Obviously From Another Perspective

Obviously from another perspective by Meri Ford  September 13, 2014

This week I participation in a nationwide conference call calling Christians to pray for our nation. I understand at least two other nations were represented among those that called in.  I was waiting all afternoon for 4pm our time for the time to call in and before I knew it it was 4:15pm. So, perhaps there were some things said in the first 15 min that I missed.  I am thankful that I had the opportunity to be a part of that nationwide conference call.

I listened to it on my cell hands free as I dug potatoes out in my garden knowing I could say anything I wanted out in the garden as folks were led in prayer.  The very last prayer done by the organizer a Dr. Theresa something I seemed to have forgotten her last name was one of the most profound declaration of the power and authority of the name of Jesus spoken into various aspects of our government. Her prayer was unlike most of the previous prayers which were prayers of petition asking God to do this and do that, save our school, move on our legislature, etc. etc.  And they were gracious sounding prayers I know prayed from the very heart cry of the people praying. And then the director or organizer had all listening in to sing God Bless America!

Sorry folks, but that did it!!   Throughout the conference call I kept hearing 2 Chronicles 7:14 ...if My people who are called by My Name..will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from THEIR wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and heal their land.

We were praying for healing and righteousness in government, in our schools, asking God for this...and that...and to bless us. Yet, His Word says...if we want Him to bless us...we who are called by His name must humble ourselves. Granted I missed the first 15 min. but I didn't hear any of the ones praying address their own propensity or the "church's" propensity to do the same type of thing going on in our schools, in our local, state, and federal governments. I didn't hear anyone talk about their own failure to take care of the widows and orphans...and to welcome the "aliens".

How do we think God will hear us crying out to him when "we the church" carry within ourselves all the very sin of this nation, the pornography, the adultery and other sex sin, alcoholism and drug addiction, thievry and control?  When we the body of Christ repent of our idolatry in all the forms it takes, of all the ways we put people, places and things ahead of relationship with Him, then I think He is going to hear us and help us as we seek His face..and His grace will empower us as His own body to turn from our wicked ways.

Please,.....I've already been told that God looks at our hearts and that I need to be "careful" when I address things like this.  I write this figuring I will pull some more of that kind of thinking.  God is a god of mercy and as soon as the Israelites would turn back to Him, look towards Him tired of their own wicked ways, He heard. Until the point came when he said no more....and told them He'd hear them if they "cried to him early and then in the day of trouble he'd hear them."

Somehow I don't think it is "early" for the USA. Yes, I believe God is a gracious God, and He will hear the cry of the righteous over this nation, for the righteous one is humble, knows his own frame, and knows that apart from Himself and our life in Him, we will make even more messes than we see governmental agencies making.  

I would like your input on this.  It is crucial I think for us to really know what God wants of His own people in this hour..those who are called by His Name, who live out of Jesus Christ and live and move and have their being in Him.

May we grow in wisdom and knowledge and redeem the time for the days are evil.

Meri

              Meri Ford

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A Dream August 24, 2014 Marker Gods

THE DREAM 8/24/2014

SEPTEMBER 2, 2014 RENEWEDHOPEMERIFORD LEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Kriston Couchy posted on Facebook recently that he was now seeing that dreams and visions were the ways that the Lord spoke to him about things that day by day conversation with the Lord didn’t facilitate. He said that most often they were some kind of issue that he was otherwise blind to, needed correction in, or freedom from, or other things beyond his own level of understanding that it was spelled out in a dream or vision.

I have found this true also and sometimes things He shows me in dreams are things that pertain to me that He is showing me and sometimes those things are relevant to other people and their walk with God also. Believing that a recent dream I had holds insight that not only is about me but has relevance to others in their walk with the Lord I am sharing most of this dream with you and what I have come to understand that it means.

Please remember any names aren’t about specific people though specific names are mentioned but are representative of some group or type.

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On August 24 in the morning I had gone back to sleep after my husband got up to go to breakfast as I hadn’t slept well. And this is the dream I had:

I was in a courtyard and there was a woman on a bench along the side that was sick and I ministered healing to her and then told her to go outside where the others were and minister to them. Many had been in the courtyard but they had been sent out through the beautiful doors of gold and brass that had cut glass/opaque windows through which the sun was shining into the courtyard.

