Tag Archives: prepare

Letters

Walking Into Inheritance

 Each of my children in turn has brought someone home to meet the family. In every case, they were wonderful people. In every case it was an interesting experience; I experienced something of a time warp. 

You see, I’ve been praying for my kids since I first learned that we were pregnant. Part of that – me being the responsible dad and all – included praying for their future spouses. 

So when my kids brought their intended home to meet the parents, several things happened. We celebrated, of course, we blessed the relationship, we continued developing our friendship with them, all the usual. 

But I also recognized that with that announcement that they wanted to marry my son or daughter, they were also stepping into decades of prayer for themselves. Kind of a time warp. Science fiction becomes real. It’s pretty cool, actually. 

It has been interesting, even exciting, to see how these good people are walking in the things I’ve prayed for them since before they or their spouse were even born. And of course, my prayers for them continue these days, but now I have the advantage of knowing who I’m praying for. 

Since then, my kids have been having kids of their own, so now there are grand kids to include in the prayers. I love declaring destiny, generally destiny I hear Father whispering, destiny I see in the Book, or even destiny I see forming in their skills, interests, passions. 

I’ve been enjoying praying for these wonderful humans who share a quarter of  my DNA quite as much as I enjoy lifting up their parents who share a larger share of my DNA. (I find these to be curious thoughts.)

The other day, I was out walking with Father, praying for my heirs and descendants, when I realized that I didn’t need to know exactly whom I was praying for any more than I did when I prayed for my little toddlers’ future spouses. 

So I kept going, speaking life to my great-grandchildren, and their children, my offspring whom I might never meet. Blew my mind a little bit. And then it set me into my place in history, in the grand scheme of goodness that God is in the midst of. 

And yeah, it’s a little like a science fiction time warp. But it turns out that it’s real. And in reality, there’s no reason that any of my (or your) prayers should ever have an expiration date. And if my prayers never expire, then I maybe ought to target those prayers in light of things (and family) to come. 

So as I prayed for every one of my grandchildren’s children, and about their children. Occasionally I would get a glimpse of an individual destiny in the uncertain fog of the future. That always gives me more focus for that (potential) individual. 

(By the way, this isn’t limited to my biological progeny. There are a few individuals who have adopted themselves into a relationship with my family. They get prayed for, too!)

Things get complicated quickly. The average Christian family today has 2.7 kids, I am told. That means  that in a few generations, I might be praying for dozens, maybe even hundreds of of descendants. That’s a bunch of people that I’ve never met (and might never meet), but who will eventually count me among their grandcestors. My blood (or a little of it) will flow in their veins, my DNA (or a little of it) shapes how they will be crafted, my history with God (or a little of it) cut the path that they will walk. 

I confess, it’s a little bit overwhelming. (And then I consider, what must it be like for God, the Father of Life? No, that’s too much; I can’t go there right now!) 

I try to approach prayer like I’m trying to approach most everything in my world: I pray for the people and destinies that I feel like Father is drawing my attention to. (My big brother said it this way: “I speak just what the Father has taught me.” I like his example.) 

So I’m just writing to explore the incursion of time warps into my prayer life, to help to make sense of this path that I’ve been walking with my Father for a while now. 

If this is helpful to you, feel free to step on this path with yourself, and discover what kind of time warps he has available for you and for your legacy. 
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Letters

Fall Harvest begins in Spring

Last fall, I had a revelation about my garden, and it’s impacting how I prepare for this spring’s planting.

I was wandering through my garden last fall, cleaning out some of the plants that had finished: the tomatoes were winding down, the broccoli, cauliflower & cabbages were composting, the first crop of lettuce has gone and the second crop is winding down. The zucchini (there’s always too much zucchini) was feeding the chickens.

And I was inspecting the peppers and winter squashes and such that were still working on completing the produce that they’re working on. They were ripening nicely, getting ready for their own harvest shortly.

But there’s something of a problem, and this requires a bit of confession, and something of a backstory.

In the spring, I plant starts into my garden, but nearly all of the young plant starts come from my own greenhouse. In fact, I plant the pepper seeds around Christmas every year, and I plant the tomatoes and squashes later in the winter. I label them and nurture them as the seedlings grow into strong plants so they’re ready for a running start in my garden when the weather warms up enough for them.

End of backstory.

As I was wandering through my garden last fall, inspecting the results of my spring starts, and that’s where I discovered a couple of problems. I'm trying to learn from that lesson this spring.

One of the problems was pretty evident, and had been for a while: I hadn’t labeled the starts all that well. (And actually, the seed company that provided me with seeds also failed in this.)

I had a number of pepper plants that were labeled “bell peppers” that were producing a variety of other kinds of strange peppers. (That one is at least partly on the seed packager.) And I had a large number of tomato plants labeled as slicing tomatoes (my favorites are Brandywine and Cherokee Purple) that were producing thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of cherry tomatoes.

The other problem is where the real confession happens. We put pepper and tomato and squash plants out into the garden in May (we're getting close to planting season now!), but I'd been tending these little plants for many months, sometimes five or six months! These were my babies!

Here’s a secret I learned: some varieties of peppers apparently germinate at a higher rate than others. So I had a modest number of the bell peppers, particularly the baby-bell peppers that I value more highly (and many of those, thanks to mislabeling, weren’t actually bell peppers, but I’ve already groused about that one). Ghost peppers were particularly difficult to germinate (I use dried super-hot peppers as a pesticide: it keeps the squirrels off the bird-feeders pretty well!).

It turned out that fairly hot varieties, Lemon Drop peppers, Scotch Bonnet peppers and especially Sugar Rush peppers germinate really well. They also survive the first several weeks in a greenhouse at a better rate than baby bell peppers or ghost peppers.

So when it came to be time to transplant young peppers into the garden in the spring, I had a few bell pepper plants (far fewer than I thought I did, thanks to mislabeling), fewer baby bell plants, and only one ghost pepper plant (that turned out to be something else entirely). But I had dozens and dozens of the varieties that I only wanted one or two plants.

I had the same problem with tomato starts and squash starts: too many starts, and not the starts I really wanted.

