Change of Focus

There is a remnant of God’s people who are more passionately pursuing the freedom of the Kingdom than they are pursuing participation in human gatherings. For a long time, these have resisted the control of man’s religion and man’s rules and man’s approval, or lack of approval.

It has been right, it has been good that we have resisted that control that has been pharisaical and restrictive. It has been appropriate that we have resisted constrictions that some have wanted to put on our freedom in Christ.

For years – perhaps for decades – those pursuing freedom have needed to watch for those who would, knowingly or unknowingly, steal that freedom away. It’s not time to let down our guard, but it is time that we change the focus of our resistance. We are not to be bound. We are not to be subject to others’ fears and limitations.

In fact, it’s time to stop looking at what we are not; time to stop looking at what we are leaving behind. Instead of focusing on what we have left behind, it will be good to look at where we’re going. It’s time to fix our eyes on the One who is leading us, the One who died for our freedom.

A very wise man once said, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” If it was not this season before, it surely is now.

We have had to keep our guard up against those who would take our freedom, and it’s good to guard our freedom. But we’re coming into days when we need to keep our eyes on the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. We need to watch Father closely, because he’s moving more quickly, he’s speaking more softly, than he has done before.

We still run the race. We still guard against man’s control. But our eyes are on the King. Trust me, he’s much nicer to look at anyway.

Judgment: It's Not What We Think!

There’s a lot of conversation about judgment. We’re in the throes of a fascination with the last days, the “end times” and there is a substantial element of judgment in that whole conversation, and we talk about “the Great White Throne.”

There’s also a growing awareness among believers of how the world sees churches as judgmental. “Don’t do this, don’t like that.” It’s my observation that there is a growing polarization in the church on this topic – some are pronouncing more judgment and calling it holiness; others are judging the world and other believers less. Judgment is clearly on the mind of the Saints.

Judgment is Misunderstood

I believe that the topic is badly misunderstood in the church. I’ve certainly learned recently how badly I’ve misjudged the concept of judgment.

I suspect that the main reason we misunderstand judgment is because we are instructed by the wrong sources. Our culture has a great deal to say on the topic, from Judge Judy, to the evening news, to the entire legal system: our culture teaches us that judgment is largely about punishment: “Stop doing that!” “Go to jail!” “Pay this fine!”

Traditional Christian Culture supports this understanding: “God’s going to judge that,” though what it is that God purportedly will judge changes depending on which Christian subculture you’re listening to, but that’s another topic.

Here’s where I’m going: In one way or another, we generally consider judgment to be bad, to be about punishment. That’s not true! Punishment certainly is a part of judgment, but by no means is it the whole story.

Some years ago, when I was a potter, I entered several of my creations in the local County Fair. These were my creations, very personal. And do you know what happened? Judges came to look at my work. Judges! Can you imagine! And do you know what they did? They judged my creations! And then they handed me a couple of ribbons, and awarded me twenty bucks cash money.

Judgment, in the truest sense, does include punishment, but really, it’s more focused on rewards, particularly in the Kingdom of God.

In fact, I don’t think it’s judgment itself that is a problem, but the condemnation that is usually unleashed when judgment is performed inappropriately. I’m beginning to understand that while condemnation is to be generally condemned, judgment is to be embraced.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD…. For thrones are set there for judgment, The thrones of the house of David.

             -- Psalm 122:1,5 [emphasis added]

A Closer Look at Judgment

Let’s look at the biggest, most famous judgment of all, at the end of the world:

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. … And they were judged, each one according to his works. … And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

             -- Revelation 20:12-15

This is, of course, not one judgment, but two. The famous one is in the last verse: if your name is not in the Book of Life, it’s “game over” when we come to that court. But that’s only half the story, only one of the books of testimony used as evidence in that courtroom.

The other judgment is about your works (and mine), and the testimony is a stack of books listing what we’ve done. The judgment is based on what is written in that stack of books.

So the Judge on the throne is making judgment based on our works, but the books that list our works have all the forgiven things wiped out of them, stricken from the record; a whole lifetime worth of the good things that we’ve done, said and thought are all that remain. When the Judge looks at those, his judgment is not going to be about punishment but reward:

"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins.
Put Me in remembrance;
Let us contend together;
State your case, that you may be acquitted.

