Hearing From God part two

John 10:23 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”  So last time we started talking about hearing God’s voice and I talked about the fact that God wants us to live in communion with him. That word communion is where we get our word communicate comes from. We have been taught to talk to God not talk with God.  Here we see that God’s people hear his voice and follow him not only that but because they hear him he knows them. I want to encourage you today to keep talking with God. The more you listen the more you hear. So lets take just a few lines today to talk about the ways to hear God.

            The first way is the one that we are always told about the Bible. It is the active word of God. It still speaks God’s words to us today and I don’t want anyone to think that I am belittling this way God speaks to us. I have on several occasions picked mine up to read and had words that just seem to be spoken right to my heart.  A great example of that is Jeremiah 29:11-14 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." I was reading this at a time when I felt far away from God and it jumped off the page at me that God will hear me and answer me when I seek him with my whole heart. That he has plans to prosper me.   So I know that God still speaks by his word but that is only one way that God speaks, and it isn’t the most common way either.

            The most common way is not even attributed to God by most people we call it our conscious.  Most people think that that little voice that tells you right from wrong is their voice but scripture makes it plain that it isn’t our voice. Jesus himself says that conviction of sin or wrongdoing is one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit. John 16:7&8 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:” Once you realize and begin to recognize that voice as belonging to God then you will understand when He speaks along the line of one of the other jobs of the Holy Spirit. For more on the Jobs of the Holy Spirit read the rest of John 16:5-16 on your own.  This is the start to hearing God speak  we will continue talking about this with a couple of more ways to hear God speak this weekend when I post part three of this series. 

            On a personal note if you are reading this and it is helping you please leave a comment of drop me an email or facebook post letting me know. Till Saturday  Keep listening and talking With God.

             

How do You Hear God Speak pt one

          As a pastor and revivalist one of the most often asked questions I get is: How do I know it is God speaking to me? Or: How can I hear God like you do? To be quite honest this question surprises me every time I hear it. It says more about the leadership of churches than about the individual asking the question. How can people be attending a Bible believing, Bible teaching church and not have been taught how to hear the voice of God?  So to keep my blog entries small and readable we are going to take the next two entries to talk about this vital topic. 

          My usual answer to the question is this question: How do you know your spouse or parents voice when they talk to you on the phone without seeing them?  Or How come you can place 30 moms with 60 kids in a room and have one child call mommy and the right mommy turn around?   The answer is easy because you communicate with them regularly.  That is the answer to how to hear God speak to you, you have to communicate with him. Now let me explain, I know that every Christian prays but we are taught to pray by giving thanks asking for request giving praise but that isn’t communication that is talking at someone not to them.  How long would your other relationships last if all you ever did was talk at them and not listen to them talk?  Not long that is for sure.  So the reason that we don’t hear God speak or aren’t sure it is God when he is speaking is that we don’t take the time to listen and have a real relationship and I don’t just mean by reading our Bibles don’t get me wrong that is one way God speaks but He is a living God he wants to talk with us one on one. I want to challenge you today to start listening to God. Take some time and just listen Start a conversation with HIM ask HIM to talk to you then shut up and listen.

Then after he has said something answer him. That is communication

Next time we will talk about ways that God speaks. Until then go enjoy conversing with God.

Publishing Miracle??

So wanted to share something I find amazing.  I have started working on a book about prayerwalking. It is called "Prayer Walking Your Community for Spiritual Breakthrough."  I did this because of several people asking me if I could send them teachings on prayer walking. As I was working on it I began to think about getting it pulished.  So I went online and googled Christian Book Publishing. Of course several of  things come up but a couple of them really caught my attention because I have read books by authors they have published.  I sent inquires to both and have heard back from one of them already.  They assigned me a submisions editor whose job is to read my manuscript and see if it is even worth thier time. So for the last two days we have been playing phone tag. Now look at this quote from their web site: (Name Removed)Publishing only accepts for publication about 3 percent of all manuscripts received. Our selectivity makes it possible for us to provide our authors with a level of market penetration that is second to none because of the quality of our product. We have the best reputation in the industry for quality and service and are looking forward to speaking with you about your work."
So I am talking with this editor about my manuscript which isnt even finished and which I haven'tsubmitted becasue their site also says they only accept finished manuscripts. But she says so I know what were talking about give me a synopis of your book so I begin to talk about what Iam writing and tell her "I will have the finished manuscript by the first of next week, but it will be very very rough.  As we continue talking about prayer walking she says "You need to send me what you have done today."  I said but it isnt finished. She replies I don't acctually have to have a finished manuscript to do what I do  and I need you to understand that I need what you have right now  because baised on our conversation I am sending you a contract for your book.  We don't normally do that but if it is half as good as the stuff your telling me on the phone We can sell this book.  So send me what you have now so I can justify why I am sending this contract.
God has sent me a contract for my book without the publisher ever seeing the book.    So soon you may be seeing my book in your local bookstore.  What a crazy week. Guess now why I God allowed me to be stuck in the house. I have plenty of time to write.

What Do you EXPECT???

Lately I have spent several hours talking with various different people all who have what seems on the surface like different issues but at the heart of it all is one little word expectation. OK so the word isn't that little and even bigger is the issue.  When people say how can a loving God allow such and such or why didn't God stop this or that or heal or do or say something, what they are really asking is why didn't God do what I expected him to do?  We all have this problem to a certain extinct. Let me show mine to help you think about yours.  Here I sit writing and talking about God on a regular basis, I have started a couple of ministries this year based on what I thought I heard God saying and just when things were starting to look like I actually would get to see the results of all this seed planting my physical condition worsens. I had a doctors appointment with my new specialist this week who dropped the proverbial bomb on me.  To manage my condition I am having my immune system completely repressed. Under his orders I need to stay away from the general public and not have people outside of my immediate family around me because I am now subsectable to every germ and illness there is.  So how can I prayer walk? How can I run a church? How can I see Habakkuk 1:5 come to pass.  And then God placed several people in my online life who are going through expectations of their own. Some simple like I thought ministry would be easier; to the very hard like, If God is real how could he let me be gang raped?   As I looked at all of them and even my own situation I realized that everyone of us had an expectation of Who God was or what he should do. 

