A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. "Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the GLORY OF THE LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." ~Isaiah 40:3-5 NASBS Dear Friends, In a series of encounters since Rosh Hashanah, the Lord has been speaking to me about what to expect in 2024 (Hebrew year 5784). Above all, I believe the Body of Christ will see significant EMPOWERMENT this year as we embrace our beautiful friendship and partnership with the Holy Spirit. Dear Friends, Through multiple encounters in prayer this week, the Lord has been highlighting Acts 16, speaking to me about “prison breaks” and breakthroughs coming for the Body of Christ. Those who have felt “locked up” in impossible situations for so long are about to see supernatural breakthroughs as the Lord Himself unlocks prison doors on your behalf, bringing you out into new places of freedom! Dear Friends, As Jeremiah 29:13 says, a wholehearted search for God is the key to finding Him. In the same way, consistent devotion to God's ways is meant to bring greater experiences of His overshadowing glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Many believers are experiencing greater manifestations of God's glory, which are much needed at this time! Around the world, people are having increased encounters with the supernatural realm. Lately, I've been asking the Lord how believers can position themselves to receive all the fullness of His glory. What helps or hinders someone's interactions in the glory realm? The Lord showed me two things in response. Wholeheartedness helps. But a "heart with holes" is a problem! 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. Dear Friends, During a prayer retreat before Rosh Hashanah / New Year 5783, I experienced several profound encounters in the Glory of God. These are some of the things the Lord revealed to me during that time. Every word from our Lord’s mouth is like a cup of compassion. His life-giving words are liquid love, meant to sustain body, soul, and spirit! While this is a slightly longer word for the year, I encourage you to meditate on each portion of what He’s shared with me, allowing the depth of His wisdom and love to penetrate your hearts. The eight sections of this word are listed below. Feel free to read one section at a time, pausing to pray and allow Holy Spirit to minister truth to you at this significant time!
Deborah 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, In repeated encounters over the past few months I have heard the Lord encouraging us to “open the door” to welcome His harvest. I hear the Lord saying: “Open the door! Go, stand at the door and watch: your harvest is coming in!” 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, Happy New Year! This word for 2022 can be viewed and shared on YouTube as well as on the blog for those who prefer to watch or listen. I believe what the Lord is sharing with me at this time will be a blessing to you as you set your focus on the new year! At the end of this post you’ll also find a link to a companion study sheet which you can download or print for free. On Christmas night, I was awakened by the Lord at 3:16 AM. Throughout that night, I was also given a series of three related dreams, which I will share below. When I awoke from the third dream, I heard this phrase ringing loudly in my ears: “2022 is the year of VISION and PROVISION!” VISION and PROVISION are significant themes for the Body of Christ in 2022. The Lord wants you to know He is releasing KEYS OF DELIVERANCE this year which will UNLOCK your ability to SEE more clearly and RECEIVE more abundantly! Using the “code” of 3:16, Holy Spirit highlighted a number of specific scriptures as He unfolded this word. The verses are included below, woven into the content of the prophetic word itself. Dear Friends, Can you feel it? There has been a significant SHIFT in the Spirit within the past few days, and a fresh outpouring of HOPE is here! I believe the Lord is STRENGTHENING His people and releasing a RESOLUTE spirit; a strong resolve in the wake of much reconstruction. Some of you have been standing in faith for a while, believing for change that has still not manifested. But as I spent time with the Lord this week, I sensed such a momentous shift in the Spirit. I heard Him say: “I WILL BE AN ENEMY TO YOUR ENEMIES AND A FOE TO YOUR FOES!” (Exodus 23:22.) I saw that some who have been flying with the Lord in a certain direction for many months, will suddenly see their plane take a hard right turn. You'll hear your heavenly Pilot announce your new destination. I prophesy to you that destinations that have been hidden or unclear to you will suddenly SHINE and become very visible against the night sky as you prepare to land. The names of your new destinations are written on the rooftops so that you cannot miss them! This past season of purging, pruning, darkness, and uncertainty is changing into a season of LIGHT and will come with CONFIDENT ASSURANCE of your new missions and assignments. Wisdom is entering your heart and knowledge will delight your soul! (Proverbs 2:10) Knowledge of HIM will be translated into the knowledge of your future. Some of you are being RELOCATED in this process of change so that you can fulfill your new orders from the Throne. This is so that God’s GLORY can be released