160. Our Defining Moment

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott  

God only ever has ‘Plan A’. There is no ‘Plan B’. Each of us has a destiny, conferred and agreed before the foundation of the world, and with that destiny come both the creative ability and the authority to fulfil it. God has made it really simple for us. We can either step up, say ‘yes’ to His plan and fulfil our destiny, or hesitate, hold back, say ‘no’ and miss it.

Three generations

God is calling a generation in our days. In fact, He is speaking to three generations and calling them to fulfil their destiny.

  1. A Joshua generation, who will see the Promised Land, enter into it as forerunners and draw others in with them.
  2. A generation of harvesters, a billion of them, as prophesied (in 1975, a generation ago – and let us not miss the significance of that) by Bob Jones. These will reap the final harvest, which will be far more numerous, and to do so they will need to be operating in the fullness of Jesus’ greater works (John 14:12).
  3. The Moses generation, who have seen and experienced God’s deliverance and His miraculous provision. Faced with the giants and the walled cities, they have a choice to make. It is not too late for them, not yet.

The church today is in transition from one place to another, or at least, a part of it is. And we all have a choice to make. Two-and-a-half tribes of Israel chose to stay on the near side of the Jordan, chose not to enjoy the benefits of God’s provision for them, and more or less completely disappeared from history.

The generation who entered the Promised Land were offered exactly the same choice their fathers had rejected forty years before, with exactly the same obstacles to overcome, but this generation said ‘yes’ to God rather than ‘no’. Still, the process of taking the land was not easy. The cities had to be conquered (using God’s strategy, not theirs); the giants and the nations had to be dispossessed. Even though we choose to say ‘yes’ to Him, we will still have to fight for our inheritance, and we will have to be overcomers if we are to fulfil our destiny.

“This is me, and this is not”

Some will choose not to enter. We will honour them for the path they have trodden in the forefront of the purposes of God, some of them for decades. But if they are not prepared to take that final step, then we know that in God’s Prophetic Timetable there is a time for judgment to come to the house of God. Judgment is as simple as Him drawing a line, and saying “This is me, and this is not. Which will you choose?”

The church generally has a very poor reputation with the world. We may laugh at comedy shows like ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ and ‘Father Ted’, but they are an accurate reflection of how the world sees us. When I first taught this series in 2012, God told me that in three years He would be coming to overturn the tables of the moneychangers in His temple. Coming to us individually as the temple of the Holy Spirit, certainly. But also coming to the church, wherever it is not a true representation of Him.

Authentic works of the kingdom

We may think that here at Freedom our reputation with the world (at least locally) is somewhat different. We are engaging with and meeting the needs of people in our community, and of course there are many other churches of whom the same is true. But we cannot afford to be complacent. It is not enough. We must not settle. We must go in, inherit our destiny and take our Promised Land.

There is a whole generation of young people to be won for Christ. They will not respond to the same boring experience of church they have already rejected. And not just young people – the Joshua Generation and the harvesters will be of all ages. Nothing less than an authentic demonstration of the works of the kingdom will draw them in.

Cleansing the temple

I am going to once again shake all things.
I am going to turn over the moneychangers’ tables in My temple.
I am going to drive out the thieves and robbers from My temple.
I am preparing the whip right now to expose the attitudes and motives of your lives.
I am going to expose in My temple the church those who are using it for their own purposes.
There will be many exposed for who and what they are.

My temple will once again be known as the Father’s house; a place of habitation.
My temple will be known as a House of Prayer
Where My words of truth will set My people free.
And through free men
The world will be set free from the chaos, confusion and dominion of darkness it is in.

My desire is to reveal sons to the world; true sons living in the truth.
True temples where rivers of My presence and power are flowing to fulfil My purposes.

I am preparing the whip now,
So be ready for motives that are selfish and self-centred to be revealed.
Know for sure that My temple will be known as a true house of prayer.
(See Matt 21:12-13, John 2:12-22).

Jesus is plaiting a whip, and all those who are trading for their own purposes are going to be turned out. That three-year period will be finished early in 2015, when it will also be 40 years since Bob Jones’ prophecy. This is a serious business.

Visions

We have had a vision of a canopy being stretched over us, and eagles flying out, carrying the four corners of it into the far distance.

In another vision there was a portal opening, and angels coming through in great numbers. They were carrying cords attached to stakes, and dropping them at people’s feet. Some ignored the stakes completely, some knocked them into the ground where they stood, but others picked them up and took them as far as they could, until the ropes were pulled tight, and drove them in there.

The message is clear, and how we respond is of critical importance. These are exciting days. We have the opportunity to be part of a generation who will make history. This is a definitive choice, and our defining moment.

“Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15).

[This is one of those messages which remains a ‘now’ word, though much of this material was originally taught in session 9 of ‘Preparing For Destiny’ at Freedom Church in 2012 and refers to a sea-change in 2015. The audio and Mike’s notes for the whole series are available on our website. – Jeremy].

