Humbling ourselves -- These two messages, by Bill Yount and Francis Frangipane, express God's heart and mind for His people right now!

God's Strategy for Us to Win the Last Day 'Spiritual' World Series

by Bill Yount

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!

I saw a vision of a baseball team representing the Body of Christ in the last day "spiritual" world series. The Lord really impressed upon me the vital importance of teamwork in these last days. It was the bottom of the ninth inning. We had the bases loaded and needed one run to win.

The count was three balls and two strikes and you were the batter up. It seemed like this was the moment you always dreamed of. You stood at the threshold of a miraculous win. Right now your childhood dreams run wild as you imagine swinging your bat and connecting for a grand slam home run. Your team would not only win but your name would become a household word and talked about around the world.

Your phone would start ringing with interviews with Fox News and CNN, and Wheaties would bless you with a sizeable offering to make you a hero for the breakfast of champions. Other offerings from book publishers, magazines and TV commercials would flood your life. Even just a base hit would do the same, as your name would go down in history! As you stand there and whisper a prayer, surely this would be the moment God would remember you and your ministry as the pitcher winds up to throw that three-balls-and-two-strikes pitch.

What if God Told You that the Next Pitch was Going to Be a "Ball" and that You Were NOT to Swing Your "Bat"?

I heard very clearly from the Lord that the very next pitch that would be thrown to you would be a "ball" and you were to be careful not to swing your bat at all! I sense the Lord saying, "Everything within you is going to want to swing your bat on this next pitch to hit this next ball. Your flesh is trembling to swing, but a clear warning from the Lord is...'Don't swing!'

"If you don't swing, you will get a walk to first base and the man on third will automatically walk home to win the game, and your team will win. This win would not be as glorious on your part and you would not be known as the hero, but God would get the greater glory as the team celebrated their corporate victory!"

Philippians 2:3-5 "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

This Ball being Thrown Became a Wild Pitch for Many-Hitting Many!

I saw this 3-2 pitch coming in outside of the strike zone turning wild, hitting some batters this hour, as it comes at the batter like a deranged missile!

But wait just a minute...as one batter takes a hit and shakes off the pain, there's something he doesn't do that makes him a star in God's eyes in the game: He doesn't look back at the pitcher who wounded him! Instead he proudly trots down to first base. Silently his character speaks so loudly that it fills the stadium with reverence and awe and seems to say, "Thank you, Mr. Pitcher, you didn't strike me out, I still made it to first base and we win!"

TAKE THE HIT!

Don't get upset and angry and curse the pitcher. Take the hit! The pitcher just did you a big favor. Getting hit still gets you on base, and the man on third walks home, and your team goes down in history winning this world series!

No More "Spiritual" Steroids Will be Used to Pump Up a Move of God!

I sense the Lord was not after us to do some great thing in this last day "spiritual" world series, even though the whole world was watching us. No heroes made from "spiritual" steroids. Victory, from God's perspective, was just to get a walk out of us. His dream for us was just to walk with Him from "home" to glory! A walk that would be a witness to the world that how we walk with God is more important than just winning a game!

Many on this Team had Failed to Take a Seventh Inning Stretch!

As the seventh inning stretch came, many on this team didn't take their seventh inning stretch. They instead used this time to practice swinging their bats (their ministries) and flexing their muscles (spiritual gifts). As a few stood still and began stretching out their arms, I saw fewer still suddenly appear to be on crosses.

The greatest supernatural key event in the whole game began to take place: a revelation of death to self, death to giftings, death to ministries was taking place through the Holy Spirit in these few. As they began dying to self, their eyes were being opened to prefer and esteem their team members above themselves. That's when the winning anointing began to fall upon them.

Bill Yount
Blowing the Shofar Ministries
Email: theshofarhasblown@juno.com

and,

As a speaker in citywide and regional prayer conferences, I am often asked to unmask the "spiritual power" opposing the body of Christ in the conference region. City leaders and intercessors have even asked if I knew the "name" of the principle spirit that is resisting the church in their area.

"Do you want to know the name of the most powerful spirit opposing most Christians?" I ask. Eager faces respond affirmatively.

"It's Yahweh."

My questioners, who suddenly look like a tree full of owls, are always bewildered by my answer. They are sure I misunderstood their question. Then, I explain. I remind them that, according to the Scriptures, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). So, if we are divided in our hearts from other churches, if we instinctively look down on other Christians or if we are at all self-promoting in attitude, we are walking in pride. As such, the Spirit that stands to resist our endeavors is not demonic; it's God.

