Conviction of sin

Dear friends:

2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
 
That scripture has floated around in my mind for many a year. Where is the Lord? Only in the last 12 hours or so, have I seen this to be a PROMISE of the Lord. If we do as He has asked, then we receive the promise of the Lord. That HE will HEAL our land.
 
Last night as I spoke to a fellow minister we discussed some of the "crazy" stuff that has been going on in our individual communities. Where he lives it has been violence and suicide. Here we have had drug related deaths. As we have "called down heaven" we have left little place for the denizens of the second heaven to manifest. Surely, they can not be in the third heaven, but here on earth. And yet, we as people of prayer must seek the face of the Lord. My own prayers often have been self centered, aimed at my current situation, my personal comfort or something I have felt I needed.
 
This morning I knelt beside my bed and confessed my sins to the Lord and cried out to the Lord for my community and the lives headed to hell. As I read my daily reading (Nehemiah1-6, Romans 1) I saw the thread the Lord was weaving in my heart. Revival. And yet I "felt" nothing as I cried for people's salvation. No emotion. No feeling. Where was the burden? Where was the weeping and travail of a former day? I know God hears me and responds to me. And yet I sensed a fallowness in my own heart. No bright lights. I felt alone in my prayer. The song was in the background, "come and take control," and part of me wanted that. But the Lord was waiting for me, I think. Not to become emotional, though that often happens to me in His presence, but to see Him and what He has said for what it is.
 
"Humble themselves..." Over the recent weeks I have wondered what this word "humble" means. And as I spent time with Him, I saw that humility for us, is not the breaking down of our spirit and soul, but the ability to do as He did here on earth. Honoring Him, my Lord and King. How do I do that? By walking as He did here on earth. Walking in love. Walking in wisdom. Walking with purpose and direction. Walking with my eyes on heaven and the Father and my heart on earth and it's people. Bringing the word that saves. The hope that delivers.
 
Personally, I have felt humility has always eluded me.(You know they took away my award for humility, because I wore it.)  I am not a quiet person. I am not always sensitive to people. And I have been prone to bouts of pride. The Lord has removed a lot of that, but here comes a verse that tells us to humble ourselves, not be "humbled." I have never been convinced that walking around with my head bent low was sign of humility. How do I humble myself? At this stage of the game I submit to you that it is by simply walking as He did. And as people, we confess our sin and move on. What is humble about making  mistake and then not letting it go? All the attention is on you! And it does not release Him to do what He does so well. Cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
 
My wicked ways? I am sure there are more than a few. What dwells in my head from time to time could cause me a lot of trouble. What lurks beneath my calmness is not always God. And yet I rely on this scripture, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:  So the wicked ways I turn from must therefore be active and able to turn away from, for surely temptation is not sin, but only when it is entertained and allowed in.
 
The last few weeks has shown me that God is a God who does not lie; who answers prayer and is faithful. And if that is true, then surely His promise to us to heal our land is very real. If He has given us the opportunity to covenant with Him in this realm, then what has not happened is not a result of His doing, but ours. As I shared with my friend last night, as Abraham prayed for the saving of a city, there was no "moral majority," but simply the cries of a single man concerned about people and their end(Genesis 18). If a small group of people came together and humbled their selves, and modeled 2 Chronicles 7:14, then God would be required to honor His side of the deal.
 
I am the least likely to even begin. And yet I know that it is God's desire to heal our land. Oh, it means the end of myself, relinquishing fear and anxiety and stress as sin. Humbling myself to the place where I trust God in every area. Overcoming my dislike and even hatred for myself in areas I have failed in. Only the other day I encountered a "stalker" in my life. A person who is set to humiliate me and quite possibly at all costs. It began to rock my foundation. And then I sensed the word of the Lord saying, "what is past is past." And I realized that I could never change things of 20 years ago. And that my life was really in His hands.
 
Maybe this journey has touched something in your heart. Reminded you of the fever you embraced Him with at some point. I know that I can never recover some of those times and yet I believe the times to come will be better.
 
Perhaps our celebration of "memorial day" is more than a holiday.
 
Blessings,
Lee

Lonely

So often I hear about 'loneliness" in the body of Christ. I often find myself lonely. I often find myself thinking about how few friends I have. I find myself thinking "is this ever going to end?"

 

As the internet progresses and it's easier to find a "friend" but never have an encounter, I think the human need to be connected is either going to go cold or get stronger.

 

And the Lord has dealt with this in me to some extent. There are now 8 people living in my home.

 

Some of you will not remember that program of 25 years or so ago. Eight's Enough. One of the stars was a man named Grant Goodeve. His father in real life was our bookkeeper. The basis of the show was 8 children in one home.