I knew this woman had been with the group of people who had been sent out of the courtyard earlier and had stayed behind on the bench waiting because she was sick and wanted ministry. I told her to go out and motioned for her to go through a side door not through those beautiful doors.

As she left, a group of people came in through those big brass shiny doors being led by Robert Holmes. I went to go see what they were doing and to minister to some of the outsiders that came in with them. Somehow I got roughed up by the group and got my nose broken. I hurt!!

A few minutes later I spoke to Robert on the side near the bench where the sick lady had been sitting and he apologized for my nose getting broken saying he didn’t realize it happened. It was then he told me, with the group that had come in with him to his back,” My marker god is Buddha.” He and the group then gathered all around a table in the middle of the room having fellowship together. I wasn’t invited.

To my right was another bench (the first bench was now to my back around a short wall) This other bench sat along the wall of the room and the table the group was fellowshipping around was in the middle of that room probably 5-6 feet away somewhat separated from where this bench was..This bench was facing the doors which were to my left. And on that bench was a man I recognized from the movie Heaven is Real which we had watched the evening before. My husband had told me during the movie that this man’s name was Church but he couldn’t remember the first name so I I had looked it up and it was Robert Hayden Church. In my dream he was just called Mr. Church and I recognized him.

Mr. Church had a scroll in his hand and he fumbled the scroll and it almost fell out of his hands and he caught it just before it fell on the ground. As the scroll fell, it opened partially and I saw some green highlighting on it. I asked Mr. Church what the green highlighting was and he said that it was things he had gotten or learned from the sermon. About this time I found myself saying, My marker god is church/pastors.

Mr. Church welcomed me even though he knew I was in great pain with the broken nose. He, too ,was excluded from the group fellowshipping around the table. But he also didn’t have any help for my hurt.

I woke up wondering what marker gods were, what it meant that the one person had said his marker god was Buddha and that I had myself said my marker god was church/pastors.

After writing the dream down I began talking to the Lord about it and repenting of having idolatry in my heart and life for years. Then I began to explore my bible dictionary of dream language and found that Buddha in dreams refers to a religious spirit. I began to realize that Robert Holmes represented in part the apostolic/prophetic leadership. The sending the people outside and then having a group follow them inside, referred to what is often the “shuttling” of the sick and wounded who were in those places to help minister to people, often got wounded in the chaos surrounding apostolic/prophetic ministry. The other thing it referred to was that often there are those who are sick and in need of healing that get sidelined or who are persistent enough to not leave when they are told and wait to be healed, and often someone other than the “minister” is the agent the Lord uses to heal.

The lady that was sidelined on the bench ( which is the meaning of the bench—to be sidelined) went out the side door because the front door is “dangerous” as the crowds that come and go are often not mindful or thoughtful of people, even ones God has healed. She was sent out to those outside to minister. It isn’t always safe to minister even to folks within the congregation or group or whatever we want to call those who gather with apostolic/prophetic leadership. It is most often necessary to go outside the gates to minister to folks because the crowd inside the gates is within their own group and ways.

I looked up Buddha and marker god Buddha means a “religious spirit.”

These things mentioned above happen because of the “religious spirit” that often permeates the apostolic prophetic leadership despite what often is great verbalization of “casting out every religious spirit” before services, etc. The religious spirit is “exclusive”…it excludes, ignores, doesn’t welcome everyone, even those called into ministry, and those working in ministry. We see this in the “fellowship around the table”. But it can’t be cast out as it resides in the hearts of us who are called Christians and which tends to have a stronghold in many of us.

My broken nose appears to mean a broken spirit. It speaks of the wounding that comes from the religious spirit that has permeated the apostolic/prophetic community which I have been a part. It often comes from being “unseen”, ignored and/or left out. In the dream Robert didn’t even realize I had gotten injured. He was quick to apologize but there still was no “inclusion” and I continued to have a broken nose which really hurt. It is interesting to note that Robert Church (interesting that both had the first name) welcomed me and recognized I was hurting, but still no healing. The name is a compound word of hrod and berht, the first part meaning fame/glory and the berht means bright. In the dream I didn’t not know Mr. Church’s name was Robert. I had to look it up again though I had looked it up when my husband had mentioned it the night before when we watched the movie Heaven is Real as Robert Hayden Church was one of the actors in that movie. So bright fame/glory both exist in the apostolic/prophetic community as well as in the Church. But I found it interesting that Mr. Church wasn’t really welcomed into the fellowship of the apostolic/prophetic either.