            -- Isaiah 43:25-26

So the Judge on the throne is making judgment based on our works, but the books that list our works have all the forgiven things wiped out of them, stricken from the record: the only things that remain are whatever (hopefully few) sins are un-repented of, and a whole lifetime worth of the good things that we’ve done, said and thought. When the Judge looks at those, his judgment is not going to be about punishment but reward.

Jesus teaches on judgment rather a lot. This is the Parable of the Talents:

  “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 

  “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 

  “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ 

  “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 

  ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

                 --Matthew 25:14-30

And this is his Parable of the Minas: similar lessons, but a different presentation.

  Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.  So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.'  ….

  "And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.  Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.'  And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.'  And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.'  Likewise he said to him, 'You also be over five cities.'

  "Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.  For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.' And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.  Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?'

  "And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.' (But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.') 'For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

             -- Luke 19:11-27

In the Parable of the Talents, every servant received a different investment; it would not be inappropriate to think of these as skills, giftings, opportunities: places where everyone is different. Those who were rewarded all earned the same profit – whatever they had received, they doubled – and they all received the same reward: “‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” It is not inappropriate to come away with the understanding that whenever we make an increase for the Kingdom from our God-given talents, He will be pleased.

It is also fair to point out that when we are afraid of God, when we bury our talents out of fear that what we do won’t be pleasing to him, that reaction itself is very displeasing to him. That is not a good choice: those who make this choice will regret it; here judgment does indeed bring punishment.

The Parable of the Minas teaches much the same lessons, but this time, every servant received the same gift; think of these as places where we’re all equal before God: we have the same new life, the same access to the Holy Spirit, the same freedom to come boldly before his throne and obtain grace. In this parable, each servant came back with a different success story: some brought back ten times the amount that was invested in them, others only five times as much. Every successful servant was judged and rewarded by the King; in this case, the extent of the reward was related to the amount of their success with his investment in them. Again, it is not inappropriate to come away with the understanding that whenever we make a profit for the Kingdom from our God-given talents, He will be pleased.

And again, there was one servant who was afraid of the King, afraid of failing, and therefore hid his gift away privately; this servant’s judgment brought punishment: his gift was taken from him and given to the more successful servant. The servant’s fearful, self-protective choices did not protect him.

What Is (And What Is Not) Judged

While we will indeed stand before God one day and be “judged, each one according to his works,” it is important to understand what we will be judged for and what we will not be judged for.

Here are some things that we will apparently not be judged for:

·         Our gifts. Some of us have greater gifts, some lesser, but like the talents, all are given by God. Why would God judge us (reward us) for how much he himself has given us in the first place? In both parables, the servants were rewarded, but never for the king’s initial investment in them.

·         Our works. I grew up in a generation that has valued hard work, and I don’t mean to disparage sweat, but our hard work is not the thing that God is looking to reward. God is not in the habit of rewarding man’s works, and in the Old Testament, he specifically prohibited things that caused sweat (see Ezekiel 44:18): a picture of not relying on our own works to accomplish his purposes.

·         Our Opportunities. Some people have tremendous opportunities for their gifting; others labor in obscurity. A couple who labors faithfully to pastor a house church is not judged to be inferior to the inherits the leadership of a mega-church from his father.

Things judged:

·         Our Faithfulness. While our giftedness are not rewarded, what we do with those gifts will be rewarded. The choice to faithfully use the gift is rewarded, but the choice to hide the gift is punished. John Wimber taught that “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K,” and that applies in this conversation: choices that are safe, that are comfortable are probably not choices that bring the kind of rewards that Jesus talked about. Choices that are built on a value to extend the Kingdom, but scare us, that make us rely on God more, choices where we must walk carefully, hand-in-hand with Jesus are the ones that bring eternal rewards.

·         Our Results. While our hard work, our sweat, is not rewarded, the parable of the minas clearly demonstrates that greater results from the same gifts will result in greater reward. It is clear that the greater results don’t come from working harder, but from strategies like cooperating more with God’s purposes

For now, I’d like to encourage us to submit to God’s judgment. I have a strong expectation that Holy Spirit will be teaching us more about judgment in the months to come. He is not through with the topic.

The Feather is a Sign

I was at a prophetic gathering recently, where a man was painting a picture during the worship. The painting was of a feather in the Lord’s hand. I was sitting nearby and watched the painting form, watched the artist labor over it.

