Seeing God Great in Church Reformation for City Transformation
The Lord has been speaking to me prophetically and saying, "As GREAT as you see Me will be as GREAT as I will be." The Scripture the Lord gave me to confirm this prophetic word is Numbers 13. This is the story of Moses being directed by the Lord to send spies into the Promised Land to bring back a report of the land. The spies came back with proof that there was a great harvest in the land and it was very fruitful and prosperous. The valley of Eshcol had grapes of tremendous proportions. However, only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, said it was a land that could be taken and possessed with the help of the Lord. The other spies said the land could not be taken because all the people in the land were giants and the cities were greatly fortified.
This negative report was not even a true analysis of the land. It was true that there were a few giants in the land, but not the exaggeration that all the people of the land being giants. Because of this negative report, the Israelites became dismayed and did not enter the land to fight and possess it. Joshua and Caleb were the only two people of about two million that actually got to enter the land and possess it, and that was many years after this story. They, however, held fast to their original view, which was--if God is for us we can take the land--giants or not.
2008 will be a year that God will be as great as how "we see Him" in our battles, challenges, opportunities and destinies. This year, we will need to see the Lord moving great on our behalf--or there will be no lands, spoils, and victories to possess. God wants to demonstrate He is able to do all things exceedingly and abundantly beyond all we ask or think according to His power that works within us. That means He desires to do great miracles on our behalf and cause us to possess great things for Him. The only way we will be able to gain the victories He has for us this year, is to have the same view and mentality of Joshua and Caleb of old. This is the perspective that--we can do it because we see God as being a Great God!
His Greatness is all that matters in the battles at hand. We will need to see His greatness and decree His greatness to make our victories real. The power of our words enforces the greatness of our God. We can be a people that are not persuaded by the negative reports or facts of the satanic kingdom, but be ones moving forward in faith by the Word of the Lord. In the midst of darkness and birth pangs of last day events, we can be a people of God arising and shining--because our God is a Great God.
Here are some keys to enable us to see and experience God being GREAT in 2008:
1. Magnify the Lord!
"O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." Psalm 34: 3
We can magnify the Lord in our situations by focusing on Him and His victory in the midst of all else that would persuade us otherwise. Even though we do not make God bigger in an actual sense, we do make Him "bigger" than doubt, unbelief, disease, financial lack, despair etc in our eyes and in our heart. This is important because out of our heart the mouth speaks. We acknowledge who He is in character first and foremost and worship Him because of that. Then we can also worship Him for what He will do on our behalf.
2. His Word is His Promise!
"...for thou hast magnified Thy word according to all Thy name." Psalm 138: 2
God says that He Himself has exalted the power of His Word according to all His name. God has declared the victories He has for us in His Word. This Scripture in Psalms says God stands behind His Word with all that He is. If we desire to experience the victories God has for us, we need to know what His Word says. There is power in every promise of the Lord to make that promise happen. This means natural things and demonic things must change to come in agreement with the Word of the Lord. In order for us to walk in this realm, we must move from being passively hopeful in our thinking, to being actively aggressive with our mouth. As Bill Hamon decreed this past year, "The victory is in our mouth."
3. God's Spoils are GREAT!
"Now the sons of Israel had done according to the Word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing: and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians." Exodus 12:35-36
When the Israelites spied out their promised land, they found the land had great spoils to be taken. There were supernatural grapes that would require two men to carry a single cluster between poles. We must see that with God, we also have great spoils to plunder and the things the enemy has robbed must be returned. After many years in captivity, the Israelites left Egypt with a great spoil of silver, gold and precious commodities. However, the only way we will get the spoils into our hands is seeing God be great in the midst of the situation and relying upon Him in impossible situations. We do this by decreeing and declaring who He is and who we are in Him.
4. Seeing God GREAT in Battle!
"And the Lord confounded them before Israel, and He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon...and as far Makkedah. The Lord threw large hailstones from Heaven...and there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with a sword." Joshua 10:10-11
This passage shows that God is actively involved in our battles. Sometimes He may use hailstones; sometimes He may discharge angels to fight; sometimes He may alter the natural courses of rivers and seas; sometimes He confuses the enemy to fight among themselves. We are co-laborers with the Lord in the battles we are in. It is important to know that we cannot do God's part and He will not do our part. God wants to us co-labor with Him to release our victories and defeat our enemies.
5. See God's Great Love for Us!
"But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ our Lord." Romans 8:37-39
God's everlasting love for us is the key and foundation for our victory and destiny in Him. He loved us before we knew Him and has the victorious plan for us to be conformed to the image of Jesus. As we follow Him in obedience and see Him great in our circumstances, He will lead us by His truth and life to victory.
Church Reformation for City Transformation
This year will prove to be a monumental one for the Body of Christ. Seeing God "as great" will enable us to move into new realms. As the number 8 has always been a significant sign of launching into new beginnings, this year represents a "new beginning era for the Church." It is a strategic time in God's timetable for a great reformation for the Church. The Greek word for Church is the word "ekklesia" which means assembly or called out ones. Martin Luther received a new revelation from the Lord of "the just shall live by faith," which caused the structure of Christianity to be changed forever. In this same way, there is a new revelation coming to those who have ears to hear of another "monumental change" for the Church as we have known it.
There has been a Church structure system in place since the time of the Great Reformation of Martin Luther's era, which has separated "clergy" from "laity." The Church has also focused on things occurring "inside" the four walls of a building rather than wherever saints are living and working. This separation has limited born again believers from successfully fulfilling their destiny or ministry. There has been a false belief that the power of God and ministry of the Spirit was reserved just for "clergy."
The new revelation coming forth at this time is--Jesus preached a message of the Gospel of the Kingdom. This message of the Kingdom is a message of the Church impacting those things that had been lost at the fall. Jesus preached that it was His Father's desire to have a Kingdom of priests who would represent Him in the earth. He stated in the Book of Luke that He had a purpose to preach the Gospel to the poor, proclaim release to captives, proclaim recovery of sight to the blind, set free those who are downtrodden, and proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. These Kingdom goals will now be fulfilled by all in the Kingdom, rather than just a few.
For the last several years, it has been on my heart that we were nearing the timetable of the Lord for a launching of a "Saints Movement" described in Ephesians 4:12. This will be a time when believers will realize they can be Kingdom priests with power to change their environments. This means workplaces, governmental arenas, educational settings, media systems, entertainment spheres and financial institutions will be influenced by saints fulfilling destiny in those realms. This year of 2008 will be a year we see this fulfillment come to a new fruition in the Church around the world. This will enable the Church to impact and take dominion over forces of darkness as never before.
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells Peter that he (Peter) received a revelation of who Jesus was and upon that revelation Jesus would build His Church. Jesus also said, "...the Gates of Hell shall not overpower it." This "Kingdom Dominion" movement will initiate a reformation of the Church today in a way that enables believers to fulfill destiny in the power of the Lord.
Colossians 1:25-27, states there has been a mystery hidden for ages and the mystery is "Christ in you the hope of Glory." For every born again believer, these are exciting days of demonstrating the Kingdom of God.
This year will initiate a movement in the Body of Christ, leading to great impact by the Kingdom of God upon the kingdoms of darkness. As the Church arises to shine and take dominion in this hour, there will be cities, states and nations changed and launched to fulfill God-given destinies. Signs, wonders and miracles will be an avenue for saints to demonstrate the Kingdom in the places where they are. As we, Kingdom priests, reveal the nature of our King Jesus and demonstrate the power of His name, it will lead to a great harvest season in the Church today. There are many that will be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light, because saints are arising in this season and are seeing the Church transformed to a Church of power and dominion in the earth today.
Let us be those that see God as Great and hear the Spirit of the Lord to activate "Church Reformation for City Transformation."
Miracles Now!!
Gale Sheehan
Christian International Network
Email: cimn@cimn.net
About Gale Sheehan:
Gale and his wife Shelly, serve as Directors of Christian International Apostolic Network and are the founders of Destiny Now Ministries. They serve as an apostle/prophet team in the Body of Christ and serve on apostolic oversight leadership teams for networks, Bible colleges and local churches. Gale and Shelly have appeared on the 700 Club and TBN broadcasts and are speakers at national and international conferences. Gale and his family reside in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.
