As someone who loves the prophetic and studied it for years I’ve learned something very important about personal prophetic words. It is extremely important to partner with prophetic words you receive, if you want to see them come to pass! I will attempt to explain what I mean by ‘partnering with your prophesy’. First of all, there are a few prophetic caveats I’ve learned over nearly 40 years of walking with the Lord that I’d like to share with you. The first one is this: don’t elevate the vessel giving the word with the word itself. In other words, we only know in part and prophesy in part. Since we are vessels of clay we are subject to miss the mark and error. God only gives them a prophetic piece of the puzzle for your life. Secondly, not every ‘word’ you receive may be inspired. It’s important to pray for discernment and not take every word at face value! Samuel was the only prophet recorded in the Bible whose words never fell to the ground; none went forth without fulfillment. Under the Old Covenant, if a prophet gave a word that did not happen they were stoned. That is because during the era of the Old Covenant prophets were the ONLY spokesmen for God. People didn’t have the Bible on their coffee tables at home and iPads with various Bible apps on their night stands! Prophets were under severe scrutiny and judgment because of it. Thank the Lord we are under the New Covenant of Grace. Having said that, we shouldn’t be careless about prophesy and we ought to pray for greater accuracy!

Under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon ALL flesh according to Joel 2: 28 & Acts 2: 17 and one of the first manifestations of this outpouring was that His sons and daughters WOULD prophesy! This means that if you are a son or daughter of God you CAN prophesy! It’s important to note that the Spirit of Prophesy is really a combination of one or more of the utterance and/ or revelation gifts of the Spirit. This includes tongues and interpretation of the tongues, prophesy (future events, comfort, exhortation, edification), words of knowledge, and words of wisdom (1 Corinthians 12: 8¬9). All are administered in proportion to the person’s faith who is prophesying!

As I mentioned earlier, anyone can prophesy by the Holy Spirit who is Born Again and is called a Son or Daughter of God. It’s important to make the distinction that being “Born Again” enables any son or daughter to prophesy by the Holy Spirit. You see, there is the counterfeit of Holy Spirit prophecy through the use of familiar spirits by psychics who sometimes are astoundingly accurate! They have an innate gift of being extremely intuitive and sensitive in the realm of the spirit. However, the source of that knowledge is demonic not the Holy Spirit! It is fruit from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Just because it sounds good and is pleasant to the senses doesn’t mean it’s fruit from the Tree of Life!

It is important to understand the Father’s purpose of giving us prophecy. First and foremost, He gave us this wonderful gift for the purpose of edification (building up our faith), exhortation (encouraging and provoking our faith) and comfort (especially during times of grief and pain). Sometimes, prophetic words are laced with words of wisdom and words of knowledge instructing you in some measure about what you need to do. These words, if they are accurate, are to help guide and navigate you now and sometimes in your future. They are not fool-proof. They are like sign posts on a highway to help guide you while giving pictures of your spiritual destination! In 2009, I was praying about writing a book after the loss of our son in an automobile accident. I wanted to be sure it was God and not me. After many days of prayer, I was on my way to church one morning and asked the Father again out loud, “Lord please show me if and when I am to begin this book.” At that moment, a car turned into my street and the license plate read, “Write On.” Well that was all the confirmation I needed. God used a ‘sign’ to give me a word of wisdom! I began writing the next day while the Holy Spirit downloaded the Introduction and subsequent Chapter Titles.

Another caveat is not to look at the sign or to the vessel for the full understanding of the word(s) and don’t think just because you’ve received a prophetic word it will automatically manifest. You must pray and as Father for further insight. You must wage war against the forces of darkness to possess the promises of God through faith and patience, toppling every giant that stands in the way! That’s why Paul told Timothy to wage a good warfare by the prophecies that went out before him. The Spirit of Jezebel fights prophesy and will continually resist you, especially when you begin to get serious about praying and walking out the prophetic utterances God gives you! Another word of caution is that the prophetic vessel God uses only speaks for God not as God. Resist the temptation to elevate man to the place of someone who should be feared and inordinately reverenced: that is idolatry. Look to the Holy Spirit to get understanding, wisdom and counsel concerning every prophetic word you receive. Measure the words against the Scripture to safeguard against anything that would violate the logos. If some prophet tells you that your husband is the wrong man for you, who in the Bible ever said that to anyone? Nobody! Does the word violate the principles and patterns of Scripture? If someone prophesies to you that God has given you a special anointing to hear from Him and you don’t need to be part of a local church or associated with any other ministry, that too is nowhere in scripture!

