July 2008
INTIMACY WITH GOD JOURNAL
Articles in this issue:
FLOODS OF 2008 – What do they mean?
FROM PROPHECY TO PRESENCE – Be a messenger of God’s Face!
*Announcements: Check our new website! And be sure to order Linda’s new book, Armageddon Bride, endorsed by Lou Engle, Jill Austin and others.
Linda & Mike Schreurs
CLAP YOUR HANDS!
Go ahead! Do it anyway, even in the midst of sadness and sorrow. Do the unexpected. Praise the Lord in spite of your circumstances, in spite of adversity, persecution, sickness – whatever it may be the enemy has tried to put on your summer plate. I double dare you to do the extraordinary thing! Clap your hands and exalt the Creator of the universe! He is worthy of all praise, at all times. Circumstances do not dictate praise. But praise dictates circumstances.
These are the days of going above and beyond the norm! Let us “go forth with joy, and be lead forth with peace…the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush, the cypress will come up!” (Isa.55:12) Shout! Clap! Thorn bushes are being eradicated! Join in exaltation with the trees of the field. Now that’s extraordinary!
Linda Schreurs
I stood there in the middle of the night, with my rod/staff, (my huge piece of drift wood I’ve had for years) and felt like Moses! I figured if it worked for him, it could work for me. After all, everything in God’s Word is a scriptural foundation from which we are to build upon. We’ve been commissioned by the Lord to take those things and ascend even higher, going from glory to glory! (2 Cor. 3:18) So I poked that staff into the atmosphere as if it were a sword and kept jabbing at the enemy declaring the destructive rains to stop! If anyone had seen me, I’m sure they would have thought I’d either lost my mind or were watching a scene from a science fiction movie! Quite frankly, I could care less.
When you’re up against the wall, you’ll do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do. When demonic assaults go from bad to worse, it’s time to pull out all the stops. It’s time for God’s people to arise and go from glory to glory! (Isa. 60) That’s our call! So will we pick up this mantle and run with it? Or will we bend, buckle and break under Satan’s attempts to destroy us? James 4:7 assures us, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” But many begin to curse God rather than turn to Him. (Rev. 16:9)
Air Force One!
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! (Joshua 24:15) I see the highest authority of the land coming in as Air Force One, and this one and only Creator Jehovah God Almighty is the force that causes every demon to tremble. You and I, as His child (all born again believers) have been appointed, anointed, commissioned and ordained with His authority to command nature, just as Moses did! Let us therefore not be afraid to engage the enemy in spiritual warfare making him to flee in seven different directions. We will make him FEAR US, not the other way around.
Saints, it’s time to become fierce in our beliefs. If we’re to take the kingdom of God by force, then let’s do just that. (Matt. 11:12) It’s time to take charge, call the shots, decree a thing in Jesus Name and take back what the enemy has stolen. (Job 22:28) Enough is enough! It’s time to stop quoting 2 Corinthians 7:14 and LIVE IT to the hilt! “Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, ‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice…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. Now my eyes shall be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.”
The enemy always defies
Psalm 23:4b states, “Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.” So what happened after I poked my staff into the atmosphere at the enemy’s deluge? Things got worse! I’d gone back to bed extremely confident the Lord had heard my cries and that He would act on behalf of my intercession.
I’d no sooner laid my head on the pillow when the rains began to pummel us. It even began to hail! I just laughed! You might say I laughed like Sarah when told against all odds that she would bear a child to Abraham in her old age. (Gen. 18: 11) I knew the enemy was right in my face trying to defy everything I’d just prayed and believed in. Have you ever been there? I’m sure many of you have. But in that moment, I was keenly aware of his lack of power and that God would shine His face upon our home, our city, our state of Iowa. And He did. He has. And He will continue to do so.
What is not possible with man is possible with God. (Gen. 18:14) The rain began to subside, almost instantly after the hail. We’ve have mostly sunny days since. The rivers continue to go down, but I sense the glory waters of Ezekiel 47 rising! Healings and deliverances of magnitudes which we have never seen before are soon to be upon us. There needs to be an anthem of praise, worship and Hosannas throughout the land!
What a mighty God we love and serve! Let your heart wrap around His. Take Him at His Word. Bring Him into your life – every area of it. Surrender all. The song by that title is meaningless unless you act upon it.
The worst/best of times
I share all this with you because we need to know that in the worst of times, it can really become the best of times! You learn things you would never learn otherwise.
My precious friends, especially to those of you who have known great devastation these last months, please remember your astounding heritage in Christ Jesus if you are a believer. If you aren’t a believer, why not become one and secure your eternal insurance policy of life in heaven with Him? You can indeed smile, even sing in the midst of your enemies and know amazing victory that shocks the socks off the unbelieving world! What a testimony!
