The Shepherd’s Rod 2006

Part 2

We will discover amplified anointing on the directives communicated in it.

A Fresh Wave of Intercession in Kansas City

This next season will see an increase in grace and anointing for the ministry of intercession. This will be especially true for the prayer centers in and around Kansas City.

A prayer movement has been initiated in this city that will escalate in its relevance. This is not only in relationship to IHOP, but also the many other prayer ministries that have been birthed from it.

Likewise, there will also be other Churches and movements that are not associated with current “Harp & Bowl” fellowships that will discover the importance of this ministry in birthing end-time scenarios.

Houses of prayer and worship will continue to grow with expanded involvement from the body of Christ. This is a trend that will continue until the end of the age.

Of course, this is not limited to the Kansas City area but the entirety of the Church. Kansas City has been an incubator for the birthing of this movement and a leader in its development.

Watchmen– Intercession with Revelation

In addition to the prayer and praise framework that has already been constructed, an increased revelatory anointing will be joined to provide the watchmen ministry. According to the prophecies of Isaiah,

On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; And give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth – Isaiah 62:6-7

The merger of the revelatory anointing with intercession produces the watchmen on the wall. I wrote of this in “Books of Destiny” and will include a brief excerpt…

The Lord’s Holy Alliance

In the 1999 leader’s meeting, the Lord emphasized that His “holy alliance” was the antidote for the enemy’s devises. God intends to endow a generation of overcomers with the spirit of revelation and position them, in power and authority, as watchers on the walls of the Church.

These people will facilitate a holy partnership of both revelatory anointing and intercessory prayer with true spiritual authority. They will provide continual prayer, anointed worship, and prophetic declaration.

Daniel’s prophetic portrait is a helpful paradigm of Heaven’s strategy in this confrontation. Daniel focused his attention on Heaven, through prayer and fasting, in order to understand the spiritual conflict raging in the spiritual realm. He received a visitation from Heaven in response to his devotion.

The divine attributes we read about in this passage also provide foresight into the Lord’s revelation about the struggle we presently face. The Lord admonished us in 1999: “This is not to be touched by human hands, that is, human perceptions, traditions, and formulas. Instead, what is being birthed will be Spirit-led and Spirit-sponsored.”

Everything manifested in radical Islamic strongholds is directed in the heavenlies against the purposes the Lord desires to release to us. However, as the Scriptures point out:

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.-Matthew 11:12

If we truly hunger to see God’s spiritual government birthed and functioning, we must take our post and gain the Lord’s authority through prayer and declaring our agreement with Heaven. That is the divine strategy for this season.

The Ministry of the Watchmen

The watchmen are specially prepared spiritual warriors who capture the Lord’s desire and restate it to Him in the form of anointed prayer. Like Habakkuk, watchmen take their position on the wall to see what the Lord may speak. From that informed position, God’s people then know how to reply to Him with effective intercession.

Habakkuk said,

I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved — Habakkuk 2:1

Revelatory prayer will carry the Church into the 21st century. These will be prayers of laser-like precision and clarity. The union of revelation with intercession generates concise spiritual light that will penetrate the heavens with power.

The watchmen will have a strategic word placed in their mouths. The Lord then promises to overshadow them with the power of His hand. From this place of anointing, the words that are declared will plant seeds of the Kingdom in the heavens and found His will on the earth. It will announce to the Zion, “you are my people” and beckon them to the place of destiny. As Isaiah stated,

I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar (the LORD of hosts is His name). “I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, “You are My people.” – Isaiah 51:15-16

Clearly, the seas and waves have been stirred in recent days. This is a natural reality pointing to these spiritual truths. The Lord is looking for a submissive and obedient company of people so that He can place revelatory words from His heart into their mouths.

When they articulate this message from an atmosphere of the anointing, the heavens will be established with the revelation of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. What is established in the heavens will be revealed on the earth. A called-out body of people will then begin to step into their inheritance.

Psalms 106

Psalms 106 is a Psalm of transition. This clearly identifies the season we are presently living in. This year will produce a spiritual shifting that will transport us into a different aspect of God’s plan and strategy.

The message of this Psalms deals with Israel’s difficulties and tribulations leading up to the revelation of a greater Kingdom. It outlines God’s discipline for seasons of iniquity, but only so that something greater can be established.

There is great similarity in this Psalm with Daniel’s prayer of repentance and supplication. Daniel cried,

we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.

Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.

Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day– to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You — Daniel 9:5-7

These prayers petition for God’s intervention to deliver His people from captivity as He has done in times past.

Most commentators agree that Psalms 106 was composed during a period of public calamity. This clearly has application for today!

The verses of this Psalm rehearse the failures of the past, particularly during the wilderness experience. It also contains a plea for God to gather His people from the different places to which they have been scattered. This is done when we are willing to praise His name and humble ourselves before God.

Praise and worship provide a key to the kingdom and a strategy for restoration.

As one historian commented, “Psalms 106 offers a humbling reminder of how the Chosen People have provoked the anger of the Lord, only to be forgiven and avenged.”

1. Verses 1-5

We must abide in an atmosphere of praise and worship.

We can focus on God and He will keep us in perfect peace.

We are to observe justice and treat others fairly so that we remain in right standing with God at all times. Those who do will receive increased measures of His imputed righteousness.

2. Verses 6-22

One of the great failures of the contemporary Church is our lack of understanding of our heritage and God’s dealing throughout Church history. This was also recorded in Psalms 106. We are to rehearse God’s mercy and His exploits.

Our admonition in Hebrews 13:7 is to examine the faithfulness of our leaders who have gone before us to observe and scrutinize their conduct and the results of their lives. We are then charged to imitate their faith because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

We are not necessarily called to emulate their personal style or patterns and formulas but imitate their faith. In so doing, the Lord will do through us what he did through them by mighty expressions of power and authority.

This is the era of God’s justice. He is looking for a dedicated people to apprehend the truth of verse 8 saying,

Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, that He might make His power known.

Moses once reminded Israel that they forfeited their opportunity to inherit the promise because they did not have eyes to see nor ears to hear. They did not possess the revelatory anointing that is fundamentally essential to cooperate with God. (Deuteronomy 29:2-4)

This Psalm remembers that reality but also highlights the Lord’s mercy because of those who allowed His righteousness and divine character to be imparted. The Lord did so in order to show His mighty power in the exploits of His name.

The pain of the past is our preparation for the future. Like Joseph, we must reconcile ourselves with the past in order to make our future more fruitful. The Patriarch Joseph demonstrated this truth in the naming of his sons.

Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household. He named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction — Gen 41:51-52

If we seek His ways and cry out to God to reveal His thoughts, we will discover His mercy.

3. Verses 23-29

Verse 23 records our call to take our position, like Moses, as God’s intermediary on earth. It is time for the body of Christ to stand up and cry out for mercy and grace. If we do not, who will. Moses was one of the Lord’s great representatives who stood before Him as His spokesman in a position of righteousness. Moses was able to occupy this distinguished office of great responsibility because of the prior years of preparation, purging and refinement that qualified him.

Like Moses, Job was another prominent saint who learned to stand in the gap for his generation. Perhaps there could be many purposes expressed for the testing of Job’s righteousness.

Clearly, one of the designs of the Lord in this endeavor is to bring Job into a heightened place of relationship and authority as the Lord’s representative on the earth.

The benefit for the sifting of righteous Job was to establish a greater level of right standing with God along with intimate fellowship. Through the “cleanness” of his hands, he was then be able to deliver the ones who were not innocent.

The understanding is, that the man who returns to God in righteousness, and who is regarded by Him as His friend, is more amply equipped to intercede for the guilty and unrepentant with the Lord’s heart of compassion.

When righteous intercession if offered, extraordinary favor is shown, even when it is not deserved. This sentiment is consistent with that expressed in Genesis 18:23-24 as Abraham intervened on behalf of Sodom from his place of friendship with the Lord.

Job’s highest calling was to a position of leadership as a fearless representation of heaven on earth. Our mandate is the same today.

The Lord recently expressed His desire to deal with the strongholds in us so we can deal with the strongholds in our churches, cities and nation.

The ultimate purpose of Job’s testing, and ours, is to dwell on a higher plain of authority before God and a greater level of intimate relationship as the Lord’s intermediary on the earth. The Lord will always have a witness on the earth of His righteousness to testify against an evil and perverse generation and call them to repentance.

The Lord Himself is designated as the “Faithful witness” and His Spirit in us will also bear witness of His righteousness. It is this marriage between heaven and earth that will release both the kindness and severity of God throughout all generations.

Amos is another example of one called by the Spirit to foresee the judgement of God and stand before His Presence and intercede on behalf of His people.

Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings. And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said: “O Lord GOD, forgive, I pray! Oh, that Jacob may stand, for he is small!” So the LORD relented concerning this. “It shall not be,” said the LORD. Amos 7:1-3

Daniel was described in the scripture as one greatly beloved. Part of the reason for this truth is because of his heart for the nation and his willingness to stand in the gap for his people. He humbled himself and presented supplications on behalf of those in his age and the prior generations. He did so with a heart of repentance and foresight for the generations to come.

The Lord’s friends are able to stand in this post because of the refinement that has taken place in their lives that enables them to occupy this privileged place in God. Intimate fellowship with the Lord results when righteousness has been developed. It allows us to peer into God’s heart to obtain understanding of His nature and character.

In this manner, divine purposes are birthed in the earth through words anointed with Spirit and Life expressed from this position of righteousness.

Principally, the Lord is looking for a righteous agent on the earth to stand in the gap on behalf of a sinful generation. The Lord Himself is the perfect mediator between God and man establishing for all generations God’s righteousness.

That virtue is now being imparted to those in the Church established in righteousness, as His earthly delegation to intercede for this nation and the destiny of the Church.

If there is a messenger for him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to show man His uprightness, Then He is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom’ — Job 33:23-24

The Father has chosen the Church as His instrument to unfold His great redemptive plan. When this is achieved, we have the Lord’s promise for restoration and salvation for man;

His flesh shall be young like a child’s, he shall return to the days of his youth. He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, he shall see His face with joy, for He restores to man His righteousness. — Job 33:25-26

If there was no agent to stand in the gap, then mercy and grace could not be found.

So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads, says the Lord GOD —Ezekiel 22:30-31

When a righteous representative of God is able to enter His Presence, it pleases the Father to hear intercession on behalf of the lost. It is because of the righteousness of Christ established in us through the Spirit of Christ that will enable us to come before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and help in time of need.

Resident in the Father’s heart is both mercy and justice. Justice calls for the judgements of God to be established in the earth. Yet, His heart also yearns to release mercy when His representatives stand before Him in this mediatorial role reminding him of His longsuffering and lovingkindness.

The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished —Exodos 34:6-7

4. Verses 29-31

In the person of Phinehas we find a type of the one who stands in the gap to obtain mercy in the midst of judgement.

Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, and the plague broke out among them. Then Phinehas stood up and interposed, and so the plague was stayed. And it was reckoned to him for righteousness, to all generations forever — Psalms 106:29-31

This loyal priest received a divinely issued covenant of peace because of his jealousy towards the Lord and his commitment to the Word.

The Bible teaches that the Old Testament saints and God’s dealings with Israel are given as an example. The lives of the patriarchs and faithful men and women of old are adopted for our instruction in God’s ways.

Many believers will begin to emerge in this hour with the anointing of Phinehas and a covenant of peace. These will be priests providing inspired revelation of God’s Word.

This reality will primarily be discovered when we call upon the Lord in desperation. When we do, He has promised to answer us and show us great and mighty things which we do not presently know.

This unique group will embody a heavenly “jealousy” and integrity by rightly dividing the Word of Truth without mixture or compromise. This anointing will produce in many people a healthy ardor and zeal of God for the Spirit of Truth.

Furthermore, those with the Phinehas anointing will not shun to declare the whole counsel of God nor tremble at the fear of man. (Acts 20.27) There is a clear distinction between possessing the zeal of God as opposed to having zeal for God.

The name Phinehas means “mouth of brass.” This is a depiction of those who will begin to “judge and discern the thoughts and intents of the heart” and help others identify the sin which so easily besets them. (Hebrews 4:12)

When the Living Word is present, all things are open and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Nothing is hidden. This is not something to fear but embrace to facilitate maturity and purity of soul.

The Bible depicts the revelation gifts unveiling the secrets of the heart so those who observe it will fall on their faces and say, “surely God is in this place”. This manner of revelation is not rooted in suspicion, but genuine insight from the Lord and disclosure of divine secrets ministered in charity and faithfulness.

This work of the “Phinehas” anointing will usher the Fear of the Lord back into the Church and pave the way for Divinely granted repentance that leads to the knowledge of the Truth.

This will produce a more righteous body with whom the Lord will become intimate and share His mysteries and power.

5. Verses 32-40

The conditions recorded in these verses results from unknowingly embracing the “spirit of compromise” that facilitates the substitution of the Holy Spirit with the spirit of this world.

What the enemy can not accomplish in head-to-head battle he easily achieves through this deceptive snare. The Lord Himself warned us about this spirit in Matthew 24.

This is the strategy that Balaam utilized against Israel that the psalmist remembers. When the adversary was unsuccessful in cursing God’s chosen people he altered his approach. What he could not perpetuate in direct confrontation he easily accomplished through stumbling blocks and snares facilitated through compromise.