Related articles from Freedom ARC

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If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider sowing into and supporting this ministry with a financial gift. Thank you!

Our Patreon patrons give a small amount each month and can join us for our monthly group Zooms, get exclusive or early access to Mike’s teaching and enjoy further patron-only benefits.

'Donate to Freedom ARC' button

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Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

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159. Your Word, Treasured in My Heart

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott

In meditation, we position ourselves to hear God’s voice and experience His presence. When we meditate on the word God has spoken and revealed to us, so that we have that word firmly established in us and can live from it, it will enable us to prosper and have success in all we do.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success (Joshua 1:8).

Give attention

The process of meditation is as simple as giving attention to what God says:

My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your sight;
Keep them in the midst of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them
And health to all their body.
Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.
(Prov 4:20-23).

He wants our attention. Yes, we can relate to God in the busyness of life, but it is important for us to give Him quality time too. When we meditate, we repeatedly bring the things God has said into the forefront of our thinking. What we repeat gets stored in our heart, in our subconscious mind; and what is in our subconscious triggers our conscious mind: Out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth speaks (Luke 6:45).

Meditating on what God has said also ministers life and health to us. Certainly healing can come through the anointing and laying on of hands, but if we get the truth of health and healing in our hearts, we will not normally need anyone else to pray for us.

God’s life in us comes from our spirit, out through our heart and through our body to impact the world around us. So let’s keep watch over and guard our hearts. Worry and anxiety come from focusing on the wrong things, driven by fear. The word He has spoken to us and over us can protect us by guiding and directing us, but only if it becomes part of us, through meditation.

Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You
(Psalm 119:11)

Remember

When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches
(Psalm 63:6)

I shall remember the deeds of the LORD;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old
(Psalm 77:11).

I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your doings;
I muse on the work of Your hands
(Psalm 143:5).

The Logos Word of God reveals God’s nature and His character. That Word is Jesus: He is Truth, and becomes our standard, our plumb-line. When we remember God, call Him to mind again and again, meditate on His character and nature, on the way He does things, we recognise Him in the world around us and He can flow through us out into that world to transform it.

We must be not only prepared to listen, but also to respond. God speaks truth into our spirits, into our hearts. We respond to that rhema word in obedience, we act on it and live it out. And God then always responds Himself to our living faith in His word.

In Psalm 119, verses 1-40, we read of meditating on God’s word, ways, testimonies, judgments, law, precepts, statutes, ordinances, commandments, and wonders. Then those verses speak of what we do with that word: how we walk, observe, seek, look, treasure, tell, rejoice, meditate, establish, delight, live, long for, cling, run, incline, reverence, give thanks. Finally we see the ways in which God responds to us: blesses, ordains, teaches, opens our eyes, rebukes our enemies, takes away reproach, revives us, answers us, strengthens us, grants us, enlarges our hearts, gives us understanding, and deals bountifully with us.

Beholding and becoming

[We,] beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18).

What we consistently look at, we become like. If we look at, focus on and meditate on the Lord, if we have an intimate relationship with Him, we will become more like Him. It does not happen overnight, but little by little, step by step, from glory to glory, until people can see God in us and in what we do.

Preparing to meditate

Here is a prayer we can use as we prepare to meditate:

Lord, cleanse and prepare my heart.
Give me a teachable attitude.
I surrender my senses to You
Open the eyes of my heart.

Lord, I present to you
My abilities to reason and imagine
For You to fill and flow through.

Lord, I focus my attention
On what You show me
And I thank You
For what you are revealing to me

Garden of our heart

In closing, here is another way of looking at meditation: every testimony we have, every encounter, every vision, every victory won, every revelation from God; every word God has spoken to us, we can take as a seed and plant it in the garden of our heart. The River of Life flows through our garden and waters it. We have the authority to speak life to what we plant, and command it to grow. So we can expect to receive fruit from it again and again – and not only fruit to eat, but more seeds to sow. These in turn will grow into more plants, producing fruit and seeds of their own.

What are we growing in our garden?

Related articles from Freedom ARC

Support Freedom ARC

If our free or paid resources are a blessing to you, please consider sowing into and supporting this ministry with a financial gift. Thank you!

Our Patreon patrons give a small amount each month and can join us for our monthly group Zooms, get exclusive or early access to Mike’s teaching and enjoy further patron-only benefits.

'Donate to Freedom ARC' button

Or you can use the blue button to support our work with one-time gift*.
Thank you!
*Note: This donation is securely handled through PayPal but you do not need to have a PayPal account yourself to make a one-time donation. For repeating donations, if you do not have (or want) a PayPal account please support us through Patreon instead. 

Are you part of the Joshua Generation?

We developed this just for you:

eg-homepage-crop

Engaging God on the Heavenly Pathways of Relationship and Responsibility
Equipping a Joshua Generation of supernatural sons of God to live according to the order of Melchizedek

Get started today!*

To find out more about the Engaging God programme, click here…

*Technology permitting: automated process on receipt of payment and completion of online registration form. Terms and conditions apply.

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