Do me a favor, will you? Grab a cup of coffee or tea, and sit down and SLOWLY and REVERENTLY read this word from the Lord.
Many may even have an encounter with God when they do. What if that includes "YOU"?
It doesn't matter if you have an encounter today. What matters is that YOU WILL HAVE AN ENCOUNTER SOON!
This is heavenly manna in the form of the THE WORD. I could go on, but let's get you reading this awesome word of the Lord through Larry Sparks. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
My Encounter in Israel
In April 2019, I had the honor of serving as a ministry leader on a trip to Israel hosted by Sid Roth. It was my second time being in the Holy Land, and quite truthfully, I had no idea what to expect. All of the marketing language leading up to the trip used the phraseology, "An Appointment in Israel." More than catchy PR, I believe this was a prophetic summons...
Time prevents me from detailing all of the encounters we had with the Lord while in the Holy Land, but one of the most unusual was while laying in bed, simply scrolling through my phone. Nothing particularly spiritual about the setup to this experience, and yet, God walked in the room and touched me powerfully.
I stumbled upon a worship song I had never heard before. I couldn't even tell you the title or lyrics, but all of a sudden, it was as though the lightning of God struck me. I felt something like spiritual lightning strike my body and I began to shake violently as if I was being electrocuted. Although it was intense, I knew it was the Lord. I just didn't know what He was up to.
The power of God surged through me, and ultimately, knocked me off the bed and onto the floor. As I tried to get up, I felt like I was being pressed down—like my body was too heavy to move. Only in retrospect do I realize that God was depositing something into me, since unusual and intense supernatural encounters are often signposts that we are receiving major deposits from God. This is why they are often so intense; God Himself is literally putting something into you (or awakening something within you). (Photo via Unsplash)
I wasn't on the floor all that long, but when I did get up, I was quite confused. I had no idea what God was actually doing, as it seemed like quite the random experience. That week, as a group, we enjoyed encountered after encounter with God, from a Holy Spirit-filled boat ride in the Sea of Galilee to a supernatural Passover Seder that closed out the week.
It was an hour or so after the encounter, however, that I sat at the hotel desk and started going through several chapters of the Bible that I believe the Holy Spirit was highlighting to me. Most of that week, there was one verse I could not escape from... Furthermore, I believe that if we as a Church community and as individual followers of Messiah Jesus adhere to the simple principle in this passage, we would absolutely witness the manifestation of God's powerful presence released into the earth through a glory-filled people.
All the Earth
So, let's start at the end, work our way back, and seek to discover the protocol to experiencing His glory.
God has a target: all the earth. Throughout the whole of Scripture, God reveals His agenda, which is obviously driven by His heart of love. His agenda is to fill the whole earth with His glory. Such statements can be seen throughout the Old Testament, but the real inauguration of their fulfillment came on the Day of Pentecost.
Joel prophesied of a day when all flesh would experience the outpouring of the Spirit. Not all church. Not all religious people. Not even all Pentecostals and Charismatics. God's agenda for the ages is to fill the entire planet with His glory.
Practically, how will this happen? Simple. It begins with the sons and daughters of God giving their lives to accommodate His movement in the earth. (Photo via Unsplash)
Two Scriptures have been burning in my spirit on the subject of God's glory and the hour in which we are living:
"David arranged for Asaph and his fellow Levites to serve regularly before the Ark of the Lord's Covenant, doing whatever needed to be done each day." (1 Chron. 16:37)
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." (Rom. 12:1 NIV)
You may not think these two passages of Scripture have any level of relationship, but trust me, they do.
How do we "serve regularly before the Ark" of God's presence, doing whatever needs to be done each day? We continually offer up our lives as living sacrifices. We are here to please God, not ourselves. And yet, it's in laying down our lives to serve His story that we will experience a fulfillment and satisfaction beyond comprehension. How?
When we live for ourselves, we are living small lives because we are at the center of everything we do; when we live for God and the unveiling of His glory in the earth, we are participating in something that is epic, monumental and world-changing.
God is seeking living people who continually offer up their lives as living sacrifices to Him, recognizing their lives are not their own, they have been bought with the precious Blood of Jesus, and they are giving their lives to participating with the movement of God in the earth.
