Part 1
If you’ve been part of the Follow Me Ministry Family for a while, you know that our Heavenly Father created this ministry specifically to assist in the boot camp training the Lord reserves for His Last Days disciples. And as we’ve focused our attention on that generation of disciples, we began to see them as an assembly of awesome end times warriors. And, based on how I have begun to envision them, I started to call them… ‘The Stephen Generation’.
I believe that as God works from within this precious company, their training will reconfigure them until they’re perfectly aligned with God’s will and Spirit, ready to embody the fulfillment of what God began when He declared war between His own Living Word (the Seed of the Woman), and the demonic Father of Lies (the seed of the Serpent), whose rebellion against God is always raging (Cf. Genesis 3:15). And as the New Covenant came into effect in the first century, as revealed in the book of Acts, Holy Spirit gave Stephen significant prominence. I believe that’s because since he lived at the beginning of the New Covenant Era, he and his generation were instruments through which God began to launch His New Covenant and reveal the new lifestyle it has made possible for God’s people.
So He highlighted the amazing supernatural way Stephen and the others were able to embody and exalt their risen Lord despite the extremely harsh, humanly impossible circumstances they had to pass through! And, beloved, what God began then, is what I believe ‘The Stephen Generation’ of the Last Days will be called upon to fulfill… from this point forward to the end of the age. So we’d do well to learn to master what Stephen knew. He learned to ‘dance with his risen Lord’, in perfect step… keeping perfect time. He learned to respond to his Lord’s abiding Presence to perfection… in situations that exemplified what this article’s title implies by the words Unexpected, Spontaneous, and Experiential.
Because Stephen maintained combat-level focus and concentration on interacting and cooperating with God’s indwelling Spirit, he was able to ‘stay on course’, persevere, and cross the ‘finish line’ of the assignment God had set before him, in total triumph. He persevered and overcame amid a firestorm of horrifying, demonic opposition that suddenly surrounded and engulfed his mortal flesh. But that didn’t catch his spirit and soul off guard! Nor did it deter him from completing his mission. And this is the awesome training in which FMM is meant to specialize… the Holy Spirit gift with which our Lord will equip those who will be commissioned to finish preparing the way for His Return to Earth. The following text reveals the Source of this awesome Gift.
“So when they gathered together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
“He said to them, “It is not your place to know the times or seasons which the Father has placed under His own control. BUT YOU WILL RECEIVE POWER WHEN THE RUACH HA-KODESH (Holy Spirit) HAS COME UPON YOU; AND YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES IN JERUSALEM, AND THROUGH ALL JUDAH, AND SAMARIA, AND TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!” (Acts 1:6-8 TLV, Emphasis added)
This awesome ‘Power-Giver’ from Heaven enabled Stephen, and the other first century disciples, to display magnificent boldness and indomitable perseverance, no matter what the powers of Darkness tried to do to destroy them! God’s Spirit was in them, teaching and equipping them at all times and giving them insight that enabled them to read, understand and deal with the challenges of that time. He taught and enabled them to respond, interact, and abide with their risen Messiah, no matter what was going on. Holy Spirit caused Yeshua’s Resurrection Presence to be fully alive and dynamically real, in them… and through them… in supernatural world-changing ways!
“Keep your lifestyle free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. For God Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you!” (Hebrews 13:5 TLV, Emphasis added)
“Therefore, my loved ones, just as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence—work out your salvation with fear and trembling. FOR THE ONE WORKING IN YOU IS GOD—BOTH TO WILL AND TO WORK FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE! “ (Philippians 2:12-13 TLV, Emphasis added)
To truly operate in this marvelous Gift, disciples must learn to cooperate with God’s Spirit, by training their brains and minds to be one with Yeshua, so they can embody and manifest His indwelling Life consciously, deliberately, and spontaneously! They can learn to do this the same way experienced professional actors rehearse and memorize their scripts to develop new personas. They repeat and repeat and rehearse and drill their new identity and role into their brains and mental ‘onboard computers’. And, after sufficient repetition, they transform into new and vastly different people who are able to mesmerize audiences and convince them that what is going on the stage is as real as anything could possibly be! In this same way, disciples can learn to cause the Reality of their risen Lord’s Presence to emerge from their spirits… into the activity that takes place in their minds and hearts and flows out through their yielded flesh!
