One Million Voices
BISHOP ROGERS - Perception & Deception
September 08, 2006
OH YES - Give Me Your Sons
Elijah While the Prophetic anointing is living with the widow, her son dies. She blames the prophetic.
1 Kings 17:17-18
17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? (KJV)Is this not a type of today's Church? Is not today's Church indeed a widow?
Has today's Church not been left without sustenance, power, or leadership?Has she, the church, said I barely have enough to live on myself much less care about a dying and lost world? She says, " I am spending all my time just meeting the needs of my small family, I don't have anything left over. Yet, has not today's Church embraced the Prophetic? Indeed it has. And has not that same Church seen unprecedented attack on her most prize possession - her Children!? And, is it not true that most of the Church children become dead to the Church and it's ministry? It is now time for the Prophetic to put up or shut up. Either today's prophets know their God in power or they don't!
The prophetic indeed has brought a fresh breath of life to the Church and given her new hope. But that prophetic anointing has also brought the attack of the enemy and death to the young children of the household. By children I not only mean the natural children that have been lost but the ministries and ministry children as well. There are entire churches that need the prophetic to breathe life back into them. Good Churches that are facing near death situations, as well as Ministers that have given all, but now feel the breath of ministry life has gone out of them. Let the Church bring her children to the prophetic and let her lay down her dead dreams on the prophet's bed.
Let the prophets call out to God for breath to return to the Children of the Church let the prophets "stretch" beyond a personal word of prophecy, beyond dreams and visions. Let the prophetic take responsibility for what is lying on it's prophetic bed and let the prophetic "stretch" itself to speaking "life" and "breath" to the ministry sons and daughters that have sustained us.
Ezek 37:8-9
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9 Then said he unto me, "Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.'" (KJV)The lessons the Prophets much teach the Church:
- The prophetic anointing is God's end time answer Jesus the Prophet of "life" and "breath."
- The prophetic anointing will bring unprecedented attack that leads to depression and confusion; despair.
- The prophetic must learn how to call the "breath" of God out of the heavenlies.
- The prophetic must learn how to impart these truths to all believers " the priesthood of all believers."
Prophets, we have eaten of the widows bread and she has exercised her faith. Her association with us has brought the attack of the enemy and death to her household. Are we now to flee from her, to blame her for the lifeless form we call the ministry of the Church? Or will the prophetic accept the responsibility to breathe the breath of life back into the widows children?
1 Kings 17:17-24
17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
18 And she said unto Elijah , "What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?"
19 And he said unto her, "Give me thy son." And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
20 And he cried unto the LORD, and said, "O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?"
21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, "O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again."
22 And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah ; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, "See, thy son liveth."
24 And the woman said to Elijah, "Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth." (KJV)The Prophetic has yet to breathe life back into the recently attacked Church much less confront the religious, political, and military powers that rule this world. But that is the destiny of the prophetic; that is God's call to the Elijahs of our day. The prophetic must become more than just a few prophetic words spoken over the Church. How many times will we call upon the widow to exercise her faith when we will not accept responsibility for what happens while the prophetic dwells under her roof? We have eaten her bread and drank her sustaining water will we now blame her for the lack of faith? Will we once again put her under condemnation and judge her faith while we move on to another widow?
1 Kings 17:17-24
18 And she said unto Elijah, "What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?" (KJV)2 Kings 4:27-28
And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me? (KJV)I look around to all those who have stood with me in the Prophetic Anointing: all those who have given me their bread and water. They have trusted me with their dreams and their children. I see that their trust in the prophetic has brought them to another end and they seem to be worse off than when they first met me. Yet is this not the very pattern we see in God's word?
Let the prophetic take in its arms the dead child. Let the prophetic take him to his own chamber. Let the prophetic lay the dead child on his own bed and let the prophetic "stretch itself". Let the Prophetic breathe life back into the Church's children. Let the prophetic bring life back into the Church and then let the prophetic go out to the cave and receive directions for the next move of God. T
he Prophetic must stretch itself beyond personal prophecy and come into the life giving anointing of calling the breath of God into the dead and lifeless children of the Church. The death that has come to the widow's sons is a pattern we see throughout scripture in regards to the prophetic. The prophetic will always bring death to the flesh to that which is not God. It is what the prophetic is called to do. The nature of the prophetic is to uncover that which is fleshly, pride, greed, materialism, control, religious spirit etc. Yet that is not all the Prophets are called to do. Once the Holy Spirit has brought an end to that which is not of God in us or our dreams it must then speak resurrection life. If the Prophet does not learn how to speak Resurrection life it is destined to a ministry of death.