Take a moment right now and examine your own life and you will realize that some where in your life and beliefs you have an expectation of who God is or what He does.  We all do, so what happens when God doesn't "live up" to our expectations?   One of three things happen 1. We get angry at God or ourselves.  I have seen it. This response shows itself in several ways  we blame God for the thing that didn't happen the way we thought it would.  An example the parents of a young lady who was raped have expressed to me the following statement " I ask God daily to protect my family so how come he didn't keep my daughter from getting hurt?"  The expectation is that protection is nothing bad will happen no matter what.  The reality of the situation is that the young lady could have been killed as well as raped so how can we say that God didn't protect her?  When I mentioned this to the mother her response was it isn't enough for her to be alive he let her be hurt.    See when it comes to blame nothing can overcome at that point.
2. God doesn't exist  This one is very common  the proof that God doesn't exist is that he didn't preform in the way we expect.  Another young lady who has been involved in ministries I have been part of  informed me that she didn't believe in God anymore because of two reasons  the following is an exact quote from her.  First in may I was raped by three different guys  if God really existed he knew that I was saving my virginity for marriage and he should have saved me from losing the one thing that i was saving.  Also if he exists and you work for him why doesn't he heal you?  How can he allow you to have such a life threatening illness. If he exists he would keep you well. This is how I know God doesn't exist.

So how do you answer this reaction no matter what you say in the face of this expectation you can't change the expectation that God cant exist if evil and pain exist.  Nothing one can say will ever change a closed and made up mind. 
3. This response is the one that is the least likely to happen. You change your expectation.  This is where I am at I am trying to realize that what I thought God was saying was my expectation not God's plan.  God's plan will fulfill itself  Jeremiah 29:11 says " For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Some how this illness which seems to harm the plan of my life is not going to bring harm it is going to bring hope and a future.  How can you be so sure  Because despite what I expected I know that God is true to his word.  He says in Isaiah 55:6-11 " Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Gods word will not return without accomplishing the purpose he sent it to accomplish.  If we take these words of God to heart and apply them to our expectations then we realize when it seems that God is not living up to what we expect that our expectation of result is not his expectation of result.  Since God doesn't change we must.   That's where I sit right now trying to  change my expectations.   Take a look at yours and think about it.

George

Resistance to Revival

The more I spend time with those who claim they want to experience a move of God that is world shaking the more I realize that is not what they want. They want a move of God that changes those around them to be more like them not a move of God that changes everyone it touches to be more like God.   We desire a revival that will make Tom, Dick, Jane and Sue more like what we think they should be like but the minute God reveals to us that we need to Change as part of the revival then we are finished and decide "This is not for me anymore."  In the last few months as I have seen and directed those who claimed to want to see a move of God more and more of them have given me an excuse as to why they cant be part of what God is doing here. Deep down inside they know God is about to change their perceptions and challenge them to grow and become something they aren't yet.  Because we resist change we resist the Holy Spirit who is leading us into change. So once again I have sounded the shofar of revival and once again when it isn't about feeling the touchy feely goodness of God but the all consuming fire of God people run looking for something they want not what God is doing.  I sit at home and wonder and pray and cry out for a group of people who want God to move not just in their neighbors lives or their enemies lives or other peoples lives but in their own as well.  I ask God and I despair that I am the only one who wants God so bad I am willing to give up everything to get HIM even if it means giving up myself and my "identity"  I sit here and wonder am I the only one?  I can't be can I?   But experience tells me that it sure looks like it. And for that I cry.

Dark Night of the Soul

Tomorrow I will catch up on what has been happening in my prayerwalks but I felt lead to share last Sundays Sermon with everyone as I have been getting a lot of people who are going through this phenomenon and don't understand it for what it is.

So Lately I have been talking to a lot of committed Christians who for no apparent reason seem to think that God has stopped listening to them. They feel abandoned by HIM or like he is hiding from them. They say things like: "It feels like my prayers are just bouncing of the walls." or "I have been asking God for _____ for weeks and he doesn't answer me at all." This leads most of them start asking me what do I think is the problem with them that they can't hear or feel God in their life anymore. As a pastor this is one of the most frustrating questions to be asked. I mean if there is sin in their life then that is probably what is blocking God and usually he will tell me or the person I am talking to will let something slip that shows me what is between them and God but a lot of times they are living in right relationship and still aren't hearing the voice of God or feel his presence in their lives. When that happens I try to explain that besides unconfused sin there are two other reasons that we might not be hearing from God.