Test prophesies by the logos (written word) where possible next with the inner witness of the Spirit. This is a bit more subjective but if you’re not sure of a word, pray and the Holy Spirit will bear witness with it or not. If your spirit is grieved, when someone gives you a prophetic word that is a signal you need to heed. We need to hold each other accountable in the prophetic. When giving words we should preface it with something like, “I believe the Lord is showing me such and such,” or “I believe the Lord is showing me something for you. Is it alright if I share it?” Then after you share it ask the person if it bore witness with them or not. Ask them if it was correct or not. Sometimes their tears or rejoicing let you know right away it was God! Mutual accountability helps in understanding what God may be saying. It keeps things in check and it keeps us humble. Death and Life are in the power of the tongue. Words carry life or they can carry death. We can’t afford to be careless especially when delivering prophetic words. If we can’t be accountable we shouldn’t prophesy! If we despise being corrected by anyone concerning any words we give or the attitude and tone in which we deliver them we’re spiritually immature and possibly dangerous to others! It’s like giving an unskilled seven year old a loaded pistol. He’ll shoot it if he has permission without realizing the damage it can do!

One day the Lord gave me the word “Bacon” for a young man. I told him that I believe the Lord gave me a word but it was a bit crazy. I kept hearing it so I had to decide to step out in faith or possibly miss an opportunity to minister to someone. I was willing to take the risk of sharing it if he would tell me if the word Bacon meant anything to him or not. I shared the word and of course everyone laughed. I asked him if it meant anything to him. He paused and thought for a minute and said “Well, I gave up pork recently. I don’t eat pork anymore.” I said, “Well bacon is pork!” again everybody laughed including the young man. Then I said out loud, “Well, I don’t know what to do with this word, Lord please help me out here!” Again laughter filled the place. As soon as I said that, the Lord gave me a download for this young man and I began to share it with him. He began to cry and I knew God was speaking something to his heart and used this word as a parable to teach him a principle.

Yet another caveat to prophecy is NEVER make a major decision or move based on one directive or one word given by ANYONE. I knew of a middle aged couple that sold their house, quit their jobs and made a geographical moved based on a ‘word’ from a so called prophet. They ended up homeless, jobless and financially broken, not to mention the spiritual brokenness they experienced as a result of stepping out on this ‘word’. The Bible is clear: let every word be established out of the mouth of two or more witnesses! That includes the inner witness of the Holy Ghost inside of you! God is never in a hurry. Pray through until you get several confirmations on words involving directives!

Let me add, that if you received a word years ago and it hasn’t come to pass doesn’t mean you should discard it. How many years passed between Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah (Isaiah 9: 6) and the fulfillment of it? Sometimes only time will tell! Keep it on your prayer list! The Apostle of the ministry I am involved with had a prophetic word some twenty years ago where the prophet saw him in a church building on a major interstate.

Apostle Chisholm started several different churches within that time span and none of them was on a major highway. He thought to himself, “Well, so and so just missed it!” Don’t you know just four and a half years ago he started another work in Columbus, Ohio? Instead of renting a building which was his intention, a realtor got in touch with him and said he had a church building for sale at a price that would be cheaper to buy than it would be to rent. Apostle Chisholm went to look at the building and guess what? It was located right on a major interstate -I-70 and yes, he was able to purchase it without any money down and with no congregation! God is good! That word took twenty some years to manifest!

Finally, prophesy is the possibility of the Father for your life and a portion of the thoughts He has towards you. He shares His thoughts with us to give us an expected end of a thing (Jeremiah 29: 11). It’s not the sum total of God’s plan for your life. It’s only a piece of His wonderful life puzzle that He wants you to search Him out for. These supernatural possibilities of the Father will remain human improbabilities unless and until we partner with them through prayer and submitting to the process of God. Prophesy is like a seed. It contains the possibility of a harvest but only under the right conditions. The soil must be good. It must be watered and it must be cultivated. The Holy Spirit will give you the grace required to press through the process just like that tiny seed pushes through the soil. The process is the space of time between prophecy and its fulfillment. In this period of time, Holy Spirit will purify the motives, intents and thoughts of the heart. He will strengthen and mature you emotionally and spiritually. He will bring your life into balance. He will teach and train you through other ministry gifts as well as your times of intimacy with Him in worship, prayer and Bible Study. A prophet told me years ago, “Learn well, while you’re going through the School of the Spirit!” I really didn’t understand what that meant until I experienced this fact: every Word of the Lord is tested! It’s up to us to hold fast with unmovable faith or throw up our hands and quit! God never quits on us. Why should we quit on God?