But they were my babies. I’d already given away as many as I could find homes for. I couldn’t just toss my babies, whom I’d been caring for for so long into the compost. They’re like my children.

So I planted them in my garden, of course.

That was last spring. In the fall, I saw the error of my ways. It turns out that those fairly hot varieties (that I only wanted one or two plants of) are incredibly prolific. So I have dozens of huge plants bearing hundreds of fruits I’m not all that interested in that are crowding out the fewer (and smaller) plants whose fruit I really value.

And I realized that my choices to be “merciful” to those plants last spring had doomed my pepper harvest (and my tomato harvest, and my winter squash harvest).

And as I grumbled to myself, I heard Father clear his throat. “Ahem…..”

And suddenly I realized this is a life lesson. 

Somebody – and it wasn’t a gardener – once said, “Don’t plant seeds that you don’t want to harvest,” and a famous guy once said. “If you don’t like your harvest, change the seeds you’re planting.”

I need to change the seeds I’ve been planting.

But I can’t do that. Not now, anyway. That’s a change I need to make before I start planting my starts in the dead of winter. That’s a change I need to make when I’m getting ready to plant seeds in the dead of winter.

Fortunately, with the wrong peppers and wrong tomatoes and wrong squashes bearing fruit in my garden, that’s not a complete disaster. I can harvest them when they’re ripe and feed them to the chickens (chickens eat all sorts of things!) and then the chickens will give me good eggs all this year and great compost next spring.

But choices in my life, that’s a bigger issue. I’m still limping through the harvest of poor choices in previous seasons. I can’t change those choices back then, but I can learn the lessons and make better choices today and through this transition season that’s upon us.

If I don’t like my harvest, I need to change the seeds I’m planting.
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Letters

There is a New Year Before Us

It has been said that “Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it.” If we apply this personally, we could say, “Those who fail to learn from their history will find themselves making the same mistakes all over again.”

I don’t know about you, but I’d like to not make those particular mistakes again. It’s not that I’m afraid of mistakes, but I’d sure like to learn from new ones, instead of repeating the old ones.

And so I try to reflect on the year behind me, and I try to learn from the year I’ve just finished, with the hope that I’ll actually be more mature, not just older, next year. If you’d like to join me, here are some questions you might reflect on.

Hint: this is a great time to get out your journal and write:

  • What was your biggest triumph in the past year? What does God say about it? (Go ahead! Ask him!)

  • What was your most costly mistake in the past year? What do you learn from it?

  • What was the smartest decision you made during the year?

  • What was the greatest lesson you learned during the year?

  • If you could repeat one day of the last year, what day would that be, and why?

  • If you could forever forget one day from last year, what day, and why?

  • What one bit of Scripture best describes last year?

  • What are you most happy about completing during the last year?

  • Who are the three people that had the biggest impact on your life? Have you thanked them?

  • Who are three people whose lives you impacted for good? Have you thanked God for them?

  • What area of your life have you best taken responsibility for?

  • What area of your life did you leave to someone else to be responsible for, and why?

  • What was the most loving service you performed? What effect did you see from it?

  • What was the biggest risk you took? How did that turn out? How could it have gone even better?

  • What important relationship improved the most? What made the improvement?

  • What important relationship took a hit last year? What can you learn from that?

  • What compliment would you have liked to have received?

  • What compliment would you like to have given last year? Can you give it now?

  • What else do you need to say or do to be completely finished with the year?

  • What would you like to say to your Father about last year or your last season? 


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Letters

Raising Children is an Act of War

One of our practices, while milady & I were raising our kids, was to have a “date night” every week, so we engaged a young lady from our church, named Bella. Bella knew that every Thursday, she had an appointment babysitting our three young kids, while Mrs P & I went out on a date together.

(Comment: the date night is not for business, household or otherwise; it’s for maintaining and strengthening the relationship. Sometimes we had dinner, sometimes it was just a walk in the park, but the business of bills or work or leading our church was off limits. However, “I love you!” was permitted, even encouraged!) (’Nother comment: Date night was an outstanding investment we made in our marriage; got us through some ugly seasons.)

Back to Bella. Bella was a great young lady. She was the oldest daughter of a couple who were “pillars” in our church, and she was amazing, and the whole church knew it. She was active in the youth group, earned good grades, and didn’t hang out with the scruffy kids at school. Her parents were real proud of her. She was at our house every Thursday evening for several years.

One Thursday, we came home after a quiet dinner, and a police car was in our driveway. It seems that Bella had left our kids alone in the house, and gone off to a quiet place to make out with her (hitherto unrevealed) boyfriend; someone had reported the trespassers, so the police showed up.

Bella had told the policeman who arrested them about our home and our kids, so a cop was parked in our driveway, making sure nothing happened to our kids until we got home.

We had some difficult conversations that evening. In a couple of months, we attended Bella’s hastily arranged wedding.

Then there was Bennie. Bennie was an Eagle Scout. He was squeaky clean: good looking, short hair, bright eyes, had memorized hundreds of Bible verses.

He was the oldest son of one of the church’s elders, and the whole community was proud of him. He led worship, taught Sunday school, and was making plans for Bible college when he snapped.

His parents were completely undone when he went missing. “He’s such a good boy! He’d never do something like this to us!” they wept.

Three weeks later, Bennie showed up, covered in poorly-drawn tattoos and addicted to methamphetamines. His parents wept some more, and tried to “fix him,” but he disappeared again, this time for the better part of a year.

I know more of these stories, but you probably know some, too: good kids, kids who seem to have everything going for them, and then one day, during that terrible transition between youth and adulthood, they snap, they go off the deep end. Most of them don’t really come back.

My kids were coming up on their adolescence, so I was intensely interested. I grieved for Bella and for Bennie, and for their parents, but I wanted to do what I could to keep my own kids from this sort of flaming crash-and-burn. I talked to God about it. A lot. Hours, weeks, months.

One night, I was sitting next to my campfire, praying for my kids, when he began to unveil some things. Now, the unveiling took a lot of time, weeks, probably months, and I don’t have time for that whole story, so let me cut to the chase.

