NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL STORMS IN VIRGINIA: IS HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE COMING?

Like most of the country Virginia has experienced devastating weather that has shut down normal living in our state. This weather came to us in the natural realm. It came as snow and ice. It came as low and frigid temperatures that drove most of us into the comfort of our homes to wait for the departure of this winter invasion. In the midst of this natural phenomenon there has also entered into our state another storm that threatens the Constitution of Virginia. I felt a range of emotions when I heard that the courts of the state of Virginia was considering legalizing homosexual marriage. I was angry because I thought that we as a state had put this issue to rest in 2006 when the majority of citizens voted to make constitutional the union of marriage being recognized in its God ordained order as one man and one woman as declared in the Scriptures. I was concerned about the response of the church to this colossal error of judgment that will be meted out in court by justices who have the power to pervert the truth and slant true justice. I was offended when the advocates of  Homosexual marriage compared their cause to the cause of African American who were demeaned because of their heritage of slavery and injustice.
But as I have continued to pray over this matter I feel nothing but love for the ones who desire to legitimatize their unions in love. Do I support homosexual marriage? No but the Lord requires that I love the homosexual. And because I love them I am called to pray for them. I am called to stand in the courts of heaven where true justice prevails and pray for the salvation of all mankind. God created man in his image. He created male and female. He spoke purpose in their lives by telling them to be fruitful and multiply. And then the devil came and caused man to become a broken image of his original self and since that time all kinds of perversions have filled the earth, cursing man and the land he was called to watch over.
Homosexuality is one of the perversions that the devil has used to confuse a segment of human society. The devil is a theft of human identity and he loves throwing confusion in the race made a little lower than the angels who are loved by God.  
When Jesus came in the fullness of time He came to restore the broken image of man so that he and she could once again live as God originally intended. Salvation is not about going to a building once or twice a week to hear the Word. Salvation is going throughout the earth being the Word. And when the Word goes forth light is always greater than darkness.
A great darkness is spreading throughout the state of Virginia but a greater light is already here. When it seemed that the storm would overtake Jesus and the disciples the disciples cried out to Jesus and Jesus spoke this word, "Peace Be Still." And the storm became still. I believe that this is the season for the living epistles of Jesus to speak to this storm and command it to leave.
One of the greatest harvest that the Lord is calling us to in this hour is the harvest of homosexuals who don't need our judgment but our love. Though we cannot agree with their desire to legalize what God has not we can love them and value them as God does. Whether the courts give them what they desire or not God loves the world and I do too.         

CRY OUT TO GOD FOR MEGAN FOX!

I read with great interest an article that appeared on a gossip site that Actress Megan Fox speaks in tongues. I immediately received a burden to pray for this young woman. It took a great deal of courage for her to admit that and I believe that Holy Spirit is doing a work in her heart to draw her out of the Hollywood lifestyle to serve God in the midst of that dark culture.

The Holy Spirit has been teaching me heavily about the entertainment culture and the demonic spirit that rules that industry. This spirit is a perverter and a corrupter of the creative gifts that God has sent in the earth to serve Him through creative expressions, such as writing, acting, directing and other creative expressions. All creativity is of God and man was created in God's image to be creative in the earth. Unfortunately many creative artist  like Megan seeks acceptance and a place in the culture that uses their gifts and destroys their lives and very souls. I stand in a place of intercession for this culture because God loves them and His plans for their lives is best and eternal. While many in Hollywood seeks the now, the temporary God has a eternal plan and place for them in His presence.

So I invite you to join me in interceding for Megan and so many who have the heart of Megan. In our intercession pray that God will set Megan free and use her deliverance to bring others into the kingdom.

My prayer is that as Megan speaks and prays in tongues the mysteries of God will be released in the Hollywood culture and God's perfect plan for Megan's peers and fans will come to pass.

Megan's son is named Noah which means rest and I believe that God spoke to her in the naming  of her son. It is God's heart that every creative persons live in His rest which means to live in harmony with the Lord doing His will. Rest is walking with God and fulfilling His assignment in your life. It is walking in your purpose that God established before you were born. There is no rest in entertainment because the nature of this industry is to drive the creative person until they are exhausted and totally used up.

I pray that God not only give Megan rest but may His rest be on her family. On her husband Brian and their son Noah and may Noah walked in the meaning of his name. If you are an intercessor join me in standing in the presence of God for Megan. May God use her as a witness in the darkness of Hollywood.   

UNAUTHORIZED INTERCESSION!

"You shall not offer strange incense on it." (Ex 30:9).