Joseph’s dream did not manifest immediately. He went through about a 14 year period of the stripping away of everything that was once familiar to him. He went through the crucible of rejection, misunderstanding, false accusations and injustices. Through it all, he persevered! When God saw that Joseph was ready, He released him into the full destiny of his prophetic dream. During his prophetic process, God used Joseph and gave him glimpses of His final prophetic destination through favor, leadership, interpreting dreams and promotions. God allowed trials by fire to purify his motives that were once full of ego and pride. So it is with us! “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi [the priests], and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord [grain] offerings in righteousness.” Malachi 3: 3
Let me close with a few more practical tips and a review on how to partner with your prophesy!

So we see prophecy has a part to play and WE have a part to play. If we partner with prophecy the way the Bible instructs us to, it will be a rewarding and valuable piece to our life’s puzzle!

Yours in the Journey! Pastor Mary Ann

• Date - February 16, 2018
• Author - The Rock Columbus

This is a challenging topic to address but I felt compelled to write about it. With the help of Holy Spirit I hope to help others with an issue that touches every one of us at some point and time(s) in our lives! I struggled many years with unforgiveness and bitterness myself, but came to understand through the Spirit of Revelation that my bitterness was only hurting me. I also realized that my resentment and unforgiveness was also holding back the grace of God toward those I had an offense against. They were unable to receive the grace of God they needed because I refused to pray for and forgive them. Stephen in the Book of Acts, was stoned for His witness and preaching the Gospel. Saul of Tarsus led the band. Saul killed and martyred Christians thinking he was doing God a service. He was a Pharisee and a zealot for God. There are those today in Islam who believe the same! While being stoned, the Bible says that Stephen saw the Heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father! Stephen prayed, “Lord do not lay this charge against them!” (Acts 7)

I believe God’s grace was released to them because Stephen prayed for forgiveness for his persecutors. Grace is defined as God’s UNMERITED favor to men. In other words none of us deserve it, but God’s love through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ, made it possible for those who will repent of their sins and accept His atoning work on the cross! You see, later on Saul of Tarsus had a supernatural encounter with the risen Jesus Christ on the Road to Damascus! As a result of that encounter, Saul became Paul the Apostle and a mighty witness and missionary for Jesus Christ (Acts 9)! Stephen could have justifiably cursed all of them but he chose to forgive following the Messiah’s example that he witnessed at Calvary! I believe through Stephen’s unselfish prayer, Jesus was listening as He stood at attention and answered Stephen the Martyr’s prayer!

Healing from the offenses and/or hurts caused by others either directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly, always begins with forgiveness. You can’t live on this earth very long without experiencing some kind of offense or hurt. Hurt people hurt people. Humans are all subject to error and mistakes! Sinners sin against God and others! No one sins unto themselves. Sin (hamartia) is defined as ‘missing the mark’. It affects those we are close to and have influence or authority over. Offended people who hold on to the offense long enough eventually see through a lens of offense in almost every situation they face. It affects our spiritual vision in a most negative way!

Let me share a brief story as an analogy…Several years ago, I had cataract surgery. The eye surgeon inadvertently put the wrong type of lens in my eye believing he was using the correct lens. That wasn’t the real issue. After he did corrective surgery to replace the lens, the trauma from having two eye surgeries in a short period of time caused my retina to detach. He learned afterwards that my retina was thin to begin with and the now gelatinous fluid from aging, caused a ‘pulling away’ of the retina from the wall of my eyeball. Needless to say, I had to have another eye surgery from a Retinal Specialist. This mistake caused me to be blind in my right eye for quite some time, nearly four months. After months of healing, I finally regained sight in that eye! The primary eye surgeon and I, along with my husband candidly discussed the issue. I forgave him of the mistake and he made restitution by not charging me for any of the cataract surgeries. He also took care of the subsequent retinal surgery performed by the Retinal Specialist. He also didn’t charge me for any post-surgical visits for the following year. Praise God I now have 20/20 vision! Because I regained complete vision I didn’t seek further restitution. He made a mistake but he made it right. Although my vision was affected by the mistake of another for several months, God came through by way of forgiveness and restitution!

