Developing Our Prophetic Lifestyle - A Letter to Friends

I recently wrote to some dear friends with whom we have started to walk through transition into new experiences in prophetic dimensions. Here is a (slightly edited) copy of the letter:

Hi beloved Friends,

I could not sleep this morning but awoke early with Holy Spirit bringing you to my mind for prayer.

I have heard something of your hearts during these meetings. The times together have been more exploratory and informative than formative. We are gathering with a motivation to press in together and it is working – building an understanding of one another and what is each one’s heart. My view is that the way is being cleared for our relationships to become strong and open and encouraging, to build one another up, and to find new ways of expression of the Christ-life within us.

I have some ideas that may be helpful in taking us further in our quest.

Firstly, the Holy Spirit is the one who will unlock the gift within each of us to add to the common life-expression of Christ amongst us. We each have a personal impression of who Christ is to us and who we are in Him. As we interact there is a growing appreciation of the diversity and richness of His life amongst us. This is paramount to our growth and fruitfulness –His life in us is the source and the object of Holy Spirit’s work and of our personal destiny.

The source of Holy Spirit’s work in each of us opens up progressively more with a growing revelation of Jesus Christ – He is the prototype of our life in the Spirit. Abba Father reveals His Son to us more and more as we seek Him and we are changed from one level of glory to another as we have a growing understanding of the Christ-life that is in Jesus –the Son of Man. Peter calls it the “divine nature”. Paul calls it the “Hope of Glory”. John calls it the “Light of Life”. Abba Father calls it “My Spirit” through Joel and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah. I think that is why Paul writes that he will lay everything aside for the knowledge of Christ – “that I may know HIM, and the power of His resurrection life, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to His death.” 

So for me, the first object of discipleship is that we should help disciples  to have a growing impression of Christ being revealed personally TO them, then IN them, and then THROUGH them. Eventually, we want them to be personally discipled TO Jesus as their personal Shepherd, Lord and King. Our role is then ended as their discipler, and our relationship becomes one of friend-for-life  and co-worker in Christ.

Secondly, I feel that there is a need to emphasise the release of the Holy Spirit through each person – not uniformly nor as a stereotype, but as diverse expressions of the variegated colourful emphasis of the unique gifting and style that each personality brings when Holy Spirit is working.

I do not wish to change the pattern of our meetings with open discussion and heart-sharing that we are beginning to see. But I think it is important to spend time finding what Holy Spirit is wanting to do with us. He is to be Lord in the times we spend together. That will bring the release into new things and into the different stages of development. For this I believe that, if we could move into a season of praying (i) for one another while we are apart, and (ii) for the mind of the Spirit to be expressed when we meet, we may experience times that are orchestrated by Holy Spirit and He will surprise us by unlocking and releasing secrets that will be life-changing in our growth path into more of the fullness of Christ.

I do not suggest that we simply fall back into a habit of prophesying over one another every week. But that we learn to let Holy Spirit lead dominantly in some of our sessions, and that we learn to co-work with Him. It would be helpful after we have heard an encouraging talk from anyone, if we could take time to ask Holy Spirit in prayer what He wants to emphasise for us to do with the word.

Please do not think I devalue what we have been doing. We are in a progressive relationship that is taking us higher and deeper and further in the Spirit.

Thirdly, if we are to find the object of being a “Prophetic people” I believe that there are more things to be discovered that will both nurture and adjust our pre-conceived ideas of what it is to be prophetic. One aspect I am concerned about nowadays is how to develop an effective prayer life – individually and corporately – for there are realms of undiscovered blessing waiting simply for our people to learn that the currency of the Kingdom of God is – “ask, and you shall receive.”

There are experiences in intercession that can only be had in a corporate group – praying in the Spirit –travailing and entering the wrestling in the spirit until things are broken and released; and the travail of the spirit, until things are birthed and God’s promises are fulfilled; and prevailing in prayer until mountains are moved.

My view is Prophetic people are to be equipped to be pathfinders in the spirit for others, to be providers by releasing the Words of Promise, to be protectors as intercessors standing in the gap for others, to be prophesy-ers of destiny and vision and hope, to be watchmen on the walls in the spirit, to be releasers of praise that lifts the heaviness, to be forth-tellers of God’s present-truth Word and foretellers of His Promises and purposes for His Church, for communities, cities and nations. We need to find ways (protocols in the spirit) to enter God’s throne room in praise and worship, in prayer and intercession, until we receive the decrees from the throne and return with the commands of the King. This will change things on earth. And you all have potential to experience and release these things for others.

I hope you will see these words as an encouragement for possibilities in God that lie ahead for us, and I pray that we should be able to discover much more than I have seen and tried to write in part here.

With Love and Faith for you in Christ,

Tony

Marriage is really good when blessed by God

Dawn and I have been married for forty two years, Yes, 42 years! She says I need a medal, I say I just need more of her! We have been blessed in our love for each other because it has grown stronger through the years.
The joy of good times has unlocked the treasure within each of us. I love Dawn's smile and the light in her eyes as she talks to people, and jokes at times. I love her enthusiasm with people, and her little laugh when she explains what happened with our Grandkids or with friends. I often say when you meet Dawn you'll hear her before you see her, and when you see her you'll never forget her. She is so young at heart she has kept us both young. I think that's why most of our close friends are much younger than we are.
The stress of traumatic events brought us closer. I remember the time I carried her out of the door in the middle of the night, feint from loss of blood from a blighted pregnancy. I remember going to the blood bank before it opened, waiting to get five pints of blood to save her life. I remember our joy at the birth of each one of our precious sons. It far surpassed the eight years of struggle with five miscarriages, praying for Our Lord to give us children, and holding on until He did.
I remember when we lost everything after moving to Cape Town, how we walked the dog through Lourensford Park, collecting pine cones to use as fire-starters. How one night we found a building site where they had cut up the branches of trees and laid them aside for us to take for firewood when we had no money to buy any. I remember how I couldn't get a cell-phone contract because of our financial record then, and I couldn't get finance for a car when an accident wrote off our only car. So I walked and borrowed vehicles for six weeks, trying to keep the business going, until we bought another car for R26000 cash, and borrowed R12000 from a personal friend to make that payment! I remember how Dawn used to walk from our house down to Checkers at the other end of Fish Hoek Main Road for groceries, and carried the bags all the way back, in the winter time. I remember how, a few years later, Dawn suffered such severe depression that one day she couldn't make up her mind whether to have coffee or decaff!
And through all of this, we were able to say, "Well, we still have each other. And we have the Lord in our lives!"

