The Tabernacle

“Some people come to God with only a very small idea of His fullness, & a lot of people are satisfied with just a thimbleful. I will not stoop for small things when I have such a big God!”
Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947)

“We maintain our sharp edge as we recognise our need & passionately pursue Jesus. God is a God of new things. Hungering for Him requires us to embrace the change bought on by His new things. Being in a place of great need enables a person to detect when God is doing something new.” 
Bill Johnson (1951- )

The Lord keeps saying to me, “I will come like the rain.” Two things create hunger:
1. Hearing & seeing what someone else has
2. Not having it yourself 

These two men quoted above were or are currently seeing God’s fullness expand in their lives & their worlds to phenomenal levels. The result of that is quite frankly world changing. Hearing their testimonies makes me crazy hungry.

But I am also challenged by God’s word. Acts says, “And God gave special, unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs & clothes that had touched him were taken to the sick, & their illnesses were cured & evil spirits left them” (19:11) & 1 Kings, “So Elijah DID WHAT THE LORD HAD TOLD HIM. He went to the Kerith brook & stayed there. The ravens brought him bread & meat in the morning & meat in the evening..”(17:5-6). This is a day of increasing creative miracles by God. Cause this is what a good Father does when the ‘normal means’ shakes or disappears!

 I am pursuing this because this is what drought can produce!

Are you ready for this?

Yesterday I popped in on a friend who is due to have her 4th baby anyday now. As we were talking she shared how she has noticed that it seems her body’s way of delivering a baby is thru a long pre-labor. (My friend has been experiencing contractions since 20 weeks - 1/2 way thru pregnancy). Her actual labors previously have been quite quick with her last child being born in 1 1/2hours! Made my supposedly ‘quick’ labor of 6 hours for our son, look long!

This caught the attention of my spirit & I reflected on how birthing in the spirit in my experience had a similiar pattern. I wondered if this was true of how God made things generally work in the spirit  by having long pre-labor? I also pondered how in the last weeks (months too) of pregnancy waking frequently during the night is part of the terriority. Rolling over is not quite so easy! (yep expectant fathers this is all part of it!!!!!) I noted how every time God has bought something new to birth in our journey, night watches (regualry waking at night & prayers tumbling out of our spirit) was a common experience. This is spiritual pre-labor! These are the marks of God bringing to birth what He has concieved by his spirit in us.

Funny how due dates mean so little in child birth.. true in God’s kingdom also! We may have our dates, but He alone knows the day & the hour. And so today as I sat for a brief moment to enjoy a coffee, I declared these words in this time of pre-labor… “Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him to act. Be patient, like a farmer who waits until autumn for his precious harvest to ripen. It is good to both hope & wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lam 3:26, Psa 37:7, James 5:7) The birth is imminent!

A month ago, the Hebrew calendar clicked over from 5768 to the year 5769. Numbers in Hebrew carry meaning.The number 8 is always linked with a “new beginning,” where 9’s communicate a “bringing to birth what has been conceived.”

This is a birthing season & here downunder we are right now in Spring… that exciting time of birth in nature.

On Friday I had a meeting in a cafe. I had walked to the cafe as it was just over the hill from home & on the way pondered over what God is doing in world systems at this time, with the Stock market shaking in a way it never has, rumors of a world recession, a US election just days away, always impending war in the middle east & the current world leader, the USA, tilting in a way it hasnt since the great depression. As I walked in the door of a bustling, noisy, overcrowded cafe where drink & food lay abundant on tables, the words “As in the days of Noah” whistled through my spirit. I found a seat, knowing that I was 10 min early for my appointment & begun reading Matt 24 from where these words had come.

“What will be the sign of your coming & the end of the age?” asked Jesus disciples. Jesus reply is stunning. “Watch… As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating & drinking, marrying & giving in marriage,buying & selling, up to the day Noah entered the ark; & they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came & took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man….All these things are the beginning of birth pangs.” (24:4,8,37-39)

Again I looked around me. Surrounding me were newspapers broadcasting “World on the brink”, tinkering teaspoons in cups & a seemingly ‘oblivous to reality’ chatter of people. “As in the days of Noah”… “All of these are the beginning of birth pangs”…

This is not a time of doom according to the words of Jesus. It is a time of birth & that’s a completely different thing! Expectancy, anticpated joy, watchingfulness & preparation. These are the actions in a birthing period.

