Confirmation of Messages Given

God is so good.  He is such a wonderful God, who confirms His word with signs following.  In just the past 12 hours God has confirmed the last three posts I placed on this blog.  Just as a quick glimpse I wanted to post this blog to show you how.  I'll give more details later, but I thought this was so significant that I needed to put a quick post together.

I was invited to attend a special meeting in Pittsburgh Thursday night (July 28), where Patricia King was going to minister to area pastors and intercessors.  Patricia ministered on a variety of subjects, but the main thing on her heart she shared was on the divine plan God has put in motion for man.  She started with God's call for man to bear His likeness and have dominion over all the activities that occur in the earth (Genesis 1).  So the main revelation she was emphasizing is exactly the topics of the "Who Am I" posts that the Lord put on my heart to share earlier this week.  By the way, I haven't even gotten to 1/10th of the download I have from the Lord on this subject.  But I'll get it out as I have time to post.  Go God!!

CNN came out with an article today on how quickly man is multiplying on the earth.  A Harvard University professor announced this week that the earth's population will hit 7 billion people this year.  Which is quite remarkable, considering that the earth's population was roughly 2.5 billion in 1950.  I see this article that came out this week (not a coincidence) as confirmation of the "Who Am I - Part 2" post.

What's even cooler about all of this?  I had been considering creating a blog for a few years but never had gotten to it.  Just this past couple of weeks I felt a sense of urgency to start.  And the last few nights when I did write, I felt a holy urgency to get these blogs out.  Go God!!  He is so good.

Here is a reproduction of the CNN article that came out this morning on the earth's population.

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Earth to hit 7 billion mark this year, straining developing regions

(CNN) -- Earth will become home to 7 billion people later this year, and most of the planet's growth will affect the developing countries the most, straining those regions' limited resources, a Harvard University professor said Thursday.

The world's growth has been dramatic: It was just in 1999 that the global population reached 6 billion. United Nations projections call for the population to reach 10.1 billion in 2100, according to David Bloom, a professor of economics and demography at the Harvard School of Public Health, in an article published in the July 29 issue of Science.

By 2050, about 2.3 billion more people will be added, nearly as many as the total living on the globe as recently as 1950, Bloom said. Humanity grew slowly through most of history, taking until 1800 for the population to hit 1 billion.

In the past half-century, the population grew from 3 billion to about 7 billion.

Forecasts call for the world's "demographic center of gravity" to shift from more-developed to less-developed regions, Bloom wrote in his article, according to a Harvard news release.

This means the developing world will face hardships in providing food, water, housing and energy to their growing populations, with repercussions for health, security and economic growth.

"The demographic picture is indeed complex, and poses some formidable challenges," Bloom said.
"Those challenges are not insurmountable, but we cannot deal with them by sticking our heads in the sand. We have to tackle some tough issues ranging from the unmet need for contraception among hundreds of millions of women and the huge knowledge-action gaps we see in the area of child survival, to the reform of retirement policy and the development of global immigration policy. It's just plain irresponsible to sit by idly while humankind experiences full force the perils of demographic change," Bloom said.

In the next 40 years, virtually all (97%) of the world's 2.3 billion projected increase will be in the underdeveloped regions, with nearly half (49%) in Africa.

Meanwhile, the populations of more developed countries will remain flat. As those peoples age, however, there will be fewer working-age adults to support retirees living on social pensions, Bloom said.

"Although the issues immediately confronting developing countries are different from those facing the rich countries, in a globalized world demographic challenges anywhere are demographic challenges everywhere," Bloom wrote.

In 2011, about 135 million people will be born and 57 million will die -- a net increase of 78 million.

But uncertainly exists about the global projections, Bloom wrote. Depending on whether the number of births per woman continues to decline, population predictions for 2050 span from 8.1 billion to 10.6 billion, and the 2100 projections vary from 6.2 billion to 15.8 billion, Bloom said.

CNN's Michael Martinez contributed to this report.

Who Am I - Part 2

Last night I was meditating on the concept of multiplication.  In the garden, one of the charges God gave to man was that he was to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it.  And before this occurred, the Lord had made man in His own image.  He gave man His likeness and told man to go and multiply.  Too often church history has focused on this passage to come to the conclusion that God was interested in man physically filling the earth.  While God was certainly commanding that man physically multiply, I also believe this was a directive for man to multiply spiritually.  Because when God made man, he made him a being that had a body, soul and spirit.

From two humans and over a few thousand years, man has multiplied to over 6.5 billion people!!  That's some multiplication in the physical realm.  But how about the spirit realm?  What's occurring there?  To understand this better, I like using examples.  My wife and I were married 23 years ago.  During our marriage we have been blessed with 4 beautiful daughters.  So in the physical realm, the union of 2 became 6.  Or you can say that we multiplied by a factor of 3 times (2 x 3 = 6).  For the average American family, that's not too bad.  For the largest family I know of, the union of 2 became 12, or they multiplied by a factor of 6.  However, the physical realm is limited in how much it can multiply.  For example, a woman only produces so much seed during her lifetime.  So at the maximum potential a couple could multiply by 20 or 30 times.  Unheard of yes, but we are just exploring possibilities.

However, the spiritual realm has infinite capacity to multiply.  One of God's calls is that we are to be conformed to the image of His son (Romans 8:29).  This means that God is in the process of redeeming our character to the point that not only will we be saved, but we will take on the very likeness of Jesus Himself.  This isn't being done in the physical realm, but in the soul and spirit of man.  And since Jesus is infinite (without limitations), this then becomes our potential.  That's something to chew on.  But lets bring this down to a practical example to understand the multiplication of Jesus in and through us.