Mr. Church had the scroll representing the Word of God but he fumbled handling it and almost dropped it…which means just what it says, to let go of the responsibility of the Word of God. Mr. Church had his priorities out of whack. The value of the Word of God related to what he had heard in the sermon. It was what he heard in the sermon that he highlighted in the bible/scroll. He was looking to the sermon for illumination rather than the Word of God. However, it was when he picked up the Scroll, the Word of God that I suddenly knew that my marker god was church/pastors. And as I edit this today, I suddenly realized I saw what I saw by the illumination of the Word of God not from a sermon.

I did some research on markers and found that they are used to IDENTIFY something. Ones own marker is often ones signature as is the case in gambling when one has a debt; the gambler signs the IOU with his marker, his signature or initials so someone knows who it belongs to. So to have church/pastors as my marker god, means that over the years I have drawn my identity from church/pastors rather than from the Word of God. To have Buddha as ones marker god, is to refer to having ones identity tied up in religious activity and even spiritual activity rather than in Himself.

And most of us who have been in the apostolic/prophetic community the past 20 years know the propensity of those in that community to focus on spiritual experiences, spiritual activity, and supernatural things. I am pleased to see more and more this community are holding up Himself, the Lord of All, and focusing on Him and the personal and corporate identity we have IN CHRIST JESUS.

This is what I have come to understand from this dream. It is not, I mentioned again about Robert Holmes the real person who is an apostolic/prophetic leader and is not about Robert Hayden Church, a real actor who plays in many godly films. They are just people who represent something by their name and position, not necessarily their own lifestyle, etc.

My broken spirit bothered me until Holy Spirit brought to mind that scripture

Psalm 51:17 “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” The meaning of this is connected with the verse .

However, if one doesn’t recognize one is broken in spirit, they don’t realize it can cause one to not hear like as in Exodus 6:9. Here is a neat link to an article that addresses broken spirits. How awesome that God considers a broken spirit a sacrifice that God will accept!! I am made whole again when my spirit is nourished by Holy Spirit either by Himself or through His Body.http://theworksofgod.com/2011/02/24/do-you-have-a-broken-spirit/

I finish this with saying with some sense of humor and relief , that I started to wonder as I looked over the dream if “broken nose” was the same as a nose out of joint? And I have to say I was glad to find broken nose means broken spirit…and is something different that a nose out of joint…which we refer to more as a sense of offense.

If you have some further understanding to parts of this dream or other comments, you are welcome to share them with me and as I consider them appropriate to share with the list I will do that.

Most appreciatively,

Meri Ford

Repentance in our daily lives

I had the privilege of gathering with a group of about 10 people in the localarea on Thursday August 21 when we enjoyed a great time of teaching and sharing from the group as God poured Himself out in our midst.

I was given the freedom to write some of what was shared together in that meeting. And I will do it through the eyes that I see and know, and it could be that others, seeing from another vantage point, might have heard what God was saying to them differently.

So I am sharing what has impacted me today. And what has impacted me the most is the confirmation and reaffirmation of several other prophetic words that I have read recently by other known apostles/prophets.

It is not anything shocking to us that hard times are coming to the USA. We know the threats of ISSI to come to America, and beyond that their leaders have said that they are already here! Nor is it shocking as we think about also having a renewed,, energized Russia sitting off our Northwest border of Alaska which sees that the leadership of this nation is passive in the face of global threat. As I have talked with others about these things and pondered them myself over the past week or two, it appears clear to me that some of these things are “set” as far as the fact that they are going to happen. The question is WHEN:what the timing of the event is? And it appears that we, the saints of God, do have some opportunity in participating in the timing of the events that will come upon the USA.

Yet, as I listen and wait upon the Lord personally, and seek to assimilate the understanding that He is working in me, seeking to comprehend His overall message which was reiterated today and also in other posts, I see rather clearly is NOT about what is going to happen or even the time. In fact, I see Him asking us to get our eyes off those things and allow Him to work in us what He is doing. There seems to be many issues in front of each of us that He is taking us through, and it is these “obstacles” that we are experiencing that are the training grounds for the days ahead. Today it was mentioned that a new Army recruit doesn’t put on the uniform and go right into war. He has the lovely opportunity to go through Basic Training,where he will be required to work through a variety of obstacles by which he is equipped, strengthened and trained for the days ahead. Even the infantry men then go through Advanced training before they go out on the field of battle.

