Living a Transparent Life in Ministry

 

 

One of the most important aspects of my role in ministry is to live a transparent life.  It is to let you know that I am not perfect and that God can and does use imperfect vessel's to fulfill a perfect work in the kingdom.  I am always surprised when someone new to our ministry will say to me, wow, you just let me see that you are not perfect, you don't hide the flaws in your life. And I think to myself, how can I be real and honest and a true leader, if you don't know of the struggles, challenges and defeats that I experience in ministry and in my life in general.  I sit with those who grieve and tell them that I have grieved like them. I sit with those who have lost loved ones and I tell them I have lost loved ones.  I sit with those who are sad and tell them that I have been sad sometimes.

I hear your struggle and I understand that you are struggling because I have struggled as you have.

So many tell me that other pastors or ministers have not shared their struggles with them. That they are not perfect and that their families are not perfect.  But I ask, "How can you share the joy when you cannot share the hurt? How will the people know that there is a process to overcoming and victory if you do not lead by example and by modeling how to walk out trials?  This is an important ministry lesson and should be learned early on for the sake of the Gospel and for the Kingdom!  This is Pastor Susan Living the Everyday Prophetic life in the most transparent way possible!



Setting the Captives Free!

     One of my favorite movies of all times is the movie Braveheart. This movie is all about freedom and the quest for freedom by an entire group of people who have been in subjection to a king from a foreign land.  They go to great lengths and fight many battles to achieve the freedom that they so long for in their own lives and in the lives of our children.
      The word says that Jesus came to set us free and whom the Son has set free is free indeed. But what does that freedom look like to you?  To me it is a freedom from fear..the freedom to know that my eternal soul is secure in the hands of my God.  That my Abba, my Daddy, cares for me as His precious child and He will never leave me or forsake me and so in that I am free to live a life of trust. I can trust that He holds me in the palm of His hand and He will never leave me or forsake me.  Jesus took captivity captive and loosed the bands of wickedness from our lives.
     There is joy in freedom.  We are not chained to our destiny.  Rather we are free to run in the freedom that our destiny brings. 
     There is power in freedom.  We receive power from on high as the Holy Spirit comes to indwell our lives and we receive the freedom of the giftings of God.
     There is peace in freedom. We understand that we do not need to strive for salvation, that the price was paid on Calvary and so there is a tremendous peace in freedom!
     There is no sorrow in freedom.  The freed one does not long for his captivity any longer... sorrow is not attached to our freedom.
     Today as you begin to think about your freedom and your joy and power and peace, think about those still in bondage that have not heard the good news of Jesus... Now go and bring the good news and help set some captives free!  In Jesus name!

This is Pastor Susan..Living the Everyday Prophetic Life and walking in Freedom!
    

Releasing the Glory Anointing!

 At  Passover this year the Lord released a new church plant for our ministry.  Marc and I began PromiseChurch at 6601 NW 38th St in Bethany, OK across from the Post Office. We took the keys on May 1, 2012 and as I believed we should open doors on Shauvot we worked every night for weeks renovating the building. We did ministry of deliverance and healing while we were renovating and under construction in the building.  The water lines had collapsed and those had to be replaced as well as both air conditioning units and this week we will get a new roof.  We opened doors on May 26, 2012 and it has been a fantastic crazy journey with God. The front of the old Bethany feed and seed store (which is what we rented) is where we incubated for 10 weeks and then by Rosh Hoshanah this year we moved to the back area which has provided us a little more growing room.  God has shown up with supernatural supply on every level and we are currently in a 30 day revival with the Oklahoma Outpouring. We have a Saturday night service at 7 pm and we have a Sunday morning service at 10 am.  We have many services during the week. We are experiencing a fantastic move of God's Presence and His glory!! Please go to the facebook page and like it so you can have all the updates on this new work and when the services are being held!! This is why there have been so few blogs lately... we have been super busy BUT I FEEL A SEASON OF WRITING COMING ON NOW AND SO GET READY FOR SOME AWESOME NEW WORDS!!! This is Pastor Susan living the Everyday Prophetic Life in the Glory and at THE PROMISE!! www.facebook.com/OklahomaPromise  and like us for updates!!

