For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
As a maturing believer, I have a burning desire to see and hear God more accurately. I often ask to know more of God. Sometimes I hear from you readers asking similar questions: How do I know what God wants me to do? How can I be sure I will see Him leading me, or hear Him guiding me? I want to know Him, but I have trouble seeing Him!
God’s solution to these everyday questions is a secret that Jesus revealed in the Sermon on the Mount. 
Change is inevitable. Many people in the Body of Christ are going through intense changes right now: the loss of a friend, a spouse, or a child. A transition into a new job. A feeling that God is calling you to do something different in the next season than what you have done before, accompanied by a disconcerting sense that you aren’t sure yet how to do it! A new Jewish year, 5779, begins this Sunday, September 11 at sundown – Rosh Hashanah. Spiritually, the number nine speaks of fruitfulness, harvest, birthing and creation. Politically, a new government is being shaped as we vote in the primaries this week and watch the “dethroning” and reseating of key justices in the court. Personal, political and religious seasons are shifting, for better or worse. Why? A new season is here! It is important that we understand our place in the “new,” releasing the past and realigning ourselves with God and others for the future. But how do we do that? 
God has issued a Divine Invitation! It’s not just an invitation to salvation, although believers begin there. It’s not just an invitation to experience healing or deliverance, although those are benefits of belonging to the Kingdom. It’s an invitation to come up higher spiritually, to experience the supernatural dimensions of the Kingdom of God. Why would we need this? Francis Frangipane says it best: “A Christian is not just a person going to heaven. Shouldn’t a Christian also be a person coming from heaven, with the goods, power and virtues of heaven?” Christianity isn’t meant to be a just a security blanket, providing comfort when we contemplate death. It’s meant to be a dynamic relationship involving supernatural power here and now. The beloved disciple, John, understood this and gives us a glimpse into God’s multi-faceted invitation. 
Do you know the difference between prayer and intercession? Prayer, according to Merriam-Webster, is “an address or petition to God in word or thought.” It is, as most people imagine, making an earnest request to God. Intercession, which many people believe to be the same thing, actually takes prayer one step further. While it may include praying to God for something, to intercede is to “intervene between parties with a view to reconciling differences; to mediate.”* In other words, intercession is prayer in action! 
In a charismatic church I attended a couple of weeks ago, the pastor asked this question: "Be completely honest. How many of you read your Bible on a daily basis?" Fewer than 5 hands went up. Alarmed, I decided to ask the same question in a second church where I preached the following Sunday. Again, the same response - just 6 or 7 hands this time. I was amazed. Not coincidentally, the same week I received Lifeway's "Facts and Trends" magazine in the mail. One of the articles contained this statistic: 66% of Christians (including Evangelical, Mainline and Black Protestant churches) believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life." Among Catholics, that statistic jumps to 79%.* The Bible teaches that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life. " (John 14:6) No one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ. For a Christian, then, this belief in many roads leading to heaven is, quite simply, untenable. How did we get here? 
No one was more skeptical of the supernatural than I. Raised in a world governed by the intellect, I was trained from an early age to focus on learning and self-development while rejecting emotionalism and spiritual “fanaticism.” Truth was limited to what could be discerned through science or the five physical senses alone. In fact, when I finally discovered the Holy Spirit, the very first “label” my family put on me was that of a “fanatic.” Never mind that I hadn’t actually done anything worthy of that label yet; my confession of faith in the third person of the Trinity was enough to worry them! 
As I spent time with the Lord today, I asked Him, "What is Your Kingdom priority for this moment?" The answer came quickly and powerfully: "SATURATION!" God is ready to SATURATE you with His Presence! Are you positioning yourself to receive all He has? Keep reading for the full word. 
What is your first response to pain? In the span of just one week, several of my close friends experienced heavy losses. One friend was betrayed by someone close to her. Another dear friend was faced with the emotional pain of feeling unloved in primary relationships. When a third friend broke her foot in a roadside accident on vacation, I spent a number of hours with her in the ER, hoping to relieve her physical pain. In each case, my first response was compassionate action: I reached out as best I could with prayers and practical help. I know for a fact, though, that when I am the one in pain, my first response is very different. When hurt increases, compassion vanishes. I have a new goal: avoid that pain at all costs! 
“Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…” -Philippians 2:12, NKJV
This week, I woke up early one morning to the unmistakable musing of the Holy Spirit. As I opened my eyes and peered into the darkness of our bedroom, I heard Him saying, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling!”
This seemed a strange sort of thought at first. Until I padded my way downstairs, where I could pray and write without disturbing anyone, I wasn’t sure why this fragment of a verse from Philippians 2 was reverberating in my spirit. It was as I sat with the Lord and listened further that He began to clarify… 
This weekend will forever be marked in the Kingdom of God as a weekend of DESTINY, convergence, and unity! Approximately 125 believers from New England gathered together at Freedom Worship Center in West Boylston, MA, for the Destiny Conference, an amazing time in the presence of the Lord. We experienced powerful worship that broke into heaven's throne room, anointed speakers and ministry times, and - best of all - unity with each other. Glory to God! If you were unable to join us, I strongly suggest you get copies of the audio downloads here. You do not want to miss what each speaker shared, and we were able to record all three Saturday sessions. These MP3 digital downloads are available for you in the His Inscriptions store. I also want to share with readers a corporate prophetic word (below) that God gave us during the conference. Keep reading to hear what the Spirit is saying to those who feel scattered or pulled in too many directions - there is hope for your future! 
Dear Readers, Why Pray? What reason do we have, in a world that depends almost exclusively on what we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell, to reach for a supernatural God? This is the question I answer in my newest book, which was just released on Amazon this week. If you've wondered what difference prayer makes, or need a faith-building resource that is easily shared with a friend, this is your book. It is short (four chapters) yet packed with stories, scriptures, prayers you can pray and questions you can answer in your quiet times. A compilation of several recent blog posts, this book provides four compelling reasons why we should pray: to know God and make Him known; for power to become effective Christians in a fallen world; to overcome a supernatural enemy; and to fulfill the Great Commission. Order your paperback copy today on Amazon.com for $7.00, or a Kindle version of the book for just $2.99. Click here for more! Deborah Have YOU signed up for the Destiny Conference? Last chance! Make plans to join us in West Boylston, MA next week, June 8th & 9th, for a powerful time in the Holy Spirit! Click Here to listen to our Radio Ad. Click photo for Registration information.
Power Thought: When you live in Jesus, your words are as the words of a King. Every sentence you speak is an edict in the Spirit, for better or for worse! Watch that your words are doing what they are designed to do: to edify, exhort and encourage others. © Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com Destiny Conference Video Just Released - Please Watch and Share!*Please note: $30 Registration online by June 6th, 2018. $35 registration at the door on day of event. Registration fee includes catered lunch by Tabitha's Table! Location: Freedom Worship Center, West Boylston, MA (Rte 12) Click registration button for more info and full schedule. Need a printable flyer for church bulletins? Click here! Questions? Contact Deborah here. 
This morning as I prayed, I heard the Lord saying: "When you realize that I never leave you, it will change your life. Where you see separation, I see unity. Where you feel division, I feel only love. The measure of My love does not depend on the size of your container! I will pour until you overflow... you cannot contain My glory!" 
