you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord

“See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord….“ – Is. 54:16-17

THE WORD OF THE LORD GIVEN TO ME IN OCTOBER 1990

A. In October 1990, while on a 30 day ministry trip to the UK, the Lord spoke to me. He said that He was establishing an “international family of affection” in preparation for His End-Time purposes. He would bring strategic shifts and re-alignments of ministries and people. I believe that as we grow many shifts will come in the IHOP structure and teams. We must respond in faith instead of fear and rejection when the Lord makes shifts.

B. The Lord spoke to me about this in a trance in Cardiff, Wales on Oct. 5, 1990, at 4 AM. Jesus said, "No one with a control spirit can fully experience My Kingdom.”

C. The Holy Spirit told me a control spirit consists of having a spirit of possessiveness and being entrenched in religious opinions against other ministries. (It is more than being pushy or nosy).

D. Jesus continued to look into my eyes and said, "All personal rights must be relinquished."

E. The Holy Spirit then gave me Ps. 24:1 and Rev. 4:10 saying, "The Father’s will is central in His Kingdom. The earth belongs to the Lord. All must cast their crowns down before Him."

1 The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness…and those who dwell therein. (Ps. 24:1) 10 The 24 fall down before Him…and cast their crowns before the Throne, saying: 11 "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power..." (Rev. 4:10-11)

F. We naturally make decisions that give us an advantage over others. We must seek to always take an extra step in the decision making process to specifically ask the Holy Spirit what He wants.

G. The Lord told me to say these things. I argued saying that I should not say these things because I was in the midst of a controversy. The Spirit said, "I have a controversy with My people.

H. After the trance lifted, God’s power came on me violently for about 15 seconds. The Spirit impressed me saying, "I will release My power to establish this truth. Some will experience small measures of My power without embracing this. No one will experience the fullness of the power I want to release if they have a control spirit."

It is easy to pass judgments based on outward appearances. It is easy to judge other ministries or the decisions some make to move to another city or change teams, etc. We must ask God for discernment so that we see people and their ministry assignments through His eyes. We must not base all our opinions by what we see and hear with our physical eyes and ears.

16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. (2 Cor. 5:16)

B. If we had all the available information about what God has called one of our co-workers to and why, we would still have less than 1% of the information that God has about His purposes and strategies in calling a person to do a certain thing.

C. Jesus made judgments (evaluations) by discernment not by what seemed obvious in the natural.

3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears. (Isa. 11:3)

DIFFERENT TRIBES IN THE BODY OF CHRIST: STRATEGIC RE-ALIGNMENTS

A. The Holy Spirit gave me a picture of the nation of Israel being established in 12 distinct tribes. Each tribe was given a different assignment that involved much diversity. However, they were called to be unified in war and worship.

In a similar way, the Body of Christ is composed of different tribes that each have different mandates and assignments from God. The diverse mandates in the Body are not the cause of division. It is the attitude in which we hold our mandate and resources and how we view others.

C. Unity does not require the removal of the distinctions of the tribes in the Body of Christ, but an attitude of blessing, generosity and release that celebrates who others are in God’s eyes.

The principle of our inheritance: we have an eternal inheritance in every person, city orministry that we sowed into with love (time, labor, intercession, money, tears, encouragement,etc.). We do not lose our inheritance when we have a wrong spirit, but we lose the joy of it.

38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and

running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. (Lk. 6:38)

B. The Lord is orchestrating strategic shifts and re-alignments of ministries and people. If we bless and celebrate people going to other ministries or cities (or departments or worship teams at IHOP), then we have joy and an increased inheritance (for both parties). If we resist the shifts, then we lose the joy and suffer with unnecessary strife and wounded relationships.

Those who walk in a Kingdom spirit do not lose people but gain friendships and Kingdom alliances. Instead of losing spiritual sons and daughters, they gain spiritual families and a spiritual inheritance in different cities and nations.

E. Without blessing and joy in the relationship we cannot see how God sees the other person.

F. We naturally seek to protect our honor, money and influence. A spirit of self protectiveness creates anxiety and division and much unnecessary pain. Unity occurs when we approach relationships with a free spirit that can ask for God’s will regardless of what it costs.