Daily Prophetic Words--Praying for our Global Community

Greetings in the Lord! As many of you may know, I live abroad teaching English and this week my classes will be discussing the language for various weather conditions and natural weather phenomenon . So it was curious that in the middle of preparing lesson plans the Lord drew my attention to Matthew 16:1-3: The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times." Hmm ...that's certainly food for thought given the current world events. It seems to me that this prophetic word is saying that there must be people not seeing the signs of the times that are happening around the world at the moment. Or maybe, and more specifically, there may be some...

Greetings in the Lord! About three times in the past week the Lord has given me yet more passages of Scripture talking about the rise of Babylon these days and of them subduing countries. Two such passages were from 2 Chronicles 36 and 2 Kings 24. Both of those accounts tell of Babylon overrunning Judah and of the final days of Judah's kings, the destruction of the temple, and exile to Babylon. And while I understood the stories I was still yet unclear about the spiritual significance of this word and what exactly the Lord is talking about. But alas, the Lord speaks again the same word--the season is now for the rise of Babylon (United States) in the world--so I will continue to tell it as He gives it. Today's word is from the book of Habakkuk , chapters 1 & 2, and sheds more light on the word at hand: "Look at the nations and watch--and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." "I AM r...

Greetings in the Lord! Today's word comes from Jeremiah 27. It is an interesting chapter because Jeremiah gives the word not only to Judah, but also to all the kings of Edom , Moab , Ammon , Tyre, and Sidon through the envoys that had come to Jerusalem to visit King Zedekiah. ...This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Tell this to your masters: 'With My great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will hand all your countries over to My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. All nations will serve him...until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him." "'If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the Lord, until I destroy i...

Greetings in the Lord! Today's word actually was given February 22nd, and then a week or so later, and now I really feel a prompting to share it here. It is from Isaiah 65:13-19) Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit." "You will leave your name to My chosen ones as a curse; the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to His servants He will give another name. Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of truth. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from My eyes." Also, Isaiah 32:5-8) "No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected. For the fool speaks folly, his mind is busy with evil: He practices un...

Greetings in the Lord! Well, I have a bit of an update to share, one I didn't even know to watch or that it was happening, and I'm sure most of you won't remember this word either. But nevertheless, I like to share such things because it's important to acknowledge when God fulfills His word--it's a testimony--and also its a good reminder for us that although we don't get to see His seed growing in people's hearts, it is. I find that very encouraging. Take, for example, a blog I wrote way back in January of 2010 about a woman I vaguely knew anything about, British comic Jennifer Saunders (and her comedic partner, Dawn French). When the Lord put her on my heart from out of the blue in October of 2009, I had to do some research about her on the Internet . I had never heard of her comedy series "French and Saunders" or most of the other projects she had done over the years, except for her TV series "Absolutely Fabulous." And while I found th...

Greetings in the Lord! Wow--I can hardly believe how much time has gone by since I've written last! Happy 2011! We just celebrated the Lunar New Year in South Korea and I finally have a minute to share the words the Lord has been putting on my heart. The brief hiatus was more than eventful for me, I must say, as it included the passing of my mother in December, plus all the usual bustling of the holidays and international travel, then a race to the finish of my teaching contract in January. Whew! So, in chronological order I'll start with the passing of my mother, which as it turned out, had the gentle and loving hand of God on it from start to finish. In March of 2010 the Lord told me that it was time for my mother to come home to Him, and "to proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed." Well, that's a difficult word to share, so I waited on that one. But around August the Lord again prompted my heart to tell her again and to invite ...

Greetings in the Lord! Today at church as we were singing in praise and worship, some people grabbed their "worship" flags and were waving them. As I was watching, another person was waving the South Korean flag and I smiled with affection. Many of you may recall that I've been living in South Korea all year, so I enjoyed seeing it this morning at our service in America. However, as the S. Korean flag waved to my right, in the spirit I saw the North Korean flag being waved too! It was as if both were celebrating their unity and triumph together. "How strange!" I thought to myself. Then the Holy Spirit said: "Today, though the enemy has surrounded South Korea and pointed its missiles at them like a snake ready to strike, I say, The viper will not strike! I will crush its head and break its fangs. Instead, you should be celebrating the North's freedom--for it draws near! Yes, there are not two Koreas , but one people, one nation under God." ...