So the first reason besides a break in your relationship with God is that the enemy is delaying God's answer to you so that you will either accuse yourself of some unknown unresolved sin or so that you will accuse God of breaking his promise to never leave us. (Hebrews13:5, Deuteronomy 31:6 and Matthew 28:20) God is Truth and therefore cannot lie since he promised to never leave us, to be with us till the end of the earth then we know that he is hear. Since he promise "call on me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you don't know" (Jeremiah 33:3) we know that he is keeping his word. But if we look at Daniel chapter 10 we see an example of the enemy delaying an answer to prayer. Daniel 10:12&13 say this:

12 Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

for 21 days the answer to Daniels prayers were delayed by the prince of Persia this is not a physical prince but the demonic prince of the region of Persia. Why would Satan or his demons delay our answer from getting to us

Well scripture tells us that he is the accuser. The response of everyone I talked to about this recently proves it they all wanted to know what sin they were committing that was stopping God from having fellowship with him. Sometimes it is sin but if it is God will reveal it so that it can be dealt with. Satan also uses it to accuse God of breaking his promise. This is the oldest trick in his arsenal of tricks against mankind. it is the one he used on eve in the garden if you think about it boiled down to its most basic is God is a liar he is keeping stuff from you he didn’t keep his word to make you in his image. He made you less than him. And we buy into it almost every time at least until we learn that is what he is doing and then we are aware of this trick and it doesn’t work as well. There is one other reason for us not to hear God for a period and it was called by the Christian mystics of old the "Dark Night of the Soul.

2. The Dark Night of the Soul was a term created by Saint John of the Cross in 1587. It is a time of Stillness when God hides his presence from our perception to cause us to seek him harder. It happens only when God is trying to take us to a new level of relationship with Him. It leads to a deadening for a period of time of everything spiritual in our lives we have no desire to seek the things of God. By that I mean we don't "feel" like it we may want to in our spirit but our emotions seem to disconnect from our spirit. We are as several people have told me lately "Just going through the motions" This is held out in scripture look at most of the psalms of David they are either songs of praise to God or cries for God not to hide himself any longer. As an example look at Psalms13: 1-3 in those first three verses of this psalm David ask how long to God 4 times and ends verse three by saying if you don't reveal yourself to me soon I am going to die. And yet the Psalm ends with David standing in faith on what he knows to be true not what he is feeling is the truth. Read this whole psalm to see what I am talking about. Some people ask me how I know that the Dark night of the soul is not just sin in our lives that we don't know about. My answer is found in Isaiah 50:10 It says "Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness And has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD And rely upon his God." Notice that those who walk in darkness and have no light put their trust in God. This is a Biblical description of that Dark Night of the Soul.

If you happen to be finding yourself in a Dark Night of the Soul take heart they are not permanent they are to see if you are willing to press on and in doing so you enter into a deeper relationship with God that isn’t based on feelings or what you can see and hear and feel but on what you KNOW is True.

The tale of the Surprise Prayer walk

So this week I got a surprise from God. When I first started being lead to do this whole prayerwalking thing, I wanted to be able to get inside of the Local High School to prayerwalk.  Truthfully I have no contacts there I don't know anyone who could get me access but my youngest son does go to school there. And I was called Friday and asked to attend a meeting to discuss my sons academic career on Monday morning. So I arrived at the school with about 10 minutes to spare before my appointment and the Secretary gave me directions to my meeting. She told me that I was to meet in an office on the far side of the campus and gave me detailed directions so I left and began to follow her directions walking through the Halls of the school and I thought "I am not going to waste this opportunity. I will pray and declare the kingdom of God over this route at least." Little did I know that I had been set up again by God. The directions literally took me through every hallway in the school and lead me almost exactly to the office I started in.  I walked and prayed over the entire school before my meeting. How is that for a God surprise.  And that my friends is the tale of the surprise prayerwalk.

Preparing the Walker the final chapter

So I want to start by apologizing for not posting for the last week but after spending last Friday and Saturday with God and preaching on Sunday I came down with the worst case of Hay Fever I have ever had and have been in bed all week long. but I do want to share some of what God gave me those last couple of days and even this week in the bed I have been spending time with God.  I want to share some of what God has been saying to me during this time. 

God is looking for people who will just spend time with HIM.  No agenda just treat HIM like you would a close personal friend. One of the things that we talked about was that during my walking times though he would at times give me insights and messages about the church and about his people a lot of the time it was just HIM and I spending time together with no agenda. HE told me about doing that in the past with people HE talked about spending that kind of time with Enoch and Noah. He talked about there being people of every generation that just spent time with HIM.  He reminded me of the conversations that we had during our walk about the ducks and even brought to my mind the walk in which HE laughed at the inside joke HE was setting me up for.  Then HE told me that is what HE longs for from HIS people. HE told me that most of HIS children only come to HIM when they want something or need something. HE said they treat me like their own personal genie or Santa Claus while I want to be their love and friend.  I preached about this at our church this last week and had people asking me how do you do that How do you spend time with God and hear these things from HIM like you do.  I answered them the way I would answer anyone who asked me about that  YOU just do.  How do you spend time with your friends you make the time.  When was the last time you invited God to cook dinner with you? or to go to the movies with you or just take a ride to the store with you?  When is the last time you talked to HIM just to talk not to request something?  When is the last time you tried to listen to HIM talk to you without distraction?  This is what God is looking for, Longing for, HE is desperate for it.  I told someone on Sunday that I had spent to days listening to God cry.  HE wasn't crying over the sins of the world or the sins of the nation, He wasn't crying over deaths and loss of innocence. NO God was crying for someone to want to spend time  with HIM to love on HIM.  We say that we love HIM but would your spouse or significant other believe you loved them if the only time you ever spent time with them was when you wanted something from them? NOT for long they wouldn't. So take some time this week and just talk to God share your life with HIM, your dreams, your disappointments, your funny stories, Every thing and then listen as HE shares HIS with you who knows in some future generation they might just be talking about you and calling you "the friend of God"  Anyway that is my thoughts this week I got to go me and God are getting together to watch NCIS who knew that God liked TV?
Tomorrow my surprise prayer walk this week
I sure hope God doesn't hog the popcorn :)

