Stay the Course. Believe the Love I Have for You

September 18, 2021:  Prophetic voice Gina Gholston is quoted by Dutch Sheets in mid-September as having had a word from the Lord that read, “I hear the Lord saying:  ‘In the days ahead, I’m going to remove the covering where evil has been hiding.  Up from that will rise a stench.  But I say to My church, stay the course, for I am giving beauty for ashes.  This is MY time.  I will come, and I will make things right again, but you must stay the course.’”

Her accompanying vision included a fighter pilot flying his jet while being divinely protected from incoming missiles which hit an invisible barrier just before reaching him, exploding all around him.  The repeated phrase she heard was “stay the course.”

Gina’s encounter occurred in February, 2020, just before the lockdowns began across our country and across the world.  At first, I moved on after reading it – but God kept bringing it to my mind and her vision has really dug deeply into my thinking and perspective.  And I find it helpful.

We are definitely living in a time when the stench of evil is nearly everywhere we look or listen.  Corruption—corruption “on steroids”, to utilize a popular phrase—is being revealed from school boards to the illegitimate regime overseeing our American government; from clinical workers in local settings to the powerful heads of medical conglomerates and pharmaceutical mega-companies; from small, independent nonprofit organizations to powerful, over-arching and intertwined Foundations; from local government officials to the highest national political Conventions and Parties; from all these (and more-such as illegal censorship, oppressive taxation, unvetted non-citizens with no loyalty to American ideals imported by the thousands to undermine the strength of national unity) the stench of evil is daily in our sight, our nostrils, impacting our lives with a constant buffeting of fear, anxiety and confusion.

Our individual “fighter planes” are being assaulted and rocked endlessly.

Stay the course.  Are you kidding, Lord?  Have you taken a peek down here to see what that entails?

He is not kidding, for we are His hands and feet on this earth, His voice to proclaim.  I read a 9-16-21 prophetic word from Johnny Enlow, who said he asked the Lord, ‘Why is this taking so long?’  The answer he reportedly heard in his spirit was lengthy, but centered around a central theme, “I am still interested in My Kingdom ways being demonstrated on earth as it is in heaven, I need My church awake and in agreement with My mandate. My message hasn’t changed, ‘You are the light of the world,” “you are the salt of the earth.”  You must from now on TARGET darkness in your society.  That is what an Ekklesia does.  Enough with the doctrines which permit you to excuse yourself from My Kingdom Mandate.  I did not say, ‘Speculate until I return,’ I said ‘Occupy until I return.’  “Occupy” is a military term.  Doctrinally-induced sleep and escapism has made My church almost irrelevant compared to what I made her to be…I have held Myself back from your quick rescue at this difficult time as I am thinking of your children, and their children, and your children’s children.  You will awaken, you will make the shift, you will arise and shine.”

Godless evil is not new.  Adam and Eve faced it.  Moses faced it.  Noah faced it.  King David faced it.  Elijah and Daniel faced it.  Jesus faced it.  Each of the disciples faced it.  And history since those centuries has had its own representatives of goodness and freedom facing the forces of evil and enslavement.

Just as the evil has had many names throughout ages, it is called by many names today.  John correctly discerned in I John 2:18, “even now many antichrists have appeared” – even though we, as an American society, tend to think of ourselves as “too sophisticated” to boil down complex issues as being a conflict of good vs. evil.  Yes, there are many antichrists in our midst, and it is a perspective we should, perhaps, relearn. 

There is more to Gina Gholston’s word:  “What is coming in the days ahead, will cause a great temptation to abort the mission.  But the Lord says, believe the love I have for you.  My love will carry you through unscathed if you STAY THE COURSE.  The danger is when you get off the course, says the Lord.  My peace is on this course.  My mercy is on this course.  My grave is on the course.  Do not focus on what you see in front of you in these days.”

I was thinking about that phrase – My love will carry you through unscathed.  “unscathed” is a tough word to process in today’s crisis-laden world.  Forced chemical injections.  Forced job losses.  Forced compliance.  Forced loss of different freedoms.  Forced educational indoctrination.  Forced financial parameters.  Forced awareness of genuine dangers inside and outside our national borders.  There is even a sense that we are being pressured into “forced faith.”

