To the saints

To the saints of the Most High God in Charlotte, called as priests to minister before Him, consider the word of God as articulated in Jeremiah chapter 2:

The priests did not ask, 'Where is the LORD ?'

It was a time of spiritual darkness in Israel, and yet those whose lives were to be anchored in the reality of God as First Love and Worthy of affectionate, whole-hearted obedience did not seem to miss having God around. He had withdrawn His smile from the nation and it did not seem to bother them, life as preferred could occur though His voice was neither sought out nor heeded. Read verse 13:

"My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water."

To everyone who comes and reads this blog, whether "by chance" or by intention hear the word of the Lord to you if you profess Jesus as Lord:

You are either moving towards Him today, or away from Him. Your inner man is either growing in love with Him or falling out of love with Him. Seek His face today, draw near to Him and He will draw near to You.

He died that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Cor. 5:15

40 days

Its Ascension Day, the 40th day after Resurrection Sunday (i.e. Easter)!

While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two
men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men
of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who
has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you
saw him go into heaven." Acts 1:10,11

FYI: ZHOP conference this weekend!

This weekend, starting Friday, ZHOP is hosting a Rhythms of Heaven conference. I've plugged it here before, now its time to sign up and catch the wave:

A gathering before the Lord of percussionists, artisans, dancers, watchers and anyone interested in learning the prophetic rhythms. Come inside the sanctuary with ZHOP for a weekend of prophetic artistic encounter. Develop intriguing beats and gain understanding of the spiritual impacts and dimensions of timing. Sit in on empowerment breakout sessions for music arts and dance. Try your hand at painting and drawing with easels available throughout the room. Hear new grooves erupt from the stage and dance with instruction and freestyle as unto Him. Learn new ways to convey your gifts and connect with the Bridegroom for an intense celebration in a rhythmic celebration of Jesus.

Conference attendees are encouraged to bring their own hand drums, art supplies, easels, etc.

There is no children's track for this conference.

http://www.zhop.org/rhythmsOfHeavenConference.php

Stealing lilacs

Stealing Lilacs
by Alice N. Persons, from Never Say Never. © Moon Pie Press, 2004.


A guaranteed miracle,
it happens for two weeks each May,
this bounty of riches
where McMansion, trailer,
the humblest driveway
burst with color—pale lavender,
purple, darker plum—
and glorious scent.
This morning a battered station wagon
drew up on my street
and a very fat woman got out
and starting tearing branches
from my neighbor's tall old lilac—
grabbing, snapping stems, heaving
armloads of purple sprays
into her beater.
A tangle of kids' arms and legs
writhed in the car.
I almost opened the screen door
to say something,
but couldn't begrudge her theft,
or the impulse
to steal such beauty.
Just this once,
there is enough for everyone.

Omega Course online

FYI, the IHOP web site has study materials for the Omega Course available online here: http://www.ihop.org/Group/Group.aspx?id=1000000258

Word of hope

My friend Terance has a word from the Lord posted on his blog today that I think is profound and will be like a cup of cool water to many who read this page. He writes this about a prophetic experience his wife had this past weekend:

Sunday morning AuDera had an encounter with the Lord. He gave her these words to share.

Relief is coming. That is what she heard first and then she had a vision of helicopters coming from everywhere. They were camouflaged in color and came close to the ground when many men began jumping out of them. Each man was holding packages and wore a backpack there were too many to number.

The Lord said, relief is coming for those who have kept their stakes in the ground. They were steadfast and unmovable and they were the ones who abided with me. The Lord then specifically referenced a word recently given by Bob Jones. A few months back Bob said people needed to take a stake and hammer it into the ground during this season and the Lord said these are the ones who have done this and stood on his promise.

AuDera asked the Lord who the relief is coming for? Then she saw tents everywhere. The small two man canvas tents. The Lord said they have hammered their stakes and remained faithful where I placed them. This season was very tough for them but they did not move!

Read the rest of the post here: http://wordofhope-terance.blogspot.com/2007/05/relief-is-coming.html

Processional

I presided over the marriage of Shane and Emily Barringer yesterday over in Kannapolis, just outside of Charlotte. It was a sweet celebration, a joyful occasion. These pictures are from Shane's Myspace page, the top one of them standing by Nick Beaver's truck. I think they are in the ZHOP parking lot after Nick and Sarah got married a few weeks ago.

I met Shane through a divine appointment several years back. He had dreadlocks and was a Morningstar ministry student. Since then he spent a couple of years in KC at the IHOP joining in on the night watch. He also became something of a door for several people to find their way to the prayer room in Kansas City. He and Emily served the last year at the IHOP in Atlanta. While at this moment they are in Puerto Rico, I am eager to see how the will of God unfolds for them as they continue on together in their pursuit of Jesus and the manifestation of His Kingdom.