We are not leaving here the same as we came. Those are not just words. We are not the same ministry that we were, because we have given Him all of our excuses. There are no more excuses. God has been telling us how we are known in Heaven. He has been speaking this into us in various forms for about 8 years.
In 2004, Graham was at that conference and he spoke a word about the fact that acceleration is on this ministry. He has been with us for successive years and the whole panorama that he has been bringing us has been building layer upon layer, precept upon precept, until we stand in this place today a far different people than we were even 8 years ago.
We have just completed an 8 year cycle and we leave this place vastly different.
Over these last 8 years, I keep referring to these prophetic words that have been spoken and the messages that have come. I have marinated in those messages, in Graham’s books, and in the prophetic words. I go over and over it because the more you marinate in it, the deeper it goes in your spirit. That is why I said yesterday, Having a time with the Lord each day is not just about fulfilling a duty or having a devotion, it is about relationship. It is not about speed reading the Bible; it is about coming to know the One who wrote it.
Our story has been unfolding. As we heard this morning, God has been telling us the outcome from the beginning so we would have confidence in our journey.
In Hosea 2 it says, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness. The word allure is a courting word. It is a word of love. I will allure her. He doesn’t impose it upon us, but He draws us. He courts us. He woos us. He allures us into the wilderness.
He said, I will speak comfort to her and I will give her, her vineyards from there. Where? From the wilderness. Something forms in the wilderness and when you emerge from that wilderness place, you come out very rich.
And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. Where does the door of hope form? In the wilderness.
She shall sing there. Where? In the wilderness. A new sound, a new song has been forming in our wilderness.
She shall sing there as in the days of her youth. You know, when you think of youth, you think of hopefulness of the future, you think of carefreeness. There is lightness to it. God is saying, That is what is going to happen within you in this wilderness time.
She will sing there as in the days of her youth,as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. What did they come out of Egypt singing? A song of deliverance and a song of victory.
Hosea 2:16 And it goes on to say, That in that day, you will call Me, my Husband. You will no longer call Me, Master, for I will take from your mouth, the names – the excuses, the whimpering, and the moaning. A divine exchange has occurred in the wilderness and you are emerging from the wilderness knowing Me in a way you did not know Me before you went into the wilderness. And you are going to know Me as your Husband, as your Lover.
I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, and they shall be remembered by their name no more. Hosea 2:19-20 And I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy. I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord. That is a divine exchange that has been occurring in us.
We knew some things going into the wilderness, but that word that Graham spoke in 2008 that God is going to give you a revelation of Himself that will wreck your world. That has been happening. You are not leaving this place the same because your world has been wrecked. You will never see things the same.
Another word that was spoken is that “Aglow is being reinvented into a transformational Kingdom culture whose mindset is not of this world.” Do not go home and do the same old thing. You have become and are becoming a transformational Kingdom culture wherever God has placed you and your mindsets have been renewed. The leading of His Spirit will lead your into powerfully new and creatively wonderful ways to bring His Kingdom culture wherever you are.
I’m thinking of the number 45 again. Forty-five means preservation. When God does something, He does it intentionally. I was thinking of this worshipping army tonight. I love seeing the youth across the front, sprinkled with a tri-generational group of people not caring about age. We were just a worshipping company of believers, of transformers.
There is something that is taking place in Aglow. We will never be the same. Aglow will never be the same. And our communities will never be the same. We have risen into a new identity.
Early in this year, the Lord spoke two words to me, accumulation and culmination. I began to think about the accumulative effect of the faithfulness of the people of Aglow. You know that scripture that speaks about the prayers being accumulated in Heaven – when the bowls are full, they begin to turn and what has been stored up in those bowls begins to have an effect in the earth in a more powerful way.
Men and women of Aglow, you have sown faithfully into this ministry. You’ve sown faithfulness into the ministry – your prayers, your giving, your continuing. There is something very powerful about what has taken place in an accumulative way that will have an accumulative effect in this ministry.
I believe we are at a point of culmination where all the things – all the tears you have sown, all the faithfulness, the days you have been weary, the days you have wondered, Can I keep on? Should I keep on? And you have continued faithfully, serving God, serving His Kingdom, serving Aglow, and it is a time where there is a fullness in Heaven that is being poured out upon us by His Spirit and will be poured out through us by His Spirit in the earth. It is a time of culmination.
This morning Graham said, This is what we have been praying for. We have been waiting for this moment and the moment has come. Things are coming more sharply into focus. When Graham was speaking to us, he talked about prophetic words being given to us and when they are given, they come from our future, speak into our present telling us what our outcome will be so that the process can be embraced. It is the process that makes us rich, not the outcome.
We have been embracing the process. God has told us the outcome. I believe something has broken at this conference and we have launched into our new day.
Destiny Awaits Us
I am going to tell you a prophetic word that was given to me when I was first appointed as President. Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, this day, I have set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build, and to plant. I am ready to perform My word. (Jeremiah 1:9-10; 12) We have seen this word performed to a certain degree, but there is a greater anointing and a greater thrust of this word that is yet to be fulfilled and I believe we have come to a culminating point where this new thrust is to go forth.
We are over the nations. We are over the kingdoms. To root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build, and to plant. A few verses later it says, Therefore, prepare yourself and arise and speak to them all I command. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them. For behold, I have made you this day, a fortified city and an iron pillar……they will fight against you, but they will not prevail…..For I am with you…..to deliver you. (Jer. 1:17, 18a,19)
It is time to arise. It is time to see the fulfillment of this scripture in the fullest, limitless way that God purposed from the beginning. Graham said this morning, There can no longer be a disparity between the corporate identity – when we come to these conferences, there is a corporate identity we all enjoy and step into and we think, This is Aglow. Yes it is, but there has been somewhat of a breakdown in the field. That day is over.
To complete Graham’s thought – There can be no disparity between our corporate identity and individuals not moving into it and the rest of the ministry not moving into it. You cannot go home and do your own thing after this conference. You cannot go home and express whatever you think about Aglow. This is a time when we have moved into a corporate identity together. We have heard truth together that has pierced our heart and caused our eyes, our hearts, and our minds to be renewed to arise to a new calling from this day forward. We are learning to live it prophetically.
That was spoken this morning and I am pronouncing it over us tonight.
Lord, we agree that You have set us over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build, and to plant. You are saying again tonight, I am ready to perform this word in a great way than you have yet seen. So therefore, prepare yourself and arise to My calling, arise to your destiny, arise to your inheritance. Arise and bring this wonderful inheritance to the Father. He has sown much into us. He has much to reap from us. It is time to come before Him bringing the harvest in our hands.