What is being birthed? Alot of things. But most importantly the coming of the Son of Man! Noah built & invested all he was & had into the very thing that God asked of him & he was asked to do so by faith. Again, the question is being posed.. what are we building & investing into in these days of Noah? If this is a time of birth upon the face of the earth, then what are we birthing? Is the Son of Man coming up in your thoughts, discussions, preparations & decision making?

The Spirit & the bride say “Come Lord Jesus. Come!”

“Come, my shy and modest dove - leave your seclusion,

come out in the open.

Let me see your face, let me hear your voice.

For your voice is soothing and your face is ravishing.”

Song of Songs 2:14

An invitation from the lover of your soul - Jesus.

A response to His wooing:

“Let both grow together until the harvest & in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “Gather together first the tares & bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matt 13:24-30

This is a stunning thought. At the time of harvest, God gathers both the tares (false grain) & wheat! This is what God does at harvest time.

This is the hour we live in.

We are on the advent of a new harvest time, one perhaps never seen like this in the history of the world, & God is indeed gathering first the tares from the harvest fields.

So if the fire of God is at work in your life, purifying & bringing new dimensions of freedom & fear of him, He is gathering in the tares.

He is shaking the heavens & the earth. He is shaking things that will not remain to leave that which does. His shaking & his harvest often come at the same time. History speaks this to us.

Jesus is coming! People get ready.

Just recieved this today from our spiritual parents & mentors in Israel. This articulates everything both Mark & I have been hearing from the Lord for some months now, but especially in these last weeks. Sometimes others say things better than we can! Patrica King is an apostolic missionary in Africa. We will do well if we listen to the apostles! They are intentionally listed first in God’s government as they are concerned with heaven’s blueprint & preparing the way for the presence of God to come. A download is available of the full prophetic word at http://all4him.org/scripture-prophecy/prophecy/

Prophetic Word from Patricia King…

“I have had a recurring prophetic sense for the last number of months of the Body going to significant new levels of Kingdom revelation, operations, and expansion. I see many standing on the threshold of exciting new adventures of faith.

Directional ‘Suddenlies’ will Occur in Many Lives.

I see winds of change blowing and drawing Believers in an upward draft to new levels of encounters in God. I see shifts and changes everywhere. Some will abruptly change their professions and directions in life. Directional ’suddenlies’ will occur in many lives.

This is a time where many will experience an emptiness of vision and enthusiasm for where they have walked during the past number of years. Many will discover what used to bring fruitful results is now unproductive. What used to bring joy is now dull.

For some, it will look like everything that was secure is collapsing. In some ways, it will seem like the shift is taking place overnight and without previous warning. The reason for this is because the Lord is bringing His people to new levels quickly.

It is important to walk close to God at this time. We cannot lean to our own understanding, but in all our ways we need to acknowledge Him. We need to be willing to make any sacrifice and to follow Him wherever and however He leads. He is raising up a people who do not have the hooks of the world or its treasures in their hearts, but He alone is their treasure.

What I see is a major historical shift for the Church. We are now at the threshold. Some have already crossed over while others are standing and waiting for clear direction. Others will follow later. It is a new day. The winds of change are blowing. The Spirit has truly invited all Believers to the next level.

The next level will include a greater focus on Kingdom perspective and greater death to self. The invisible realm will become more visible. Kingdom ambassadorial authority in the earth through the Church will increase in operation. In addition to accelerated power displays of the works of God, the release of Kingdom authority in and through the Church will also increase.
Angelic encounters and revelatory experiences will increase. Wisdom and counsel will increase. Increase, increase, increase. The Lord says, ‘It is a time of increase, great increase.’ It is time to prepare our hearts for this new level. We must have yielded hearts…very yielded…to HIM!”

