How to bring Comfort

We must concentrate our behaviors towards our values and beliefs. Focusing our efforts upon our circle of influence and not upon things that we can’t control. Our primary core value should be knowing what the Lord cares about, and carrying the ministry of reconciliation to those around us. Never to impose our own will upon those we are to both lead and influence. This doesn’t mean that we dial down what the Lord has decreed nor accommodate what is outside of God’s will. It means that we grieve when the spiritual unity of the Lord’s people becomes fractured by values that are not consistent with scripture. We weep, along with Jeremiah, when a religion of revelry has been set up, instead of an authentic community and intimacy with God and with one another.

We feel the horror when self promotion has replaced genuine worship towards Yahweh. We’re not driven by appearances and religious disguises because what the Lords values have marked our hearts. We speak not to punish, but to reestablish authenticity, Kingdom demonstration and sound relationships. What proceeds out of our mouth must be anchored in a heart that is overflowing with beautiful thoughts. We love to pour out the God story and have learned to absorb ourselves in words that are pregnant with the touch of God. Understanding that having revelation, although vital, isn’t enough to transform us or anyone else. Because unless proper values are revolutionized, revelation is just more information.

Biblical values must govern how we behave. In other words, when we perceive correctly, we begin to grow correctly. For instance, all of us would love to be instantaneously delivered from our challenging circumstances. However, if values and beliefs are not in alignment with truth, we will not witness the supernatural provision that the Lord promises us. Certainly everyone desires to be successful? But do we have the internal fire that is hot enough to get us there?

Beloved, our God given vision is the most priceless commodity you and I have. Vision keeps you and I not only focused, but vision keeps us powerful. Without focus we restrict our effectiveness. So that we don’t get lured into a story that isn’t ours. Because those that foster evil designs will try to not only lure you and I into battles that we are not supposed to fight, but also into conversations that we aren’t suppose to participate in.

We must intentionally set godly boundaries in our relationships and never let anyone into a place in our hearts that belongs only to God. Nor becoming seduced by an inferior beauty or allowing others to turn our affections to that which is against His will. Because when we operate outside of God’s will we face the possibility of being outside His protection. However, when we place our worth upon what the Lord values, we will be empowered to purposefully persuade those within our circle of influence to believe what the Lord has said prophetically about them.

I believe that's what it means to bring comfort.

Sincerely, 

John Harke Team

Largeness of Heart

Have we ever entertained the possibility of our hearts growing bigger? Receiving the capacity to take in what the Holy Spirit would lavish upon us if we just asked. This largeness of heart is what frees us from the monotony of everyday life. While disappointment shrinks the heart and hinders it from dreaming. A large heart is one that gives no place inside its core being for disappointment to live. This doesn’t mean that we don’t experience disappointment, it just means that because of the vastness of the heart we have more room to maneuver past any regrets. The larger our hearts are the more we can break the vicious cycle of addictions that plague our society and ourselves. With a large heart, we will see others who are enslaved as victims. By seeing people this way it makes grace possible and we become less vulnerable to assumptions about their behavior.

However, there is another reason why we should desire a bigger heart, and that is to believe what Jesus says about us even when we think we have failed Him. When the heart is broken and undersized there doesn’t seem to be much space for truth to penetrate. When my heart has shrunk in volume because of my wrong behavior I don’t receive the message of God’s enormous love for me. That’s why Jesus asked Peter three times “do you love me?” Peter’s heart had diminished because of his denial and the Lord was enlarging the Apostle’s heart. Which speaks to us that in order to forgive ourselves, it takes a large heart.

Here we witness grace at work, imparting to Peter a heart to love God, his neighbor and himself. As I’m interacting with people across the world, especially those that have gone through horrific things and have triumphed in life. I can’t help but be aware that Jesus Christ bestowed upon them a heart that was large enough to overcome divorce, depression, poverty and even death. Which speaks to me that the real heroes are the people who have the most spacious heart, and have allowed God in. These heroes aren’t trapped inside by their emotions or their past, because of the enormity of their hearts they seem to have more energy for God and for others. They take upon themselves what others define as difficult and find ways to make life work. They use their imaginations to continue to be both creative and innovative. Because their hearts are large, there are no limitations to what God can accomplish through them. Patience and wisdom is the fruit of how vast their hearts are. They seem to possess a strength that pulls others into a range of opportunities.

Let us worship today and be thankful that He has given us a large heart, and that our reply would be “Lord, You know I love.”