Preparing the Walker Day3

Well today's walk was a lot quicker I only had to walk to the mall and spend some time there, Then walk home about 2 miles total not including the trip around each floor of the mall.  It was a good walk and I did get some things but not a lot of photo's I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of people that I didn't know and the things I saw wouldn't show up in photos anyway.  So let just get right into what went on during this walk.  As I was walking there another signboard just jumped right out at me it was for the Fraternal Order of Eagles but they don't say that on the sign it says FOE.  God spoke and said the foe is everywhere and he is taking notice of what is happening in the area. But he reminded me that while we have to watch out for the foe he has already been defeated and that as Paul the apostle puts it "the weapons of our warfare are strong for the pulling down of strongholds."   So dear brothers and sisters who are reading and praying remember that we must be on our guard and put on HIS armour daily so that we can stand against the snares of the enemy.  With that we continued on to the Mall nothing really of any significance happened on the way after the foe thing but I did take this photo of some ducks on the river just because it looked cool.

I said hey God there are a bunch of ducks anything you want to word you want to give me about them.  He said yeah they look cool all lined up like that.   Not everything about these walks have to be about some deeper word they can just be about us being together. And believe it or not that is what most of this walk was about.  I got to the mall and walked around looking at people and God said look at how busy they are.  Even here they are on the go. It seemed like every other person was shopping and walking and talking on their cell phones all at the same time.  Then we passed this signboard on the second floor and God opened my eyes to something else. The sign was for being able to buy lottery tickets in the mall and He said see the prince is active here to and then my vision changed and I saw a lady with this creature on her back and the creature had a long chain attached to her. She came out of one store and started past the next when the creature hopped of went into the store and yanked on the chain. She stopped turned and went into the store and began to shop. I stood and watched until she came out with another bag full of purchases and watched her walk a couple of more stores when it happened again.  As she came out of that store I went up and said excuse me I know this is kind of a weird question by why are you here in the mall today?  She was very friendly and told me that she had a hard day at work and just felt like she needed some shopping therapy so she came to the mall.  I thanked her and watched as the demon pulled her into another store.   As I began to look around I saw lots of creatures on lots of peoples backs. some had several and one man had a chain from him to the woman he was with and several other chains that just seemed to go straight through the walls. When I asked God about him I was told he is addicted to something at the end of each chain.  Then I was led up to the food court where i got a drink and sat down to watch people. God spoke and said look how busy they are. This is so typical now days people say they can't hear me or see me now days but the truth is they are just to busy to sat down and listen to me or look for me. I could hear the sadness in HIS voice and the Longing. Then HE said "If they would just be still and know that I am God. that's what i want from my children. They are so busy doing for me or themselves that they rush through their time with me. I want people to spend time with me. Then He made it personal Thank you He said for the last few days You are hearing me because you are spending this time with me. You may have thought I was silent yesterday because you got discouraged but i was just walking with you. being with you enjoying having you to myself.  That is what these 14 days are about. Yes i will show you stuff. But mostly I want you to grow to enjoy being with me, talking with me, listening to me. Not just because you need something but because you enjoy my company.  Then He went quite for a while. He showed me something I can't talk about yet then said lets go home. which is what we did. On the way home he said I just want to spend time with you tomorrow no agenda no visions just you and me in communion together. Lets g someplace quite and spend time together .  So that's what we are doing. If there is anything to tell tomorrow I will tell it if not Talk with you Saturday.

Preparing the Walker day 2

So today I walked where God told me it was a long, long walk. I started at 11:30 and finished at 3:30pm. I am tired, sore, and sunburned but I had a great walk and lots of good God time.  So lets just jump right in shall we and look at the things that God gave me.  There are five things I want to talk about today that happened on this walk 3 are things HE showed me one is a new part of my ministry and the last is a conversation that I had with him during the first half of the walk. I am not really proud of the last one and we will take them as they came up during the walk. 

1. I got about half and hour into the walk and I saw this light board for this store (see picture to the left) God spoke and said they don't even know, I have the only Kinetic Health Care. Kinetic energy is at motion it is always in motion it builds on the motion it has and creates more motion. Kinetic health care would be health care that continues to increase until all health comes from that source. Only God has that ability. His word says in Mark 16 that those that Believe will lay hands on the sick and they SHALL recover.  That's Kinetic Health Care if ever I heard it.  God wants to show us some Kinetic Health care. HE wants us to come to him and see how He can heal us.  God spoke clearly to me as I walked past this sign and said "they have not because they don't ask with faith."  As Smith Wigglesworth used to say in his revival services as the Healing line would form "Only Believe Only Believe All things are possible only Believe."

After this I walked for quite some time past the Levy which is hosting the West Virginia Motorcycle Rally this week. Where I ran into the Christian Bikers Association who were there Representing our Lord and Savior. Good JOB guys.  then about 45 minutes into my walk about a quarter of the way through I became so Hot and so tired. I had taken two bottles of Ice cold water with me and had finished one and the other was now lukewarm.  I was ready to Go home and I will be honest I told God so.  I said look you have already shown me something I am tired its my first walk It 94 degrees out here I want to stop for today. God told me you need to decide here are you willing to do what ever it takes or aren't you?  You told me what ever the cost you would pay it is being tired not worth seeing My presence change this valley?  Is being Hot or thirsty not worth seeing it?  I am not asking you to do much I already gave you permission to take sustenance once a day My  Son didn't get any of that no food no water for 40 days I am only asking you to do this for 14 is that too much?  If so then you are not the person I thought you were.  David would have done it, Peter, Paul, the 120 would have done it but if you want to quite before we even get started I will leave you alone.  