Salting the Land a Prophetic Act

Jesus makes a simple statement in Mark 9:50 Salt is good:

Many times when we move into a new house or we start a new church plant, Marc and I make it a point to salt the land. We use kosher salt and we generally speaking will start at the boundaries of the land and walk the perimeter sprinkling salt as we go.  Sometimes we will salt an entire property with sprinkles of salt thrown out almost as if you were throwing seed into the ground.  Why would we do this? Salt is one of those really cool words that is both a noun and a verb, a thing and an action so to speak.  So when I use salt "to salt the land" I am doing a prophetic act that speaks about the double portion of blessing. Salt has many uses but the one use that I focus on when "salting the land" is purification. Salt has been used for purification for centuries.  This is my border and nothing unclean will cross it.  It sets aside what is within the boundary as special or holy, the Hebrew word is Chodosh.  This prophetic act makes it a set aside (Chodosh) piece of land.  This is really important especially if the place is to be used as a house of worship and also for your home.
While I am salting the land, I pray over it so that is another very good reason to walk your boundaries sprinkling salt as you go.  You are defining in space by Word making your Word declarations, action-the process of walking and deed- the act of sprinkling something on the ground, that God has set this apart to be holy unto Him.
The New American Standard Bible quotes I Chronicles 4:10 Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested.
Jabez cried out to God concerning his borders that God would enlarge them! But you have to know where they start before they can be enlarged! So let's seek the Lord for the setting in place of our borders and the enlargement thereof next! God enlarge our borders so that we might reach the nations for you! Enlarge our borders so that we can seek the expansion of Your kingdom! Thy Kingdom come and show us where my place in the Kingdom is!

I like to stake my claim both physically and spiritually where the Lord says to plant.  If I am going to plant here, then where are my borders? Lots and lots of the Old Testament is written about borders and boundaries.. it is extremely important to know where to plant. It is so important to know where your field is... (see my blog on the Field of Boaz-it is one of my favorites and helps you decide if it is time to move on....)
And now be the salt... be the salt to the world... bring the purification of Jesus Christ, our Messiah into the dark and hurting world.  The salt will help to cleanse the wounds that the nations might be healed and transformed. 
I love to use Kosher Salt that we have had on our Passover table to salt a new beginnging...a new piece of land... a new work for the Lord. I like to use that because to me it has already been set aside for God's work and God's planned times.  Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, keep on being the salt, keep on salting your boundaries and walking it all out in love! This is Pastor Susan with her pockets filled with salt and setting new and ever increasing boundaries!

The Mayor of Cranky Town

Today I feel like the Mayor of Cranky town.  You know how when you were little and your mom told you it was time to take a nap and it was the LAST thing that you wanted to do but it was the most important thing you could do to make you feel better.  Well pretty much when I get over tired, I get cranky.  Right now if exhaustion was a destination, it was three train stops ago. And sometimes we have a good reason for being cranky. Sometimes we are doing spiritual things and we just can't stop because there is a schedule or a deadline that we have to meet. There is a plan for those of us who are in this place spiritually.  Psalm 23 tells us that the Lord makes us to lie down in green pastures.  I don't want to lie down Lord I am busy!  Green soft pastures that are cool and refreshing... hmmm sounds like God is trying to get me to take a spiritual nap and I just don't want one.  Sometimes, I enjoy being the mayor of cranky town. So Lord forgive me for allowing the everyday work of the everyday prophetic life to stop me from rest.  That green pasture is looking real good right now! This is Pastor Susan living the Everyday Prophetic Life and taking a nap.

Prophetic Gardening- Just a thought!

The other day I said to Marc that I thought I would have made a good farmer. I love to plant and watch things grow. I would love to have a huge garden. I can even see myself driving one of those depression era tractors. The kind that doesn't have a top or air conditioning. And then I said, well I guess I will just plant more herbs in my herb garden.
God has given each of us a place of ministry. I like to call it my field. Each field has particular characteristics such as what is planted best in the soil, and if it is sunny or shady, and where the boundaries are. Fields in New England are bordered by stone walls. Fields in Texas are bordered by barbed wire. What are the boundaries of the field for you? For myself, I am called to minister in Oklahoma and in particular in Western Oklahoma. That is my field. So where are you called to plant, water, and reap a harvest? Think about it....
And think about how only God gives the harvest.  I have my huge starter garden that I am a little embarassed to say how much I spent to get my one $142.00 zucchini squash. But then I have my corn is as high as an elephant's eye corn crop that is almost as tall as the first roof line and I spent 50 cents on that packet of seeds and didn't even use a trowel just shoved the seeds in the dirt.  Love that lesson about planting.  Right place, Right soil, Right moisture, Right wind and rain and you have a ministry, I mean a cornfield! HA! love it! This is Pastor Susan saying if you plant it they will come!

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When Revival Breaks Forth.

The cool thing about God encounters to me is that they are never really planned by us.  A God encounter is when HEAVEN breaks in on EARTH and everything changes. This process is something that we can learn from church history BUT hopefully it is something that we have learned in our everyday life. They can be expected by us, longed for by us, prayed for by us, and planned for by us, but God is God and when He breaks in with the supernatural to the natural it never really looks like we expect it to and we are usually not fully prepared for what comes next. Sorry everyone who goes to church at 10:00 on Sunday mornings or Wednesdays at 7:00 or ....well you get the picture.

     Now as much as we would like to think it is a common experience for HEAVEN TO COME DOWN TO TOUCH EARTH, it is  not. That is why the great revivals and times of God moving powerfully among men in a way that changes everything are so documented and talked about by those who were there so to speak. They write books about them and they make movies about them too.

     When our children were little, because these amazing  encounters were not happening everywhere,  when I would hear of a place where the HOLY SPIRIT was pouring out, Marc and I would get the kids in the car and head in that direction. Because one touch from GOD changes everything! We went everywhere we could where the Spirit of God was falling. We were literally God chasers because we would chase after the Presence. I remember standing in line in a parking lot for 8 hours to get a seat in a church where GOD had broken into the services.To this day when I carry a large purse I hear in my heart the greeting from the gentleman at the door, "NO backpacks, book bags, umbrellas or coolers will be allowed into the sanctuary" Why? Because there was barely enough room for the people to get in!

     Now friends, Pastors KNOW this about church.  They know that unless GOD breaks into a meeting everyone is going to go to the cafeteria in an hour and then home to rest.

     I remember a time when Marc and I were pastoring a small church and we decided to have a three night revival. And on the third night, God began to speak to my spirit, GET READY!! and the atmosphere in the room shifted. The whole air became alive like you were breathing the Presence! And then miracles started to happen! Like popcorn! And we were trying to figure out what to do next because we were NOT PREPARED for a GOD ENCOUNTER! The three days turned into eight weeks of non-stop miracles, deliverance, healing, destiny changing revival not because we planned it but because GOD broke into the meetings.

I believe Oklahoma has broken through and entered into one of these God appointed miracle Presence filled and fire imbued revivals!! I believe that God is raising up Pastors, leaders and those who know how to administrate a great move of God... There is a gifting to knowing how to host the Presence.  Until recently, I don't know why, but I had never really thought of hosting that revival as special.  I had just always expected we would have one and so I had studied what to do when one breaks out.  But now I realize it was a training ground for this new season.  I believe that many will be trained to host the Presence for sustained periods of time and to have an understanding of what the means.
Ok here is an example. Think of it like a hotel.  You have a place to stay BUT if you don't have staff to manage the hotel think of the results.. The rooms would never be cleaned. You would run out of supplies, the rooms would be double booked on one floor and vacant on another... the keys would not be coded for the locks... etc. etc. etc. You see the picture. Hosting the Presence and the Glory in the Old Testament was a full time job and there were rules about how this had to exactly occur.  We are not about "rules" but we are about honoring God's Presence in our midst. 
That is what I have been thinking about since Saturday night's crazy revival until midnight! This is Pastor Susan Living the Everyday Prophetic life and ministering in revival.

