Another Coffee Break

Friday, February 10, 2012

CONTEXT

8:24 AM | Posted by Unknown | | Edit Post

ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: CONTEXT

After a long absence from writing and posting these Coffee Breaks, we return belatedly to begin our eighth year of publishing. That said, GOOD MORNING, GOOD MORNING, GOOD MORNING!!

Our schedule during the past two months has been nothing less hectic beyond words. Between dental and doctor visits for Della (she's doing just fine, thanks....nothing serious!) lots of court time on behalf of friends and some members of the family, acting as an advocate and legal advisor for them, then taking a trip to Alaska to bring our young granddaughter back to her family, taking a look at some potential investment properties ..... anyway, you get the idea! Whewww!! Maybe things will quiet down to a dull roar now for awhile.

One coffee comment before we get started ... and y'all know what a coffee connoisseur I've been, and how much I've promoted Starbucks coffees over the years. Starbucks Coffee Company has within the past few weeks become an active financial backer and promoter of a successful measure in the state of Washington to legalize homosexual marriages. Their corporate leadership has taken a strong anti-family position in the process. For that reason we have taken a public position against the company and recommended to friends and family that they avoid Starbucks' kiosks and shops, and purchase other coffee brands instead.

We refuse to spend our monies with a company which takes such a prominent public position on an issue which is clearly anti-God, anti-Scriptural and anti-family! For those of you who understand and agree with our stance, we recommend that you likewise send the same message to Starbucks -- and especially to Howard Schultz, the company chairman. When corporate leaders get the message from the buying public and that message affects their bottom line, they will respond.

Several years ago, Ford Motor Corporation's executives decided to back homosexual activists and publications. As the then-owner of a recently purchased F-150 Heritage pickup, I wrote the president and chairman of the board and let them know that if they continued this policy of anti-family activism, it would be my last purchase of a Ford Motor Company product. Literally hundreds of thousands of other Ford owners participated in a letter-writing campaign stating basically the same thing. It paid off. Ford's bottom line dropped off so precipitously that the board of directors fired the president and replaced him. The new president immediately announced that Ford would no longer support homosexual activism and activist publications, and the company began to recover financially almost immediately. We can make a difference, folks!

In my last Coffee Break I said that I would be continuing my series on Heaven. The next edition of that series is almost complete, but there are some things taking place -- both spiritually and politically -- that I need to talk about, so bear with me if you were expecting that series to continue right away. I will get back to it.

In Proverbs 4, there is a unique contrast between righteousness and wickedness and it is a prophetic picture of what is unfolding today all around us.

"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble." (Proverbs 4:18-19)

Let me re-translate this passage out of Hebrew and amplify it a bit for you.

"But the well-trodden way of the uncompromisingly righteous and upright is like an increasingly brilliant light that shines brighter and brighter to reveal [and lead him to] his day of prosperity. The mode and course of the violator and morally, ethically wrong person is dark and progressively gloomy; he has no understanding or revelation of that which causes failure."

Guess I could have amplified it even more -- the Hebrew here is very colorful -- but you get the picture, I'm sure.

We have a very clear contrasting picture of what is unfolding around us in this day and age. The so-called "progressives" are headed down a path that is darker and darker, and they seem to have no understanding of the issues that are causing catastrophic failure for them, and for their communities, their states or provinces, and their nations.

Those who walk in the light of God's Word are being led toward greater and greater prosperity in the knowledge of the Lord as well as life itself. That's as it should be! The Word of the Lord IS revelatory for those who walk in it.

That's the key phrase, however -- FOR THOSE WHO WALK IN IT!!! It doesn't apply for those who try to play with the Word or try to make The Word fit their agenda, doctrine or thought processes.

Amplifying the Hebrew makes it clear that it is the UNCOMPROMISINGLY RIGHTEOUS who prosper in their way. Get it? No compromise! We don't get to alter or shape the Word of the Lord to fit our thought processes, our agendas or our doctrines.

My Presbyterian and Episcopalian friends are in the midst of real turmoil right now because their denominational leaders have compromised the Word and tried to make it fit with societal decay and the moral decadence that has infiltrated parts of the body of Christ. You have denominational leadership okaying homosexual "pastors" and homosexual "marriages" and justifying their acceptance predicated on a deliberate alteration of Romans 1:22-32 and other like passages in the O.T. Tens and hundreds of thousands of Presbyterians and Episcopalians are choosing to leave their denominations because their consciences simply will not allow them to tolerate this abuse of the Word.

Then you have "Christians" and church leaders of many stripes ignoring the context of Psalm 139 (and specifically, verses 13-16) or perhaps Jeremiah 1:5 in order to justify abortion and the myth of "a woman's right to choose" as though this is somehow enshrined in our nation's Constitution. Our nation's founding fathers could not have even imagined the evil that has been perpetrated using a divinely inspired Constitution to justify horrendous violations of the Word of God -- that same Word they all held sacred.

That brings me to the title of today's Coffee Break: CONTEXT. Within the body of Christ -- and growing increasingly so -- is the practice of taking the Word out of context in order to create (or justify) a doctrine which is comfortable. Even well-meaning believers have fallen into this trap, and it is an easy trap to get caught in.

