THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH
The Lord is My Strength
Sunday, October 21, 2012, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Reminder: We will be at 14017 Huffmiester for the 10:30 am Service and home again to 1010 Barker-Clodine for the 6:00 pm service.
When Pastor Darrell McManus ministered in our church this past summer, he blessed all of us any many ways. However, the past several weeks the prayer he prayed for me for “strength” has manifested in the supernatural strength of the Lord.
If the Lord calls us, anoints us, and commissions us, He will perform his work in us by His great power and strength in spite of our weakness.
Hebr. 11:34: “Through faith…out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”
In the supernatural realm, “God is our strength and power and makes our way perfect” (2 Sam. 22:33).
Exodus 15:2: “The Lord is my strength, and song, and he is become my salvation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”
Psa. 28:7: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices; with my song will I praise him.
Neh. 8:10: “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy unto our Lord; neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Unlike an attribute such as righteousness, strength in the Bible is applied to natural as well as supernatural. Strength is applied to the Spirit, Soul and flesh in human beings as well as angels. Ps. 103:20: “Bless the Lord you his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.”
All human strength comes from God.
1 Chr. 29:11-12: “Yours, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in the earth is yours. Yours is the Kingdom in the heaven and in the earth. It is yours. Yours is the Kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of you, and you reign over all. In your hand is power and might; and in your hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.”
Even though strength is God’s gift, it is inferior to wisdom.
Before I preach on “strength” as a gift from God, I want to confirm two words given this week: One by Kathie Walters and the other by James Goll.
Kathie Walters in an email conversation with Carolyn Sissom:
Kathie: “Texas is swaying God …for the 2012 elections – Because of Texas, God tipped the board.”
From: Kathie Walters [mailto:kathiewalters@mindspring.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012
9:38 PM
To: CAROLYN
Because of Texas God tipped the
board
I Saw a board and there were pieces of wood like the pieces in s jigsaw puzzle - remember the jigsaws that they had for little kids ? Made of wood ?
Well it was like that
The pieces of wood were all the states
Then I saw Gods Hand suddenly tip the board and all the pieces slid off /
All the states were
different colors but I saw that one big one was pink - (friendship with God)
and it was Texas and because of Texas God tipped the
board -
"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire"
St Catherine of Siena
Sent by my anointed iPhone
The other Prophetic word came from James Goll and saturated the emails this week, “When the Nation is Thrown a Curve Ball” By James W. Goll.
I certainly got a witness on the message and the Word, but what I want to mention today is the genuine humility by which he delivered this Word.
“What I am about to share is to be discerned and prayed over ---as in the case of all revelatory experiences. (He received the vision in early 2008). It was only in recent months (2012), after I re-listened to a recorded word given to me by a trusted prophet in January 2010, that I realized the magnitude of the word given directly to me by the Holy Spirit…When I received the word in January 2008, I wrongly interpreted the message. I thought, “Oh that is about my visitation to start Prayer Storm---The Hour that Changes the Word.” …Only in recent months when I re-listened to the word recorded on my phone, I realized my commissioning encounter to start Prayer Storm was in April 2007, nor 2008! So my interpretation was wrong. I was left musing
(Maybe my getting it wrong and then getting it right will encourage some of the rest of your 3-stage journey of revelation – interpretation – application!).
It was a hard word that he didn’t want to receive. He wrote, “I wrestled with this word and it has wrestled with me”. I have pondered deeply if I should even share the word at all publicly. I understand about praying revelation and at times not sharing your word with others. I have privately prayed more words than I have given in public…”Test all things and hold fast to that which is good.” … He then signs the prophecy, Humbly submitted, James Goll.”
At a time when prophetic words are flying all over the internet primarily by people who are trying to make a name for themselves and/or promote their ministry and agenda, this seasoned prophet and Man of God received the Word of the Lord, wrestled with it, prayed over it, and humbly submitted it to be judged four years after receiving the Word.
His humility is not based on fear or lack of courage because he has a “reputation”, that he will lose his reputation. No, it is reverential awe of the Lord and our human tendency to want to interpret the words given to us to our own understanding. I salute Brother Goll for the Word and that he was bent over before the Lord in his delivery of the word.
True humility is strength and courage that bows to God’s sovereign power. The only true human strength is found in God.
Psalm 18:1: “I will love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”
There are four instances in the Bible of persons especially endowed with human strength:
(1) Samson (Judg. 14-16) (Heb. 11:34).
(2) Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam. 1: 19-27)
(3) David (1 Sam 17-19)
(4) The Messiah (Ps. 45:3; Is. 9:6; 11:2; Mt. 3:11; Heb. 1:2-3)
In the supernatural realm, God is inherently strength. God is identified by Samuel to Saul as the “Strength of Israel” (1 Sam 16:29-17:1). Because of Saul’s sin of fearing the people and obeying their voice, the Lord rejects Saul and rejected him from being king over Israel…(Vs. 35) “Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul; and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. The Lord said unto Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, see I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go, I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided me a king amongst his sons”
1 Sam. 16:14: “The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.”
Jim Goll’s Vision and Word:
VISITATION FROM EARLY 2008
In the dream, I saw the nation on a teeter-totter tipping back and forth going
to and fro – with great instability. We were going up and down and up and down
and it seemed there was no relief is sight. The United States was reeling from
fatigue of wars, corruption and economic uncertainty.