The Prophetic is uniquely gifted to see what is wrong as well as to speak out against it. Yet if that is all that it can do it is of little help. A mechanic that can tell me what is wrong with my car but cannot fix it is not worth very much to me. A doctor who can tell me what is wrong with me but cannot heal me becomes a curse for he steals my hope and leaves me with nothing but despair. That is why the prophets are becoming less and less welcome. Who wants someone who can only speak negative no matter how true their words might be. I challenge the prophetic to move to its next level of anointing and learn how to speak "life". Learn how to call the breath of God back to the dead widows children.
Jeremiah 1:10
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build , and to plant. (KJV)For this we must learn to "stretch ourselves." The root meaning of stretch is "to measure"
058. mβdad, maw-dad'; a prim. root; prop. to stretch; by impl. to measure (as if by stretching a line); fig. to be extended: measure, mete, stretch self.
Let us measure ourselves if we do not know how to speak life into dead situations we must take stock of our ministry. We must ask ourselves the question, "Who wants the negative around?" We must not blame the widow for her rejection of the prophet. When she takes us in and feeds us with her sustenance, let us know that death will come to her household. If we do not know how to speak resurrection life, perhaps we better not eat of her bread.
STRETCH YOURSELF
Isa 54:2-8
2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. (KJV)At the beginning of 2006, this is the Prophetic word we heard from the Lord. We came up with these goals for 2006 Enlarge Stretch Spare Not Lengthen and Strengthen.
We find the call has come to the prophetic and apostolic ministries to "stretch" ourselves over the widows dead children and then to speak "life" into them. Speaking life is indeed the true call of the prophetic. Some have felt that to be able to clearly see the problem and expose it is the main ministry of the prophetic. But that is only the beginning if that is all the prophetic and apostolic anointing can do we are in great danger. To tell the widow why her child is dead is little comfort if we cannot speak life back into her child. The prophetic and apostolic ministries must "stretch" themselves beyond to seeing what is wrong and move into the life speaking power of the Holy Spirit. The question is, "how is this to be done?" And the answer is always the same we must stay in the presence of God until He not only shows us what is wrong but also shows us how to speak "life". It is the season for the apostolic and prophetic to be extremely disciplined in that if we do not see "life" flowing from our ministries we must stop until God is honoring our life giving words.
1 Kings 17:23-24
23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.
24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth. (KJV)Our next question we must ask ourselves is "How does this stretching come about?" We know that the older we get the harder it is to stretch and yet the more important it is to stretch. As we grow older stretching becomes more painful we must be more disciplined than ever; more diligent and wiser. The main Hebrew definition of stretch is "to measure". Indeed that is what we need today: the ability and desire to give a true measurement. Yet that seems to be the problem. There is not much desire to truly measure where we are. How accurate are my words. How productive. How much of what I speak truly comes to pass when I say "I heard the Lord say." Are we held accountable? Is this not one of the main responsibilities of the Apostle? Indeed it is! The Apostolic office is among other things a governmental office. It is time for the Apostles who love and understand the Prophets to call them into accountability. It is time for the Prophets to find a godly Apostle to look to for direction, covering and accountability during this season of stretching. Perhaps it is their combined anointing that will speak the words of life back into the ministry sons and daughters who have given so much. The pattern for the progressive "stretching" of the prophetic calling is found in the book of Ezekiel chapter 37. Here we find the successive steps of the prophetic. Here we find a Prophet growing into his ultimate calling to speak life.
Ezek 37:1-10
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, 2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. (KJV)The first thing we see here is that the Prophet experiences the hand of the Lord upon him, and then he is carried by the Lord. It is during this season of the prophetic where the prophet should learn how important it is to know when and how to "carry" others as he was carried by the Lord.
1 Kings 17:19
19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. (KJV)Is it not true that we are carried when we cannot go any farther on our own? When for whatever reason we are so weak we cannot take another step? Some Prophets would only condemn others when they see them in this condition some Prophets would only lift up a religious sounding voice and prophesy another personal word of prophesy. The Lord is looking for prophets who are so tender and spiritually mature that they are able to discern the difference between those who would only draw upon the anointing for selfish reasons and those who have given all only to find out they have nothing left to give. The prophet who the Lord wants to use in this day will understand and discern this because he has been there! Like Elijah he cannot go another step without the ministry of some heavenly angel.
1 Kings 19:5-7
5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.
6 And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.
7 And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. (KJV)For many the journey has become too great they can no longer go on they have faced Jezebel and she has defeated them. Her spirit of "intimidation" has taken all the breath and fight out of them. Unless they have a supernatural intervention they will give in to the spirit of despair declaring
1 Kings 19:4
4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. (KJV)
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