Toward the end of the conference, the keynote speaker took public note of the painting, commented on the feather, and offered prophetic perspective.

“First,” he pointed out, “my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. A quill is a pen. Many of you here need to be writing, writing out your experiences in God.”

Then he went on to tell the story that stuck with me; I don’t know whether he spoke of a real practice, or of a vision he had had. He told of an Eskimo who needed to feed his family in the winter, so he travelled out on the ice, where he found an air hole for a seal, the seal that he wanted to bring home to feed his hungry family.

He waited for the seal by the air hole, but he knew that the seal would see him waiting there, harpoon in hand, so he brought out a feather, and put it on the surface of the water in the air hole. The feather may distract the seal, or it may obscure his vision, but those are not the real purpose of the feather on the water.

When the seal came near its air hole, the feather would vibrate from the changing pressure in the water, from the bubbles under the ice of the seal’s exhalation as he prepares to inhale in his private air hole.

The Eskimo never needs to actually see the seal. He waits until the vibration of the feather indicates that the seal is right there, and he strikes without having seen the seal. Then he cuts the hole larger, pulls the seal out, carries it home and feeds his family. The prophet said that the feather was also a symbol that the “Lord’s family is really hungry; they’re starving. The Lord is looking for some seals to take to feed his family.”

The feather is also a lesson for us in trust. The Eskimo never saw the seal he was hunting until (and unless) the successful conclusion of the hunt.

I believe that we are in a day when we need to learn how to obey when God says, “It’s time to strike” even when we don’t see what we’re striking. It’s time for us to move forward with what God is doing in us, what he’s calling us to, even if we don’t know what that is or where it will take us.

Fixing the Eyes

If I dwell on, if I feed my spirit on, if I meditate on, the things that God has NOT done, or not done YET, then it creates an offense in my heart, whose result is unbelief, and it wars against the Kingdom of God, and everything in my life is tainted by unbelief. I don’t really want that!

Judas had a problem with this, or at least I think that he did: he really wanted the Triumphant Messiah, but Jesus didn’t come as that. Jesus came as the Suffering Servant. All the Boys struggled with this disappointment, but it would have been easy for Judas, the man of action among them, to focus on what was NOT being done.

When Mary broke the Nard on Jesus, Judas saw that poor people weren’t being fed (and that his own pocket wasn’t being enriched) with what that box of perfume must have cost, and that is the only part of that magical evening that he talked about. If you had eyes for it, you could see the Incarnate Son of God being prepared, being encouraged by a heart of love, for the Battle of Eternity that was about to unfold in the next few days. Mary was preparing Jesus to rescue Judas and the entire human race, and all Judas saw was that there were still hungry poor people.

Jesus taught, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” When I talk about – when I notice – what God has not done, or what is wrong with the world (which God created) or when I discuss the failures of the Church (which he declares he will build), then it reveals where my heart is: focused on problems, ensorcelled by failure. My words reveal that my thoughts, my emotions, are wrapped up with what’s not right, and they empower it. In the same statement (Luke 6:5), Jesus identifies this process as “an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart bring[ing] forth evil.”

Ouch. When my words and my actions reflect that I’m meditating on unbelief, it’s evil. When I’m talking about what’s wrong, it’s evil. When I tell people why my day was bad, it’s evil And it brings forth evil. It spawns evil. Evil multiplies because of my talk, and it brings forth evil results.

Saul wrestled with it. In 1 Samuel 13, he fed his spirit only on Samuel’s delay and the people’s unrest, and his resulting choices cost him his dynasty. In 2 Samuel 15, having not learned his lesson, he dwelt on the wastefulness of God’s command, and instead kept “only the best”, and that cost him his kingdom. The divinely-chosen, supernaturally-aided mortal king of God’s own favored nation was destroyed because he was focused on what he saw as wrong with God’s servant, with God’s people, with God’s plan.

That was an easy takedown for the enemy.

And in fact, this is a very old strategy of the devil. The serpent’s temptation of Eve was about what God was not giving (experience of both good and evil), and ignoring what he had made available (everlasting life, intimacy with their creator), and they both fell prey to it, and it cost us (and Jesus) everything, absolutely everything!

If you want to discourage someone, tell them all that’s wrong with them. Tell them about their mistakes, their poor choices. Bring their attention to the injustices around them, to the uncomfortable circumstances that they’re in. Help them see what is wrong, and you’ll help them become what is wrong. Evil will win.