Paul described to those in Corinth, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”  (2 Cor. 4:7-9, NASB)  I like The Passion translation of the same scripture:  “Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed; at times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option.  We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us.  We may be knocked down, but not out.  We continually share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.”  (TPT, 2 Cor. 4:7-10)

The Message translation of 2 Cor. 10:3-6 teaches, “The world is unprincipled.  It’s dog-eat-dog out there!  The world doesn’t fight fair.  But we don’t live or fight our battles that way – never have and never will.  The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture.  We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.”

Stay the course.  Seek Him as to what and where to occupy ground that the enemy has claimed, and TARGET that darkness.  His love will carry us through.   

A Very Hot Summer for Undisclosed News!

“Keeping up with the news” has been quite exhausting this last couple of months….especially since so much is virtually unpublicized through “normal channels” and must be obtained more piecemeal from lesser-known outlets and venues. Please check in at debfrostwrites.com for the newest updates on news links and the last of my Spring-Summer Journal entries. The “disinformation war” goes on — but I think there are positive signs to ponder. I am also posting political entries regularly on Facebook — however they have changed their algorithms to “cut down on political content” and little of what I am posting is being sent to anyone’s feed. So check in on that page or my blog to see information you may have missed! Please recommend that others subscribe if you think they would be interested.

Thoughts on the New Year 2021

We have just passed the entryway of 2021, and the Great Battle for America still rages.  It is in the spirit; it is upon the land; it is in the culture; it is in our institutions, among the people and in every political decision and action being made.

In the third movie of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, there is elf-to-elf telepathy between Lady Galadriel and Lord Elrond in which Galadriel states “The quest stands on a knife’s edge – stray but a little, and all is lost…the Ring knows it is close, so very close, to achieving its goal.”  The ring’s goal, of course, was to be reunited with its evil host, Sauron, manifesting a conquering evil that would subdue all of Middle Earth and its people under its foot of tyranny.

I feel like we, as a nation, are enduring that “knife’s edge” stretch of tension as we await the final curtain call on the 2020 election while the “ring” of socialist power has nearly reached its goal.

For nearly two months, post-election voting statistics have been compiled, re-compiled, re-organized, re-charted, re-explained; irregular-state-by-irregular state have had lawsuits brought forward only to be dismissed by varying courts not on substance, but on technicalities – technicalities about which there is disagreement, yet no lawsuits brought to determine if the technicality itself is being appropriately applied.  Then there are the facts and statistics about the middle-of-the-night spikes of vote downloads that shifted numbers from President Trump to challenger Joe Biden.

The primary media outlets have chosen to label ongoing regularities “a false narrative.”  There is only one narrative about which there is widespread media agreement – Joe Biden won the election.    Two-plus-two is no longer four.  It is whatever number the report wishes to make it, depending on a variety of factors.  The courts – even the Supreme Court, in a stunning abrogation of responsibility – chose to dismiss a multi-state lawsuit on a technicality.  Re-attempts for the Supreme Court to hear the data supporting the case — re-dismissal on more technicalities.

Never have I seen such days as these.  Evil is always ever-present – but this, this evil that overarches and encompasses an entire country with the intent of smothering and strangling out all dissent – this is a fraud of nuclear-attack proportions.  Many foreign countries are rumored to have worked together to accomplish the task; but this is shared only by multiple small, non-standard information outlets.  Confirmed as foreign players in our election interference are China, Russia, Ukraine, Iran.  There are likely more that yet remain unnamed, possibly undiscovered.

News and information that should create giant-font front-page headlines over and over again is dismissed:  more “false narrative.”  The facts, which bear themselves out plainly, are ignored by every governmental venue utilized by our American Republic in settling and deciding such issues.

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph through Christ, and through us reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place.”  ( 2 Cor. 2:14)

With increasing regularity, the Christian prophetic community has been stepping forward and pointing people towards the unfailing faithfulness, wisdom, goodness and love of God for the people of the nations and, specifically, the people of America.  In one voice they have repeatedly confirmed….God is not closing the door on His divine plans and destiny for America.  