Let me go back in time to draw some perspective of what I'm trying to share.

First, consider the Old Testament. Who was it written by, and under what inspiration? The Old Testament -- without exception -- was written by men whose mindset, whose thoughts and whose culture was entirely Hebrew. It's been said -- and I'm sorry if you disagree with me, but I agree with this -- that the Hebrew thought and mindset as it is revealed in Scripture is not simply "Hebrew" or "Hebraistic:" it is the thought and mindset of God. What we refer to as a "Hebrew mindset" is honestly the mindset of God Himself.

When you look at the New Testament nothing has changed. Every writer of the New Testament was Jewish. While Paul the apostle was certainly a Roman citizen, he was groomed at the feet of Gamaliel, the chief rabbinical teacher or professor of the day. He was of the sect of the Pharisees. The writers of the gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- were all Jews, all raised with the same Hebrew culture, thought patterns and mindsets. Luke was the author of the book of Acts, and other than Peter, James and Jude whose writings and epistles we have in addition to the aforementioned, every one of them were Jews with a Jewish or Hebrew upbringing.

Mark was considered to be the lone exception having been raised in a Greek-oriented lifestyle; and yet, he too was a Jew and a disciple of Peter's.

Virtually every translation of the Scriptures that we have today is "westernized." Our modern "church" concept is totally foreign to everything of either Old Testament or New Testament life. There were no churches in the first or second or even third century. An old Roman temple in Nova Roma (the city later became known as Constantinople) was remodeled in 225 or 226 AD during the reign of Alexander Severus for use as a gathering place for Christians, but the idea of a "church" didn't take place until after Constantine's Edict of Toleration in 313 AD -- and even then, the mode of gathering scarcely resembled anything we know today.

One of the problems in our modern church setting is that we try to fit Jewish or Hebraistic understanding and thought into a westernized picture. In doing so our understanding of the Word loses its context and frequently loses sight of a very clear picture of what the Word of God was given to communicate. I frankly find it nothing less than miraculous that in spite of the westernized setting we've tried to fit the Word into, the Holy Spirit still manages to communicate the very fundamental truths of the Gospel into our lives bringing change and transformation to us.

I'm often amazed at the silliness that comes out of the mouths of some Christians when you talk to them about the need to accurately divide or discern "the Word of Truth."

One oft refrain is, "Whaddaya mean? It's right there in front of you in plain English!"

The only answer one can give is that the Word wasn't written in English to begin with; what we have is an attempt to translate two picture languages -- the only two languages in the world that do this: Hebrew and Greek -- into something that closely approximates their meaning in our language. Even the best of our English translations -- such as the Amplified Bible -- sometimes miss it because it can take a whole paragraph to describe the picture that is drawn by a single Hebrew or Greek word. Within that picture are nuances that are easily lost in our language.

Let me share a classic example of how a simplistic English translation can lose the context of what the Holy Spirit is seeking to communicate.

A verse of Scripture which we have all heard hundreds, if not thousands of times, is found in II Timothy 2:15. The KJV renders it, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." This is an absolutely tragic translation. Although the NASB and NIV both render it more accurately, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth," the KJV rendition, "Study," has been a mainstay of many messages and doctrinal presentations.

I felt quickened to read this passage in the original Greek text, and discovered that it has some very powerful applications in that to which the Lord has been calling His Bride.

The verse begins with the Greek word, "spoudason." While the NASB rendering, "Be diligent," is an acceptable translation, this word has some deeper meanings. It would be more accurate to translate it, "Be instantly responsive..."

Where the Greek word, "dokimon," is rendered "approved" in most of the translations, this word has a unique background, and a special application for this particular passage.

"Dokimon" was a word originated among numismatists to identify the process by which gold and silver coins were tested after smelting in a crucible. It was the process which allowed them to determine the genuineness and purity of coins, as well as to detect any counterfeit coins, bars, etc. The coins were heated to the melting point. If they were real, there would be little if any dross. If they were fakes or counterfeit, there would be very little real silver or gold in the crucible. The process duplicated the smelting of the gold or silver ore during refining. If the coins were real, you would have the same amount of molten gold or silver in the crucible used to stamp the original.

In the same vein, the word, "parasteesai," translated: "to present," was first used by the Septuagint translators within the context of "making oneself available for the purpose of being questioned," as well as "making oneself available" metaphorically "for fellowship and intimacy."

It therefore becomes a powerful message from the Holy Spirit when we translate it thus: "Be instantly responsive to the Lord, making yourself available to Him in the midst of the crucible, a tried and tested laborer, who has no fear of being examined -- one who, by virtue of God's testing and the time spent in the crucible with Him, knows the proven word of truth."

The "proven word of truth" in this instance can be identified as a "rhema" word from the Lord which has been walked out and put to the test in our lives. It is an experiential word! It is an incontestable word no man can combat with any doctrinal argument or theory. How else would it have been possible for men and women to stand in the face of martyrdom? Once the Word had been worked in them so that they -- like Jesus -- had become "the Word made flesh," there was no threat leveled against them with the power to dissuade or convince them to recant the truth, even with their lives forfeit! They had been in the crucible! The Word had been tested and tried and proven in them!