I remember how Our Lord supernaturally helped us to start TCA Engineers in our home, and how He helped us build it up to have 15 people working in it. And when we were able to sell the business into PDNA, we sang that Psalm "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dreamed! Then our heart was filled with laughter, and our mouth with singing!"

And now that Our Lord is restoring our fulfilment in serving His Church in an expanding way again, we are so happy that we have a lasting love that has kept us together in Christ, and that we can be a testimony to His grace. Our love has been rewarded with wonderful relationships with our sons and their amazing wives, everyone, Brett & Jane, Vaughan & Marian, Craig & Edwina, for whom we have deep gratitude to our Lord. We have awesome Grandkids, and we delight in each one of them; Daniel, Caleb, Cayla, Jude, Jonathan, Zoe, Senna and Erin.
Thank You Lord, that we are part of Your vision to fill the earth with Godly Families.

And it all started with a special love that He put in our hearts in marriage, so we give Him thanks, as Tony & Dawn, still in love with Him and with each other, after forty two years.

Times of Intimacy with Our Lord

Intimacy in worship lifts our souls to be in line with the flow of the Spirit from within us, reaching upwards to the Throne to bless Our Father and Our Saviour.
Our Spirit is one with the Lord since we were born again, but often the affairs of life will draw our emotions and our will away from the heart of Our Father, and our mind away from the Mind of Christ. Worship helps us as we focus our attention on Jesus to express our gratitude and love to Him. It aligns our mind to be thinking of Him with deep affection. In worship we have chosen, by using our will, to say within ourselves "I want to worship You Lord, with all of my heart, and with all of my mind!" And soon our emotions get aligned to that focus of our will and of our mind. That is what Paul meant when he said " We all.... beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord..." It happens when we worship Him anywhere, especially when our heart and mind are aligned, or get tuned in, to worship Him.
Intimacy in worship links our spirit to the heart of Our Father and to the mind of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and there is a transformation that takes place, every time we worship like that (in spirit and in truth), we are "changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord." Worship makes us a little more like the One we love, time after time.

Intimacy in intercession lifts us up to the throne to sit together with Our King Jesus, to share in His ministry of intercession for the saints. We go into the throne room humbly, on our knees, in petition. But when we sit with Him we gain faith and know His mind so we can decree things that He has shown us. Then we come out standing strong in authority.

There is a new authority for those who draw near like this. They hear his voice and so know his mind. They feel His heart beat, and are filled with His compassion for others. They have entered the Presence, and will leave changed, and made able to repeat the royal decrees of the King in a world out of order.

Intimacy can also be enjoyed through meditation of the scriptures. In times like this His Word is opened up to us and our spirit, which is joined to the Lord, rejoices in the truth. Then His Word becomes flesh in us as He feeds us with its wisdom and truth. Through it we receive revelations of Who Jesus really is, and what He has done for us, and what He is doing in us - now. Our experience of Him is expanded as our revelation of more of Him overwhelms our previous limitations. We didn't know He could be so near to us! We did not know His Word could change us so much! We know things abut Him that we did not know before. And because of that we could not believe Him to be what we now KNOW Him to be. And that encounter with Him, through His Word changes us into people of faith in the Living Christ, Who has become all we need, and all we want, through intimacy.

Company of the Prophets - a Word received by Nick Groves

Nick is an amazing worship leader and has a heart after God. 

I found this prophetic word to be significant in its timing, so here it is:

“Company of the Prophets”:

I felt the Lord drop into my mind very sharply this phrase- “The company of the prophets” (strangely enough, it was while Beks and I were hanging around in a mall!).

It led me to the story of Saul:1 Samuel 10 ¹ Then Samuel took a bottle of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying.....”When you leave me today, you will ...(skip to v5).. meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. ⁶ The Spirit of the LORD will come on you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.”

¹⁰ When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came on him in power, and he joined in their prophesying.

 ¹¹ When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

This leads to a few main points:

·         There is always a connection and flow from an outpouring of The Spirit to the prophetic. 

Isn't it interesting in church life that the watermark of The Spirit is often attributed with prophetic activity?                                                  There’s a real sense in this story that the prophets were carrying the atmosphere of Heaven with them, because of the anointing that filled them as a company(which seems to be initiated with music!).

·         Saul then came into this atmosphere and began to prophesy as if he is one of them! 

The Holy Spirit  (described in Ephesians1:17 as “The Spirit of wisdom and revelation”) released the same revelation and wisdom to Saul, and simply because he happened to be in the same space as the group of prophets!

·         He was changed into a different person. I really feel that the prophetic group will cause people to get aligned with heavenly perspective – the mind of the flesh is at war with the mind of The Spirit, and I believe that the presence of the company of Prophets will initiate by The Spirit a new mind in the life of the church as a whole- a mind set on heavens reality, causing change in people’s lives.