If the enemy was looking for the simplest, most efficient way to destroy an anointed man or woman of God is to get them to focus on their problems, the bad events in the news, the oversights of their family, the bad habits of their co-workers, the idiots on the freeway, the mistakes of the government. There’s lots of very real “wrong stuff” out there. If I put my attention on that evil stuff, then evil will grow in my heart, and I’ll make a small mistake that will cost me – and those around me – everything.

Someone wise once said, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Somewhere in Philippians 4, emphasis added.)

If you want to make someone dangerous, if you want to make them into somebody that can change the world, that can send hell running for cover, that can actually demonstrate the Good News of the Kingdom, then tell them what’s right. Tell them of their destiny in God; reach into Heaven and prophesy it by faith if you have to, but tell them. Tell them of the greatness of God in them. Show them the good choices they’ve made (they already know about the other ones!), and show them how good came from them, from their choices. Tell them how they’re changing the world.  Better yet, tell his wife, tell her husband, tell their friends, their kids, their pastor, and let them hear you telling them.

The Book says, “Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” [Hebrews 12:2-3, MSG]

Don’t prophesy the problem. Anybody can do that. The evening news does a pretty good job. Prophesy hope. Prophesy destiny. Prophesy the solution.

When we speak of the good, then we’re thinking, meditating, feeding on the good. And when we speak out loud of the good, then we’re feeding others on the good. And when we feed on what’s good, what’s true, what’s noble, there ain’t hardly nuthin’ that can stop us. 

New Apostolic Reformation Clothing

Part of Elvin Gladney's message at the 2009 Apostolic & Prophetic Gathering in Wenachee Washington.

Discerning the Times

Let’s discuss some theory and practice of discerning the times, discerning our times. We live in interesting times.

First, Let’s establish that discernment is a good thing. The Book addresses the topic. First, the Bible celebrates these particular boys who had good discernment:

“… sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do…” 1 Chronicles 12:32

Jesus is more forceful on the topic.

“When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Matthew 16:2-3.

Yes, he’s chewing out some religious leaders, but the reason he is chewing them out was because they couldn’t discern the times. Specifically, they couldn’t discern what God was doing, and the Son of God rebuked them for it.

It is that important that we discern what God is doing in our day. In these outrageous times, I am convinced that it is more important than it was in previous generations that we understand our times, that we discern our times correctly.

I want to set something of a foundation for where we’re going. Let’s start with Jesus. He’s a pretty good foundation.

“¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1.

I feel the need to re-emphasize some basic truths from this passage. There’s nothing new or controversial here.

· Jesus is the Word of God incarnate.

· He was alive before the beginning of creation.

· Jesus is God.

· Creation happened through him.

· Apart from Jesus, there was no creating going on.

One of the stones of this foundation that we’re laying is this: Jesus is the Creator. My point is this: Jesus is that it is well documented that Jesus is creative. I would argue that he is the source of all creativity, the fountain from which all of his creation draws from in their own creativity. Creativity was in Jesus’ blood before he had blood, before blood was invented, before the molecules that would eventually make up blood had been formed.

The New Testament adds to this:

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

If Jesus was creative for that very first week of creation, then the Book says that he remains unchanged. He is still creative. The guy who declared, “Let there be light!” is still that guy. Creativity is a part of him.

“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? Isaiah 43:18,19.

God identifies himself as a God who does new things. We could get technical and point out that “I will do a new thing” is an Active Participle, which “represents an action or condition in its unbroken continuity.” In other words, it could quite accurately (and more clumsily) be translated, “I do new stuff. That’s who I am!”

Then he adds, “You’re going to know it! You’re going to experience my new stuff!”

This is pretty basic: If God does new stuff, then he is doing new stuff. If Jesus – who is unchanging – is creative, then he is still creating, still doing new stuff. If this is who he is, then it’s who he is.

Therefore we should expect new stuff to happen. We should expect God to do new stuff. New stuff in us. New stuff around us. Things that nobody has ever seen before. (The Hebrew word חדש speaks about something that’s brand spankin’ new, and is contrasted with other words that mean rebuilt or renewed.)

I’m making a strong point about this because it seems that whenever someone says, “God is doing something new today!” someone crawls out of the shadows and snarls, “No he’s not!” Their justification for their narrow mindedness generally comes from Hebrews 13:8 (quoted above), or from their own self-centeredness: “I ain’t never seen that before, so it can’t be God.”