Verses 16 and 17 of the same chapter reinforce this. Without taking the time, here, to break down each of the pertinent Greek words and phrases, it can be rendered, "Stand aloof from, and avoid the untested, untried "word" which comes forth from those who would propagate speculation and create their own doctrines. These profane speculations and so-called "words" are empty babblings which will only serve to advance ungodliness; and those who spread these doctrines will only yield a gangrene pasture -- a source of poison to those who ingest their "word"......"

The unbalanced emphasis on "Study" which has been ingrained into the fabric of church structure has led to a large number of the doctrines which skillfully bring division among God's people. The push to "study" (and I'm emphasizing the academic focus) has led to the creation of seminaries and Bible colleges, with the subsequent "ordination" of those who complete the "approved" courses of study. Those who graduate are supposedly ready for "ministry," ready to step out and speak in the name of the Lord, ready to administer guidance and correction to those who are growing in the Lord.

This, my friends, is what happens when the Word loses its context. This is what happens when the Word becomes academic rather than revelatory and experiential. Jesus NEVER intended for anyone to go forth to preach and teach something from "book learning." Every command that He gave to the disciples incorporated a living, tangible demonstration of the power behind the Word.

They were commanded to "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8) See also Luke 9:2 and Luke 10:9.

Mark 16:15-18 reads like this: "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

When the Word of God is put into you, tested in you in the midst of the crucible and tried in actual practice, it ceases to be a theory; it ceases to be a religious doctrine; it ceases to be a theory! NOW it is the Word in its proper context!!

"In the midst of the turmoil all around us we need to see the coming Kingdom. The shaking has started and the Kingdom of God is about to be manifest in this world like never before. The greatest move of God that the world has ever seen is knocking on our doors if we have ears to hear and inner eyes to see." (Neville Johnson)

Blessings on you!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES

709 South 7^th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133

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Friday, December 23, 2011

HEAVEN XVII: Daniel's Prophecies

3:29 PM | Posted by Unknown | | Edit Post

Heaven XVII:

Daniel's Prophecies

Do you have an indescribable craving in your spirit for something you can't even put to words? Is there a cry in the depths of your being for a walk with God unlike anything you've seen or heard of in any of the people with whom you are acquainted? Are you thirsting for a place of intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ the likes of which will clearly demonstrate your being One with Him? ... A place of spiritual existence in which the works that Jesus did are commonplace in your life?

Then you know exactly how I felt in 1969 while ministering with Bill Christopulos in Salt Lake City. Brother Bill came over to my house one day after seeing (in the realm of the Spirit) the cry that consumed my whole being. My whole demeanor reflected that cry, that unrest, that place of absolute dissatisfaction with where I was in Christ Jesus. Brother Bill walked in and sat down. Without any greeting or social commentary he just dived in, "Reg, what is it that you want from the Lord?"

There was no hesitation or delay in my response. It simply erupted from my whole being, "Brother Bill, you remember how it was with Elijah and Elisha? You remember the miracles that Elijah did, how he raised the dead, how he demonstrated the power and authority of the Lord in the midst of Israel in a way no prophet before him had done? You remember how when asked that same question, Elisha had the unbelievable boldness -- the unmitigated gall, if you will -- to say to Elijah, "I want double everything you've got in God!"

"Brother Bill, that's where I am. I have some stupendous promises from God. I've seen some of what my destiny should be in the Lord. I really don't know what my full inheritance is supposed to be, but there is a level of dissatisfaction in me that I can't put into words! I've come to the place that I want a double portion of whatever my inheritance was supposed to be in the Kingdom of God!"

He was quiet for a minute, but my answer to his question really seemed not to catch him off guard. "Brother," he said, "I don't really think you know or understand what you're asking for! I don't think you have any idea what it will cost you!"

I interrupted him, "Brother Bill, I don't really care what it costs! I'm determined to have God's best, and I won't settle for anything less!"

If Bill Christopulos found my rather brassy and perhaps presumptuous answer humorous, he kept a straight face while he continued. "You don't understand, Son! It will cost you your friends. It will cost you your family. I will cost you your business. (I was President of Intermountain Electronics Corp. at the time.) It will cost you your standing, your reputation in the community -- and likely your reputation among your fellow-Christians."

The thirst in my being for all that God had for me knew no bounds, and remembering Jesus' promise in Mark 10:30, I had no qualms about responding, "I don't care what it costs! I'm determined to have all that would have been my inheritance in God -- and double!"

Now he smiled broadly. "My brother, God is going to give it to you."

That was 42 years ago. It was 62 years ago that Jesus stood at my bedside and began to lay out His plan and purpose for my life, and to show me a vision of what lay in store. It was 60 years ago today that the Lord took me to Heaven for my first trip and made some very specific promises to me of what He was going to have for me.