 

Sincerely,

John Harke Team

God's Love Can Cure Any Relationship

Hosea is a story of warfare and marriage, and how the Lord and His prophet navigate through that journey. God must instruct Hosea to know a love which is unfailing, just as God invites Israel to Himself, even in the horrific state of brokenness. Hosea must invite Gomer to himself as well. When love abounds, abandonment isn’t an option.

 

The Lord’s vision for Israel and Hosea’s vision for his wife, Gomer, outlasted the betrayal that both God and the prophet suffered. We don’t think in the terms of God agonizing over the loss of accountability among His people. For without accountability, idolatry and adultery become the behavioral pattern of a disoriented community. Society inevitably falters when our love for God and each other is absent. God and Hosea must do something shocking to cure His people who were always fluctuating in their love. Gomer and Israel’s self delusion had to be terminated. Both God and the prophet have one ambition, and that is to restore relationship with Israel and Gomer. So here the Lord speaks through Hosea.

 

 

“How can I give you up, Israel? How can I abandon you? Could I ever destroy you as I did Admah, or treat you as I did Zeboiim? My heart will not let me do it! My love for you is too strong.”

 

‭‭Hosea‬ ‭11:8‬ ‭GNTD‬‬

 

God doesn’t confront to prove He’s right, He confronts to penetrate the conscience. He has been deserted by the very wife He loves and in His anguish, His heart won’t let her go. So the Lord gives Hosea the rare privilege to be able to see the inner being of how He feels. This is why the Lord must insert His word in Hosea, so that the prophet doesn’t speak from anger, but from the very inner being of God. The prophet must not collapse into rage, he must be moved to relent. Hosea must become as vulnerable as the Lord is, fully engaged in Gomer’s life just has God is engaged in Israel's life.

 

 

What does this narrative tell us today? I believe it tells us how to navigate through relational warfare. Just like a marriage, when there is deep betrayal and conflict, how will we respond? Do we quickly forsake the relationships that we have formed in church? Do we look for the perfect ministry in order to grow? Or do we learn from Hosea about the power to love, the power to forgive, and the power to weep in the midst of unfaithful people. Hosea shared God’s hope for a restored people, do we? For Hosea and God the answer wasn’t to leave and remarry, the answer was to strengthen the commitment to love. Not because it was easy, but because love would win, it would hope, it would protect and it would persevere. Even in the midst of an unhealthy environment, God’s love can cure any relationship. I yearn to love like that.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Harke

 

Choosing Love

I believe that we are to cultivate a deep desire to prophesy, simply because of the spiritual healing and encouragement that the word of the Lord brings to individuals. Prophesy has the power to confirm, convict, empower and release unlike anything else. It dismantles religious and political systems that refuse to acknowledge God, so that the people will understand life from the Lord’s point of view.

What can take years to overcome, one prophetic word under the anointing can bring a person into complete freedom.  

Recently I had a vision of two mountains, one of mountains was more like the foothills where I grew up in California. The other however was much higher and steeper. The first mountain had a dirt trail that went directly to the top, the second had a similar trail, however it was steep and had numerous switchbacks. What stood out to me was how straight the first mountain was and how easy it was to get to the top. On the top of each mountain was a flagpole, on the first mountain, the flag had the word “prophesy” on it. On the second mountain, the flag had the word “Love”, this flag was at half mast.

What stood out was that the first mountain was extremely populated, while the other mountain had hardly anyone on it. While looking at this mountain, I noticed that there were two people walking up the steep trail carrying a crown, one that would be given to a Queen or King on the day of their coronation. While I noticed thousands upon the mountain of prophecy and the ease in which it took to get there, on the mountain of love there were only two climbing, with no one at the top.

The Apostle Paul taught the church of Corinth to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially prophesy ( 1 Corinthians 14:1) "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy." It's such a blessing to see thousands hungering after the prophetic, however the Lord was showing me that very few are actually pursuing love.

In the vision, no one was at the top simply because Love is a journey and it's very difficult to ascend. Love takes extreme stamina, it takes unmeasurable risks, but it pleases God, and it moves His heart.

I noticed that the two climbers on the mountain of Love were sweating profusely which showed me how physical Love is. But why was the flag of love at half mast? Anytime you see a flag at half mast it's because the nation is grieving over the loss of a fallen hero. I believe that the Lord is deeply longing for a people who will pursue love. Why were the two climbers carrying crowns? I believe that the climbers were believers walking in faith and hope and were totally committed to walk in love, because even though the Lord had crowned them with spiritual gifts, they knew that ultimately the gifts weren’t their crown, He was.

