Dear Friends, 

On 7.27.21 I had a vision of the Lord Jesus, followed by two encounters in the Spirit which the Lord asked me to describe to you exactly. Please know that it is not my desire to call attention to the encounters themselves, but to the messages contained within. 

I saw the Lord comforting those who were suffering from trauma.

​We are living in increasingly difficult times, and as trials increase, the manifest Presence of the Lord is also increasing to release grace and peace to His people!

I believe the Lord wants to impart hope and healing to those who face trauma and opposition for His Name, and I am praying that these words will impress you as deeply as I was impressed when I heard them. 

At the end of this post you will find a recorded prayer you can use to receive ministry yourself or share with a friend.  (Click here for audio podcast or scroll down for YouTube podcast)

Dear Friends,

I hear the Lord saying: 

“It is time for the Body of Christ to raise their voice! Do not be silent! The enemy is attempting to silence you one final time because he knows your breakthrough is near. Do not allow old lies of unworthiness or condemnation to hinder you. You have been clothed with righteousness and are anointed and appointed to speak on behalf of the oppressed in this hour!”

For several months, the Lord has been highlighting a pattern to me which is found in three similar sections of Scripture: Acts 28; Luke 4-5; and Matthew 4-5. I believe this thrice-repeated pattern illustrates what is happening right now in the Body of Christ. 

In fact, many of you may be finding that you are living these scriptures! You are feeling the enemy’s attempts to silence you one last time through heavy attacks of witchcraft or condemnation. The attacks, however, are a precursor to great things!

In this new era, I hear the Lord issuing an age-old call to His Body to return to our First Love: 

“I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.  Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”  (Revelation 2:2-4)

Therefore be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord... be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brothers and sisters, against one another, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured. (James 5:1-11)
​

Dear Friends, 

We have arrived at what Dutch Sheets has called a "defining moment" - a demarcation point - for both the church and our nation. Significant changes in America's  government and economy are imminent!

I urge you to listen to the attached video message, which is also shareable from our His Inscriptions YouTube channel. In it, I release several important prophecies that will strengthen you as you navigate uncertain times. God bless you!

Deborah 
​

In 2006, author Rick Joyner wrote that a time was coming when churches would look more like military bases than church gatherings. I believe that time is imminent. 

With the worldwide pandemic-induced shutdown, the widespread demise of church as we know it, and virtually every one of the seven mountains being shaken, those who now take a stand for Christ must be unusually bold and courageous. In these last days we must be as militant about defending our faith as the enemy is about destroying it. 

God is calling soldiers in the Church to arise as mighty warriors and deliverers in this time. Not all will accept the call, but those who press in to pursue the Lord now are the ones whom God can call upon later. 

The apostle James says to "count it all joy" when we face various trials, for the testing of our faith produces perseverance. We know that allowing perseverance to finish its work brings maturity to our faith, but how do we find such "impossible joy" in the middle of increasingly difficult times? 

Today's podcast includes practical teaching and prophecies that will enable you to stand in the midst of any trial you face as the joy of the Lord sustains you.

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, or Anchor, then share this broadcast with someone who needs encouragement!

© Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com. Recorded live on 8.23.20 at Indian Lake Church, Worcester, MA. To watch the video on Facebook, click here. 

"WILL HE EVEN MOLEST THE QUEEN WHILE SHE IS WITH ME IN THE HOUSE?"
~Esther 7:8
​

Dear Friends, 

Those who desire to live a life of prayer in the Presence of the Lord will eventually find that there is someone who seeks to interrupt intimacy and destroy identity. I believe that what I share today will set many people free from a demonic strategy of Satan used to steal peace and stop believers from abiding in their secret places with the Lord. 

Dear Friends, 

Those who follow His Inscriptions know that I usually write my messages to you, but this week I felt compelled by the Lord to see you face to face!