Greetings in the Lord! "In the spring the mountainside is full of pretty blooms--but did you know that many of those blooms are weeds, not flowers?" Whenever the Lord asks a question like that it's never like, a simple answer. It usually makes me stop what I'm doing and ponder for a moment. "What in the world is He talking about?" Opening my Bible I came to see a passage from Hosea 10 and read about how arrogant and corrupt Ephraim has become (northern tribes of Israel) and of how deceitful and rebellious their leaders are as well. The people and the leaders alike no longer had regard for the Lord or His ways and trust only in themselves and what they can attain by their own strength, talent, and way with people. For this wickedness the Lord will allow their crops to wither and they'll yield no fruit. Their enemies will overtake them and they will be wanderers among the nations.... Not good. But what specifically is He talking about? Well, for several ye...

Greetings in the Lord! Earlier this year, during the summer (July), the Lord started talking to me about jobs overseas for Americans--in that, He was sending us abroad to work. I posted a word during that time about the many industries across the board that would go: teachers, fishermen, auto industry workers, computer technologists, even those in the parks and recreation industries and social sciences, in addition to the usual industries of oil, banking/investments, military & contractors, and so on. And having been sent overseas myself for 2010 (S. Korea), I have been able to be a witness to this influx of US workers making that move and been able to talk with some higher-ups within many of these industries about why they are moving overseas and the opportunities there. Basically, I am told it is just simple economics--it is cheaper to do business and production overseas. But hold the phone....I also have been privy to hearing their challenges and struggles within the global m...

Greetings in the Lord! Sometimes I really have to laugh at the dreams God gives me! Like this morning's dream, for example. At the start I was out in an open field watching in disbelief as a huge gold and silver/white spaceship was coming down to land. Three giant landing arms unfolded to support the ship on the ground, and one of those landing-pad arms nearly crushed me! No sooner had it landed, gold and silver beings rushed out from the ship and started zapping everyone--people were fleeing everywhere. I immediately played dead, as if I had been crushed by the ship's landing-pad arm and watched the scene unfold. As I was watching, I recalled reading a book about this event already and that survivors had sought refuge in a secret room in a building. The room was discreetly hidden in back of another room, so it looked like nothing more than a small storage room. Now I was naked (only in a dream!) and decided to flee there. To my surprise, when I got there the secret room had ot...

Greetings in the Lord! Recently I read a prophetic word about God using dreams more to communicate with us in this next season, and more specifically, to show or reveal to us the schemes of the enemy so we can be aware and awake to follow God's guidance through, around, over, whatever trap is being planned against us. So, I prayed about it and began to be expectant of these dreams. Well, true to form, the Lord has been showing me things--some on a personal level and some I believe for the Body of Christ. I will share that one, needless to say. In the God dream I had I was in a small boat, like a log flume ride at an amusement park. Sitting at the top of the slide in the boat, I waited for my turn to descend down the slide--meanwhile dirty water kept coming over the sides of the log boat filling mine up. I was afraid I would not float once I was down the slide. Sure enough, after I went down the slide I landed in a cold sea and started sinking to the bottom! I was so scared a...

Greetings in the Lord! Well, today's word is one of those challenging ones that causes us to re-examine how we might perceive the many attributes and character of God, as we understand Him to be. It also takes us to the Old Testament, which for many Western/American Christians , is already a dubious place for us to explore such an issue. In many ways it seems the general consensus is that the God of the Old Testament acts altogether different from the God of the New Testament, and quite frankly, many Westerners prefer to hold to the "New Testament" understanding of love and grace. Maybe that's because it can be a feel-good approach that gives "wiggle room" to Christians who ultimately have a desire to compromise with worldly dictates and mindsets. However, such a pleasantly selected view of the Bible doesn't help anyone at all, and ultimately, paints a distorted picture of our Creator. It is incomplete and shortsighted...and dangerous. At any rate, today...

Greetings in the Lord! Yesterday the Lord gave me Psalm 82 to help shed light on a dream I also received. The psalm is a little different in that it refers to people in ruling positions as "gods," and makes the clear point that even though they consider themselves to be 'gods,' they are really just people who will die one day like everyone else. The psalmist urges and warns the 'gods' to do good to people. God presides in the great assembly; He gives judgment among the "gods": "How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Those verses tell of stern warnings instead of casual advice from the Lord to those rulers. It also explained to me the dream I had. In the dream I was talking to a reindeer with large antlers (only in a dream can we talk to animals! ha)...

Greetings in the Lord! This summer on my vacation to the States I had an interesting conversation, one that I knew was being led by the Holy Spirit. As I discussed with my brother's family about working abroad in Korea, the Lord quickened my heart to discern that many Americans will have to seek employment abroad --not just teachers of English as a Second Language. Many in the auto and steel industry, fishing and maritime industries as well. Computer, electronic, even those in the social sciences and medical industries will be venturing abroad! Yes, more and more Americans will be finding opportunities abroad and will be in God's grace as they pursue those jobs, too. It is not a coincidence that American industries are drying up, even the public education systems, medical and public services, and fishing and farming as well. It is a time of change in America, directed by God's own hand. He is shaking everything that can be shaken so that people will begin to let go o...