In 65+ years of actively walking with the Lord (although there's not a day in my life that I haven't known Him), there isn't a miracle that I haven't seen or been a part of -- with the exception of walking on water, or turning water into wine. I cannot begin to imagine how many folks I've led to a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Wouldn't even try to calculate the number of people healed from every conceivable disease, illness, infirmity or weakness!

I've seen blind eyes healed, the deaf made to hear, the crippled made to walk, arms or legs replaced which had either not grown because of birth defects, or lost through accidents or disease, teeth replaced supernaturally, organs instantly made whole or replaced in their entirety, cancer made to cease completely with formerly cancerous organs or tissue replaced, speech impediments removed, people healed of Parkinson's, Tuberculosis, Asthmatic attacks -- and the list goes on and on.

Thousands of people have been set free from evil spirits -- every kind of demonic activity you can think of. If you've seen the movie, The Exorcist, with its demonic displays and graphically displayed activities, there is nothing in that movie that I've not seen in real life -- and yet I've seen the authority of Jesus' Name (His Onoma) free people completely who've been in that kind of bondage.

I've personally been involved in and seen three people raised from the dead -- not including being raised from the dead myself 28-plus years ago after suffering a massive heart attack. I've seen corruption removed from governments and corrupt individuals removed from office -- sometimes almost instantly -- while the Lord raised up the righteous to replace them.

Consider the Day of Pentecost when seventeen distinct nationalities with their own languages heard people they knew had no prior knowledge of their tongues began to speak fluently in those languages and dialects praising and glorifying the Lord. Not only have I been witness to it on many occasions, I've personally had people come up to me and ask where I learned to speak such perfect Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Castilian (Spanish) or some other language. Obviously it was the Holy Spirit speaking through me, and it was a sign to those who heard.

Does that all sound good to you? Great! But, folks, that's all nothing more than the fulfillment of Jesus' promise that "verily, verily I say unto you, the works that I do shall ye do also....." (See John 14:12)

I'm not complaining about what I've seen and experienced in God -- not by a country mile! But that's just a drop in the bucket! I remember a prophetic Word that came forth one day in the midst of one of our gatherings in which the Holy Spirit said, "All that you've seen and experienced is less than a single drop in a ten-gallon bucket of that which I've prepared for you."

You know what that does to me? You think I've been thirsty before to see the handiwork of the Lord Jesus Christ in my life? There is literally a scream inside of me that I can't even begin to put into words to be so One with the Lord Jesus Christ that when people see me, they see Him; when He speaks or when I see Him do something in the Heavenlies, I can declare those things and call them into being, doing the "greater works" of which He promised in that same commitment that John referenced in John 14:12.

That thirst, that craving is whetted additionally by the promises Jesus made to me as we were preparing to leave Heaven (and I'm somewhat getting ahead of myself in my narrative of the experiences I had during this trip to Heaven) and were standing at the Gate. Add to that the vision He embedded in my Spirit at age seven when He appeared at my bedside, and you have something that can only be described as "a consuming fire!" (See Hebrews 12:29)

So, why am I talking about this now? My discussions in Heaven with David, with Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and now, Daniel, burned something into my inner being I can only describe as being etched, engraved -- carved if you will, in the deepest recesses of my mind and spirit. There has been in me a lifelong recognition that we as the people of God have lived our lives so far beneath God's destiny for us that it is tantamount to our settling for a piece of tinfoil instead of reaching out and taking the handful of gold and diamonds being offered.

That brings me to my continuing discussions with Daniel.

"It seems to me," I said, "that your prayer life and your fasting became a real source of controversy and antagonism. We've all heard -- perhaps more than any other story of you -- about your daily routine of prayers; and how jealous the princes and presidents were of you and your standing with the king. They tricked the king into signing a decree which required all the inhabitants of the land to worship only him, and blocking them from offering a prayer or making a request to God or any idol other than him.

"You went about your daily practice of prayer and intercession and waiting on God as though the decree didn't exist. That resulted in them petitioning the king to have you thrown into the den of lions to be executed because of your disobedience. My question to you is this: what happened to you when you were thrown into the den of lions? I know that the Lord shut the mouths of the lions, but what happened? What took place there?"

Daniel began to chuckle. "To tell the truth, the whole experience was quite astonishing," he said. "You have to realize just how angry King Darius was when he realized what was being perpetrated by these jealous princes and presidents. He and I had really developed a wonderful friendship. God had given me immense favor with him. The presence of the Holy Spirit in my life caused him to desire my presence and companionship on a daily basis. He trusted me and he trusted the counsel of the Lord that came through me.

"There was literal pain in his face as he stood by and watched them throw me into that den. Those presidents, princes and lords wanted to ensure that I couldn't somehow escape from the lion's den so they had a large stone rolled across the mouth of the den. In a way it was almost funny.

"When I picked myself up off the floor of that den after being unceremoniously dumped in, the first thing I saw was the angel of the Lord standing between the lions. They didn't roar. They didn't growl. They didn't lick their lips or make any motions that would indicate their desire to kill and eat me. They were tamed to the point that I was almost tempted to pet them. I didn't, of course, but they were completely quieted. The angel of the Lord made them feel like they had already eaten to the full. They didn't exhibit any hunger or desire for food. They just laid down and went to sleep."