If you are feeling weary from your battles, please watch and share this short video, which will encourage you to find places of peace and joy in the midst of your trials. I believe there are many of you who need a "word in season" to combat the work of the enemy.

Join with me at the end of the broadcast to receive freedom as we pray together. May you be blessed by what I'm hearing from the Lord this week. 

For Him,
Deborah
​

Dear Friends, 

Never is it more clear that we are “treasures in jars of clay” than when the pressure is on!

Our desire to love dissipates as we are squeezed, it seems, almost unmercifully, and what spills out of us is not love or power at all but hatred, judgment, anger, or fear.  

“Lord, I can’t take this anymore! I am so stressed. People don’t understand. I simply can’t continue doing life this way.” 

This complaint was mine recently, as life itself seemed to strangle and choke me. Pressure and disappointments from family, a lack of time for the things I most needed to do, some boundary issues that needed confronting, and - for good measure - several troubling issues with our house all conspired to crush me. 

The funny part? That was the week the Lord whispered to me: “Write about love.” 

LOVE?!

For a moment, I wondered if God had missed something. Perhaps He was slipping as eternity wore on? Because at that point in time, my attitude was far from loving! 

I had a powerful dream a few nights ago. I will share portions of the dream with you here, but the most notable aspect of it was that when I woke up I heard the Spirit clearly say these words: “The church as you know it is disappearing!” 

Immediately I was reminded of the Scriptures. In Matthew 24, Jesus’s disciples are admiring the beautiful Jewish temple: its courts, structures, and architecture. Jesus turns to them and says: “Take a good look at all these things, for I’m telling you, there will not be one stone left upon another. It will all be leveled!” (Matthew 24:2, TPT)

Of course persecution will increase, but let's not let that upstage what God is doing in the foreground of this story - expanding His Kingdom. - Southeast Asia's Regional Director, Voice of the Martyrs Ministry
​

What are you building?
How are you using your talents to further the Kingdom of God?
Have you started something for God, only to not finish it for some reason? What got in the way?
 
If you’re like me, you’ve had lots of wonderful ideas of things you’d like to do for God, maybe even done a number of them. But for many people, your spiritual to-do list looks more like a hoped-for “bucket list” than a resume of accomplishments. Even when God tells us what should be on our lists, we sometimes fail to persevere and finish the tasks. Why is that?
​

It’s easy to be excited about prophetic words, especially when they promise growth, expansion, restoration, or blessing. The prophetic word I released at the beginning of 2017 contained all of those. God is speaking about Kingdom expansion in the coming year. Yet God also gave us a prophetic mandate to re-examine Nehemiah’s “growth strategies,” found in the scriptures. This post on discouragement is the first in a series I will write on combating the enemy’s attacks during a time of growth.

Developing an arsenal of prayer is critical, especially in the end times. We need to be ready to pray scriptural prayers that build our faith in specific areas and keep us immune to the enemy's lies.

With this in mind, I occasionally condense scriptures on specific topics into simple prayers that I can pray daily. This week, the Lord impressed on me the need to pray the verses from 2 Thessalonians against deception, a key tactic of the Antichrist in the end times. Deception leads to hopelessness, but the Lord has given us specific promises of hope to carry us through difficult days.

Take time today to print or download Prayers for the End Times in the Subscriber Resource Library. It's free with your subscription to His Inscriptions. I pray you'll begin to use it daily to inoculate yourself against the fears and anxieties that come from the enemy's lies! 

There is a deception in the church today that concerns me. Like all deception, it is based on a measure of truth. But taken too far, it changes from a helpful tool for understanding spiritual seasons, to a prison in which we lock fellow believers and throw away the key.

November 23, 2015 is the International Day of the Bible. Christians around the world are celebrating the Word of God, which has now been translated, at least in part, into over 2500 languages. In America, we also celebrate Thanksgiving this week, the beginning of our nation's freedom to worship God.

