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Volume 33   Number 26 Jun 28, 2009

        Psalm 115 speaks of idols that have eyes but cannot see, and that have ears but cannot hear, and tells us that "those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them." We see this in the world. Those who put their trust and worship in something other than the Lord are blind and deaf to the things of God. Idolatry, rebellion, and false belief systems have kept them in darkness. Often Egypt is used as an analogy for those in the world who are entrapped in oppression and bondage to the enemy, with Pharaoh of Egypt representing Satan and Egypt the house of bondage.
        Psalm 114:1 says: "When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue, Judah became God's sanctuary, Israel His dominion." When we come out of the world, forsaking the thoughts and idolatry of false belief systems, rejecting "foreign tongues" (foreign beliefs/ways of living that oppose God), and rising above the dominion of darkness, we become God's sanctuary, and we become His dominion (government/authority). In this generation, we are seeing world systems crumbling, weather patterns shifting, and virus mutations threatening. "Egypt" is being shaken, and the church is hearing a call to rise higher and stand stronger in the dominion Christ has already delegated to her.
        Last weekend, Rev. Steve Presson spoke of seeing a changing wind stirring the tops of mulberry trees and that a new dimension in the Lord was coming to Bread of Life Church. We find mulberry trees in 2 Samuel 5:22-25. The Philistines were in the Valley of Rephaim (giants), and the Lord told David to circle behind them and advance against them when he heard the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees. When David did this, he was able to drive back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer. There is an angelic activity associated with mulberry trees that brought David victory over his enemies and increased his dominion in the land. Steve Presson's word is an encouragement to us concerning what the Lord is about to do, and as it speaks of a wind, it comes as a confirmation of the word that follows.
        The Lord spoke on Pentecost Sunday and said a changing wind would be coming upon this place, and things for which people have sought Him for years would change in an instant. We would be changed, and we should know that the change and the power and authority (DOMINION) we will be moving in was nothing that came from our efforts, because we will have exhausted our efforts, and we will know it came only from Him. "That you will know that I AM God." For He would have us move in mercy and compassion, knowing that it is only by the hand of God that we stand or fall, so we will not say to ourselves of others, "If only they would do what I did, they would be free." Instead we will stand and intercede with the Spirit of God for their deliverance and freedom (SANCTUARY ACTIVITY), knowing this does not come from anything in and of ourselves but from the work and presence of the Lord in us as we seek to do His will and stand in His mercy.
        The Lord brought Deuteronomy 7:7-8 to mind: "The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."
        He said we were to remember where we came from and how long we sought to attain what only the Lord could grant us, as the Israelites sought for 400 years in a foreign land. What great deliverance He wrought, not so the people could take credit for their strength in walking out of Egypt, but so the people could glorify the Lord for what He did, which no man before or since has done...for Moses carried the staff...but God released the power.
        It appears that the Lord is preparing us for a season of increased liberty and authority in the Spirit, and we are to remember that what we are coming into comes from Him. He is calling us into a proper balance between authority/dominion and humility/ submission, for the authority is given not to control others but to liberate them.
        Hosea 11:1: "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My Son." Again Psalm 114:1 says: "When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue, Judah became God's sanctuary, Israel His dominion." That sanctuary and dominion are going to set others free. God is still calling sons out of Egypt.
        We can learn much about the sanctuary and the dominion flowing from that sanctuary by studying Luke 19:41-44: Now as He (Jesus) drew near, He saw the city (Jerusalem) and wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
        This same word goes out to the unbeliever today. "If you had recognized/received Me when I came to you, you would have peace. But now you cannot see—you have been hardened to truth. The enemy has built a stronghold around you and closed you in and away from Me. You think this is freedom, but it is bondage and it will destroy you...and your children." These are people who have moved to Zion but left their heart in Egypt. They are still in the house of bondage, and if they do not move from there, their temple will be destroyed. Without a temple, there is no dominion.
        Luke 19:45-46: Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, "It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.'" The temple area which had been set aside for the Gentiles to worship had been turned into a place of financial corruption. The moneychangers were not only stealing finances but also stealing from the nations that place of prayer and communion with God. The Lord had zeal for His house and drove out the moneychangers. He still has a zeal for His house, wanting to drive out what separates us from Him and His purpose for us. Those things that defile the temple also keep that temple from being what it is called to be.
        As our temple is cleansed and transformed, moving us further from Egypt and closer to God, we start to see temple activity coming from the sanctuary.
        (1) SANCTUARY INTERCESSION: We are a house of prayer for all nations. Our intercession is affecting the unbeliever's ability to recognize their visitation by preparing their ground for precious seed, releasing angelic activity, and binding demonic powers. From that place of prayer in the sanctuary, we are exercising our dominion in the earth.
        (2) SANCTUARY TEACHING: Luke 19:47: And He was teaching daily in the temple...all the people were very attentive to hear Him. The Lord still teaches daily in the temple, and if we are attentive and position ourselves in prayer and study, we will hear Him. Isaiah 50:4-5 says: "The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened my ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away." As we are taught, we have what we need to teach others.
        Psalm 119:45-47: "I will walk about in freedom for I have sought out Your precepts. I will speak of Your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in Your commands because I love them." Those who love the word of the Lord and who walk in its liberty will be given an audience to speak truth and light. Now we are moving from temple activity, in communion with God, into dominion activity, declaring truth to those in the world.
        (3) SANCTUARY GATEKEEPERS: In Genesis 28:17, following the account of Jacob's ladder, Jacob says, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!" In Christ, we are the house of God. For the unbeliever, the backslider, the carnal Christian, those in idolatry, those who missed their visitation, those hedged in by the enemy, we are the Gate of Heaven, the doorway by which they can find their rest. In the Kingdom of God, dominion flows from the sanctuary. For us to walk rightly in it, we must be attentive to temple activity.
        In Matthew 16:13-19, we read the account of Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. That was a revelation which Peter received in temple communion with the Father. Upon that revelation, Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom and the authority to bind and loose, and declared the building up of a church that the gates of hell would not prevail against. Dominion and authority protects, it defends, and when it has to, it goes to war. We are warriors called to partnership with God to release others from Egypt.
        In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus said: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth," and in Luke 10:19, He said: "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy."
        We have come out of Egypt, and as surely as we are God's SANCTUARY, we are also His DOMINION. It is time for the church to walk in that dominion. Let us be in one accord, attentive to temple activity, obediently walking in our authority, and seeking the Father for His fresh wind to blow. Great things are yet to come!

Barbara Martin