the place where God's presence resides. Yet, this dynamic embraces much more than the warm glow from worship. Worship is certainly a significant part, but again is a means to an end.

The goal is the progressive consciousness of God's presence that guides the community as a whole, and becomes the pathway through which the community is built and serves as a Light on a hill.

It is when the infectious reality of God's presence results in the unified community itself becoming spiritually contagious, that the attention of the surrounding community is attracted, being drawn into its sphere. When in operation, it overwhelmingly challenges the gatekeepers of darkness.

The Impact of Unity and God's Presence

Acts 15:12-17 tells of a time of major turning in the early Church following Jesus' resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit, when a move of God began the unlocking of gates, which previously had been locked. A very key part of this unlocking was opening the gates for the Gentiles to partake in the promises long held by the Jewish people.

"So open the gates, so that those who are righteous may enter." Isaiah 26:2

It was a time marked by the reality of the wonders of God's presence. This was another gate unlocked in which the anointing became available to all believers. It was a time of true revival, a time in which believers and non-believers alike, recognized and were being drawn by God's manifested presence. A great fear of the Lord fell upon not only all the church, but also upon all who witnessed and heard about these things (Acts 5:11; Acts 6:8; Acts 8:6). It was a time when the impact was described by members of the world, as "the world being turned upside down" (Acts 17:6).

Scripture (Matt 24:36; Acts 1:7) refers to set-times determined by the Father alone. Paralleling the above examples from the early Church, we have entered times strategically mapped out in the heart of God. Since the time of the resurrection and outpouring of the Spirit, God's people -- both Israel and the Church -- have encountered new things, sovereignly unlocked by moves of the Spirit.

Israel's 1948 Independence and then regaining control of Jerusalem in 1967 are modern-day examples. Each was tied to new gates of revival and unity in God's move toward the reestablishment of His order in the cultural, power and economic systems. Today, Israel and the Church are poised before another such unlocking.

The Model for Preparation

So, what are the steps to preparing for God's next steps of progressively unlocking the cultural, power and economic systems? Avoiding the Shebna blind-spots and embracing the keys given Eliakim begins with the preparation needed for ALL to be fully engaged in walking out their callings. It begins in being prepared as a culture within a culture in being led by the Spirit to impart Life in the infrastructures of the world's systems.

The preparation has got to dispel the unscriptural premise of the sacred and the secular that categorizes and separates ministers from the laity. The sin of Shebna, was also the sin of the Pharisees. Jesus' choice of those He drew together as His closest followers broke the mold for religious leadership with his cross-section from every walk of life. These everyday people included people of business, professionals, military leaders, government employees, people of disrepute and people of society.

It challenged the premise of a distanced, leadership-elite and raised the bar for service and responsibility, along with extending the mantle of leadership to the community as a whole. With the big-picture model of God-centered, economic community development employed from the days of Abraham, leadership is the influence from everyday people operating in everyday domains for the common good. The key to unlocking these next gates will begin with the preparation needed to break the mold to release entire communities.

The Preparation

In the early 1970s, I left what was in its own right a calling, in order to prepare myself in the pursuit of a higher calling. Having spent almost eight years as a US Marine, I hungered for the opportunity, for the rest of my days, to be used by God.

There were steps in that process. As new Christians we were blessed to attend a church led by a man of God who opened to us the riches of God's Word. Then as we became immersed in the application of God's truth, together with wise counsel, we were released and sent forth to prepare for entrance into God's plan, as I became a student at Oral Roberts University.

While the academics provided a discipline and depth in learning how to rightly divide the word of Truth, there was another, very essential and practical dimension. At the core of ORU's mandate is training up young people to hear God's voice to go where God's light is dim.

Academics were only one part. Together with mentorships and a process of coming to know God and His heart, we were given the foundations for walking out a call of God. Functioning in a vibrant, interactive community, we were given the basics needed to live and maintain a lifestyle of faith, of being led by the Spirit.

The Nurturing and Application

Within this setting was a strong foundation in the living Word. The greatest influence on my future calling was the interactive nurturing that came through God's Word, the testimonies, the times of praying with and the wisdom imparted by ones with their own track record in successfully walking out a call of God.

This foundation and nurturing became the launch-pad for the real-life applications in discerning God's guidance and then stepping out in faith -- to walk out the calling and pathway that lay before us.

The simplicity for this preparation was demonstrated by Jesus' nurturing and application of the teaching He imparted to His inner circle during His earthly ministry. The process was very practical. There was teaching, observation and then real-life applications.