I thought about the whole picture for a minute and then asked, "Did the angel of the Lord stay with you that whole night?"

"Yes, he did," Daniel answered. "He motioned for me to sit down and just rest. I suppose I could have gone to sleep, but I didn't. I just quietly prayed and meditated on what God was doing.

"Even as the new day was dawning, I heard the voice of King Darius as he cried out, 'Daniel! Oh, Daniel! Servant of the Living God! Is your God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver you from the lions?'

"You know the rest of that story. It may not have been very dignified or the usual thing for a king to do, but the king grabbed me and embraced me when his servants brought me up from the lions' den.

"It probably seems a bit extreme, but Darius didn't want even a trace of the kind of jealousy and hatred and conspiratorial conduct remaining among the royalty and nobility of the palace; so he gave the command that every single one of those lords, princes and presidents should be taken, along with their wives and children and thrown into the lions' den. What a picture! You've never seen anything like it! In the same way that the angel of the Lord had made the lions feel completely satisfied and full so long as I was among them, when I was removed it was as though their hunger was suddenly increased! They might as well have been starved! As each person was thrown into the den, the lions ripped them in pieces and devoured them before their bodies ever had a chance to hit the ground.

"My deliverance from the lions, and the subsequent devouring by the lions of all those who had conspired against me sent a chilling message to all would-be conspirators. It was a demonstration of the Lord on my behalf of His utter protection and His vindication of my relationship with Him!"

Daniel's very clear description of this event left an indelible picture of God's deliverance in my spirit -- a picture that has lasted with me during the past sixty years, and one I've come to personally appreciate as I have seen the Lord's protection and deliverance of me in rather extreme circumstances when my life was clearly in danger.

Our conversation now turned to some of his rather cryptic but graphic prophecies.

"In the prophetic experiences you had, the Lord opened up much of the future for you and showed you things that would happen well past your lifetime, and things that are happening even now, thousands of years after you prophesied them. You not only saw events to come that were immediate and affected kings like Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar and Darius during the years you served as Prime Minister, you also saw the coming of Messiah, his death and resurrection, and events which would follow in the years afterward.

"The thing that gets a lot of preachers today is the fact that the Lord told you to seal up those things that He showed you until the time of the end. In spite of my youth, I've heard so many theories concerning "the time of the end" as to be ridiculous. Not only that, it causes confusion for many believers. Am I wrong, or am I living in that "time of the end" which the Lord showed you?"

"You know that because of what the Lord showed you concerning Israel more than two years ago," Daniel answered, smiling broadly. "There is a revelation that comes by the Holy Spirit," he continued, "in which the things that have been sealed up are unsealed to and for those who are in union with Him."

Something flashed past me in that moment that I'd seen throughout the Word.

"Can I ask you a question concerning something you saw (recorded in Daniel 7, 8, & 11) and mentioned several times throughout your sharing of the prophecies? Even Jesus made mention of this in His teaching and prophesying."

"Certainly," he responded. "But don't ask me to open the book which has been sealed up. There is a very specific timing in which the Holy Spirit will bring things to your remembrance in years to come -- things you've seen but not understood, things you've heard in the realm of the Spirit for which you've had no context, and fresh revelation. There is a day and an hour for this revelation to come forth. Some of those things you will see, hear, and understand before others of your generation. Some of them will be seen and understood by other brethren and shared throughout the body of Christ both before and about the same time as the Holy Spirit begins to reveal them to you. Don't worry or fret if you see and/or hear things that don't seem to mesh with what you are hearing commonly taught.

"In some things you will be a forerunner as you share; in others you will receive revelation and share simultaneously with other men and women to whom the same revelation will be given. At times you will see and hear and speak things that are totally at odds with preachers and teachers who've arrived at what they think is truth but have been steered astray by human intellect and unhearing ears to what the Holy Spirit is saying."

"Now, ask your question."

"You make several references to the 'four winds of heaven.' Jesus uses this same phrase when He is teaching the disciples. Then John refers in Revelation to the 'four winds of the earth.' What does that mean? Is there some great significance to this picture of the four winds?"

As was pretty much true throughout my visits with everyone in Heaven, Jesus either stood by or was fairly close at hand as we conversed. I glanced over at Him and His eyes were twinkling. He nodded His head toward Daniel ever so slightly, indicating that it was OK to answer that question.

"I will take you back first of all to a prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah that Isaiah delivered in which he said, 'and the government shall be upon His shoulder.' That wasn't just the government of Heaven, that was the government of all the nations of the earth. You'll remember that Isaiah prophesied about the government being 'upon His shoulder.' Let me ask you a quick question. Where is your shoulder?"

I'll admit to being caught a bit off guard. Not too certain of where he was going with this, I pointed to my shoulder(s) and said, "right here! On my body."

He laughed and said, "OK. Good. Now, let's apply that picture to the body of Christ -- and actually, when you have your discussion with Paul and the other apostles, they'll expand on this for you, I'm sure. Jesus is pictured as the Head of the body. You and all the other believers in Christ are pictured as the torso, the arms, the hands, the legs and the feet. The torso includes the shoulder. Therefore the government of the nations of the earth -- and in a more practical sense, the area of town, the city, the state and the region where you live -- is upon your shoulder.

