GOD WANTS YOU FAT - (HE WANTS A FAT CHURCH FOR A TESTIMONY TO HIS GOODNESS, AND HOW TO WATCH OUT FOR THE PHILISTINES, THEY'RE AFTER YOUR HARVEST

On my way to California last week-end I had a very strange vision! I saw a hand reaching into my heart and when the hand withdrew it held a bunch if fat. Now wait a minute before you get to thinking I've e lost it. The fat was GOOD- it was bright white and in the middle of the fat was a large key. It took me by surprise so I spent a couple of hours trying to figure it out. The Holy Spirit gave me some scriptures. This vision was for California - but God is God of all of America so obviously it is also for every other state if you care to receive it. This move of God that is coming is to demonstrate the goodness of God in the land of the living.

Proverbs 11:25 says, "The liberal soul shall be made FAT. He that waters shall be watered himself."

Psalm 92:13,14 says, "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish ( or get fat) in the courts of our God. They shall bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be FAT AND FLOURISHING."

And Listen to this- this the main scripture the Lord gave me. Nehemiah 9:24, 25, "The children went in and possessed the land ( more about that below)...........And they took strong cities and a FAT land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and olive-yards, and fruit trees in abundance, so they did eat and were filled, and became FAT, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness."

God gets glory from your testimony to His great goodness. So there - you have to be blessed. You have to live in the goodness of God and delight yourself in Him and in His wonderful goodness in your life. You are His demonstration. You are His sign and wonder. You are God's sign -to make people wonder. Your neighbors should be saying, "What is it with those people, they are so blessed?"

The scripture says, "The goodness of God..... leads to repentance (Rom 2:4") Not beating people over the head. There is coming a powerful move of God, like Niagara Falls. It is called GREAT GRACE. A true revelation of the grace of God and what that means, will change your life more than any other thing. The church is so geared to "trying" and "striving." It's yielding, not trying. Trying can be very trying.

God's grace is still on America. Why? Because He loves YOU and guess what? He listens to you. He has inclined His ear toward you. Why do we have a Christian President? Because God loves YOU and He is moved by your prayers and petitions. He loves to grant your prayers. America is still blessed because of the church and the faithfulness of thousands and thousands of Christians. So many "words" have come to bring judgment. Well God is the Judge, not you or I. How would you feel if you faithfully prayed your heart out like many Christians have been doing, only to be met with, "Well it's not enough, God is about annihilate America." No, No, you are His friend, those who have prayed and interceded. God listened, He heard, He blessed and what's more He going to bless some more. His Goodness you see- has to be seen by those around you. He shed His love abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost. " Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ." If people don't have grace they will not be able to receive truth. The truth will beat them up instead of liberating them.

So many of God's people are due for a Harvest. You have planted. Sown. Given and given and given again. Not just in finances but in ministry, in love, in compassion. In serving. In praying. He promised a harvest - your harvest. But I tell you there are some Philistines waiting to steal your harvest. The Philistines were great at doing that.

So now for the 2nd part: Your harvest is due

DEFENDING YOUR FIELD AND KEEPING THE HARVEST.

GRRRRRRR FRUSTRATION!!

Have you ever felt like that? Things looked promising, it looked like some good things were happening. All your sowing and believing were about to bear fruit. When suddenly, boom, it was gone. Disappointment, frustration. You don't have the energy to start again or to fight anymore

Well one thing; if you can't see the enemy, you can't fight him. If you don't discern his tactics you will not see him coming.

When God talked to the Children of Israel about going into the promised land, God told them there was an enemy there, they had to be prepared to fight for their inheritance.

Then He said some interesting things about dealing with these "ites." In Deut 7:2 " .....you shall utterly destroy them.....make no covenant with them and SHOW NO MERCY TO THEM." Many Christians treat their "ites" like pets. The Hittites, (which means "terror" by the way) caused a lot of fear. We get used to fear don't we? but the Bible says it is a sin. It's putting your faith in something negative instead of the power of God. You have to declare war on your fear - SHOW NO MERCY to those things which would rob you and rip you off of your inheritance.

Fear can stop you moving on because moving on requires changes and leaving the comfort zone.

The promise is to you and your children, the goodness of God is your inheritance. Eternal life ( God's goodness forever and ever,) also includes all the blessings of Deuteronomy 7. Health, prosperity, fruitfulness and victory. But like the lady at the back of the crowd, you have to push through and POSSES THE LAND - not any old land - YOUR LAND. The land that God has promised you. In verse 21 it commands us "Not to be afraid of them ( those "ites".)

This little lady at the back of the crowd had a need, quite a big one apparantly. She didn't just stand there and say, "Well God knows where I live if He wants to bless me." No, she got a vision of where her help came from and she pushed through that crowd to posses what she saw.

In Jeremiah chapter one, God asked Jeremiah, who incidently was not an old man with a with a white beard, but a teenage prophet, "Jeremiah- what do you see?" Jeremiah spoke up. "I see the rod of an Almond tree." Did he really see this rod physically? No- he saw it with the eye of faith, but he spoke out what he saw. You know what? God liked his vision, He said, "You have well seen, I will hasten by word to perform it." In other words, God did what Jeremiah saw, by faith.

So friends, what do you see? By faith, what do you see? What can you see in your faith? What has God shown you? What has He said to you that you haven't yet received?

Some of you have sown and sown and prayed and been faithful. You are due for a harvest in your life, in your ministry, in your family, in your finances.

I want to tell you there is an enemy who wants to steal your harvest. In 2 Samuel 23:11 it talks about Shamah. Shamah had just been with Eleazar and had defeated the Philistines in a battle. The rest of the Israelites fled from the Philistines. They had enough. But there was a piece of ground, a field full of lentils. The Philistines decided they wanted that harvest of Lentils. The Philistines had a habit of reaping other people's harvest.

Shamah didn't run away though, it says that he stood in the middle of the field and defended the field of Lentils. With a great army? No!, by himself. God gave him great victory. Well you and I both know that there is no way that one man can ward off a troop of Philistines. When Shamah made a stand and said "NO" to those thieves - God showed up and defeated them.

At another time, Eleazor (one of David's 3 mighty men) defended a field of Barley. The others had fled, but Eleazar said, "NO," when the Philipstines came after the harvest. It says that the, "Lord saved them (the 3 mighty's) by a great deliverance."

So, what are you going to do about your harvest? Are you going to allow some Philistines to rip you off. Or are you going to make a stand and defend your harvest? It's harvest time - its harvest time.

Two women

I have some good friends in Florida. The older woman, Anita got radically saved and filled with the spirit. Her daughter, Jill, was also radically saved. Anita was on fire for God and her husband didn't like it at all. He didn't like her to talk about Jesus, he didn't like her to give. He didn't like Jesus at all, not His people. The husband did have money but he didn't like Anita giving it to Christians. So, he took all the money out of their accounts and then divorced Anita, leaving her with nothing. The lawyer said, "There's nothing we can do because the judge said she was to sign an agreement and sell the house at about $200.00.00 less than it's value, and her husband would have all the money and she would have nothing. Jill yelled at the devil and said, "NO " we are not doing this.

Everyone was against Anita. The judge, her husbands lawyer, the realtor and her own lawyer wanted to give up, Anita wanted to give up too, but Jill yelled at the devil and said, "'NO."

Well of course a lot more things happened that were far worse than this, but Anita got another lawyer who was willing to fight. But still nothing changed, no one would budge. The Judge stuck by his ruling that she would lose the house and have nothing at all. The lawyer forced her to sign the papers to sell the house, even though she was crying and saying she would not. The lawyer told her the sheriff would come and lock the door and she would be out on the street with no furniture or anything. The lawyer told her she would be held in contempt of court and be put in jail. They made Anita so afraid. And Jill who was there also, eight months pregnant, went into labor and was rushed to the hospital. The baby was delivered by C-Section and put on life support and had to have a brace.

Anita went to the hospital later to see the baby, she said it was the worst day of her life. She wanted to give up, but Jill said, "NO, We will not give in, we will stay focused," and she prayed for Anita.

There were many more challenges until the final court day

When the final court day came, Everyone was against Anita. Jill was outside in the street, praying in tongues. Yelling at the devil and saying, "NO" at the top of her voice.

Suddenly Jill began to weep, although she didn't feel like weeping. Inside the court room Anita's husband's lawyer was going through the checks and demanding to know why Anita she had given money to various ministries. But every time she tried to answer, the lawyer cut her off.

Suddenly Anita began to weep. She didn't feel like weeping, She was getting mad and frustrated with the lawyer who was hassling her. But these tears came as Jill was praying outside in the street.

The judge held up his hand and told everyone to be quiet. He said no one was to speak or interrupt Anita. For about 40 minutes Anita got to give her testimony. Uninterrupted. She told of how she was saved, how she was baptized in the Holy Spirit. How she and Jill came with me to Ireland with me and saw angels. She said the Angels would tell them what to do and show them what was happening in the Spirit. She told why she gave money, she told of how even from the money they borrowed to pay the lawyer, they took the first part of the loan to pay for a well to be dug in Africa. She said she didn't stop to think what she was saying- the Holy Spirit took over and words just rolled out of her mouth.

Conclusion: The judge overruled his own ruling and gave the house and all the furniture and the Mercedes to Anita, with all kinds of other blessings.

Anita's lawyer said. "Well I guess your Angels came through for you, I've never known this to happen." Do you know what else he said in the courtroom? Anita's lawyer turned to the other lawyer ( both Jewish men), and said, "You had better be careful because Jesus might be the Messiah."

Anita and Jill stood against the Philistine spirit and defended Anita's field against all odds. God got glory even among the opposition. Everyone saw God move. Anita's husband ( ex) last week called and said he had bought a Bible and was going to church.

His great goodness is your inheritance. It is not anything you can earn. Jesus pre- qualified you on that cross. You can't un-qualify from something you never qualified for, can you? The enemy of your soul will have you believe a lie.

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what Jesus has really accomplished for you on that cross. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what is yours because of the resurrection. The people outside the church most often aren't interested in the church because they have a negative view of Christians and their God.

The word the Lord gave me this last weekend was, "Declare the goodness of God, it is the key to unlock this move of God." Sometimes God's people come out of church looking like they ate lemons. I would rather see them laughing. I think God would too. He looks at His enemies and laughs in the heavenlies you know.

Some people think they are "too mature" now to simply enjoy the Lord. What a shame. He doesn't think like that. He loves you to love Him and enjoy His presence. Your first calling. Your ministry must come out of that.

Balek took Baalam, the prophet, to curse the children of Israel. Baalam turned to Balek and said, "I have received commandment to bless, for He has blessed and I cannot reverse it" (Num 23:20). You cannot reverse the blessing, it is already decreed by Calvary.

Yours in Jesus