Rebuilding the Ancient Ruins

“A Time To Break Old Cycles: A Report on the Third Rome, Moscow” — by Chuck D. Pierce

• June 26th, 2005

This has been a time to go to war with legalistic structures and declare a shift in the laws that Satan has illegally positioned to work against God’s Kingdom plans. Even though this is a time that you could be presented with an opportunity to go around Mt. Sinai again – DON’T! Begin to shout that you are going up to Zion! Ask for the Spirit of revelation and wisdom and an open window of Heaven to pour out direction for you. - Chuck D. Pierce on the Elijah List

I HEARD A STRONG ANGEL PROCLAIMING: “‘EMERGENCY’ MODE! ALERT EVERY MINISTER AND MINISTRY TO CALL IN THEIR ‘RESERVES’!” (Nahum 2:1)

• June 22nd, 2005

I heard the heavens rumbling with angelic activity scrambling as their urgent assignments were being shouted out: “Alert every minister and ministry to call in their reserves! There are many whose wall of prayer protection is breached and they don’t know it!” Bill Yount on the Elijah List

All satisfying sustenance

• June 19th, 2005

Jesus very often referred to Himself as all-satisfying sustenance. Even the prophets of old prophesied of Jesus ability to satisfy us. I love the story of the Samaritan woman to whom Jesus offered Living Water, in this conversion Jesus explained the temporary satisfaction the natural water gives and then compared that to the water He had to offer, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again! On the contrary, the water I give him will become a spring of water inside him, welling up into eternal life!” (John 4:13b-14) In this story Jesus clearly lets us know that whatever the world provides will satisfy, but just for a little while. What Jesus offers will ensure we never want what the world has to offer again, in fact after drinking from the living water regularly we will become ourselves a source of living water to provide for others and ensure they no longer need to be satisfied by the world.

As earthen vessles we require sustenance, but our spirit also requires sustenance. Some of us are satisified by electronic devices, some of us by shopping, some by sports and so on, there are so many sources of water that the world has to offer, and these do satisfy, but only for a moment, we find that these only lead to our need for more. By being satisfied by Jesus, not only is it free, “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You without money, come, buy, and eat! Yes, come! Buy wine and milk without money — it’s free!” (Isaiah 55:1), but it also satisfies permanently. God asks us through Isaiah the prophet, “Why spend money for what isn’t food, your wages for what doesn’t satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2a) It’s like God wonders what we’re wasting our money on, trying to satisfy our spiritual needs on things that don’t satify when God offers us sustenance that truly satisfies and it’s free.

James 1:4 says, “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing.” According to James perfection includes “wanting nothing,” which means we’re completely satisfied by Jesus, we no longer desire what the world has to offer, we realize the temporality of earthly sustenance. Have you ever noticed that how feeding off earthly things to satisfy only increases the thirst. Gadgets require more gadgets, ice-cream requires more ice-cream, shopping requires more shopping. Not that these things are inherently bad, or that we shouldn’t have them, we should just not satisfy our thirst with these things. Jesus came to satisfy that thirst. If we’re designed that way, we should live that way.

It sounds easy and God describes exactly what we need to do through Isaiah the prophet, “Listen carefully to me, and you will eat well, you will enjoy the fat of the Land. Open your ears and come to me; listen well and you will live” (Isaiah 55:2b-3a), It’s by listening to God, by opening our ears that we receive our sustenance from Him. This is worded even more directly in Deuteronomy 8:3, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Our sustenance is the Word of God. We realize that Jesus is the only one that can provide eternal life, the only one who has the living water. In Isaiah and Deuteronomy it’s apparent that the Word of God is also our sustenance, these are one and the same, “The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Sh’khinah“ (John 1:14).

Now on the last day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!” (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were to receive later - the Spirit had not yet been given, because Yeshua had not been glorified.) (Johan 7:37-39) We need the sustenance which only Jesus can provide, we need to continue to receive our sustenance from Him and when we do, we will never again hunger for the worlds goods. The desires within us will be satisfied. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips (Psalms 63:5).

If you find yourself doing shopping in the world to satisfy a thirst, a desire within, that is never quenched, this is a clue that you need more of the Word of God. “Why spend money for what isn’t food, your wages for what doesn’t satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2a)

“It’s December 7, 1941, All Over Again!” — The Weapons of YOUR Warfare are Mighty!