Unforgiveness we hold on to for any length of time always turns into resentment which then turns into bitterness. Paul called a root of bitterness something that will defile you and others. It will spiritually infect ourselves and ultimately spread to others like a cancer (Hebrews 12:15). Paul called the root of bitterness “falling short of grace.” We are saved by grace through faith not by ourselves or our own righteousness! We ALL stand in the need of God’s grace-even daily! By being unforgiving and bitter, we frustrate and stop God’s grace from being extended to us and through us! Bitterness does more immediate harm to you than the other person you have unforgiveness against. Worst of all, our sins literally will NOT be forgiven if we won’t forgive. No matter how right or righteous of a person we think we are or the fact that we confess Jesus Christ as Lord, or claim to be a Christian, unforgiveness will keep us out of Heaven! It’s hypocritical for us to want God’s grace extended to us personally, yet believe the people who have hurt us and/ or other ‘wicked’ people don’t deserve it. “Bad people shouldn’t receive any grace or forgiveness from God!” The Bible says, “There is none righteous; no not one!” It’s only through God’s grace and forgiveness anyone can be accepted in Christ and receive the gift of eternal life!

“Because if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive people their offenses, your Father will not forgive your offenses.” Matthew 6:14-15 ISV

The person who has hurt you may not even know how you feel about them or realize the hurt they caused; but your bitterness will eat away at you like a cancer, not them. When you express your feelings of bitterness to others who are not involved, it infects them. Bitterness does not proceed from faith that works through love. It comes out of hatred, fear and unbelief. As mentioned before, it hinders and frustrates the work of God’s grace in and through you. The scriptural principle and correct way of dealing with offenses is found in Matthew 18: 15. Unfortunately, most of us don’t handle it that way. That’s how the enemy is able to get in and wreak havoc. “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

Let me just say that there is a difference between someone truly sinning against you (knowingly or unknowingly) and something you interpret as an offense. Sometimes we take things way too seriously including ourselves. We may suffer from rejection or hypersensitivity and take innocent things people say or do personally. Let me also add that reconciliation is different than forgiveness. Reconciliation can be the result of forgiveness but it will only occur if there is mutual repentance. That means the offender needs to accept the fact they hurt you, repent of it to you, and offer restitution where necessary. Likewise, the offended needs to admit and repent of any bitterness and forgive as well. It takes a lot of humility to reconcile. If you wait for someone to admit their wrong(s) and repent to you about it while you remain in unforgiveness towards them, you won’t be made whole yourself. You need to release it all to the Father.

My earthly father and I were never truly reconciled before he passed away. His dysfunctional father passed that on to him and him to me and my mother. My relationship with my father was totally fear based not love based. However, after being Born Again for several years and reading the scriptures, I realized that I needed to forgive him. I began to pray for the grace of God to be released in his life for salvation. As a result, after 13 years of prayer and being a Christian witness before him, I was able to lead him to Christ on his deathbed. I never addressed the hurt he caused me at that time. I was unable to emotionally. Also, I doubt he would have recognized it. However, our complete reconciliation will be realized when we meet again in Heaven. I’m okay with that. My Heavenly Father is more than enough for me and has provided what was lacking in my formative years. Jesus is the only one who can reconcile us to the Father!

Having said all of this, how do you know if you are bitter? Here are some telltale signs: if you are critical, judgmental and or accusatory towards someone(s) for any supposed or justifiable reason. If you rehearse the hurt mentally and voice your offenses repeatedly to others-including Social Media! If you experience a lot of anxiety and tormenting thoughts as a result of dwelling on the hurt and pain of the past. If you have any of these symptoms or other ones there is a cure! I urge you to be honest with yourself, repent of any bitterness and forgive others so you can be free! You are the one being affected negatively most of all! Whether or not you realize it, the enemy has you spiritually bound. This bondage cuts off the flow of God’s Spirit and unmerited grace in your life. Diseases and infirmities are many times attached to a Spirit of Bitterness. Headaches, body aches, arthritis, diabetes and heart diseases are sometimes psychosomatic in nature. In other words, they are a result of mental dis-ease. Medical science bears this out.

