Thursday, February 01, 2007

Call the things that are not as though they are

Last week I heard the Father say, "Call the things that are not as though they are". Yesterday, I heard Him say it again. When He first said it, I saw what He meant. As we pray for the things that we see that the Holy Spirit wants accomplished, the things that the Holy Spirit wants to be so, then pray as though they are already happening, speak as though they are already happening.

Here is an example: there are many things that we need as we go forward with OPERATION: JESUS PICTURES. We need to outfit the RV so we can travel, as the Father leads us. We need to print many, many more pictures of Jesus ($8500 for a million pictures) since we give them out all over the world, and the Father is always opening new doors. We need to mail the pictures out, which takes provision for the postage costs. We need to provide for Pastor Jean in Rwanda, so he can expand his giving of the pictures of Jesus and the showing of THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST in that nation where the Father is moving among the people who are so close to His heart.

On Friday we are sending the money so Jean can buy a TV, with which he can show THE PASSION from his new and larger house in Kigali, that has electricity. We still need to buy a refrigerator so he and Beathy can have food there to share with guests who come to see the film or get free pictures of Jesus, ($300 USD for a good used one) we need to provide furniture; benches and chairs for people as they watch the film, and gas money for his travels on the motor scooter. We need to provide an automobile ($3000 USD) so Jean can go about the Father's business in the heavy rains. Sometimes now when traveling on his motor scooter during the rainy seasons, he has to stop and stand under the eaves of a building, waiting for an hour or more before resuming his travels. Yet, still he faithfully takes the pictures out, whether there is rain or not. We need to get him a DVD projector for showing the film wherever he goes, and a power pack or battery box so he can show it when the electricity goes out without warning. In Kigali, this situation has been better since the Rwandan government bought four new generators, but when he travels to the villages, it will be very useful.

There are many needs that we have before us. And the Father wants us to speak of them, as though the provision already exists. Though it has not yet been provided, He is saying to speak of it and pray about it, as though it already exists, because He is faithful and He will provide, so what we are saying and praying is true. He wants us to look and see what the Holy Spirit means by what He says to us and shows to us, and then speak as though it is accomplished.

Of course, there are deeper ramifications to what the Father is saying: Call the things that are not as though they are, and many of you will see by the Holy Spirit what He means, and will act on it. Speak of revival in Rwanda, and healing to the spirits of the people. Speak of revival in the whole world, of people turning to the Father and leaving their darkness.
Let me confess to you a weakness that I have: the Father can say and show the most powerful things, and yet I never seem to go far from thinking about provision. We need the money for the mortgage, the gas bill, the OJP phones, to mail the pictures... the list goes on and on. I think of this holy God, whom I love, who leads us always, who has the whole world on His heart and mind, who sees widespread wickedness, who feels the suffering of billions of individuals, who sees the fallen spiritual realm and their continuous wicked onslaught against humanity, and yet the topic of my conversation with Him returns again and again, to what we need. I see the Father's heart, I see the angels singing, I hear Him speak directly, or through the prophet Silvana, of powerful events, sometimes of prophetic things that have been written about for thousands of years, yet almost before the words are out of His mouth in the present day, my mind turns once again to what we need, whether to the provision for what we are doing in Him, or the provision for our households. Has it been like this with you? If it has, then join me, in Jesus' name, to call the things that are not as though they are, and leave our the fretting about events in our lives, and the needs that He sees that we have, and bring to Him our petitions about provision, about our families, our neighbors, our co-workers, or others for whom we are praying, and then trust Him to provide, to act. Together, let us call the things that are not as though they are, and then we will see our great and wonderful and loving God act with power.