So I want to encourage you today to choose the mountain of love, regardless of what it looks like, or how long it takes. Keep climbing and keep pursuing.  

Sincerely, 

John

 

Growing in Intimacy

As I write this blog there seems to be the desire in many of us to grow in connection with the Lord, freeing ourselves from shallow relationships and knowing God’s will much more deeply. For some, this is a frustration particularly because others judge their character by what happens to them and not by who they really are. We all at times have the pain of rejection, however spending time in the presence of God seems to embolden us with this sense of holiness. An awareness that we are meant to be sitting before the Lord. Because humanity is most whole when they are attending to God.

What does it mean to attend to the Lord? I believe that concerning ourselves with the knowledge of God’s emotions, we feel what He feels, and this begins to heal our brokenness. Intimacy with God gives us the buoyancy to stay afloat in the middle of hostility. We all need physical touch from another person which is powerful, yet the physical touch from God is transforming.

Intimacy with the Lord has to become our storyline because it's our comfort. This kind of relationship never misuses the power of speech. Because love doesn’t desire to conquer, it desires to empower. And yet sometimes the Lord will displace us socially so that we can find Him in the place of intimacy. When we overflow with love for God it energizes us and we become a people, even in times of loneliness, that are never held hostage by hopelessness. We seem to understand the one we love more deeply because isn’t that what intimacy is? The willingness to understand the one you love? Intimacy doesn’t come to control but to comfort. So we must pray that whatever is a hinderance to loving God fully would be completely removed from us. Here are a few things that we can do to increase in our relationship with the Lord. 

 

1. Eliminate as many distractions as possible, this will quit the soul so we can hear the voice of God. 

2. Pray to serve, more than praying to be promoted 

3. Self-denial is the way of authentic discipleship, it also is the way of true love. Look for ways to deny your flesh. Fasting being one of them.

4. Find your wellspring because this will keep you from spiritual apathy. 

5. Realign your priorities by emphasizing spiritual growth over all other priorities.

6. Make it your primary passion to honor, respect and worship Him.

7. Daily present yourself to God and ask Him that you would have a life that reflects what He values.

 

Sincerely, 

John 

The Prophet

        The word of the Lord is authenticated by signs, signs reinforce that God has really appeared to the prophet. More than any other ministry office, the prophet is under scrutiny and it should be, because authenticity is something the prophet will always have to fight. He or she is constantly battling rejection and despair and must not draw back from the place of their responsibility. The prophet must be absolutely gripped by the message they carry, their credentials aren’t denominational, their credentials are a deep compassion for humanity. They touch both the burden of the Lord and the burden of the people. When they act out the prophetic word or direct others to respond to a prophetic act, the atmosphere changes.

        Euphemisms, metaphors and parables are their primary speech. Each of their words have been crafted with the ability to penetrate the spirit of the hearer. Their preaching emboldens a community to love God, and they refuse to pursue agendas and emotions that are counterproductive towards the first commandment. The prophet intentionally removes every religious substitute and awakens the Lord’s people to the raw presence of God. They are untamed from political leaders who use words and pressure to control their actions. Intensity and zeal are the two prominent characteristics that describe their ministry, these prophets create a hunger, a sense of God, and they probe the heart and provoke the mind. Never forgetting or overlooking what is important to the Lord, because the Father expresses His care and love by sending a prophet.

        In this generation the prophets that the Lord is raising up will make God’s presence accessible to those who are thirsty for it. They will possess a relentless commitment to their calling even in times of heightened resistance, because to despise prophecy is to neglect its relevance in church culture.

        The voices of our generation who are anointed by the spirit of prophecy will bring the prophetic word back into cultural relevance. Capturing the hearts and minds of entire regions and nations. Cleansing the social corruption and religious manipulation that permeates the spiritually complacent. Their oracles confront the struggles of the soul which dominates the narrative in the lives of many.

        For without a prophet people seem to waver between hope and fear, suspended by the events of their past and present. Like the Lord, the prophet carries the people of God close to his heart, desperately wanting them to feel the emotions of God. They prophesy who He really is, this good Father who wants to be treated like a good Father. Because the Lord has put Himself at risk of being marginalized by His own children. The prophet Jeremiah best describes the emotions of God when he said.

“I myself said, “‘How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.” Jeremiah 3:19

        What He is saying is, “I’m not loved, I’m not wanted, I’m not valued by My own children”. Yet even in all these feelings of rejection God keeps pursuing us through His word, by His boundless compassion and generous love. This is why our most fundamental duty is to fall down in deep adoration.

Sincerely,

 

John