 

As I was showering this morning, (My present retreat.) I was reminded of that show. In my case, it is now myself and Tina, Cass, Matt, Alyssa and 3 grandchildren. the two bedroom house is full. Alyssa and her children occupy the living room and we might have room for one more child in our kitchen. Yesterday, they left for a few hours to go to the library and I turned up the worship and spent that two hours with pounding drums and bass lines and songs of revival and deliverance. I am a rejoicer. But I still need my "quiet" times.

 

So, is eight enough? For this little house on the mountaintop, I would say it is. Ironically, the Lord gave Tina a word about getting a big house, because the children would return. I do not think she saw it like this. Loads of laundry, dishes and food. Constant activity. I am waiting for the Beatles song, "Here Comes The Sun," so that I can take off here and there! My grandchildren love to rough house, so one must accommodate them.

 

Eight is often seen as the number for new beginnings. With the selling of the store this week, I feel I have a new beginning. I have received a flurry of prophetic words describing this time to come. All of them run the same thought process. But the reality of it is we all have a new beginning, each and every day. His blessings and mercies are new every day.  That is what HE says. The question is whether we will go with God or with what our feelings are. I choose God on this one.

 

My house is full with children, grandchildren and my wife.

 

Lonely. Not right at this minute. But, being lonely happens for a couple of reasons. One is that we have not sown into other's lives. We are always expecting others to come to us. In my life, this was self centered approach to get me to feel better. But what if I sowed? What if I made the calls or the visits? Just this morning I sent out a bunch of letters and got a bunch back. A friend of mine is starting a company. It is called ME. Why? Because he said "it is about me," and he meant it. He is in pre-Christian mode, so I indulge him.

 

Sunday, a friend I have ministered to for over 10 months showed up in church. He needed a friend...and prayer.

 

So, we can fix loneliness by sowing into other's lives. And we can always change loneliness by developing a perspective of "how does the other person feel?" When I treat others as I want to be treated, I will develop something called humility. Humility is not "what I have been through and all the horrible things," but living my life as the Lord intended it. Doing His will. Serving others for Him. Saying to the Lord "NO" tells the Lord I am not His. He is not my Lord. It is when I come under His yoke that change comes.

 

And with serving others, anxiety disappears as well, for what is anxiety but a case of "me" and "what if the Lord does not do things my way. So many I meet are anxious, because they think the One who will get them to heaven "cares so little" as to make them complete.  I know over 50 Christians popping anti-anxiety meds. I think it is about trust. The Lord commands or addresses the issue of anxiety when He says "be anxious for nothing."

 

I am still in the process of getting me out of the way. Doing all that He asks of me. I need to invest more in other's lives. I know that. I have the ability to bless others. To help. To change the atmosphere. And in that relm I have no anxiety, fear, shame or loneliness.

 

 

Blessings,

Lee

An afternoon on the river(Long)

I am going to share my afternoon excursion into the prophetic. It has a lot of meaning to my friend. It has a lot to do with changes coming locally and regionally. And it really opened my eyes.

 

It was a beautiful afternoon. A friend and I had planned to go last week, but the wind was going to be too much. So, when I was not able to make it yesterday morning, we agreed to go out on the river at 3:30. I met him at the boat launch. I looked at my watch 3:31. Because it was the 7th day of the month I felt led to view the scripture in the book of Judges. (And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel. One of my all time favorites. Right Paul?) He had brought his daughter. We unloaded the boat. It started(For the first time this year.) and as the smoke from setting all winter drifted across the water, I thought this is going to be a prophetic afternoon. My friend later shared that He felt the Lord told him that I had to go; no excuses. So, we headed down the river for a little while, letting the boat warm up. (It is a 350CI, appx. 250 HP, inboard outboard.) Turning around we headed up the river. As we passed the bridge, I felt like we just crossed over. Like the river Jordan. There was a change. We cruised along, admiring all that was around us. And as he adjusted the trim, (Trimming provides increased speed and better visibility, just as trimming our "wicks" or hearts would in the spirit realm.) we leveled out and cruised.

 

Now, I will tell you, that I spent all my young summer life on lakes and water. We always had a boat. We went water skiing, fishing and camping in our boat. And I love the water. I have asked God for years to release me to Burlington or Lake George or something. Please. So going out on the boat was "heaven" to me.

 

As we went up the river, everything was going fine. As we neared a friend's property on the river, I was explaining to my friend about why he had left the area, etc. We began to turn around and were just heading down river, when the river went into high revs with no forward motion.  Shutting down the motor, we went to the back of the boat. Our first thought was that the prop had come off. But as I crawled over the motor, I could see that was not the case. But the motor was not connecting to the prop. That was for sure. And we were shipwrecked.

