Culture of Heaven – Five Topics for Abundant Life in the Spirit
1. Breathing the Breath of Life.
2. Favor and Friendship
3. Presence and Power
4. Finding Your Voice
5. A House of Powerful People
Culture of Heaven
Session 6
Five hot button topics for abundant Life in the Spirit
Are you ready? That’s what we do around here, we hook you up to a firehose of wisdom.,,,
So take good notes and write down things that the Holy Spirit highlights to you. That will help you to see what He is doing in you right now.
Those Hot Button Topics are...
Breathing the Breath of Life
Favor and Friendship
Presence and Power
Finding Your Voice
A House of Powerful People
The Breath of Life is Invading the Body of Christ.
One morning I was sitting with the Lord and heard the phrase “High Winds at Corpus Christi”. After I heard Him say this I checked to see what the wind conditions were at Corpus Christi TX and found they had just issued a “Wind Advisory” with winds listed as “Gail Force”. I heard the Lord say that He is bringing a fresh breath of LIFE to the Body of Christ.
The word “Corpus” means The Body
The word “Christi” means Christ.
Imagine Easter without the Holy Spirit. We often celebrate Resurrection Day from Jesus’ perspective. But, what was the Holy Spirit doing that day? The answer to this question is critical as to whether Easter becomes a once-a-year souvenir event or a lifestyle of friendship with Jesus through the Spirit of God.
The Bible says that the Spirit of God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and then goes on to say that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you and me. If His role on Resurrection Day was to raise Jesus from the dead, and that day was meant to release a lifestyle of Resurrection Life for all Christians, then it is plain to see what the Holy Spirit is doing right now in you. Have you ever seen a body with and without its spirit? In the same way the Spirit of God is responsible for bringing LIFE to the body of Christ.
God has promised that in these Last Days, the Body of Christ will have so much LIFE on who we are and what we do that the contrast between the dead works of humanism and LIFE in Jesus will be starkly evident. I SEE families operating from a place of life, and Christian CEO’s, inventors and thought leaders surprising the world with Resurrection Strategies to release life into our schools, government, businesses, media, military, sports, and in our churches. It is time to invite the Holy Spirit into every part of our lives and into every part of our cities.
I was shown that the Holy Spirit wants to teach us how to live a Resurrection Lifestyle. He wants us to ask Him for help on how to do life as a family well. He wants us to ask Him questions that solve everyday life issues around us. He wants to teach us how to build our cities. He wants a friendship with us, not just to show up at an annual event in our lives or when it seems everything is dead and we need an emergency Resurrection.
Do you want to know what the Holy Spirit is doing RIGHT NOW?
He is orchestrating LIFE and raising to life anything that was dead. Holy Spirit has been helping us to obey God’s call to lay down our life in this last season. The only thing left inside your empty tomb are the grave clothes that used to define you. Your tomb has now become a womb and has birthed LIFE from death. You are coming alive and beginning to dream on a whole new level. Some of you have been waiting a decade or more for this season of Resurrection. A fresh wind is blowing across Corpus Christi, the body of Christ.
The Prodigal story isn’t just for the lost, it’s a story about realizing that you and I are starving and that our Father has MORE for us than we are currently experiencing. In this story the son who was longing for sonship said two things: “I will arise” and “I have sinned against heaven and against You”.
We know what it means to sin against God, but what does it mean to sin against heaven? This was his “Resurrection Moment” to arise and receive a revelation that his life is significant and that his life means something great before the cloud of witnesses in heaven. When we stray, heaven suffers. When we run with God, they succeed and celebrate!
This breath of life will blow us right into the arms of Sonship and cause us to see that ALL OF HEAVEN IS CHEERING US ON.
The Favor Factor
Attracting Favor
As your life and destiny in God unfolds, the Holy Spirit is bringing you into a divine convergence to position you for a continual increase in wisdom, stature, and favor.
"And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men".
Luke 2:52
Wisdom is the application of your knowledge and the supernatural ability to turn your encounters and dreams with God into reality. This increase in the Spirit of Wisdom is being poured out to give you the capacity to clearly recognize where your favor should be directed right now. In the Bible the "Sons of Issachar" knew the times (kairos: the NOW opportunities) and the seasons.
