Each Month I try to feature another ministry and to share what God is speaking through them in an effort to build up others in the Kingdom of God. I am excited to bring a sample version of this article to you. Please click on the links provided to read the entire article and to see what this ministry is doing.The material below is from The founder of Strategic Intercession Network, Morris Ruddick. I deeply appreciate Morris and the labor he invest in making real the vision God has placed in His heart.
1. Is the Global Initiatives Foundation
www.strategic-initiatives.org
2. Strategic Intercession Global Network http://www.strategicintercession.org/posts/PiercingtheVeil.htm where you will find the complete text of this article.
I would like to highlight a few key items from the article, starting with the introduction.
Introduction
But the Samaritans did not receive Him, as His face was set toward Jerusalem. So, James and John asked, ‘Lord, do you not want us to command fire from heaven to consume them?' But Jesus rebuked them and said, ‘you do not know of what sort of spirit you are, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.'” Luke 9: 53-55
With all the talk about “the shift,” we need to face some realities to navigate the transition.
The nature and significance of this shift will involve penetrating a dimension, best described as a veil. There is a veil between soul and spirit; one between light and darkness, as well as a veil between the natural and supernatural.
The shift underway reflects a new-old thing that will merge the spiritual, community and economic dimensions outlined in God's Word. It is a move of God that will penetrate the fabric of society much as in the days of Joseph. It's the birthing of a new-old paradigm that will involve a transition with a cost, a release, and a veil piercing.
The dictionary describes “veil” as a covering that conceals or disguises . A spiritual veil represents a dimension or barrier that cannot be penetrated with human effort. This spiritual barrier may be due to a blindness, a hindrance, a threshold to be surmounted, or simply a timing factor that requires the recognition of an alignment needed to release or receive the expectation of change from the Lord.
DISCERNING THE VEIL
When facing a spiritual threshold, discerning the veil is the first step in the process of it being pierced. Veils can be of God's design or implanted by the enemy.
Alignment and Maturity
God's veils characteristically allow for spiritual alignment and the prevention of premature actions. They enable the full impact for the God-initiated release or shift. After interpreting the dream for the cupbearer, Joseph confronted a veil that involved an extended transition that remained in place until the set-time for his promotion.
Embedded Evil
Yet, in an increasing number of modern-day cases, a veil can represent a part of the smokescreens the evil one implants to divert us from advances in God's Kingdom. Embedded evil has become one of the most diabolical strategies coming against ministries facing major transitions.
Discerning the Evil
Pastor David Davis in his book “ Road to Carmel ,” (http://www.carmel-assembly.org.il/music.html) tells of a time when volunteers he describes as modern-day Jezebels and Ahabs, began infiltrating his ministry.
Agreement with Lies and Myths
Another undermining application of enemy-employed veils is a perversion of the principle of prayer agreement. An embarrassingly large proportion of the enemy's power today is the result of a usurping of the anointing from misguided believers. The deception involves being blinded by soul issues and participating in active “agreement” (according to Matthew 18:19) in both word and prayer with reckless judgments against members or groups from within the household of faith.
FACING SPIRITUAL REALITY
Facing spiritual reality involves recognizing and confronting the lies. It will entail discerning the difference between the enmeshed precepts of misguided religious and overt occult conventions; with the need to genuinely hear the voice of the Lord . Intellectual religion that shuns the Spirit and power of God is vulnerable to the seducing tactics of the enemy's propositions. Wherever a significant move of God is underway, there will be counterfeits and diversions.
Quieting the Soul
Facing spiritual reality means getting beyond our soul issues, as well as our sacred spiritual crutches and precepts to allow the pure input of the Holy Spirit. Only then will we be released to operate with the unwavering faith needed to embrace and execute the will of God.
Walking into the Fire
Facing spiritual realities may require us to walk into the fire. The peace or “shalom” outlined in the Bible is not the absence of conflict. It is the result of that alignment or completeness that comes from doing God's will.
Combined Anointings
The days upon us are evil. Few ministries confronting the realities of this hour are able to pave a lone pathway. We need new strategies and we desperately need one another. The turbulence and intensity of the battle is calling for a release of the power of God that results from the Body functioning in unity.
EMERGING BEYOND HUMAN EFFORT
Today's challenges and conflicts are requiring decisions, plans and strategies that go beyond the human effort of even the most talented from our ranks. The societal transformation set in motion by Jesus' followers was led by everyday people simply willing to believe and obey ; whose actions and strategies were based not on the precepts and traditions of men, but on the basic truths of His Word and on hearing the voice of the Lord.
Dominion
Jesus' mission was to destroy the works of the devil and to restore man to the purpose for which God created him. His earthly ministry gave focus to the truths to accomplish this purpose.
Kingdom Truths
The Son of God summed up the wisdom of the Scriptures in the Sermon on the Mount and with a series of Kingdom truths. These truths are paradoxes to the natural mind; yet their application represents gateways into results surpassing the limitations of human effort.
Identity Issue
The church's job is to perfect the saints for the work of ministry; to equip and mobilize the saints as they grasp and move into the fullness of their calling. That involves settling the identity issue: of who we are in Him and what we are here to do.
PIERCING THE VEIL
Not withstanding the God-ordained veils that need to ripen into maturity; piercing demon-set veils begins with hearing the voice of the Lord and facing the spiritual realities in the power and presence of God.
Progressive Revelation
From the days of Adam, Noah, Abraham, David and the prophets; to the days of Jesus and the early Church, the key differentiating factor between the religions of the world and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our Lord Jesus has been that God speaks and interacts with His people.
“Hearing the voice of the Lord” involves learning to recognize and correctly discerning God's guidance as it is unveiled through His Word, through wisdom and through revelation.
Consecration and Spiritual Saturation
Consecration releases authority and the supernatural. Genuine consecration combines prayer, humility and judging yourself before the Lord. Jesus said, judge yourselves that you be not judged . It is an examination of the human effort, so that we might yield ourselves more fully to the divine effort. Consecration is a conscious process of spiritually purifying ourselves for the purpose of operating to a greater degree in oneness with the Lord.
The shift underway will gain momentum as we prepare ourselves, as a Body. As we learn to accurately discern the veil and boldly face spiritual realties in faith, we will sharpen our alignment with the Spirit of the Lord, so that we emerge beyond our good intentions and zealous human effort with the power of God to traverse the transitions and pierce the veils.
“ You've not passed this way before, so consecrate yourselves, for the Lord is going to do wonders among you .” Joshua 3:4, 5
“Morris Ruddick is the author of “The Joseph-Daniel Calling” and “God's Economy, Israel and the Nations,” each of which address God's mobilization of the economic and community dimensions of His Word. They are available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and other popular outlets. 2006 Copyright Morris Ruddick — mer@strategic-initiatives.org
Reproduction is prohibited unless permission is given by a SIGN advisor. Since 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For more information on SIGN, check: http://www.strategicintercession.org/
