Word for 2010 (Sally Koch)

Hey everybody, I shared this at the WPFW meeting on January 20, 2010 after holding onto it since Jan. 1, and not really sure if I should share it or not. The ladies really encouraged me to share it with others for encouragement and perhaps warning from the Lord to be prepared.  

The Word was given to me following a dream I had on the night of Dec. 31 and quite frankly the dream was so scary that after writing it down, as the Lord had instructed, and then writing the Word He gave me for 2010, I put my journal up and tucked it away.  After returning home from Europe, I didn’t look at that journal until preparing to share at WPFW. With the earthquake in Haiti and all the surrounding prayer focus for that, I had forgotten much of what I’d written that morning. As I began to read over it, I was stunned in a way, because I referred to the events in the dream as if an EARTHQUAKE had hit.  I didn’t interpret it as an actual earthquake at the time, perhaps I should have, but the Lord is showing me to be more PRAYERFUL concerning the dreams and words He’s entrusted me with.

So with that intro, I’ll share parts of the dream and then the Word for 2010 that I believe may be from Him.  I don’t have understanding of all of it, but perhaps you will, so I’m writing it almost word for word as I heard it in my spirit.  I have shared impression for the New Year with many of you in past years, but last year, even though I received a Word, I just didn’t share it. I’ve repented of that, and I’m trying with all my heart to be obedient and pleasing to Him by sharing this with those who have “an ear to hear.”

Excerpts from my journal, Jan. 1, 2010. (Paris, France)

The Dream: “My dream last night was frightful, but I feel I must record it.” We were at a friend’s house when the house began to roll and shake like an EARTHQUAKE had hit. The sides of the house were rolling like a ship at sea.” (Then the Lord began to give me information about the people in the house that would assist me in knowing how to pray for them) I ran to my friend’s house to see how she had done with the earthquake. Only the doors of her house were blown off and the rest of her house seemed ok. She was very angry, distraught and blaming me and other specific Christians for all this.  As I looked at her face, I saw scriptures concerning the END TIMES literally written across her face.”  (When I woke up, I sensed the presence of evil coming from her, but also the Lord’s presence around me in a very real way.) Needless to say, it was really disturbing, but God had my attention and then instructed me to write down the following!

WORD FOR 2010

2010 will be a year of SHAKING THE HOUSE, of great CHALLENGE for families and individuals as things are brought to the surface from our pasts that we must deal with.

KEEPING the STATUS QUO will not be enough. Many will go BACKWARDS because they refuse to go FORWARD when the Lord calls them.  

FAMILY MATTERS will surface along with inner healing issues and needs that have held many back. God is EXPOSING so that CHANGE AND HEALING may occur.

FOCUS will SHIFT from “saving the world” to “saving one’s self.”  This will be healthy for a season, but unhealthy if it continues to absorb the church’s time and attention.

EVANGELISM will become popular again as many LEARN to SHARE the GOSPEL, particularly to and by the YOUNG GENERATION.

WARFARE will INCREASE and Christians will increasingly be BLAMED for the ILLS OF SOCIETY.  The enemy will attempt to steal the Christian’s ability to SPEAK AND WORSHIP FREELY all over the world.

PERSECUTION will draw the TRUE BODY of Christ closer together and the DISTINCTION and SEPARATION between denominations will NARROW.

PERILOUS TIMES will draw people together in PRAYER AND FASTING WORLD WIDE. (This appears to already be happening in light of Haiti.)

It will be a TUMULTUOUS year of SHAKING, TURNING AND SUPRISES on a PERSONAL and a WORLD scale.

PICK THE FRUIT while it is in SEASON, for very soon WINTER will come and fruit will be difficult to find. (scarce)

BARRENESS in the spirit and the natural will characterize many, but for those WHO LOOK TO ME FOR LIFE, for those who STAY CONNECTED TO THE VINE, there will be a CONTINUAL LIFE SUPPLY, ENERGY AND RESSURECTION POWER FLOWING AND REVITILIZING.

NOTE FROM SALLY:  Thanks for letting me share this with you. Please pray over these impressions and allow the Lord to speak to your heart concerning any application to your own personal situation. 1Cor. 14:3 “For everyone who prophesies, speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.”