Throughout life there seem to come moments of examination. These past weeks have been as such for me.

A few weeks ago, I sat looking at my Father’s coffin. I was in hot, steamy Manila in the middle of honoring the Filipino people that Mum & Dad grew to love & give much to. We were observing a wake Filipino style. It was at this time that I had a profound moment with the Lord. He took me back to a time when as an 11 year old. I sat in the conference room at Wycliffe Bible Translators in Kangaroo Ground Australia, having just heard an invitation to world missions from Joanne Shelter (who interestingly was doing a bible translation in the Philippines). I remember being deeply impacted by this challenge. I responded to God declaring that I wanted to be a part of world missions. Now as I sat there gazing around the Filipino church with Dad’s coffin at the front, 7ft flower arrangements spanning the sides of the room having been sent from many different Wycliffe entities around the world & watching people arrive, I pondered again before the Lord my involvement in world missions.

Barry Borneman (Director of Wycliffe Australia) flew in for the wake. Within moments of meeting my Mum, myself & my two brothers, he shared with us the last email he received from Dad. It was sent hours before his cardiac arrest. Dad had left Barry with one question after his report of what he saw God doing in the Philippines & the needs there. The question was, “What are you going to do about it?” This question was now clearly haunting Barry.

He was not the only one.

During the Australian funeral, my Mum shared some reflections of her life with Dad. She closed with a question. This question I have been repeatedly asking the Lord since. “The question is not why did Geoff die, the question is why am I still alive?”

God gave us something in Europe. He gave us something that has always been the heart of his relationship with man & then man’s relationship to the world. This is the concept that the presence of God would dwell with us & that in this ‘dwelling’ he would transform ordinary men to transform the world. This dwelling is what we have felt to call ‘The Tabernacle.’ Over these last years, God has taken us on a journey in so many ways, but especially historically to understand some of his ways. In taking us to Europe & Israel, we saw what God’s spirit had done when groups of people pray & worship him intentionally & desperately. Bangor Ireland, Herrnhut Germany testify to what God did in Acts 1-2. The world that was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles was witnessed to & God’s spirit was given to the Gentiles, Bangor released a wave of Monks that transformed barbaric Europe to Christ, & the people of Herrnhut sporned the Moravian Missions movement. In all cases, ‘being together in prayer & worship’ preceeded a move of God that transformed the world of the then time. Psalm 77 says, “Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?” (77:13) Today God’s spirit is stirring again & ‘dwelling places’ exist in Israel, Germany, England, India, USA, Indonesia…

In all the camps that my Dad ran over the 25 years he was with Wycliffe, I witnessed a vital, non-negotiable ingredient in every single one of them. The ‘quiet time’. This is the heart of Tabernacle. This is the dwelling place, the dwelling moment with God & this would always be in the camp program. Other things were not always part of the program, but this always was. This was a fundamental part of Dad’s heart & Dad’s passion. He knew that it was from this place, this time in the presence of the Lord, that the world would be reached. As I have sat with these questions coming out of this time of Dad’s death, this is what I have felt the spirit of God stir in me & answer.

I want to be part of the ‘final sprint’ in world missions & this is the part God’s called me to play at this time.

This is why I am still alive. How about you?

In 1 hour I leave to go and say goodbye to my Dad for the last time. I did not expect to loose him from my life so soon or so quickly. But my Father in Heaven who is now my only Father here on earth, is good & he prepared me just days before Dad died in Manila Philipines. He took me again as he did 5 years ago to the Book of Haggai in the Old Testament & left me with these words… “Once again I will shake the heavens & the earth, the sea & the dry land; and I will shake the nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord.” (Hag 2:6,7) The Lord left me that day with one question, “Are you ready for this?” Days later, I was in Manila watching the life support machines being turned off. My Dad was dead. He was now in heaven. The shaking had begun again. The point of the shaking is that all the nations would come to the ‘Desire of All Nations”,who is Jesus. He is the Desire. He was my Dad’s Desire. And He is mine.