In my last post I shared the story of two men recorded in Luke 18 who went into the Temple to pray. The first man stood in pride and declared his righteousness before God. The second man bowed his head and cried out for mercy. Jesus said that the second man went home justified and the other did not.  I want to share with you today what Holy Spirit is leading me to speak on this pressing matter of intercession in this season. The first man, the Pharisee, prayer was not accepted by God because the Pharisee offered "strange incense" before God. In other passages the word strange recorded in Exodus 30:9 is "Unauthorized." Please receive this revelation in the spirit. As much as our God loves everyone and desires that all would come to Him in intercession, praying and crying out to Him in fervency God will only accept the intercession or prayer that He has authorized.

There is a deceptive mindset in the Church that teaches that I can come to God anyway that I want. I can say to God anything that I want to say. I can come to God and He will accept me and whatever I do in any way.   But I must expose that delusion, for it is a lie that had created deception in the House of the Lord. The pattern that God gave to Moses reveals spiritual principles that dictate and determine our entrance into the presence of our King.

When God gave Moses the specificity to build the Tent of Testimony, a picture of the manifest presence of God in the midst of His people God told Moses to build the altar from WOOD and then God said cover it in GOLD. Wood is the prophetic picture of humanity. Gold is the prophetic picture of Deity. If you love the Lord and have received Him as your Savior and Lord then you are an altar, you are the place where God desires to meet you. But God wasn't satisfied with just your humanity, He placed Himself in you and called you His temple, the place where He lives. Yes you are human but now you are more than human. God lives in you. Deity is in you. You are Gold, made righteousness in the sight of God by the sacrifice of Jesus.

Because of who you are you must always offer to God the incense that He has ordered. You must offer the intercession that He requires. He will not accept your unauthorized intercession. The first man, the Pharisee offered to God strange fire. He offered  to God an intercession that exalted himself. It was a self righteousness petition and God judged it and called it UNAUTHORIZED. That man stood before God and praised himself. He despised others. He declared his acts of righteousness. He offered God what God did not authorize. And God would not receive it.

In the house of God on this Sunday September 23, 2012 much incense will be offered and God will judge it as UNAUTHORIZED. Many will offer intercession that comes from pride. Many will pray with an unforgiving heart. Others will pray without repentance. Many will pray in the name of Allah. And God will judge it as UNAUTHORIZED! Don't let that be you. Hear God through these words. He will accept what He appoints. He only receives what He authorizes. Learn what is pleasing to Him and offer Him what He calls SWEET.   

IS YOUR INTERCESSION A SWEET AROMA TO GOD?

Exodus 30:7, "Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning....a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations."

If you read my last blog you read that God is calling forth believers who will be altars where intercession is being offered day and night. Again I say that the incense burned on the altar in Exodus 30 is a prophetic picture of intercession or prayer. If you have not read that blog then visit http://www.bernardboulton.blogspot.com to read my entry on September 11, 2012.

Today I want to share with you how intercession is received by Adonai our Lord God. Aaron, the high priest,  was commanded to offer sweet incense to the Lord. This sweet incense was made and offered to the Lord and it carried a fragrance that not only filled the Tabernacle but ascended toward the heavens to the very throne of Adonai. From this principle Holy Spirit is saying that the attitude (represented by odor) is just as important as the act of intercession. Because our intercession is an act of worship before the Lord it must be presented to Him in a way that is pleasing to Him. You may be thinking isn't it enough that I pray? Shouldn't the Lord be pleased that I took the time to pray? And I believe that He is pleased but because God is a God of order revealed in principles, patterns and protocol it should move us to know what His Will is so that He may be pleased with everything that we do.

Holy Spirit showed me that this word, "sweet incense" is talking about the attitude that you release your intercession from. Immediately my spirit was led to see Isaac who humbly allowed his father Abraham to lay him on the altar at Mount Moriah as a sacrifice. God loves humility and intercession offered from a humble heart is a sweet fragrance before Him. A humble spirit says before God, "I'm coming to You but I am weak and I need You."

Again I am led by the Teacher Holy Spirit to the parable that Jesus told in Luke 18. There were two men in the Temple, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee prayed, "God I thank you that I am not like this tax collector." The tax collector prayed, "God be merciful to me a sinner."Jesus said, in my words, the tax collector prayer was a sweet incense before the Lord and the Pharisee was not. Why? Because the tax collector stood before the Lord in humility and the Pharisee stood before the Lord in pride.

God is calling intercessors who are humble before Him. Intercessors who knows that they need Him and are willing to say so and show so. Is your intercession a sweet aroma before our Lord? My intercession for you is that you can say yes.

Pastor William McDowell calls us to intercession in this musical offering to Adonai. Receive it and be blessed.