God Wants to Partner with You

During this holiday season we are reminded of the arrival of the ultimate gift any of us will ever receive. When Jesus paid the ultimate price for our redemption and freedom, it was a present with incomparable value.. 

On top of being able to go to Heaven, much of the New Testament teaches us about things that we now have access to; the gift of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, total freedom, supernatural joy and strength, the list goes on and on. But it doesn’t stop there. Along with gifts, we have tremendous authority. To me this new life is kind of like the story of Rip Van Winkle. In the story, Rip decided to take a nap in the forest but he ended up sleeping for like 50 years. When he finally woke up the world as he knew it had completely changed. 

That’s what I believe happens when we allow ourselves to be born again. It’s like we have been asleep all this time, a slumber brought on by our sinful nature, our selfish desires, our pain and a host of other things that have fought to keep us down. Then Jesus shows up on the scene and comes into our heart, awakening us to a whole new world, the world of the believer. It doesn’t stop there. 

Once we wake up from our slumber, the Holy Spirit is right there handing us our new passport (identity) a duffle bag full of supplies (the amazing blessings and gifts we have access to because of our salvation) and also a full arsenal of weapons (our authority in Christ). It’s that last part I want to discuss in the rest of this post. The letters from the Apostle Paul throughout the New Testament all speak of a tremendous authority that we now carry as believers. 

But what is all this authority for?  The immediate answer is, He gave you authority so that you could use it. The larger answer is this;  God wants to partner with YOU. 

Yes YOU. 

He wants to actively work with you every single minute of every day to live and breathe with purpose. Not just any old purpose, but the one that He has set and destined for you to walk in. That's the whole point of Him giving you authority, it's proof that He wants to do something with you. 

 I am a person that loves to be in the middle of anything exciting. 

“Oh, you’re going to Walmart at 2:30 in the morning? I’m in.” 

“Oh, and it’s not the one in Florida but the one in Los Angeles? Even…better. “

So the fact that I get to partner with God is the best thing ever, I don’t want to just sit on the sidelines of what He’s up to in the world today and I know that most of you are the same way. What makes things even more wonderful is that it is His heart that you be in the middle of the action also.

 Don’t believe me? Just look throughout the Old Testament when God wanted to do something in the earth. He could have just gone in and done it Himself but He didn’t. Prime example of this is when God would raise up Judges to deliver the children of Israel from the hands of their persecutors and captors. God could have totally gone in there, sent a few angels and bring them to freedom on their own but He didn’t do that. Instead He raised up a man or a woman that would partner with him so they could do it together. God wants to do the same thing with you in your life. GOD WANTS TO PARTNER WITH YOU!

When we understand this one point, it settles a lot of the weird baggage that some of us carry from some of our previous seasons about the heart of God towards us. It helps to bring clarity in the midst of the noise. With everyone yelling and shouting about what you should and should not do, about the latest and greatest revelation coming to the Body of Christ at any given second, it can be easy for many of us to get lost in it’s tidal wave and not know what to do. The fact that God wants to partner with you, gives you confidence to ask your partner, “God, what are we partnering to do?” Starting a conversation with someone that you know wants to help you and talk to you is a whole lot easier and more effective than when we assume we are being a burden or the person we are asking is somewhat indifferent to our plight or our mission. It’s a simple key but this key has the ability to set a whole lot of people free from the feeling of being stuck. 

Sincerely,

John Harke Team

What it means to Walk in Humility

The greatest example of humility is when we are falsely criticized by others and dismiss the need to vindicate ourselves. Although we are never to associate humility with weakness, we must come to the conclusion that genuine humility possesses real conviction. When we are truly humble we know how to steward our lives and our resources responsibly. This gives evidence that we can be trusted with the treasures of the Kingdom of God. We can disciple and influence Kings like the prophet Daniel. We become like our Lord Jesus who is the most approachable person the world has ever seen.

Meekness isn’t looking to take vengeance upon people who have failed miserably. Meekness is looking for ways to release people from being enslaved to behaviors which are outside the will of God. It’s really the art of living, living for others and not the selfish narrative that seems to permeate our culture. It’s the ability to make just and right decisions without a political agenda. Humility will ensure that we live successfully. It opens the door for wisdom that not only tells us how to live but tells us how not to live. It’s the armor that protects us from self deception. It calls out like a prophet and says, “come to me and let me carry your burden”. Its power interrupts the pride that surfaces in all of us, because we live in a day where there is the tendency to talk more about what we’re doing in the name of the Lord instead of actually speaking the heart of God.

When humility becomes our prize, prosperity becomes our prophecy.

Beloved, when one has humility they seem to see the beauty of authority, and when that takes place, the Lord graciously pours out His heart to us and tells us what He is thinking. Then our gifting, no matter how powerful, will never allow us to become inflated with ourselves. We willingly accept the invitation of our Lord, not to satisfy our need for knowledge, but to come in relationship with God.