The day before I began writing this post, I spent a few minutes thinking about what I am most thankful for this year. God, family, and YOU - my readers - top the list, of course, but what really creates thanksgiving in me is that there is such a wealth of Christian resources available to so many of us around the world today.

Think about it: in the United States alone, there are multitudes of Bible-believing churches within driving distance, along with Spirit-filled conferences, prayer meetings, and worship gatherings. You can even get a ministerial degree online!

You might also have noticed that thanks to technology, I can link all the Bible verses I use on my website to Bible Gateway, a powerful Bible search engine (www.BibleGateway.com). Bible Gateway, in turn, circulates my blog along with many others to their readers around the world. Online study of the Bible is so common now that even in our church services, we often see people pull out their cell phones when the pastor says "please turn to the book of Hebrews!" 

Advances in technology are not just impacting the US. In the 1980's it was prophesied that one day, Chinese workers in the rice fields would have 24/7 access to Christian programming - via a "device like a TV on their wrists." This was long before anyone had conceived the idea of smartphones and smartwatches. Today, Chinese readers make up the second largest group of readers for our "His Inscriptions" blog - outranked only by readers in the United States!
​ 

A Tennessee school district bans the American flag from being displayed on student vehicles. Planned Parenthood secretly profits from the harvesting of unborn fetal tissue. A judge orders a Christian bakery to pay a penalty for their decision not to bake an LGBT cake. The issues surrounding us in our world today are unbelievable almost, overwhelming. What should we do? Or in the words of the late Francis Schaeffer, “How Should We Then Live?*”

On the surface, Christianity seems pretty straightforward. Love God, and you’ll be blessed. Disobey God, and things will go wrong. And this is true, to a point. However, this kind of black-and-white thinking leads to a simplistic spirituality that limits faith to a two-dimensional God. He’s either angry or He’s loving. Maybe He’ll bless you or maybe He won’t. You just never know; in fact, you can’t possibly know, since like all human beings, you have blind spots. You can’t see where you might have missed something.

You have just been issued a summons. You must appear in court immediately, and not as a juror. You have been called by the prosecution to take the stand as a defendant in a case with a high dollar value. If you lose, your sentence could include a lifetime in prison. What’s worse: you have been wrongly accused.

If it sounds like I am being dramatic, rest assured, I am not. The first paragraph is entirely true. As a Christian, you are – this very moment – being called by the devil (the prosecution) to take a defensive stand against his false accusations. He is, unfortunately, a very good lawyer, having practiced his craft since time began. Nevertheless, you have an excellent lawyer as well: your advocate, Jesus.

Now, I know you’re on the right side of the law, and you know you’re on the right side, but the prosecution wants to prove otherwise. If he succeeds, he gains access to your money, your mental and physical health, your family, or even your life. His goal is to lock you up for a lifetime.

Having a good lawyer will help, of course, but in this heavenly courtroom what matters most is your testimony. You are about to be tested on the facts, and whether your actions are legal. If you don’t know your rights as a citizen of heaven, or if the enemy can find a weakness in your argument, you lose. 

As in any trial, you must have two weapons. The first is an excellent lawyer who is familiar with your case. If you’re a Christian, you already have a good relationship with the best attorney there is in spiritual matters: Jesus Christ. In Him you are on the right side of the law, no matter what you have done. He has also never lost a case. As long as you choose Him as your Advocate, you stand a pretty good chance of winning.

The second weapon is a detailed knowledge of the law, which in this case represents your covenant with God. This is where the prosecution often gains the upper hand, since you do not know the law as well as he does, nor are you used to defending yourself against such deceptive, unfair arguments. You will find that the prosecution has accessed information about your life that you did not wish to be made public. You will be horrified to hear that he can call to the witness stand, one by one, people who willingly testify against you, dragging past sins to the surface and making you look like a heartless criminal.

In the final analysis, it will be very important that what you do and say lines up with the law. Satan’s legal strategy from the beginning has been to cast doubt on our words: “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1-3).  Your best defense is going to be to stick to the words your attorney, Jesus, gives you to say, and avoid adding too much of your own.