This unique skillset is what Paul meant by putting off the ‘old man’ and putting on the ‘New Man’ as he advocated it in Ephesians 4:17-32. Disciples consciously, deliberately and repeatedly identify with Yeshua, the New Resurrected Man. They focus on His Presence within them by practicing the art of thinking, acting, reacting and interacting to everything, together with Him, and no longer as a solitary independent agent. In other words, they constantly receive whatever they need, from Him… in order to fulfill Father’s will and plan. They practice doing this with Him, over and over again, until it becomes their default, automatic lifestyle and stream of consciousness. And when they reach that point, their brains are rewired accordingly, and their mental computers are reconfigured to enable them to radiate Yeshua’s vibrant world-changing Presence into this fallen world. So thanks to the massive repetitive practice they undergo, they gradually transform… to a supernatural world-changing degree!
Once they embrace and become one with God’s Living Word, by determining to sow corresponding Heavenly Messiah-Life Seed into the fields of their brains and minds, nothing can prevent the Messiah-revealing ‘harvest’ from appearing in their daily situations, circumstances and humanly impossible challenges. Thus Almighty God is free to live and operate from within them and reveal the Glory of Yeshua through them! They become like gloves, in which the Hand of God abides… and they do everything as one. So to achieve this awesome result, we train… we practice abiding with and drawing from the Holy Spirit moment by moment. We interact with Him as He faithfully puts into us all that pertains to Yeshua, our Lord. We practice doing this over and over, until we ‘re rewired’ and reconfigured to be compatible with the Perfect Presence of God, allowing Yeshua’s indwelling manifest Presence to reveal His enormous Fruitfulness in us and through us… to the Eternal Glory of God!
Because the first century disciples constantly reminded themselves that our Messiah was abiding within them, they were able to develop and maintain a laser-like focus on Him. So they were always interacting with Him in very intimate personal communion… despite the chaos, confusion, terrors and death dealing intrusions their enemies kept trying to inflict upon them!
Beloved, we must also be trained like this, so we too can perform effectively despite any unexpected experiential shocks by which our enemies will ‘blindside’ us. We must jackhammer our lines, parts, and cues so deeply into our inner workings that we’ll automatically, keep our perpetual focus riveted upon our Commander… no matter what else may be happening! We must be firmly convinced that He is the Supreme Lord, Master and Commander of all things… past, present and future… in time and in eternity… in the spiritual realm and also in the physical. We must know that He is the Supreme Lord over every inch of every battlefield, and over every participant, and over every eventual outcome that takes place in this world! God’s Living Word is always living in us, providing whatever we will ever need! So… armed with this Assurance… we can advance boldly into enemy territory and take possession of it, as we continually receive everything we need to be, and to know, and to do… from Him!
A firm understanding of what it means to have Yeshua’s constant Supernatural Presence within us equips us to persevere and follow Him without question, hesitation, or ‘let-up’. True faith empowers us to know Him intimately… not by sight and feel… but by maintaining a military-level focus on obeying Him and allowing Him to act through us. Stephen was a superbly-trained warrior! So regardless of what was going on around him, he maintained continuous focus on His risen Lord and on his mission. He didn’t miss a beat, but he served and glorified and interacted with His Master to perfection… without becoming distracted, dismayed, or intimidated. His unbreakable union with His magnificent triumphant Lord, empowered him to press on and finish his assigned task to God’s Eternal Glory.
Because Stephen kept magnifying His Lord in his mind, and relying upon Him continually, Yeshua grew to immense proportions in Stephen’s consciousness. This constant magnification caused Him to increase, while everything else that was around Stephen, decreased proportionately! So, despite his terrible ordeal, Stephen only had eyes for the stupendous Glory and Blazing Luminescence of His awesome risen Lord! So he kept radiating His Lord’s awesome Resurrection Presence into whoever and whatever happened to be around him!