*Footnote: A heartfelt thanks to all of you who not only prayed for us personally, but also for the multitudes in Iowa who have endured so much heartache through tornados and floods. Please continue to pray for them as many rebuild their lives physically, but perhaps spiritually as well. Let us all build upon the Rock of Ages! Matt. 7
FROM PROPHECY TO PRESENCE
Some of you may be aware that Bob Jones who is one of our renowned prophetic voices of today, has give a ‘word’ about the winds of change. I don’t know where you live, but Iowa seems to have been in a wind tunnel for months!
It’s also been prophesied that between June 22 and July 22nd of this year 2008, something of great significance will be released in the spiritual realm. Could it be the rising, healing waters of Ezekiel 47? Could it be the fiery Presence of God such as Moses knew in the Burning Bush and what the 120 saw and felt on the Day of Pentecost? No one is quite sure.
Recently while in prayer, the Holy Spirit quickened to me these words: “You’re going from prophecy to Presence.” The sense I got was that things prophesied for so long are about to become the NOW, the present, the living moment of miracles of immense magnitude. The Lord’s very Breath will be felt and seen over His people.
He also told me to listen for the ‘sneezes’! Can you imagine a meeting where everyone begins to sneeze all at once, over and over again! My mind began to run rampant with images of how this might occur.
Nonetheless, this could be none other than the passage from 2 Kings 4 where the Lord uses Elisha (who had received a double portion of Elijah’s anointing) to raise a dead little boy. The ‘sound of sneezing’ was heard as he came back to life!
The church, the Bride of Christ, is about to come alive such as it’s never been. Its about to walk, live and breathe the Presence of God as prophesied in Haggai 2:9 where we are told the latter glory of God’s house will be greater than the first.
There’s more!
But there’s even more than that! The key to this surpassing glory will be the Lord’s Face! His Presence! His fearsome, all-powerful, majestic, holy Presence will come in a way that will cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that He is Lord of lords and King of kings – whether they want to or not! (Philip. 2:9-11) Those who do so beforehand and willingly, have an eternal audience with His Presence. Those who refuse to bow now will indeed have to do so in the end because of His power and glory.
Perhaps Christ’s Second Coming is nearer than we can imagine. Knees will fold under the weight of His glory! No one will be able to stand. No one will be able to utter a word, not even a syllable. It happened before, it can happen again. Zephaniah 1:7 declares, “Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His guests.” Then too look at the words in 2 Chronicles 5:13c-14,“…And when they praised the Lord saying, ‘He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting,’ then the house, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”
Messengers
Those who bow, bend and are wooed into the position of lying at the Lord’s feet with all their heart, mind, soul and body will be the messengers of His Face. They will be the Moses’ of our day. Isaiah says of them, “For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people {of the world} saying, ‘You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’ In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, and you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.”
(Isa. 8:11,13,18)
No more burning bushes!
Friends of God, I truly believe these are the days of Moses! These are the days of Elijah! These are the days of the Lord’s fiery Presence which will consume our every thought and action. It won’t be just peering into a burning bush. It will be gazing upon the breath-taking beauty of the His Face of splendor, holiness and power!
Consider John’s description of the Lamb of God in Revelation 1 and 19 especially regarding His eyes of fire. Talk about a gaze from God! Imagine the look of the Lord that sees right through your soul, right through your thoughts, right through your heart. (Heb. 4:12) The motto of the days to come will be as it was with Moses, “If Thy Presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” (Ex. 33:15)
The end of the Age of Man will be the age of the Gaze of God! Nothing else will do because all else will be burnt up. (Rev. 20:11-15) Do you long to go from prophecy to Presence? Then seek the Lord more than ever. He’s calling us to become fiery messengers, like Moses, who will reflect the glory of His Face!
HAPPENINGS
New Web Site!
For the first time in almost eight years, our ministry has a new web site! It’s all new, fresh, vibrant and interactive! Click here to check it out: www.intimacy-with-God.com. Please forward this link to your email group. We value your input for any comments you may have.
ARMAGEDDON BRIDE
This is the title of Linda’s new book published by Creation House/Strang Communications which is now available! Endorsed by Lou Engle, Jill Austin, Shampa Rice, Pat Chen and Dr. Don Polston, it is a timely message for the precarious days in which we live.
This book is an intense and passionate look at where the Bride of Christ, the church, is headed in the End Times, especially as it relates to purity. The global issue of attempting to redefine marriage will be the epic battle ushering the Lord’s soon return. He said He was coming back for His Bride who would be without spot, wrinkle, compromise, contamination or lukewarmness. She will be a red-hot lover at all costs. What condition will our hearts be in at the sound of the last trumpet? Who will stand for truth with the heavenly Bridegroom and His eternal Word?
Order now at our web site or by writing your check addressed to: Intimacy With God Ministries, P.O. Box 1294, Johnston, Ia. 50131-1294. Price is $14 plus $4 shipping and handling = $18 per book. Group discounts available.
Wednesday Night Bible Study: Resumes in the fall.
Women’s Hermitage: Oct. 9-12, 2008. Quality/quantity time alone with God. Call for details.