They are revealing the fragrance of Him in every place.

As one prophetic voice stated regarding God’s stance, “I am not extending a hand of judgment, but of mercy.”  (Hank Kunneman 12/20)

We wait, we pray, for all that we are seeing in the natural world is not as it appears.  Twenty days until the ring is connected to its evil master. We wait for the moment of His leading us in triumph as He reclaims the country that He founded.

Does Anyone Think Church Gatherings are ‘Essential’? Who’s Speaking Up?

Does Anyone Think Church Gatherings are ‘Essential’?  Who’s Speaking Up?

I shared a link to my commentary and connected editorial (by Matt Walsh) on Facebook last night — but I know how quickly posts run through a person’s feed and quickly disappear.  So I am sending this out as a post because I, like Walsh, am deeply concerned that no specific conversation has occurred regarding the benefit and Constitutional legality of continuing church assemblage — despite the risks — during this coronavirus pandemic.

I had assumed that churches would be considered an “essential social service” and that any mandatory shut down would be resisted.  Necessarily, “crowd considerations” would have been evaluated, with churches likely needing to be creative and/or take measures to accommodate the different situations that were arising.

But it never occurred to me that, based on numbers alone, church assemblage would be shuttered as if it were of no benefit to our neighbors, our rich and poor alike, our now-unemployed co-workers, our very society.

Opinion Writer Matt Walsh declares in this article, “As far as I know, no government at any level, anywhere in the nation, has deigned to label churches essential.  Our Founding Fathers, who gave the right to assemble and the right to practice religion pride of place in the Bill of Rights seemed to have disagreed.”

This is actually a discussion that SHOULD have been broached at the start of “shelter at home” orders, in my opinion.  I am guessing that the original “two-week” duration of time to Shelter-at-home during March was considered “short,” and clearly temporary, therefore becoming a significant factor in the deafening silence regarding this issue.  However, that length of time has now been extended for an additional 30 days.  And there is no clear statement that it will not, in some fashion, continue to be enforced for an additional and unspecified amount of time.  

In a society which considers physical food an essential for physical and mental well being — appropriately so — it is nonetheless truly unfortunate that ‘spiritual food’ is not given equal consideration as to how churches and fellowships might continue to reach out and offer comfort, support and stability to frightened and insecure people in this time of crisis.  Actually, I think it is beyond “unfortunate.”  I think it is a serious gap through which millions of people are falling with limited or no safety net, below.

Yes, online connection options are definitely “better than nothing.”   I give kudos, appreciation, and accolades to those church leaders who have worked diligently to create and maintain contact/support with their people through social media and online opportunities.  Yes, Romans 13:1 states, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God , and those which exist are established by God.” (NASB)

Authority established by God:  consider that phrase, for just a moment.  I propose that our houses of worship — FAR more than any government agency — have been ordained for this very purpose of bearing His authority in the lives of people, and for times just like these.  If I may say so, it is each one of us AND our houses of worship who have been bestowed with the mantle of spiritual governorship to address the necessary task at hand with the power, compassion, and efficiency needed.

We all — loudly, as Americans, whether personally involved in spiritual gatherings or not — really should be discussing if stay-at-home orders from state/federal officials should supersede a Constitutional guarantee of freedom in religious assembly (especially since such orders are currently apart from any specific guidelines as to whether or not a stay-at-home order is justified).  We should be discussing if this is contrary to the Scriptural admonition for us to “consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together.” (Heb. 10:24-25, NASB)

There is a purpose and a point in our “assembling together”…and it is not necessarily for US.  We are NOT called to live for ourselves.  WE have been tasked to be bringers of Light in dark situations; WE have been tasked to share Living Water with those whom the world has wrung dry.  

Matt Walsh states in this article, “This is not ‘health and safety.’  This is tyranny.”   Walsh subsequently asks the question, “Can the government simply declare all churches non-essential, close them indefinitely, and thus circumvent the First Amendment with so much ease as to render it effectively nullified from here on out?”

THIS is the discussion that we-the-people and we-the-children-of-God need to decide within our congregations and bring to the doors of our local, county, state and federal levels of  government.  