The Relentless March of Time

One of my favorite movies of all times is A Christmas Carol.  The one with the muppet characters, that is narrated by Rizzo the Rat.  And in this movie there is a line that I think about often. It is when Rizzo talks about the relentless march of time as Ebenezeer Scrooge watches his life past, present and future, march by in the form of the Christmas spectors. I think a lot about how time marches on and how we are incapable of stopping it. We are incapable of even putting on a pause button.  We can only participate in the river that is time. 
As Christians we understand that time has a beginning and an end.  And outside of the river of time is eternity.  We were created to live in the space of eternity, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden threw us into the raging river of time.  We have a space of the eternity known as time in which to enter the door of salvation through Jesus our Messiah. Think of time as the doorway, the gateway to the eternity and where you will spend it.  When you exit your river, where will you be? Which side of the shore will you be on? The Bible talks about the great divide and Christian writers have written about it previously, see C.S. Lewis book the Great Divorce. It is not about divorce it is about the separations that exist in eternity.
What does this have to do with the everyday prophetic life?  Just that there will soon not be an everyday but an eternity,  Think about it.

Grafted In Christ

I was thinking about the modern western Christianity concept of salvation. The concept of asking Jesus into your heart, is a fairly modern interpretation of what it means to become a Christian. When Jesus the Christ was born in Bethlehem, He had come as Messiah for the Hebrew people. He had come as the fulfillment of the Torah. He was the embodiment of the Godhead, the expression of God to His people. There really is no comparison that we have as Christians to what it means to have been Jewish. A nation based on faith in God and belief in the Torah as the Word of God.  When Christ came unto His people He came, so that all those who understood that He was the fullfillment of the Law and the Prophets, would receive the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets in their lives. He was the completeness of everything that they were. Now we as Christians are grafted in to the tree. We are a wild branch that has been grafted into the tree that is the Word made manifest. So I think instead of saying we ask Jesus into our hearts, which sounds like He is a guest in our room, think of it this way.... We are grafted into the mighty tree that God has been growing since the garden of Eden, the tree of Life. We become part of that expression of God and we draw our strength from the strong roots of that tree. It is an identity that we have assumed and become not a guest that we have made space for in our lives.  This type of identity in Christ is what allows Christians to face tremendous trials for their faith. This type of identity allows Christians to walk through persecution and affliction because we know that we are grafted in to the tree of eternal life. 
We have such a simple prayer that we ask people to pray. Lord come into my heart and save me. Try this Yeshua! Graft me into the tree of Life and make my identity yours so that when the world sees me they only see You! And then let the fulfillment of every promise made flood through you because that is your portion of that tree! The life blood of the tree is the precious blood of Christ and the power of the Word and the Ruach the Holy Spirit of God. Think of it that way for a minute and get a Hebrew perspective on your identity in Christ.
This is Pastor Susan Living the Everyday Prophetic Life and living life grafted in!

It's a metaphor!

No water in the building. Did you pay the deposit? When were they supposed to be here? Go tomorrow and make them come and turn on the water in the new church. Still no water in the building? They put in a new water meter? The inflow is plugged up or broken or crushed? No water in the building? They might dig up the foundation to get to the line? No water. No flow. Wait muddy water is seeping in where? It's a metaphor. It is hard to uncover ancient wells! When you start the work the line is often clogged sometimes completely shut down. Sometimes there is just a muddy trickle of water that seeps in. To uncover an old well sometimes you have to dig up old foundations. Pierce old structures and unearth old wells. It is a metaphor. 
What is clogging up the well of living water in your life? What is stopping up the water of life from flowing freely in your ministry? Sometimes you have to dig up old structural foundations to unearth the the broken places so they can be repaired. It's a metaphor! If you look around, you will see them everywhere.
God is speaking to us from the things that happen in the natural. Keep your eyes on Him and He will show you the metaphor and it's meaning.

Crossing the Jordan!