It seemed, in at least these two cases, that these kids felt immense pressure. They carried the heavy weight of expectation of sainthood, of perfection, from their parents, from their extended families, from their friends, from their churches, from everybody they knew.

It was overwhelming, stifling, constraining them while they were young, and they grew more aware of these expectations as they grew, until the weight that nobody knew they carried crushed them.

I think there were three factors to this.

The first was that eventually, as they touched on adulthood, they realized that they didn’t have to choose to wear that weight any longer. But they didn’t know how to lay it down, didn’t know how to get help, so they just threw it off and ran screaming from anybody that they associated with that crushing burden.

The second factor was that they were heroes as children, showpieces as youth and adolescents, but now they were facing that great unknown: adulthood! They had no idea how to be heroes or showpieces as adults, in fact, adulthood in general was overwhelming, so they cut and ran, away from adulating, away from responsibility, away from perfection.

And third, he showed me that these particular kids were living on their parents’ faith, not their own. And when the pressure of looming adulthood got to them, they couldn’t live on their own faith. They were making the physical transition to an adult body, but not the transition from their parents’ relationship with God to their own relationship with God.

Father showed me that I was similarly proud of my amazing children, and I was setting them up – particularly my all-star firstborn, for the same sort of implosion.

He gave us a few strategies to protect our kids. Fair warning, these things did not make our church elders happy, nor did the kids’ grandparents always approve. But we have healthy adult kids, and we’re still friends, so something went right.

• When they were younger, we built a great big treehouse in the back yard so they and their friends could do that thing that all kids need to do, but church kids don’t usually get to do: play. Be kids. And they could do it in our yard, under our oversight. We had water fights there (I bought the balloons, and loaded them, while milady chased screaming kids with a Super Soaker and maniacal laughter!)

• For the same reason, we bought a bunch of video games (we chose which ones we spent our money on, but we sought their counsel). For birthday parties, we rented a projector, invited the friends, and had a 16’ wide videogame on the wall. We played some of the games, but never as well as they did.

• We encouraged them to do things, to stretch their experiences, with their friends. Go camping with your teenage friends (here, use my sleeping bag, my tent; this is how you set it up), make a fancy dinner with friend (here, use our kitchen, we’ll go somewhere else that evening). We ignored it when they snuck out of the house at night, but we did ask the next morning how their midnight walk had gone. Sometimes, we walked together in the dark. Often, I bought chocolate milk for us at the 7-Eleven.

• We made an under-the-rose deal with them. If ever they got an invitation to go somewhere or do something and they didn’t want to go, or didn’t feel safe, we would be the heavy: “No honey, you can’t go to that. We have a family event that evening,” even if the family event was just dinner and a movie at home. (And we’d always come and get them, any time, any place, if they called and said, “I want to come home.”)

• Since “rule-keeping” was part of the heavy burden that had broken Bella and Bennie, we practiced breaking the rules together. We’d go off the trails when we went hiking (waaay off!), and I’d show them the edible plants, and we’d eat them! We learned how to start a fire rubbing sticks together, and then we put it out in a great big hurry because we were in the garage when we finally figured it out. We’d play hide and seek in the grocery store and in the mall. We took off our coats and hats in the spring rain and sang silly songs as we jumped in puddles. We played Frisbee golf on all the important government buildings.

• When they were approaching age 18, the age of legality, some of them made plans to get tattoos. Since I had no authority to prohibit an 18-year-old from getting a tattoo, I contributed to the “tattoo fund,” and discussed designs and colors with him. (The final choice was an ancient family motto, in Latin, no less! It looks great!)

I have a handful of things in my mind as I come to the end of these very fond memories.

1) Please don’t make the mistake of thinking we got it all right. We surely did not. But we actively loved them. We stayed in our kids’ lives, we stayed in communication together, we stayed in prayer. In the end, they’re still our friends, they’re still excellent people, though they sure turned out to be different than the good little church kids we’d originally (and ignorantly) envisioned.

2) I’m offering some perspective here, some opinion: There’s a reason why some kids blow up when they approach their majority. A lot of it has to do with how the generation before them handles the expectations they lay on them, how they train youth to become adults, how they give hope for a mysterious transition. Maybe with some understanding, we can choose wiser paths to lead them down. Every kid needs understanding. Like adults do.

3) I offer these as testimonies. There are some people who are facing similar situations and they don’t know how to respond, and these stories will give some folks hope, give other folks ideas. Your kids are every bit as worth saving as mine are. Every family needs hope.

4) In these, I’m offering a worldview that you can borrow, a worldview that says “people are more important than their reputation,” or “not every rule is for obeying.” You see, there’s more life outside the lines that everybody is coloring inside of than there is inside them. Wherever you want to exercise your right to color, that’s an excellent choice! Everybody needs freedom. Decide for yourself. Teach your kids to do that too.

5) If nothing else, here are some excellent ideas for prayer, for your kids, for your grand-kids, for the kids of your co-workers.

Every last child you know – every one of ’em – needs prayer.




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Letters

Mise en Place: Everything in its Place

Fathers, if they’re good fathers, often enjoy playing games with their kids, don’t they? It makes for time together, and it often strengthens the kids, physically, mentally and other ways, and it helps them grow and mature appropriately.
 
For the past several days, I’ve been waking up haunted by a strange phrase, a foreign phrase, in my mind. It’s not the first time I’ve woken up with words from another language in my mind; that’s one of the games that Father plays with me, kind of like hide and seek.
 
This time it was the term “mise en place.” I don’t recall ever hearing the term before, but suddenly, I’ve caught myself muttering “mise en place” under my breath a hundred times a day. I had to look it up.
 
It turns out that this is a French culinary phrase (pronounced “mi zɑ̃ ˈplas.”) which means “putting in place” or “everything in its place,” and it describes getting all the ingredients ready for what you’re going to cook (apparently assuming that you’re cooking in the kitchen of a French restaurant).

It often appears as a cart or a counter, completely covered with bowls or containers full of chopped, sliced or julienned ingredients for the chef in their cooking, and another set for the team making the plates look pretty before serving the guests. Even the bartender has their own “mise en place.”
 