It has often been pointed out that the greatest persecutors of the latest move of God are very often the members of the last move of God. But it is to us specifically that God says, “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old!”

“Quit measuring things by the past. Stop looking back to what I did before. That is not what I’m doing now.”

Then the LORD said: "I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Exodus 34:10

OK. God is doing new things in our day, things that have never been seen on the earth before. But God isn’t the only one who’s doing things that we have never seen before. How do we discern between the unfamiliar thing that is God and the unfamiliar thing that is not God.

This is the rabbit trail that God led me on this morning. We must be able to discern our times. We must be able to discern that which is God from that which is not God.

Here’s where it got awkward for me, where it became unfamiliar to me: I cannot use my mind for that task. “But I have a good mind! It works well!” I argued. He agreed, and added, “but your mind is limited to what it knows, what it remembers, what it has seen before, and – from that – to what it can imagine. That’s insufficient. You must discern these times with your spirit.”

If God is doing new things in our day, things that have never been seen on Earth, then we must use a tool that is capable of working with things that are new, never before seen on the earth.

May we learn to discern well, to rely on our discernment, and to receive the new and different and unusual things that God is doing.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9

End Time Warfare

I heard an excellent illustration recently, of the relationship between warriors and intercessors that a friend Bruce Turnbull shared with me. He was a firefighter in the navy and they had a drill where a room was filled with JP5 fuel and set on flames. The firefighters worked in two different teams consisting of 4 men each. They stood in two rows as close together as possible. They were staggered kind of like a honeycomb or bricks in a wall. The hose and applicator are held only by the front man in each team.

The job of the #1 hose team was, as soon as they opened the door to sweep back and forth from one side to the other, pushing the flames back from off of the fuel. A person from #2 team stood right behind the #1 team front person and had an applicator that sprayed a mist of water, that basically created a "wall" of water to keep them cool and protected. If the front person wasn't diligent and didn't go all the way to one of the sides, the fire would get through the space and set the fuel behind them on flames again and engulf them both.

If the person from team #2 didn't keep the front person protected with spray, then the insurmountable heat from the fire would be too much for him to stand. Because of the great heat he would lose control of his mind and cause him to be unable to do his job correctly. The reason there are 4 men in a team is because they require more than one man on a hose because the power of the hose is too much for one man to handle. If the front man tires then the second man takes over and #1 goes to the back.

In this illustration, the front team are the front line soldiers and the team in the back are the intercessors and together they form a combined warfare team. The clearest scriptural example of this is in the Old Testament, where Moses, Aaron and Hur are the intercessors on the mountain and Joshua and his men are the front line soldiers down in the valley. Together they formed a combined warfare team and both were vitally important. We discover from this passage that when Moses lowered His arms the warriors would begin to lose and when he raised his arms they began to win. So the key to the victory was in the intercession, but on the other hand, if there are no soldiers down in the valley, there is no battle.

How does this apply to the church today? The intercession part of this equation is already happening in many churches. How many churches do you know, that don't already have an intercession group? On the other hand, how many churches do you know that has a front line soldier's warfare team? Many have equated intercession to be like a destroyer bombing the shore before the marines go in and hit the beach. In most churches then, we have the shore being bombed over and over, but no one is going in to take the beach. The church, therefore, is in a desperate need for front line soldiers to be raised up.

As in the example of Moses and Joshua, the teams can be both men or both women or a mixture. We see that both men and women are involved in the intercession teams that are already in place, however in many cases there is a much greater number of women. Perhaps, the "front-line soldiers" team is the ministry for many of the men who presently haven't found a place to plug into in the church.

Bruce also shared with me a revelation that God had given him, that men were created to be warriors and when they don't have a foe outside to fight, then they begin to fight their own families and their aggressiveness is focused inward. This seems to be confirmed in the scriptures, for instance Numbers 1:2,3 - "Take a census of all the congregation ? every male, head by head from twenty years old and upward, whoever {is able to} go out to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their armies". This indicates that all men who were 20 years old and over, were expected to be soldiers and were numbered by their armies.