My friend Moreen is the person God picked to walk with me through my wilderness season. Sometimes help arises from a place that we do not expect. During our visits we would talk about the things that were on my heart both large and small and she would give me such a Godly perspective. I learned about the stages of grief and came to understand the process of loss. I went through the tears and the anger and the arguing with God. I asked her out loud questions that I wanted to hear the sound of the words. Words that I had not spoken to anyone and wanted someone to hear me say, "Why?" "Why me?"  She heard me bargain and tell her that if I was a better person, a better mother, a better wife would I have a different outcome. I always said I wouldn't cry this time, but having a place where you can say outloud those things you can't even say to yourself, well that is powerful. And slowly but surely the wounds began to heal. And I took off my lens of trauma- you know that perspective that sees everything through the pain, and I saw the world again with clear colors and vibrant tones. Towards the end of my visits, we would just talk about our grandchildren and how they were growing up. We talked about my first tea party with my 10 month old granddaughter. And she told me about the safari in the backyard with her 4 year old grandson. And I smiled and thought about all the good things in my life that were still in place. And she looked at me and said, So you have reached acceptance. And just like that, I knew I had reached the end and it was time to cross over my Jordan and go into the promised land.
And as I left, she wished me Godspeed on my journey. And I watched as she went back to the wilderness to help the next hurting and broken person to the edge of the river.
Passover has many blessings! This year crossing the Jordan was one of mine.
This is Pastor Susan Living the Everday Prophetic Life and enjoying the promised land.

The Prophetic in Passover

    Passover is such a time of deliverance and freedom! A time to celebrate the power of God as we tell again the story of the powerful deliverance of the Hebrews from the Egyptians who held them in slavery. We celebrate a going forth to the promised land as well as a coming out of bondage! As Christians we get an understanding of what Jesus our Messiah was doing on the night He was betrayed. We see and understand that the incarnate Christ was participating in the Passover event which was a physical portrayal of His sacrifice for our salvation. During Passover, four cups of wine are drunk. These have great significance to us as Christians. The first cup of wine was the cup of sanctification or freedom.We celebrate that God has provided a way to freedom for us by providing Jesus our Messiah who was without sin.   The second cup is the cup of deliverance and instruction. We celebrate the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt and as Christians we celebrate our deliverance from the bondage of sin. The third cup, the cup of Redemption is the one we as Christians understand to be the The Lord's Supper. The third cup is a powerful reminder of the sacrifice of the cross, the blood shed for our redemption.  The fourth cup is the cup of praise, part of the Hallel, the going out and celebrating. This cup is the one that our Messiah told His disciples that He would drink the next time with them in His father's house. I believe we will celebrate the fourth cup of covenant when we celebrate with Him at the marriage supper of the Lamb. There is a fifth cup that is not drunk. It is the cup of Elijah. This is the cup that the Hebrew leave on the table and open a door waiting for Elijah to come as the forerunner for the Messiah. As Christians we believe that Elijah is one of the prophets that will come in the last days to witness to the second coming of Christ. The four cups represent the I will promises of God of freedom, deliverance, redemption and thanksgiving.
      There is hidden meaning in the Hebrew alphabet for the Hebrew word for Passover which is spelled Pesach. We can look at the three letters that create the word and find the hidden meaning in the letters. The first letter is Pey the middle letter is Samekh and the final letter is Chet. The letter Pey original symbol was of a mouth. It means an expression or vocalization of speech or breath. Passover is an important vocalization of the story of the Messiah. The second letter is Samekh which is a circle or ring. Think of it this way, in the calendar year we circle back to Passover as we again remember our salvation. It is a symbol of the prodigals coming home as they circle back to their roots. It is a symbol for healing and springing forth of the new year. Think of it as a symbol for a cycle and a spiritual rebirth. Passover is always on the fourteenth of the month of Nissan which is in the springtime. The final letter is Chet which is the symbol for new life. It is the picture of a gateway. Also the Chuppah the Jewish wedding tent is symbolized by the Chet.
    So let's put it together and see what the letters in the word are telling us. (Pey) There is a telling of the story (Samekh) the story of the healing and springing forth, a story that is to be told over and over again in the springtime cycle of new life (Chet) that shows us the gateway to our salvation, our wedding if you will to Christ our Saviour.
     I love how everything in Passover points to our salvation even the hidden clues in the Hebrew word Pesach..