So to sum up, I feel that the presence of a company of prophets will preserve the word of God in the church because:

1.       Their presence will cause others to prophesy like them – people in the church will learn how to prophesy in a spiritually mature way

2.       They will carry an anointing that will affect the atmosphere, and will assist times of worship to become times of encounters

3.       The result will be transformation in the church- a greater awareness of heaven's perspective.

Blessings

Nick

The Cross, the Throne and the Door

The cross is the one meeting place that Our God has made on earth for the salvation of mankind. There were many crosses in those days when thousands were executed by the Romans. But there was only one cross, only one sacrifice for the sins of man; only one cross, only one man who could save us, only one Christ crucified for us. He was the perfect man, the only one with the nature of God in Him, the One with the Spirit of the Father in Him, the One with the Spirit of God upon Him. He was the perfect sacrifice - a ransom given for mankind, to pay the price for all man's sins; to pay the price for all men to be saved and healed. He died so that they all could live with eternal life! 


The throne is the one meeting place in heaven where the King of Kings reigns. There is one throne; there is one King; there is  only one who was raised from the dead to be exalted to the highest place of authority; only One - the Lord Jesus Christ. Only He has passed from earth to heaven to make a way for us to be seated together with Him.


There has been preaching and revelation which has opened the window for us to see through into the kingdom realm. But now there is a door that is opened to let us enter the kingdom and to live in the realm of the kingdom. Jesus is standing beside the window and He says "I am the door. if any man enters by me, he shall be saved!" Jesus is the way, the truth and the life; He is the forerunner, He is the first born from the dead, and we are recreated in His likeness, born again by the holy Spirit implanting the Spirit of Christ in us! His life is given to us! The life of God the Father; the life of the God the Son has been given for us, and to us!


We have been born again to live in the realm of the kingdom, to live in the heavenly realms. The famine of the Word is over. The drought of the rain from heaven is over. The revival has begun. The Word of the Lord will be released from the throne in these days to give life to people, to open the way to live in this life, to live in Christ with Christ in us. 


The time has come for us go through the door into a new and fresh sense of His Spirit. There is a new power of the kingdom for those who will go through the door and make their way to the throne. There is a new dimension to live in; to live in Christ with Christ in us! To have an integrated life - naturally spiritual and spiritually natural.

Fresh Revelations of Grace

I'm excited about a vision experience that Jenneth had recently and want you to know about it, so here it is:

Here is the vision I had of Supernatural Grace, it was on 17 July 2011 during the worship at the Sunday morning meeting.

I felt Jesus really speaking to me about certain theology I had picked up along the way, the theology that says it is ok to speak to Father God and to Jesus, but that you shouldn't really pray to the Holy Spirit.  I felt Jesus say, if I gave Holy Spirit to you as your Counselor & Comforter, then how are you going to manage that by not being able to chat?  It is a wonderful liberation!  So I had a vision of myself walking into ocean waves towards the Holy Spirit, a Dove-like being of Light.  Then we flew up into the sky together and he took me up into a heavenly realm.  There I walked towards a door and above the door there was a sign, Supernatural Grace.  I walked into the room and it evolved as I was there, the room transformed as I experienced it, I will describe how it looked at the end.

It was a most beautiful circular shaped room, extremely massive and high walls, lined with shelves of millions of books, in many tiers or levels reaching up to a huge skylight dome above.  There were ladders at the different levels of shelves and angels were climbing up the ladders to reach the books, or to return books.  It reminds me of the scripture, "Even angels long to look into these things." 1 Peter 1:12. In the centre of the room was a large pool with a crystal clear pure spring, ever fresh like a fountain in the centre of the pool.  There was an exquisite round stained glass window of many colours positioned high on the wall opposite the entrance, the light shone through the window throwing colours into the room.  So there was golden light from above and colours from the stained glass window in the room.   Beneath the stained glass window, there were glass doors which opened onto the Gardens of Grace.  I turned to the left and picked out a book, the title was "Grace and Peace"  I opened it and read, "Grace and Peace are Friends". I thought about the scriptures which so often say, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" and realised where you have grace, you have peace, where you have peace you have grace!  Then I picked out another title, The Grace of Giving (2 Corinthians 8:7).  Across the room, I picked out another, and it said, "Grace Takes Effect", I thought of the scripture, "But by the grace of God I am what I am , and his grace to me was not without effect." (1 Corinthians 15:10).  I felt there is so much to explore!  I realised that the room was filled with the keys of Grace and that every one of these millions of books was all on a different aspects of grace.  I felt that every scripture on grace would somehow be found in these books.  As I reached out and took hold of the books, there was a release of electricity, like mini-bolts of lightning in the room.  I realised that as you access Supernatural Grace, Heaven's power is released.

I walked through the pool, through the spring.  I saw that all of us need to constantly be cleansed, refreshed and renewed in the ever pure, constant flowing waters of grace, bought for us as a spring of purifying waters at the cross.  That is what I felt to be central to the pool, that it was there because of the work of the Cross.  I came out the other side and walked through the glass doors into the Gardens of Grace and there I saw my brother Paul approach me.  My brother passed away in 2002.  As Paul approached me I felt a bit wary (due to the nature of our not so great relationship while he was on earth).  I felt Jesus standing a little behind me to the right and Paul came over to my right side, leaned towards me and said, "There is no hurt here, no misunderstanding, there is no fear in relationships, no need for forgiveness."  I felt that Jesus wanted me to take this heavenly reality to earth with me, your kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.  That so often we allow misunderstandings between us, and obstacles arise between God's children that create barriers to relationship.  I felt that Jesus wants those barriers to come down so that we can flow in open communication with each other, misunderstandings can fall away and forgiveness can flow freely. 

I then walked with Jesus along a grassy avenue with a hedge to my left, which became a vineyard.  I saw that there was pruning, fresh green growth and incredible fruitfulness all on the same vine. I felt John 15, "I am the vine;  you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit;  apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5.  That was where the vision came to an end.  I had such a sense of anticipation as I knew that the vision would continue coming alive to me as I go through the scriptures of Grace.  I wrote a poem out of this vision (below).

Thanks Guys!  Looking forward to all our wonderful Jesus has in store.

Many blessings,

Jenneth

How to Steward God's Presence

Dawn and I attended the "Dwell" Conference at Kingsgate Church in Kingston on Thames, near London UK, in August. What a wonderful time of upliftment and impartation! 