Can I be honest for a second here that scared me he didn't say I will let you go home and try again tomorrow he said I will leave you alone.  I sat by the side of the river under a tree and said please God I am sorry don't leave me alone I need you more than ever. You are right I said whatever it takes I am willing to pay it so lets Go show me what you want me to see.  And up on my feet I came and on towards the Capitol building I went.  Show me what you want me to see I prayed and for the next 45 minutes God said nothing!!!  I got to the capitol still nothing. I went into a convenience store and bought two bottles of water since I was out and as I left the store I decided since God wasn't talking I would take a shorter faster route home.  Almost as soon as I started that way God spoke "What are you doing? This is not the path now keep your promise or don't tell me you are willing again." I stopped and said to God I will follow your path but not without you if you aren't going to talk to me then I will go home because I can't make this walk without you."  Lets Go he told me and so I began to walk to the street he had told me to go down.  That was when He showed me the 2nd thing

2. I was passing the University of Charleston Football Field and God said they worship their hero's here but before we are done in this city this stadium will be filled with people worshiping me.  You will at some point in this hold a service here and I will fill it with people hungry for me.  Just follow me and do what I say and you will see more than you could ever believe was possible.  I am even now opening doors and softening hearts for a move in this city unlike any you have ever heard about.  Brownsville will be nothing compared to this, Lakeland a drop of water in the ocean, I am about to make a new thing soon people all over the world will say that Charleston West Virginia is truly Almost Heaven because God is there!!!" 

3rd thing was quick and not even two blocks later right at the road to the worst housing project in town (The only one you cant even enter unless you live there and can prove it) was a bill board and at the bottom of the bill board was a statement that leaped out at me almost as if God himself was saying it. Which he did seconds after I took this picture. To be honest I took the picture to prove to my self that the words were turely on the Bill Board.  They are "It starts Here"   God says the biggest awakening anyone has ever seen Starts here in this town hardly anyone knew anything about until Senator Byrd died and was laid in state here.  I am going to start here and awaken billions God said.  My house will be filled. 

I was almost besides my self at this point I literally bowed down on the street and worship God and told HIM how sorry I was for almost giving up.  He told me it was OK he knew I wouldn't He told me I know that you are like my servant Job even if I letyou be killed , you would still praise me with your dieing breath.  I let you feel the tiredness and the heat and the thirst. I want you to understand that you only have the strength you need when you follow me with all your heart mind and spirit.   Just lean on me and like Jesus I will minister to you and send my messengers to minister to you. Now get up we have more to see your walk today is not done. 

My dear readers I don't know how to explain what is coming in the next two things that happened in this walk but to just tell them as they happened and let you see what you think of them.  You can take them or leave them but I know what I was shown. 

4.The next thing I saw was a bill board as well one that instantly caught my attention I will not say a lot about it but let you see it for yourself it is self explanatory what is being advertised. God spoke and said this is important. Do you see what is behind this? The enemies prince in this State is Addiction. People both mine and those without my Son are caught in addictions. They bow at the feet of the Prince of West Virginia and don't even know it.  They are addicted to power,drugs,alcohol,pornography,sex, gossip,food,gambling, religion, entertainment and even to themselves. I want you as you begin to walk to every place you see something that feeds one of these addictions to declare to this prince that He is no longer in charge here. Use the Authority that Jesus gave to you and bind the spirit of addiction and lose my Spirit to bring Freedom.  When you get to the Capitol I want you to stand on the steps and Declare it declare the power of this prince to be broken over the leaders of this state and declare that Heaven be open over this building where the state laws are made. Stand in front of the Governor's mansion and Declare the same thing that Addiction to political power be broken Declare that my candidate will fill the office and Declare that an open heaven be over who ever is in this office.   I continued to walk and God said you know that you will have to do a Jericho march around that casino right? I answered what ever you want Lord.  Then he said what was the name of that place again?  I said God you know it. Yes I do but do you know it??  I said no and looked at the photo.  Mardi Gras why is that important?   Its nothing he told me with a chuckle just a little something I have for you to do.  

And that my friends is when God blew the lid right off of my box.  I just thought I understood the ministry he had for me wait till you here what he considers a little thing for me to do.

5. I continued walking listening to the occasional chuckle from God and said "Are you going to let me in on the Joke?"  He laughed and said "OH its no joke. Your going you know."  What are you talking about of course I am going we already established that."

"Not the casino though you are going there too  Mardi Gras your going not the next one but in 2012 you are going to organize something called Operation Prayerwalk Mardi Gras and you will take a huge team for the week before and the week of Marty Gras and prayerwalk and hold an evangelistic crusade In New Orleans for Mardi Gras they want a party we will give them a HOLY GHOST PARTY!!  And then I began to see what he was telling me but that is for another time and a different blog altogether.   Not long after that I arrived back home to find that it was 3:30 I had been walking for four hours and though I was tired I wasn't as tired as a 300 pound out of shape man with my illness should be. Why not Because when you walk with God he provides the energy.  So till tomorrow, when I have to walk the Mall of an evening, May you become even more Hungry for Him who made you.  OH and if you want to know more about Operation Prayerwalk Mardi Gras stay tuned it will be getting its on site soon.  I will let you know. 

Pastor George 

Perparing the Walker Day 1 actual

So today was my first day fasting is not as easy when it is only water and I am struggling with that but God allowed me a very small amount of sustenance besides water but only enough to allow me to concentrate on what I needed to do. I am confident that I will be able to complete this fast only because I know he has called me to.  So today I was shown a lot of things as I was running errands and God said this is the things I want you to see today but tomorrow you will begin to walk not ride.  So let me show you the three things God showed me and the spiritual applications of them. There are three of them so let me do them as I got them.