The Prophetic in Purim

     Purim is a Hebrew holiday that celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from annihilation by the devices of the wicked Hamon. The whole story of adventure, love, betrayal, intrigue, and epic clashes between good and evil is found in the book of Esther in the Bible. The players: Vashti-beautiful Queen of the most powerful Ruler at that time; Mordecai-the Hebrew uncle; Haman-the evil one who wants to wipe out the Jews; Esther-Jewish maiden brought to the palace to the harem; King Ahasuerus-powerful ruler of the known world.
     The story opens with King Ahasuerus having a banquet for the princes, nobles and the army leaders. During this time, he calls for Queen Vashti to come and display her beauty. She refused. This made the king angry. So he banned her from his presence. Then came the gathering of the maidens so that the king could find a new queen. Esther who was raised by her uncle Mordecai was brought to the palace. Her uncle admonishes her to keep her heritage quiet. So Esther does not reveal that she is Jewish. But the favor of God's people is upon her and she is moved to the best place in the harem.  She is treated specially by the keeper of the harem. She is given special food and attendents but mostly she is given advice. Now before she could be brought to the king, she was given a twelve month beauty treatment. She was given six months of oil of myrrh and six months of spices and cosmetics.

     Meanwhile, a plot to kill the king is discovered by Mordecai and the plot is overthrown which saves the kings life. Remember this as it will be very important later in the story. Shortly after this Haman rises to power in the kingdom. And he begins to demand deference and worship from those who come in contact with him. But Mordecai who only worships God refuses. So then Haman discovers that Mordecai is a Jew and decides that all Jews must be wiped off the face of the earth. An edict goes forth and the annihilation begins. Esther learns of what is happening from her uncle Mordecai, who tells her that her appointment with her destiny moment is at hand. He tells her that she is not safe as well as any other Jewish person, and asks her to intercede on behalf of her people with the king. Now the choice is more difficult, do nothing and die with the Jews, OR go to the king who has not called you and face death UNLESS he extends his scepter to you. Esther requests prayer and fasting and also states that she and her maidens will pray and fast as well. Then she approaches the king. At this time Haman is having a gallows built to hang Mordecai upon. And then Esther goes to the king, who extends his scepter to her. He offers her up to half his kingdom, and what does she ask for? She asks for the king and Haman to come to a banquet that she has prepared just for them. That night the king could not sleep and he asks for the chronicles be read to him and that is when he hears about the plot that Mordecai had discovered. The next day he has Haman lead  Modecai wearing the king's robes and on the king's horse through the street proclaiming that this is what is done for the man that the king chooses to honor. Then they go to the banquet, and Esther asks them to come back the next night for another banquet. On the second night Queen Esther makes her request for her and her people. The king is so upset that someone should try to hurt the queen goes to the garden. Haman stays to beg for his life. When the king returns the Haman has fallen onto Queen Esther's sofa. The king has him taken away and he is hanged on the gallows that he prepared for Mordecai. The decree is changed and the Jews will not be annihilated but they may seek vengence on their enemies and a great victory is had!

Where is the prophetic in Purim? Understanding the the enemy of our souls was trying to cut off our destiny at the root. He was trying to stop the Messiah from being born. Because if you have no children of Abraham, you have no lineage for the Messiah to come from. But God protected the root of our family tree, the root of the Judeo-Christian heritage.

Oh and ladies, my favorite part of this story is how Esther prepared herself for her role in destiny. She made herself beautiful. A year of beauty treatments to step into place to stop the annihilation of her people. Amazing! God is so good to us. He allows us to rest and just be beautiful! Now how fun is this!

This is Pastor Susan Living the Everyday Prophetic Life and loving the prophetic!

Hebrew Alphabet and Understanding the Prophetic

For several years I have been studying the Hebrew alphabet and the meaning of the Hebrew alphabet letters. Each letter has a symbol, a numerical value and a deeper spiritual meaning.
Here is a quick lesson on the 4 levels of meaning in the letters that make up the words.

1. Graphie the symbol on the paper. A symbol that represents a sound.

 2. Logos when the word takes on understanding.

 3. Rhema when the word takes on spiritual understanding

 4. Zoe when the LIFE in the word begins to change the natural world through supernatural power.

There are 22 letters and each one has a special meaning or symbolism it represents other than just a sound.

Example: Aleph. the first letter, meaning strength and the Father. It is a silent letter.