Jesus spent nights in prayer seeking the Father as His followers observed His life and how he ministered to the people. Jesus taught His disciples the basics of applying faith, prayer and how to apply righteous power in corrupt settings. The key in this process is the word "application." Jesus taught His followers to be doers of the word and not just hearers.

Then there came a time when He released them. It was a significant transition. Jesus told them that no longer did He consider them disciples, but friends. Friends are those you trust. Friends are ones with whom you entrust your responsibility and share the keys. Not long afterward was the cross, then the resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit. From that point, everything changed.

Unlocking the Pathway

In today's turbulent spiritual atmospheres, the standard of Body maturity Paul outlined in his letter to the Ephesians is no longer an option. The greatest hurdle is from within. It is the in-bred, short-sightedness in which the means becomes the end whereby leadership fails in its Kingdom function of serving, taking on a life of its own.

During the course of the last generation, the rise of the parachurch movement, the influence and expansion of Christian media, distance learning and webinars, the mobilization of banners that bear on standards for legislation have all coincided with the acceleration of Body maturity, which in turn has met head-on, the inroads being made by darkness.

While the stakes are higher and the bar has been raised, God's keys of unlocking can be expected to retain their unstoppable potency. The standard of maturity and need for alignment -- not unlike what David actuated in bringing all Israel together -- is bedrock to all that lies ahead for the Lord's plans for the Church and for Israel. It begins with a faithful, strategically-poised remnant.

At the crux in this process is equipping the saints for the work of their callings. With the traction this yields, the mantle of David will be triggered in actuating unity for the revival-level manifested presence of God that mobilizes us as the community of believers needed for this hour.

During times of preparation, the focus will involve the infrastructures for timely life-training, from local congregations to Internet-based Kingdom-life programs to Bible schools and more, each preparing both individuals and the community for emerging as the Kingdom force that Jesus intended, to penetrate the darkness and draw all men to Himself.

"If you have run with footmen and they have wearied you, then how will you contend with horses. If in the land of peace in which you trusted they wearied you, then how will you do on the floodplain of the Jordan." Jeremiah 12:5
___________________________________________________

Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner and spokesman for the call of God in the marketplace since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation and designer of the God's Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program, Mr. Ruddick imparts hope and equips economic community builders where God's light is dim in both the Western and non-Western world. 

He is author of "The Joseph-Daniel Calling;" "Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;" "The Heart of a King;" "Something More;" "Righteous Power in a Corrupt World;" and "Leadership by Anointing," which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders called to impact their communities with God's blessings. They are available in print and e-versions from www.Amazon.comwww.BarnesandNoble.com and other popular outlets. 

Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts are enabled by the generosity of a remnant of faithful friends and contributors whose vision aligns with God's heart to mobilize the persecuted church to be the head and not the tail. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to PO Box 370291, Denver CO 80237 or email us atsign@strategicintercession.org for access information on our secure web-site.

Likewise, email us to schedule a seminar for your congregation on the wisdom the persecuted church has for the times emerging in the West.  

2014 Copyright Morris Ruddick - sign@strategicintercession.org

Reproduction is prohibited unless permission is given by a SIGN advisor. Since 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors and leaders committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For previous posts or more information on SIGN, check: http://www.strategicintercession.org
Morris Ruddick
Global Initiativex Foundation
www.strategic-initiatives.org
www.strategicintercession.org

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

The Other Side of the Lake Part 1 - Doug Fortune

The Other Side of the Lake Part 1 by Doug Fortune

By Doug Fortune (Identity Network)
Sign up to receive Identity Network's 
daily articles and receive 
2 FREE MP3 Teaching Downloads
by Jeremy Lopez automatically.
 
(New Subscribers Only Please) 
 
*The Seeing Process of a Seer
*What Next God? 
Discouraged After Your Prophetic Word.
 A $20.00 Value
 
 

"Now it came to pass on a certain day, that He went into a ship with His disciples: and He said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth." 
(Luke 8:22)
 
I love the way this verse begins, "Now it came to pass..." It is important to note that the first word is NOW. 

When I read that I know that this is a NOW word for us! It is a proceeding Word, however it comes to PASS, it does not come to stay, it denotes movement. Religion seems bent on taking a now/ proceeding Word and embalming it, memorializing it and propping it up way past its' usefulness. 

Remember, Father is in the NOW. One of His redemptive Names is Jehovah Shamah, meaning "The Lord, The Ever Present." That does not just mean that He is always present (which He is) it also means that He lives in the present.   He lives in an eternal "now" outside of time. 

