The Apostolic Ministry - The Apostolic Shift - Part 2 By Mike McClung

(This article is a continuation of the previous article on “The Apostolic Shift – Part 1”)

Becoming a “Nail Scar” in His Hand

Paul, Timothy’s spiritual father, tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12: don’t let anybody look down on your youth but be an example. The first place in the New Testament the word for “example” (Gr. – tupos) is used is in John 20:25:

The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ So he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’

Thomas was absent in the first encounter with the Lord Jesus after the resurrection. The others tell Him of seeing and communing with the resurrected Lord, and he says, “I will not believe unless I see the nail scar (tupos).” This is what the lost, hurting, sin-loving, hell-bound masses are crying out for – a nail print! This is the beginning of true ministry. This is where the veil of unbelief is lifted off the hearts and understanding of the lost, blind and skeptical (Eph. 1:17-20), and where the Spirit begins the work of transformation in lives. This happens when people encounter the “nail scar” – the physical imprint of His life in us!

2016 – The Year of the Open Scroll By Mike McClung

This coming year promises to be one of the most chaotic, yet exciting years for the body of Messiah since Pentecost. It will be a year of restoration – the beginning of our seeing restored what has been lost, stolen, destroyed by the enemy, and willingly laid down in sacrifice unto the Lord.

The scripture that the Lord gave me for 2016 is Revelation 1:18 (NKJV): I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. The following are bullets of what I believe the Lord has spoken to me of what we’ll see and experience as a beginning of this kingdom restoration movement:

• A year of resurrection, restoration and transformation. Plans, purposes, promises, visions, etc, that have seemingly “died” will have the breath of the Spirit come upon them this year. While the world grows darker, His resurrection power will begin to release glory in and through those who have remained faithful to Him through intense times of testing, persecution, loss and endurance. Just like Isaac who sowed in a time of famine and reaped 100-fold (Gen. 26), there will be a corresponding reaping to those who have continued to do likewise. Many prophets and pundits are calling for worsening times in our country and the world, and this will continue to happen as we cannot pray away what the Lord says He will allow to happen in scripture. However, the enemy has continued to try to push things out of time, because the body of Christ is woefully unprepared to stand in the day of battle (Ezek. 13:5). The Lord is putting His hand sovereignly into the affairs of this earth and putting a stop to the actions of the Luciferian elite and their control. In an extraordinary display of His mercy and patience, He will even give these evil-consumed puppet-masters one more opportunity to repent, as He did King Manasseh. They will have one more opportunity to “kiss the Son” (Psalm 2) before He executes greater judgment on them.

Time for Separation and Judgment in the Body and Nation By Mike McClung

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!

Dismantled to be Remantled By Mike McClung

On February 26, 2015, when I sat down to read and meditate in the scriptures, the Lord told me that we're beginning to enter into the second half of Jeremiah 1:10 - for the remnant that is coming out of Babylonian, church system captivity. He said, "It's time to begin to build and plant." It’s time to plant the MATURE word (meat) of restoration and build the body of Christ into partnership with Him, exhibiting His nature and kingdom (authority), and preparing our communities and nations for harvest and His return. Since the mid-1990s, the ministry of "tearing down and plucking up" has been released, with only a small remnant of the organized church willing to let Him "dismantle" them, and the man-made system we've been a part of for centuries.

Days of Decision, Preparing for Days of War By Mike McClung

Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, 'I am strong.'" Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD. "Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow-- for their wickedness is great." Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. - Joel 3:9-14

Believers are presently being exercised to make decisions, and not to have them made for us as children. We are faced with decisions that will have far-reaching and powerful effects and consequences now and in the ensuing weeks, months and years. To many, the Lord is seemingly silent. We have been, much like children, used to asking the Lord to do such-and-such for us, for others, etc. His silence is His answer that it's now time for us to make decisions based on our intimate knowledge of Him, His character, His ways, and the knowledge of the truth through the word and indwelling Spirit of God. It will take FAITH...true faith and not that which has been bantered around as something we use to get stuff from Him. It's the "faith of the Son of God" who dwells within us, Who is also seated at the right hand of God.

First Steps in the New Season of Restoration – Removing Illusions - 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.