Doesn't there need to be "call to arms", to mobilize men into front line spiritual warfare? Think about it, wouldn't this be the logical progression as the next step after the Promise Keepers movement. This movement helped men to get things straightened away at home, to be the kind of fathers and husbands that God had called them to be. Now that things at home are in better shape, shouldn't the focus be for them to rise up as warriors and to battle the enemies of their family and church and community.

May I suggest the formation of frontline warfare teams in each church, with the purpose of seeking the Lord as to His strategy for their church and region.

Frontline Warfare Strategy

The goal and desire of this team would be to see people get free from the enemy and enter into the kingdom of God. To accomplish this though, Jesus tells us that we must first bind up the strong man over the house, before you can plunder his goods. (Mark 3:27)

To illustrate the activities of a frontline warfare team I am going share with you, how God led us, as we reached out to the Alternative Sub-culture. Hopefully you will be able to see the key principles that are involved and be able to apply it to the cultural group you are called to.

The Lord showed us that if we were going to see a flood of people saved out of the Alternative Sub-culture and not just the trickle we were presently seeing, and then we would have to first bind up the strong man over them.

This is called strategic level warfare, so if you are not familiar with this concept, here is a short biblical study that will give you a good scriptural basis.

Strategic Level Warfare - Do Spirits have actual areas that they rule over?

Dan 10:13 "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come. 21) "However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.

When Daniel prayed and fasted for 21 days in Persia, it is no wonder that the spirit, who withstood the angel with the message for him, was the prince of Persia. The angel who then came and helped the first angel, was Michael, who is called, "one of the chief princes" and "your (Israel) prince" and in Dan 12:1 it says he is "Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people".

And finally, the angel says that He is going back to fight the prince of Persia and that the prince of Greece was about to come. Historically, Greece would soon conquer Persia.

So basically, we have three territorial spirits spoken of in this passage, one angel (Michael over Israel) and two demonic (princes over Persia and Greece)

In Rev.2:13 ? I know where you live-- where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city-- where Satan lives.

In this verse we come across a city that has a territorial Satan spirit. (we are not sure if this is the Satan or one of the Satan spirits serving him)

Who should be involved in Strategic Level Warfare?

Some would say that only angels should be involved in strategic level warfare. So an important question is "Are we to be involved in this spiritual battle?"

Eph 6:12 - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly (spiritual) realms.

2 Cor 10:3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

We see from these 2 verses that we are very clearly to be involved in this type of warfare.
What has to happen if we want to see a breakthrough?

Matt 12:28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house (territory) and carry off his property (lost souls), unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. (Save souls in that territory)

Jesus obviously plundered the enemy's house, so then, when did He bind up the strong man?
Luke 4:1 - Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.

In verse 1, when Jesus is led to go out into to the desert and it says He was, full of the Holy Spirit, but when He comes back He it is in the power of the Spirit. So it was during His time in the desert that Jesus bond up the strong man, so that when He came back He was able to go from city to town plundering the enemy's goods.

So then how did He bind up the enemy when He was out in the desert? Basically by not giving into the enemies temptations and we do it the same way. If the spirit over and area is greed we bind it up by not giving into that temptation.

Warfare in the Clubs

We discerned that one of the key areas in the lives of the Alternative Sub-culture was the area of music. So we decided that a good place to start, was to take a couple of these young guys (the beginning of our front line warfare team) and start going out to the Heavy metal concerts that came to town, not to protest, but to witness and pray.

I had heard from a friend who worked on the streets, that whenever one of these really bad Satanic bands came into town, suicide and Satanism would increase after they left, like a wave of evil being released each time they played.

Therefore, along with the evangelism, we decided to also take seriously the need to bind up the spirits that came with these musicians, in order to stop these releases and the spirits from doing their work. God honored this and we saw Him significantly shut down the spirits that were at work behind a number of these bands.

The next area we worked on began when one of the alternative guys in our group was concerned that I didn't understand the Alternative Sub-culture well enough and offered to take me and another one of our frontline warfare team on a tour of the alternative dance clubs in Vancouver.

Well I was in for a surprise; first of all, this dancing was much different than I was use to. They go out alone, not as pairs, and do a kind of interpretive dance. As we stood and watched we began to see unclean spirits manifesting themselves through these people. I was able to see Witchcraft, Jezebel, Leviathan, and others. The second surprise was how much I enjoyed the vitality and creativity that was present.

When we went a second time I was thinking about what this friend had told me, that the week before, he had felt a lot of evil on the dance floor and that he started dancing as warfare against it, and that it seemed to work.