It turns out that a high end restaurant will have a “mise en place” for their “front of house” as well: All the tables set “just so,” with the right plates, right glasses and silverware, even the flowers, lighting and decorations exactly as they want them, before the doors ever open to receive their guests for the service. Interesting thought.
 
In all these cases, the preparation of the “mise en place” is a team effort. Several cooks are cutting and chopping ingredients, several members of the service staff are setting out tablecloths and laying out the silver and the china. Bartenders are preparing syrups, setting out bottles, making sure the various glassware is within reach.
 
Since the phrase continues to rattle around in my mind, I’ve been meditating on it for some days: What is God hinting about here? I’ve been pressing into his heart to hear more: What is this treasure that he’s hiding for me to discover in this?
 
As I reflect on the phrase, I sense God’s Spirit resting on a couple of differing thoughts. I wonder if he’s whispering similar things to you?
 
• I sense Father encouraging me to get my ducks in the row, to get the details of what we’ve discussed into place in my life. There are some preparations that yet need to be made before I’m actually ready for what he’s bringing to me. If he begins cooking the meal he has in mind for me before the mise en place is ready, he’ll need to stop and prepare ingredients, or worse, serve the meal without some key ingredients.
 
• I also sense him whispering that, even with all the drama in the news, he does have his own ducks lined up: his mise en place is set up and ready to go. His house is ready for guests, and his place in his “front of house” – on the Earth in this case – is similarly ready. Everything is in its place for the next big event. (Side note: a goodly number of people have been involved in this chopping and slicing, in placing the forks and cups “just so” in preparation to receive his guests.)
 
• I’m reminded that “everything” is a big word. In other recent Easter-egg hunts, he’s been emphasizing “mille,” “thousands” to me: there are a LOT of details that he’s got ready for his plans. “Don’t under-estimate me, Son.

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Prophecy

Battle Preparations: Relax, He’s Got This.

Last night I had several things on my mind as I got into bed. I listened to an audiobook for a while, trying to quiet my mind – worry isn’t great when you are trying to go to sleep. Not at all!

I had a dream that we were going into a battle or some type of war and all our soldiers were infants or toddlers – not battle-worthy in the least. This “war” wasn’t necessarily about bombs and guns but it was something coming up that would need to be fought for – and I was worried we would not be ready. I fretted about how this army could even begin to help the situation. I woke up then went back to sleep.

I’m not sure if I actually woke up or if that was part of the dream but some time had passed, like maybe a year. I took another look at our “army” and they were totally matured and ready to fight. They were all even in matching uniforms…black if I recall correctly.

I was astounded! How did that happen? My worries and fretting completely disappeared, to be replaced by encouragement and actually enlightenment. I suddenly know that we would win and my worries had been groundless. I was sure there would be no problem, it would be handled and would be successful.

I needed to trust and not have to figure everything out, it would be okay and everything would work out. There was a plan.

I (really) woke up and knew that this was, at least in part about some things I had been worrying about before going to sleep. I also think this dream was a reminder for some other things people might be concerned or worrying about. God has a plan! I “heard” the Digital Warriors will be ready -they look young and too immature but they WILL be ready when they are needed.

*******************
He knows the end from the beginning. He is outside of time as we know it and is moving the chess pieces around to where and when they need to be, whether we know it or not.

Breathe, He’s got this! And He’s got you.


--

Ginny Wilcox, September 6, 2019
Ginny is a trusted prophetic voice and a friend of the NorthWest.
Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter Feel free to share with others, but please leave the contact info intact. Click here to subscribe, or visit www.northwestprophetic.com. To submit a word for the Northwest, visit our Submit A Word page, or email to NWP@northwestprophetic.com. Thanks!
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Prophecy

Tsunami of Love


I was walking along the beach right where the sand and ocean waves meet.  I had my eyes down searching the sand for treasure when all of the sudden sirens began to sound.  I knew it was a Tsunami siren and I looked up to see chaos all around me. 

People were in a panic.  They were screaming, shouting, grabbing their items and running away from the ocean.  Not one person looked up from what they were doing to survey their surroundings.  Not one person offered to help anyone else.  It was each man, woman and child for themselves.

With all the pandemonium going on around me, I felt at peace. I turned away from all the chaos and people to face the ocean and looked heavenward and lifted my hands in the air. I began to pray and praise God. I was singing “More than anything Jesus, I just want you! ….”

I continued to stand, arms raised to the sky, singing. I looked out to the ocean and saw the Tsunami wave on the horizon.  I knew it was too late to try to run, and yet I didn’t feel the need to run. I felt compelled to stand my ground.  The peaceful feeling never left me as the huge wall of water several stories high came rushing right towards me. 

Then I heard a whisper coming from heaven. It was hard to hear over the pandemonium unless you were intently listening for it. It said: “I am sending a Tsunami of My Love.”

Just as the skyscraper tall wave began to bend downwards towards me to crash against the beach, where I stood, I immediately sat up in bed gasping for air.

My heart was racing, and I realized, it was only a dream, yet it felt so real.  I could hear the roaring ocean, the siren alarm and people screaming.  The panic in the air was palpable.  I felt the misty ocean breeze on my face as the wind rushed by. Drops of water had been falling on me and I was fully drenched before the wave even hit the shore.

Once fully awaken from this dream and all else was silent and still, I heard the phrase again, “I am sending a Tsunami of My Love.”  It was louder this time and not just a whisper.

This dream encounter occurred back in April right after Easter.  I haven’t talked very much about it to anyone as I have sought the Lord regarding more of His message.

• Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of what is to come so we can pray over it and pray into it.

• Sometimes He shows us things so we can position ourselves to receive and not miss what He is doing.

• Sometimes He gives us advance notice so we can share it with others and we can prepare our hearts.

Cry for Revival

God’s people are crying for revival. We long to see Him come rushing in with His fire and power like revivals of old.  We long to see Him pour out His Spirit and have miracles, signs and wonders occur. We desire for people to come into the Kingdom of God and be born again.

Yet revival will not come until we get our hearts right with God and with one another.   We need to get our eyes off the natural and turn them heavenward.