Stature refers to the size of your heart and your inner-man. It's a combination of your God-sized dreams, His presence in your life, and the size of your YES to God. Your stature in the Spirit causes a healthy recognition and is used by God to attract favor with God and men.
Favor is a direct result of grace and it is the engine for your vision. Favor causes whatever you need and even desire, to be made manifest.
"And God is able to make all grace (favor) abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed".
2 Corinthians 9:8
Favor is so powerful that it requires wisdom to steward properly. Favor without wisdom results in the lack of readiness when your moment arrives. But favor with wisdom increases your stature, the ability to be recognized, and causes you to live in a constant state of flow and congruence.
Remember: Favor without the anointing and presence of God on your life is like having a Ferrari without any fuel.
Spending Your Favor
The secret to your increase in these NOW moments is directly linked to recognizing and valuing your "Burning Bush" (new and uncommon) invitations and your ability to "take off your shoes" and stay a while with Him. God set a precedent for Moses and taught him to not take lightly His strange ways of getting Moses' attention and drawing him into a continual flow of supernatural thought traffic. Moses not only turned aside to encounter God's obvious and explosive invitations, but he also built a dwelling place for continual encounters and called it "The Tent of Meeting". From that day on everyone knew that Moses was intentional about using his favor to get more favor.
In Exodus 33:13, Moses discovers how to use his favor. "Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight".
Did you catch it? Moses uses his favor with God to get closer to God, and know His ways, so he may find more favor with God. This bold ASK launches Moses into a staggering discovery that God's presence in his life is the ultimate measurement for all true favor. In a production minded culture, God is reminding us that He wants us to first use our favor to encounter Him. Then, from a place of favor, authority and power we will partner with Him to serve and save this world, operating from a well that will never run dry.
Favor and Friendship
Exodus 33:14 reads "And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. 16 For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”
Moses had learned from his surprise "Burning Bush" encounters, and from wearing a path in the sand to his regularly scheduled "Tent of Meeting" moments with God, that experiencing more of Gods presence would cause him to go from favor to friendship.
Moses grew in favor and confidence in God because his ultimate assignment was to walk in such a place of favor and friendship with God that it would attract the tangible glory of God to this planet.
Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”
Have you ever admired someone’s favor?
LISTEN: You have found the favor and the friendship of God who says to you this day the same words that Joshua heard from the Lord after watching Moses’ life.
"I will be with you just as I was with Moses".
As the Church in an Apostolic Age we find ourselves running with people that are literally changing the world everyday in small and big ways. Our nation was founded with mercy and grace to co-create with God and bring heaven to earth in every sphere of society. Whether you are a stay-at-home mom, a factory worker, a doctor, in business, work in retail, government, in arts and entertainment, the service industry, sports, at a church, or are retired, you are anointed with a supernatural faith that is seeking to make heaven tangible. We have stepped into a sovereign season of divine faith and understanding which will cause us to get more accomplished with less effort. Heaven is releasing grace to be fruitful and to redeem the time. At the very heart of this mandate lies the ability to increase exponentially.
Let's read a few powerful quotes from James chapter 2:
14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. 18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?"
Your faith was created to manifest the kingdom of God. By definition, the word "faith" means: "Total reliance upon God for your salvation; being fully persuaded and having confidence in the divine; having more than a mental assent to the Gospel, but that which manifests through action".
The definition of the word "Works" here is: "the result of your labor; a performance, and/or the result of doing".
For far too long the church has struggled with the dance of these two camps; "Am I a human-being or a human-doing"? The answer is a resounding YES!
Your faith is not satisfied without works. Did you notice that the definition for "works" in this passage uses words like "performance, labor, and the result of doing"? These words are not popular in church anymore; and this will change now. The bible does not say that we are saved by works, but it does say that because we are saved by faith, we should manifest the works of God. Your faith demands evidence and we must raise the water mark of our faith and begin strategizing and expecting tangible results from our faith. We must also put ourselves in positions to measure the outcome of our faith. Paul said "test yourself to see if you are in the faith..."