Any conference meetings with Roland and Heidi Baker can be expected to open up amazing dimensions in the Holy Spirit, and these were no exception. Add the impact of Paul and Tracy Tothill’s ministry and, collectively, we had an overflow of the heart of our Abba Father that has opened the door of liberty in the Spirit, healed many hearts, opened up a new paradigm for carrying God’s presence, and established the basis for all this as - the finished work of Calvary.

The themes I noted were: How to steward the Presence of God and the flow of living waters in our lives; Our inheritance in Father's heart; Being a "water feature" to pour out living water; Church is not what it used to be -the Sons of God are coming; Apostolic & Prophetic shift in revelation of the presence of God and how to carry it; Sons must arise to unlock our inheritance in Christ. You can download the podcasts at http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/kingsgate-church-podcast/

I highly recommend that you plan to attend next year's Dwell Conference!

A Prophetic Shift in Cape Town - By Fire, for God's Government and Glory

There was a Prophetic Forum held in Cape Town on 30th July 2011, where Christians who have a prayer burden for new things from God gathered together in Pinelands. Several prophetic people were asked to share significant visions or prophecies they had received for the Body of Christ in Cape Town.The gathering was moderated by a panel of experienced prophetic members and it was concluded with a session of worship and prayer for our beloved city.

The following were my personal impressions of the ministry of the prophets at the gathering:

I was impressed by the multi-facetted unity of the revelations that were opened up to us at the Prophetic Forum on Saturday last week. My impressions of the prophetic words, visions and testimonies left me with these memories and thoughts:

Judy’s word was the key note for me. The Lord started by releasing so much through her word. The key note to me was that The Lord is gathering and positioning the kindling, pouring out the oil and starting the fire so that is becomes a baptism – immersion - of fire in His house! The new unity will bridge across walls and barriers in the church and engulf young and old generations to empower and commission both the exuberance of youth and experience of years.

Rory’s word announced the imminent arrival of the King and our need for preparation.

Those who can see the signs are zealously making ready and are willing for the changes He will bring. The emergence of apostles and prophets and teachers will come with a new influence – they will come with the King’s presence and mandate upon them to confirm the Lord’s word with signs and wonders, to set in order the relationships between those who want the government of the kingdom to be manifested, and to establish a foundation of truth in this territory that has been necessary to make the saints strong in the things of the spirit.

Their coming will bring the authority of the King into the churches, the homes and the market places with His presence. There is a dimension of the Lord’s presence which the churches have known but there has been a lack of release of authority and divine action with supernatural results. But when apostles and prophets emerge there will be significant signs and wonders and new impact in the churches.

When the apostolic and prophetic teachers are released there will be strong foundations laid in the churches and in the saints to hold more of the work of Holy Spirit. The household will be built up to contain the presence of the King and to house His government. The power of the King will be released among the people again.

Jacques’ visions gave a backdrop of the events in the heavenly realm. Angelic forces have been deployed to assist the saints. A great army that came with assignments to wait on the saints and serve the purposes of God in their lives has been deployed to listen for the Word of the Lord that will be in the mouths of the saints. Angels will minister FOR those who are the heirs of salvation.

The Lord is preparing His government. Destinies are being revealed, and it is time for the prophets to hear and see and to release the words of destiny over the saints. Heavenly mandates and anointed mantles are being made ready as the saints submit to the calling and gifting of God on their lives. Many of them are called to be stewards of the mysteries of His Kingdom government, and they are now in training and testing until the time appointed for them, when Father says they are ready, and the King says “Commission them!” The Lord is preparing His government and calling the saints who will be commissioned with authority in His time, to participate in His administration of the things in the end time.

The Agenda is set down on universal principles which will establish the eminence of Christ over the church and the imminence of Christ in every saint and every house! The plan is the gathering of all saints under the authority of Christ the King, and they will take captive the fruit of the nations, the reward for the sufferings of Christ, captured by His love.

Tim’s word was significant for the practical outpouring of the spiritual energy that is to be released –

(1) by honour amongst the saints – knowing one another for the gift of Christ in us and recieving the Word of Christ through us, and the supporting work of the Holy Spirit in us; and

(2) by a new servanthood: The love that has overwhelmed our hearts will move us – we who have been set free to be sons and daughters – we will be moved in our hearts to choose to serve our Lord as bond servants and serve the saints and the churches as Stewards of the inheritance of God.

Claudia’s word “the church has left the building” reiterates the words of our Lord “Go into all the world”, and go equipped by the Holy Spirit. “I will be with you always” – confirming the word you speak, with signs and wonders. The testimonies Claudia shared are a wonderful example of that.

Tony’s word simply confirmed the shift in the heavenlies, preparing the way for us to be aligned to the Lord’s plans for us and making ready for the manifest presence of the Lord with us, in us and upon us. Where the Holy Spirit’s fire will be poured out on us and carried with us were we go.

The canopy of darkness, ignorance and unbelief will be broken and replaced by a canopy of the Lord’s presence and glory on us. And the Lord’s rule on the earth will be seen through His people again.

This will be facilitated as the Lord calls us forward into a new prophetic season.

LET’S PRESS FORWARD IN SURRENDER AND OBEDIENCE TO HIS CALL!

There is an evident responsibility to steward the things that the Lord is revealing so that we move into them by prayer and obedient faith.

Please be encouraged to contend for the things Our Lord has shown us, with patience and persistence, especially for the things we agree are of common witness amongst us.

Let’s believe God for the grace to release these things in our circles of influence and to extend His reach through us until Our City of Cape Town knows that The Lord IS amongst His People!

With Love and Faith for these things to come to pass in all of our lives,

Blessings to you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Tony

A Shift in the Heavenlies - a Word for the Saints (Received Sept 2010)

There is a shift in the heavenlies – it is the presence of the Lord that broods over His Church to transform the saints from one glory to another.