Some of us are tired of the obstacles in our path, and there is within the Body of Christ a philosophy or way of thinking that says those obstacles are the devil working and effort is made to identify the “spirit” working in that obstacle and remove it. My heart heard Him say tonight that it is the condition of OUR HEART that the obstacle is giving us opportunity to be changed. Psalm 150:1 talks about Praising Him in the sanctuary. This house of flesh that I dwell in is presently the sanctuary in which the Holy Spirit joined with my spirit is living in. He wants to rule and reign in my house of flesh on this earth in August 2014.Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. And that will require that we come to know Him in whom we abide and put our faith and trust in who He is in us above all else.

Perhaps this is what is meant when preachers speak and say, “Seek my Face not my hand.” I think in part this means that we seek Him in the sanctuary, which is Christ in me the hope of glory rather than looking at the things He does around us and the circumstances around us that frustrate us and make life difficult for us. His way seems to be to focus on allowing HIm to be all He is IN us,. He is inviting us to open the gates of our hearts by yielding our mouths to Him in thanksgiving in all things. For the scriptures say, “In everything give thanks for this is the Will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

We cry out to the Father that we want to do His will and we focus on doing doing doing for that is what we have been taught so long. Yet He says…”it is My will that you open up the gates of your heart to me in thanksgiving and THEN come into My courts/presence with praise.” There He says He will dwell and where two or three gather together and walk IN HIS NAME, He will manifest Himself. It is all about Him, not even what He is doing much less even than what I am doing. It isn’t about what I want HIm to do in a given situation or circumstances. And NOT what the devil is doing in a given situation. Where the saints are operating out of the sanctuary, having entered through the act of obedience called thanksgiving and praise, He is free to do what only He can do and has purposed. There He can teach us His way that we might walk with Him in what He is doing. We quickly learn and come to be aware of what “dead works” are no matter how effective they are in terms of results. They leave us empty hearted.

We are blessed as children of the Father and sons and brothers in Christ Jesus that Papa sees our frame that we are weak and frail. So as I look out at those who are spending most of their time dealing with “spirits” that are “out there” instead of dealing with the Spirit of God that would rise up within us when we are in thanksgiving and praise, “oned” with Him in Him, I get concerned. Spiritual works aren’t a whole lot different than social works. I know my share of both types of activities and both, though they may accomplish something in the natural and God may even use to proclaim His name, will leave our hearts void. Spiritual gifts don’t mature us. Abiding in Him, dying into life, offering up the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, these are the foundation stones of life in Christ Jesus and the process by which we are “established” in Him! Yes there is a place for spiritual gifts, thank you Jesus! Whatever we receive by spiritual gifting must eventually be worked out of us to become Christ Himself in us. Spiritual gifts are free. True Spirituality or a life in Jesus or allow Christ to be himself in us requires dying, the work of the cross, REPENTANCE.

And at the gathering there we had some teaching on Repentance. I like the Hebrew word for repentance and the rabbinical way of addressing it and it fits in so well with the message given us today and which I am hearing across the nation. Here is a quote that gives some perspective.
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To regret doing something alone without changing your way or making amends is NOT to repent.

The Hebrew word for repent is teshuvah.

“Teshuvah” is the word for repent which comprises the two steps involved, nicham (to feel regret or sorrow) and shuv (to return)

`When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Eternal, that person is guilty and must confess the sin he

has committed. He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it all to the person he has wronged. [Numbers 5:6-7]
30:8 You will repent and obey God, keeping all His commandments, as I prescribe them to you today.

Ve’atah tashuv veshamata bekol Adonay ve’asita et-kol-mitsvotav asher anochi metsavecha hayom.

