written September 6, 2012
Psalm 118
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his loves endures forever...
In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and He answered by setting me free...
They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the Lord I cut them off.
They swarmed around me like bees, but the Lord helped me.
I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous:
"The Lord's right hand is lifted high; the Lord's right hand has done a mighty thing."
I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
It was testing and training the whole way for going to do the workshop at Pasadena International House of Prayer (PIHOP).The enemy continued to hit, but the Lord continued to train. I was in the school of the overcomer, and this assignment was pretty high level and God had to train me well to handle this. I was going through what Chuck Pierce calls "dire strait." That's what you and I are experiencing in so many ways. Such a tiny opening and guarded by the enemy, but we must get through that dire passage to get to the next portion of our destiny, the next clearing where we can "see" what is up ahead for us. So important.
But God met me in those dire passages. In the last three days before the workshop on September 1st, I got three painting-words that I was to bring to the workshop. First it was the "Mountain of God" which came the next morning after my heart palpitation episode. This came with passages from Revelation that were given to me to eat. That morning I was stuck with five dilemmas in my life and I was hearing Him tell me, "You come up higher and I will show you what must take place after this." It is climbing higher to be with Him, with nothing but being on a rock, face to face with Him, and singing the song of the overcomer. I knew in my spirit that things looked bad, but if I go up there to hang out with Him, I will KNOW. I proceeded to know by faith that all is well with everyone of those five dilemmas. Wow!
Sensing my weakness, I cried out to God to help me. He answered me by the following passages. Rev. 1:17: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Write (or declare, or dance, or sing, etc.) therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
Next I got Rev. 2:7, "To him that overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life." ( I know that is why God keeps training me in the school of the overcomer, so that I will be kept alive by eating from the tree of life, and I believe that these painting-words are fruits from the Tree of Life and I have been kept alive by these painting-words, with special reference to cancer.)
Revelation 3:7 follows: "What he opens no one can shut and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." (That speaks clearly to me because I know that on my part all I have is that I have kept His word and not denied His name. That is my two fish and five loaves of bread or my 1% to His 99% in the scheme of things.)
Revelation 3:11, "Hold on to what you have, so no one can take your crown." (His training is strengthening my arms so I can hold on to what He has given me and not allow the enemy to rob, steal and kill. It is the warrior bride stance that He is developing in all of us. No more limpy arms, and victim-like mentality.)
During another midnight of hanging out with the Lord, Revelation 12 was given. He was giving me the interpretation about the woman who was giving birth and the dragon who was waiting to devour the child. The woman was the church, and she was about to give birth to "creativity and joy." It is the rising up of an army of creative people. Yes! Yes! an army of passionately creative people who are hearing, hearing, hearing from the Throne Room and receiving ideas, formulas, visions, sound, cures, inventions straight from the Creator God. Thus, a second painting-word was added to bring to PIHOP- the Tidal Wave 2. He was saying to us that this next tidal wave will not be like The Call tidal wave of 2001. Rather, this tidal wave will bring in the Renaissance period with an outpouring of creativity and joy unlike anything we have seen or heard or imagined, thus sweeping many into the kingdom of God.
As an aside, let me share a story of my teaching art. For the last 4 years or so, God has been coming to my Chinese brush painting classes. Before that, I was burned out teaching a bunch of atheists, intellectuals, new-agers, eastern religion proponents.I wanted to quit teaching. But He said He would come to my classes if I continued to teach. From then on my classes became the joy of my life. When I was teaching and demonstrating, I would see my students listening with such focus, sometimes with tears brimming their eyes. I could not preach about Jesus, but Jesus was giving them kingdom principles. I was able to take these pre-believers to underground passages and show them how to paint from deep within the caverns of their hearts. I took note that my students were turning into children who laugh and play in His Garden. These are people who would not step into a church, nor hold a Bible, but God is preparing to sweep them one day into His kingdom through the outpouring of creativity and joy.
On Friday, August 31st, the Lord revealed that the third word I was to share at PIHOP was the "Sunflower" painting-word. This painting was the second one that God gave me in 1993. It was about joy. The scripture was "anointing you with the oil of joy."(Psalm 45:7). I saw a vision of a heart with a stout white pipeline stuck on its side pointing up to heaven. The Lord said to me at that time, "I am pouring out the oil of joy into your heart and the heart of my people. This joy is not of the earth, but purely of heaven." Yet, at 1:30 AM of Sept.1, I was up asking the Lord how was I going to speak about joy when I rarely feel joy. Creativity, yes, but not joy. People with my background in depression do not experience joy very often. Yet at the night hour I felt as if I was going through a birthing experience. I was groaning and rocking in the spirit participating in something His Spirit was doing. It was a deep experience that was more than I could comprehend. I knew then that my going to PIHOP was to birth something important in the spirit, with the help of those who would attend the workshop.
As we drove up to Pasadena, I was so tired from lack of sleep and all the warfare. I told God, "Look! I don't have an ounce of strength left to do a 21/2 hour workshop. But I give You all I have." As soon as I stepped through the doorway of PIHOP, all tiredness left. There was so much peace in that building. I felt spiritual energy flowing into me. Gone was any thought of warfare or concern of any sort. All I can tell you is that I sensed such presence of the Holy Spirit the whole time I was speaking. I never had time and energy to organize my talk, so I simply flowed with the Spirit and it was great. I felt so safe there with these people I had never met before. I felt so confident and sure-footed as a mountain goat. I took my time developing the thoughts from the Lord, point by point. I got to share everything the Holy Spirit entrusted me to share. What luxury to have that kind of ease in sharing His kingdom thoughts with fellow lovers of God. After my talk we went into prayer. Then I got to pray for a lot of people there. Just about everyone was connecting with God in deep ways, with tears flowing down their faces. We were full of joy.
Psalm 126 is what happened to us there:
When the Lord brought back the captive to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tonues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The Lord has done great things for them."
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like streams in the Negev.
Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
He who goes out weeping,
carrying seeds to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.