• June 9th, 2005

Early one morning during the last couple of days of May (2005), I heard these powerful words in my spirit, “The weapons of YOUR warfare . . . ” (II Corinthians 10:4). The Holy Spirit clearly and dramatically emphasized the word “your” to me in this well-known Bible verse. You need to hear me! It’s December 7, 1941, all over again! We are at war!
“The (supernatural) weapons YOU (should be) wielding are not merely human. They are divinely potent . . . demolishing all demonic strongholds.” Dennis Cramer on the ElijahList

Restoration and beyond

• June 4th, 2005

This article is a continuation of I will rebuild you, the article provides some insight into the restoration process by addressing several pitfalls that we will encounter.

Caution 1: Don’t stop calling out for restoration

“You who call on ADONAI, give yourselves no rest; and give him no rest till he restores Yerushalayim” (Isaiah 62:6b-7) We are to give ADONAI no rest and ourselves no rest in calling on ADONAI until restoration is complete. It’s a human tendency we have to try and complete what God has started. If it starts in faith, it must endure in faith and finish in faith. The Israelites too tried to take over what God had started (several times), but on this one particular occasion they were struck with the plague. “ADONAI sent out a wind which brought quails from across the sea and let them fall near the camp, about a day’s trip away on each side of the camp and all around it, covering the ground to a depth of three feet. The people stayed up all that day, all night and all the next day gathering the quails – the person gathering the least collected ten heaps; then they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. But while the meat was still in their mouth, before they had chewed it up, the anger of ADONAI flared up against the people, and ADONAI struck the people with a terrible plague.” (Numbers 11:31-33) God had answered their cries for food, but once God had sent the provision, they stopped relying on God, but started relying on the provision, their lack of faith that God would supply their needs every day caused them to become greedy. Once God starts your restoration, keep calling on Him for restoration, keep it up until the
restoration is complete and be careful not to let go of your faith. If you find yourself as one “who stores up wealth for himself without being rich toward God” (Luke 11:21) be careful that you’re not hoarding up wealth because of a lack of faith.

Caution 2: Praise & prosperity

God’s restoration is a two-part restoration it includes praise and prosperity (self-employment), "Once again, equipped with your tambourines, you will go out and dance with the merry makers. Once again, you will plant vineyards on the hills of Shomron, and those doing the planting will have the use of it’s fruit." (Jeremiah 31:4-5) Restoration without praise is a cause for concern, you may be continuing the restoration process in your own strength. Praise and prosperity need to be tightly coupled, the prosperity should cause irrepressible joy, thanksgiving and praise as we see in this impression in Isaiah 62:9, “but those who harvest the grain will eat it with praises to ADONAI; those who gathered the wine will drink of it in the courtyards of my sanctuary."

Caution 3: Don’t light your own fires

“Who among you fears ADONAI? Who obeys what his servant says? Even when he walks in the dark, without any light, he will trust in ADONAI’s reputation and rely on his God. But all of you who are lighting fires and arming yourselves with firebrands: go, walk in the flame of your own fire, among the firebrands you lit! From my hands this [fate] awaits you: you will lie down in torment.” (Isaiah 50:10-11) It is very important that we understand what the Lord is saying through the prophet Isaiah. There are times when we will walk in the dark, times when what God has promised is humanly impossible, times
when we are backed into a corner with no way of escape and this is intentional, I call this “God’s edge principle.” The Israelites were taken to this place immediately after their exile from Egypt, “the desert has closed in on them.” (Exodus 14:3b) God had instructed them to set up camp at the edge of the sea; they had no way of escape and “The Egyptians went after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, with his cavalry and army” (Exodus 14:9). What a predicament, God’s people were on the edge, no way forward, no way back, no way, but God’s way. When your vision of the future is shut-off in the natural, you’re in darkness, learn to trust and “Just calm yourselves down” (Exodus 14:13). The worst thing you can do is to “arm yourself with firebrands” and start “lighting fires” because the outcome is that you will lie down in torment. When God has placed you on the edge, just stay calm and don’t try find your own way, trust in Him. God uses this occasions to demonstrate His power and to build your faith. “Then Pharaoh will say that the people of Israel are wandering aimlessly in the countryside, the desert has closed in on them. I will make
Pharaoh so hardhearted that he will pursue them; thus I will win glory for myself at the expense of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will realize at last that I am ADONAI.” (Exodus 14:3-4). Bringing God glory is by letting Him demonstrate His power in your life and it’s by letting Him take you to the edge so that His power can be revealed. Now this isn’t always how God works because “He [the Holy Spirit] will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” (John 16:13), so the Holy
Spirit does tell us about things to come in our life, but for the extreme displays of God’s power, there is a time of darkness and you will be on the edge. It’s this demonstration of power that will cause the old wineskins (Luke 5:37-39) to come to Him by provoking them to jealousy (Rom 10:19), it’s this testimony that will cause us to overcome (Rev 12:11). Hear Isaiah’s cry for the
demonstration of God’s power as in the days of their deliverance, “We wish you would tear open heaven and come down, so the mountains would shake at your presence! It would be like fire kindling the brush, and the fire then makes the water boil. Then your enemies would know your name, the nations would tremble before you! When you did tremendous things that we were not expecting, we wished you would come down, so that the mountains would shake at your presence! No one has ever heard, no ear has perceived, no eye seen, any God but you. You work for him who waits for you.” (Isaiah 64:1-4) The cries of someone who longs for God’s demonstration of power, and he mentions the key too at the end of verse 4, “You work for him who waits for you.” The power of God comes to those who wait for Him, this is also restated powerfully in Psalm
46:10, “Desist and learn that I am God.”