For instance, science is curious about cause and effect, however God’s word isn’t written with science in mind, it’s written with an invitation to all who come by faith. Scripture isn’t written to prove itself, it’s written to probe the human soul and offer a remedy for its pain. Science searches for a cure to what ails humanity, the scriptures invite us into the truth which is the cure. Modern man isn’t Interested in what is holy, because what is holy can only be recognized by the humble. For the humble life isn’t a competition, it’s a collaboration with the deep desire to see others succeed. It isn’t a race to see who wins, its passion is to champion people. They seem to dream bigger dreams because they aren’t writing the script for their lives, God is. No wonder our Lord said “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth”.

Sincerely,

John Harke Team

Love Isn't Always Blind

Love isn’t always blind it just imagines what could be there. For being in love with the Lord is the best way to live in the Kingdom of God. Love doesn’t seem to notice what others notice, it seems to ignore what others can’t ignore. What is never passed over socially, isn’t overlooked by the one who loves. Not to say that love overlooks justice, for love is the greatest act of justice. Love opens the eyes to intimacy and away from selfishness. Our vision becomes blurred when love is non existent, and love returns the heart back into focus. Love penetrates the defenses of rejection and the walls of criticism that have been built. When love becomes an acquisition instead of a lifestyle, it becomes perverted. So we pray with the words of this verse in Song of Solomon 1:4. 

“Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. How right they are to adore you!”

Adoration is never the incorrect action when it comes Jesus. When life brings us to a place of indecision the right response is adoration. For we have been wonderfully made to adore Him. We become wealthy when we chose to focus on Him instead of ourselves.

Detachment isn’t being divorced from life, it’s the invitation into a life of freedom. To deny ourselves daily is just opening the door to adore the Lord with greater affection. We then learn to love righty because to love rightly is to restore dignity. So we begin to burn with the kind of courage that attracts a generation to Christ. Truth then seizes the soul consuming it with adoration and thanksgiving. We are no longer amazed by lust because we’ve been made to love.

We then graduate from being a consumer of religion and become a worshipper of God. Even though we live in a world that is hostile towards what we value, we continue to adore our Lord. Although government calls immortality, abortion and legal drug abuse freedom, we still adore the One who sets us free. Yes, our culture has replaced images for truth, but true adoration towards the Almighty God replaces authentic human likeness. Adoration towards the Lord keeps the soul alive. It removes the idea that we are too sophisticated to obey the prophets who called Israel back to the Lord.

Adoration towards the Lord confronts the endless binge for self- satisfaction. Because when we adore Him we experience the abundance of His love. And like the prophets of old, we have learned to train our eyes to see differently. The arrow of Christ’s love has so pierced our soul that every fear has collapsed. We are not afraid to dream and adore the One who believes in us. “Oh” how right we become when we adore Him. No amount of cynicism can erode our desire to love Christ Jesus intensely. No amount of despair can erode our desire to adore Him. 

Sincerely,

John Harke Team

God is still reaching out His hand to you

The moment we become overwhelmed by what the someone thinks, is when we can easily neglect the reality of the situation. In other words, our concern should be for truth even when the truth isn’t welcomed.

Ahab’s prophet’s were just echoes, to be an echo isn’t difficult since it requires no life of prayer nor connection with the Lord. Therefore, we must understand that echoes don’t have the word of the Lord. Partly because they were under the spell of Jezebel and had lost all sensitivity to the reality of the Lord’s presence. The lesson we must learn from this narrative in 1 Kings 22 is, we can’t counsel anyone who can seduce us and that political alliances can sometimes run deeper than obeying the voice of the Lord.

It’s easy to pretend to be a prophet before a king, but it’s absolutely impossible to pretend to be a prophet before the Lord. All of us to need to be flexible in situations that happen in our lives, however, when it comes to truth there isn’t any room for flexibility.

Echoes are always culturally flexible towards current trends, while authentic prophetic voices are stern without being cruel. As we grow in humility we discern when we are to be flexible and when we are to be steadfast. When leaders, who are absolutely unwavering towards the truth, they become the type of leaders who are the most transformative. They seem to passionately delight in the Lord’s voice even if His voice doesn’t agree with their personal vision. They adjust their roles and dreams to be in perfect alignment with God’s will.

When we glance upon King Ahab we see him clinging to his own affections for personal ambition over the clear word of the Lord through one prophet. He loses focus of what truly is important which inevitably leads to his demise. Because real vision doesn’t ignore the brutal facts. All of us are in a battle, but this narrative conveys so emphatically that there are certain battles that we are not supposed to be in. When we look at the decline of Ahab, it certainly wasn’t because there was an absence of God’s voice, it was because in his pride he felt a false sense of invulnerability.

And like King Ahab, who didn’t invite the prophetic word into his chariot, when a denomination or organization doesn’t welcome the word of Lord, they begin to corporately bleed to death. I believe that what’s really being conveyed here isn’t just judgement, but the obvious evidence of the sovereignty of God in the lives of Kings, individuals, and nations. Even though it seems that people are failing to cooperate with the Lord’s loving rule, He is still reaching out His hand towards His people. Prophets still confront to transform, Evangelists still make calls to salvation, Pastors still patiently shepherd the sheep, Teachers still unveil the truth of scripture, and Apostles still create movements. One day, authenticity will drown out the echo.

Sincerely,

John Harke Team

It's Time to Partner with Your Prophetic Words

This post is for you if you have experienced any of the following: 

• You have received promises from God that have yet to be fulfilled

• You keep receiving prophetic words but have yet to see them come to pass 

• You feel stuck and unsure if you are missing something when it comes to your destiny and purpose 

If any of the above sounds familiar, keep reading because this may be a key to help you. 

We see throughout the Bible where God has chosen to do nothing on earth unless He partners with man to help Him bring it forth. All the way back from Adam till the present day, God is constantly calling men and women to partner with Him in His purposes and plans.

You are God’s delegated authority here on Earth to do mighty things. 

If you are a Christian and love God, you have the same opportunity to be able to partner with God today as all of the mighty heroes throughout scripture. What an amazing honor and privilege! What some people forget is that not only does God want to work through you to do the big things but He also wants to do the same when it comes to the personal destiny and call on your life. 

God wants to partner with you for your prophetic destiny! This is where many people fall prey to a common pitfall when it comes to seeing their prophetic words come to pass. They think it’s all just going to happen without any participation on their part. They sit looking out the windows of their lives looking for the prophetic destiny delivery truck to roll up to their door and unload it into their waiting arms. It’s a beautiful, wonderful, picture but it runs contrary to how we see people operating when they receive a word from God in the Bible. In fact, more destinies have been lost from this approach to God’s voice and promises than almost any other tactic of the enemy. 

An example is Moses when He heard God’s voice. He had to leave what he knew to confront Pharaoh and bring deliverance to the Israelites. Every time God came to Him, there were instructions that he needed to follow and carry out in order to partner with God for their deliverance. Now imagine if Moses didn’t respond but instead stayed home. If he heard that God wanted to bring deliverance to the nation of Israel but did nothing to partner with God on it? 

In this season, God is calling His children that hear His voice to shake off this lie and step into a position where instead of asking the question “When will my prophetic word come to pass?” Will change it to a much better question of “How can I partner with God’s prophetic word over my life?” The first question positions you as simply an observer and “taker”. The second question positions you into a place of action and also inviting God to speak to you further and in greater detail about how YOU can move forward in your destiny.

The takeaway from this post is the following:

1. You are God’s delegated authority on Earth!

2. God wants to partner with YOU 

3. Ask God “How can I respond and partner with your Word?"

4. Be Prepared to Listen and Be Obedient to What You Hear No Matter How Small or Seemingly Insignificant/ 

Sincerely,

John Harke Team

Supernatural Provision

Supernatural provision isn’t a revelation of my own goodness, but a revelation of His grace. I believe we desperately need to reconcile this truth within our own experiences. Certainly we are to partner with the Lord in our economic obligation to give.

I want to briefly look at a well known incident in the life of the prophet Elijah. Although the prophet’s task was extremely confrontational, his primary task was to reconcile the nation of Israel back to God. Yet after a great victory at Mt. Carmel and the answer to prayer for rain, we find the prophet in a place where none of us should be. He felt threatened by a wicked Queens words and when any of us feel unsafe, like Elijah, we naturally find somewhere where we can regain some kind of control.

What happened afterwards is, this powerful prophet isolated himself from anyone who would have stood with him and the Lord. When we disconnect from the very people we are supposed to reconcile, we can easily develop thoughts that are inconsistent from who we are and who the Lord is. This makes us victims to our own self loathing. We have no one to champion us because we have cut ourselves off.

The problem with the prophet was that he took everything personally, which in turn left his soul very fragile. When he did that, the message of reconciliation was replaced by a message of self centeredness. Yet, in all that the Lord graciously provided for him, by giving him food when the prophet desired to die. Twice the angel of the Lord fed the prophet when the prophet was pleading to take his life. The next thing we find is him in a cave and the Lord asking Elijah “what are you doing here?” What’s amazing here is that the Lords sovereignty provided the food and strength to get there and then asked “why is he there?”

I believe there’s something we can learn from the prophet’s experience, and that’s yes, the Lord does provide, but provision isn’t always the endorsement upon our lives that we are in the right place. Provision is an endorsement from the loving care of a good Father, not necessarily our obedience.

As a father and grandfather, I give my children their necessities unconditionally, because I deeply desire to care for them. What kind of father would withhold the basic needs to sustain life? Elijah teaches us a valuable lesson of how we are to hear the Lord’s voice. Not just in how blessed we are by supernatural economic breakthroughs, but how obedient we are to reconcile nations, cities, and families back to a loving Father.

I’m certainly not going to disregard the wonderful support that the Lord has provided even when we were spiritually and emotionally weak. However, I want to learn to find His voice in the right place, not the wrong place. I want to see many come out of the cave of deception and feel the freedom of being loved by God.

Sincerely,

John Harke Team