Catherine Brown: "God Desires to Empower You to Be An EXPRESSION OF HIS HEART to All Those Around You"

Courtesy of elijahlist.com

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine upon us, that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations." Psalm 67:1-2

I want to encourage you today with a word about Kingdom transformation. God desires to empower you to be an expression of His heart to all those around you. Today, God wants you to know that as He holds the whole world in His hands, He also holds your heart, your family, your destiny, and every good gift in the palm of His pierced hands for you.

Jesus said, "Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world." John 17:24

We need to have faith for the encounter to access the atmosphere of Heaven, yet all we have to do is simply accept the Master's invitation to enter into the glory realm.

The Transfiguration Encounter

In Matthew 17:1-13, we read how Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain with Him, and there the Lord was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and His clothes became shining bright and the glory of God was all around. In addition to this incredible sight, Moses and Elijah appeared before them and spoke with Jesus about His imminent departure from the earth. The atmosphere of Heaven causes a shift and brings with it an opening from Heaven to earth. Mantles, miracles, salvations and healings are released when Messiah draws near.

At this time, Peter suggested that he should put up three tents. We might say he wanted to "build a monument to the moment," but God wasn't looking to build a monument; He was orchestrating a face-to-face encounter to facilitate Kingdom change beyond what they could ever imagine at this stage of their journey. It was an awesome occurrence, and we can understand why Peter wanted to keep hold of it forever!

God, however, had different ideas. He didn't want Peter to operate out of yesterday's anointing; God calls us to live in the "now" of His eternal presence, invading every fiber of our being with His glory. As Peter spoke a bright cloud enveloped them all and God's voice was clearly heard above Peter's, "This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!" Matthew 17:5

God sought to ensure that the disciples recognized the strategic and significant nature of their encounter. With the coming death and resurrection of Christ, life as they knew it was going to change beyond recognition. This personal episode in their lives was necessary to prepare them for what lay ahead. In time they would ultimately view this revelation of Christ's majesty in the wider context of reaching the multitudes.

Love Breaks Fear

By affirming Christ, God revealed Himself, yet again, as a loving Heavenly Father in touch with every aspect of His Son's life and the lives of all His children. By enveloping them in the glory cloud, God included the "trembling trio" simultaneously, making it clear that it was not a time for idle chatter but a time to listen carefully to Christ.

The disciples were terrified and fell face down when they heard God's voice, but Jesus came and touched them in a reassuring manner. Not desirous for His disciples to be ruled by fear He said, "Don't be afraid." Jesus understands that fear can cause us to feel disenfranchised or to disengage and become apathetic or aggressive (passive or otherwise) to the process of change.

The power of Christ's love breaks every fiber of fear in us. Jesus said to Peter, James and John, "Get up" because our Lord is passionate about active discipleship. He wants us on our feet, ready to respond to His voice and willing to move forward at any given time to His instruction.

Building--a Monument, Memorial or a Movement?

Peter had come perilously close to building a monument to the memory rather than realizing he was part of a Kingdom movement for change. We can all so easily fall prey to this religious mindset. Building a memorial to "how things were" may prevent us from moving forward into the exciting new things God has for us. We need to acknowledge that each touch of Christ is to maintain His divine momentum of transformation in us and through us. We cannot build for the future if we operate in the confused assumption that "what was" is somehow better than "what is" or "what will be." Christ yearns to encounter us just as He did Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration.

The disciples may have left the mountain without fully understanding what the future held. Nonetheless, God had imparted another revelation of His glory into their beings. Every testimonial meeting with God is life-changing even when we don't entirely "get it." Perhaps our responses might initially look like Peter's--a little bit out of sync with God's direction. But the Holy Spirit and the Word of God are our plumb line in times of transition and enable us to respond to Him with humility and grace

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands--A Vision of Jesus

Having been suitably challenged by this Biblical exhortation not to become distracted by past glory moves of God (yet mindful of the need to give thanks for them), I sought the Lord in prayer and He graciously and immediately opened up the revelatory realms. I saw Christ holding a globe representative of all nations in His hands and "2008" was wrapped around it. The Lord embraced the world, holding it against His chest and the lifeblood of Jesus filtered into the world as He embraced it. I could discern the audible heartbeat of the Lord and as He touched the nations, they too, began to echo Heaven's heartbeat.

Intrigued, I inquired of the Lord, "What are You doing?" He smiled at me and said, "I am gathering the nations to Myself."

It is all too easy to forget that Jesus truly does hold the whole world in His hands! God wants to encourage us to be a people with whom He can infuse His power and passion to partner Heaven in a Holy Spirit movement for change. The vision clearly portrays the ingathering of the multitudes. Such a harvest vision is always impregnated with seed which will bear Kingdom fruit. Today we have an opportunity to receive from our Master and become His agents for change.

I bless each one of you in the glorious love of Christ.

Catherine Brown
Gatekeepers Global Ministries
Email: admin@gatekeepers.org.uk