The glory realm of God is exclusive. Yes, highly exclusive. But the invitation to enter into this realm is extended to all Believers. It's exclusive because all Believers do not receive or accept this invitation to come and give up their lives so that His life would be revealed and released in the earth. May we be such a people. Not perfect; perfection is not possible. But may we be a process-able people, ever yielded and submitted to the Master. When we live this way, we become attractive to the fire of God.
For many years, the Church has been waiting for anointed leaders and ministers to lay hands on us, impart a supernatural gifting, and empower us for greater levels of ministry or effectiveness. The season is shifting.
I prophesy this is the hour in which God Himself is going to fall upon His people; He will begin laying hands on His people, commissioning them as ambassadors and agents of reconciliation into every sphere of influence.
God Is Making His Appeal Through You!
For I hear the Lord say, "I am making My appeal through you! Yes, you are filled with My Spirit, not for conferences and events, but you are filled up so you can be spilled out. You are filled up to be poured out. You are filled and empowered so you can run towards every person, place and sphere of society that is unredeemed.
"As one filled with My Spirit, you should be drawn to everything unredeemed. My Blood has made provision for every person, place and thing to be redeemed—brought back to Myself. My Blood has paid the price, but I have filled you, I have commissioned you, I have empowered and appointed you to serve as My agents in the earth to facilitate this process." (Photo via Unsplash)
The Lord is calling us to be agents of reconciliation, bringing everything that is disconnected from God back into relationship with Him and agreement with His original purpose.
"...And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, 'Come back to God!' For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:18-21 NLT)
Our assignment is to boldly proclaim: "Come back to God!" For the prodigals who have run away from home, come back to God! For spheres of influence like the Arts, Entertainment, Science, Education and Medicine that were meant to revealed the wisdom, beauty and goodness of God, come back to God! For the ones who are hopeless through life, not knowing their purpose, and furthermore, believing they have no hope and are condemned to a life of separation from God because of their sins: Come back to God!
When a people filled with glory step onto the scene, they push back darkness and simultaneously confront everything that is disconnected from God. Glory reminds people and creation itself of its original state—a state that the Blood of Jesus has made full provision to bring us back into.
A Vision of the Coming Glory
During our Supernatural Passover Seder in Israel (April 2019), Ana Werner and I both had a stirring in our spirits. As the meeting escalated and became anything but traditional, I had this vision of God falling upon every person in that building (roughly 400). (Photo via Unsplash)
If the scene in my head would have come to pass, it would have been earthly chaos (AKA: heavenly order). I saw the weighty kabod glory of God falling on each person, increasing and intensifying. I saw people falling on their backs and people falling on their faces, depending on how the Spirit was touching them. I saw tables crashing down, chairs flipping over, and people being absolutely overwhelmed by God.
This didn't happen as I saw in my mind. But it's coming. These scenes will become increasingly common, not because a powerful minister went around laying hands on everyone, praying for spiritual impartation. No. I see the greatest days of glory ahead for us as the people of God individually and corporately offer their lives as living sacrifices to God, basically saying: "Lord, use me. I submit and yield to You. It's on Your terms, not mine."
What will happen as we do this?
"...fire flashed down from Heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple." (2 Chron. 7:1 NLT)
The fire of God always gloriously fills temples that present sacrifices. What happens when the temple becomes a sacrifice? A people filled with glory that embrace and fulfill the mandate of God to fill the earth with His glory. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
Article used by permission:Â Destiny Image
Larry Sparks, MDiv
Equip Culture
Email:Â equipculture@gmail.com
Website:Â www.LarrySparksMinistries.com
Larry Sparks is a prophetic author, speaker, and lecturer on revival. He presently serves as publisher for Destiny Image (destinyimage.com), a Spirit-filled publishing house pioneered by Don Nori Sr. in 1983 with a mandate to publish the prophets. Larry is fueled by a vision to help the Church community create space for the Holy Spirit to move in freedom, power and revival fire, providing every Believer with an opportunity to have a life-changing encounter in the Presence of God. In addition, Larry is a regular contributor to Charisma Magazine, he conducts seminars on revival, hosts regional Renewing South Florida gatherings, and has been featured on Sid Roth's It's Supernatural, TBN, CBN, the ElijahList, and Cornerstone TV. He is author of Breakthrough Faith, The Fire That Never Sleeps with Michael Brown and John Kilpatrick, compiler of Ask for the Rain, and co-author of Arise with Patricia King. He earned a Master of Divinity from Regent University and enjoys life in Texas with his beautiful wife and beloved daughter.
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