 

We began to drift. Slowly but surely the current was bringing us back to our point of entry. It would take forever but we would get there.

 

Now, I have meditated on this a lot.

 

My friend who had left the area, had strongly felt he had been called to the area. Appointed. But he left. (Those of you who read my story about Jeremy will recognize the reference to "appointed.") And as we drifted, I could see the cars and houses up on the road. Route 5. {Five biblically means THE NUMBER OF GRACE. Redemption. Israel came out of Egypt 5 in rank (Ex 13:18). David picked up 5 smooth stone to fight Goliath (1 Sam. 17:40). The Holy Anointing Oil was pure and composed of 5 parts (Ex. 30:23-25).

 

The ancients represented the world by the number 5, the explanation being that in 5 are represented the four elements earth, water, fire and air, plus the fifth essence, ether or spirit. Five became the number of humanity with the five developed senses. It is the great senses, after which the sixth sense intuition develops.

The five wounds of Christ symbolize the suffering endured while in the flesh, which leads us to turn to God. In the parable of the five wise and the five foolish virgins (Matthew 25:3), "They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in Testament their vessels with their lamps." The oil relates to the anointed, or those who had light. Human beings can choose the light or reject it by their actions.}

As we drifted I was seeing the world that I knew (From the road.) from a different perspective. Things were different. There was a lot more "trash" behind these homes. A friend of mine who is an aerial photographer was telling me the same thing, only yesterday. That from the air, a lot of things were trashed. And there was also the sense that you mere moving in a direction. You had no choice. You went where the current took you. Now there are two thoughts on that. One is if you relax you go where the Spirit will take you. The other is that without power you go down the river. Life was different out here on the river. And like the river, the river of God reveals a different thought process. Our life does not always look as pretty as we thought it to be. It reveals what we have been hiding from the world. It also goes where it wants and not where we want. I have always said any "dead fish" can go down river, but it takes the strength and perseverance of a salmon to go up river. Yesterday, showed me the helplessness of no power. I also was reminded that while prayer is the engine that moves thing(When combined with faith.), without a proper channel or used appropriately, all you have is a loud noise accomplishing nothing. That is not the way of the Lord. His word goes forth to accomplish it's purpose. Another fact gripped me. I felt like that motor. All revved up and not going anywhere. Just spinning in place. The motor required a "team" connection to the transmission and ultimately to the prop to accomplish it's will. I am sure I am not the only one who has felt like they were all revved up and nothing was happening.

We called our wives and I called a friend. As we drifted we talked. And then we were just getting ready to get the police involved. When this boat appeared. My friend had come through. He had gone to the boat landing and connected with this fisherman, who agreed to come rescue us. As he hooked up to us, he told us his name. He began to tow us down the river and to the landing. We talked more, all the while my prophetic sense was on fire. As we neared the bridge something happened that clearly indicated witchcraft to me. The young girl began to meditate in yoga style. "Om." She was kidding, but I sensed it was "real" in the prophetic realm. Something that was to come. It had to do with the spirit of new age. There is something about that bridge and it's connection to Springfield. Years ago there was a prophetic word that said the toll booth would remain until the people were not concerned with the money and willing to pay the price for the Lord to come. Many of you know that this city was the place for the Revival of Religion 1834.

I am thinking there is something else about this fisherman. Do I have it? Not yet. There is definitely something about fishing. The fisherman. His name was Terry. The name means "Power of the tribe." As I read that I realized the power of the tribe was the rescuing power. And he did rescue us. Without jeering or sarcasm, he humbly brought us to safety.

For my friend the indicators are the power of a team in a new adventure. I sensed that the Lord was describing the type of attack (isolation and witchcraft) that would come with this call. That there will be assembled a team of humble people with the heart of a shepherd. They will get this ministry to the goal. That the friend who had left the area represented a call not won. That the turning back would not be won without a battle, meaning the restoration of basics in the body. Ironically I originally thought the fisherman's name was Perry and my friend thought it was Harry. So, the Lord guided me to the correct name when I saw his truck below my home this morning. He will see the river of God flow, and it will reveal things in himself and others the Lord will be changing. Some of the irony was that as I was telling him of the prophetic he received an email about being shipwrecked from one of his intercessors.

The church will see a similar line brought about in the regional and local church. Shepherds of humility and fisherman who will go for the lost. Willing to come to the aid of the traveler. Many who have felt trapped and revving their engines will see the repair coming that will connect the to the "power of the tribe." Connections of importance are being made. All parts will be working together. "Every joint supplying..." No more turning around or aborted calls. Overcoming the spirit of witchcraft which has seduced our young. Recovering the power of the Lord that He might be glorified. Taking back that which was stolen. Allowing the river of light to reveal everything that is not God and adapting a willing ness to change it. Observing people and the community from a different perspective. Seeing people from God's point of view and not our own.