If you have ever been in the presence of a true Apostolic leader, you have witnessed a man or a woman who expects great results. CEO's and innovators are anointed by God to get results in business and technology. Doctors are called to get results in medicine. Parents look for results in their children, and artists are placing their brushes to the canvas with the intent of manifesting their expression.
None of this is automatically the result of a negative “performance driven personality”, especially if it’s the result of our faith.
Two Anointing's: Presence and Power
I see two anointing's increasing on us that will launch us into a balanced kingdom life of "faith" and "works".
In 1 John 2, the Bible says in verse 27 "As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him".
This anointing is given to reveal GOD TO US.
In Acts 1, the Bible says in verse 8 "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”.
This anointing is given to reveal GOD THROUGH US.
To US and Through US
It is a tragedy watching someone try to ONLY feed themselves from the high of the "Acts 1:8 power anointing". This anointing can never take the place of our 1 John 2 “presence anointing", because one anointing was given to know Him and the other was given to make Him known. Knowing God is our first priority and as our faith increases we will long to see His kingdom manifest. We are called to live from His presence and release His power and purpose on the earth. YOU CAN HAVE BOTH ANOINTING"S.
Your Place in you TRIBE
In an atmosphere and culture of faith, you will find that a trait of powerful people is the reality of this scripture; the awareness that "faith without works is useless". Faith-filled people want to see God, and they want to see results. To allow powerful people to “happen” around you, or to create space for them, means that we commit to not put down their need to produce, work, or perform. Man was created and placed in the garden for main reasons.
- The walk with God.
- The Cultivate the Earth
- To Have Dominion and Identity
- To Be Fruitful and Multiply
The desire to see results does not automatically mean that they are living in a state of “Doing instead of Being''. I have seen insecure people judge powerful people too quickly in this way. Do we all still need the balance of rest, relationship, and works…? YES. But, the way community works in an Apostolic Tribe of powerful people is that we are called to get close enough to each other to recognize that when one is in need of "Presence" we create space for them by taking on a few of their tasks and help them to achieve their desire for more of God's presence. This works to help "presence" driven people to find balance in community and dial up "purpose" when needed. Likewise, if someone is in need of "Purpose" we help them to understand and create a strategy to carry His presence into the community and walk in their Acts 1:8 anointing, fulfilling their purpose. God is increasing divine strategy for loving Him and for carrying His love to the world in divine partnership. Abraham, who is called "The Father of Faith'' never stood before a large crowd of people and gave a great eloquent message to mobilize the masses like many other leaders in the Bible. He was known as the "Father of Faith'' not by what he said, but by what he did.
James 2:21 "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God."
You are a part of a great new era of Kings and Priests who are not satisfied until we know God and make Him known. It is time for the Kingdom of God to manifest like we have never seen before and you have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this. I bless your faith and the work of your hands to be fruitful and multiply.
The definition of “Powerful People” is not found in a group of just high-level executives in three piece suits. It can be... But “Powerful People” are most defined by knowing who they are and whose they are. They have learned to serve with the heart of a king and rule with the heart of a servant. They have learned that they need each other and have found a way to create space for each other to happen.
Finding Your Voice:
John the Baptist is called "The voice of one crying in the wilderness..." He is not called an "echo" but a "voice". This is the hour that the Church is finding her voice because God always raises up a voice to articulate what He is about to do. In the Old Testament individuals were anointed by God and raised up as a mouthpiece to communicate what He was saying. But now, in the NEW Testament, that mandate has been given to the entire church. The Great Co-Mission in Matthew 28 released to the Church to find her voice and to articulate with great authority what heaven is saying and doing. Angels wait at the gates of heaven with massive provision until the Church decrees the release of heaven on earth.
Finding Your Voice is about entering into a partnership that is birthed out of intimate conversation with God. God wants you to value what He has created in you enough for you to join the conversation. Your Creator has given you a life story, and that journey has given you a unique thumbprint and a voice that no one else has. Religion has always sought to silence the voice of God and the voice of His bride. Religion would prefer that we remain an echo while your chair next to the throne is left unoccupied. You have something to say because you are seated with Him. Begin by valuing yourself enough to hear what's inside your heart. God says "You are about to discover who you really are''. The scriptures say that God's voice is like the sound of many waters (see Ez 43:2). But in the book of Revelation, at the end of the age, only one other voice that is described with having the very same anointing is the Church. (see Rev 19:6). Our voice is as the sound of many waters, just like His.