This sounded kind of strange to me, but then I thought, "Well, I can do warfare with singing in worship, so why couldn't we do the same thing with dance?

So I decided I would give it a try and I went out onto the dance floor. As I started, something amazing happened. In the midst of heavy, bass pounding music and flashing lights and apparent chaos, I came right into the presence of God and it was so peaceful that I could have been in a meadow. Then, with my eyes closed, I began to see a vision of angels and demons involved in a major battle. It seemed like the right thing to do was to pick up a sword and become a part of this battle and before you knew it my dancing was an actually prophetic action. I wasn't dancing; I was jabbing and cutting at demons with swords and lasers etc.

Now when I say "vision", it was what most would call a very active imagination, which I also thought at first, but when I would come home and pray with my wife, she would prophetically describe everything I had seen, so I began to realize that I was actually seeing into the spiritual realm.

A further confirmation of this came when Richard, a deliverance minister from Boise (the fellow who trained us in the new form of deliverance) came along with Mike (a friend from Chicago) and to the Twilight Zone club.

Richard came along at my request and tested the spirits because he thought the dance warfare sounded kind of flaky. Mike came to dance. So with Richard upstairs, looking down on the dance floor, Mike and I went out and started dancing. After about an hour and a half, we got together and compared notes.

Mike began and as he shared what he saw, I was totally amazed because it was the same thing that I saw. We both saw the same battle taking place. We both saw a group of angels from Chicago come in at the same time and we both saw the same key events.

At the end of the hour and a half, the angels had won the battle and on the last two songs we both saw and experienced a huge celebration. Richard shared that although he didn't know how to describe it, he could definitely see that we were dancing in the Holy Spirit and that something must have happened on the last two songs because the power of God came into the club so powerfully that it was all he could do not to raise his arms to God in praise.

So, here we have three different people who entered the spiritual realm from three different doors, but saw and experienced the same single spiritual reality of what was taking place.

As I talked with Richard about the experience afterwards, I shared with him something that I found quite puzzling. Some of the best times of worship I have ever experienced have been down on the dance floor. His response surprised me, because he said, "Well it is scriptural" I said "Where"? he said, "In Psalm 23 - Though doest prepare a table for me in the MIDST of my enemies". The Lord also told us that there was another reason He wanted us to go out and dance in the Holy Spirit. He wanted to give the people in the clubs a taste of something they had never experienced before. Most alternative people are much more open to the spiritual realm than many Christians; they are just familiar with the wrong spirits.

I believe that when they finally encounter the true Holy Spirit in His power, they will know that Jesus is what they have been looking for all this time, and thousands and thousands will get saved.

Commando Team

At the present time we have a regular group of four who go out once a month to do spiritual warfare this way.

Our normal practice is to get together before hand and pray and seek his face. We ask what His assignment is for us as a group and whether the battle is individual or corporate. Having a peace about this, we then pray asking the Lord what assignment He has for each person. It has been amazing how many times it has been right on. Then after praying for protection and His leading, we go in and do what the Lord tells us.

Usually, about half way through the evening we take a break and go outside to be able to talk and see what is happening, We find that hearing what the others are going through, often helps us each to get more focused, especially if we've been getting attacked.

We then go back in, usually with renewed vision, and we go until we sense the assignment is done (and usually there is quite a clear "all done" word from the Lord) and then we get out of there as soon as possible. The times we have hung around, we came under a lot of attack, so it?s just not worth staying around.

The most I think we've had, was 7 people on the dance floor at one time, all of them doing some degree of spiritual warfare.

The Bible talks about us having divinely powerful weapons to tear down strongholds. These I see in the spiritual realm as actually weapons and vehicles.

When we started, I would always hop into a high powered and heavily armored jeep. After a while, it became a shuttle sized air ship that could fly and then this last little while it has doubled in size and has some pretty fearsome weapons loaded on board.

This leads me to think that there is a "if you are faithful with little I will give you more" principle at work in the build up of the power and effectiveness of the weapons. So don?t be surprised if you see similar images over and over and then they begin to change into new weapons and equipment.

How do you apply this to your situation? Discover the power points of the group you are reaching out to. Where do the gather and what do they do? Then ask God to give you a strategy so that you can bind up the strong, that you might plunder his goods.

Trevor MacPherson