“When they heard these things, they became enraged and began gnashing their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Ruach ha-Kodesh (Holy Spirit), gazed into Heaven and saw the Glory of God—and Yeshua standing at the right hand of God! And he said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:54-56 TLV, Emphasis added)
Our Commander isn’t here to lead a rabble of losers and passive helpless victims! He abides in us to empower us… to be His relentless, unstoppable Invasion Force! We follow Him into earthly war zones, not because it’s up to us to win the war; but because we know that He has already completely overcome and routed our enemies! This is not our war to win. Our job is to ‘mop up’ and cooperate with our Lord as He puts down any ‘last ditch’ trace and pocket of futile demonic resistance! Well trained, highly disciplined disciples never forget that our Commander has already accomplished the destruction and certain doom of the opposition. So they follow their risen Lord into areas where pockets of enemy resistance remain, and they drive the final nails into the eternal coffin lid of the enemy’s failed insurgency!
Once we’re trained and prepped, it won’t matter what our defeated foes try to say or do to try to fool us into thinking they still have the upper hand. We’ll know what Stephen knew, and we will never again fall for their pathetic deceptions. Nor will we lose heart, or give in to any demonic demands, or fall for their schemes, lures, and traps. The Lord has already cut off their resources and has stripped them naked! Now they have nothing of substance with which to resist! They can only resort to empty lies and hopeless bluffs! So we can afford to stay focused on our Leader, and follow His every directive as we tie up the loose ends of our Total Victory. This is what God’s Spirit is in us to teach, instill and accomplish as we continue our final push toward God’s Total Triumph!
“… The Ruach (Spirit) helps in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Ruach Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. And He who searches the hearts knows the mind of the Ruach, because He intercedes for the kedoshim (saints) ACCORDING TO THE WILL (and Glory) OF GOD! Now we know that ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD FOR THOSE WHO LOVE GOD, who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:26-29 TLV, Amplification and emphasis added)
Give Very Careful Consideration to the Following Questions – They Are a Reality Check to Help Us See Where Our Faith is Currently Focused and Where Growth is Needed
Dear one, do you still doubt that God can fulfill His written Word and the promises He made to us? Do you give more credence to what you see, hear, and feel taking place in this fallen demon-possessed world than you give to the All-Sufficient Abundance God assures you that He has already put into you? Do you believe He can only take you so far, before the circumstances and situations that come at you become too much even for Him to deal with? Do you still think that Father’s promises are vain and empty words?
If you don’t KNOW your God as He really IS… and don’t really believe that He’s actually operating within you… to guide and empower and take you triumphantly through everything you will have to face, then consider this! Notice how wonderfully He equips other parts of His Creation to do the amazing things they do. He equips certain flocks of birds, schools of fish, and animal herds of the animal kingdom to operate as if they are one, although they number in the thousands. Consider the amazing internal operating and guidance systems with which He has obviously endowed them! He enables them to know what to do, and when, and how to do it, with amazing accuracy and unerring consistent unified precision!
For example, consider this excerpt from an online article I found in a 2009 issue of Audubon Magazine. It describes the amazing phenomenon of nature that enables flocks of certain birds and herds of some mammals and schools of certain fish to move, turn and veer at super speeds, as if they were one. They may number in the thousands, but they move in eerie synchronized precision… unerringly, with no deviations or breaks in formation! The result is a seemingly random but astoundingly beautiful, amazingly consistent, unerring, incomprehensible ‘ballet’… performed by a cast of thousands, as if they were only one in number. We marvel when we see it. So… consider the stupendously brilliant and capable Designer and Creator that is able to give such amazing internal guidance systems into each one of these creatures, and ask yourself: “What must He put into humans that are designed to be His image and likeness?”
“… Many birds flock, of course. But only a relative handful really fly together, creating what University of Rhode Island biologist Frank Heppner, in the 1970s, proposed calling “flight flocks”: namely, highly organized lines or clusters. Pelicans, geese, and other waterfowl form lines and Vs, presumably to take advantage of aerodynamic factors that save energy.
