Commanding Fear!

I have to tell you, the convoy of truckers in Canada has absolutely stolen my heart – I love the way God is using them to unite their country! In the midst of divisiveness, fear, and darkness, they are a spark that is going to set this world ablaze with freedom.

North America is at a pivotal point, a crossroads where the Church needs to give up their rights to themselves (to build their own little ministries and kingdoms) and start partnering and aligning with what God wants instead, amen? While the Church is sitting idle waiting for Jesus to swoop in and save us all so that we can either be raptured out of here or so we can all go back to a “normal life” where we can all sit around singing Kumbaya, HE is waiting on US to realize that although He is the head, we are the body. Where does the government rest? On His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6), and His shoulders are part of His body.

Any change or reformation in the mountains of society must be at OUR hands as we are in tune with His Spirit. We have our work cut out for us! Each one of us doing our small part and starting a ripple effect that will send a tsunami of light across the darkness, just like the trucker convoy in Canada! If we want the United States to be a sheep nation rather than a goat nation (Matthew 25), then what are we waiting for?

If you happen to be among those who may think that scripture teaches us we must be compliant with government because it is God who establishes all government, I would like to encourage you that the point of Romans 13 is to teach us that we are not to be lawless, not that we are to slavishly submit. Stay with me…

Obedient to God’s law is the entire universe and everything in it. He says to the waters you shall come here and no further. If the position of the sun were even a fragment off, everyone on earth would either freeze or burn.  Gravity is a law established by God so that we would not float off into space! Things we consider universal absolutes, they all bow their knee in worship and obedience to our holy, almighty God and the laws He has established. As Christians, His law is written in our hearts and can be summed up within Mark 12:29-31:

29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The question is, what happens when the government of man is no longer following God’s law, and rather than punishing evil actually begins promoting evil and punishing good?  If we follow a government when it has stepped outside of its defined role, doesn’t that make us lawless? 

Truth: We violate God’s law when we submit to a lawless government. 

Examples of people of God saying no to unlawful government include the Hebrew midwives when they did not allow Hebrew sons to be killed (Exodus 1:15-22); Daniel who, knowing an order not to worship anyone but Darius for 30 days had been signed and was now law, in his customary manner went to pray and worship anyway (Daniel 6:10); or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they refused to worship the golden idol (Daniel 3:8-18).  I could go on but the point is made, they did not comply.  There are times when passive Christianity is insufficient.

There are two indicators that send a red flag concerning unlawful governments:

1. When government forces you to do something either directly contrary to scripture or through your Christian faith you believe to be wrong.  Example: Mandating the vaccine.
2. When government prevents you from aligning with scripture or doing what you know is right. Example: Closing down church gatherings.

Tactics Framework: What can we do?

Stay vitally connected! In relationship with Jesus Christ through prayer, bible-reading, and journaling. Cultivating the oil of intimacy with Him no matter how you may feel or how busy your life gets.  Relationship and connectivity with Him should remain your number one priority, so that you are hearing and obeying His voice.  Show me how you spend your time and I will show you who or what you worship. Also stay connected to other believers, in unity with His church.  Plug into small groups.  Be a part of a larger church community.

Proactively teach your children the values you hold dear, and why.  Live your faith in front of them. Pray with them. Learn to communicate well with them – it may not come naturally but the Holy Spirit can make a way for this.  Teach them to love the Lord and to obey Him.

Take the time to educate yourself and learn the lessons of history, so we all avoid evil from being repeated and revisiting future generations. Don’t “Group Think”, God Think!

Vote and get involved in local government to help ensure the freedom given to us by God that our constitution was designed to help protect, and to help secure that freedom for future generations.

Whatever you do, put your heart and soul into it and do as unto the Lord.  We are all ministers unto the Lord and are called into every sphere of society. Long for God’s heart and to know Him in greater depth, and ministry will be a natural by-product of your relationship.

Develop mentor/mentee relationships, both ways! People are starving for it.  This is one area  where can you learn to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Developing the Issachar Annointing

In recent decades it has become popular to constantly tear down, erase, and attack our core values and history.  What’s up with that? Whether it’s by taking a knee at a football game or changing common words and phrases that implied a sense of morality into other words and phrases that are similar in meaning but remove the “sting”, Satan’s tactics are always slight, slippery, and deceiving. No longer is anyone guilty of sin because sin doesn’t exist, nothing is absolute, all is relative – and to not do it “their way” is to hate and not love. The thought of attempting to eradicate accountability may be embraced by what feels like a whole generation, but in reality it creates a hunger to know right from wrong that is growing at light speed.

Who are the Sons of Issachar? They are a group of men in the Old Testament known for their keen insight and understanding of the times and knowing what Israel should do (see 1 Chronicles 12:32).  They are not moved by circumstances because they march to the beat of a different drummer. One of their secrets, however, is simple. They understood the future because they studied to see what God was doing in the past and the present.  Three questions come to mind that are in alignment with what the Sons of Issachar may have been asking:  

•      What is the Lord doing?

•      What has the Lord done?

•      What is the Lord going to do?

Looking at this from a scriptural perspective:

• Revelation 1:19 confirms the importance of these three questions (“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later).
• Ephesians 6 tells us who our enemy is, providing us with our armor.
• Daniel 2:22 tells us that it is God who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. 
• Psalms 25:14 tells us there’s a private place reserved for the lovers of God, where they sit near him and receive the revelation-secrets of his promises. 

All of this combined tells us that is it critical for the action to take place through intimacy with Jesus Christ because it is the effective, fervent prayers of the righteous that accomplishes much (James 5:16).

What this means is that any one of us can and should have what is known as the Issachar anointing.  Those who have this anointing:

• Are sensitive to the times and seasons
• Are sensitive to the principles of God
• Are sensitive to deliverance ministry
• Are sensitive to spiritual warfare
• Have financial insight
• Have insight into “seed time” and “harvest”
• They are burden bearers
• Have a discernment of people, places, and things

Keep in mind this is not about rules, it’s about relationship.  Rules says, “If you do these things then I will love you”.  Relationship affirms to us that when we willingly surrender our power to His power, His power can flow through us. Purposefully seek God on a continual basis – meaning if you have to miss meeting Him in your secret place for a time, no guilt, but you purpose to pick back up and begin meeting Him again, and again, in the mountains and valleys of life, in the fiercest of storms as well as in the doldrums where the wind doesn’t blow.  This vital connection is how you hear God speaking, how you see where God is moving, how you know God’s heart, and receive His orders for action. This vital connection is how you command fear to be gone from your life.

Be encouraged!