1. Almost as soon as we left the house today we hit road construction, This is not unusual in any way there is a lot of road construction going on around our city. The interstate, several other roads and intersections.  In spiritual dreams roads always represent direction. God began to reveal to me that the direction of our town has been broken and not very usable. But just like the road workers were working to make a smoother surface for us to drive on HIS workers are repairing or renewing the Spiritual direction of our community. He said that while repairs cause inconvenience and slow downs in the traffic or even at times a temporary worsening of road conditions the end result is a faster smoother drive.  It may seem like the direction is not changing or even that it has worsen but it is only the process of the renewal that is needed. Watch and wait for the end result it will be a smoother and even better direction than the original.   Thank you God for such an interesting first revelation.

2. A little later in our ride I glanced off to the left and saw a fence painting that caught my attention. It is of a man smiling holding a swings ropes but at a quick glance it looked like he was looking out through prison bars.  That's weird I thought why would a guy in jail be smiling.  God spoke in my spirit again and said A lot of my Children are just like that they are imprisoned by something or in bondage to something and they seem to be happy or even satisfied. There are two reasons for this he told me one they don't know they are imprisoned  because they have been told this is they way it is. They believe the lie that this is what the Christian life is and so they allow themselves to be imprisoned by rules and regulations instead of experiencing the freedom that I have won for them. The second reason is that they have been imprisoned for so long that they have become content with the way things are.  They are happy because this is all they know and after all it isn't as bad as some others have it.  The doors to their prison have been opened and still they are content to sit there day after day because things aren't that bad. Later when I went back by to take the picture God drove home to me that this is his people.  Look at the painting the man is in front of a castle that has crosses on three of its highest peaks. God said look they are satisfied with their prison when they could be in the castle.    God show them their prisons and make them dissatisfied with them lead them to the castle of your kingdom and true freedom.

The final thing was I had to go to the post office as I was entering God said look down there and off to the side was two advertisements someone had dropped. They landed just they way they are in the picture and I took the picture to show everyone what God was saying. 

God said this is what you are up against here in the Kanawha valley and even in most the country.  There are two types of Spirits that are riding the wind right now bringing bondage and destruction to both my people and the lost.  Sacred Spirits are religious in nature they look like a way to me. They even promise to be a way to me yet they aren't they are a way to destruction.  They even deceive my followers sometimes and lead them into that bondage we were talking about earlier.  The other is Native Spirits  who deceive by tying people up in the Natural or Native world. But mankind wasn't created to operate in the Native world but in both the Native and Spiritual world just like Me. I created you in my image to be like me a part of both realities. When will someone stand and declare the defeat of these spirits Change the atmosphere let my some of my people rise up and declare my Spirit rides the wind.  This is the breakthrough you are waiting for. Rise up and declare the Kingdom of God is in effect.

Well that's it for today tomorrow God has told me to walk to the capitol along the water then home along a very obscure back street I cant wait too see what He has for me tomorrow.

Thanks to those who have let me know your praying during this time and if you want to walk with me let me know that as well.

Preparing the Walker Part 1

I want to start by thanking those of you who are taking part of the Adventure by reading this and praying for me as I prepare to start Prayerwalking.   So if you have been following this blog you know that today was the the day of the last of the coats of finish on the Staff I thought before I start talking about what I am supposed to do for the next 14 days I should give you a look at the finished Staff.  So here is the finished product what do you think?            

So tomorrow starts the 14 days of getting myself ready for the walk. God told me that this 14 day period is time for me to get me ready to do the walk as he has called me to. Starting in the morning I will be fasting for the fourteen days this will be the most extreme fast I have ever had. I have done longer fast but never have I been called to do a complete fast. Fourteen days of water only.  I am also to forgo all forms of entertainment that doesn't draw me closer to God. That's right no TV, Movies, Books for fun the only computer stuff I can do is empty my email  and update this blog and my christian online work. Other than that a total entertainment blackout.  I am to walk not to pray but to see. I will pray everyday before I walk and then walk where he tells me to with a notebook and pen and write about what he shows me.  This is what I will blog about everyday. I will probably take pictures as well so stay tuned to see what God reveals to me. Now let me tell you why God has me doing this. It will teach me to see as HE sees. I will learn to pay attention and I will myself grow closer to HIM.  I am to seek HIM and where HE is at work everyplace I go.  The scripture that keeps coming to mind is Jeremiah 29:13 "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."  As I look for Him while walking coupled with clearing my mind and heart of all distractions I will begin to see HIM. I need to be ready to know when HE is showing me something. I seem to have some discernment into the second Heaven now but Through this HE seems to be indicating that HE is going to increase that level of discernment. To be honest part of me is scared of what this means.  I understand the necessity of an increase in this gift and I can see how it will help in this adventure that HE has called me to. My fear is that discernment doesn't just work one way, if you see the good you also see the bad, and maybe that is what HE is trying to get to come to terms with.  I don't know but I will do what I am called to do. I have already come to far to give up now. Could this be the thing that I need to actually experience Habakkuk 1:5? I don't know but stick around and we will find out together. Stay tuned for parts 2-15.

George

Preparing the Staff part two

So yesterday I let you know about the steps I had taken so far for preparing the Staff for my walks. You should read part one before you read this part in this part I will give you the last two steps God gave me one of which is finished the other one will be finished by the Monday. Which will then lead us into the next part of the adventure preparing the walker.    Lets start with a look at the staff after the first 3 steps.