But the most impressive flockers are arguably those that form large, irregularly shaped masses, such as starlings, shorebirds, and blackbirds. They often fly at speeds of 40 miles or more per hour, and in a dense group the space between them may be only a bit more than their body length. Yet they can make astonishingly sharp turns that appear, to the unaided eye, to be conducted entirely in unison. Imagine doing unrehearsed evasive maneuvers in concert with all the other fast-moving drivers around you on an expressway, and you get an idea of the difficulty involved…
… On one level it has long been obvious what’s going on when animals synchronize their movements—be they ducks, wildebeest, herring, or social insects. More eyes and ears mean increased opportunities to find food and improved chances of detecting a predator in time.”
The above is from the following link to an article that was posted on this website: www.audubon.org/magazine/march-april-2009/how-flock-birds-can-fly-and-move-together )
And here’s a video clip that gives you an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVaSiF2JVqQ&t=12s
Humans marvel at the marvelous instincts and abilities they see in the Animal Kingdom. But worldly, humanistic people who did not know God the way the disciples in the book of Acts did, also marveled when they saw Spirit-led New Covenant disciples doing astounding supernatural things. The onlookers were bewildered and at a total loss as to how to react to these people or how to answer this question:
“What makes people who proclaim Yeshua (Jesus) to be the risen Son of God, tick? Why are they so different? How do they do what we see them doing? We watch from a distance, and in our hearts we think: “They have what I’ve been searching for… but without success. Maybe I should get closer and find out what they know, so I too can know it and have what they so obviously have.”
“…Through the hands of the emissaries many signs and wonders were happening among the people. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. But no one else dared to join them, though the people continued to think highly of them. Yet more than ever those trusting in the Lord were added—large numbers of men and women. They even carried the sick into the streets and laid them on stretchers and cots, so that when Peter passed by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. Crowds were also gathering from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing those who were sick or tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all being healed!” (Acts 5:12-16 TLV, Emphasis added)
“Yeshua answered, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I said to you, ‘You all must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. SO IT IS WITH EVERYONE BORN OF THE SPIRIT!” (John 3:5-8 TLV, Emphasis added)
“But one and the same Ruach activates all these things, distributing to each person individually as He wills. For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of the body—though many—are one body, so also is Messiah. For in one Ruach we were all immersed into one body—whether Jewish or Greek, slave or free—and all were made to drink of one Ruach.” (1 Corinthians 12:11-13 TLV, Emphasis added)
Since God so ingeniously unifies other parts of His Creation to protect and maintain them, can there be any doubt that He’ll do even more for and within the disciples of His beloved Son when demonic predators try to assail them by causing cataclysmic events that are designed to prevent God from fulfilling His Last Days promises through the obedience of their faith in Him?
“What then shall we say in view of these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him FREELY GIVE US ALL THINGS? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? It is Messiah, who died, and moreover was raised, and is now at the right hand of God and who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Messiah? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.”
“But in all these things we are more than conquerors (hyper conquering winners) through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-39 TLV, Emphasis added)
So… thanks to God’s Spirit abiding within us, we’re never alone, never without needed resources, never without access to the Fullness that is in God’s Living Word. Our Father’s Eternal Perfection abides within His Son. And His Son abides within us… always covering and supplying those who are His own, no matter what may or may not be happening around them! God doesn’t deal with us according to what we deserve; no, He deals with us according to what His beloved Son deserves! And since we know that the Last Days will inflict great Tribulation throughout this fallen world, we will see and feel the awful effects of the last ditch efforts of our enemies to create chaos, confusion, terror and hopelessness in us.
But if we truly know our God, and the Absolute Perfection and All-Sufficiency of what He has already done on our behalf and in our name… we’ll remain impervious to contrary voices, and sudden blindsiding setbacks and threats of imminent disaster, destruction and overwhelming dangers. Nothing dismays, distracts, or deters disciples who know for sure that… God is with us and we’ve already WON!
“See to it that you do not refuse the One who is speaking! For if they did not escape when they refused the One who was warning them on Earth, much less will we escape if we reject the One who warns us from Heaven. His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.” Now this phrase, “Yet once more,” shows the removal of those things that are shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken (God and His Word and His Spirit) may remain (in us).