Then the voice of the Lord came in the dream, “Liberalism will reign for a season in the land and then it will become popular for moderacy to rule which could ultimately lead to true conservatism.” (It was not the word I honestly wanted to hear from the Holy Spirit at the time but it came very succinctly to me anyway. Sometimes, we have to remove our own preconceived prejudices with our tainted filters to be able perceive a clear word from the Lord.)
Suddenly, I was awakened from the dream and the basement room was tangibly filled with the presence of destiny. I then saw in the seer realm a “baseball game in action”. A young pitcher was throwing a ball to the plate with great force and seeming agility. It was a curve ball that appears to be a strike but instead it was not a ball for the batter to swing at. Another player was squatted behind the plate with a huge catcher’s mitt. He caught the off target ball as it pounded into his glove.
Then the external voice of the Lord came to me saying, “When the nation has been thrown a curve ball, I will have a man prepared who comes from the state of Michigan and he will have a big mitt capable of catching whatever is thrown his way.”
HEARING A
HARD WORD!
A strange word… I did not understand it except for the sequence – liberalism to
moderarcy to the possibility of true conservatism. I have “wrestled with this
word and it has wrestled with me”. I remember even being in the state of Massachusetts
at a church not long after this encounter, squatting to the ground and acting
out the word about the Lord preparing a man from Michigan who would have a big
Mitt! Mercy! Some liked what they heard and some did not. I was a bit clueless.
I thought it was for then – 2008 – and I guess part it was. Liberalism has ruled in the nation for the past four years. Some cheer this as a great success and other bemoan this as a disaster. Whatever your view, it has come to pass. Liberalism, unlike any recent time in modern American history, has ruled the land in the past four years.
But the Lord said there would be a man prepared who would come from the state of Michigan who would have a “big mitt”. Little did I know at that time that Mitt Romney – former Governor of Massachusetts, was born in the state of Michigan. Little did I know, when I received this in 2008, that he would win his parties primary for the 2012 national elections!
AT THE
CROSS ROADS OF HISTORY
Let me give a word of perspective. We are not voting for a pastor, or an elder,
or a deacon of a church. This is not the next “senior pastoral selection
committee”. There are many views and I value interaction, discussion and
educated dialogue. Let me also be clear and state, I did not say who would win
the national election. We have a free choice and God honors that. But He always
offers us a choice.
This is our American liberty that men and women have fought and died for – the right for the voice of the people to be heard. I urge you – shake yourself off! Arise and make a difference! This I do know: When the nation is thrown a curve ball . . . He has a plan!”
Liberalism is the voice of popularity and the world system. It is the voice of the beast (the spirit-of-anti-christ). The moderate wing of both parties is still the voice of compromise. The voice of the Christian conservatives is being marginalized in this election process.
However, God has a plan:
David is the third man who received the supernatural strength of the Lord. David grew up in Bethlehem-Judah as the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons. A keeper of sheep and a talented minstrel, he was anointed by Samuel to be King Saul’s successor. In the face of the Giant Goliath and the Philistine army, David stood strong in courage and the strength of the Lord. 1 Sam 17:35: “”Thy servant (David) slew both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the Living God.”
Saul’s ensuing jealousy forced David to leave the royal court to become a fugitive and exile. This rejected heir proves his greatness by a Godly attitude toward his enemies, sparing Saul on two occasions.
Jesus Christ is the greatest “son of David” and the fourth man given the gift of supernatural strength.
Is. 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
Heb. 1:2-3: “Who (Jesus) being the brightness of his (God’s) glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
In the Psalms, David magnified the great strength of the Lord over and over.
Psa. 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Like Jesus, the church is the seed of David. In Christ we have been given our rightful privilege to become the sons of God. The “throne” of the Davidic covenant is the legal authority to rule in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Mt. 10:1).
We are the many-membered “branch of righteousness” who are to grow up to the stature of the heavenly King. Like David, we are to be men and women after God’s own heart, those who fulfill His will and declare the power of God’s great strength going before us to do great exploits for His Kingdom.
Our ultimate destiny as the “house of David” is to be conformed to the likeness of God. The strength of the Lord is our inheritance. Let there be no weak among you.
Psa. 28: 7-9: The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise him. The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.”
Joel 3:10 “…Let the weak say, I am strong”.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from KJ.V.; I entered into the labors of Kathie Walters; James Goll’s vision ‘When the Nation is Thrown a Curve Ball’; and Understanding Types and Shadows by: Kelly Varner. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those whom I entered into their labors.