We need to stop looking out for only ourselves and looking towards the needs of others.  We must not panic or become distracted when warning alarms are sounding around us.  We must resist joining in the chaos and pandemonium. Instead we need to trust and seek the voice of God and hear what He has to say.  We need to stand in our position as sons and daughters.  We need to position ourselves before the Lord so we can receive His love and release it to the world.

Jesus taught the greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself.  (Matthew 22:36-40)

God is sending a tsunami of His love. It will begin in the west and spread across the nation.  It’s a love so powerful that we only have eyes for Him and His Kingdom.  We will set aside our agendas and our desires.  We will set aside our prejudices and get swept away by Him. As we stand in His presence, peace will flow.  As we position ourselves before the Lord, this wave will not destroy us, but we will be caught up and carried away in His love.

Yes, a revival is coming, a revival of His love. God’s love will transform us and the world around us.This revival of love is the first wave of revival.  We must stand our ground, stay at peace and listen.

A great harvest of souls for the Kingdom will follow.  But it must first start with individuals and our hearts.  Our hearts must be for the Kingdom of God and not against. Our hearts must be for unity and not division. Our hearts must be filled with love, His love.

A Tsunami of His Love is coming! Are you ready?

Debbie Kitterman, 
Dare 2 Hear, Lacey, WA
https://debbiekitterman.com/about-us/


Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter Feel free to share with others, but please leave the contact info intact. Click here to subscribe, or visit www.northwestprophetic.com. To submit a word for the Northwest, visit our Submit A Word page, or email to NWP@northwestprophetic.com. Thanks!
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Prophecy

Tsunami of Love


I was walking along the beach right where the sand and ocean waves meet.  I had my eyes down searching the sand for treasure when all of the sudden sirens began to sound.  I knew it was a Tsunami siren and I looked up to see chaos all around me. 

People were in a panic.  They were screaming, shouting, grabbing their items and running away from the ocean.  Not one person looked up from what they were doing to survey their surroundings.  Not one person offered to help anyone else.  It was each man, woman and child for themselves.

With all the pandemonium going on around me, I felt at peace. I turned away from all the chaos and people to face the ocean and looked heavenward and lifted my hands in the air. I began to pray and praise God. I was singing “More than anything Jesus, I just want you! ….”

I continued to stand, arms raised to the sky, singing. I looked out to the ocean and saw the Tsunami wave on the horizon.  I knew it was too late to try to run, and yet I didn’t feel the need to run. I felt compelled to stand my ground.  The peaceful feeling never left me as the huge wall of water several stories high came rushing right towards me. 

Then I heard a whisper coming from heaven. It was hard to hear over the pandemonium unless you were intently listening for it. It said: “I am sending a Tsunami of My Love.”

Just as the skyscraper tall wave began to bend downwards towards me to crash against the beach, where I stood, I immediately sat up in bed gasping for air.

My heart was racing, and I realized, it was only a dream, yet it felt so real.  I could hear the roaring ocean, the siren alarm and people screaming.  The panic in the air was palpable.  I felt the misty ocean breeze on my face as the wind rushed by. Drops of water had been falling on me and I was fully drenched before the wave even hit the shore.

Once fully awaken from this dream and all else was silent and still, I heard the phrase again, “I am sending a Tsunami of My Love.”  It was louder this time and not just a whisper.

This dream encounter occurred back in April right after Easter.  I haven’t talked very much about it to anyone as I have sought the Lord regarding more of His message.

• Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of what is to come so we can pray over it and pray into it.

• Sometimes He shows us things so we can position ourselves to receive and not miss what He is doing.

• Sometimes He gives us advance notice so we can share it with others and we can prepare our hearts.

Cry for Revival

God’s people are crying for revival. We long to see Him come rushing in with His fire and power like revivals of old.  We long to see Him pour out His Spirit and have miracles, signs and wonders occur. We desire for people to come into the Kingdom of God and be born again.

Yet revival will not come until we get our hearts right with God and with one another.   We need to get our eyes off the natural and turn them heavenward.

We need to stop looking out for only ourselves and looking towards the needs of others.  We must not panic or become distracted when warning alarms are sounding around us.  We must resist joining in the chaos and pandemonium. Instead we need to trust and seek the voice of God and hear what He has to say.  We need to stand in our position as sons and daughters.  We need to position ourselves before the Lord so we can receive His love and release it to the world.

Jesus taught the greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself.  (Matthew 22:36-40)

God is sending a tsunami of His love. It will begin in the west and spread across the nation.  It’s a love so powerful that we only have eyes for Him and His Kingdom.  We will set aside our agendas and our desires.  We will set aside our prejudices and get swept away by Him. As we stand in His presence, peace will flow.  As we position ourselves before the Lord, this wave will not destroy us, but we will be caught up and carried away in His love.

Yes, a revival is coming, a revival of His love. God’s love will transform us and the world around us.This revival of love is the first wave of revival.  We must stand our ground, stay at peace and listen.

A great harvest of souls for the Kingdom will follow.  But it must first start with individuals and our hearts.  Our hearts must be for the Kingdom of God and not against. Our hearts must be for unity and not division. Our hearts must be filled with love, His love.

A Tsunami of His Love is coming! Are you ready?

Debbie Kitterman, 
Dare 2 Hear, Lacey, WA
https://debbiekitterman.com/about-us/


Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter Feel free to share with others, but please leave the contact info intact. Click here to subscribe, or visit www.northwestprophetic.com. To submit a word for the Northwest, visit our Submit A Word page, or email to NWP@northwestprophetic.com. Thanks!
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Prophecy

Tsunami of Love


I was walking along the beach right where the sand and ocean waves meet.  I had my eyes down searching the sand for treasure when all of the sudden sirens began to sound.  I knew it was a Tsunami siren and I looked up to see chaos all around me. 

People were in a panic.  They were screaming, shouting, grabbing their items and running away from the ocean.  Not one person looked up from what they were doing to survey their surroundings.  Not one person offered to help anyone else.  It was each man, woman and child for themselves.

With all the pandemonium going on around me, I felt at peace. I turned away from all the chaos and people to face the ocean and looked heavenward and lifted my hands in the air. I began to pray and praise God. I was singing “More than anything Jesus, I just want you! ….”