“Therefore, since WE ARE RECEIVING A KINGDOM THAT CANNOT BE SHAKEN, let us show gratitude—through this we may offer worship in a manner pleasing to God, with reverence and awe. FOR OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE!” (Hebrews 12:25-29 TLV, Amplification and emphasis added)
After He ascended to Heaven, the Lord no longer lived with His disciples ‘in the flesh’. So imagine how that shook the disciples He left behind. They had to make a massive adjustment! In earlier days, before the New Covenant was instituted and launched, they’d always have to be in the immediate proximity of where He was… to be close enough to see and hear Him with their physical senses. This is because the job of disciples is to learn everything they possibly can about their Master so they actually transform into His image and likeness. But now, in the New Covenant Era… the Omnipotent Power of God’s Spirit lives inside of us perpetually! He’s here to empower us at all times, to contain and embody our risen Lord’s Perfect Resurrection Presence! Now we can be one with our Master perpetually! But it must be done by developing an obedient faith in what He revealed and promised to us! If God’s Word said it, we can know for sure that our Messiah lives in each one of us simultaneously because He gave His Word as a Pledge! So we know we’re always fully protected and enveloped and treasured by His own Eternal Resurrection Life!
Abiding Continually in and from Messiah through the Indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit
We don’t have to see, hear, or touch our Master physically… TO KNOW HE’S IN OUR SPIRITS. IT IS WRITTEN IN GOD’S WORD… AND PLEDGED TO US IN HIS COVENANT BLOOD! So this doesn’t depend on our flaky senses and feelings! It depends on God’s Infinite Integrity, Credibility, and Everlasting Blood Covenant-level Lovingkindness operating in our intangible spirits! Knowing by faith that God is with us, our souls and bodies can confidently interact with God as He operates in and through our earthly physical realities from within our spirits, even if we can’t see or feel it! But when we learn to believe this, we have learned to think, act, react and interact, knowing that this is really true. And then we can serve as His Temple on Earth… thinking, living, acting, reacting, and moving with Him, and with each other, in perfect synchronized, integrated unity… as One New Man in Messiah! We’ve become His Temple, and the Life and Love Power of God comes into this poor world, through us!. The obedient faith of every disciple is thus God’s ‘Point of Entry’… and His earthly ‘base of operations’!
“But we have this Treasure in jars of clay, so that the surpassing greatness of the Power may be from God and not from ourselves. We are hard pressed in every way, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not in despair; persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Yeshua, so that the Life of Yeshua may also be revealed in our mortal body. For we who live are always being handed over to death for Yeshua’s sake, so that the life of Yeshua may be revealed in our mortal body. So death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. But we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” So we also believe, and therefore we also speak, knowing that the One who raised the Lord Yeshua will raise us also with Yeshua, and will bring us with you into His Presence. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace that is spreading through more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow—to the Glory of God.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our trouble, light and momentary, is producing for us an eternal weight of Glory far beyond all comparison as we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, BUT WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN IS ETERNAL!” (2 Corinthians 4:7-18 TLV, Emphasis added)
Since we know our Master has already totally routed and stripped the enemies that we’ll encounter in future battle zones… we can remain convinced that WE’VE GOT NOTHING TO LOSE BECAUSE FOR ALL OF ETERNITY, WE’VE BEEN GIVEN EVERYTHING! Yes, even though death is always at work in our original mortal bodies, like Stephen, we can know that even when our mortal body finally falls, WE’VE LOST NOTHING! AND WE STILL HAVE EVERYTHING! We’ll know that God is transporting us forward… toward that blessed moment when He will give us our brand new, perfect, Eternal Bodies… that we will inhabit and enjoy for all of eternity… in His Presence… just as He promised!
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and trusts in Him may have Eternal Life; and I will raise him up on the last day!” (John 6:40 TLV, Emphasis added)
“He who dwells in the shelter of Elyon, will abide in the shadow of Shaddai. I will say of Adonai, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. For He will rescue you from the hunter’s trap and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge. His Faithfulness is body armor and shield.