4-2-20 UPDATE:  After Hillsborough County arrested Pastor Howard-Browne of Revival International Ministries, the local government has done a 180-turnaround.  According to lc.com (site of Liberty Council), “The council voted to recognize churches as ‘essential,'” reversing an earlier decision which resulted in Pastor Howard-Browne’s arrest.  In addition, “Any future guidance the county may issue will be recommendations and not enforceable.”  The site also reports that Florida Ron DeSantis amended his April 1 executive order for shelter-in-place to recognize that “‘religious services conducted in churches, synagogues, and houses of worship” are “Essential activities.” Liberty Council was in the process of filing a federal lawsuit against Hillsborough County.

Comfort and Dredging

IMG_5710It’s a sit-and-watch-the-snow-melt kind of Saturday.  Cold, windy, semi-cloudy, outside conditions giving no incentive to step out of the “shelter at home” walls that surround me.

In some ways, the highlight of the day has been watching the USNS COMFORT back out of Naval Station Norfolk and start its journey to the anxiously-waiting New York Harbor.  One of the headlines that caught my eye as I looked for random information about the COMFORT cargo load was,  “New York Harbor dredging underway to clear smooth arrival of USNS COMFORT for its arrival in Manhattan next week.” (nydailynews.com)

Oceanservice.noaa.gov defines “dredging” as “the removal of sediments and debris” from various bodies of water because the constant accumulation of sand, silt, and discarded matter makes the water increasingly shallow.

And I had several thoughts converge at once, all focused on how frequently the “rescue ship” God sends to people, cultures, countries, all require preparation, dredging, deepening in the lives and souls of those who will receive it.  The sediment and debris of the world — heartaches, challenges, failures, pressures – accumulates over time and often without even realizing it, our water has grown shallow and easily polluted.

I thought about significant “dredging operations” in Scripture.

John the Baptist dredged the harbor of Jewish culture for the arrival of Jesus.  (Matt. 3:11)

Jesus dredged the harbor of His disciples’ understanding as preparation for the release of the Holy Spirit.  (John 14:26)

The Holy Spirit dredged the harbor of Saul’s life so that Apostle Paul could step into his divine destiny. (Acts 9:17)

It should bring us comfort and encouragement that God-initiated dredging operations are powerfully ongoing.   He is dredging the lives of leaders, entire cultures and countries, every day.

And we as individuals are not left out.

The Holy Spirit consistently dredges the harbors of our lives so that Jesus’ Words, His Life, His Presence may dwell within us in depth, clarity, and vibrancy.  The Passion Translation proclaims, “He saved us, resurrecting us through the washing of rebirth.  We are made completely new by the Holy Spirit, whom he splashed over us richly by Jesus, the Messiah, our Life Giver. (Titus 3:6)

We all have “watch the snow melt days.”  IMG_5711What a day of opportunity to engage with Him and in our hearts and actions, assist in the “clear smooth arrival” of His provisions and revelations in our lives.

First Day of Spring, 2020: Shine, Jesus, Shine

 

IMG_5692Today is the first day of Spring.  As buckets of snow pour down from the sky, it looks much more like the first day of winter than the heralding of seasonal flowers-and-butterflies.

Restaurants, schools, gyms, theaters, multiple retail stores — all closed; grocery shelves remain unable to meet purchasing demand; Spring breaks, weddings, political rallies and church gatherings equally disrupted. Coronavirus-19 stalks through the countries of the world and the halls of America.

It reminds me of David’s wild hiding spree as he sought to escape Saul’s determination to eliminate him.

First, the Cave of Abdullum.

When you find yourself in the depths of a cave, rock gatewaythe light seems small and far away.  Caves are dark, tension easily runs high, fear of scarcity or being discovered, always at the forefront of your thoughts.

From this scenario David entreated, “Be gracious to me, O God,” which he followed by: “For my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge, until destruction passes by.  I will cry to God Most High, to God who accomplishes all things for me.  He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me.  God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth…My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!  Awake, my glory!  Awake, my harp and lyre!  I will awaken the dawn.  I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations.  For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds.” (Psa. 57:1-3, 7-11, NASB)

The graciousness of God.  The lovingkindness of God.  The active participation of God, in our good times and especially in our trials, our cave-time.

