Dear Friends,
God is so many wonderful things to the believer: Father, Deliverer, Friend, Protector, Refuge, and Savior. Through the gifts of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, God loves and guides us as we walk through the "wilderness" of this world on our way to the Promised Land of heaven! As I mediated on Psalm 68 and Numbers 10 this week, the Lord highlighted three particular attributes of Himself that He wanted me to share with you. He is a Cherished Husband, a Prophetic Guide, and a source of Rest and Refreshment at Rephidim. Listen to this audio teaching from our Leaders' Bible Study to discover beautiful prophetic parallels between Israel's encounters in the wilderness and the Body of Christ's journey today. Blessings, Deborah Dear Friends, Over the past few weeks I have been deeply moved by the heart of God for restoration and for the emergence of what is best described as a ‘Judges 4 Company’ of anointed Deborahs and Baraks. These believers are characterized by unusual partnerships with each other and with the supernatural. Before reading the rest of this word, I encourage you to stop and reread Judges 4 & 5 to familiarize yourself with the scriptures concerning this time period in Israel’s history, which closely parallels our own! Dear Friends, In a series of encounters over the past few months, Father God has taken me repeatedly into His heart, speaking of His desire for wholeness and healing in the Body of Christ. There has been a sustained emphasis on healing and restoration. For many this process is ongoing. This morning as I encountered the Father’s heart again, I saw His intense desire for union and communion with His children. Dear Friends, Two weeks ago the Lord asked me to call a dear friend, a watchman/intercessor I highly respect, to deliver a very simple challenge: "Just Jesus." Those two words, the Lord said, were an invitation for my friend to close the doors temporarily on all external sources of "noise" or information-gathering in order to recalibrate the ears to just one sound: the voice of God. I knew this would not be easy; turning off phones, news, YouTube, and even the Kingdom sounds of other prophetic voices is a daunting task today! Yet I saw the Lord sitting patiently and quietly nearby, waiting - as any good guest might - for His Brides' full attention.
They go from strength to strength; every one of them appears before God in Zion!
~ Psalm 84:7 Dear Friends, Happy New Year! I woke this morning with the words of Psalm 84 dancing in my spirit: "How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longs and even faints for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the Living God!" Dear Friends, In a series of encounters over the past week, the Lord has been speaking to me of His “Eagles”: those believers and warriors who have taken the time to rest deeply in the Lord, heal, listen, and prepare themselves for the future. These Eagles are trained to soar! Like great birds perched on the Master Falconer’s arm, they are awaiting His signal and ready to be released. I believe there will be a time very soon when these Eagles are corporately released. They will know by the Spirit what they are to do, both individually and in collaboration with each other. Their visionary leadership and heightened perspective in stormy times will be a great asset to the Body of Christ! Dear Friends,I hear the Lord saying to the weary: “I am your Lifeline and your Rescuer!” In a vision this week, I saw the Lord Jesus holding a thick rope which extended from heaven to earth. His desire was to rescue His people by drawing them up higher with Him in the Spirit. The ones who took hold of the Lord to ascend in this way were deposited on a cloud in the heavens. All around them was darkness. I heard the Lord say that He was a “Lifeline” and a “Rescuer.” When I asked the Lord about the cloud, which was very high above earth and surrounded by a vast space, He spoke into my ears a verse from Psalm 18:19: “He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.” Dear Friends, Times of stress can make us feel as though we have been thrown overboard, tossed from the safety and comfort of our ships into a tumultuous sea. Traumatic events - whether injuries, losses, wars, or relational fractures - shock our systems like a plunge into cold water, momentarily destabilizing us. All we can do, it seems, is watch as waves and wind batter and shatter the only sources of security we have ever known! We are living in a time of unprecedented trauma, when storms of epic proportions are being unleashed against our world. It’s a time of compounded trauma: each event triggers another. Stress is emerging like bands of a storm, wanting to draw us into the very center of its turmoil. King David expressed so well how this feels. He wrote: “For the waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.” (2 Samuel 22:5-6) It is important for the Bride of Christ to remember that her security is in Christ alone, not in things she might hold dear. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Although it may seem like the Lord Himself has cut your lifeline and detached you from the safety of any “ship” you have relied on in the past, I believe this SEVERING from the old is what’s necessary for a stronger TETHERING to your empowered, new-creation life! Christ in you is the hope of glory! I hear the Spirit saying: “We have this hope as an anchor for our souls.” Dear Friends, I’m sending a brief post today to let you know that during the month of September, His Inscriptions will be offline as I spend extended time in prayer. One of our His Inscriptions readers, a longtime friend and intercessor herself, has graciously shared her home with me while she and her husband travel to Europe. My amazing family has also released me to rest and focus exclusively on the Lord during this time. (Give them some love if you're nearby!) It’s interesting to me that Christians call prayer times like these retreats. I’d much rather call them advances! When we take time to rest from labor and seek the Lord’s face, we tap into spiritual empowerment like no other. Not even an expensive vacation can recharge the human spirit the way time with the Lord can - because it’s the ministry of the Spirit that gives life to both body and soul! As I “advance” to a