I want to share with you what I am about to share in an hour’s time at my Dad’s funeral. This is his legacy. I pray it will be mine also. And if you knew my Dad, he would be asking you, “What will yours be?”

“You will hear lots of what Dad did for God but I want to share with you how I saw him love God. Because this is the greatest impact that Dad had on my life. He showed me how to love my Father in heaven. It was not what he did for God that inspired me, invited me & wooed me to know God for myself, it was all those times I saw him sit of a morning in his ‘den’ reading & talking to Jesus, it was all those times he prayed with me, with Mum, with whoever else was there. Dad pursued God & God pursued Dad. It was a mutual love affair that impacted me, the generations & the nations around me.

In one phrase it was impressive, inviting, compelling.

One of the highlights in our home growing up, was that precious moment when Mum would pull out a freshly made, hot loaf of bread. She would carry it over to the bench, where us kids would be lined up with knife in hand, plate in the other & taste buds jumping in delightful expectation of eating it. Not long after we had begun that joyous journey of cutting a slice of hot bread, covering it with butter & vegemite, Dad would inevitably come bursting in the door, eager for some of it himself. It was a common experience in our house, for an entire loaf of bread to be eaten in one sitting. Such was the wonder of Mum’s bread! Infact, Dad would eat bread with everything! He would have it for breakfast, lunch & dinner. Even for an afternoon snack. Dad & good bread were inseparable. Such was his passion for the ‘bread of life’ also. He devoured this book of God with the same enthusiasm & hunger that he would eat the bread made of wheat with. It intrigued me as a child seeing him spend hours over the ‘bread of life’ & ‘wheat’… it called something out in me… hunger.

Bishop J Garlington Sr once said, “Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It’s as if they were showing you the way.” Watching Dad love the presence of God awakened in me the desire to do the same. He indeed showed me the way & this is the greatest legacy & inheritance he left me…. left us all. For it is not about what he did, not about the task that he gave his life for right to the end, it was always & firstly, about loving Jesus… about loving the presence of God. It was out of this place he lived… he loved… he gave… he cared…

Watching Dad love the presence of God, this is the greatest thing he left behind. It’s the greatest thing we can leave behind. No one can argue with our testimony. No one can ignore a life lived in the presence of God. No one in their right mind would turn away from the sweet beauty that is left on a person loving Jesus. Dad was romanced by the heart of God & it was from this heart he spoke & lived. Of all the moments, all the memories, all that was part of his life & my life with Dad, this is the one thing. This is the one thing I will take with me till I die & it will be the one thing that I will impart to the children of my flesh & the children of the spirit that I am given.

Thank you Dad for showing me how to love Jesus. Thank you for loving us. We will so miss you.”

We met Boris 4 years ago in Tuebingen, Germany. He is an amazing, funny man. He is a Russian Jew. His words articulate our heart’s cry. Yours?

“Right now, God is not seeking after the people who are intellectually in first place; He is seeking after a people who are sick & tired of life without His presence. He is seeking after those who do not want to put their trust in the world, & who do not want to rely on political, economic, or religious systems. He is seeking the people who are desperate and who are seeking the One, the only One, who can give everything. These are the kind of people God seeks. These are the kind God is ordaining & is going to put into the lead of the revival that is about to spread like fire all over the earth. These are people who will allow Hm to come into their midst, who will walk with Him.

Perhaps they will not have a prophet’s understanding of everything. Perhaps they will not always recognise Him at once. Yet these very people will become new men & women because only the renewed people will become the detonators of the revival. Only those who are not afraid of being exploded will be able to explode the nations!”

(except from the Restoration of the Tabernacle of David - Preparing the way for the King of Glory. Published by Jersusalem House of Prayer for All Nations, 2005)

About 2 years ago, I was cleaning the floor of our apartment in Munich Germany, where we lived at the time. I had been mopping other parts of the floor area when I came to the Tabernacle area. As I began, I stopped. The Lord said to me, “Do not make common what is holy. Go, change the water & use fresh water in this space.”

