Today is Sunday. My friends have already joked “May the fourth be with you”. Me, I have never been much of a sci-fi person. My dreams, my life, are pretty weird to begin with, so the idea of going to see something weird, well, I am just not there. Continue reading Will I Love?
I leave the big “discussions” about Easter for so many others. For me, Easter always represented a sense of hope long before I ever really knew about God.
As a child Easter meant many different things to me. Sunday morning my brothers and sister would run out to find Easter baskets filled with jelly beans, gold foil colored eggs and coins and these beautiful eggs that held all sorts of treasures. The smell of hot crossed buns, eggs, Canadian bacon and coffee came out of the kitchen. At some point we had a jelly bean hunt, running through the house finding jelly beans on mantles, window sashes and behind pictures. Following that we all sat down for breakfast and then it was time to get ready for church. There were the occasional years where we would go up the hill behind the elementary school at 6AM, climbing up to greet the sun, while singing hymns and thinking of Jesus. Continue reading Easter 2014
Today we celebrate Jacob’s 7th birthday. (His birthday is actually tomorrow, April 20th.) He is already up and it is not quite 6AM. He wants to get the full treatment!
It is also the 1 year wedding anniversary of my daughter Amy and son-in-love Manley. Add in the fact that they are shortly (May 5th) adding a new baby boy to the household and it is a busy time in the Johndrow household. (Truth be told there are two new babies coming our way in the next few months.) Continue reading Joy Comes In The Morning
While on a walk I thought about all of those who are seeing their current situation as “all there is” to life. But life is lived from heaven!
That understanding will change your view and your perspective about daily circumstances.
The victory has been given to you. You are “more than an over comer” because He was the over comer! And all that He accomplished was done with you in mind.
Today changes when you become aware of that reality. His reality is more real than yours!
Today I went for a walk and I was walking along the river. I watched the little swirls in the water. It is interesting that a bug or stick can fall in the water and church the surface for a moment, but those swirls last a long time. They begin below the surface.
A lot of what you and I encounter begins “below” the surface. What begins in the depths shows in the surface…
I sat there this morning and read a few posts and thought people are in need. People need help. The difficulty was they were too often turning to a man or a woman with the belief that one person was going to save them, rescue them.
Too many are relying on the gift or calling of God in helping them avoid their personal growing up process. In the worst of cases this can turn to manipulation, groveling, self-degradation and a life style rife with dangerous results. Continue reading Don’t Be Fooled-“I Need A Hero”
Air hockey! Toboggan! BB guns!
Each year my parents would buy our family one “major” gift. As children we would be up sometime around 5AM and head towards the living room door. We were not allowed “in” the living room, so looking over at the gifts that were not there the night before in the hallway light was just “painful.”
Our family traditions were simple on so many levels. Once our parents were up we were allowed to open handmade stockings from our grandmothers. They contained gold coin chocolate, tangerines and walnuts, as well as one or two special smaller gifts. Then off to breakfast, to return to open the larger gifts. Continue reading Christmas Day In The Morning
During worship in our fellowship, I received a vision I felt I was to share with the prophetic class I would be working with at night. Holding my granddaughter Naomi, the vision appeared and began to just “consume” me with intensity.
I saw a large ocean area far from the beach. The blue-green of the water intrigued me. In the far distance I saw the white crest of the waves from the foam as they moved.
And then my eyes saw the lone surfer in the water. Paddling, it was clear to see that he was losing his energy. In the back ground I saw the long, beginning arch of a gigantic wave. But the surfer was not seeing it. It got larger and larger in my view. The intensity of it was real. I could hear the hissing of the foam. I could hear the quiet as it began to consume the smaller waves.
The Lord took me out of that vision. I was looking into the eyes of my granddaughter. The music was playing. A couple was dancing.
I thought “wow, is this for now?” Nothing fit. Nothing made sense.
I went through worship a little discombobulated. I was thinking. Was he going to miss the wave? Was he going to turn around? The Lord spoke to me about timing. I thought of Issachar. (Funny my friend Mark would share about the woman and the oil who was from Shunem in the tribe of Issachar.)
Last night I shared with our prophetic class the vision and what I thought was being spoken.
There is a beginning and an end to most things. This describes where we might be. You are not too old (Caleb –Joshua 14:11-12), too small (Gideon-Judges 6:15)or too uneducated (Acts 4:13). You did not miss it. You may get caught up in the circumstance, but lift your eyes to the hills …wait …you can look inside! That is where your help comes from. You are not subject to atmospheres. You are the atmosphere. You are a thermostat and not a thermometer. (I Timothy 4 Paul asks this of Timothy.) You are not looking for the light, you are the light. You are not looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, for you are the light in the tunnel.(Matthew 5:14)
A wall of water can be pretty destructive. Or you can get on top of it. This is a season of walking on waters, (Matthew 14:22-33) of rising above (Isaiah 40:31) and being the head and not the tail. (Job 9:8)
I encouraged the class to take this word and begin to prophesy to their families, their friends their communities.
“Stand! Stand up! Get up! This is your season. This is your wave. This is it! The great wave that will sweep to families and friends, will wash over communities and nations! Your time is here! Look around. The wave is coming. No longer will you paddle but you will STAND!”
(Reminded me of a song by Sly and The Family Stone)
I think I want his jacket…
STAND (1969)
Stand!
In the end you’ll still be you
One that’s done all the things you set out to do
Stand!
There’s a cross for you to bear
Things to go through if you’re going anywhere
Stand!
For the things you know are right
It’s the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
Stand!
All the things you want are real
You have you to complete and there is no deal
Stand!. stand!, ooh!
Stand!. stand!, ooh!
Stand!
You’ve been sitting much too long
There’s a permanent crease in your right and wrong
Stand
There’s a midget standing tall
And a giant beside him about to fall
Stand!. stand!, ooh!
Stand!. stand!, ooh!
Stand!
They will try to make you crawl
And they know what you’re saying makes sense and all
Stand!
Don’t you know that you are free
Well at least in your mind if you want to be
Everybody
Stand!, stand!
“It was he who gave some to be…prophets.” (Ephesians 4:11) Prophets stand positioned in the divine counsel of God and are to be interpreters of His divine will and purpose. They receive what is from God’s heart and mind and release it to others through the gifts of preaching, teaching and prophesying. Prophets also have the supernatural gifting and ability given by the Holy Spirit to see and predict future events and warn of things to come. As we learn more about the ministry (the function or grace) of the prophet, we can come to realize how valuable this gifting can be to the Body of Christ and the Kingdom of God on earth and also how dangerous it can be to the powers of hell. The prophetic voice is needed more now than ever before.
Some of the things that I have mentioned are just some of the multifaceted gifting of the ministry of prophets. We can glean even more about the function and operation or the grace of prophets through examples given in the New Testament.