Deuteronomy 30:8

note the Hebrew word tashuv there

teshuvah is the NOUN for repenthttps://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111011101706AAKZ3ax
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Today the key word was RESET. One could look at it as if one was rebooting. It means we turned off the power or recognized we had turned the power off and turn it back on. When my computer updates the software for the computer itself, it always requires a “reboot.” How many times have we taken in a ton of new information, been stirred, sometimes out of our wits, so to speak, but we never “rebooted?” It takes the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives to bring us awareness of the need to reboot/reset the way of life we were living. Otherwise we continue in the same patterns. How do we know we are doing that? One of the ways is when we hear ourselves saying to ourselves or others,”I know that!” I may know it. I may have knowledge of something, of information, but if I haven’t reset the system, that new information isn’t integrated into the programing to create a new path. The old errors and bad scripts remain and we are never truly set free of the bondage that those errors and bad scripts held us in.

Once we are willing to reset/reboot which is the initial step of repentance brought about by the Holy Spirit, then comes the reassignment. And most of us know that just because we “hear” or gain insightfrom the Father that we have a destiny, mission, or call, doesn’t mean that we are to step out and start doing those things. Instead, it requires the next “R”.

The next aspect of repentance is realignment. This involves being realigned to God and his plan and to get our actions and reactions in align with His. This means learning to hear and see what God is doing and learning to be a colaborer in what He is doing and what He is saying.

The next aspect of repentance is REACT. When we have reset and been reassigned and brought into the alignment with Him that will allow us to co-labor with him in that “assignment” then we will be reacting out of Himself:Christ in us our hope of glory.

And that will bring us back to repentance because our reactions in our assignments will always be imperfect. For we are human beings being formed in His image, a process that will continue until the image of Christ predetermined before the foundation of the world is completed in us.We will mess us, we will screw up, we will make major mistakes and each of these brings us back to Repentance as Holy Spirit reveals things in us that aren’t like Him and gives us the opportunity to be formed in that area in to His image.

These five R words describe fairly clearly what I read about “Teshuvah”. And I suggest you might find it profitable to do your own study on the OT concept of repentance. The NT concept which comes from the word metanoia is often seen and interpreted in a much more limited basis though clearly not within the full biblical context of repentance. Once we change our minds about something, it alters our feelings and prompts us to choices of different behaviors. Which is why scripture speaks of the “renewing of the spirit of the mind.” As a man thinketh so is he. And if we have the full concept of metanoia which involves literally a change of behavior as a result of incorporated thinking change, then we see Repentance in its fullness as the OT illustrates.

As this gathering was also discussion of the letter R which is the 18th letter of the alphabet which is associated with or symbolic of bondage. If you look up some of the biblical use of the number 18, you will gain some further understanding about the way we come out of bondage, which is through repentance.

In closing, I am copying and pasting the words of a song that was shared at the gathering with slight change in the repeated phrase because Jehovah is not just another god…THERE IS NO OTHER GOD BUT JEHOVAH!! These indeed are the Days of Elijah.

The Days of Elijah

These are the days of Elijah
Declaring the word of the Lord
And these are the days of Your servant Moses
Righteousness being restored

And these are the days of great trials
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still we are the voice in the desert crying
Prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun at the trumpet’s call
So, lift your voice, it’s the year of Jubilee
Out of Zions hill, salvation comes

And these are the days of Ezekiel
The dry bones becoming as flesh
And these are the days of Your servant, David
Rebuilding a temple of praise

And these are the days of the harvest
The fields are all white in Your world
And we are the laborers in Your vineyard
Declaring the Word of the Lord

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun at the trumpet’s call
So, lift your voice, it’s the year of Jubilee
Out of Zions hill, salvation comes

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun at the trumpet’s call
So, lift your voice, it’s the year of Jubilee
Out of Zions hill, salvation comes

Theres no God BUT Jehovah!
Theres no God BUT Jehovah!
Theres no God BUT Jehovah!
Theres no God BUT Jehovah!

Theres no God BUT Jehovah!
Theres no God BUT Jehovah!
Theres no God BUT Jehovah!
Theres no God BUT Jehovah!

Theres no God BUT Jehovah!
Theres no God BUT Jehovah!
Theres no God BUT Jehovah!
Theres no God BUT Jehovah!

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun at the trumpet’s call
So, lift your voice, it’s the year of Jubilee
Out of Zions hill, salvation comes

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun at the trumpet’s call
So, lift your voice, it’s the year of Jubilee
Out of Zions hill, salvation comes