It is time for all people to see that Our Lord Almighty rules in His people.

It is time for His glory to cover His people with His presence, like the pillar of fire and the cloud of glory by day. The realm of darkness shall see the fire of His Spirit upon His people.

Satan’s canopy of spiritual death that has restricted the growth of many of God’s people is to be taken away and the canopy of God’s glory will be over your gatherings and homes.

He takes away the veil of darkness, unbelief and ignorance to establish the shining of His light upon His people. Let your eyes be focused on the Holy One, who is the Light of Life – Our Lord Jesus Christ! Look at Him, the author and perfecter of your faith.

The witnesses in heaven, the past heroes of faith, have not received the promise of fullness, even though they all died in faith. But God has prepared something better for us!

It is time for the awaited generation of the Christ, the generation of the Sons of God to arise with the light of the glory of God upon them.

We have served the purposes of God in the weakness of human effort. But it is time for the strength of His grace to be shown in our weakness. It is time for the weak to say “I am strong in the grace of the Lord!” Not in pride – but in humility and meekness. Not in self-will – but in obedience to the Spirit of Christ in us. Not in emptiness – but in the fullness of Christ as He takes us through the shift in the spirit.

It is time to learn how to feed on the living bread and to taste the good word of heavenly manna. It is time to taste of the heavenly gift – the fullness of the Spirit and to share in the power of His might and the powers of the age to come.

It is time for the glory of the Lord to be seen upon the people of God – by the manifestations of His grace.

Who will receive it? Who will accept it? Who will hear it? Who will believe it?

Those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness - those who believe His word – those who receive His promises – those who live by His Spirit - who depend on Him to be led by His Spirit – THEY shall receive it.

They shall walk into the ways of the Lord and into the works of grace He has prepared for them to do, with growing faith and maturing love.

Out of weakness He has prepared strength. It is for those who receive abundance of grace. They shall be the strong sons and daughters of the Living God. He will give them divine wisdom, greater fullness of the Spirit, strength in faith and love, with absolute devotion and obedience to their Redeemer King, who has bought them as His own.

And the world will know that the Lord God rules in His People, to dispel the darkness, ignorance and unbelief, and to reveal His glory in these days too.

The Corporate Christ is the desire of God's Heart

It is several years since I received an understanding of the Corporate Christ. This subject is so amazing that it will probably take a lifetime to fully understand but we can at least begin to experience some of God's purpose for us in Christ as we are built up in all things into Him! 

The article below was written from a perspective of a South African Christian leader who is seeking out God's ways with his church in various continents and how we can learn for our context in SA.

Background 

In this season of Church history there has been an emergence of ministries called “Apostolic Networks”. More and more notice is being taken of these networks around the Western world, although they have been operating without such definition or recognition in other nations for some time. It is also true that, coming out of the United Kingdom, probably over three dozen “Apostolic Streams,” as they are known there, have been operating for up to thirty five years. Can you remember the second verse of Delirious’s song: “Can you feel the mountains tremble?” It has a phrase, “when all the streams join as one river” referring to these different streams of the Church.

We in South Africa will not be left out of the purpose of God, to restore to His Church the former and the latter glory. In doing so, He is restoring His Church. A major part of the restoration is the emergence of Apostles and Prophets who are co-builders with the Lord Jesus, working to an eternal pattern to manifest the Corporate Christ – His many-membered body, the Church of the Living God.

This series of pamphlets is an attempt to clarify some of the concepts that will help us to understand an apostolic paradigm. May the Lord give us understanding in all things that we need to finish the task in these days.

 Psalms 110:1  The LORD said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.

2  The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule in the midst of your enemies.

3  Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you shall have the dew of your youth.

4  The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

5  The Lord at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.

6  He shall judge among the nations

Acts 3:19  Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

20  And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

21 Whom the heaven must retain until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

TOGETHER IN ONE IN CHRIST JESUS 

It is an eternal purpose in God’s heart that all things should be gathered together in Christ. That has to start with the Church! Oh, but that also applies to us blacks and whites being brought together in one in Christ. God’s intention is “One New Man”, because God seeks for an expression of His heart through the unity and authority of the church operating as one new man.

Eph 4:1  “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which every saint is called”, what is this calling? He says that in order to fulfil the calling you should “live a life worthy” of it, “with all lowliness and gentleness with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

And then he describes some aspects of this unity in the Spirit.

Eph 4:4  “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope, ...” There is not one coloured church, one black church, one Indian church, one white church. There is one body in Christ, there is “one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all us who is above all and in all and through all… For each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

Eph 4:11 “And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till …”

This is how long these gift ministries are given; v11 tells us what was given, v12 why they were given, v13 how, or when they are given, until we all, that is black, white, coloured, Afrikaans, English, every tribe, every nation, every tongue, “till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”; what God is seeking is a perfect man in the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. “That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head Christ.”

The apostles know that He wants Christ formed in you, but He also wants us to be formed in Christ.

Christ being formed in you is an individual thing. We have heard a lot of teaching about Christ being formed in you and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, “greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world”. But now the focus in God’s mind is to get Christ out into the individuals and then to bring the individuals back into Christ. I believe the interpretation of this today is that God is wanting a corporate Christ manifested in every town and city. The believers in the churches will be so united in fulfillment of these verses that together they present the manifold wisdom of God to the world. No double witness. No double standards.

That sounds an impossibility. Turn back to Eph 1: 9&10. God has intended and purposed to gather all things together in one in Christ in heaven and on earth. He’s going to do it.

I believe that what we are looking at, what God is telling us for the future of our lives is a step in that direction.

He is wanting a corporate man.