The New Testament reminds us of this demonic strategy from the spirit of Balaam in both Jude and the book of Revelations. It is a battle that we must learn to win. It is the spirit of Godly jealousy, as demonstrated through Phinehas, that is the antidote for this dilemma.

It was the teaching of Balaam that eventually led Israel into God’s judgment. Balaam was unable to curse Israel, therefore he convinced her to compromise her covenant with God by intermingling with Balak and the people of Moab.

And Moses said to them, “Have you spared all the women? “Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD.

Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. “But all the girls who have not known man intimately, spare for yourselves- Numbers 31:15-18

Ours is an admonition of separation and purity while patiently waiting on the promised union with the Lord Jesus. It is the counsel of “compromise” to lead us away from that position at all costs.

The “way of Balaam” is the covetous conduct of the ones structurally described as “hirelings,” whose primary motive is to commercialize their divine gift.

Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness – 2 Peter 2:15

The “teaching of Balaam” is the teaching of the mercenary ministry counseling the church to abandon Godly separation and noble character in favor of worldly conformity.

But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality- Revelations 2:14

Very often, following this path will seemingly bring quick results and attract scores of people with much less spiritual resistance. Nonetheless, the conclusion after all has been done is death and fruitlessness.

Balaam taught Balak to corrupt the people who could not be cursed by seducing them to marry Moabite women and commit spiritual adultery. That is what is being rehearsed in Psalms 106.

When we are faithful to God our enemy cannot overcome the anointing and authority that the Lord is able to delegate to us. His strategy for victory is to corrupt God’s people by seduction with the spirit of the world.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God-1 Corinthians 2:12

Spiritual compromise will always lead us into wrong relationships. Concession leads to death while faithfulness leads to repentance, restoration, and victory.

6. Verse 41

Economic slavery! For a season, much of this nation’s economic resources will go to other nations. This will be especially true involving countries associated with the petroleum industry.

The conditions that have been created in this arena constitute a form of economic slavery for our nation. We are in large part bound by our need to obtain fuel from Islamic nations in order to meet our high demand.

This will increase over this next season.

7. Verse 44

Much of the conditions of our nation and the Church are the result of compromise. We have yielded our righteous standards for a counterfeit substitute that provokes God’s discipline.

This Psalm also highlights the Lord’s willingness to show mercy and bring restoration. This was repeatedly exemplified with the nation of Israel. It is the strategy by which our prayer movements are to be mobilized.

8. Verses 47-48

We are to cry out in Godly sorrow for the USA and ourselves until God grants repentance. All the shaking is for the expressed purpose of positioning the Church in righteousness for the restoration of His glory.

The earth will begin to cleanse itself from the shame of innocent blood. The measure to which this takes place will be determined by the abundance of our intercession and obtaining Godly granted repentance.

Prophetic Sound-Bites

1. In the 2005 Shepherd’s Rod we listed the ten plagues of Egypt providing a prophetic parallel that will continue in this season. This is a symbolic portrayal of calamity, pestilence, sickness, and other disciplines that took place in Egypt that built upon one another in a domino effect. This is a representation of God’s discipline on the spirit of this world.

We encourage our readers to review that portion of the 2005 Shepherd’s Rod as this trend will continue. Much of what we saw in New Orleans and the Gulf coast are outlined in it.

2. Nashville will continue to be a focal point and a strategic city. There is a special grace being extended for songwriters and musicians to capture spiritual truth and convey it.

This will result from the same stream of creativity that is coming to the Church in the form of worship. Nevertheless, this form of music will have positive and beneficial messages centered in the Nashville music industry.

3. The colors for this year are blue and white to represent a call to purity and the release of revelation. White is generated by his imputed righteousness. There is a great opportunity in this season to advance substantially in this area.

With the establishment of Godly righteousness and virtuous character, mantels of power and authority will be downloaded that are needed for harvest.

All that has taken place in this hour is part of the preparatory process for a wave of harvest that is to come. The next major outpouring of the Spirit will be for “power evangelism.”

The color blue is a symbolic representation marking a great opportunity to apprehend revelatory insight needed in every area of our lives. The inspiration for revelation will be especially pertinent in the area of intercession. Comprehension of His heart will bring clarity and precision to the saint’s prayers.

Revelation will also bring a stream of anointing resting on the promises of God for this age that strategically position us in our confrontation with realms of darkness. The sons of Issachar knew times and seasons and the things that Israel needed do. Likewise, the “Issachar” anointing is being released for this purpose today.

We cannot afford to wander aimlessly in this crucial hour. Furthermore, our prayers do not need to be in the way of a shotgun, but of a laser. Revelation produces precision.