Recently, I felt impressed to cry out to the Lord to hear His voice more clearly. He then began to speak to me about… THE TRADE
What Adam lost has been given back to us in Christ, and it was freely given. But we must gain spiritual authority (maturity) in order to steward it, causing it to manifest tangibly in this earth realm.
Galatians 3:26-4:6: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
This maturing process happens, in part, on the Trading Floor, which is a real place in the realm of the Spirit. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 10:39, when He said, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” This was spoken in context of when He sent His 12 disciples out, giving them authority over sickness and demonic powers.
THE GATE OF WILL: SAYING YES AND SAYING NO
So, the price for hearing is radical obedience, which predominately has to do with the gate of our will. The gate of our will, when functioning properly, says YES to all that is of God and NO to all else (whether it be the will of others or of our own sinful flesh). If we are not in total submission to God, we will be unable to say yes. If we are abdicating responsibility of our lives to others and are not properly governing this life that has been entrusted to us to steward, we will not be able to say no. We hear a lot in the church about the submission part (because authoritarian structures, including religious institutions, love submissive people—even if it is false submission). But we hear very little about self-governing and saying no. Institutions are always threatened by those they cannot control. If you were raised in an abusive or authoritarian home or church, you probably fall more in this category. IF YOU ARE SUBMITTING TO ANYTHING OTHER THAN GOD, YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO FULLY SUBMIT TO GOD. YOU CANNOT GIVE TO HIM WHAT YOU ARE NOT POSSESSING. Here are some common roots of this type of disobedience:
*Self and sins of the flesh
*Rebellion
*False submission
*Fear of man
*False guilt
*Busy-ness, distraction, cares of this life
*False responsibility
*Confusion
*Denial
*Victim
Jesus taught in parables (mysteries) so that those who had hearts to obey would hear and those who did not would be spared from greater judgment. It is a manifestation of His great mercy. When Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they are doing,” He was not being nice. He was speaking literally, and also revealing a spiritual law.
Matthew 13:10-12, “And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.’
DANIEL, OUR PROTOTYPE
We are called to steward the mysteries of the kingdom. If we are not fully obedient, these mysteries will not be revealed to us. Daniel is our example of one who was trusted by God with His deep mysteries. In Daniel 1:17-20, Daniel and his 3 friends were said to be 10 times better than all the king’s magicians and astrologers in “all matters of wisdom and understanding.” They had the 7 Spirits of God resting upon them. In Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar had a troubling dream that he couldn’t remember, and he demanded, with threat of death, that his wise men reveal the dream and it’s meaning. They were unable, but Daniel 2: 19-23 says:
“Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding: He reveals deep and hidden things: He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”
In October of 2012, I kept hearing “land of Shinar” (which is a term for Babylon, our modern-day Iraq). In April of 2012, I had one of the most profound spiritual encounters I have ever had. It involved an angel named Daniel and Daniel in the Bible. The encounter had to do with putting on immortality, transrelocation, and supernatural sustenance. Ever since then, one of my questions to the Lord was, “Why Daniel?” About a year later, I had an encounter with a huge menorah which were the Seven Spirits of God, and God told me that they had been sent to grow me to maturity, to teach me the protocols of the kingdom, how to go in and out, up and down and to and fro, and how to interact with spiritual dignitaries. And He revealed to me that Daniel is our prototype of what a mature, fully manifested son looks like operating within but not under the Babylonian (world) system.
Romans 8:19-22, “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”
The children of Israel were slaves for 400 years, had lost their culture, their language, their identity. Though God gave them the promised land when they left Egypt, it took 40 years to get the slave mentality out of them, so that they could possess the land. In the same way, we have been sold into slavery to this world system. So, by faith, we rise above this earthly plane and this Babylonian system into a higher dimension and we decree and we operate as kings, not slaves! God is dealing ruthlessly with our victim mentality, because slaves do not rule. This next cycle/season is about ruling and reigning with Christ, releasing His kingdom and dominion on this earth “as it is in heaven.”
THE WORDS OF A KING
In order to rule and reign, we must have manifested authority in our spoken words. Obviously, this will require trading in all gossip, slander, words of judgment, and perverse language. I have had numerous encounters with the Spirit of Wisdom, several of which emphasized the importance of guarding our tongue.
Proverbs 8: 1-16:
Does not wisdom cry out,
And understanding lift up her voice?
She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.
She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors:
“To you, O men, I call, And my voice is to the sons of men.
O you simple ones, understand prudence,
And you fools, be of an understanding heart.
Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
And from the opening of my lips will come right things;
For my mouth will speak truth;
Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
All the words of my mouth are with righteousness;
Nothing crooked or perverse is in them.
They are all plain to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
Receive my instruction, and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choice gold;
For wisdom is better than rubies,
And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.
“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And find out knowledge and discretion.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, I have strength.
By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth.