V15  “that speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

1 Cor 12:12  “For as the body is one and has many members”, little fingers, thumbs, legs, arms, that all “the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ.” That stretches my mind that God is looking at it corporately saying, “There’s Christ”. Many members working together. Let me just add this to it:

Matt 1:17  “The genealogy of Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham. So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations, from David to the captivity in Babylon are 14 generations and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are 14 generations.” Now if you take the time to count the generations, you will find that the first statement, “from Abraham to David are 14 generations”, is correct. The statement, “from David to the captivity in Babylon are 14 generations”, is correct, and then if we count from v12 down to v16 and we  look for fourteen generations we only find 13 to Jesus. There is a missing generation. The Psalmist says in Psalm 102:18, He is going to bring forth a new creation, a generation who Praise His Name and will enjoy the goodness of God. I believe that we are the missing generation and God has taken the liberty, that liberty which men fear to take, God took the liberty of calling that generation the Christ. That is what God is looking for.

Five-fold ministry was given to mature the saints until we all grow into the perfect man. That is what God is seeking. He is seeking the perfect man. I want to talk briefly on four points about this man.

• The Heart  
• The Faith
• The Knowledge
• The Stature

EPHESIANS 4:1 THE HEART OF THIS CHRISTLIKE BODY

A heart of lowliness and gentleness. Take a little time to read John 13:13. “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hand, knowing that He had come from God, and knowing that He was going to God….”

If you knew that the Father had given all things into your hands, that you had come from heaven from the Father, and you knew that you would return to the Father, don’t you think there would be security in that? Knowing what you’ve got, knowing where you’re from, and knowing where you are going. Jesus had such security that, in fact, He was quite apart from and different from his disciples sitting around Him at the last supper.

Because they hired a hall in which to have the Passover; because it was not the house of the host, with the host having servants there, they forgot something at the last supper. When they all came in to eat the Passover together, they had forgotten to organize a servant to meet them at the door to wash the street dust from their feet.

Jesus noticed that when supper was ended. Knowing that God had given all power and authority into His hands, knowing that He came from God and was going back to God, He laid aside his garment, took a towel, girded it around his waist. Taking a basin full of water He washed every person’s feet. What God is looking for in this corporate church, is servant leadership. Leaders who will serve the people, not leaders who will Lord it over the people, (1 Peter 5 or Matt 20). God wants leaders who will serve in lowliness, and who will serve one another.

There is security that enables you to serve in humility without you feeling -  “Hey man! That guy is going to feel that he is better than me!” It doesn’t even enter your mind.

EPHESIANS 4:2   FORBEARING IN LOVE

Jonathan and David loved one another so much that they made a covenant with one another. 1 Samuel 18:1 says Jonathan loved David as his own soul. They make a covenant, and Jonathan starts to work out his part of the covenant when Saul makes plans to kill David. Jonathan brings news to David so that David can escape Saul’s wrath. They were in covenant, he loved David enough to protect him against his own father who was King.

You know the story, how that though Jonathan was in covenant with David, David was anointed to be King, and was exiled from the court. In the wilderness, Jonathan chose to stay with his father. He stayed with the wrong flow of what God was doing in the earth. The anointing had left Saul, but Jonathan chose to stay with him because he was the next in line to be King. But God chose the love of a covenant heart in David.

When he hears the news that Jonathan and Saul are dead, David weeps for Jonathan and for Saul with a heart of love, forbearing with them, just as he had through all of his days of exile, when Saul hunted him, when he had the opportunity to kill Saul and didn’t because he honoured the anointed of God.

David cries out and says, “Oh is there no one of Saul’s household that I can show the kindness of my heart to for the sake of Jonathan” and he finds Mephibosheth. You know the story. Read it, it is a beautiful story of covenant love. We are going to be tested because there are times when we have to part our ways from people, and it is so easy to close our hearts to people. If we are going to have this kind of love that was in the heart of this man, we have to be willing to keep our hearts open to receive and to give. It’s so easy, when you part way with people of different vision, or out of disagreement or whatever reason, to close your heart to people and to stop receiving and giving to people. But this kind of covenant heart of love is willing to keep receiving and giving to people what Christ would give to them through you. So the heart of the man is a covenant heart.

Covenant Relationships raise our tolerance level if we are in the body of Christ; there is a deposit of God in our brother or sister. Let’s look for what it is, let’s look for what Christ wants to say to us through them. We’ve got to raise our tolerance level, we have to stretch our comfort zones. We do it so differently in our churches, and we go into another church and they do it differently and we say this is not the right place for me. Let’s stretch our comfort zones and include them in our heart.

EPHESIANS 4:13  THE FAITH OF THE MAN

This man has a characteristic, (Eph 4:13) “till we all come to the unity of the faith”. The faith of the man. Pick up one aspect: Col 1:27 “Christ in you the hope of glory, Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus”, to this end - to what end? That he wants to present every one of you perfect in Christ! “I labour, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”

Don’t we give up on people so easily? We give up too easily. When we come into this maturity, we will have the kind of mature faith that can believe for every one of them, even if they have bad-mouthed us; even if they walk away from us; even if they compete with us. However, we will have faith for every man to be presented perfect in Jesus Christ. The kind of faith that this man has got is what Jesus wants.

Heb 12:2  “Who for the joy set before him endured the cross despising the shame.”

Isaiah 53:11  “He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.”

What is the difference between a copier and a creator? A creator starts with a picture in his mind, works with the raw material knowing what the end is intended to be. A copier tries to copy something and gets disappointed when he can’t get it right. He can’t get it exactly the same as the creator.

The creator looks at you and I and He sees already in us not just the potential of what we can be in Christ, but he already sees us like that, completed. And every contact He has with us, everything that He says and does in our lives, everything that He tells us is to guide us towards that full blueprint that He’s got, of what you are to be conformed to - His image, the image of His dear Son.

He’s got faith for you.

EPHESIANS 4:13 THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MAN

“Till we all come to the unity of the faith and to the knowledge of the Son of God.”

The Book of Isaiah talks of the servant of God, eg Chapters 42, 49 and 52 speak about God’s servant as “My servant”. I always knew that they were prophetic about Christ, but now I’m beginning to see that they are talking about a reflection of what Christ wants in the Church. He wants us to be like Christ.

