May 14, 2015 was the day after I have had major
neck surgery. For almost eight months, especially the last four, I have had
daily, almost continuous pain in my neck, left shoulder and arm, with tingling
and numbness in my forearm and hand. The pain has been constant, but at times
it's been almost unbearable when the pain spiked. We have prayed, declared the
promises of God in Psalm 103, various other passages, ad infinitum. Finally,
after months of seeking the Lord, it became very obvious, after discussing it
with my wife and my own personal physician who loves Jesus, to seek other
doctoral care.
I went to see an orthopedist I've seen before,
because most of the pain was in my shoulder. After having X-Rays and an MRI
done back in January, and after several physical therapy sessions, the
orthopedist said all that could be done was to give epidural injections to
manage the pain or have surgery. The MRI showed I had a compressed nerve by a
bad disc and some bone spurs coming from my spine through the C5-C6 pathway to
my left shoulder and arm. From here I contacted a well-known neurosurgeon, one
who had done some surgery on my wife's back some years ago. After finally
seeing him, I was told I would have to have an Anterior Cervical Discectomy and
Fusion. The doctor's appointment was on May 7 and the surgery was scheduled
yesterday on May 13 (on the seventh day). This was no minor surgery as the
surgery would come within millimeters of my spinal cord. This means a mistake could leave me
with paraplegic muscle weakness at best, paralyzed, at worst. But, we
knew this was the Lord's will. I was completely at the mercy of the Lord and
His best surgical team! That was yesterday. Today, other than pain from the
suture and a little swelling, all the pain and numbness from my neck to my hand
is gone. But I still have a six-week recovery time before I'm allowed to lift
anything over the weight of a gallon of milk!
One of the ways I always know what the Lord's
will is, is that much of what has happened to me in my life has been parabolic
to the Lord's dealing with the body of Christ at-large. My life has been a
prophetic parable to what He was doing in and with the body of Messiah. No
amount of physical therapy or pain management could help my structural neck
problem that caused almost unbearable pain, numbness and neuralgia in my left
shoulder, arm and hand. At times they were useless. The neck, in scripture,
represents the WILL - that which connects the Head to the
body. I've been told that Bob Jones also used to equate the neck of the
body to intercession - that which allows the will of God to flow into the earth
realm. The body of Christ has been so out of alignment and communication with
the Head for so long because of injury, trauma, misuse or outright rebellion (stiffnecked),
that the body cannot release, hold or handle the Lord's authority (the
government shall be upon His shoulders - Isaiah 9). We are also unable
to be used by His left arm of love as a weapon of righteousness in the earth.
The right arm of power - signs and wonders, miracles, etc, is great, but
if it does not have the left arm of love and character, it will be unable to
hold or accomplish anything! The love of God has been so bastardized by
Hollywood and
unbiblical, modern church thinking. We have equated the holy love of God with
fallen, human empathy, pity and not wanting anyone to be upset or
uncomfortable. The love of God brings unfathomable joy, but joy does not
mean the absence of trouble, pain or even being hated! Such damnable, fallen
thinking! In promoting such, we have damned so many souls to a devil's hell!
His love and compassion are limitless, rooted in His holy nature, but they are
unyielding to sin and darkness. The rich, young ruler who came to Jesus (Luke
18) did not like the terms of his surrender to the Lord and His will. Although
Jesus LOVED him, he did not pander to him, run after him or try a dozen
different emotion-wrenching ways to change his mind. There was only the
conviction of the Holy Spirit using the Father's word and presence flowing
through Him! He has demonstrated His love to all of us by taking our place in
the wrath and punishment God's holiness demands for sin, and pouring out the
Spirit for us to make this salvation, love, power, holiness and resurrection
real in and through us. He loves and likes us! He is forever
kind, but He will not allow us to get away with anything contrary to His nature
and will...only to our detriment do we push it! And now, one of only two
nations in history founded upon the word of God - Israel
and the United States
- has completely turned its collective back on Him, His word and His ways in
open defiance, arrogance, idolatry and rebellion. The principle reason is that
this has taken place in the church first! We have not heeded His prophets, His
warnings and even the obvious things He tells us in His word (Deut. 28, Lev. 26
- natural disasters, attack from enemies, epidemics, catastrophes, etc.) that
will come upon a nation so doing! Even the organized, apathetic, apostate
church has joined in this celebrity worshipping, "my best life now",
"be all you can be", "claim your mountain", think about
yourself, "God only wants me happy" putrescent idolatry!
There is no therapy (counsel, teaching, etc), no
amount of prayer (intercessory gatherings, etc), or any other program or
cistern (see Jer. 2:11-13) that can fix this head/neck connection problem! There
must now be an INDIVIDUAL decision to stop all activity and surrender to the
divine Surgeon's loving hand and scalpel, let Him put us under, do His
meticulous, but painful work of surgery, and then wait in rest and silence for
the healing and realignment to come into place. The next few months,
from June through August is an opportunity for us to allow this happen.
Pastor/leader, stop all business as usual, get yourself and the body of Messiah
before the Lord and ask Him to do whatever radical surgery is necessary to
allow the power and authority of the Head to begin to flow to and through His
true body. It will take a major correction of the neck (the WILL) to do so.
Preach and teach on repentance, removing everything that offends Him, prevents
Him and grieves Him! This is just like my neck surgery had to happen to remove
the impingements and hindrances of my head's commands to my shoulder, arm and
hand. We are told in 2 Cor. 7:1 that WE must remove everything that defiles
flesh and spirit that would hinder the transforming fear of the Lord from
coming in to do His perfect work! Get YOUR life aligned with Him first. Quit
playing harlot-church games, and quit preaching harlot-church messages to
assuage the carnality of your members who wouldn't be there unless they are
constantly stroked. They need to be saved! If you get yourself rightly aligned
with the Lord and His will, His Spirit will speak and move through you like you
used to see and/or desire!
Coming this Fall, beginning in September, will be
some of the worst times, in the natural, our country and the organized church
has ever faced. Great economic upheaval will be here followed by great unrest
(civil war first in the church then fully manifesting in the nation), attacks
from invading forces within the country, and possible military coup. I think
the enemy is trying to press this way before its time. Only a repentant, holy
God-army will be able to deal with these things. Only we have the answer, the
authority and the wisdom to be released to prepare both spiritually and
physically, to fight such things. We have a kairos season to engage Him, His
ways and be transformed and made ready. For those who allow themselves to be
radically transformed, this will be a beginning of a transfer of greater
anointing, authority and wealth we have ever seen....
This will be the bride/body's greatest hour! We
are promised His glory will arise in the worst of darkness (Isaiah 60:1-3). He
has promised that those who respond to His call will have the "glory as a
rear guard" (Isaiah 58), a city of refuge where His presence, power and
provision will abound (Isaiah 25), and His light would draw the nations and
their wealth. His rebuke and warning IS His love!
Rev. 3:14-22: "And to the angel of the
church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and
True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you
are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because
you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Because you say, '"I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of
nothing'"-- and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind,
and naked-- I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may
be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your
nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you
may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and
repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and
opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him
who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and
sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit says to the churches.'"
____________________________________________________________
To find out more about Lionheart Restoration Ministries, visit us at:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete