HOUSEHOLD REVIVAL
TJ Green | July 2016
I remember as a young man going to large prophetic gatherings hearing well known and powerful men and woman of God stand up and prophecy over Canada. I was always so amazed many time how the word would resonate on the inside of me. It was like they were saying the words that were in my heart but I didn't yet have the language to release it. Recently someone asked me what God is saying to Canada and the church in Canada and the words “Family Revival” keep repeating in my spirit. It’s been almost daily the Lord has been training me to even think differently. In order for family revival to take place in Canada and the church revival and family must unite. I’ve often thought if a church is a revival church that community would be a selfish distraction. After all the church is not called to be a social club, right? I also thought if you were part of a community driven church then revival would be contradiction in culture. I’ve since been convicted by Holy Spirit that this an unbiblical paradigm created by the enemy to divide the church. In acts when revival broke out and the fire, Holy Spirit landed on the disciples that were gathered together in one accord. The fire of God spread from home to home across the Roman Empire. I believe God is preparing Canada and the church for an “Acts” move of God, spreading from home to home across the nation. This is a year where God is calling us into apostolic and evangelistic alignment. That sounds like a super spiritual statement but in essence I believe that we are going to see true apostolic ministry defined not by network of church but true fathers teaching fathers to create family in their churches again. Evangelism will no longer be the dreaded chore that we know we should be doing, for numbers and stats for ministries. Instead there will be a switch from making converts to adopting orphans into our family.
Remember, the first record of community was Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Just because we have been all about Holy Spirit doesn’t mean we forget about Father and Son. God wants to teach us revival in the context of family. God did not want to be called pastor, teacher, apostle, prophet….no, the greatest most beautiful name that contains the highest honour in the kingdom of God is Abba.
2 Corinthians 13:14
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
THE WINE PRESS - FEB, 2016
THE WINE PRESS
TJ Green | FEBRUARY 2016
This past year I asked God what He was going to be doing in 2016. He began to speak to me more about last year than anything else. He told me that in this past year the church was in the wine press. I don't know about you, but the last year was probably the hardest of our lives. Rita and I went through a year where we were really feeling intense pressure in almost every area of life. Pressed on every side, feeling like we were living in the middle of 2nd Corinthians 4.
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9)
God showed me a picture of the wine press, and that many of us felt like a grape under foot being trampled. When wine is being made we need to remember two things. One of my friends shared with me about how all the seeds needed to be removed from the grape because it has a bittering effect on the wine. During seasons of pressure if we don't remove the seed of bitterness we will be drinking bitter wine. The second thing we must remember is that God wants to give us a heavenly perspective and remind us that we are above and not beneath - we were made to do the trampling and not be the trampled. I believe the pressures of last season will be key to your promotions in the next. Sometimes I think that when we feel the pressure it might be the gentle hand of the potter making our lives into something beautiful masterpiece. When you are feeling the squeeze what comes out of you? When an orange is squeezed, orange juice comes out. When an apple is squeezed, apple juice comes out. So when we are squeezed, the fruit of the spirit should come out. Love, peace, joy, and my favourite, long suffering! Joy comes in the morning and joy comes in the mourning. Joy comes when we need it because the joy of the Lord is our strength - some of us just need the strength to get up in the morning. It’s never too early to drink in the kingdom of God. So if last season you felt the pressure it’s time to rejoice because God is producing fine wine in your life. In heaven’s winery we are going to look at a bottle of fine wine labeled 2016 and we are going to say "ohhh that was a good year." I am prophesying that 2016 is a year of great celebration, because God is producing the greatest fruit of your life. Be encouraged! Cheers!
SPIRITUAL RENAISSANCE - JAN 28, 2016
SPIRITUAL RENAISSANCE
TJ Green | JANUARY 28 2016
The world needs another renaissance. Not just a physical awakening to creativity but a spiritual one. When I say “NEEDS," I don’t believe we can over emphasis how much the earth is groaning in eager expectation for the manifestations of the sons and daughters of the living God. Did you know the first thing that God did was create? The Creator created you in His image to create. I don’t care who you are, you are creative because its in your God given DNA. You may have even said the statement over yourself that you are not a creative person. I refuse to believe that anyone having the fullness of God living on the inside of Him is not also destined to create. My hope and prayer in writing this article is that it will stir up the artists, designers, film makers, anthem writers, photographers, poets, and inventors within the Christian community and encourage you to dream and to take risk. As well, I’d like to charge Christian leaders to create and nurture a free culture where imagination is celebrated. Religion despises creativity because it loves control and thats exactly what happened in the dark ages. The age that we are heading into will either be a dark age or an enlightened one and the church’s vote counts. What I’m praying for is a spiritual age of enlightenment that coincides with a cultural age of enlightenment.
David was a friend of God. Because of his intimacy with the Lord, he was given secrets way ahead of his time. For instance, lets take Psalms 22 into consideration. Listen as David writes a song describing in detail how Jesus died on the cross ages before the Romans had invented crucifixion. Psalms 22:16 says, 'They pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.'
It seems to me that artists and song writers like David have the God given ability to be ahead of their time. Just like pioneers are the first to break ground in a new country, so it is ready to build a new society. King David had to sing the anthems of Jesus to prepare the world for His Kingdom to come. What if the earth is again needing to be prepared for the second coming of Christ? Who will sing the songs and write the anthems to prepare the earth for a whole new world?
Blaze Pascal a French economist said, “Its not those who write the laws that have the greatest impact on society, but those who write the songs.” I believe the most influential people in the world are not the politicians, but the song writers. Its the artist who will influence culture and society.
I remember being so bored with a lot of Christian music and especially worship music growing up. It seemed incredibly generic, cookie cutter and, dare I say it, stale. In my later teenage years I worked in the Christian music industry and it was so easy to see whatever trends were big in the world, if we waited for a year or so, we could have the Christian version of that cd on our shelves. I longed for something original that wasn’t a carbon copy of something already produced. I don’t think that I was looking for a product. I was looking for an emotional and spiritual connection. A musical expression that was passionate and genuine is hard to come by these days because there is nothing new under the sun. There is a real danger of art becoming a mass produced generic swamp.
When I was introduced to some of IHOP and Bethel’s music it opened up a whole new world of worship to me that I had never before experienced. In the purity of that movement something amazing was taking place. Because of their emphasis on a real connection with God the sounds and the song that were coming out of them were incredibly fresh, spiritually inspired, and anointed. To our great disappointment creative and inspired art doesn’t always inspire creativity but duplicity. Creativity will be in danger of being reduced to the lowest common denominator if we allow inspiration to be mass produced. Instead of singing our own God given song sometimes its easier to sing someone else’s revelation. The world doesn’t need another copy of a Rembrandt.
Never forget the power of your song. Can you imagine writing songs so epic that God himself decides to immortalize them into His best seller of all time. The biggest book in the Bible is a song book and we are still singing the anthems in our churches that David wrote thousands of years before Christ. That should tell us something right there. Some have speculated that David heard heavenly sounds that he couldn’t reproduce on his instruments so he actually invented new instruments.
Amos 6:5 'That chant to the sound of the viol, [and] invent to themselves instruments of music like David.'
Even though there is nothing new under the sun I believe there are new pictures, and sounds that have not been released on the earth. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived -- the things God has prepared for those who love him.'
I once had a dream that one of my musical acquaintances who lived in the United States was inventing a guitar pedal that had a mixture of sounds being combined to create an entirely new sound. In the dream it was like I could see the sound waves bending and vibrating into a beautiful discovery. The next day I called my friend excited to share my dream with him. To my delight he informed me that he was in fact working on a new pedal and the patent for his new design was being drawn up that day. So many inventions that have changed our world have come through people who dare to take risks and dream with God.
The world needs the Creator to create in you and through you the expressions of heaven. The time is now for a revival of creativity, and for a spiritual renaissance to awaken the world to true love. There are inventions, art, songs, books, and films that are waiting to be written. I hope this inspires the psalmist in you to be a friend of God and a pioneer who will understand the power of your song.
"We are bound by LOVE, not agreement."
"The Gospel is the greatest "Show and Tell" in the world! Matthew 10:7 says proclaim the Gospel then heal the sick and raise the dead."
"God is an expert of redemption. The things that were used to disqualify us God is turning them around and using them to qualify us."
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