Greetings in the Lord! Do you ever have situations that go so array you say, "OK, what else could possibly go wrong??" The Israelites had many situations like that--in fact, the whole book of Jeremiah pretty much goes along that way. Jeremiah was sent as a youth to speak words of warning to Israel about changing their ways--and they ignore and mock him, including his own family. Next he had to warn them about Babylon coming to devastate Jerusalem and tells them that they should just submit to go into exile and it will go well for them---and they abuse him for speaking the word of the Lord and call him a traitor. Then after Babylon comes and destroys Jerusalem and takes many into captivity, the remnant of Israelites left in Jerusalem come to him and inquire of the Lord; so, Jeremiah tells them to stay in Jerusalem and trust God. They reject his words and go to Egypt for "safety." Finally, Jeremiah tells them that God is sending Babylon to Egypt to overrun them...

Greetings in the Lord! Have you ever had one of those "Eureka" moments when you realize in an instant something that has been hidden from you? Like, you finally see what others have been telling you all along or the moment when clouds of confusion blow away and you can see clearly that the choices you've been making were wrong? It's actually kind of a cool thing, huh? That even if you so totally believed the wrong thing for a long while in a flash can see through the darkness--like a bolt a lightening that lights up a darkened room to reveal what's really there in the room. That's how I read Ezra 10:12-17 today. In that passage, Ezra begins to pray and weep for the people, telling them of their sin and, lo and behold, the people got it. "The whole assembly responded with a loud voice: 'You are right! We must do as you say." Ezra 10:12 But of course, their sin of marrying foreign wives wasn't as simple as just saying, "I'm sorr...

Greetings in the Lord! I want to share with all of you a dream I had this morning and the Scripture verse that went along with it. In the dream I recall looking at the concrete base of a huge statue of a horse and rider. On the base were the Olympic rings that indicated an association to Greece. As I stepped back to look at the horse and rider statue I focused on the rider for a moment: he had long flowing hair, almost like that of a woman, but had weapons strapped to his body and a bow in his hand. The horse almost seemed as if all its legs were not touching the ground but simply suspended there, which was impossible for a statue. I tried to think of the supposed meanings of raised horses' legs in statues: 1 leg raised meant the rider was wounded in battle but survived, 2 legs raised meant they died in battle, and all four on the ground meant they survived all the battles and died of natural causes. But this horse statue had all 4 legs in midair like it was charging into bat...

Greetings in the Lord! Recently the Lord has been talking to me about false prophets and "leaders" in the Body of Christ leading people astray. And even though the strong hand of the Lord has come against them in a variety of ways, they chose to not recognize it as such and move forward callously without Him, continuing in their ways and not acknowledging sin in their lives. It is an arrogant disregard for the Lord and His corrective measures. I had a student like this before. At first meeting I could see his blatant disrespect for me as the teacher and after a couple of times of addressing his poor behavior, I sent him out of the class for being incorrigible. That is, he refused to be corrected or reform his ways--because he had acted like this so often it was now a bad habit of his to disrespect authority figures. Many Christians are incorrigible like this, too. So after a short time I went to talk to him and ask if he was ready to rejoin the class, but he still was ...

Greetings in the Lord! You know, its funny how the Holy Spirit will quote a secular saying sometimes to shed light on a particular passage or theme He may be teaching about. Like, for example, recently He said this to comment on Jeremiah 23, Micah 3, and Zechariah 13: "You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." I've always had an appreciation for little bits of conventional wisdom with humor. It's like a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down, ya know? In this case, if you were to read the above passages in Jeremiah 23, Micah 3, and Zechariah 13, you may very well desire a little sugar to go with those Scriptures as they pull no punches about people telling lies and making up stories to mislead others--all in the name of the Lord. These are called false prophets. This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to...

Greetings in the Lord! It amazes me how often the Lord will direct my attention to a particular song of a secular singer and show me how He is speaking through that song---it's as if the Lord had inspired it Himself. Take for example, the song "Fire on Babylon" by Sinead O'Connor. She sings about how Babylon had done so much destruction to her family and had projected so many lies into the consciousness of its people that right was considered wrong and wrong was right--and now it is being destroyed: "Life's backwards, life's backwards People turn around The house is burned, the house is burned The children are gone Fire, fire, fire on Babylon-- Oh yes, a change has come!" It reminds me so much of the preaching of Jeremiah, who, after having the call to tell Judah that it would be overrun by Babylon, also preached that Babylon would be overrun by "an alliance of great nations from the land of the north." "Fire on Babylon--oh yes, a c...