“Isn’t that deceptive,” you might ask? After all, I really am guilty of a lot of things, and I don’t always do what I should. What that witness said about me was true: I really didn’t like the guy, and I treated him badly because I couldn’t forgive him. I deserve punishment.”

The question is, do you?  You might have opened the door to some legal “loopholes” the prosecution is now using against you, but the real test is whether you believe and can prove that you are innocent. In a happier moment, it’s easy to believe your mistakes are covered by the blood of Jesus, which ratifies your covenant with God. But when the opposition mounts, can you still stand on that testimony? Do you know which clauses in your contract validate what you have experienced spiritually?

Those who do cite them and win their cases. Those who don’t have a harder time. Fortunately, Jesus knows what it’s like to be a defendant on the courtroom stand. He was challenged twice: in the wilderness (Luke 4) and before His death (Luke 22-23:47). Both times He adhered to God's covenant and responded only with the Words of God. Both times, He won. 

Jesus knows what it’s like to be tried as a criminal on the wrong side of the law. Jesus didn’t allow his feelings to contaminate His testimony. Instead, He studied His covenant with God until He knew the law inside and out. He lived a legal, righteous life even when falsely accused. He accepted a death sentence from the enemy only because He knew that God would ultimately give him the keys to get out of that prison. He spoke only the words of the covenant and He fulfilled the law perfectly in His life on earth.

We believers are summoned daily to take the stand- not as those who have lived a perfect life, as Jesus did, but as those who are protected by His knowledge of and adherence to the law. Every time we are summoned, we should arrive at the courtroom with contract in hand. Everything we say in our defense should be based on what Jesus, our attorney, outlines for us. We should stick to our testimony of His goodness like glue. Anything else we say can and will be used against us!   

The more certain you are of your innocence in Christ and your rights as a believer, the more likely you are to live a blessed life.

Prayer:  Jesus, You are the most successful attorney I could ever have. I am so grateful that You know how to defend me against the trials and accusations the enemy is using against me. I have been falsely accused, Lord! Give me the time I need to sit down with you and review our covenant until I know it inside and out. Convince me of the blessings and freedom You have already won for me, so that my testimony holds up under every cross-examination. I praise You for your victories! I thank you that You have the keys to unlock every jail cell the enemy throws me into! We win! 

"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
 And He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, 
but also for the sins of the whole world. 
1 John 2:1-2, KJV

Deborah Perkins is passionate about helping others to connect with God.
She writes about knowing God and hearing His voice
at His Inscriptions.com. For speaking engagements, or
to contact her directly, click here. 

Sometimes we go through a series of "unfortunate events," as Harry Potter fans would call them, which seem to suck the wind right out of our sails and leave us almost dead in the water. Our beautiful day of smooth sailing suddenly darkens, and we notice ominous storm clouds all around us. The reality of our situation hits us hard: here we are - fools! - in the middle of the sea, without any land in sight, and completely at the mercy of the storm. What were we thinking? How on earth are we going to get out of this?

The apostle Paul is, next to Jesus, probably the most respected and influential leader in the New Testament. He has an almost superhuman status within the Christian faith, including elevation to sainthood within the Catholic church. Because we tend to emphasize his teachings, it is easy to overlook the essential, life-changing truth that God reveals to us through this man’s life: ministry is not just for clergy.  ​

What makes one person thrive while another barely survives? Why do some people seem to live almost effortlessly, while others go through life hanging on by their fingernails? Even Christians are not exempt. We cling to the Gospel's wonderful hope of heaven. But is that all there is? What about the problems in this present life? What do I do between now and eternity? 

I believe there is a key difference between survivors and those who thrive in life. Or for Christians, between the survivors and the revivers! It's not just a difference between rich and poor. It's actually a different state of mind.  