I continued to stand, arms raised to the sky, singing. I looked out to the ocean and saw the Tsunami wave on the horizon.  I knew it was too late to try to run, and yet I didn’t feel the need to run. I felt compelled to stand my ground.  The peaceful feeling never left me as the huge wall of water several stories high came rushing right towards me. 

Then I heard a whisper coming from heaven. It was hard to hear over the pandemonium unless you were intently listening for it. It said: “I am sending a Tsunami of My Love.”

Just as the skyscraper tall wave began to bend downwards towards me to crash against the beach, where I stood, I immediately sat up in bed gasping for air.

My heart was racing, and I realized, it was only a dream, yet it felt so real.  I could hear the roaring ocean, the siren alarm and people screaming.  The panic in the air was palpable.  I felt the misty ocean breeze on my face as the wind rushed by. Drops of water had been falling on me and I was fully drenched before the wave even hit the shore.

Once fully awaken from this dream and all else was silent and still, I heard the phrase again, “I am sending a Tsunami of My Love.”  It was louder this time and not just a whisper.

This dream encounter occurred back in April right after Easter.  I haven’t talked very much about it to anyone as I have sought the Lord regarding more of His message.

• Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of what is to come so we can pray over it and pray into it.

• Sometimes He shows us things so we can position ourselves to receive and not miss what He is doing.

• Sometimes He gives us advance notice so we can share it with others and we can prepare our hearts.

Cry for Revival

God’s people are crying for revival. We long to see Him come rushing in with His fire and power like revivals of old.  We long to see Him pour out His Spirit and have miracles, signs and wonders occur. We desire for people to come into the Kingdom of God and be born again.

Yet revival will not come until we get our hearts right with God and with one another.   We need to get our eyes off the natural and turn them heavenward.

We need to stop looking out for only ourselves and looking towards the needs of others.  We must not panic or become distracted when warning alarms are sounding around us.  We must resist joining in the chaos and pandemonium. Instead we need to trust and seek the voice of God and hear what He has to say.  We need to stand in our position as sons and daughters.  We need to position ourselves before the Lord so we can receive His love and release it to the world.

Jesus taught the greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself.  (Matthew 22:36-40)

God is sending a tsunami of His love. It will begin in the west and spread across the nation.  It’s a love so powerful that we only have eyes for Him and His Kingdom.  We will set aside our agendas and our desires.  We will set aside our prejudices and get swept away by Him. As we stand in His presence, peace will flow.  As we position ourselves before the Lord, this wave will not destroy us, but we will be caught up and carried away in His love.

Yes, a revival is coming, a revival of His love. God’s love will transform us and the world around us.This revival of love is the first wave of revival.  We must stand our ground, stay at peace and listen.

A great harvest of souls for the Kingdom will follow.  But it must first start with individuals and our hearts.  Our hearts must be for the Kingdom of God and not against. Our hearts must be for unity and not division. Our hearts must be filled with love, His love.

A Tsunami of His Love is coming! Are you ready?

Debbie Kitterman, 
Dare 2 Hear, Lacey, WA
https://debbiekitterman.com/about-us/


Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter Feel free to share with others, but please leave the contact info intact. Click here to subscribe, or visit www.northwestprophetic.com. To submit a word for the Northwest, visit our Submit A Word page, or email to NWP@northwestprophetic.com. Thanks!
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Prophecy

Tsunami of Love


I was walking along the beach right where the sand and ocean waves meet.  I had my eyes down searching the sand for treasure when all of the sudden sirens began to sound.  I knew it was a Tsunami siren and I looked up to see chaos all around me. 

People were in a panic.  They were screaming, shouting, grabbing their items and running away from the ocean.  Not one person looked up from what they were doing to survey their surroundings.  Not one person offered to help anyone else.  It was each man, woman and child for themselves.

With all the pandemonium going on around me, I felt at peace. I turned away from all the chaos and people to face the ocean and looked heavenward and lifted my hands in the air. I began to pray and praise God. I was singing “More than anything Jesus, I just want you! ….”

I continued to stand, arms raised to the sky, singing. I looked out to the ocean and saw the Tsunami wave on the horizon.  I knew it was too late to try to run, and yet I didn’t feel the need to run. I felt compelled to stand my ground.  The peaceful feeling never left me as the huge wall of water several stories high came rushing right towards me. 

Then I heard a whisper coming from heaven. It was hard to hear over the pandemonium unless you were intently listening for it. It said: “I am sending a Tsunami of My Love.”

Just as the skyscraper tall wave began to bend downwards towards me to crash against the beach, where I stood, I immediately sat up in bed gasping for air.

My heart was racing, and I realized, it was only a dream, yet it felt so real.  I could hear the roaring ocean, the siren alarm and people screaming.  The panic in the air was palpable.  I felt the misty ocean breeze on my face as the wind rushed by. Drops of water had been falling on me and I was fully drenched before the wave even hit the shore.

Once fully awaken from this dream and all else was silent and still, I heard the phrase again, “I am sending a Tsunami of My Love.”  It was louder this time and not just a whisper.

This dream encounter occurred back in April right after Easter.  I haven’t talked very much about it to anyone as I have sought the Lord regarding more of His message.

• Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of what is to come so we can pray over it and pray into it.

• Sometimes He shows us things so we can position ourselves to receive and not miss what He is doing.

• Sometimes He gives us advance notice so we can share it with others and we can prepare our hearts.

Cry for Revival

God’s people are crying for revival. We long to see Him come rushing in with His fire and power like revivals of old.  We long to see Him pour out His Spirit and have miracles, signs and wonders occur. We desire for people to come into the Kingdom of God and be born again.

Yet revival will not come until we get our hearts right with God and with one another.   We need to get our eyes off the natural and turn them heavenward.

We need to stop looking out for only ourselves and looking towards the needs of others.  We must not panic or become distracted when warning alarms are sounding around us.  We must resist joining in the chaos and pandemonium. Instead we need to trust and seek the voice of God and hear what He has to say.  We need to stand in our position as sons and daughters.  We need to position ourselves before the Lord so we can receive His love and release it to the world.

