June 2016
"Texas, As you pass through the waters I am with you. I am raising you as a pulpit for the nation."
The Lord has been speaking to me about Texas as I have watched the news stories of the intense rains and severe flooding of this state that had formerly experienced extreme drought. In the last two years, they have had consecutive once-in-every 500 years floods, which tells us they are very, very unusual rains.
The I-35 Highway of Holiness is Being Uncovered
In Isaiah 35 it speaks of a desert and parched land being made glad (v.1). It speaks of water gushing forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert (v.6). The next verse tells of the burning sand becoming a pool and the thirsty ground becoming bubbling springs. Verse 8, then says "And a highway will be there; and it will be called the Way of Holiness."
I believe that a "Highway of Holiness" is being uncovered all up and down the I-35 corridor of Texas. This corridor goes through Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, and Laredo. God is raising up Himself a cleansed pulpit from the state of Texas. It is not limited to the cities on the I-35 corridor but it is definitely highlighted there. Houston, Corpus Christ, and McAllen are also places of significant emphasis as bright pulpits of reformation will shine from these places as well.
California is the Stage, Texas is the Pulpit
I was shown that at a national level California is the stage and that Texas is the pulpit. There is an increasing unity between spiritual leaders of these two states developing as this is an orchestration of the Holy Spirit. There is a natural rivalry between these two states but the Lord will have these two states team up for important advances in national reformation. In particular, the prophets of these two states will be in synch. With a combined total of right under 70 million these two states make up over 1/5th of the population of the United States- so this is no small matter.
I have observed over the years that drought is often a reality when Jezebel, Baal, and the Religious Spirit is being confronted. Israel experienced that in Elijah's day, and we also observed this in Atlanta some years ago. When the drought breaks it has meant that Jezebel, Baal, and the Religious Spirit have lost their stronghold grip. It means the covering veil for these no longer is working and exposures and eliminations are forthcoming. This will be the next reality on the church mountain in Texas.
Why the Texas/California Integration is Important.
In the natural, these two states tend to pull in opposite directions with Texas pulling right and California pulling left. Likewise, the advancing church in each state tends to pull in opposite directions but must now make the adjustments. Texas leans towards Truth and Righteousness (personal) and California leans towards Love and Justice (social). We ultimately want a national stage and pulpit that incorporates all four focuses- but it is of utmost importance to have them in the right order.
The error generally happens by an over-emphasis on that which is good to the detriment of that which is the priority. We walk with two legs but must always lead with one- or else we are hopping. If we separate Love and Truth as two legs, then we see it is most important to lead with Love. (Jn. 3:16 begins with "For God so Loved the world" as opposed to "For God so needed to remind the world of His commandments")
In the debate over our national morality, a religious spirit will have us leading with "truth" and by the time we mention the love, those who are morally broken already feel judged and rejected and cannot receive the love. The Bible tells us "to speak the truth in love" establishing the fact that being in "love" is the priority. If people can't discern the love, the truth is actually missing its essential ingredient. Jesus modeled this for us, ever-increasing in favor with the common sinner while reserving His harshness for the impervious-to-love religious ones. (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes)
Now in all this conversation, I am generalizing trends of Texas vs. California and there are of course multiple exceptions. Overall the Lord will have an advancing church whose lead foot is love, but then is strong in truth, personal righteousness, and social justice. To be a Highway of Holiness we must carry all four and do so with love in the lead. Our next President will not be balanced in these matters, particularly so in the initial days, so this is something that must be generated from the Mountain where the church is at and not the Mountain of Government.
I believe the coming days will see Texas step into an important place of national leadership and that a significant part of it will be spiritual and moral compassing- that looks like Jesus. I also see natural economic prosperity being a significant part of this raising up that God is doing with the state of Texas and in that will be long-awaited breakthrough for kingdom-minded entrepreneurs. A cornucopia longhorn of plenty is about to be poured out and it is for an extended season of breakthrough reformation. Make sure you are in that narrative as the plenty is not for the survival minded. It is the "kingdom age" and Texas has a protagonist role in it.
Can I say that this is not the time to even engage in dialogue over the "sinfulness" or not of gays and the LGBT community? We as believers need to quit missing opportunities to respond as Christ would to violence and tragedy. It is just plain sad and heartbreaking the loss of life and the devastation brought on by the recent terrorist attack in Orlando.