“You will not fear the terror by night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the plague that stalks in Darkness, nor the scourge that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look on with your eyes and see the wicked paid back!” (Psalm 91:1-8 TLV, Emphasis added)
So God is working ALL THINGS – no matter what they may be – for the good for those who love Him! (Romans 8:28) We don’t have to keep blabbing to others that the Spirit of God is with us. We can let the marvelous things He does from within us speak for themselves! Nor do we have to try to persuade with mere talk; WE CAN PROVE THAT GOD IS IN US, guiding, correcting, providing, protecting, and revealing His already accomplished Total Triumph through us… by the obvious supernatural results He causes to emerge in our midst… through the obedience of our faith… even amid things that we would naturally consider to be ‘disasters’ or demonic attacks!
Just look at how the Spirit-filled disciples reacted during the intense persecution that scattered them immediately after Stephen was killed (Acts 8). Instead of going into hiding, they allowed Holy Spirit to redeploy them and they boldly began to proclaim their risen Lord wherever they ended up. And see how they reacted in Acts 4, when Peter told them about the hostile rage and dire threats with which the Sanhedrin began to threaten them. What did they do? They immediately prayed to God and asked him to give them the boldness they would need to persevere and overcome! Nothing about them suggested that they were victims and losers.
So, like them, we too must be trained to react in ways that prove to the world that WE KNOW WE HAVE ALREADY WON! We can afford to press into and cut right through the strong contrary currents of popular opinion and popular cultural trends and imperatives and priorities. We won’t be sucked into the trap of investing in anything that the spiritual blindness of this fallen world treasures and values, because we’ll realize all that worldly glitter is part of a pathetic torpedoed, sinking ship!
God isn’t here to please, palliate, or pamper this Sin-loving, Self-adoring world! He’s here to invade and redeem and separate those who will truly be His, from those who remain adamant in rebelling against Him! (See Mathew 10:34-39) This is why we who have chosen to follow Him, need intensive boot camp training that will force us to use repetitive drills to deepen and intensify our unified Covenant relationship and interaction with God, so that His Spirit can empower us to interact with our Messiah and allow Him to impart to us what is actually in God’s heart, mind, intentions, and Plan, despite what rebellious spirits and humans may be thinking, saying or doing to the contrary!
Our Last Days training must prepare us to cut through whatever we encounter, and accurately discern and interpret what is happening around us, with unerring discernment and accuracy. We must be able to react to sudden shocking apparent reversals and unexpected experiential events, situations and setbacks by being flexible and able to adjust and change course in a flash! We must know that God’s beloved Son is shaping every situation; and allow Him to live His Life from within us, so He can do whatever Father sends Him to do in our name. He’s always abiding in us! We bear His Living Interactive Presence in us wherever we go, all the time! We’re God Bringers! And He is not here to watch us lose, or see us become victims to His predatory demonic enemies!
“… Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me: Your rod and Your staff comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of Adonai forever!” (Psalm 23:4-6 TLV, Emphasis added)
Before Yeshua’s first coming, God’s people had to depend on human leaders and teachers who were more or less qualified to talk and teach them ABOUT God! But God didn’t leave it at that! He comes into us Himself to live and manifest His Triumph to us… and through us. This is what He began to prepare His people to begin to anticipate when He began to live in their midst in the Tent of Meeting in the Sinai wilderness… and then in the temple of Jerusalem… and when He came in the flesh of Yeshua of Nazareth in the first century. But He intended to take our union with Him to an even deeper, more intimate level than that! And that became possible when the New Covenant Era began:
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, not like the covenant (of Sinai, through Moses) which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
“For this is the (New) Covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put My Law (written Torah) within them and write it on their heart (My Word, the Living Torah will become their new Life); and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ FOR THEY WILL ALL KNOW ME (be as one with Me in an intensely intimate close personal union),from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their wrongdoing, and their sin I will no longer remember.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 NASB, Amplification and emphasis added)
“My heart’s desire is to make you into a great nation, to bless you, to make your name great so that YOU MAY BE A BLESSING! My desire is to bless those who bless you, but whoever curses you I will curse, AND IN YOU (Remnant of My Israel), ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH WILL BE BLESSED!” (Genesis 12:2-3 TLV, Amplification and emphasis added)
The Lord continues to fulfill the promises He made to Abram the Chaldean (Abraham) in the beginning. And from our hindsight perspective, we can see that when Father began to deal with Abram… He was actually revealing His own Son, His Living Word, to Him (e.g. See Genesis 18). This was the very same Son He would later send to Earth, to serve as the Eternal Blood Covenant Representative of the whole of Israel. So, through the Israelite genealogy of Yeshua, God’s Living Word made flesh actually became the Seed of Abraham! And later, in the course of this ongoing fulfillment, God established a second Covenant with the children of Abraham, through Moses, in the wilderness of Sinai. And Moses was inspired to prophesy about the coming of the Living Word of God made flesh!