Jesus taught the greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself.  (Matthew 22:36-40)

God is sending a tsunami of His love. It will begin in the west and spread across the nation.  It’s a love so powerful that we only have eyes for Him and His Kingdom.  We will set aside our agendas and our desires.  We will set aside our prejudices and get swept away by Him. As we stand in His presence, peace will flow.  As we position ourselves before the Lord, this wave will not destroy us, but we will be caught up and carried away in His love.

Yes, a revival is coming, a revival of His love. God’s love will transform us and the world around us.This revival of love is the first wave of revival.  We must stand our ground, stay at peace and listen.

A great harvest of souls for the Kingdom will follow.  But it must first start with individuals and our hearts.  Our hearts must be for the Kingdom of God and not against. Our hearts must be for unity and not division. Our hearts must be filled with love, His love.

A Tsunami of His Love is coming! Are you ready?

Debbie Kitterman, 
Dare 2 Hear, Lacey, WA
https://debbiekitterman.com/about-us/


Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter Feel free to share with others, but please leave the contact info intact. Click here to subscribe, or visit www.northwestprophetic.com. To submit a word for the Northwest, visit our Submit A Word page, or email to NWP@northwestprophetic.com. Thanks!
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Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, November 19, 2018

In Taiwanese politics, a mayor candidate's comments about his own benefits from drinking honey-lemonade sparked retribution from the medical community. After a lump under his eye went away, apparently from a vegetarian and honey-lemonade diet, he actually said so. A professional from a hospital was quick to weigh in. It's understandable. If people learned that honey could cure disease, hospital profits would plunge. More importantly, Taiwanese political debates would become outright boring without the ability to, as the saying goes, make lemonade from political debates.

But, lemonade really is important. Google search results even saw a spike after this essential talk of Taiwanese politics made news.

Meanwhile, at the ASEAN summit in Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for nations to come together at a time when Southeast Asian stability was under threat. In anticipation of APEC after ASEAN, Mike Pence started talking tough, wanting results and genuine action from China concerning an even-flow of trade. He elaborated, that the US has a quarter of a billion dollars in tariffs and isn't afraid to go twice as high as well as take more "diplomatic" action. It was a strong "they know that we know that they know what we think" remark, the kind that precedes otherwise objectionable action to make the action unobjectionable.

Later, at APEC, Pence warned of returning to a "cold war" while making plans for a US-Australian naval base in Papua New Guinea. Rather than dropping its tilted tariffs on goods, China has been openly gearing up for all out war three weeks. APEC ended without a written agreement between member nations for the first time ever because of the disagreements between the US and China.

This past weekend, Taiwan did something that China despises every bit as much as it cannot identify with: Taiwan hosted democratic election campaigns. With all the strong rhetoric concerning Taiwan, independence, and China's loudly and often-spoken determination to invade Taiwan, there shouldn't be any question where China's war-in-preparation will start and why America will easily get involved.

America is already involved in Taiwan to quite an extent. AIT, the unofficial yet de facto US embassy in Taiwan, had an interview scheduled for release with a large TV network in Taiwan. But, after the interview, the TV network, TVBS, scrapped the interview. So, AIT shared the interview in its Facebook page, rather than relying on TVBS.

With the history lessons about Taiwan in almost every Taiwan-related story in the Western press, Americans will take an advancement against Taiwan as an advancement against themselves. China would be perceived as an aggressor and rightly so. Everything the US has done to provoke and irritate China would have only worked if China possessed the old school "Asian Pride" that Sun Tzu warned against, a pride that can't be permitted in a world's superpower because such pride is easily provoked just as much as it is easily shattered. Hardened pride makes for brittle peace. That's something that the entire West won't allow, the US notwithstanding.

continue reading

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Prophecy

A Season of Bumbling Around

One of the things that I do is I look at the seasons, the “big picture” view of what’s going on in the Spirit.  

This is an interesting one.  I call it the Season of Muddling Around. My brother Craig refers to “fuzzy-fog of not-quite-sure-what's-next.”

It’s a season where God doesn’t seem to be giving as much direction as he has in other seasons. You may experience it as “OK, what do we do next” in your home group or your church gathering. Or you may be having a hard time finding clarity in life choices or in addressing perplexing situations.

Paul went through a similar season. In Acts 16, Paul and his traveling ministry team finished one project, and had trouble finding the next one. They were “kept by the Holy Spirit” from ministering in Asia, and “the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them” to minister in Bithynia. This was a challenging transition season for him.

What’s this? The Holy Spirit is preventing them from preaching the gospel? That’s the Great Commission; God can’t be stopping them from obeying what they’re called to do! Yep, that’s what it says.

It seems like a number of believers are experiencing this sort of thing: just trying to do the thing that God has called you to do, but God’s not blessing it, God’s presence isn’t in it, or he stops you before you ever get started.  

So a lot of us are in a season of “bumbling around.” We’re trying this new thing, or that tried-and-true thing, and it’s not working. It’s easy to get frustrated in this season.

If you’re feeling some of this, let me say a couple of things to you:

  1. No, there’s not something wrong. God does different things, or does the same things in different ways, in different seasons. This is that season. This isn’t because of sin, or because you’ve “missed God.” Remember, this is a transition period. It’s temporary.

  1. This is actually a season of promotion. You’ve been maturing, growing up. You don’t need as much direction from Daddy as you used to need. You can make more decisions for yourself and for your place in the Kingdom. Think of this as a season of taking new “baby steps” and learning to walk as mature sons and daughters.

  1. Of course we stay plugged in with God, we stay intimate and connected, eyes on Jesus and ready to hear. Paul eventually had a dream that told him where to go, and it led to a surprising new ministry.  The end result of his transition was pretty awesome.

  1. Don’t be shocked if God leads you in a surprising new direction. Don’t freak out if he takes you in an entirely new and unexpected direction. Likewise, don’t choke if he takes you in the direction you expected, but it turns out to be completely different than the way you thought it would be, or than it has ever been before.