Finding Your Tribe
A House of Powerful People
Holy Spirit is fashioning and strengthening our EQ, healing our insecurities, and challenging our personal marketing tactics in order to build a house where powerful people are celebrated and not without honor.
Imagine what it was like to grow up in a household with Jesus. The Church was designed to operate the exact same way.
Jesus' mom was Mary, who will forever be known as the woman who gave birth to the Savior of the World. Jesus' step dad, Joseph, was from the royal line of David, His uncle Zechariah was a Priest from the line of Aaron, and His cousin was John the Baptist who was called "More than a Prophet... the greatest man ever born of a woman". And then there is Jesus, who had a star show up at His birth. Are you getting the picture of where God is taking the Church? Jesus knows what it's like to grow up in a house of powerful people and so did his siblings.
Did you know that Jesus had siblings? Yes, He had to learn to allow Himself to "happen" while creating space and opportunity for His brothers and sisters to "happen".
54 He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief".
Matthew 13:54-58
The words used here for "brothers" and "sisters" are in the literal tense. Although they were not conceived by the Holy Spirit like Jesus, these were not spiritual siblings, but actual siblings who had to learn to grow up together having available to them the same indwelling Holy Spirit as Jesus. It is also stated that Jesus' brothers may not all have believed that He was the Messiah until after the resurrection. According to the Apostle John, “not even his brothers (literal) believed in him” (John 7:5).
That’s incredible. Those who had lived with Jesus for 30+ years really did not perceive the fullness of the greatness in Him. Is that even possible? Can you really get that close to God or something He is doing on the earth and still not believe? Not one of Jesus’ brothers is mentioned as a disciple during his pre-crucifixion ministry. But after his resurrection and ascension, there they are all in the upper room worshiping Him as God (Acts 1:14).
It is not surprising that God used James to be the foremost authority in the Bible on subjects like Faith, Jealousy, Partiality, Unbelief and Double-Mindedness. James didn't just sit down one day to write a book, he lived it. He knew what it was like to overcome huge amounts of insecure thought traffic and to find his identity in Christ... his brother. It is completely moving to hear James refer to his brother as “our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” (James 2:1). Can you imagine what this phrase meant for James? The Lord of glory had once slept beside him, ate at the same dinner table, played with his same friends, and dreamt with him about changing the world.
You are called into the most powerful family on the planet, the church. You are about to see your brothers and sisters release things upon the earth that eye has not seen nor ear has not heard of before. Innovation and breakthroughs in technology, signs and wonders and miracles, unprecedented kingdom wealth for the end time global harvest and societal transformation. If we can hear Him, Jesus is teaching us how to be powerful; unapologetically. He is also teaching us how to create space for your brothers and sisters to also be powerful; unapologetically. And James is teaching us how to overcome the tendency to compare ourselves to other powerful people or get jealous when they walk in something we long to accomplish. In a household of powerful people we really are a team and succeed when our brother succeeds. James teaches us how to make space for powerful, anointed people while learning to allow ourselves to happen at the same time.
Marketing yourself or your company doesn't need to consist of slogans that highlight the deficiency of others. It's good to have a healthy drive and be competitive. But the best way to separate yourself and achieve the lion share of your market is by doing what you do well, not by stating to the public what others don't do.
God is so excited about placing you in a house of powerful people. He is taking His household from Slavery to Sonship by releasing Fathers and Mothers. Slaves believe that they have no resources, but fathers allow sons to emerge by showing them that they actually have unlimited resources. In this season you will have the confidence of Jesus and walk in the abundance of unlimited resources. You will also have the confidence that comes through the humility that James learned to possess as you celebrate others and create space for them while allowing yourself to explode with favor and freedom.
17 Jacob said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate [portal] of heaven.”
Genesis 28:17
There’s no better way to describe the House of God. A powerful Tribe of those who love well, serve each other’s dreams well, and have become the gate of Heaven where people can experience the tangible presence of a really good God.