"As you get older and more mature this will become much more significant to you. What I'm getting at is that the responsibility for the government of the city, the state or the nation in which you live becomes more and more your responsibility. You have an assignment -- a divine assignment -- to watch over and govern the area in which you live, first and foremost, in the realm of the Spirit.

"Let me make this more personal. In the years ahead, the Holy Spirit will lay upon you a very great and important responsibility to rule through prayer, through intercession, and through decrees and declarations over the area in which you live. It will grip your whole being and you will become the very picture of your name -- Regner -- which means 'King.' Do not be surprised if that rulership or governance takes place in the natural realm. Father God will lay upon you increasing responsibility, and if you commit yourself to His purposes for righteous government, you may find yourself actually serving as I did."

My eyes must have glazed over for a minute trying to take it all in because he said, "Don't think about this too much right now. The time isn't yet. You will likely forget about this conversation -- at least in your conscious memory -- in the months and years ahead, but at the time appointed by Father God it will come back to the forefront.

"Now let me come back to the way your phrased your question to me concerning the four winds of heaven. Whenever you see a reference to the four winds in these prophecies, they always spell a significant change of government in the earth. That's where you -- and every praying and interceding believer -- come in. It is the responsibility of believers to agree with God's plan for Kingdom governance in the earth and to exercise the authority they've been given over the spiritual forces of wickedness that attempt to contaminate the civil governments of this earth.

"Does that make sense to you? Do you understand what I'm saying to you? If you will agree with the Lord for righteous governance over the area in which you live, He will put you in the right place at the right time to enforce and enact His Will!"

Daniel had gone from the smiling, almost jovial, personality to a very serious look on his face. Although the significance of what he was saying would fade away in my consciousness for a number of years, the Lord had used this opportunity to plant a seed in the core of my being -- one that would begin to flower and grow in the years to come, and one that would begin a process of revelation in my spirit concerning the degree of spiritual authority vested in us as sons and daughters of God.

I've really run long in this Coffee Break, but I wanted to finish this phase of my sharing before moving on to my experiences with Peter, James & John and Paul. I won't take the time right now -- or at least during the next few weeks -- to share what Daniel had to say about the 70-weeks prophecy. That's a pretty strong subject, one likely to be filled with some controversy once shared, so I'll wait until later this next year to share what I saw and heard in a separate Coffee Break series.

Blessings on you!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES

Friday, November 18, 2011

HEAVEN XVI: Daniel, The Intercessor

8:38 AM | Posted by Unknown | | Edit Post

Heaven XVI:

Daniel, The Intercessor

Frank Villa is a recent (within the past year) friend, brother in the Lord and co-laborer in the Gospel.
Among my friends I like to describe Frank as a fellow-investor in the Kingdom of God and a broker of Kingdom opportunities. That may sound like a funny way to describe him, but Frank has discovered that it is our investments (our time, our labors and energies, as well as financial giving) in the Kingdom of God that pay the kind of dividends which are reaped not only here but in eternity as well. Whether they describe it like this or not, Frank and Jan (his wife) have entered into a powerful covenant with the Lord.
Let me remind you of this rather remarkable covenant that Jesus made – and this covenant applies only to those who don’t draw back or withhold any part of their existence from the pursuit of excellence in Jesus Christ. First let me take you to the context of this covenant.
Jesus has just finished with His invitation to the rich young ruler to forsake all and come and follow Him. The rich young ruler can’t quite bring himself to make that kind of commitment and leaves Jesus in sadness. Jesus says to His disciples, “Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God.”
He follows that statement by saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle (a very low and narrow gate in the wall of the city of Jerusalem), than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”
Because Peter and several of the disciples are fairly well-to-do businessmen and fishermen, and have a rather abundant supply of resources, this shakes him and he answers, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus now answers Peter like this: “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” The point He’s making is that the ability to prioritize one’s life for the sake of the Kingdom and lay aside possessions is a gift from the Lord.
Peter thinks about his situation, as well as that of James and John and some of the others and seeks to make the point with Jesus that, while they have plenty, their trust is not in their wealth and personal resources. So, he responds to Jesus and says, “You see, Lord, that we have left all our wealth behind and have followed you [not making our well-being and personal comfort our priority].”
Now Jesus responds with a covenant statement: “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” (See Mark 10:17-31)
Are you seeing and understanding the nature of this covenant? Our families, our friends, our relatives, our wealth and possessions get bumped out of first place in our priorities. Jesus obviously didn’t care if people had family and friends, wealth and possessions – in fact, He was promising all that to them! What He was saying was, “You follow after me! You make the Gospel of the Kingdom your priority, even if you have to walk away from your closest family and friends, even if you have to walk away from your wealth. If you’ll do that, I covenant with you to make family and friends, wealth and possessions my promise to you a hundred times greater than anything you walk away from – not only now, but in the ages to come, along with eternal life! But know this! If you have all these things and you are following after me and making the Gospel of the Kingdom your priority in life, you will have persecution because of it.” (My paraphrased rendering from the Greek text)
Whewww!!! How’s that for a mouthful? You get it, don’t you? His promise and covenant to those who receive this gift from God to be able to set aside their family, friends, lands and possessions is that He will restore to them – IN THIS LIFE – all that they walk away from a hundred times over!
It’s really the same thing that Jesus said in Matthew 6:33: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
I’ve said all that to say this: Frank Villa has made it his life’s purpose to promote every opportunity God has directed him to for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear to invest in avenues which provide a financial means to enlarge the Kingdom of God. He and Jan have entered into this covenant with the Lord. It’s the same covenant that Della and I have entered into – hence our great appreciation for Frank and Jan.
Can folks get rich doing this? Sure. But the riches are not for those who just want to have lots of money for themselves. The objective is to ensure that those who are on the frontlines of the Kingdom doing battle with the Enemy and taking back Kingdom territory stolen by Satan have all the resources they need in order to accomplish the mission God has anointed them for.
Remember what I said in one of our last Coffee Breaks? Tremendous opportunities are being given to many to invest in the Gospel of the Kingdom. Those who hear the Word of the Lord and obey every command to invest with their seed sowing and their abundant giving will see their opportunities, their finances and personal resources multiply greatly. This great transfer of wealth into the hands of God’s people, however, is not so they can build a collection of mansions, Rolls Royces or Bentleys (and it’s not that God objects to His people having these things!); the purpose for this great wealth transfer is to capitalize on the moment so that the Kingdom of God expands and multiplies in the earth. Our first priority as believers is to extend the boundaries of the rulership of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.
OK. Time for us to get back to our main discussion. Got a big carafe of some dark-roasted Columbian mixed with some lighter-roasted Swedish coffee sitting on the kitchen counter. Come on by and pour yourself a 16-ouncer as we continue talking about my adventures in Heaven.
It was in the early spring of 1971 after returning from speaking at a Full Gospel Businessmen’s Convention in Phoenix that I dived into a three-week fast. Other than some one-, two- or three-day fasts, I had never really engaged in any fasting to speak of up to this time. Somehow I’d become fixated on the Esther-type of fasting: that’s to say, no food of any kind and no water. I knew Moses had gone twice for 40 days without food or water so it never dawned on me that it took a rhema and an act of God in order to pull off something like that.
“No food and no water” was pretty normal to me and that’s the way I dived into this three-week fast. It wasn’t until I hit the 8^th day of the fast that I realized I was in physical trouble. You’ve no idea how rough it is on a person’s constitution to be without water for eight days! It was in my physical weakness that I flipped open my Bible the afternoon of that 8^th day. My Bible fell open to the 10^th chapter of Daniel. In a split second my conversation with Daniel (20 years before while I was in Heaven) came flooding back and I suddenly knew it was OK to finish out the fast drinking water. Even though Daniel could eat bread on his fast (it just couldn’t be whole bread or sweet bread), I felt restrained from eating any bread.
That fast finished and culminated with the miracle of Eskdale (if you’d like to read that story go to this link – http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal?&=&page_start=540 – and scroll down the page just over halfway. There are three parts to this story.)
Picking up where I left off in our last Coffee Break, my questions to Daniel now centered on his life of prayer, intercession and fasting.
"Where and when did your daily life of prayer and intercession begin," I asked.
"My prayer life began in my youth," he began, "even before we were taken into Babylon. It had become a regular activity for me. While I was still a very young person, my prayer life was resulting in a tangible sense of the presence of the Lord being with me. If daily activities and family affairs interfered for a day or a few days, it soon became clear to me that I was missing out on the immediacy that I experienced with regular and consistent daily prayer."