Over the years we have been asked, “What’s the big deal about setting apart a physical space for the Lord? How can that be different from anywhere else? Anyway, isn’t our body now the ‘temple of God?” This is a question we confronted on our journey of discovering Tabernacle. White Australia does not have a concept nor experience of a sacred space set apart for one particular purpose, other than perhaps the football ground! So part of God taking us to Europe was to deposit this in us & give us an experience of this. Interestingly, first nations (indigenous) peoples all have a concept & experience of sacred spaces.

Ultimately, this is a holiness issue, a holiness question. The very word, holy, means set apart, consecrated. To ‘set apart’ & then consecrate to the Lord a room, chair, time, space of some sort, is to make it holy. Our God is a holy God & when He chooses a space of time or place, & fills it with His presence, He makes it holy.

There were two Tabernacles in the Old Testament before the Temple came. The Tabernacle of Moses teaches us about this very issue of holiness. The second Tabernacle (of David) was about worship & prayer. If we do not understand the holiness of God & know a fear of the Lord, we will worship & pray in a way that will be common, ordinary. Likewise if we do not understand that a holy God has chosen our bodies as His place of dwelling, His temple, & set it apart, consecrating it to Him, we will make it common. We can defile what God sees as holy by treating it as ordinary, normal; like mopping a floor with dirty water. Commonness is the greatest enemy of what is holy, special, sacred.

“Be careful not to treat the holy things as though they were common.” Numbers 18:32

We had been in Virginia, USA just a week, when the Lord begun to speak to me from Gen 4, specifically 4:3-5.

“At the end of days it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock & of the fat. And the Lord had respect unto Abel & to his offering: But to Cain & to his offering he had no respect. And Cain was very angry & his countenance fell.”

As I pondered on this story, I was intrigued how God respected one offering but not another. I looked for a reason why. The only difference I could see was that Abel gave the FIRST of his earning to God, Cain just gave an offering from his earning.

As I pondered on this difference the Lord reminded me of one of the seven Feasts that He asked his people, Israel to observe for all time, the Feast of First Fruits (Ex 23:19). The significance of this Feast was twofold:
1. Offerings given to God were the first of the harvest. It was the BEST & often it was ALL that was available at this time of the beginning of the harvest. As they gave this to God, they did so in faith that God would provide more rain to make their crops grow, so they would have enough for themselves. It was primarily an act of faith & of love.
2. The second significance is that this offering is sowing out of a place of need, even from the place of not yet having it. The previous harvest supply was dwindling or even gone.

Faith is what God is always into! How we love formulas. How He loves faith! This He rewards.

We were half way through our trip in the USA when we were in Kansas City. It was also the time of the Feast of First Fruits. I remember asking the Lord what our first fruits offering was to be this year. As we have arrived back from the USA, the Lord revealed what this was to be. The offering He was asking was to take money from all that we had left, our superannuation, & give it to Him. Through dreams & words from His body, He directed us to put it into air tickets – He was sending us again to the nations to sow more seeds & bring messages of encouragement to His people. This time He was sending us back to Europe & UK for 8 weeks in Nov/Dec. We, like the farmer had no more of last season’s harvest & are even in a place of debt, but He was inviting us to sow out of our place of need & even in the place of not having, a first fruits offering to Him.

What’s He inviting you into today?

We have just released a NEW further revelation on Tabernacle. We believe it is one of Heaven’s weapons for the Last Days.

Download & read the document here.

We would love to hear your comments and feed back to do so please go to

http://tabernacleblog.all4him.org/2008/06/26/tabernacle-as-strategic-last-days-weapon/

and leave a comment or your revelation.

Thanks

This may be the most life changing thing you are about to hear.
Hear with your spirit. Not your mind.
Hear the breath of God.
Hear His heart.
Hear hope.
He is coming. Jesus is coming.
The Lion of Judah is coming!
HE wants to establish something in you. He is doing a new thing.
Are you ready for this?
What you are about to enter into is so radical, it may completely change your life.