So I wanted to present to you a revelation of the Hebrew word WATCH. Because there has been so much discussion of watching and praying in the Spirit. I was given one of those wristbands that had the English word and the Hebrew letters for  WATCH and I was just looking at it and realized that God was speaking to me from not just the word but the progression of the letters.

Hidden meaning in the Hebrew word WATCH. We know that God asks us to watch and pray. So what does the word look like and what is the hidden meaning. The letters in the Hebrew word WATCH are aleph, shin, mem, dalet, hey. So here we go: Aleph is the symbol of the Father, our source of strength, the shin is a symbol of power, the symbol looks like teeth, like a strong bite, mem, the symbol is representative of water, I think of the Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters, dalet, the symbol is of a door, a gateway if you will, and finally the last symbol is hey, a window where revelation is given. So in the letters there is a progression of understanding, think of it this way, when we WATCH and pray The Father brings power through the Spirit opening a doorway of revelation. Pretty cool huh?

The Lord will surely meet us in every aspect of our lives including the letters that spell out the words of life!

This is Pastor Susan Living the Everyday Prophetic Life and enjoying the details of God's design!

Prophetic Purpose

Prophetic Purpose

1. Given by the Holy Spirit

2. Set timing

3. Set place

4. Divine purpose

5. Fulfills Destiny

6. Releases Blessings

7. Requires Obedience

8. Requires faith

9. Results are not guaranteed.

A prophetic assignment is brought to you from the Father's heart by the Holy Spirit. The assignment has a set timing, in other words there is a window of time in which the assignment can be accomplished. It has a set place, there is a location where the assignment is supposed to happen. You may not be aware of the exact location where this is supposed to happen but you will be given a starting place. A prophetic assignment has a divine purpose, both for you and the other persons. God has a plan and He is entrusting this to you to fulfill the activation of that plan. A prophetic assignment fulfills destiny. Destiny is about to be birthed and your assignment is to help bring that forth. As you release destiny, you release blessing in your own life. The assignment requires obedience and the obedience releases the blessing. The obedience requires faith because the results are not guaranteed. Wait, what do you mean the results are not guaranteed?? It's because each person has freewill and they can choose to respond or not respond. But once you have completed your assignment, and you have completed your role then release the results to the Father.
Let's look at a biblical example of the prophetic assignment: In Acts 9:10, the disciple Agabus received his prophetic assignment in a vision. In the vision the Lord appears to him and specifically tells him what to do. He told Agabus when the set time was, Now, and He told Agabus where to go, the street called Straight, and the house of Judas. The divine purpose, is to lay hands on Saul to receive his sight.  The fulfillment of destiny comes when Saul begins to preach the Gospel proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues, telling them, "He is the Son of God." This prophetic assignment required obedience from Agabus and he tells the Lord in his vision about the harm that Saul has done to the saints.  If required faith for Agabus to head out for this prophetic assignment. The blessing that was released was that now a chief persecutor of the Christians had now become a christian and that particular danger was gone. The blessing for Saul was that the scales fell from his eyes and his sight was restored. In this example the results were told to Agabus by the Lord in the vision, that Saul would bear the Lord's name before Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.
What prophetic assignment has the Lord given to you that will release blessing in your life through obedience? Think about it. This is Pastor Susan Living the Everyday Prophetic Life and fulfilling God's assignments.

Bring the Water

Bring the Water
Shevat

The Jewish month connected to Water

Carry the water

Pour the water
The sea of humanity cries out for a drink
The water of His Presence


All who are thirsty!
The wounded and healed
All who are tired
May His grace be revealed

There is a fountain that flows from the river of life

During the extreme drought of the summer of 2011, the Oklahoma clay became hard and dry. The farmers were selling off their livestock because the drought had burned up the pasture. Wildfires were prevalent and communities were on high alert to protect homes and structures. Water was a precious commodity.

One day the weather seemed to have abated somewhat and Marc and I decided we would take a walk and enjoy the new portion of the two mile sidewalk by our neighborhood. I carried a water bottle with me but Pastor did not. I was so thirsty and I knew that Pastor must be as well. Even though I offered him a drink, he did not accept. Later while shopping in an air conditioned store, Pastor Marc collapsed to the floor. All kinds of dire thoughts filled my mind as the ambulance rushed him to the emergency room. The results? Dehydration. Lack of water in his system, had caused a shutdown.