more private location with the Lord, I’ve asked my dear friend and board member Elizabeth Cartier to share her thoughts with you on the importance of rest, in hope that you’ll join me in focusing more deeply on the Lord this month. Special thanks to those who have sent me encouraging words lately. I value your prayers for protection, refreshment, and clarity as I tune my ears to our Good Shepherd’s wonderful voice! Blessings, Deborah 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 prayer on March 21, 2020, I was given a “scroll” by the Spirit of the Lord. Its title was RESTORATION. I wrote the words He gave me and kept them “sealed,” knowing that the understanding of its contents would be revealed at a later time. That time, I've discovered, is this week. The scroll begins: “You are looking into timeless truths; things that are SELF-EVIDENT because they endure throughout the generations. RESTORATION always comes! I am the God of restoration - the restorer of every breach, and the hope for ALL of salvation! Dear Friends, As I prayed about this coming year, 2021, I heard a proclamation in the Spirit: “We have liftoff!” The moment I heard these words, I looked at my clock, and the time was 3:21 AM. I understood that the Body of Christ was now in a ‘3-2-1- launch” time! I heard in the Spirit that a significant theme for 2021 was “delineation.” We will begin to see and differentiate between those who truly know God, walking by faith, and those who know or trust only themselves. To delineate means to define or describe precisely. We can expect God to bring fresh clarity this year where things have previously been obscured. Dear Friends, I hear the Lord saying: “These are as the days of Noah.” Like Reagan before him, President Trump has used the words “drain the swamp” as a catchphrase for how he will combat corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy. Yet in the Spirit, I see that what is happening today could be better described as a flooding. In a vision last week, I saw springs of the deep being opened up and water rising all across the earth. This great surge of water had the effect of flushing out evil in the government and in every sphere. I heard the Lord say: “This exposing (of evil on the earth) is a flushing out of the “swamps” by waters from My deep storehouses; people do not perceive this as glory, but I tell you it is the pure springs of glory pouring forth from beneath that are causing evil to be exposed in this day. "The rains will now also begin to fall in great torrents like you have never seen; think of the outpourings in Toronto and Brownsville, but MULTIPLIED in their force and effect.” The powerful outpouring I saw in the Spirit was not in one place alone, but covered the earth in its scope and dimensions. I heard the Lord say: “You have no idea HOW BIG I AM and how I long for a total immersion of My people in My Presence! Joy will be magnified as those who are rescued find great purpose and peace in this hour.” Dear Friends, In the past few months, I have been blessed to have several encounters with the Lord in which He revealed Himself to me chiefly as the Shepherd. In modern-day terms we might say he manifested Himself as a Pastor, or perhaps as a very wise and dear Companion. Whatever the terminology, I was reminded more than once of the scripture in 1 Peter 2:25 which reads: "You were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." I have been thoroughly captured by the gentleness, patience, and love I have seen as He manifested Himself to me this way! I took a long walk today before the snow came; before our governor announced a stay-at-home advisory for the next few weeks. In this time of worldwide sickness and pervasive fear, it was good to get out of the house, to reflect on God’s beautiful creation, and to focus on Him. As I walked, I listened to a beautiful worship song from Bethel Music called “The Blessing.” (Listen to it here.) This song was released just prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, and never has a song been more timely! The lyrics are scriptures which contain the priestly Aaronic blessing over Israel in Numbers 6:24: The Lord bless you and keep you The Lord make His face shine upon you The Lord be gracious unto you and give you peace. Worship is key for me in times of trial; it feeds my spirit and strengthens my “inner man.” Just as a dear friend sent this song to me as a blessing, I encourage you to receive this song as God’s blessing over you as well. He is truly FOR YOU! Most people turn to familiar scriptures in times like these: Psalm 23, Psalm 91, John 14, 2 Corinthians 4:3-10. We pray these scriptures and receive a measure of strength from them every time they are read. Yet this morning as I prayed, I encountered Psalm 91 in an entirely different way. The voice of the Lord is thundering from heaven! As my friends and readers know, the hand of the Lord has been heavy on me since January 20th of this year, when the Spirit of God released a weighty, tangible glory in my home. (Read the story here). This glory has remained and steadily increased as I have pressed in to hear His voice day and night. One of the most interesting things I have heard the Lord say again and again is: “Come inside the sound of my voice.” A wise friend listened to me recently as I poured out my heart about a situation that seemed - despite all the promises of God - to remain stubbornly and decisively unchanged. You know the kind of situation I’m talking about: no amount of praying, prophesying, persisting or proclaiming makes even a dent; in fact, it sometimes makes things worse! I was fed up, confused, worn out and honestly annoyed at what seemed to be a brick wall I would never surmount. Sure, God had given me some terrific and specific promises, but it had been years - decades, even - and nothing had changed! What was I to do? “There is a time for everything,” the Preacher of Ecclesiastes writes, yet one of the hardest lessons to learn is to watch and wait for God’s perfect timing! This week, as I listened to the Lord in the still of the night, I heard Him speak about timing, and the times we are living in. His insights helped me immensely, and I pray they will be a blessing to you as well. Here is what I heard Him say... As we begin this New Year, I am delighted to release this