Isaiah 11:1  “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, (Jesus Christ). A branch shall grow out of His roots, (The Church).” If you do a word study of the branch it ends in the Old Testament, and its picked up by Jesus in John 15: “I am the vine you are the branches”. Paul picks it up in Romans 11 and says, “if you were a wild olive branch grafted into the true vine then if the root is holy then the tree is holy.”

“There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse”, that’s Jesus, “and a branch shall grow out of His roots”, growing out of Jesus, the branch which is the church shall come forth.

V2 “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.” Upon Whom? The Rod or the Branch? Both the Rod AND the Branch!

“The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”

Let me tell you it is not enough to have revelation knowledge about the Word, have you heard that phrase? You’ve got to have revelation knowledge, revelation knowledge is just information. After you get information, there has got to be interpretation, and after interpretation there’s got to be application and manifestation, in order to make a difference in the world.

It’s not good enough to have revelation knowledge, that is why God says that upon the Rod and the Branch there is going to be “the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of Knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”


 Let me put it to you in this way. With wisdom there has got to be counsel and there’s got to be knowledge. Why? Because knowledge brings you revelation, counsel gives you interpretation of what God is saying and interpretation allows you to make application of what God has said, that is where the word of wisdom comes in. It’s not good enough to have knowledge, you have to have wisdom. 


It is like getting a word of knowledge from the Lord about something but you and I so easily blow it, and offend that person, and they run away from God. Why? Because we didn’t wait for the interpretation and for the application by wisdom. How do you minister to that person? How do you say to a person, “You’ve got a Spirit of adultery, or you’ve got a spirit of this or that”? I have bitten my tongue many times because I lacked discretion and I lacked wisdom, in applying the knowledge I’ve got from the Holy Spirit.

Now what is the effect of this kind of knowledge going to have on that man?

Isa 11:3  “His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And he shall not judge by the sight of His eye, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.“

It's amazing how many people have come to me as a leader to tell me: “Do you know what this person is going to do?” “Do you know what that person has said?” “Do you know what that person has done?” I make it a habit never to act on hearsay. If you start acting on what other people have said you are going to be running around in circles that become ever diminishing.

I want to tell you, that is why the book of Proverbs deals with backbiting and tale-bearing. It says that where there is no talebearer strife ceases. Where there is no wood on the fire the fire goes out. Never react on something someone tells you of what another person has done or said, don’t decide on the hearing of the ears. Get before God and say “God what shall we do about it”.

Look at what David said in Psalm 12 about backbiting; “They were risen up against me, the things they were saying they wanted to eat me alive but I waited on the Lord.” We need to learn God's ways to deal with these things.

Ps 103:7 “God made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.”

When the Holy Spirit comes down in our meetings and does a miracle, or calls someone out and changes their life with a prophetic word, every one of us would know God had done a work amongst us. It would be difficult for us to say that it is not God. We would all know. The children of God knew when God had performed miracles, signs and wonders in their midst. The children of Israel knew the works of God, but only Moses knew the ways of God.

And this is the kind of knowledge of the man that God is looking for - knowledge that does not just know the works of God but that knows the ways in which God deals with His people.

That does not depend on the last thing the Holy Spirit told you. Now here we have to find balance, hearing the voice of the Spirit and obeying it. Acting on the basis of the wealth, not only of information, not only of revelation but of experiential knowledge. Knowing by experience the way that God does things. Every time you get a word, if you do not check it against the Word of God, the Scriptures, and if you  don’t check it against godly experience then you can go off on a tangent and miss God when you thought you heard Him.

God reveals His Word to us so that we may know His mind but when you have heard it once or twice from Him then He expects you to get in the habit of doing it that way. Do you understand why? Because He wants the Christ-nature to be formed in you, and that includes thinking the way God thinks about things - developing the mind of Christ in us. So when you get a new Word that contradicts what God did last time, don’t just say, “Hey, we’re going to change the way we do things!” Check it out and test the word to see if it is God or not. God may well be saying something new, but it may equally well be that you misheard or misinterpreted something, or your understanding was incomplete. We have to know the condition of our heart when we are evaluating these things, because sometimes our own moods can affect the way we see and interpret things.

This is what God gets sick with: in Jeremiah 23, the prophets prophesied the imagination of their own hearts, they never heard from the Lord, but they said, “Thus said the Lord.” Where did they get their revelation from, from their own imagination, their own heart.

God also gives us the security of team-work. We can be accountable to trusted leaders. They can help us check out the things we are hearing, to help us so that we won’t miss God. But who are our leaders to be accountable to. Sometimes they get things that the local elders can’t help with. Who do they go to then? Thank the Lord, they can go to their peers in the team of ministry that they work with at that level. All of these experiences have the purpose of developing the “mind of Christ” in us.

EPHESIANS 4:13  THE STATURE OF THE MAN

“Till we all come to the unity of faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the fullness of the measure of the stature of man, Christ Jesus.”

How many of you know what the writer of Hebrews mentions are the principles of the doctrine of Christ? These are essential principles to bring forth the life of Christ in us, but they are just the beginning!

Hebrews 6 gives us the  Foundation Principles of the Doctrine of Christ

• Repentance from Dead Works
• Faith towards God
• Doctrine of Baptisms
• Doctrine of Laying on of Hands
• Eternal Judgment
• Resurrection of the Dead
• Going on to Perfection

In many churches today you see the first four demonstrated in different ways.

Repentance from Dead Works: to serve the Living God.

Faith towards God: for greater things than we have had in past generations.

Baptism in Water: into the Body of Christ; in the Holy Spirit; and in Suffering, (we don’t want too much suffering nowadays.)

Laying on of Hands: Ministering Healing, Ministering the Gifts, etc.

ETERNAL JUDGMENT

But start looking for the principle of Eternal Judgment - where do you find it? Peter said that judgment must begin in the house of God. If God is going to reserve judgment to the Great White Throne of Judgement, He is never going to have standards to raise in this world which He will have to judge the world by. God always raises a standard for people to see what He wants before He does anything to bring judgment.