It was at this moment that he allowed me to see a quick vision of the carrying away into captivity and the long, tiresome and wearying procession. I saw Daniel and his companions as they trudged mile after mile after mile. He also allowed me to see the combination of disappointment and occasional flashes of fear -- a fear of the unknown that lay ahead. At the same time I saw the rising up of hope and determination in him with the knowledge of God's presence. There were flashes of revelation in his spirit that, despite the fact that he was leaving home and all the surroundings he'd known in Judah, he was walking into a destiny that God had purposed for him before he'd ever been born into the House of David.
Daniel now continued his discourse. "During our long trek to Babylon, it became very clear to me that the only way I was going to succeed or prosper in any way in our new and foreign environment was to be constantly in communication and communion with the Lord. I resolved in myself to spend my first waking moments in praise and worship, prayer and intercession and seeking the heart of the Lord for that day. When mid-day came, I wanted to renew and refresh my spirit with His spirit and ensure that my day was completely on track with His plans and purposes.
"When evening came, it didn't matter that I would be asleep during the late hours. I wanted my spirit to be completely in tune with the Lord in such a way that any dreams or visions would be those in which He wanted to reveal more of Himself to me. It was mandatory for me -- a mandate in my spirit from which I could not escape -- that my last waking hour or minutes would be spent in communion with Him."
It was in that moment that I saw what God was doing in me, even at my young age. The very first thing I did each morning when I awoke was to grab my Bible and read. The hunger in me to know the Word was nothing less than voracious. As I read and meditated, there was a place of communion with the Lord that unfolded in the midst of that time. It wasn't a thing where I would grab the Bible, read a few verses or a chapter, put it down and focus on the things that I wanted or needed to do. I enjoyed the presence of the Lord and would read and read and meditate and commune until I heard my Mother call me for breakfast.
The concept of stopping in the middle of the day to read or to pray had not entered my mind or my spirit, but there wasn't a night in which my last activity was to get my Bible and read and read and meditate and commune with the Lord until I fell asleep. In fact, here I was in Heaven, brought here by the Lord while I was doing what I always did: read the Word and meditate on Him before going to sleep.
I realized that the prayer and reading practices of early morning and late evening which had developed -- and my parents readily encouraged -- were very much like that which Daniel lived. Suddenly I related to him in a way that I couldn't put into words, but there was a bond of communication in the realm of the spirit. There was nothing in me at that moment that said my life would unfold like Daniel's life had, nor was there any idea that the Lord would unfold for me that same kind of revelation he experienced.
Daniels' next words to me were almost obvious. I knew where he was coming from.
"Remember Nebuchadnezzar? Remember the dream he had and how when his so-called "wise men, soothsayers and astrologers" couldn't begin to explain or unfold it, he sent forth Arioch, the Captain of the Guard, with an order to kill all his wise men and counselors?"
I interrupted him. "Daniel, how was it that you and Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were incorporated into his wise men? How did you get chosen for that when you were anything but an astrologer or soothsayer or someone who invented connections between the position of the stars or other heavenly bodies and unfolding events?"
Daniel began to laugh. "That's a humorous way of putting things," he said, smiling broadly. "But you are right! Astrology is nothing more than an effort to predict events based on the position and alignment of stars or other heavenly bodies. Those who engage in astrology fail to realize that every constellation was named by God when He created the heavens. The constellations are there as His signs in the heavens so as to confirm His Word -- NOT to predict events in the lives of individuals before they happen.
"Those who seek to use the stars as a means to foretell events or draw personality profiles become the tools and victims of a lying Spirit of Divination because they are not walking and living in a personal relationship with the Lord. Without that place of intimacy and covenant with Him they become subject to lying spirits which purpose to lead them astray, confuse them and sidetrack them so that their focus is not on receiving the life God has for them.
"To answer your question more directly, because we were all of the royal House of David, it was thought that, as members of royalty, we would have had better training, better schooling and -- as a result -- more wisdom and knowledge than the average individual. Add to that the fact that the four of us had an outward manifestation of the Spirit of God upon us which set us apart. Without the king's advisors realizing it, they selected us to become part of the magi because they sensed the Spirit of the Lord God with us; and His Spirit -- all by Himself -- conveys a wisdom and understanding that the natural world does not have."
"Does that make sense to you, my young friend, Regner?" Daniel asked. "Do you understand?"
I nodded my head affirmatively, and he continued the discourse I had interrupted a few minutes earlier.
"Let's get back to my question to you about Nebuchadnezzar's dream and his order to Arioch." When I realized what the king's orders were, namely, to destroy all of the magi because they couldn't tell him what he dreamed, nor give him an interpretation of that dream, I knew immediately in my spirit that the Lord would not only unfold the dream to me, He would also at the same time explain the dream in such a way that I could make the king understand what God was saying."
"God had given me favor with Arioch, the Captain of the King's Guard, so that I was given an opportunity to request time from the king to put the whole matter before the Lord. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were quick to agree with me and we began a time of prayer and intercession and waiting in the presence of the Lord. That same night, God gave me a vision in which he literally put on display for me every facet of the king's dream, along with a full understanding of the events that would follow throughout the centuries to come.
"It was really fascinating to me! It was the first of many like experiences in which the future unfolded in front of me like a scroll. As amazing as it was for Nebuchadnezzar to hear his own forgotten dream read back to him, I was honestly just as amazed to see and hear what the Spirit of the Lord was saying about the kingdoms that would succeed the Babylonian kingdom.
“What it did ultimately was to inspire and compel me towards a life of prayer and intercession more than ever before. Intercession, you see, is more than simply praying intensely over some situation or set of events. Intercession is active participation in bringing to pass the heart's desire and the will of Father God on earth and in the affairs of men. Intercession is what Father God has ordained for us in order that the Kingdom of Heaven and God's rulership be implemented and enforced here."
That last comment sparked a series of questions from me -- and we'll take those up in our next Coffee Break.
Next: HEAVEN XVII: Daniel's Prophecies.
When people are given a glimpse of their individual role in God's destiny, it transforms them and sets them on the course to repentance and the impartation of the Christ-like nature. They see the cause of God and are forever changed and have the joy of their salvation restored. We are seeing that happen now. Strongholds of hopelessness, despair, depression and other oppressive mindsets will be overcome when God's "zoe" life is breathed into an exceedingly great army. -- Paul Keith Davis
Blessings on you!
Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES

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HEAVEN XVII: Daniel's Prophecies

HEAVEN XVI: Daniel, The Intercessor

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