  1. In the meantime, keep doing what you’re doing, and keep your ears open. Stay in healthy relationship with solid people, and keep talking together about what God is doing, what he’s saying.

  1. And stay ready to change gears, quickly if necessary.

So congratulations on the new place in God! Well done! Now, are you ready for the next step? 

nwp


Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter Feel free to share with others, but please leave the contact info intact. Click here to subscribe, or visit www.northwestprophetic.com. To submit a word for the Northwest, visit our Submit A Word page, or email to NWP@northwestprophetic.com. Thanks!
Standard
Prophecy

A Season of Bumbling Around

One of the things that I do is I look at the seasons, the “big picture” view of what’s going on in the Spirit.  

This is an interesting one.  I call it the Season of Muddling Around. My brother Craig refers to “fuzzy-fog of not-quite-sure-what's-next.”

It’s a season where God doesn’t seem to be giving as much direction as he has in other seasons. You may experience it as “OK, what do we do next” in your home group or your church gathering. Or you may be having a hard time finding clarity in life choices or in addressing perplexing situations.

Paul went through a similar season. In Acts 16, Paul and his traveling ministry team finished one project, and had trouble finding the next one. They were “kept by the Holy Spirit” from ministering in Asia, and “the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them” to minister in Bithynia. This was a challenging transition season for him.

What’s this? The Holy Spirit is preventing them from preaching the gospel? That’s the Great Commission; God can’t be stopping them from obeying what they’re called to do! Yep, that’s what it says.

It seems like a number of believers are experiencing this sort of thing: just trying to do the thing that God has called you to do, but God’s not blessing it, God’s presence isn’t in it, or he stops you before you ever get started.  

So a lot of us are in a season of “bumbling around.” We’re trying this new thing, or that tried-and-true thing, and it’s not working. It’s easy to get frustrated in this season.

If you’re feeling some of this, let me say a couple of things to you:

  1. No, there’s not something wrong. God does different things, or does the same things in different ways, in different seasons. This is that season. This isn’t because of sin, or because you’ve “missed God.” Remember, this is a transition period. It’s temporary.

  1. This is actually a season of promotion. You’ve been maturing, growing up. You don’t need as much direction from Daddy as you used to need. You can make more decisions for yourself and for your place in the Kingdom. Think of this as a season of taking new “baby steps” and learning to walk as mature sons and daughters.

  1. Of course we stay plugged in with God, we stay intimate and connected, eyes on Jesus and ready to hear. Paul eventually had a dream that told him where to go, and it led to a surprising new ministry.  The end result of his transition was pretty awesome.

  1. Don’t be shocked if God leads you in a surprising new direction. Don’t freak out if he takes you in an entirely new and unexpected direction. Likewise, don’t choke if he takes you in the direction you expected, but it turns out to be completely different than the way you thought it would be, or than it has ever been before.

  1. In the meantime, keep doing what you’re doing, and keep your ears open. Stay in healthy relationship with solid people, and keep talking together about what God is doing, what he’s saying.

  1. And stay ready to change gears, quickly if necessary.

So congratulations on the new place in God! Well done! Now, are you ready for the next step? 

nwp


Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter Feel free to share with others, but please leave the contact info intact. Click here to subscribe, or visit www.northwestprophetic.com. To submit a word for the Northwest, visit our Submit A Word page, or email to NWP@northwestprophetic.com. Thanks!
Standard
Prophecy

A Season of Bumbling Around

One of the things that I do is I look at the seasons, the “big picture” view of what’s going on in the Spirit.  

This is an interesting one.  I call it the Season of Muddling Around. My brother Craig refers to “fuzzy-fog of not-quite-sure-what's-next.”

It’s a season where God doesn’t seem to be giving as much direction as he has in other seasons. You may experience it as “OK, what do we do next” in your home group or your church gathering. Or you may be having a hard time finding clarity in life choices or in addressing perplexing situations.

Paul went through a similar season. In Acts 16, Paul and his traveling ministry team finished one project, and had trouble finding the next one. They were “kept by the Holy Spirit” from ministering in Asia, and “the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them” to minister in Bithynia. This was a challenging transition season for him.

What’s this? The Holy Spirit is preventing them from preaching the gospel? That’s the Great Commission; God can’t be stopping them from obeying what they’re called to do! Yep, that’s what it says.

It seems like a number of believers are experiencing this sort of thing: just trying to do the thing that God has called you to do, but God’s not blessing it, God’s presence isn’t in it, or he stops you before you ever get started.  

So a lot of us are in a season of “bumbling around.” We’re trying this new thing, or that tried-and-true thing, and it’s not working. It’s easy to get frustrated in this season.

If you’re feeling some of this, let me say a couple of things to you:

  1. No, there’s not something wrong. God does different things, or does the same things in different ways, in different seasons. This is that season. This isn’t because of sin, or because you’ve “missed God.” Remember, this is a transition period. It’s temporary.

  1. This is actually a season of promotion. You’ve been maturing, growing up. You don’t need as much direction from Daddy as you used to need. You can make more decisions for yourself and for your place in the Kingdom. Think of this as a season of taking new “baby steps” and learning to walk as mature sons and daughters.

  1. Of course we stay plugged in with God, we stay intimate and connected, eyes on Jesus and ready to hear. Paul eventually had a dream that told him where to go, and it led to a surprising new ministry.  The end result of his transition was pretty awesome.

  1. Don’t be shocked if God leads you in a surprising new direction. Don’t freak out if he takes you in an entirely new and unexpected direction. Likewise, don’t choke if he takes you in the direction you expected, but it turns out to be completely different than the way you thought it would be, or than it has ever been before.

  1. In the meantime, keep doing what you’re doing, and keep your ears open. Stay in healthy relationship with solid people, and keep talking together about what God is doing, what he’s saying.

  1. And stay ready to change gears, quickly if necessary.

So congratulations on the new place in God! Well done! Now, are you ready for the next step? 

nwp


Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter Feel free to share with others, but please leave the contact info intact. Click here to subscribe, or visit www.northwestprophetic.com. To submit a word for the Northwest, visit our Submit A Word page, or email to NWP@northwestprophetic.com. Thanks!
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