He is coming & what He is releasing again is heaven’s greatest weapon to finish the great commission.
In a moment HE is doing a thing. In a moment. Do you want this moment?
Are you ready for this?
The Lion of Judah is coming!

The Spirit of God is saying to you,
“After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down;
and I will build again the ruins, and I will set it up:
That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, says the Lord, who doeth all these things.
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”
Act 15:16-18

Reread this again, slowly. The Spirit of God is speaking directly to your spirit now. Deep calling to deep. Within you fresh water is springing forth. Prophesy is being unfolded for you. Light is pouring over your mind. Prophecy is being fulfilled now. In our very days.

The Spirit of God is saying to you that the Lord God is building again the Tabernacle of David which had fallen down to ruins. He is declaring that he is setting it up. And this will affect you! It will impact you who live at the last & latter end of earth & of time.

I had an amazing revelation this morning. Since arriving back from the USA, I have wanted to get my hair cut. I could not at first because we literally had no money. I had to wait till financial support came in. Then when finally it looked like we had some money (some 2 weeks later), I rang my hairdresser & made an appointment. The earliest appointment was in 2 weeks, as she was moving into her new house. One week before my appointment I received an sms from her saying that she had to cancel until further notice as their builder has gone bankrupt & they are living with inlaws now with all their stuff in storage. The Lord had my attention. Isa 28:21 flashed through my mind…”He will come do strange, unusual things.”

Another week passed as I contacted 2 other hairdressers I knew, but neither of them were available. I happened to speak to my sister in law at the end of this week, & she recommended her hairdresser. I rang, got an appointment only to be called back this morning (the day of my haircut), saying that the hairdresser needed to cancel due to her son being sick. So Mark & I went to the Lord again, knowing he was saying something here. Meanwhile in these 3 weeks since trying to get my haircut, the Lord has been downloading at a phenomenal rate exciting new ‘secrets’ from his heart.

As we asked the Lord about hairdressers, we both sensed there was another question to ask. “Am I supposed to get my hair cut?” His reply astounded me. Mark got the word “Nazirite. Only in 1 1/2weeks”. In hungering after more of him, had had entered me into a Nazirite vow. The Nazirite vow being a special vow taken by someone setting themselves apart for the Lord in a special way. It involved no drinking wine or alcohol, hair on the head uncut & no contact with dead people. What struck me about the examples in Biblical history of Samson, Samuel, John the Baptist & the Apostle Paul was that in all these cases the vow preceded some great action. Killing of Israel’s enemy, anointing two of Israel’s most famous Kings, preparing the way for Jesus or new voyages to gentile lands to spread the gospel. Interestingly this last week was Shavout in Israel (Feast of Weeks. In the Gentile tradition, Pentecost) on which in Paul took the Nazirite vow one time.

During this time, God had repeatedly said to both of us “Great Change is upon us.” Indeed! Interestingly, Mark & I sensed this morning that I could get my haircut the week after next. This would mean that I was in this for 30 days, the most common length of time for a Nazirite vow! God is strategically positioning the natural to bring about supernatural understanding & revelation of Him, & from Him.

“Great Change is Upon Us”
The Holy Spirit’s word to us this Shavout - Pentecost.

“Can you hear the Lion of the tribe of Judah?
He’s doing a new thing!
He’s doing a new thing!
So we are singing a new song.
People get ready. Jesus is coming.
To take the scroll & open the seals.
I can hear the rhythm of the Lion of tribe of Judah.
Because He’s doing a new thing.
So we are singing a new song!”
Misty Edwards - Relentless

“The air is pregnant with possibility - can you feel it?
Heaven itself is longing to invade the natural realm.
Darkness may cover the earth, but God’s glory upon His people is becoming more & more realised, bringing hope to the most hopeless situations.

Like birth pangs signaling the time of delivery;
things are being released in revelation knowledge that have been preserved through the ages for this particular hour.
I’m not talking about new books of the Bible or other holy writings. I’m talking about the Holy Spirit unlocking the very Scritpures we hold in our hands.”
Bill Johnson - Face to Face with God.