Forgiveness does not mean that you approve of another person’s wrongs against you or humanity. What it does mean is that you are willingly following the example of Jesus Christ. While hanging on the cross innocently but willingly, with the most excruciating physical and emotional pain, Jesus said to the Father, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” You may say, they knew exactly what they were doing to me. According to Jesus, they didn’t. A person can be so convinced they are right in their actions that any effect of those actions upon another are totally justifiable in their own mind. It can actually be pathological. The enemy has them so bound they are sin sick to the point of having a twisted warped mentality and seared conscience. They really don’t “know” they have done wrong because they don’t know God or His nature. They have been blinded by the enemy of their soul!

Every one of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jesus said to pray for our enemies. An enemy is not necessarily someone who disagrees with you but someone who wishes or does evil and/or retaliation upon you in some way. It’s important to discern the difference. Jesus also said to love those that hate you and do good to those who despitefully use and mistreat you. There’s no earthly reward in that but there is an eternal one awaiting if we obey His Word! Do you ever pray and ask God for forgiveness and grace when you are in trouble?

I think it is important that we pray together if you recognize that you have bitterness in your heart. I encourage you to address it head on and release it to the Father.

Let’s pray together! Just insert the person(s) name in the blanks as we pray…

Heavenly Father, I believe your Word and understand that you take the issue of unforgiveness very seriously. You said in Mathew 6: 14-15 that if I don’t forgive others their sins, I can’t be forgiven of mine. Despite how I feel emotionally I choose to forgive_______________as an act of my will in obedience to your Word. I ask for your forgiveness of all of my trespasses and sins as I forgive _____________for what they did to me whether they knew it or not; whether they admit it or not.

I realize all of us have fallen short of your glory and grace, including me, but I believe that Jesus died for me while I was yet a sinner. He rose from the dead to prove His triumph over sin, death and the grave that came about because of the sin of Adam. I pray that_________________will at some point receive your grace that leads to repentance. Your word also says to live in peace with all men as much as it lies within me. If it is not possible for me to live in peace with ____________ I pray and release them to you and ask for mercy and grace in their lives. I repent of rehearsing the hurt. I repent of talking about it repeatedly to others. I bless ___________ through prayer and speak life over them not death and word curses. Holy Spirit help me to pray for ___________ every time the pain or memory comes up in my mind or Satan tempts me with unforgiveness towards them again! I thank you for the courage to forgive and follow the example of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen!

• Date - February 8, 2018
• Author - The Rock Columbus

The Spirit of Absalom is Attacking the Body of Christ

I felt led to release a prophetic warning this morning to the Body of Christ who have ears to hear and who will respond in intercession. In prayer today I heard the Lord say “Pray against a spirit of Absalom that is being released upon the Body of Christ. Pray for spiritual discernment upon them.” You may scoff or you may believe, but it’s up to you to judge whether or not this is a word from the Lord, then act upon it if it is.

2 Samuel 15:16 says “So the king left, and all his household with him. But the king left behind ten women who were concubines to take care of the house (palace).”

This spirit works primarily through OFFENSE and SEPARATION (Proverbs 18: 19 & Proverbs 18: 1-respectively). It seeks out those whose souls have been wounded through becoming offended at their leaders for one reason or another. It seeks out those who have areas of their hearts that have not been fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It seeks to separate the sheep from the rest of the flock to form its own following. The reasons are excuses such as, “They don’t understand me, they don’t allow me to use my gift, they are controlling over my gift, they ignore me, they act like they know it all etc. etc.” This spirit gets people to center around “me” rather than the cross of Jesus Christ and the price of being a disciple i.e., laying down one’s life for the gospel.

The ones the spirit of Absalom preys upon are spiritually immature and undiscerning by wearing a mask of false humility and ‘self-appointed’ leadership. This is all cleverly cloaked by personal ‘charisma’. Remember, that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Therefore, one may have a strong gift, but it may not be refined in that individual and can be used for selfish reasons rather than Kingdom advancement!

It targets the emotionally underdeveloped, those weak and unstable in their faith and/ or those who have not overcome the spirit of double mindedness (James 1: 8). As a result, the spirit of Absalom is able to woo them to the wrong allegiance and even use them to lead an uprising (whether it be overt or covert) against God’s appointed leadership. At the very least, this spirit seeks to separate sheep from God’s plan and purpose for their life right where He has planted them! This uprising or offense can be against any leadership that has been appointed by Jesus Christ in ekklesia: over a church, a department within a church or any other leader within the Body of Christ.