This is as we are in the body of Christ. As Christians we need the water of His Presence, lest we collapse after spiritual battle. Beloved, we need the water of His Presence for strength for the journey and health in our bones. Jan/Feb are the Hebrew month of Shevat. Be aware of the watering places in your life and look to Jesus who said, in John 4:14 "but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life." Beloved, drink of the well of God's love and Presence this day! This is Pastor Susan Living the Everyday Prophetic Life and enjoying the well of His grace!



In The Quiet

In the Quiet

In the Quiet of my heart

I hear Your voice so still and small

In the Quiet of my heart

I hear Your voice like the thunder in the sky

In the Quiet of my heart

I hear Your voice and it fills me with wonder

In the Quiet of my heart

The sound of Your Presence

brings faith and hope.

Let the Quiet Roar!

Let the Quiet resound!

Let the Quiet be filled

with God's grace and peace

Amen

Sometimes it is difficult to find the quiet place with all the daily noise of our busy lives. I encourage you today to find time to listen to the quiet that sometimes roars with the sound of His Presence. Many blessings to you today beloved in Christ!





Send the Rain!

Sometimes after a season of struggle, God sends the gentle rain of blessings! Pour out your blessing Lord on the dry and thirsty land! Pour out your blessings on the hard and dry places of my life and make them ready for creativity to flourish. 

Send the rain and let the artists draw!

Send the rain and let the writers write!

Send the rain and let the dancers dance!

Send the rain and let the creativity flourish!

Send the rain and let the poets rhyme!

Send the rain and let the musicians play!

Send the rain and let the composers compose!

Send the rain and let the creativity flourish!

I pray for a harvest of creativity in your life. Even though the ground seems hard today, I pray for the gentle rain of His Presence to come and change everything.

This is Pastor Susan Living the Everyday Prophetic Life and standing in the rain of His Presence!

Your Victory Stone

When you need a victory in your life, you need to get your victory stone. Remember when David went against the giant Goliath in the Bible? Remember that he could not wear King Saul's armor but went to the stream to pick out the smooth stone that he would use in his slingshot to fell Goliath? That's where he found his victory stone. Now there are many brooks in Israel. But based on his past experience, David knew where to go to find the exact victory stone that he needed. As a shepherd boy, he knew where the babbling brooks would be that he could bring the sheep to for a clear fresh drink of cool water . And those same babbling brooks would hold the right kind of stone for this particular battle and that would fit his slingshot.

When you are facing a battle in your life, when you need a victory, the Lord will use what you have been through in the past to help you find your victory for the future. Just like David knew how to use a slingshot, and where the babbling brooks were, the Lord will use your past to propel you to that victory.  Your life experiences mean something. Sometimes hidden in the past streams of your life are the very stones that you are looking for to use in this situation. You just have to know where to look so to speak.  For example, you wouldn't be looking for a smooth stone at the top of a volconic mountain. There would only be hard flinty stones with many edges, some jagged. You look for a smooth stone in  a  flowing brook because the water flowing over the stone smooths out the rough edges.

Now my youngest daughter describes me as a scrapper. She says, Momma, you just keep going and fighting while you have an ounce of strength left. You take nothing and make it into something. I heard a spiritual bell ring in my spirit. I thought where did I learn to be such a scrapper. I learned how to make something from nothing because I grew up in poverty. We rarely had food to eat. We used the oven in the kitchen to store telephone books, which was interesting because most of the time we didn't have a telephone. But I learned how to make something from nothing. I learned how to survive. And from that survival instinct, I became familiar with the brook called Don't Give Up. Trust me there are a lot of victory stones in that brook!

Many times as Christians we are looking for what I call prophetic answer to our questions. We want to know what the future holds for our battles. Will I win? Will I be victorious in defeating this giant? But sometimes the simplest answer is to look at the course of our lives and the battles we have already won. The Lord has walked with us through some amazing trials and we have won. Look in the brook where we found our last victory stones. There is probably another one there waiting for us to defeat this problem.

This is Pastor Susan Living the Everyday Prophetic Life and remembering that sometimes the victory stones are hidden in the oven with the phone books!