So there it is cleaned up stripped and sanded look how white it looks. I found that as I was looking at it today, before starting the next two steps, that it is still a perfect picture of what God is trying to do with his people. After he strips away our shell and removes our bonds to the enemy and sands us to be like HIM that we become clean and pure just like Jesus. 

I never would have thought that I would get so much out of the simple act of working on making a staff to walk with but man it is a sermon in itself. So on to the last two steps for the staff's preparation

Step 4. Anointing the Staff

God told me to Anoint the staff with Anointing oil to consecrate it to HIS service.  So I did. What I found interesting is that the word translated Anoint in scripture means to Smear, cover, immerse.  So that is what i did I poured a little oil on the staff and then I began to smear it in while praying for God to consecrate it to HIS service. I covered the whole staff with it and became quite covered myself in the process. God spoke to me as I was doing this and said this is what I am doing I will anoint my people with my Holy Spirit and cover them with my presence. As you walk the communities of this nation carrying this staff I will begin to pour out a fresh anointing over my Children as you pass them by. Like Abraham of old I will give to you every place your foot touches while walking for me and carrying my staff.  

I am becoming more and more excited about this whole process. Any way last step

Step 5. Seal the staff with a protective coating.

Coat one drying

Lastly God told me to coat the staff with polyurethane as a protective coating. I must admit that this was also has an incredible spiritual allegory just like every other step has.  God spoke to me and said give it three coats one for every aspect of my presence: Father, Son, Spirit. Then he said just as you cover this staff with a protective coating, I have provided a protective coating for my children. I call it the armor of God. It is used to protect them from outside elements that want to work against them just like the coating will protect the staff from the weather outside. Also my armor will protect my people from internal rot just like the polyurethane will protect your staff from rotting like a normal stick. Why don/t my people use the protection that I provided for them/ All they have to do is put it on."  As the first coat was drying i noticed that the staff had changed colors it now looks kind of golden God said that is what my presence and anointing do for my children takes them from just a common stick and turns them into something precious and beautiful.  Or God is so Awesome isn't he?

Final thought as I finish applying the last two coats of polyurethane to the staff, as I was reading the directions to apply it one coat a day is what they recommend and then the directions said something interesting. "Allow 14 days cure time before strenuous use."  God spoke and said that is perfect you will have 14 days to complete the preparations on yourself.  So next the last coat goes on Monday and I have 14 days till the walking begins.  Please pray that I will do what he asks in preparation.  Next blog Preparing the Walker part one of 14.  :)

Preparing the Staff Part one

So since my last post I have been working on the staff. I haven't completed all the steps yet but thought that I should share with you what I have gotten done. I am going to kind of give the steps as I am taking them and why God has told me to do this, and any prophetic meaning HE has revealed to me as I go along. Oh there are photo's of each step as well.

Step 1. Removing the bark.
 As I was doing this step God told me that the bark on a tree or limb is like the walls and shields we put up in our life to keep people from seeing and hurting the real person who is inside. He told me that I was to strip this staff just like he would strip those barriers from the lives of His people. "Once my Children are laid bare to those in the world I will use their realness and openness to draw the broken and hurting to me."  As you will see I stripped off all the bark laying bare the wood underneath.

Step 2. Grind down the Knot holes.

 After removing the Bark God told me to smooth out all the major knot holes out on the staff. I found it interesting when i counted them that there were seven major Knots where small branches of the limb had been on this staff.  God has revealed to me through my prayer times as I prepare for this walk that there are seven major demonic spirits active against the followers of God right now. They are Pride, Fear, Apathy, Religion, Self Righteousness, Tradition, Worldly Wisdom, and Separatism. He told me to smooth them out not to remove them but to make them less than they were because there would be those who claim his name who would choose to remain bound to those spirits but that he would make them less influential than they were before.  So I began to grind them down not until they were gone but until they were much less than they started out. I found myself praying as I worked on them that God would do the same in every church family that we walked past and got to preach for the same as I was doing for the staff. 

Step 3. Sand the staff smooth.

The next step was of course to sand the whole staff.  God asked me as I was sanding "What does this do?" My response: " It makes it smooth."

"How?"

"By removing the rough spots."

"Yes", God told me " and that is what I am going to do to my people. I will remove the spots that makes them uncomfortable to those longing for me. As we break those 7 bonds off of my people then I will Begin to smooth out their rough spots making them like me full of compassion and mercy. They will begin to see themselves as no more deserving of my love and forgiveness than anyone else. They will begin to represent me and my unconditional love to those they come in contact with."  Again as I sanded I found myself praying God do the same in me remove my bonds and make me smooth and comfortable to those I come in contact with. 

That is as far as I have gotten in the last two days but I will start on the last two steps tomorrow and will post about them and more pictures as soon as I get them uploaded. I hope that you think about your own life as you read these steps and join me in praying that God will do them in your life and in the life of his "Church"

The Search for the Staff

Well today was the day. After a week of various reasons for not getting out to Kanawha State Forest, I finally made it.  Scripture says "Ask and it shall be given unto you, Seek and you shall find...." Matthew 7:7 and I know it to be true however as we started driving into the forest I just said a simple prayer "Show me where to go God."  Then we started driving down the road looking for the place that God would tell us "enter the woods here". That was not what happened. We get about three quarters of the way into the park and on the left there is a break in the woods. I hear God say "It's there on the left."

 As I looked left into the break I saw a chain across the entrance to the clearing and laying against the chain, a small limb about 8ft long. "There it is" I tell my wife and proceed to back up to just before the clearing and pull of the road. I get out and  grab the limb and try to put it in the car and find that it is too long so I break it off at the straightest place and but it in the car. All told we were in the park about 15-20 minutes. I just couldn't believe how easy it was. As I am turning around to leave the park my wife who was going to go on the search with me said, "Well that was kind of disappointing I thought we were going to have to hike through the woods." 

