SOMETHING HAS SHIFTED IN THE SPIRIT REALM
A Word through: John L. Moore John's e-mail (at the ranch) jlmoore@mcn.net
Monday, November 01, 1999

This is a very personal note but I believe many will bear witness to what I am saying. Somehow, during the past 72 hours, something has shifted in the spirit realm. A gate has opened. Strong new winds are blowing. I sensed this strongly Saturday when we shipped calves, which is our one payday of the year and a day that can normally be very stressful. His grace and divine timing were everywhere. I have noticed this shifting being expressed in the last few words by Marsha Burns.

Something has changed, or is changing. Sunday morning Debra and I went to breakfast and on the front page of the newspaper was a story about the reconciliation between Catholics and Lutherans concerning Martin Luther. Today, November 1st, is Reformation Day, the day Luther nailed his 95 statements to the Wittenburg Door. Somehow, through this act of reconciliation something has been released. One of the Bibles I use is the Nelson Study Bible and it just so happened that where Debra and I have been in our morning prayer time is near a study showing the dispensations of the Christian Church.

This Bible lists the Denominational Church beginning with Luther and the Global Church, our present age, beginning in 1800. Somehow, I believe we have crossed the portal into a new dispensation, one that will probably be recorded as having begun in the year 2000. For the last several years the Lord has given me a "word for the year." This year it was truly one word: "Sweetness." I laughed when I got this word because people have called me many things through the years but "sweetness" does not come to mind as being one of them. But I knew His voice. The Lord had said "Sweetness." So I claimed it.

This afternoon I came home from an afternoon in the wind and dirt and learned that the great Chicago running back, Walter Payton, had died today from liver disease. Payton was the all-time leader in yards gained and a first-ballot member of the Hall of Fame. But more than that, he played the game correctly, with love for the sport and a love for his teammates. His classy manner and humble spirit was epitomized in his nickname: "Sweetness." I cried when I heard about Walter Payton. Not just because of the death of one man, but because of something the Spirit was doing within me. Walter Payton, "Sweetness", passing through the portal on this day.

Reformation day.

Perhaps I identify more strongly than most because I once had a severe case of Hepatitis B that advanced to liver cancer and I would have died about the time Payton retired from football if the Lord had not miraculously healed me. There have been other signs the past few days. Yesterday Debra and I felt led not to go to church, but instead, to go to a high, rugged ridge on the backside of the ranch, to a location we have cleansed from pagan defilement. We prayed there and had communion. And during the last part of our prayer time (with my eyes closed) I saw a great light coming down through open heavens from the throne of God. When I later opened my eyes, the bright cloudless day seemed suddenly dark compared to the glory I had seen flowing toward the earth.

I don't know what has exactly transpired in the past 72 hours, but I do strongly believe this: a portal in the spirit has opened. And I don't believe the church will ever be the same because of it.