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"The Dove of the Holy Spirit is Visiting in a Whole New Way"
by Steve Shultz
Web: www.elijahlist.com
 God
Talks Through the Natural into the Supernatural
As I sit in my family room chair typing on my laptop, on the roof sits a most beautiful
white dove directly above me!
This is the fourth day in a row it has shown up.
Now, just to be clear, we live on 20 acres, surrounded by hundreds of acres. We've
lived here for five years, and I've never seen a dove of any kind on this property,
much less on our roof -- in all these five years. That's made more completely improbable
since we have four cats, several of whom love to catch birds. (That's not counting
our two dogs, one horse, and two miniature donkeys).
[To help you visualize the dove, the first photo below is from the 2nd day of its
visit -- and the next photo is from a few minutes ago.]
Photo taken the afternoon of Day 2 - After Church
this Sunday
Jesus loves to talk to all of us, as you are learning
from what you read -- and from what you observe in your life. In the Word, we have
often thought prophecy to come in the form of signs given through such things as
earthquakes, but the Lord meant much more than that when He said:
Acts 2:19
I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below…
(NIV)
Yes, this Scripture refers to awesome and "terrible"
signs, but also to simple signs when God talks daily to His people.
Photo taken minutes ago, the morning of Day 4
I Wasn't Asking For Much
It's true. I wasn't asking for much. This last weekend, before the dove showed up,
it was a normal weekend, though we had dear friends over to the house.
The wife of this visiting couple, Nola, had just shared with Derene and I a
story of how only two weeks ago, she had two prophetic dreams on their trip to Yosemite
and back. One involved us and our ministry. But the second one seemed to involve
her ministry with women.
Nola's second dream happened when they were on their way back passing through Oregon,
having stopped after dark at a hotel in the Ashland, Oregon, area. Part of her dream
involved an aviary with women in the aviary. She awoke to find that same aviary
that she'd seen in her dream on the grounds of the hotel -- and she showed us photos
of that exact aviary -- only instead of women, this aviary contained doves.
I thought, "That's interesting." That is, it was only interesting until the next
morning, this beautiful dove (above) showed up on the roof of our house.
What I Neglected
to Tell You Before the Dove Showed Up
It was late into the evening, and I was about to be surprised. We decided to go out
onto the back yard picnic table and play a game called "Sequence." Coincidently,
I made a recent teaching CD, just released called, "God Sequences" which speaks
of God showing up in various and surprising ways -- all of which were God's ways of
talking to us. But then I wasn't thinking about that right now -- I was about to go
play a table game, that's all.
Getting ready to go out back, I made a pit stop in what I call my "Revelation Room."
It's true. About eight years ago, a friend made a wood carving which says, "Revelation
Room" and it hangs right outside our master bathroom. That's because I always told
our friends that's where I pray the most and get the most revelation from the Lord.
It's ok to laugh. But you know, it happens to many of you too!
This day, I had "secretly" (not so secret now, is it?) knelt down on the floor of
the bathroom and asked three things:
1) Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.
2) Let your Kingdom come.
3) Let it come on the whole earth, not just here.
Having prayed that, I went outside to have some fun playing games. That's when the
other three pointed out the dove that had just arrived on the top of our roof.
It Just Keeps
Coming Back
At first, I just thought it was interesting.
But on Sunday morning, just before we were on the way to church, the dove was back.
I'd never seen anything like this before. We drove off toward church -- I turned
around to look, and it was gone.
At church, the Holy Spirit fell at the local Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Albany,
Oregon, in a most unusual and profound way. Everyone was getting touched. Lots of
words came forth that many angels were there. Many were weeping.
I was one of them -- weeping that is.
But when I wept, I kept thinking of that dove. Somehow, by the Spirit, I knew this
was more significant than just a dove happening to land on our roof and coming back
the next morning.
Yesterday -- day three of the dove's visit -- "by accident" we published a word from
"WHITE DOVE MINISTRIES" with Paul Keith Davis, in which Paul Keith said:
"We have recently experienced a season of transition into a more pronounced
emphasis on the righteousness of believers. There will be many messages emerging
from God's leaders highlighting intimacy with Jesus and close fellowship with His
Spirit. These messages will forge our nature and character according to His"
(This word can be read in it's entirety at:
http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=2341)
God is Talking
to the Whole Body Through This Sign in the Earth
I shared both this story and the photo with my friend, Chuck Pierce, a prophet himself.
Here is a portion of what he wrote right back to me this morning...
"I think the Holy Spirit is coming to visit in a whole new way. Why don't
you write this up as a prophetic word to the body that the Dove of the Spirit is
coming to visit?"
I do in fact believe that the Dove, representing the Holy Spirit, is not just an
encouragement to me, as it arrives daily to watch over my house. The ministry I
do is to dispense words by the Spirit all over the world - at this point to almost
117,000 subscribers daily.
God wants YOU to know that He is coming to visit you! And the Holy Spirit is coming
to HIS CHURCH to bring HIS KINGDOM authority and power.
Remember that my prayer, just before the Dove showed up, was that He would show
his Mercy to me, that HIS Kingdom would come, and that it would come on the WHOLE
EARTH (not just to my property, family, or life).
The Church service early the next morning was one of the most powerful I've experienced
in five years.
God is up to something.
The Dove certainly does mostly represent the Holy Spirit, and the world has come
to know the Dove as a symbol of peace. I believe all these are fitting. And because
of Nola's dream, I also believe God is saying something to women in this hour, because
her dream had women in the aviary...and when she woke up, there was that same aviary,
but they contained doves. Men, it may well be time to release women from their cages
and set them free to help us to "watch and pray" in a more profound way. Just a
thought.
God is Watching
Over His Word to Perform It
And, I also believe that God is speaking this Scripture
to the Body, as I continued to hear this verse in my mind as I wept at church on
Sunday:
Jeremiah 1:11-12
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And
I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast
well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. (KJV)
GOD IS WATCHING OVER HIS WORD TO PERFORM
IT. MANY PROMISES ARE ABOUT TO BE ANSWERED AND FULFILLED!
But there is one more thing I want to add:
I continue to call "my" Dove (it really is the Lord's Dove) my "JOY BIRD."
Each morning now, I go out asking, "Is my Joy Bird back?"
I believe the Lord is going to send Joy as one of the major attributes of the fruit
of the Spirit to His Body -- you, me, and all Believers.
Pray that the Dove of Joy, Love, and Peace will visit His Church and that His Kingdom
will come!!!
Oh, I THOUGHT I had just finished this article, but seconds ago, Nola -- (whose husband
is Glenn -- who was with us out back when our dove showed up and is now back up in
Vancouver, WA -- two hours north of us) -- just emailed me and wrote this:
"Glenn phoned me just after men's group at The Portal (Youth Coffee house)
late last night (about 10:30 p.m.), pretty jazzed. He had gone over to the church building
for something and exited out the side door in the alley toward the Portal Cafe.
He first heard a dove call behind him and turned, only to hear the flapping of wings.
A woman who was standing just outside the cafe (come to pick up her hubby) pointed
up and said, 'Glenn! Did you see that?! It was a beautiful dove. It was perched
on top of the church building! I've never seen a dove here before. Wow, that was
cool!' (She didn't know anything about our dove experiences). Glenn said he got
shivers -- the good kind."
You tell ME if something is up!
Steve Shultz, THE ELIJAH LIST
www.elijahlist.com
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