Our Earnest Need for the Spirit of Elijah By Mike McClung

God has promised to send another release of the Spirit of Elijah before the Lord’s return. What does the Father long to reveal through the spirit of Elijah that is so desperately needed today? A glimpse back to the times when God has previously released this Spirit will help us understand His purpose and recognize our need to earnestly seek that which will awaken us to rend our hearts and prepare for the coming King.

In Mathew 11:14, Jesus declares to the people that John the Baptist is Elijah, “And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.” He came to prepare the hearts of the people so they could receive the message of the Kingdom. John the Baptist lived an austere, fasted life. He was completely sold out to the heart of God and the message he carried from God. He was born to prepare the way for the One who would fully reveal the Father’s will. In John, the spirit of Elijah turned the hearts of the people to repentance. This is how they were made ready to embrace the Lord. Only the Spirit could draw people that were steeped in religious tradition to embrace the uncompromised truth that John the Baptist lived through his radical lifestyle. John who remained in the desert, dressed in camel’s hair and eating locust and honey, drew crowds ranging from kings and priests to common people. Just as God separated John unto Himself, God drew and separated people from their spiritual traditions in order to hear the truth.

A Message for Kingdom Pioneers - By Mike McClung

[Note: Though this article was first published early last year, we feel the Lord's leading to re-release it. Blessings.]

I am very thankful for those pioneers of the kingdom of God, going all the way back to Abraham, who braved the unknown and the scorn of others to press forward in their obedience to God’s call and leading. We owe everything we are and have to the spiritual and natural pioneers who faced misunderstanding and death at almost every turn to pave the way for those of us in this day to settle and enjoy the blessings and benefits both from the spiritual and natural dimensions. There are many pioneers still moving forward into realms yet unreached for no other reason than they heard the voice of Abba call them, and they’ve left all to pursue Him, out of love and simple obedience. This is a lonely, misunderstood and often dangerous place to be, fraught with spiritual, mental, emotional, financial and relational pressure and warfare that most do not or care not to know. I have a message for those pioneers that answered the call of God to press into the unknown…you are NOT a failure.

First Steps in the New Season of Restoration - By Mike McClung

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. (2 Cor. 10:4-6)

One recent morning I awoke with this thought: To fully enter this new season of restoration, all illusion must be relinquished. You cannot have any disillusion in your life any longer. We have truly moved into a new season (some are calling a new “era”) which the scripture describes as the “season of the restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21). Moving into and occupying a new season, just like moving into a new place, are two different things. We must not just enter the season, but we must “occupy.” We cannot occupy this new place (new wineskin) with old patterns over which the flesh, the world or the enemy had dominion. These places must first be surrendered and then demolished. Then full recovery and restoration can be released and these new seasons in the Lord can be fully entered and occupied.

The Fullness of Time By Mike McClung

The last few years have been the most volatile, unstable and stressful in memory. From a natural standpoint, fear and failing faith seem to be “standard operating procedure” – IF we have failed to understand Who is allowing all of the shaking for His own purposes.

Transition is all around us, and very prominent within the individual and corporate life of the body of Christ. We are moving into a new season that has been prophesied about by not only different prophetic voices, but also in the scripture itself. To move into this new season means we must leave that past season and the things of the past season.

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times (kairos) of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times (chronos – season) of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:19-21)

Spiritual Warfare: Two Views in the Church By Mike McClung

Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Acts 10:38: “…how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

I John 3:8: “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

Eph. 6:12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

The Lord created both the earth and man, good. Both have been seized by hostile, evil forces that are seeking to destroy both earth and man, and also God’s plan and design for time and eternity. The Cross of Christ has completely defeated Satan, all of his minions, and every work of the enemy. The church is now the means by which this defeat is to be enforced and all the powers of darkness subjugated to the will of God.

Special Announcement From Lionheart/ The Prayer Furnace...

To All Friends of Lionheart/ The Prayer Furnace,

The Lord is speaking clearly and many mature prophetic voices have confirmed it: the Body of Christ is heading into a season like never before, and it is nearly upon us. The Lord has spoken to us specifically at Lionheart for many months that we should be prepared for big changes starting in September this year. Therefore, with this in mind, we are taking a Sabbath as a ministry for the next four weeks starting today.

Tearing Down Our Idols – Part 3 – Mammon, By Mike McClung

Matt. 6:19-33: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?..Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?..For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

A quote attributed to Martin Luther states the last thing to be converted to Christ in one’s life is one’s purse. Through the years I have found this to be true in my own life, as well as the lives of those to whom I minister and pastor.

Tearing Down Our Idols, Part 2 By Mike McClung

Save me, O God, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your strength. Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen up against me, and oppressors have sought after my life; they have not set God before them. Selah. (Psalm 54:1-3)

What does it mean to be “vindicated” by the Lord? I have found myself praying the prayer of the Psalmist for vindication for several years now. There have been literally years of misunderstanding, slander, offense, etc, that I and Lionheart Ministries have been on the receiving end of. Some of what has been said is deserved, as many mistakes and weaknesses have been exposed over the years. But most has been accusation that is beyond plausibility for rational thought. This type of regressive warfare and stress (friendly fire) begins to take its toll on the spiritual, mental, emotional, financial and physical health of both individuals and a corporate covenant community. In light of these “momentary light afflictions,” one begins to cry out to the Lord, as the Psalmist did, for “vindication.” Is it righteous, Christlike vindication that one seeks? It is now my experience that what I thought it was to be vindicated by the Lord is actually the seeking of human retribution, at least at a motivational level. Such is the insidiousness and subtlety of the deception of the “idol” of self-preservation.

Tearing Down Our Idols By Mike McClung

Jonah 2:8: Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy. (NKJV)

1 John 5:21: Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

On June 7, the beginning of the festival of Shavaot (Pentecost), I began to have serious heart arrhythmias combined with classic symptoms of heart malfunction – shortness of breath, chest pain, etc. I believe we are entering a new season where, if we will position ourselves biblically, we will have a great refreshing, infilling release of the Holy Spirit. This is to prepare us for a new season beginning on Rosh Hashanah described in scripture as the “season of the restoration of all things” (Acts 3:19-21). I was expecting a great release of deep repentance and power to come. I still have those expectations, but with the current state of my heart problems, the Lord has radically altered my conception of what is required.

After spending a day in the hospital and gladly returning back home and to the Prayer Furnace prayer room, I spent the morning following my hospital stay seeking the Lord on what was happening to me. I sat down in my little place and prayed, “Lord, You have my attention. What is happening?” His reply was quite shocking to me….

A Fresh Look at "Desiring God," by Patty King

In Desiring God, John Piper presents his powerful case for Christian hedonism. Having previously associated the word “hedonism” with the selfish, pleasure seeking lifestyle which served as a main contributor to the collapse of the Roman Empire, it took quite some convincing to turn both my head and heart around to embrace Piper’s message.

After reading Henri Nouwen’s two books The Way of the Heart and Clowning in Rome which immediately grabbed my heart and revealed so much of my cold love towards God, there was a serious disconnect for me with Piper’s approach which largely builds on deductive reasoning.  While the first two books exposed the barrenness of my heart, Piper’s message revealed the necessary connection between heart and mind and how both are intricately connected in our relationship with God. Even though at the core of our being we were made to enjoy God and be enjoyed by Him, the disconnect between heart and mind make us err in one of two ways.

An Opportune Time of Refreshing; A Season of Restoration

Acts 3:19-21: Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

At the beginning of 2011, the Lord gave me this scripture as a template of what would be coming over the next few months, and then afterward, the following years. The Lord indicated that the body of Christ would be entering a kairos window of opportunity to align ourselves with Him and His purposes in a greater way, which would be attended by a great in-breaking of the Holy Spirit. The word for “times” in verse 19 is kairos, or the now, opportune timing of God. It is usually a very short window of time for us to align ourselves with the will of God, or the moment will be missed and may take years to come back around. This is what happened in the wilderness when the Israelites refused to obey the Lord and enter the land of Canaan, choosing instead to cave-in to the fear and unbelief emanating from their mindsets and emotional wounds and bondages formed in Egypt. Because they refused to trust God and actually accused Him of mischief, that generation, except for a Joshua and Caleb, missed God’s plan, and delayed it for another generation. A new, kairos moment is now upon us.