"On a certain day..." This was not just ANY day, this was a certain day. I believe that this CERTAIN Day we are reading of is a spiritual picture of where the Church is now, and that there is a spiritual principle we can glean from. You see, our ultimate destiny is not determined by our natural circumstances! In fact, many times our natural circumstances are at odds with our ultimate destiny. That is because Father calls us to something much higher than our natural capabilities requiring us to overcome our natural circumstances. 

A Certain Day 

Contrary to everything we hear from so many sources, I prophesy to you that we are NOT in a day of uncertainty! We are in a CERTAIN Day that Father has had planned from the beginning of time. Are these troubled times?  Most certainly they are troubled times, but they are filled with certainty and Father's purpose. 

Our verse goes on to say, "He went into a SHIP with His disciples..." I believe that this is a CERTAIN Day because He is IN the ship with His disciples. 

What kind of a ship is it, you may ask?  This ship is a WorSHIP! "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." (Psalms 22:3) Many churches have a similar paradigm of worship, and it is based upon the belief that praise and worship in a congregational setting serves as a plow to break up the ground of the peoples' hearts in preparation for the Seed of the Word that will be delivered in a message. 

However, in our local fellowship, I believe that we are not there to "plow" hearts, although that can happen in a corporate gathering. If that is what people want, there are other churches that are better suited for that, and I don't say that to belittle other churches...it is just that is not our calling. 

The Frequency of Heaven 

I believe that we are there to tap into, to access the frequency of the worship that is already happening in the heavenlies, resonate that worship and bring it into the earthly realm. We are there to bring the Heart and Word of the Lord and declare it into this realm to bring a collision of heaven invading earth. We are to be a conduit of Heaven! 

Our objective, as it were, is to facilitate the establishment of the Kingdom of God by resonating the frequency of heaven in the realm of the earth... to BE the Throne of God (the seat of authority) in the Tabernacle of David; "And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness." (Isaiah 16:5) 

As we do this, the "message," the Word of the Lord, the Seed is going forth. We believe that Father has already been speaking all through worship, communion, prayer, etc. Our gatherings are basically a prophetic expression of His Voice.  In other words, we are there to apprehend and declare the Word, the Voice of Father, to express Him, and that Voice/ Message comes out in many different forms, not just in the preaching. If you wait until the "preaching" for the Word of the Lord, you have already missed half the message! 

As we WorSHIP, we also become a WARship!  However, spiritual warfare is not a matter of us standing on the earth, our praise ascending to the heavens and piercing the spiritual darkness. Rather, it is much more a matter of US descending, bringing the GLORY of the Third Heaven (epouranos in Greek) where we are seated in Him, to invade the earth and therefore displacing principalities and powers by His resonant Word of power. 

Hidden in God 

What kind of a ship is it, you may ask?  This ship is also a FellowSHIP.  "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 3:9) 

The fellowship of the mystery is simply the manifold Wisdom of God (which is Christ Himself) being revealed and displayed BY the Church because the Church becomes totally hidden IN God! "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints... which is Christ IN you (the plural corporate fellowship of the Mystery), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:26-27 my input in parenthesis) 

What kind of a ship is it, you may ask?  This ship is also a StewardSHIP; "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." (1 Corinthians 4:1) 

The word translated as "steward" is oikonomos in Greek and it means a manager, superintendent to whom the head of the house or proprietor has entrusted the management of his affairs, the care of receipts and expenditures, and the duty of dealing out the proper portion to every servant and even to the children not yet of age. We are entrusted with the affairs of the Kingdom, the expenditures and dispensing of the mysteries of God as Christ through us reveals Himself! 

What kind of a ship is it, you may ask?  This ship is ALL His WorkmanSHIP; "For we are His workmanship, created IN Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) 

Father is the author and builder of this "ship" that we are being made into, therefore this "ship" is built to sail into the deep and withstand any storm of life. 

When Jesus Speaks 

"And He said unto them..." You know, when Jesus speaks, people should listen! I don't know that He was one to just ramble on with inane frivolities. In fact, here is what is recorded concerning what He spoke; "... the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63) His words are spirit and life... that means His words originate in the Spirit and they produce Life and action that impacts this natural realm. 

Here is what He said, "Let us go over unto the other side of the lake..." Keep in mind that if Jesus said they were going to the other side, that meant they were absolutely going to the other side. Nothing could stop His words from coming to pass because they originate in the Spirit and they produce Life and action that impacts this natural realm!...  

To be continued... 

Doug Fortune
 
 
 
 
In Earth as in Heaven
Book
By Doug Fortune
Price: $15.99
Sale! $13.99
Click HERE to order