in the exact locations and timings God has determined, according to a preset pattern. While you may have helped “steer” your plane at times, the Spirit has also had you on autopilot and on a precise schedule. You won’t fail, and you can't miss it! I hear the Lord saying: “Pay attention to what I’m showing you right now. Pay attention to the patterns and the order of things. Don’t move unless I tell you to. When you move, move in sync with Me and let Me order your steps!” There will be a PRECISE ORDER to your steps during this next sequence of events and you must be ready to move WITH the Lord. IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD.In the early hours one morning this week, I heard Holy Spirit whispering the first five verses of John to me over and over again. As I meditated on these verses, the Spirit said: “Begin with the WORD. Stay in the WORD. Keep your gaze on the WORD, so that you abide WITH GOD.” The Word - Jesus - refers to a person, not just the pages of a Bible. Jesus is WITH GOD, and as we keep our gaze on Jesus we abide in Him and remain WITH GOD ourselves. The incarnate WORD OF GOD whom we celebrate this season is also EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US! As we abide in the Word we become demonstrations of the WORD ourselves (“the Word WAS GOD”); and the light that shines in the WORD begins to shine in us. This light is unquenchable by darkness: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) The Lord has been highlighting Exodus 23 to me for many weeks. In this chapter, God promises Canaan to the Israelites, saying: “Behold, I send an ANGEL before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION TO HIM and obey his voice; do not rebel against him… for MY NAME IS IN HIM.” (Exodus 23:21; emphasis mine.) Many scholars believe that the “Angel of the Lord” who appears so frequently in Old Testament scriptures refers to Christ Himself - a God who, although He did not appear in our timeline until much later, is nevertheless not confined to time. The Redeemer of all reveals Himself to the likes of Joshua, Gideon, Moses, and Manoah even before His birth on earth, simply because He can! The Word - Jesus our Emmanuel - is ever-present, from the beginning and even before the foundations of the earth were laid, and the Word is still with us now. This is why the promise of the Lord “I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes” is so powerful today. GOD THE AVENGER is fighting for justice, to bring you into YOUR promised land. He is not slack in keeping His promises. Meditate on the MIGHT of God described in Exodus 23:27-31: “I will send My terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out… until YOU have increased and possess the land. And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.” (ESV) The Holman translation of that last verse clarifies: “I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you.” I feel so strongly that these are promises for YOU to decree today over your own lives and situations. The work of the enemy in the past few years has been to oppress like the Midianites, and to use widespread fear as a means of controlling God’s people. I hear the Lord saying: “I have given these enemies into YOUR control, and YOU will now overthrow them and break their demonic structures in pieces!” Freedom does not come without a fight, and you must know that the enemy will oppose you as the Spirit brings you into your land. But it is time to TRUST that the Lord will COMPLETELY DESTROY them as you obey His voice and move with Him, unafraid, at this time. During the exodus, darkness fell over all the land of Egypt, but the Word says Israel had LIGHT IN ALL THEIR DWELLINGS!” (Exodus 10:23) Friends, because of the supremacy and preeminence of Christ, who was IN THE BEGINNING and still wants to disclose Himself to you now, you can EXPECT LIGHT to enter you and bring wisdom when things are shrouded or unclear. You can EXPECT God to fight on your behalf when you feel your strength is spent and you have nothing but weariness and tears to offer Him. GOD DELIGHTS in you, He is close to the brokenhearted, and He delights in revealing Himself to you! Let the KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST IN YOU delight your soul! WORSHIP is still a powerful key. Continue to cultivate the Presence of the Lord in your homes and your gatherings, saturating yourselves with the sound of HIS VOICE, which thunders against every enemy of your soul and causes even cedars to shake. There is NOTHING that is too hard for God. Everything that you see in the natural realm was made by the WORD: “Without Him NOTHING was made that has been made” (John 1:3). In the same way, WITHOUT HIM WE CAN DO NOTHING. I’m praying for your breakthroughs as you cling fervently to the Lord our Warrior and Deliverer! Believe in His unchanging LOVE for you. Stir up your gifts! Turn up your worship! Stir yourself up to faith and hope again, for God is giving the inhabitants of the land into YOUR hands! Deborah 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)
[God] reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
Daniel 2:22
Dear Friends,