This morning as I sought the Lord, I had a vision of great activity in heaven. I saw a flurry of people bustling about here and there, all under Christ’s command. Although heaven seemed busy, those who moved about moved with specific orders and definite purpose, obeying what I understood to be Jesus’ plan. As I stood and watched, it occurred to me that as an observer, I myself had no place in this busyness; I was unsure what my role should be in the unfolding drama. “What would you have me do here?” I asked the Lord. Immediately, the answer to my question arose in my spirit: “Do you type? I need cryptographers – urgently!” Suddenly, the nature of what was happening in heaven became clear to me. A war was on, and the Lord had need of those who could interpret and decode strategies, communicate them to His people on earth, and assist in the winning of their battles. “Yes, of course,” I replied, and I immediately found my laptop and began writing out what I had seen. The Destiny Conference, June 8-9, 2018One of the prophecies the Lord released for 2018 is that it is to be a year of acceleration and expansion. But acceleration cannot happen without activation! God is releasing fresh revelation of who He is in this hour. Believers are being called to move out of the old and into the new. We need to feast on the revelation of His Presence, and release those who are ready to be set in motion towards their destinies! (Click here to view the full word.) For this reason, I am so excited to announce the first His Inscriptions "Destiny Conference!" For over a year, this ministry has been meditating on the idea of hosting a fresh, new prophetic gathering in the New England region. The timing just never seemed right. After ministering with Brian Francis Hume at the Ascend conference in South Carolina last month, though, I realized: we need to do this here! Brian has graciously agreed to fly up from Virginia to join us at Freedom Worship Center in West Boylston, MA from June 8-9th. Pastor Lee Dematos, the regional apostolic leader for DOVE International, has also agreed to minister. I want to personally invite you to come and be part of this prophetic gathering! Destiny Conference Details:
Conference Location: Freedom Worship Center, 141 W. Boylston St (Rte 12), West Boylston, MA, 01583 (next to Walmart). Website: www.freedomworshipcenter.us/ For a list of area hotels, click here. Conference Fee: $30 Online, through June 6th: Register here. *Please note: Walk in registrations will be $35 at the door on the day of the event. Lunch is included in your fee. Friday Night 7pm: Worship & Prayer - We want to pursue God wholeheartedly and take the time to enter in to His Presence, listening for what He is saying to us individually and through His prophets. Saturday Morning, 9AM - Brian Francis Hume, speaker - Brian will touch on the theme of "Devotion" as he shares from an area he knows best: prayer and intercession. Saturday Lunch, 12pm - A catered lunch will be served to all attendees (included in your conference registration fee.) *Gluten-free options will be available. Saturday Afternoon, 2pm - Deborah Perkins, speaker - In response to the prophetic words about moving out of the old and into the new, Deborah will share on the theme of "Deliverance." Saturday Dinner, 5pm - On your own or with a friend! (a list of local area restaurants will be provided at the conference. Church will remain open for those who wish to pray.) Saturday Evening, 7pm - Lee Dematos, speaker - Lee carries an apostolic and prophetic anointing and will touch on the theme of "Destiny." This final activation session will include prophetic ministry from our team to release you into your God-given calling and destiny. Questions? Please contact me here. Let's make the most of this opportunity to come away with Jesus and prayerfully press in to all that He has for us this year! ~ Deborah 
I had a powerful dream this morning which was so evidently from the Lord that I felt compelled to write it down and share it. This dream revealed the Father's heart for healing the next generation, our youth, and could not be ignored. The reason? The children of today are both the most anointed and the most assaulted of any previous generations. Even in their schools, the places where they should be receiving mentoring and training, they are not safe. The enemy sees the call of God on this generation and is trying desperately to take them out before they can step into their destinies as miracle-working, revival-awakening instruments of God. 
What does it mean to you to serve God? For most Christians, serving God is a joyful expression of our translation from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light. We exchange bad habits for good ones, spend time in Bible studies instead of bars, and invest our talents into churches, ministries, and good causes throughout the world. We hope that our investments will yield eternal rewards. Some time later, though, we may wonder, is this all there is to Christianity? Just meeting the needs of my church? 
Everyone struggles with some aspect of their life that doesn't measure up. We all feel inferior and inadequate at times. For me, the partial deafness I experienced since childhood was a "thorn in my flesh" that reminded me continually that I was less than perfect: damaged goods. And yet God turned this disability in the natural into an ability in the Spirit: I learned (from John 10:27) that everyone can hear God. Silence helped me focus better. It was my encounters with a God I could hear that changed me from being fearfully insecure to being full of "holy boldness." Isaiah had a similar transformation in God's throne room. (Read Isaiah chapter 6 for the full story.) He moved from being "undone" in God's presence to saying, "Here I am, send me!" Insecurity, weakness and sin were all removed when a coal from the altar touched his lips. 
If you spent any time in Sunday School as a child, you know that God is love. You know the Christmas story and the Easter story, and you know that Jesus died for you. But when the harsh realities of life kick in, sometimes these stories can seem like fairy tales. When you feel disconnected from the Lord, or you feel like God doesn’t love you, what will help restore your trust in His goodness? What do you really need to know about Jesus that will keep you “on track” spiritually? Here are "5 Essential Things" you to know about Jesus, things that will get you through the tougher times in life. They are not EVERYTHING there is to know about Jesus, they're just some essential things I believe will help you hang on when the going gets tough. 
Those who read this blog on a regular basis will remember that last week, I wrote about a fictional encounter with God in which He took a key and unlocked the secrets of a believer's heart. (Click here if you missed it). Little did I know how prophetic that statement was! The same week, on Friday, I attended a gathering of believers from New England at the Congregacion Leon de Juda church in Boston. Chuck Pierce, an apostle of the faith and founder of Glory of Zion Ministries, also came to deliver a prophetic word of encouragement for our region. His message? "It's time to unlock the rock!" Referring both to Jesus's statement to Peter (Christ will build His church on the "rock" of revelation) and to the historic roots of New England (Plymouth Rock and the Puritans), Chuck spoke of the coming revival as both imminent and dependent on our need to unlock spiritual revelation. In the Spirit, Chuck saw keys coming down in response to prayers that have gone up. From those keys of revelation an entire nation will be unlocked. (Scroll down to watch the video replay, hear the word and join in praying for freedom over America with the declarations at the end of the video. I believe God is very interested, this season, in unlocking the treasures of revelation stored up - not just from our founding rock in Plymouth, but also in our hearts. How do we do that? By spending quality time with Him in prayer! Here is what He whispered to me as I meditated on these things... 
Perhaps the #1 reason why we pray is because we need God. We come in great need to Someone who suggests that He might meet our needs for us, something no man has ever done before. We have not seen this kind of love this side of heaven. We discover God’s amazing goodness and generosity, and we are compelled to love Him more. But prayer is not meant to end at the meeting of our needs! We begin here, but soon realize that our needs are meant to be a gateway into greater experiences with God. It is always relationship that God seeks with us. He means to be Father, not just Provider! To focus on God as Jehovah-Jireh alone is to miss the myriad other aspects of His character and Names, to miss the greatness of Him. The short story that follows is meant to illustrate our passage from beggars to sons and daughters. Our story unfolds like that of a weary traveler: 
If you’ve been a Christian for even a short time, you’ve already realized that despite God’s promises of both eternal and internal peace, you’re constantly confronted with the enemy’s plans for chaos and suffering! As soon as you begin to get serious about prayer, the enemy gets equally serious about keeping you out of your “secret place” in a bid to rob you of your peace. He knows, as you do, that prayer is the difference between a defeated warrior and a powerful victor. This is one compelling reason why we pray: because we have a supernatural enemy. 
There is power in prayer, but we don't want to stop at just receiving God's power for ourselves. God's power has a purpose. We can know for certain that we are praying effectively when we partner with that power! 
The first time I ever heard someone speak on prayer was when I was around 25 years old. I was helping to coordinate a large conference for Christians in New England, and I had a few minutes free between responsibilities. I slipped into a workshop on prayer with a speaker I had never met, and those few minutes changed my life. 
On 2-9-18, I had a prophetic vision of a stairway connecting earth to heaven. In the vision, I encountered the Lord, who gave me wisdom concerning what this staircase represents for every believer. Keep reading to discover a unique way of understanding your quiet times, and what happens within them! This week's blog also contains a link to an in-depth interview I did on Pray.Network, with Phil Miglioratti. Click here to listen in as Phil and I talk about Life-Giving Prayer in greater detail. |
Free Link to the Subscriber Resource Library when you join His Inscriptions!
Deborah Perkins
Categories
All
Archives
September 2018
AuthorA severe hearing loss from childhood caused Deborah Perkins to develop what she now calls her secret weapon: tuning in to God's voice. A Wellesley College graduate and an award-winning writer, Deborah is now a wife and mother of 3 boys. Deborah has devoted over 25 years to professional and lay Christian ministry in New England and beyond. Her passion is inspiring people to cultivate greater intimacy with God. 
|
RSS Feed