Pastor Ray Noah of Portland Christian Center and Petros Network wrote on his blog, “What is the cave?…the cave is the place of testing; it’s the blast furnace for moral fiber.  flames in the campfireThe cave is where your mettle gets tested, your maturity gets revealed, your heart gets exposed!”  He adds, “If Jesus got ‘cave-time,’ the cave won’t be optional for you.”

Ah, Jesus.

I’m so glad His cave-time was mentioned…for we know the end of that episode, and it fills our hearts with joy, a sense of confident victory which yes — we can walk in — a testimony that never fails to inspire, to strengthen, to catapult us forward in good deeds towards others.

In the midst of abundant Coronavirus 24/7 information/news to which we are all exposed right now, travel restrictions, closed businesses, and high anxiety among many among our neighborhoods and friends, I had the most amazing song enter my heart earlier in the week.  I use the description “amazing” because I have not heard or sung this song for at least twenty years.  It’s a melody which I thought was “OK” in its height of popularity, but not one of my personal Top Tens I would find myself humming.

And yet the Spirit injected the chorus melody into my soul and spirit and the tune has not stopped, yet:  “Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father’s glory; blaze, Spirit, blaze, set our hearts on fire.  Flow, river, flow, flood the nations with grace and mercy, send forth Your Word and let there be Light.” (Cliff Richard, lyrics)

I think this was not sent merely for my edification, and perhaps not even for yours…but, rather, to serve as a launchpad to prayerfully confront this specific darkness in a time of national need.  Praying for the Father’s glory to be released in every quarter, into every heart, through every scientist, in every economic situation, in wisdom and discernment, to repel every attack of fear, to push back and quell this overarching evil – with all its minions and carriers and banner-bearers.

 

Your Future Self and a New Day of Destiny

IMG_5432

New Year’s Day.

I am thinking about a poster I photographed on my camera phone, which read, “Do something today which your future self will thank you for.”  I posted that picture on social media and subsequently deleted it from my storage…but I have thought of it often in the year or two since then.

Your future self.

Sometimes it’s difficult to think of yourself as anything except “what” or “who” or even “where” you are, right now – and the details of that identity probably involve considerable time and energy to fulfill the routine and responsibility that is attached.

I certainly fit that category.  But I know there is “more to me” than what I currently see and express, because there is “more of Him in me” that is constantly seeking to be released.

Envisioning my “future self” can be a tangible motivation to seek my heavenly Father Hope candle w flowersand ask His participation in bringing me to those steps, that growth, training, discipline and focus necessary to “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” (2 Cor. 3:18)

The “same image,” of course, is His – “Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.”  But He chooses our individual and unique flavor of “the glory of God” to tangibly display His amazing, multifaceted love, mercy and transformative power to the world and populations He loves.

New Year’s Day is a fitting time to take a few minutes and think about that concept.  Of the many tasks and engagements involving you, right now – which of them touch others with His Presence or cooperate with Him to develop those giftings, opportunities, assignments He has for each of us?  Which are those activities which Paul describes to those of us who are “His workmanship” as being “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)

It is our ability to “walk in them” that is impaired by endless routine and responsibility which the world’s system is happy to throw our way.  It is one of the enemy’s schemes that we are so thoroughly deterred and drained by earthly focus and demands that we have no energy or vision for heavenly opportunities.  No energy or vision to make preparations for “your future self”…a forthcoming, fresh release of His Presence, Christ in us, “the hope of glory.”  (Col. 1:27)

Today is a good day to “take a stand.”  Today is a great day to ask His guidance in sifting through the necessary and the assumed-necessary.

The Passion Translation begins Romans 13:12 with the words, “Night’s darkness is dissolving away as a new day of destiny dawns.”

IMG_5368I like that phrase, “new day of destiny.”  As 2020 starts, we actually face a new decade of destiny.

In this New Year’s Day context, I think of “night’s darkness” as being those deceptions and busy-work the enemy endlessly shovels onto our path to drown out His Word and stifle His “light to my path.” (Psa. 119:105)

Today is the perfect day to consider your plans and strategies with a  future thanksgiving in mind.