Caution 4: Expect the unexpected

Do you want to see God work for you?  Do you want to see God’s power demonstrated through your life?  Wait for Him, and when you do, you will see "tremendous things that we were not expecting," indicating that these miraculous interventions by God’s mighty arm will not be in the realm of human possibility.  We should not anticipate God’s move.  God is the creator of creativity and He loves to surprise us.  Sometimes we take a look
around, assess our situation and provide God with a list of options so that He can choose the most appropriate for us.  Don’t bother, it just takes away from your serenity, you’ll can’t figure out what He is about to do so just remain calm
and enjoy the show.

Caution 5: Don’t run away

Sometimes being on the edge is just plain horrible.  It may involve unfair treatment by your superiors, but don’t try to escape.  I like the way Kim
Clement phrases it, "find the sacredness in your moment."  There is a sacredness, there is something God wants you to learn, there is something God is working in you.  We can learn a lot from Sarai’s maid-servant who was facing
some interpersonal-conflict, "Sarai treated her so harshly that she ran away from her."  (Geneses 16:6)  There are times when this really seems like a good idea, after all, we’re God’s children and He wants the best for us.  He does want the best for us, He does see our pain, but He doesn’t want us to run away, “The angel of ADONAI found her by a spring in the desert, the spring on the road to Shur, and said, ‘Hagar! Sarai’s slave-girl! Where have you
come from and where are you going?’ She answered, ‘I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.’ The angel of ADONAI said to her, ‘Go back to your mistress, and submit to her authority.’ The angel of ADONAI said to her, ‘I will greatly increase your descendants; there will be so many that it will be impossible to count them.’ The angel of ADONAI said to her, ‘Look you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You are to call him Yishma’el [God pays attention] because ADONAI has paid attention to your misery.” (Gen 16:7-11) Hagar was corrected and instructed to return to her mistress, but also along with this rebuke, God explains His love for Hagar by giving her an incredible promise.  It’s interesting that God saw her misery, and God’s solution was to send her right back.  I think what the angel of the Lord said could be paraphrased like
this, "Go back to your mistress, it may be miserable, but I’m going to make it worth your while by blessing you far beyond what you could dream or imagine."  God may not choose to fix your circumstance, but God will make it more than
worth your while.

Now it was in God’s plan that she would part ways with Abraham and Sarah, but Hagar’s timing was off, she left in her own strength, out of her own will and still a slave. Being in a trying situation even if it endures for several years
does not necessarily mean that you’re not in the will of God, hang in there and wait for Him.  Pray for your restoration.  The story of Hagar continues in Genesis 21:14 where "Abraham got up early in the morning, took bread and skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and the child; then he sent her away." This time she was released from slavery and given supplies.  Hagar is in the same place as before, not a very grand place (the desert), but now she’s free from bondage, she has been faithful. 