Look at the precedents in scripture:

• God sent Lot, righteous Lot, to preach to Sodom and Gomorrah; 
• God sent Noah to preach to his generation; 
• God sent Jonah to Nineveh; 
• God sent John the Baptist to the nation of Israel.
• God sent Jesus Christ. 

God always raises the standard in the earth before He judges them. What is God going to send before He judges the world? He will raise up the Corporate Christ as an example of His standard.

RAISING THE STANDARD

Was it Billy Graham who said: “God will have to apologize for Sodom and Gomorrah if He doesn’t judge America.”

God will only judge America once He has raised the standard that He wants so that the people can see it. He wants to raise the standard through the Church. “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against Him.”

That is why the “Church of the Living God” is called “the Pillar and the Ground (Foundation) of Truth!” Our work in the ministry is to lay a foundation of truth in the lives of our people so that our lifestyle will be like a pillar that holds up the truth of God for all to see. Now, today, the Word is becoming flesh again in us! The Word of God which is eternal, which is “forever settled in heaven”, is being received by those who believe it, “not just as the word of man but, as it is in truth, as the Word of God, which works mightily in those who believe!”

The local Church is the representative of God’s Kingdom that raises the standard in its community. What an awesome responsibility! What an awesome opportunity! To see the Lord accomplish what He has promised through us, “to make all men see this mystery”, “to demonstrate to the principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God, by the Church!”

That is why the Apostle Peter is concerned that we should get our house in order.

1 Peter 4:17  “The time has come for judgment to begin in the house of God.”

Especially in disputes between believers, we are able to bring wise godly judgment.

1 Corinthians 6:7ff  “Why do you take these matters before the law courts, do you not know that you shall judge the world, do you know that you shall judge angels, surely the least among you should be able to judge these simple matters.”
God is going to judge angels by the Church.

But the most awesome responsibility is that we are raising the standard of Christ for all to see, for there will be a day in which all who did not turn to Him will be judged.

Acts 17:31  “God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained, He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

I want to tell you just as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead as an example to the world in the early part of the first century, God is raising from the dead a vibrant church in the image of the corporate Christ to be seen in every town, in every nation of the world. That corporate man is you and I, being drawn together in Christ, in right relationships. First it will start with the leaders, then it will happen with the people. The truth is you and I are part of what God wants to do in these end-times, He wants to build us together in the right place. This is the task of the gift ministries, to help fit us together into the corporate Christ, with wise judgment.

OUR PRIESTLY OFFICE

The Psalmist had a glimpse of this in Psalm 133:

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the oil upon the heads that runs down the beard, even Aaron’s beard - down to the hem of hem of his garments - like the dew of Herman on the mountains of Judea - for there the Lord commanded His blessing, life forevermore.”

Aaron was the first high priest, the high priest had a nice big beard. The central part of the Psalm is the high priest preparing to go into his office of ministry with the anointing oil coming upon his head, flowing down the beard, and flowing down the robe. It is also a picture of the corporate Christ-church, anointed for its priestly ministry in the end times. It is a picture of the anointing coming down on the body of Christ: what we can call the corporate anointing. The corporate anointing is not just the Spirit moving in a meeting, it is not the same thing, it is the anointing that comes upon the Corporate Christ church.

If you look at this picture of the High Priest, standing with his robes on, you will see that the first time he was dressed in this robe, (Exodus 28), it was Moses who put the robe upon him, but after that he would put the robe upon his body himself, with his own hands. Then Moses anointed his head with oil and it ran down his head, his beard and his robe.

Let me interpret the picture for you: Christ is the head of the body;

The anointing comes over the head of the body;

The robe speaks of the Priestly office that the church takes on;

Everything that is under the robe where the anointing runs down to the hem of the garment, everything that is covered by the robe is under the anointing.

How does the robe get put on to cover the body? Did you notice what he used?

The hands are extensions from the shoulders of the body.

The hands are a picture of the five-fold ministry.

The apostle is represented by the thumb that can touch all of the other ministries. The teacher can get through to us through the ear, like our little finger.

The pastor is the one who is married to the flock, represented by the ring-finger.

The evangelist is like the longest finger, the one who reaches out furthest to the lost.

The prophet is the one who pinpoints things, like the index finger, to bring correction and direct us, showing Gods heart for His people.

The apostle is the one who can touch all the ministries as the anointing comes upon him to do it. And he has grace to govern all the offices.

Notice that it is not just one finger that puts the robe on. It needs two ministries to put it on.

The hands are an extension of what the head wants done to the body, but they are extensions to the shoulders, the robe rests and hangs on the shoulders.

Is 9:6  And the government shall be upon His shoulders.

God is extending the government of Christ into the Church, through the five fold ministries, to see that every person is brought under the robe for ministry in the last days.

Every one who is in their right place in the body will come under the corporate anointing. Eph 4:12 “for the equipping of the saints.” Equipping (katartismos in Greek), also means “fitting the bones together” after a compound fracture so that they can knit together and grow strong. That is part of the work the ministries do. Sometimes it is painful, but if done with wisdom it will bring us to maturity.

HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?

Let us co-operate with the ministries that God has given us in the last days.  Let’s work with one another to see the body raised up and let God have what He is seeking for:

Ezekiel 22:30  And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

All it will take is for this generation of saints to be captured by the vision of Our Lord Jesus Christ to be our supreme desire. We want Him to be our foundation, our supreme overlord, our life, our all. We want to live and move and have our being in Him. We want to be prepared by Our Friend – Holy Spirit – to be living in the sanctified freedom that Jesus has given us – so cleansed and devoted to Him that we can be filled with all of the fullness of Christ!

SHALL WE RISE UP TO BE THE ONE NEW MAN THAT THE LORD FINDS IN THIS GENERATION?