We must always remember that he who comes to "kill, steal and destroy" is always the devil- and He who comes to give life and to give it abundantly is the Lord. When Jesus Himself, was not well received by a city, his disciples asked Him if they should call down fire on them like Elijah did. Jesus shook His head at them and said "What spirit are you even of?" and then said, "The Son of Man came not to destroy lives but to save lives."
We can assume there is no more egregious sin than to personally reject Jesus in the flesh and even at that Jesus thought His disciples nuts to think He would want to rain fire on them. How much more this situation in Orlando? I have heard the horrible responses from Westboro Baptist church as well as other individuals representing Christianity and let me categorically cast them down as being totally out of synch with who Jesus is and who Christians are to be.
I am thankful that the overwhelming majority of Christian responses have been ones of love and compassion and may that trend continue to be our first response. Tragedy is NOT the time to opportunistically step into finger-pointing mode about sin (not sure there is ever a good time for that). Ongoing discussions on radical Islam are for sure in order as we move forward but as our first response let's stay above the fray of political mudslinging even on that topic. The more things change, the more the right response remains the same- LOVE.
The heavens and earth are sparkling and crackling with divine interactive electric-like energy. Here on earth, there is so much convergence, synergy, "coincidences", alignments, connections, and other sparks of kairos destiny- that I can't even keep up with it, much less properly report on it. In the midst of the normal peripheral chaos- the advancing kingdom of God is the real central story and it is making a major splash on planet earth. Stay in courage, stay encouraged, stay bold, and stay in faith and you won't be able to help but be swept into this whole holy mix of divinely-orchestrated kingdom centrifugal force. The confusion some of you are experiencing is temporary as you are in transition-and transition always starts with confusion but always offers the next level of destiny. He has made the order "let's cross over to the other side" and any adverse seeming wind will ultimately just serve that purpose. That which has always been NEXT, is now NOW.
Two special men came to mind today as we celebrate Happy Father's Day. One is my natural father John Richard Enlow Sr. (Jack) who passed away almost exactly 11 years ago. He was an amazing man of God who lived the life of a spiritual pioneer all his life. God and His kingdom and the next level of obedience were always uppermost in his mind. He was in Peru when he passed on and he was honored there as the man that brought the things of the Holy Spirit to the nation. We are all still reaping in that nation because of his service to God there. Tomorrow I head to Peru with two of my daughters and God will do great things as we will continue to reap where my father sowed.
The second man is John Richard Wimber (passed away in 1997), who though I met- I was not in personal relationship with. He, of course, was the de facto founder of the Vineyard movement, and the spiritual progenitor of so many key leaders today (Bill Johnson, Heidi Baker, John Arnot, Randy Clark, Mike Bickle, etc.) Back in the early 1980's I spiritually ingested every possible message on tape that John Wimber had as well as came to a key conference he spoke at in Dallas (James Robinson led). He, in essence, was my second father in the faith for all the spiritual formation that I received from him. I owe an incredible debt of gratitude to this man for what he pioneered in God. He still regularly comes up in conversation and dreams as what we are doing still seems to have connectivity to him. It might even have something to do with why we were sent to California.
So today I thank my heavenly Father for who He is to me as well as for the two John Richard's He used to pour into me more aspects of who He is as Father. Thanks to all of you who have already wished me Happy Father's Day and it is with a proper pride I also carry the name, John Richard. Happy Father's Day to all you fathers!!
All right everyone, let's just chill out about the UK exit from the euro :) I believe God is in it from several angles. In the short term yes the world markets don't like it - but long term they actually will like it. Ultimately the UK pound will serve as an important hedge against global economic volatility. God also has an important leadership position for England that could not have easily been stepped into apart from some separation from the rest of Europe. I do believe that some other world separations will be forthcoming with a decentralizing tendency happening- even (or especially) in the USA after the coming elections.
There is good unity, bad unity, and mediocre unity. Most of the United Nations unity, NATO unity, and European unity, etc. have fluctuated somewhere between bad and mediocre and so better working unity relations are in order. There is also coming more direct consequences for nations yielding to antisemitic and antichrist sentiment and therefore some individuation is in order for that to happen. More than knowing all what is going to happen I feel the centrifugal force of heaven at work. So embrace the chaos and stay bold as lions. This year's shakings are all towards us properly coming to life. If you will stay in a listening mode and in a courageous mode there is much economic gain to be made during this season and much kingdom terrain to advance. You are already on the ride so you might as well raise your hands and say "wheeeeeeeee".