The Lord will not excuse our pride just because we sing three hymns on Sunday and consider ourselves "saved." God resisted Lucifer's pride in heaven and He will oppose our pride on earth. What is most sad is, religious pride has been so homogenized into our Christian experience that we don't even perceive it as being wrong. Yet it is without doubt the most offensive blight upon God's people.

The Lord does not want the lost added to churches where they must assimilate the poison of pride at the same table as salvation.

The One Who Seeks and Judges

Jesus said of Himself, "I do not seek My glory." Yet, how many of our actions are expended doing the exact opposite of the nature of Christ! Our choice of clothes and cars, homes and roles in life so often have self-exaltation working in the background. Jesus continued, "there is One who seeks and judges" (John 8:50). Listen carefully to His words, for every time we seek to exalt ourselves we run face to face with God. One dimension of the Father's heart is that He "seeks [glory] and judges" those who, through pride, exalt themselves. Indeed, my friends, consider with godly fear our American tradition of self-promotion. Though it is highly esteemed among men, it is actually "detestable in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15).

The Old Testament is replete with examples documenting the Almighty's opposition to man's pride. Time after time it was not Israel's enemies that thwarted national prosperity; it was God. From generation to generation, the Lord allowed Israel's adversaries to humble His people, to drive them toward desperation, humility and finally repentance. There, in brokenness and honesty, God could deal with their sins and finally lead them into national revival.

Listen how the Lord pleaded with Israel: "Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries" (Ps. 81:13-14).

So also with us. We need the might of God to be unleashed against our foes. For truly, terrible powers of darkness have invaded our land, and our adversary stalks our streets seeking whom he may devour. Our hope, however, is not merely in confronting the enemy, but in allowing God to confront us. Our victory over the enemy is directly attached to our full surrender to God.

If we truly learned of Him, we too would be "meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29 KJV). And God, who gives grace to the humble, would rescue us from the spiritual enemies of our nation.

Heal Our Land

The promise of the Lord is familiar. He says, "If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14). You say, But I'm humbling myself and praying. Yes, but our humility to God is not complete until we learn to humble ourselves to one another.

The fact is, because of pride, we have yet to accept what the Lord means in His words, "If My people." We still interpret His phrase "My people" to mean "our people"---our limited circle of friends, relatives and Christians whose culture or style of worship is, more or less, like our own.

However, when the Lord thinks of His people, He sees a more expansive group. He includes all who have been born again in a city. All of us who "are called by [His] name," though we are diverse in gifts and assignments, must find unity of spirit before Him. And this begins with an amazing strategy: we must humble ourselves.

I know this goes against the grain of our historic church relationships. Satan has not only divided us from others, he has made us proud that we are separate. We think being separate is a virtue. But consider: only one group of people consistently found the Lord confronting and resisting them in the New Testament: the Pharisees. Literally translated, the word "Pharisee" meant "the separate." Of all the religious groups in the first century, it is the pride of the Pharisees that, today, the church most resembles.

We pray, "Lord, heal our land." But the land He intends to heal first is that which exists beneath the feet of the humble. It is the world of the praying meek, who find the transforming power of God as their companion.

The Lord's remedy for our society is hidden within the life-relationships of Christians. We are always so mindful of what others have done wrong to us, but where have we failed others? What can we do to heal the land that exists between us and those whom we have hurt?

You see, as we become those who "humble themselves and pray" about what we have done wrong, healing from God begins to flow. When white Christians humble themselves and ask for forgiveness from African and Native Americans, God begins to heal the land under their feet.

If God resists the proud, remember also, He gives grace to the humble. Grace is more than being covered; it is being cleansed and changed by the power of God. Grace is God's transforming power doing in us what we cannot do for ourselves.

When we pray, "heal our land," it is the land beneath the feet of the humble that God promises to touch and restore to blessedness.

Let's pray:

 

Dear Father, You said the healing of our land begins with the humbling of ourselves.

Master, reveal to my heart those with whom I am estranged.

Grant me courage to forgive and honesty to see where I contributed to the strife.

 I long to be an ambassador of reconciliation.

Therefore, lead me to bring healing to the relationships

in our world,

and so bring healing to the land in which I dwell.

In Jesus' name. Amen!

francis1@frangipane.org