Caution 6: So close yet so far

"Whoever finds his own life will lose it, but the person who loses his life for my sake will find it."  (Mat 10:39) Now this is a fantastic scripture, a little hard to swallow, but on your road to restoration you will have to make
this choice, and quite possibly more than once.  The life that God has promised you will be lost if you find it yourself, on the other hand, if you make choices that would seemingly lose the promise, you will find it..  This point is best
illustrated in David’s life, since he made the choice to lose his life and found it.  Samuel anointed David as king over all of Israel, "ADONAI said, ‘Stand up and anoint him; he’s the one.’" (1 Samuel 16:12)  This was David’s
promise, to be king, it took many years before he would truly reign  Now David had being fleeing from Saul and ended up in a cave with four hundred men, "Shaul took three thousand men chosen from all Israel and went searching for David and his men on the cliffs where the mountain goats are.  Near some sheep pens along the way was a cave, and Shaul went inside too relieve himself.  It happened that David and his men were sitting in the recesses at the back of the cave; and
David’s men said to him, ‘Look!  The day has come that ADONAI told you about when he said to you, ‘I will turn your enemy over to you, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.”  Then David stole over unobserved and cut off the corner of Shauls garment.  He said to his men, ‘ADONAI forbid that I should do such a thing to my lord, ADONAI’s anointed, as raise my hand against him!  After all, he is ADONAI’s anointed.’"  (1 Samuel 24:2-6)  David’s promise was so close, I’m sure he could taste it, God had even said that he would hand his enemy over to him, but David had to decide to do what was right, even it meant delaying the fulfillment of His promise.  We are going to be faced with these same occasions that have been ordained by God, we will recognize them by these attributes:

• They are God given occasions and have supernatural properties.
• Something seems out of place in that a little bending of God’s laws is required.
• They require some of our own strength to accomplish.

If you’re too eager to receive your promise you will take the shortcut and you may never receive your promise.  When God promises he will deliver, every
detail will align, you won’t need to tie up a few loose ends in your own strength.  You will not need to make compromises to claim what God has promised, remain righteous, remain steadfast and keep calling out for your restoration.  Move past the shortcuts.  These tests are extreme tests of our faith, we’ve trusted God for so long and now when the promise is so close, we have to let it go.  Look how David was honored for his choice, "Then David too got up and went outside the cave, where he called after Shaul, ‘My lord the king!’  When Shaul looked behnd him, David bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself.  David said to Shaul, ‘Why do you listen to people who say, ‘David is out to harm you?’  Here today you have seen with your own eyes that ADONAI put you in my power there in the cave.  Some of my men said I should kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I won’t raise my hand against my lord, because he is ADONAI’s anointed.’" (1 Samuel 24:8-10)  And Saul responded with, "’Is that your voice, my son David?  Then Shaul cried out and wept; and he said to David, ‘You are more righteous than I, because you have treated me well, while I
have been treating you badly.  You have made it clear to me today that you have done me good; for hen ADONAI put my fate in your hands, you didn’t kill me.  A man finds his enemy and lets him go unharmed?  May ADONAI reward you well for what you did to me today.  Now I am certain that you will indeed become king, and that the kingship of Israel will be established in your hands."  (1 Samuel 24:16-20)

Caution 7: The embittered men

If God has called you for a place of authority, here’s something you may encounter, "all the people in distress, in debt or embittered began gathering around him, and he became their leader; there were about four hundred with him."  (1 Samuel 22:2)  Your leadership training will not be with an easy crowd, those in distress, those in debt and those in bitterness will gather around you.  You will have to stay in tune with God even when their advice seems very good.  When David was in the cave, his embittered men wanted him to kill Saul.  These people will follow you, you will have to show them the love and compassion of God and be sure to listen to the voice of God.  If you find you have friends that look up to you and they fall into these categories, don’t try to get rid of them, God has placed them with you, to learn from you and they will be loyal to you.  Don’t write off everything they say either, discern and seek the council of your God.  "David was told, ‘The P’lishtim are fightin Ke`ilah and plundering the threshing-floors.’  David consulted ADONAI, asking, ‘Should I go and attack these P’lishtim?’  ADONAI answered David, ‘Go, and attack the P’lishtim, and save Ke`ilah.  David’s men said to him, ‘Look, we’re already afraid here in Y’hudah.  How much more, then, if we go to Ke`ilah to fight the armies of the P’lishtim!’  David consulted ADONAI again; and ADONAI answered him, ‘Set out, and go down to Ke`ilah, because I will hand the P’lishtim over to you.’" (1 Samuel 22:1-4)