“Adonai your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst—from your brothers. To Him you must listen! This is just what you asked of Adonai your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly when saying, ‘I cannot continue to hear the voice of Adonai my God or see this great fire any more, or I will die.’
“Adonai said to me, ‘They have done well in what they have spoken. I will raise up a Prophet like you for them from among their brothers. I will put My words in His mouth, and He will speak to them all that I command Him. Now whoever does not listen to My words that this Prophet speaks in My Name, I Myself will call him to account!” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19 TLV, Emphasis added)
In the fullness of time, God established His New Covenant with Israel, through Yeshua, her Messiah, who came to represent and make atonement for, and redeem and regenerate not only Israel, but also the rest of the entire human race! So we see that the fulfillment of the Mystery of the awesome Grace and the New Covenant Love God intended to bestow upon us all, is being given in progressive stages:
“Surely you have heard about the plan of God’s grace given to me for you—that the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote before briefly. When you read this, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Messiah—WHICH WAS NOT MADE (fully) KNOWN TO THE SONS OF MEN IN OTHER GENERATIONS, as it has now been revealed by the Ruach to His holy (New Covenant) emissaries and prophets. This mystery is that the Gentiles are joint heirs and fellow members of the same Body and co-sharers of the Promise in Messiah Yeshua through the Good News. I became a servant of this Good News by the gift of God’s favor given to me through the exercise of His power.
“This favor was given to me, the very least of His kedoshim (saints), to proclaim to the Gentiles the endless riches of the Messiah and to bring to light the Plan of the Mystery—which for ages was hidden in God, who created all things.
“The purpose is that through Messiah’s (New Covenant) Community, THE MULTI-FACETED WISDOM OF GOD MIGHT BE MADE KNOWN TO THE (demonic) RULERS AND AUTHORITIES IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES, which is in keeping with the eternal purpose that He carried out in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.” (Ephesians 3:2-11 TLV, Amplification and emphasis added)
One Body, Many Members, Under the Headship of Yeshua, the Living Word
Beloved, there is so much awesome depth contained in the above texts! God’s New Covenant Family won’t be composed only of Jewish people… but also of all the other people groups in the Gentile world! But notice that, even to this day, most Jewish people regard themselves as being separated from the rest of Mankind. And most of Mankind still fully agrees with that! It has been this way for millennia! And yet… God promises in Romans 11, Ephesians 2, and other texts, that the day is coming, when people from all nations, Jews and non-Jews alike, will forsake their former man-made empires and comfort zones… and allow God to lead them into brand new, hitherto unexplored territory. They will be totally changed and transformed, from a disjointed, strife-ridden rabble… into one Body, like those starlings we saw. They will be one, under the Headship of God’s Living Word made flesh, and they’ll be led by one Spirit! Then they will be able to think, react, and operate as one… just like we see God’s starlings, ducks, wildebeest, herring, and swarms of social insects doing! So prepare your soul to participate in this impending God-empowered Quantum Leap! It will be the fulfillment of what God promised to Abram the Chaldean!
“For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of the body—though many—are one body, so also is Messiah. For in one Ruach we were all immersed into one body—whether Jewish or Greek, slave or free—and all were made to drink of one Ruach.