Suppose I do something kind for someone today.  By my action of kindness, I affect someone else.  Maybe that someone else had a bad attitude.  However, my act of kindness turned their heart and helped them overcome depression or anger.  My kind act resulted in the multiplication of Godly character in another human being.  But just suppose I do something kind that is witnessed by ten people at one time.  I now have affected ten with Godly character.  And what happens when those ten affect someone else?  The increase of Godly character is multiplied several times over.  This is a simple example, but I think it illustrates the potential that God has given to man.  We have the ability to multiply the likeness of God beyond our wildest imagination.

A sobering thought is that God gave man the ability to multiply, however, when lucifer deceived Adam and Eve another multiplication variable was introduced.  Now man can either multiply the character of God or the character of lucifer.  Regardless which character man chooses, the end result is that man will multiply.

So, who are you?  Or in keeping with this blog thought, who are you multiplying?

Blessings to you!

P.S.  Much more to come on the "Who Am I" topic

Who Am I - Part 1

Perhaps one of the more perplexing questions that men and women ask themselves is “Who Am I Really?”  There are many self-actualization courses taught on college and university campuses, psychology books written on the subject, and a professional speaking industry that focuses on discovering who you are.

Lately I find myself pondering this subject.  I believe the Holy Spirit is leading me to consider this topic because He has something to show me regarding what God has to say on the matter.

My family and I recently went on a mission trip to Costa Rica.  While I was there, I spoke at a church in El Roble regarding the topic of “What is God’s Purpose For You.”  In Genesis 1 we find that God made man in His image and likeness.  I wondered about this phrase.  In studying the scripture I’ve come to find out that God is really big!  The earth is His footstool the scripture declares.  And more than that, the book of Job declares that God measures the heavens (the universe) with a span.  The span is the measurement captured by the stretch of a person’s hand and calculating the distance between the end of the thumb and the tip of the pinky finger.  Whoa...that means that God’s hands are big enough to measure the universe.  So the meaning of being made in His likeness and image doesn’t mean I am equal in physical size and appearance.  I believe God was referring to His personality and abilities.  He made us to bear His image, or reflect His character in the earth.  Of course this was defiled by Lucifer early on, but the fact God made us originally this way should not be overlooked.  In fact, as you study scripture you’ll find that God has been in the process of bringing man back to this original design...that we should bear His likeness in the earth.

Then He spoke about man’s duties.  Man was to go and multiply and have dominion over all the activity on the face of the earth.  Oh what a glorious plan God set in motion!  Having dominion means that we are to influence and have authority over everything that is taking place in the earth.  I like to consider this as we are to influence every aspect of creation whether that is social networks, government, education, civic planning, or child rearing.

If you don’t mind me paraphrasing these two thoughts I will take liberty.  God made us to carry His character into every situation of life and allow His character to influence everything that occurs on this planet.  We are to multiply the image of our glorious God throughout the whole earth.  Too many times the Genesis 1 creation story has focused on man physically multiplying.  That is too small of an understanding.  God intends for the whole earth to be filled with His glory and He wants to use man as the primary vehicle to bring this forth.  

You and I have a ministry that is yet to be fulfilled.  God has been waiting from the beginning for us to enter in to His original design for creating man.  He has called us to be carriers of The Most High God, Ruler of Heaven and Earth.  Romans 8 declares that all of creation is groaning waiting for the manifestation of the glorious liberty of the sons and daughters of God.  To the extent that we have allowed the Lord to purge us from our flesh and birth the character of Jesus in us, to that extent we are walking in this manifestation that Romans 8 declares that creation is anxiously waiting for.

So who are you really?  I think this question can only be properly answered as we understand God’s purpose for who we were created to be.  

Stay tuned for the next blog post...this is a big topic and there is more to be said.  On the next blog I want to explore what God declares regarding Who You Are.

Blessings to you!

A Dream of Trumpets

In 2008 the Lord gave me a dream where I was standing in a church in Butler, PA.  I was looking toward the front of the church and all across the front were lined hundreds of trumpets.  As I looked I noticed that these trumpets had a most unusual shape.  They were circular in the middle and the mouthpiece and the horn both came out on the same side.  I had never seen anything like this before so I wasn't sure what type of horn it was.  And then as I was pondering the meaning of the unusually shaped horn I heard a voice speak over the church.  And it said, "Who will take this authority?"  And that was the end of the dream.

The next day I began to research what kind of trumpet I saw in this dream.  I found through research that this was a Vienna horn.  So I began research on what the Vienna horn meant.  Most trumpets are tuned to the key of G, but the Vienna horn is tuned to the key of F.  Because of this, it has a different sound that is highly desirable.  This horn is used in special orchestra arrangements that is played in Austrian concerts that is broadcast to over one billion people on the planet.

In the bible a trumpet was used to sound the alarm, to call God's people to order, or to be a way of announcing that a special message was about to be given.  I believe this dream was God pronouncing that a billion soul harvest is about to take place in the earth.  After I had learned about the Vienna horn, I began to research the thought of a billion soul harvest.  And to my surprise there are several ministries currently pursuing this objective.  Do a search on the words "billion soul harvest" to find links to other ministries pursuing this call from God.

I'd like for you to consider this, however.  In the dream the message from God was "Who will take this authority?"  There are many trumpets, many messages that need to be sounded.  There are many ministries that need to be activated in order to bring forth a harvest of this size.  The trumpets I saw at the front of the church weren't guarded.  They were available to anyone who will pursue.  Of course, in any action a choice is made.  We have to choose to pursue Him in order to lay hold of the trumpet.  Who will take it?  Will you?  God's intention is that He will fill His house.  And He's making it available to you to join Him in this pursuit.  The fields are white for the harvest.  Pray that God would send forth laborers into His harvest.

Blessings to you!