There is much more I am receiving moment by moment. My friend who got the rescuer. His last name is Godfrey or "God free," in this case. This was an experience. Even today as person after person came in to the store needing help, a listening ear, a shoulder, I am a witness to the awesomeness of the Lord.

 

May God bless you.
Lee
http://pcfministries.blogspot.com/

 

This is it! (LONG)

THIS IS IT!

 

The month of May. Many prophets have spoken as to what this will mean to His people. A time of abundance and prosperity.

 

I want that to be in the back of our mind as we look at what is happening. For Tina and I, it means working hard to see the store sold and get our business of PPL(isn't it interesting that it means "PEOPLE?") moving nationally. I have many projects on the burners simmering, so to speak. It is a time of harvest. We will see many salvations coming.

 

Yesterday we met with Darryl and Martha Rodman. Two things came out of that meeting. One was a testimony about the 1,000 member Bible club in a school where gangs ruled and it was a lockdown school. All because of the faith of one 17 year old young lady. The other helped me clarify my thoughts about something that had been bothering me. We have 2 positions we hold. One is blessing people and the other is building with people. I had been wrestling with this. Over "obligation." I feel obligated to "bless" people, but not all of them will we build with or partner with. My thoughts have been on the scripture about fruit that remains. Darryl articulated what I had been thinking.

 

And that leads me to the next point. Nothing is more disturbing to me than "lack of passion." Be a passionate "sinner" and I hold hope for you. God can steer a moving ship. Be dead in the water, and nothing happens. Except the sharks of the enemy begin to circle. I am beginning a quest for passion and passionate people. I am talking about the person who will stay up till 3AM with me and break open the bread of life. The person who says I have not seen enough of God, I want more. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for they will be filed."

 

Time waits for no one. God gave us passion. It is up to us to use it. I have recently contemplated some thoughts from the "Jesus Revival." And one of the results I came away from is the computer acronym. GIGO. Garbage in. Garbage out. The contemplations have to do with this. "Inward, Upward, Outward, Forward." What is going on inside? That is part of the reason for Deeper Relationships. To help one another sort of things. Upward-what is our relationship with Him looking like. Outward is how is the previous 2 thoughts shaping your actions towards others? Is it loving? And Forward is contemplating what is to come? What will my future look like as I take on these previous 3 actions. What are my feelings? How do I do this?

 

My teaching will reflect this passion. My life will reflect this passion. It changes our thoughts about our home here. We have been told it is a place of worship and prayer. It changes what we think about what we are going to do here. We will be looking for passionate people to work with. In the process we will bless those that are along the way, but a recent study of John 6 left me thinking a lot about this. Many witnessed the miracle" of no lack that fed thousands of people. He met them with miracles and food. And when asked how they might do these same glorious works. He said "believe." (6:29) An easy thing many have said. Obviously not, because in a few short minutes, many left him behind.

 

It leaves me thinking about taking our church to the internet level. Much is happening in that realm. We have people all over saying, "Hey. Let's do this." Imagine the church 24/7 with pastors available and teachers, etc. (My 3 David's-please read this. I need help here.)

 

I will be returning to my training and teaching schedules. We are going to embrace the words constantly spoken about a training center. We do not know what is will look like. We are not sure what will happen. We just know God is to be trusted.

 

These are exciting times folks. May is IT! What you have sowed, so shall you reap. The hearts of the fathers turned towards the children and the hearts of the children turned to the fathers. Wild things can be counted on to happen.

 

 

So many accomplish the first 2-3 moves but when it comes to FORWARD it seems like the transmission fell out. WE must see this through. Do we want to see 1,000 NEW CONVERTS in a Bible Study? I DO. I do not care what it takes. Do we want to see a Coliseum filled by a church of 500? Oh, they did a special meeting for EASTER and 14,000 people showed up. 800 got baptized and were encouraged to wear their wet clothes to Easter dinner and explain what happened.

 

I am glad when people seek a change inwardly. I am glad when they expose themselves to God for His care. I am excited about the outward changes that manifest. But the most exciting realm is when passion takes over and the train moves ahead. What does the future hold? Where can we go? When can we go? LET'S GO. My friend Jack Taylor did an incredible teaching one time on "can't stay here. Can't go on. Might as well go ahead. Got to tell somebody." It was about the lepers who were caught in famine. They would die if they stayed. There was nothing back in the city for them. So they decided to go ahead and see if they could grab some food from the enemy. When they got there the enemy was gone. So they ran back and told everyone.