Prophetic Word for 2019. Because it is lengthier than previous words, touching on family, government, spiritual life and Kingdom building, I will release this word in three segments on the blog over the next three weeks. Those who wish to read the Prophetic Word in full may do so using the link from my prophecies page on the website: www.HisInscriptions.com/prophecies. Blessings to each of my readers as you enter in to the new things God has for you! “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” Galatians 5:22, NJKV Jesus came to earth looking for a Bride. He is as interested today in a pure, spotless Bride as He was when He walked the earth. As any marriage counselor will tell you, the preparation of a bride’s heart is far more important to the marriage relationship than her preparations for an elaborate wedding ceremony. Spiritually, our wedding with Christ has yet to take place. (See Revelation 21.) The central question for us during this time of “engagement” is: Are we busier with our religious activities than with preparing our hearts for Him? Are we focusing on religious ceremonies, but neglecting the Kingdom of God within us? Are we living a life of peace and joy, rooted in intimacy with the Bridegroom? Summertime and the living is… NOT always easy! If you’re a parent with kids, you know how *challenging* summers can be! Between long work hours for my hubby and an increasingly busy schedule feeding and caring for my family (think weekly sleepovers, the constant geographical shuttling of children to and fro, doctor’s appointments, and - oh – did I mention we are scraping AND painting the house ourselves in this heat wave?!), I was distracted from my usual routine and beginning to feel exhausted. And there’s still another month until the kids go back to school! Thankfully, through the generosity of a friend, the children and I escaped to the mountains for a few days this week, bringing one of their friends along. Here, they could swim and play with less supervision on my part, and I could relax and perhaps write. The words of David in Psalm 119 came alive to me: “Revive me, Oh Lord!” The famous comedian, Woody Allen, quips that "eighty percent of success is showing up." I'm not sure about the numbers, but I do think there's some truth in this. Ask any pastor and you will find that one of their primary concerns is how to keep people coming back to church, week after week, when most people simply crave "down time" on the weekends. We are tired, world-weary, and longing for rest. How do we find the energy to "show up" when we feel like there is nothing left to give? Matthew's gospel reads: I have prayed for people in some difficult situations lately. I’ve talked with people who are struggling with significant changes in their lives that leave them wondering, ‘What now? Did I do something wrong?’ Life suddenly threw them a curve ball; something unexpected sent them spinning, wide-eyed, into what felt like a dusty, dry, desert season. I took a walk down to a local pond last week to rest and pray. The stillness of water relaxes me, and I sat for a while enjoying the warm sun and the beautiful scenery. Psalm 19 tells us that "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge." (Psalm 19:1-2, NKJV) The Lord told me once that the "ancients" - our fathers in the faith - used to meditate far more often than we do, and as a result, they were rewarded with far more wisdom. I sought rest, not wisdom, yet God gifted me with both. He reminded me that water in Scripture is sometimes used to symbolize the Word (see Ephesians 5:26). And wind ("pneuma", or "breath," in the Greek), often represents the Holy Spirit. When wind blows upon the water, creating ripples or waves, suddenly the direction of the wind, normally invisible, can be seen. Asking the Holy Spirit to breathe upon the Word as we read it will help us to discern more clearly His direction for our lives. The Bible comes alive. The movement of the Spirit is seen. In the same way, a topical look at the water of the Word gives a certain amount of peace. But when we choose to immerse ourselves in water, rather than just look at the surface of it, we find that deep within that water is life. All kinds of living creatures abide there, things we would never see if we did not immerse ourselves. Tides, or perhaps the directional pull towards a waterfall, can now be felt. In the water, it is easier to sense the direction that water is taking, and we can allow ourselves to be carried along to where the water - or rather, the Word - wants us to go. Living water! Isn't that what Jesus was talking about? We came to the Word seeking peace and rest, and yet as we immersed ourselves in it, studying it, we began to gain wisdom from God. We now know the direction He is taking us, and with the wind at our back and the swell of the waves, we float effortlessly to our destination. Christians have a ritual of immersion called baptism. My youngest son is obeying Christ's command to be baptized this weekend. He is choosing to believe that his interaction with the water will yield new life in the Kingdom of God. I pray that as he grows, he will continue to immerse himself in the water of the Word, which has the power to guide and direct him all the days of his life. Isn't it interesting that following Jesus begins with a command to be baptized in water and ends with a command to abide in the water of the Word? To help you study the relationship between the water of the Word and the wind of the Spirit, I am including a link to a teaching I delivered recently at Indian Lake Community Church in Worcester, MA. I believe it will bless you and challenge you to take the plunge: to dive into the Word daily and to enjoy the feel of the wind on your face as you follow Him.
https://db.tt/iA55MsQg
*Please note: Because this is a live recording, there is some background noise. I encourage you to press in and discover all that God wants to say to you through this teaching.
c. Deborah Perkins, 2015
Deborah Perkins is passionate about helping others to connect with God. She writes about knowing God and hearing His voice at HisInscriptions.com. For speaking invitations, or to contact her directly, please click here.
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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. |