To describe this, let's look at the law of the jungle. ​

One of our family's favorite movies to watch during the holiday season is Home Alone. You're no doubt familiar with the storyline: 8-year-old Kevin is left behind by his rather large (and obnoxious) family when they travel to France, and ends up defending his upper-middle-class home from a dynamic robber-duo named the "Wet Bandits." Two hours of hilarious pranks and traps set by this tyke end with a Christmas day arrest of the bandits and a much-matured little boy. 

What we love about this movie is the creative ingenuity of a child that outwits the "professionals." Using only the resources he has at hand, most of them commonplace in an 8-year-old's world, he masterminds a strategy that is so unexpected to the pros, it almost has to succeed! From the ice on the stairs to the toy cars in the hall, we watch Kevin outwit and - just barely - outlast the enemies, until he is reunited with his family. The cops don't show up until the boy has done his job protecting his home.
 

God's Version

Speaking to me yet again in His unusual way, God drew my attention this week to His "Home Alone" story in the Bible. Luke puts it just after the "traditional" Christmas readings of the birth of Jesus, in chapter two:

Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 
And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 
And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus 
stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 
but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, 
but then they began to search for him among their relatives and 
acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, 
searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, 
sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 
And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 
And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. 
And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? 
Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 
And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know 
that I must be in my Father's house?” And they did not understand the saying 
that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to 
Nazareth and was submissive to them. 
And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Luke 2:41-52, ESV

Jesus was a boy of twelve who, like Kevin, was left behind in His Father's house. Three full days went by before his parents returned to find Him quite peacefully settled in His temple, debating with the scholars. Like Kevin, Luke tells us he grew and matured after this, due in part, perhaps, to engaging His "enemies" (the religious leaders) who would later persecute him. 

In the movie, Kevin listened to the robbers and learned the very hour they planned to rob his family's house, so he had time to prepare a strategy that would defeat them. In Luke's text, Jesus is said to have both "listened" and "asked questions" of His future tormentors. Their dialogue gave Him valuable insights concerning the scribes and Pharisees. It was these very same leaders whom He would "trap" with His own questions later in life. 

The boy Jesus grew, matured, and learned how to defend His Father's house - the temple - from those would would defile it. His strategies were different; He used words, not toys, as His traps, but he successfully enacted His plan to restore to God what was stolen by the enemy.

Bringing It Home

Here's what's interesting about these stories. I believe God regularly gives us "home alone" moments in life, too. We are never completely alone, of course, but God gives us moments when our normal support systems - friends, family, or even the voice of God Himself - disappear for various reasons. We come face to face with spiritual or natural enemy forces, and we learn to defend what we love from predators who would rob us. Forced to draw upon inner strength and the resources we have at hand, we learn to stand our ground and fight back.

Like David the Psalmist, we may find that using the standard "grownup armor" isn't the best strategy. We learn that the resources most familiar to us at the time can be effective, no matter what stage of life we are in. Our unique gifts and talents are surprisingly adequate, in God, to overcome our enemy. In fact, it is what enemy is not expecting from us - like our slingshots - that yield the greatest results!

Be Who You Are!

My hope is that this simple analogy will encourage you to be who you are now at this time in God, and not to belittle yourself because your faith or your gifts are too small. The truth is, none of us is fully mature yet. The wonderful thing about God is that He takes our childlike efforts and multiplies their effectiveness with His power. As my spiritual dad always says, "We win!"

Are you ready to use your unique abilities to defend the Kingdom of God in your life? When you use your gifts, you do real and lasting damage to the enemy. Your confessions of faith set angels in motion. You overcome your fears and grow up a bit in the process. And God is gonna be impressed with your bravery and zeal for His house. I guarantee it!

c.Deborah Perkins, 2014

Deborah Perkins is passionate about helping others connect with God. She writes about knowing God and hearing His voice at HisInscriptions.com. Follow Deborah on Twitter@DeborahSPerkins, or click here to subscribe to her blog.