FIRST, be sure to check out a BRAND NEW video podcast here!
I am here in the prayer room at IHOP, and I’ve been experiencing a surprisingly heavy and peaceful presence of the Holy Spirit this afternoon. I felt urged to write the Introduction to my new book Pharaoh in the Church. So, I did just that, and I thought I’d share it with you here.
This is a prophetic message of exodus into the wilderness of encounter. However, as you’ll read below, we must be in position, submitted to leadership and embracing radical humility if we are to see this call realized.
Here’s the Introduction… leave some comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
PHARAOH IN THE CHURCH- INTRODUCTION
You have in your hands a burning message, an exodus call that originated in at least a small way like the original Exodus call in a burning bush. Moses experienced the zeal of the deliverer to see His people free to encounter Him. The goal of this book is for you to discover the pounding heart of God in a way that, I believe, will result in a deep and resounding cry of agreement.
However, what you don’t have in your hands is another encouraging message that has the intention of acting as a cheerleader for the advance of an individual agenda. You see, this is an extreme journey into the wilderness of encounter that will, if successful, rip and tear at your very soul. A call into the very presence of God is a fearful call indeed.
This book alone will both invigorate and challenge you in ways that will b
ring great satisfaction to the Father, and in turn to His church and to you. This, though, is not an independent teaching. Pharaoh in the Church is the message seared into one side of a coin, just opposite of its older sister, Covens in the Church.
Can this book be read prior to reading Covens in the Church? Yes. Should it? I believe it would be best to start with Covens in the Church, but, by all means, since this message is with you now, read on!
Can this book be read without reading Covens in the Church? Well, of course, it can. But, you may find yourself missing a core revelation that is absolutely necessary if you are to participate in the great modern day exodus into the wilderness of encounter.
You see, I’ll be discussing nothing less than a complete reformation in the church. Mind you, I’m not talking about a minor adjustment or a new splinter movement that is meant to compliment the current church structure as we know it in America. The call is for a radical shift, an overhaul that will strike us and shock us– even if we are prepared. If we don’t intentionally make ourselves ready by the leading of the Holy Spirit, I don’t want to think of what might happen.
So, exactly why is it necessary to study the flip side of the coin? Why is Covens in the Church such a necessary message in relation to the advance of the church?
Two words: humility and position.
We must refuse to embrace an independent, rebellious spirit and we have to be in position, locked arm in arm with the local body that God has assigned us to.
Covens in the Church deals, without apology, with the movement away from the Church and, in effect, away from leadership and out of position. The church has been greatly compromised for the sake of pursuing our own personal desires– even godly desires.
I find it interesting that Satan appealed to Eve’s desire for godliness when he was tempting her to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil:
Genesis 3:1-6 (New King James Version) 1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ “ 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Eve desired to be like God. She had personal plans of encounter and advance. However, a desire for a deeper revelation of God is insufficient if it requires disobedience to attain it!
Today, thousands are leaving the church with the seemingly godly pursuit of a deeper revelation of Him, but God is not blessing it! We see this illustrated perfectly in scripture:
1 Samuel 15:17-23 (New King James Version) 17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? 18 Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
The passage starts with Samuel rebuking Saul and reminding him of when he was rightly aligned with God’s heart. It was when Saul was little in his own eyes. As time went by Saul eventually determined that, yes, God has some good ideas, but he also had some good ideas. This double-mindedness resulted in a violation of God’s systematic process of advance. This form of godliness was void of power and was actually deemed to be rebellion and witchcraft.
This is what we are seeing in the church today– an independent, individual and self-seeking spirit guised in t
he cloak of godliness and the enemy has initiated a false exodus in a preemptive strike against God’s soon coming Holy Spirit driven exodus into the wilderness of encounter!
People are leaving the church, abandoning their leaders, gossiping, elevating their own opinions and perspectives and launching their own coven meetings in the name of God!
Covens in the Church deals with this critical heart issue, and before we can assume we have what it takes to survive in the wilderness, we must understand that God is the one who will sustain us– as we serve fallible yet ordained leaders will and refuse to vacate the position that God Himself assigned us to.
Simply, God will not bless or ordain a movement of rebellion in His name. We must trust His process, stay submitted to our authorities, love well, pray well and serve well. As we do this, look out– God will make us ready to carry the weight of the Ark of the Covenant across the Jordan and into the Promised Land.