“For the body is not one part, but many. If the foot says, “Since I’m not a hand, I’m not part of the body,” is it therefore not part of the body? And if the ear says, “Since I’m not an eye, I’m not part of the body,” is it for this reason any less part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the parts—each one of them—in the body just as He desired. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But now there are many parts, yet one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-20 TLV.)
That total fulfillment is yet to be seen on the earth. Suspicion, resentment, selfishness, division and strife still run rampant among us. But God promised that what He has revealed, commanded, and pledged in His written Word… will ultimately be totally FULFILLED BY AND IN HIS LIVING WORD… through His Remnant Body! So many of His Jewish and non-Jewish children are destined to come together as one, under their Messiah. And I believe the Stephen Generation will lead the way for all the others that are destined to be part of that Fulfillment. Therefore, they will all have to leave their current ruts and comfort zones to be free to transform into the Perfect Unified Earthly Body of our risen Lord! So beloved, prepare your souls for a rapidly developing era of massive mind-boggling change!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves—it is the Gift of God. It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship—created in Messiah Yeshua for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 TLV, Emphasis added)
“God chose to make known to them this glorious mystery regarding the Gentiles—which is Messiah in you, the hope of Glory!” (Colossians 1:27 TLV, Emphasis added)
As God’s enemies continue to stir up strife, destructive chaos and confusion, the disciples will have to operate amid serious turmoil. Many of us will be suddenly ‘blindsided’ and ‘rugs will be pulled out from beneath our feet’. Nevertheless, if we’re properly trained, we’ll be able to maintain composure, and adapt quickly, fulfilling our God-assigned tasks. Stephen was suddenly arrested and put on trial for his life. But he fired a blazing testimony from His risen Lord that pierced the hearts of his enemies and threw them into a frenzy! And Saul of Tarsus was forever marked by it. And in the midst of all that… Stephen’s focus remained inexorably locked onto the glorious Perfect Presence of His resurrected Lord! He went into God’s Eternal Glory… beholding the face of His Majestic Lord!
Deadly persecution broke out as soon as his mortal flesh died. And the mob of antagonists grew and spread out in all directions looking for every other disciple they could get their hands on. But the other disciples didn’t lose focus either. They adjusted instantly, like a flock of starlings in flight. They stayed together, as one Man, in the Spirit, and they continued to fulfill the Lord’s promise… serving as His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria… and to the end of the earth… just as the Lord had said (Acts 1:8). Yes, they scattered physically… but their God-filled spirits maintained ‘formation integrity’. They stayed together as one… through thick and thin.
“… On that day a great persecution arose against Messiah’s community in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the emissaries. Some devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.
But Saul was destroying Messiah’s community, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he was throwing them into prison.
“Now those who had been scattered (throughout Judea) went around proclaiming the Word. Philip went down to the main city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. The crowds were paying close attention to what Philip was saying—as they both heard and saw the signs that he was doing. For unclean spirits were coming out of many who were plagued, shrieking with a loud voice. Many paralyzed and crippled were healed also. So there was great joy in that city.” (Acts 8:2-8 TLV, Emphasis added)
Beloved… Holy Spirit is within us… to prepare us to fulfill what our Master promised to Abram… and to Israel… and to the entire world! Envision disciples of Stephen’s caliber… all united to their Head… being led and directed by the Power of God’s Spirit… working as One Man… while deployed across every continent, region, country, city, village, settlement and home. They hear and respond to the promptings of the Spirit, even when they can’t see any of their other fellow members, they still remain as one! They know that all the other members are united and fully integrated and perfectly synchronized to flow and act, AS ONE! The final disciple generation will usher this awesome Fulfillment into the Earth… and prepare for the Arrival of the New Heaven and the New Earth… when God and Man will finally abide as ONE… the way Father has always had His heart set on having it. So get ready. That’s where we’re headed!
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city—the New Jerusalem—coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I also heard a loud voice from the throne, saying,
“Behold, the dwelling of God is among men, and He shall tabernacle among them. They shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them and be their God. He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Nor shall there be mourning or crying or pain any longer, for the former things have passed away!” (Revelation 21:1-4 TLV, Emphasis added)