The word church that Jesus used in Matthew 16: 13 needs to be clearly defined in order to be understood. Many times we use words out of habit but fail to understand the underlying message in the definition! Ekklesia in The Greek Lexicon means the following: “A gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly”

The story of Absalom is found in 2 Samuel 15-18. Absalom was the son of David who was very handsome and charismatic. But, he was not anointed nor appointed by God as leader (king) over the people by the Prophet Samuel. He was jealous of his father’s influence and sought power and influence in a sphere that was not given to him by God. He used his gift to lead people away from the plan of God versus using his gift to lead them TO Him. He had a weak and faulty character. However, as a result of his charm and deception, he was able to lead a rebellion against King David, God’s appointed Leader. His plan was ultimately revealed and he ended up with three spears through his heart! (2 Samuel 18:14-15). I believe these three spears through Absalom’s heart represent the three ways he attempted to divide and conquer his own father’s leadership. He ultimately reaped what he sowed. I believe this spirit uses three swords to divide and separate the sheep from God appointed leaders…

The first way was through deception through agreement (2 Samuel 15: 1-6). Absalom would hear the people’s complaints and agree that they were warranted. He promised to ‘resolve’ these offenses through his way of leadership verses that of his father’s. Beware of those who ‘vent’ their offenses rather than taking them to the Lord first and/ or going directly to the person who is involved! We need to resolve conflicts the Biblical way or else the enemy takes them to seed! (Matthew 18: 15)

The second way was through deception through false humility (2 Samuel 15: 7-12). Absalom had a form of false allegiance and loyalty to his father David by pretending to want to pay a vow and asked for ‘permission’ to go to Hebron to fulfill it. However, he had ulterior motives. Beware of those who cloak themselves with the appearance of loyalty, yet the first chance they have they will throw their leaders under the bus with accusations or false innuendos! Their motives are not pure! “Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow which I have made to the Lord at Hebron [my birthplace]. For your servant made a vow while I lived at Geshur in Aram (Syria), ‘If the Lord will in fact bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord [by offering a sacrifice of thanksgiving].’”And [David] the king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, you shall say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.’”

Lastly, Absalom and this insidious spirit worked and works by deception through treachery (2 Samuel 16: 20-23 & 17). Ahithophel was a trusted adviser to both David and Absalom. However, Absalom influenced this adviser through his fleshly witchcraft to get him to counsel against his father King David. Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give me your advice. What should we do?” Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left behind to take care of the house; then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened by your boldness and audacity.” So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof [of the king’s palace], and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. The advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man had consulted the word of God; that is how all Ahithophel’s counsel was regarded by both David and Absalom…”

“Then, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose 12,000 men, and I will set out and pursue David tonight. I will strike while he is weary and exhausted, and terrify him; and all the people with him will flee [in terror]. Then I will attack the king alone, and I will bring all the people [who follow David] back to you. The return of everyone depends on the [death of the] man you are seeking; then all the people will be at peace [and accept you as king].” So the plan pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.” 2 Samuel 17: 1-4

Ahithophel’s plan of treachery failed along with influencing David’s concubines (intercessors) against him and he ended up hanging himself after a faithful messenger named Hushai sent word and warned King David! God will warn His appointed servant leaders and vindicate them, but we all must be watchful or we may miss the warning! (2 Samuel 17: 23).

All scripture is given by The Holy Spirit for instruction and teaching! (2 Timothy 3: 16-17).

Ahithophel prostituted his gift through witchcraft and treachery. How sad this happens in the church today by those who allow the enemy to seduce them against God’s appointed leadership and prostitute the anointing for a piece of fame and faulty recognition.

Saints, we must arm and equip ourselves with the Word of God, and crucify our flesh (including our offenses) to the cross! The only rights we have as children of God is the right to be called His sons and daughters. Our rights are to further the gospel, live a crucified but resurrected life, and walk in the Spirit versus our flesh! This gives us the ultimate right of eternal life if we follow Jesus all the way to the end!

The Father is releasing a multi-generational anointing and blessing upon the Body of Christ (Joel 2) but the enemy wants to thwart it by releasing counterfeit spirits who oppose what the Spirit of Grace is doing. We must have a heightened sense of spiritual discernment and prayer in this hour if we want to make a generational impact. He who has ears to hear let us PRAY and intercede against this wicked spirit and pray for heightened awareness in the Body of Christ!

Yours for the Journey,
Pastor Mary Ann

• Date - January 31, 2018
• Author - The Rock Columbus