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| The Father's Heart and Prophetic Warnings for the Coming Days |
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I have not been alone in hearing from God and issuing a prophetic word that God is moving His people from the age of salvation to the age of the kingdom of God; from a focus on self, personal healing and individual blessing to a focus on demonstrating the power of the kingdom of God beyond the walls of the church for the sake of all those Jesus came to save. But He has also been calling us deeper into His heart—a message not often proclaimed. Sooner or later, power exercised without the loving heart of the Father results in foolishness and abuse, even when it's heaven's power. The kingdom of God operates on the law of God and the order of God. He is, after all, a King. His law and His order are the expression of His own nature and character.
In the days to come the apostle John's affirmation that "God is love" (1 John 4:8) must become incarnate in our lives and ministries at a deeper level than ever before, lest the power of the kingdom of God now being poured out become a temporary manifestation mishandled and misapplied by those who don't understand its implications. Pastors and leaders (whether women or men) must minister the Father's heart. Prophets must become shepherds in the Father's heart. Churches must be infused with the heart of the Father for the healing of lives.
Prophetic warnings for the coming days:
- Beware the growth of strange theologies and subtle twistings of the Scriptures as teachers seek to impress the body of Christ with "new" revelation and as believers hunger for the power they lost when they surrendered the simplicity of merely being sons and daughters. Have you ever considered the fact that we moved easily and simply in signs and wonders in the beginning of renewal and revival, but now feel we must go to conferences and schools to learn to do them? Thinking to become mature, we have surrendered the humble simplicity of childlikeness that is a prerequisite for true heavenly power.
The Bible tells us that unless we become as children, we cannot inherit the kingdom of God (see Matt. 18:2-3, Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17). Essentially this means that only in the simple innocence of being children—sons and daughters—can we truly walk in the power of the kingdom that has come to earth in Jesus. After a lifetime of moving in renewal and revival circles, I no longer aspire to be a miracle-worker. I want only to be a son, with the confidence that as a son, I'll be a miracle-worker.
Jesus healed people not because He knew how to heal. He healed because He was and is the Son of God, who knew His Father and moved in oneness with Him. Ultimately we who have been adopted as sons and daughters through Jesus will not do miracles because we've learned how to do them, no matter what we might think. We will continue to minister the power of the kingdom only if we've been rooted in the Father's love and have become one with Him as sons and daughters.
To sum it up, in days to come we must be certain to hunger after the right things for the right reasons. As a son of my Father, I hunger to grow up to be like Him. Becoming like Him begins and ends with a transformation of heart that enables us to walk in the height, depth and breadth of His love, which passes understanding. This is our family heritage and inheritance. This is the source of our power and authority.
