POWER = LOVE!

During a time of prayer last week, I felt a grieving in the Lord’s heart over the deep brokenness in the Body of Christ that has come from man’s abuses of authority. 

Whether through past traumas or recent trials, many mighty warriors are processing wounds inflicted on them by misguided parents, pastors, or other leaders.

These deceived authority figures are people who should have shown the way to the Father, but instead threw away the key to intimacy. Demanding undue honor themselves, they failed to honor the Lord and His precious Body. 

I also saw that some of the most fervent believers who were praying for the fullness of God’s glory and power to come to earth, found themselves surprised by opposition within their own hearts when that same power actually began to manifest! This opposition stemmed from wounds buried deeper than they realized. 

I heard the Lord say that the enemy’s strategy here is to use these old, hidden wounds around authority issues to reconnect you to the fear of trauma and even to resist the power of God as it begins to increase in your life! 

The Lord is longing to restore those who are hungry for His manifest Presence on the earth. He wants to rebuild the trust and intimacy that was lost, removing all barriers to seeing Him as He is: a mighty, all-powerful, and GOOD God.

INTOLERABLE CONFLICTS

The struggle the Lord is highlighting is not a struggle between flesh and Spirit, but between soul and Spirit. 

For these believers, the more you experience the power of God, the greater the sense is that there is an incompatible belief system at work in your heart. In your spirit, you desire to see the full manifestation of God’s power. But in your soul, there remain fears of what would happen if an omnipotent God's “real” power were unleashed. 

The late Dr. Tom and Dr. Diane Hawkins* describe this incompatibility as an “intolerable conflict.” Forward movement in the truth is restricted when past lies, beliefs, or behaviors  - once protective yet now unhelpful - clamor to retain supremacy. 

I saw that those struggling with this type of conflict in their hearts have lived under the rule of demonic equations such as: Power=anger. Power=harm. Power=condemnation. Or power=abuse/forced submission. 

You’ve been taught by powerful but unspiritual people to run, hide, avoid, or compromise when power rears its ugly head. You’ve learned the hard way that power hurts; it doesn’t heal. 

This was the enemy’s plan all along, to force you to retreat in the face of power!

In the same way he stirs up betrayals to break the bonds of intimacy, so the enemy stirs up fear to rob you of the knowledge of your true power and authority in Christ. The devil's use of power is for destructive purposes. The Lord's power, however, equips, restores, heals, blesses, and builds.

I hear the Lord saying He is now removing internal lies and barriers of fear in your heart along with these layers of involuntary resistance to His power. It is not God’s desire for you to retreat when His power comes!

God is adjusting your careful (but wrong) calculations and rewriting the equation as: POWER = LOVE! 


BY MY SPIRIT

As I meditated on these things, the Lord illuminated a familiar scripture in Zechariah 4:6 as “proof” of what real moves of God look like: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My SPIRIT, says the Lord of Hosts.” 

The Lord of armies is on the advance, yet His powerful movements are by the SPIRIT, not by brute force of the flesh! 

To these broken ones, I hear the Lord saying: “You are not afraid of My Spirit, are you? I AM LOVE, and My Holy Spirit - the Spirit of love - has been shed abroad in your heart already. He lives in you and is with you; you know Him and trust Him. For this reason, you have no need to fear!”

Believers are called to walk in the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit. Paul asks: “Having begun in the Spirit, will you now be ‘perfected’ by the flesh?” (Galatians 5.) 

The Bible equates WALKING IN THE SPIRIT to WALKING IN LOVE (Gal 5:16 & Ephesians 5:2). There is no fear in love! Returning to familiar fears and old emotional “rules and regulations” that were useful to you when you were in survival mode will actually hinder you as you seek to move forward in God’s freedom. 

It’s time to erase the lie that power=harm. God’s power does not hurt you; it heals you! I hear a strong call in the Spirit to embrace even what feels like weakness here, trusting the truth that to God, Power = Love! 

2 Corinthians 12:9 reads: ‘But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.’


Next, the Lord drew my attention to words from the prophet Jeremiah, saying there is a CLEAR CHOICE in the Spirit right now for those still struggling to trust. 


This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”

The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

“I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”
~Jeremiah 17:5-10

Today, it is important to cast out any lies or deceptions that remain in your heart, since the enemy seeks to use old wounds to manipulate you AWAY from the blessings of trusting God! Bitter roots trouble and defile the Body (Hebrews 12:15). Moving in power in the next season depends on your ability to trust in the love of Christ this season. 


GOD AS MAN

In most scriptural incidents where God revealed Himself to mankind, He came in love and gentleness rather than with the “rod of punishment” that men feared (see 1 Corinthians 4;14-5:5). 

Christ - God as man - 

• Came as a powerless baby. 
• Refrained from judgment when a woman caught in adultery was thrown at his feet. 
• Restored Peter, who betrayed Him three times over. 
• Restrained His power at the cross, refusing the right to any selfish agendas.  
• Embraced human weakness, submitting to the power of God. 

In simplest form, God’s heart has always been to use His power for good. He demonstrates love for His friends by sending His Son to save us from every type of  oppressive power. He loves the hearts of those who love Him! 

I prophesy to you today that God is supernaturally releasing greater deposits of love into your heart than ever before to equip you to move forward in power.

The fear of power and misused authority that has plagued you in the past is being broken. Old triggers, belief systems, and survival responses that served you well in the past are being exposed so they may be disconnected and reprogrammed for good. 

That irrational feeling of dread you cannot control is being exchanged for fresh hope for your future. The vague uncertainties about what God might do are being lifted like a shroud off your heart. 

In the next glorious move of the Spirit, God wants to do wonderful things you cannot even begin to ask or imagine! He will do them according to the power that works in you (Ephesians 3:19-20). 

You are no longer dominated by power; you are a partner with God’s sovereign power! God is breaking forms of false submission and prideful power that have held you captive for too long (Lev. 26:19).

The Lord will never remove your will to choose, but He does desire for you to make right choices so that you can inherit blessings. 

Decree with me that the scepter of wickedness will not remain over your heart or your land! (Psalm 125:3.)

​Renounce and break any agreements, known or unknown, with occult (hidden) fears, vows, or connections to the improper use of power. You are not a victim ruled by force or punishing anger; you are a son or daughter of forgiving, cherishing LOVE that surpasses knowledge!  

I pray that the beautiful love of Christ will compel you to release all fear and dread, restoring you to the very POWERFUL place of intimacy in the Father’s heart. 

God’s love IS powerful. His Power=Love! You will move in power yourself as you become like Him, trusting the amazing move of His Spirit through you!  
​

©Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com.  
*The term “intolerable conflict” was first coined by Drs. Tom and Diane Hawkins of Restoration in Christ Ministries.