The Unveiling of Jesus as Judge, Part 3 - By Mike McClung

Meeting Christ As Judge

The depth of intimacy with our Lord affords a liberty and honesty in our relationship like no other. No one will ever know us to the minutest detail as He. We have great assurance and confidence in Him, knowing that He will never leave us or forsake us. Jesus, as the perfect Husband, exhibits an unparalleled patience with His bride. He affords us an extended grace period or honeymoon, where we become secure in His undying love. When our relationship is strong and stable, as King, He is also faithful to begin to reveal truth to us about our character. He shows us weaknesses and flaws that do not conform to His image and likeness. Jesus is a faithful Bridegroom/King who confronts us, and works in us to conform our character to His likeness.

Truth is a two-edged sword that helps us first to identify with our new nature in Christ. As we align ourselves with His thinking and who we are in Him, we also begin to see that which is not of Him. We are like Adam and Eve in the Garden, as we see our nakedness. Nakedness here is a metaphor for the fallen nature of man, and that fallen nature is inherently rebellious to Him because is shamed-based at its root. We need clarity of both aspects of the sword. Our intimate relationship with and knowledge of Him gives us the courage to embrace the power of the cross prepared for us specifically, allow the Holy Spirit to work within our lives, and leave behind our old self to be clothed in Christ.

The Unveiling of Jesus as Judge - Part 2, By Mike McClung

We are a bride awaiting our bridegroom

Jesus is returning for a bride that is without spot or wrinkle. We know that Jesus must have a bride that bears His image. The bride, who is the church, must make herself ready (Rev. 19:7-8). If we examine the betrothal process of the Hebrew culture, we can begin to understand how to embrace the intimate relationship the Lord desires.

It was customary for a Hebrew young man to prepare a Ketubah, a marriage contract (a covenant), which he presented to his intended bride and her father. Included in this covenant was the Bride Price, an appropriate gesture in Jewish society meant to compensate the young woman’s parents for the cost of raising her. In addition, and more importantly, the payment was considered an expression of the man’s love for his intended bride. This betrothal covenant was legally binding once the bride and her family accepted the terms of his Ketubah.

The wedding proposal began when the young man visited the young woman and her family in her home, and poured a cup of wine for his beloved in the presence of all. He then watched to see if she drank from his cup. If she drank, the covenant was accepted and they were betrothed. The young man then would give gifts to his beloved and then take his leave, announcing, “I am going to prepare a place for you, and I will return for you when it is ready.”

The Unveiling of Jesus as Judge – Part 1

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, We had everything before us, we had nothing before us. We were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

                                                    

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

                                                                                        

Charles Dickens opens his classic, A Tale of Two Cities with a series of paradoxical statements that paints a vivid picture of tumultuous times in England and France. The year is 1775, and while England is soon to lose its grip on the American colonies, France is soon to face total anarchy as the peasants arise to overthrow a corrupt and decadent regime. England is rife with crime and France with poverty. While life for the nobility was exquisite, the lower class struggled to survive. The plight of the times raised serious questions about man’s ability to rule justly and the desire of man’s heart to serve selflessly.

Entering the Fray, Part 1: The Two Battles, By David Townsend

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” I Timothy 6:12


There are two core battles every believer faces. We are all drawn into the fight and shot at whether we understand warfare or not; we can even be taken out, while wondering what just happened. The first battle we are called and empowered to fight is to pull down the spiritual strongholds which hold us captive to our old nature. As the process of the Cross works deeper in individuals and in a local fellowship, the Lord begins to entrust the individual and fellowship with a small sphere of authority (influence) in that geographic and spiritual area. The deeper the Cross goes in the members, the more the sphere of authority grows. By this method, the Lord moves through His people to conquer the earth with the Cross.