We all know Proverbs 18:21, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.” But if we desire to walk in the fullness of all that God has for us in this new season, we must live in the reality of what we know. Jesus carried the full manifestation of the creative power of the Father in His spoken words, and everything He spoke happened. Creative miracles took place, people were healed and raised from the dead, demons submitted totally and immediately. And the fig tree, which he cursed, also withered and died. I have always wondered why He did this. It seems like a random story within a story. But now I realize that it was a demonstration of what this kind of authority can do. PLACING THE KIND OF AUTHORITY WE HAVE PRAYED FOR ON OUR LIPS WOULD BE LIKE GIVING A MACHINE GUN TO A CHILD, IF WE ARE NOT MATURE AND WALKING IN THE SELF-CONTROL THAT IS A FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. So, not only do we need to repent (change our mindset) about the obvious sins of the tongue, but also the not so obvious ones:
*Words of man’s wisdom. (our opinions that we have not taken the time to ask God about)
*Keeping our word (saying things like “I’ll pray for you” when we never do)
ANGER AND MATURITY
It may seem that the Word of God gives two different standards when it comes to anger and venting honest emotions. On one hand, the Bible says to be angry but not to sin by letting the sun do down upon our wrath (sealed for a daily cycle). David vented some very raw and honest emotions in the Psalms. On the other hand, what about the passages where Jesus commands us to turn the other cheek?
The Divine tension of truth: When negative emotions are inside of us as a result of sinful or immature responses to pain, we must let them out. There is grace to be honest with God, and it doesn’t have to be pretty. Being honest with Him and with ourselves and ridding ourselves of this emotional baggage is a necessary part of the healing and maturing process. But once we are in a place of wholeness and maturity, with the garbage and the pain no longer inside of us, we will have the maturity and the Divine grace to live by a higher standard, a standard appropriate for a mature son. There will then be abundant grace to “turn the other cheek.”
We set ourselves up for failure and condemnation by trying to apply a true word out of season and by trying to please God by doing something He is not asking of us at this time. We must be led by His Spirit, because He knows our maturity level, what the Father is requiring of us and what He is empowering us to do. We must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, by trying to figure it out or trying to do “good” in our own power. Instead, we must eat from the Tree of Life, which is every word that proceeds from the mouth of God… absolute dependence upon Him. WE CANNOT PLEASE HIM WITHOUT HIM!
A HIGHER STANDARD
God once told me that He was calling me to a higher standard. He showed me a vision of a graph with legalism on the bottom, liberty above that, and a higher standard above that. In this, Daniel is also our prototype. We all know the story… When Daniel and his 3 friends were taken as slaves and brought to Babylon, they maintained a higher standard concerning food and drink, and God blessed them for it. Was this life-long? It doesn’t appear to be, because Daniel 10: 2-3, referring to a 3 week period of fasting says, “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.”
There are different strategies for different seasons, and an overall commandment to properly take care of our bodies, which are the vehicles through which we interface with the earth realm.
I Corinthians 6:19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
We are body, soul and spirit. Throughout Scripture, intense supernatural encounters had an affect on people’s physical bodies and emotions. We do not want any hindrances or limitations to the spiritual exploits God has for us in this next season. So, we must seek the Lord and be led by His Spirit concerning food and drink, exercise and media. We are all programmed by this world system to varying degrees. This is a good season to ask God to cleanse our conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious mind of all the darkness that has entered knowingly or unknowingly. And then we can be diligent to stay clean. Do not assume that anything is ok just because it seems morally clean on the conscious level. Instead, learn to lean upon the Spirit of Truth, not falling prey to either fear and legalism or presumption.
AN INCREASE IN THE SEER GIFT
There are 3 Hebrew words translated as prophet:
1. “Nabi”, which means “to bubble forth, as from a fountain”, or “to utter.” It is the first and most common word used for a Biblical prophet, and basically refers to the “knowing,” “feeling” and “intuitive” prophetic flow, which sometimes happens as you begin speaking.
2. and 3. The other 2 words, “ro’eh” and “hozeh” are both used of a prophet who predominantly “sees.”
Both are valid and necessary, and most people are stronger in one than the other. When praying about this, the Lord showed me an eagle soaring among the stars, with his eagle eye seeing far better at a distance than at close range. He was circling, as a bird of prey would do, and, from that heavenly perspective, was decreeing and declaring the word of the Lord into earthly situations. So, the trade for seeing more clearly is to come up higher. We must refuse to see from a low, human perspective, but must see as He sees and echo what He says, even if it doesn’t make sense within the confines of these 3 dimensions.
Ephesians 1:17-23, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
So, Father, today we trade the old for the new. We say YES the process of maturation. We say YES to hearing You more clearly, depending on You more fully, and we receive Your grace to radically obey. We say YES to stewarding the mysteries of Your kingdom. We ask You to reveal to us any ways in which we are slaves of this world system and that You would pour out Divine strategy to break free, so we can operate as kings rather than slaves. We trade foolish and thoughtless words for Your decrees, and we ask Your Holy Spirit to guard our tongues. We yield to Your guidance throughout our healing and maturation process. And we say YES to living by the higher standard that You are offering to us. We say YES to Your invitation to “come up higher”, so that we can see as You see!