Special thanks to those who have been praying for the ministry of His Inscriptions! I had the privilege, this week, of talking with Joel Yount from SpiritFuel on a live broadcast. We talked more about last week's "Puzzles" word (you can read that post here or on SpiritFuel's website). Watch the broadcast on Facebook or Twitter to hear our conversation. Or scroll down to read the summary. If you are someone who loves to pray or desires deeper intimacy with the Lord, you have undoubtedly made room for Him somewhere in your heart or home, a place where you can be alone and quiet with Him, undisturbed. I know many His Inscriptions readers who have created special places in your homes, offices, or prayer cottages where you warmly welcome the Holy Spirit to come and abide with you. I have been blessed to visit or pray in some of these places over the years, and there is nothing on earth like them; they represent holy ground! Some of us, though, especially during the pandemic, have found that the private spaces we once had became crowded with other people! During a time of intercession today, I felt so strongly the Lord's heart for women who are warriors in the Kingdom of God! I heard Him say: “I am bringing forth My MILITANT WOMEN! I am pulling out of obscurity women who have been hidden for such a time as this. I'm building an UNUSUAL army of WORSHIPING WARRIORS who have fended off such mighty attacks at home that they are UNAFRAID of what’s on the battlefield! The “messes” have prepared them for the masses; the “housework” for the workings of the Household of Faith. Dear Friends, Thanksgiving is not just a holiday; it is a way of life for prayer warriors, prophets, pastors, and all who are members of God's family. This week, I am especially grateful that God Himself reminds us to be thankful to Him! The Bible says a grateful heart is an open door to seeing the manifest Presence of God. Every year, I take time to go away on several prayer retreats with the Lord. I especially like to spend a few days alone, prior to the new year, listening to God’s heart for the following year. This year, God pulled me away in September, at the Jewish New Year, to speak to me about the year 5780 and our civil year 2020. The Lord led me to visit Northfield, Massachusetts, the place where Dwight Moody was born in 1837. Moody built a Bible school that overlooks the Connecticut River, and in recent years, there have been many revival meetings held on his Northfield campus by different Christian ministries. Moody’s birthplace and grave are in Northfield, along with his wife’s, and I prayed about revival as I walked the grounds. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. ~Psalm 27 Holiness is not a popular teaching in the church today. Our ears itch for powerful promises, personal prophecies, and protection from anything that would add to our already stressful lives! To be holy - well, that seems almost impossible, doesn’t it? Since we live in a New Covenant age of grace, why focus on holiness at all? Isn’t holiness just the doctrine of legalism and works in disguise? We want to think about nicer things than dealing with sin: lovely and beautiful things, like Paul describes in Philippians 4:8! What is holiness, and why do we need it at all? Dear Friends, As I spontaneously worshiped the Lord this morning I noticed that every song that came to mind seemed to center on the Name of Jesus. I simply couldn't stop singing about His Name! It was as if the Holy Spirit were gently reminding me: It's the Name that frees you. It's the Name that delivers you. It's the Name that heals you. It's the Name that sustains you. Every time you call on My Name, I answer! Jesus is on a rescue mission to our nation and to the next generation! Beginning at 9pm tonight (Thursday September 27th, 2018) a powerful movement of prayer and intercession will be launched in ALL 50 STATES and on 100 COLLEGE CAMPUSES around America. Our goal: to bring the Presence of Jesus into every state in our nation, and to impact this generation to bring in a billion-soul harvest. I want to personally invite you to find the location nearest your home (see below), and join us for an hour, a day, or the entire weekend. Never before has our nation needed God so desperately, and never before (to my knowledge) has every state in our nation joined in unity to seek God simultaneously through prayer and praise. This is an historic moment you don't want to miss! Details:Who is invited: anyone, anywhere in the US What: 50 hours (3 days) of continuous, 24/7 worship to exalt Jesus and pray for revival in our nation, our children, our government, our churches and our homes. When: September 27th (Thursday, 9pm) through September 29th (Saturday, until 11pm) Where: Every State capital in our nation (see list of locations below) and 100 college campuses Why: 2 Chronicles 7:14 God is issuing 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. A wise friend of mine likes to say that the cross of Christ symbolizes the place where God's will crosses ours. We want to live a life full of joy and blessings, but along the way we reach crossroads in our lives that demand a decision: will we follow our own way or choose His? Our familiar path is suddenly interrupted. God confronts us with "cross purposes." From "rejoicing in trials" to "taking up our cross," how do we choose God's way when it seems so contrary to ours? |
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December 2024
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. |