So the adventure has begun. Next comes preparing the limb to be a staff. I will start working on that process tomorrow. Of course I will blog about it and take some photo's to keep you involved in the process. Also I am feeling lead to post a Bible study on the significance of a staff in the Bible. Some people have asked my why on earth do you need a staff for this prayer walk? Hopefully that study will answer that question.

To those who have contacted me and told me they are praying for me I really appreciate that. To those who told me they want to walk some with me I will let you know when the walking begins. But first I must make all the preparations that God is giving to me. I will take you all with me on this journey and we will see what God can Do!!!

Until next time, May God draw you into a desperate hunger for HIM.

Pastor George McVey

Prayer Walking as God told me to.

So as I am seeking a move of God that has been promised to me for over 10 years God has returned me to the city where the promise was made.  Over the last 10 years I have learned a lot about what God is calling me to and how to do what he has called me to do. I have prayer walked a lot and lets be honest it wasn't that difficult except for the walking part. But the kind of prayer walk HE is calling me to now is not what I am used to in a prayer walk.  Let me show you what I am talking about. Below in the next Paragraph and following is the prayer walk that God has called me too.  I must preface it by saying that He has given me a specific area to walk and it is all of the Kanawha Valley and even some beyond.  This is the thing that had me so full of question and concern yesterday but I will do What ever he ask of me. I will pay even this price for the awakening that he has promised me.

Was praying about prayer walking and God began to give me strange things to do and wear as part of this prayer walk that will continue beyond the Kanawha Valley. These are the things that He has told me to do and wear and the spiritual reasons behind them.


1. Wear no watch. Time does not exist in the Kingdom of Heaven. We as a nation are to worried about time management. Even in the church kingdom we talk about being good stewards of the time God gave us. God wants us only to concentrate on Him and to tarry Isaiah 40: 30&31 “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” Habakkuk 2:1-3 “I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected. 2 Then the Lord answered me and said: "Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.”
2. Wear the robes of a prophet and sandals on your feet. This one really was hard for me so I asked God why and the response I get is that one of the enemy’s greatest strongholds in the life of the church is pride. We as a people are very concerned with image and what other people think of us so he is calling me to dress in a way that will to most make me a laughing stock. How can you fear what man will think of you when you are doing things and dressing in ways that are not considered normal by the society that you dwell in. Scriptures for this are Proverbs 29:23 “A man's pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.” Mark 6:7-11 “ And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. 8 He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff--no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts-- 9 but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics. 10 Also He said to them, "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. 11 And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!"
3. Carry a staff. God actually told me that I was to start this process by finding the staff he has for me. He will lead me to a staff that is to be set aside for spiritual warfare specifically prayer walking. See scripture above Mark 6 and Exodus 4:17 “And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.”
4. As you go you will stop at the center of every block or in the rural areas at every intersection and you will bow down with your face to the earth and pray out loud the following prayer: Father God as an ambassador of the Kingdom of heaven I declare to the prince of the power of the air, to all principalities, powers, rulers of darkness in high places, and every other demonic force that this community is part of the Kingdom of Heaven. As such I bind every stronghold that you demonic forces have erected over this community and I Lose a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ over the community and those that work and dwell in it. As one who has authority to speak for the King of Heaven I declare this community under the dominion of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God I ask you to send the Host of heaven to seal this declaration in the heavenlies. In King Jesus name, Amen.
Isaiah 60: 1-3 “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. 3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.”
5. Finally God told me that at every house of worship I was to stop and walk around it 7 times counter clockwise and Declare to the spirits of Pride, Apathy, Self righteousness and Religion that the Kingdom of Heaven takes back its Territory and that I was to pray that the Shekinah Glory of God was to fill each place. I was finally to pray for revelation and wisdom to the Shepherd of the house and Declare that Kingdom Principles are in effect at that house. Also I am to record the name of each house and attempt to gain an appointment with the pastor and pray with him and for him at a later time.
If  I walk alone or with others this is what must be done to break the spirits of Pride, apathy and fear off of the places that God is about to bring revival. I start in the Kanawha Valley but God has already told me that I am to continue beyond the valley and that before he releases me from walking I will walk the entire Main Land of America and beyond. As opportunities to preach come to other cities I will do that but part of that will be walking their city and communities in the same manner.

So today starts the process today God is sending me on a walk in the woods to find the staff.  He specifically told me to go to Kanawha State Forest and walk the trails and that He would show me the staff to pick. Why there I asked.  The answer is two fold one it is in the Kanawha valley and two it is a state park connecting in to the larger walk through the state.   So tomorrow the tale of the staff.

Consumed by God

I am overwhelmed by God today. For the past ten years He has been preparing me and teaching me what I need to know to be part of the promised awakening he told me about. Habakkuk 1:5 says "Look to the nations and watch and be utterly amazed, for I am doing something in your day that you wouldn't believe even if it were told to you."  He has been preparing me for that for years and I thought I was ready but today he asked me to do something that was beyond anything I could have thought he would require. I don't yet want to say what it is only that if I do it people will think that I have gone insane. Yet I hear him in my spirit over and over again telling me that I have on several occasions told him that I was willing to pay the price of revival no matter what the cost. He is asking am I truly willing. I don't know what the result will be but I know that I will do it. And just like the old hymn says though none go with me still I will follow no turning back no turning back.   Check back in the next few days to see what God is doing I will soon tell you what he has called me to and will report on what happens as I take this journey into the Consuming Fire of HIS awakening in my community and beyond.