For scriptures concerning the end times, see Matt. Chapter 24.  Don’t allow fear to enter, but rise up in faith, doing your part by praying, being READY and KEEPING WATCH!  Mt. 24:42 “Therefore, keep WATCH because you don’t know what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be READY, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. “ 

Love and blessings,

Sally Koch

Why Pray? (Part I) – June 2009

By Sally Koch

In my quiet time this morning, I heard the Lord speak clearly to me the words, “Arise!!!” I was singing along with a worship song about the Lord arising and as I sang the words, “Arise,” I could sense there was a message for me in the words of the song. (Btw, this is a good way to receive direction from the Lord as you pray!) So Lord, I inquired, what are you speaking to me? I went with the word, “arise,” and began to pray: “Lord, arise in my heart today, ARISE in each of my family members, ARISE in our homes, our communities, our schools, our NATION. Arise Lord on Wall Street, in our businesses, in this coming election, among the nations. Lord arise IN US for it is CHRIST IN US the hope of glory. Oh Lord, you are in us. Your Holy Spirit breathes, and moves and works in and through us moment by moment, day by day.  Forgive us Lord for the times we quench and grieve your Holy Spirit. Forgive us Lord for the times we don’t “ARISE,” when you are calling us to “arise” and do our part.

Lord forgive us for the times when we are too tired to pray or call upon your name , so we just ignore the call and dismiss it as someone else’s responsibility. You Lord gave us the model and set the example to pray as you spent many alone hours with your Father, as you made it a priority to get “alone time” with Him, to hear from Him, commune with Him, sharing intimate moments together.  Lord forgive us for making relationship into religion and living out of a false sense of security that because you are in control, we don’t have to do anything but sit back and enjoy the benefits of it all. Where Lord did we abdicate our responsibility, our privilege, to pray and seek your face on the basis of our belief that you are in control?

Of course I believe the Lord is in control and “works all things together for good,” but the verse doesn’t stop there! We forget that it says, “for those who LOVE ME, who are called according to purpose.” Do we really love the Lord if we ignore Him and basically put Him on a shelf? Oh yes, He’s large and in charge we say, so Lord you take care of everything and let me go about my merry way! Like the spouse who made a declaration years ago of undying love, but now “expects,” the other to “take care of things,” be “dutiful and faithful,” so why the need for intimacy? Why the need for prayer? God has it all under control! So, it has become that the understanding of God’s sovereign care and the believers’ ultimate place in heaven has given way to passivity and prayerlessness on the part of many. On the other extreme, are those poor worn out souls who live under the bondage that their works will get them into heaven, so work they do! And at the end of the day, are exhausted, a bit angry and don’t know quite what to do with the parable of the 11^th hour workers! (In that parable the 11^th hour workers get paid and receive the same reward as those who had labored long hours in the heat of the day!)

My point here, not being a theologian, is not to get into a theological debate, but to answer the question, “Why pray?” Where is the balance between “trusting that God IS ultimately in control,” and personal responsibility to position ourselves so that we can be available for His use? Although we may not understand it all, the free will of man was still free the last time I checked my own! We are still free to choose to spend time with the Lord, obey Him, be  involved in His plans and purposes on the earth today, be a willing vessel for His use, become conformed into His image, have our minds “renewed” daily and so on, or we are free to do nothing. The Christian life is all about choices and those choices we make, while maybe not ultimately  effecting God’s sovereign purposes on the earth or in heaven, are certainly significant in God’s desire to “work all things together for good” in our lives.  

A good example of this is to look at the Damascus Road experience of the Apostle Paul. You see, even brother Paul could have said no, when the Lord called Him. After all, he was on his “high horse” going in the opposite direction when the Lord met him and called out to him on the road. At that point, Paul had a choice to make. One day, as I was reading about Paul and his Damascus road experience, it occurred to me that if Paul had not responded to the Lord affirmatively, God would have raised up another Paul.  Perhaps there were others the Lord approached before Paul who said, “no thanks,” to Him.  Haven’t you ever procrastinated doing something the Lord was asking you to do and then missed your opportunity to do it? Haven’t you ever seen someone else doing something you felt the Lord wanted you to do only because of fear or intimidation, or laziness, or a host of other excuses, you didn’t do? I hate to break it to you, but you may not always have been God’s “first choice” for an assignment! You may have been the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, or even the last on His list at times. Because you see, if we’re asleep at the wheel, not listening, living in sin, dull of hearing and seeing, we can and do miss the assignments the Lord has for us.

The challenge is not about God taking care of everything so we can just sit back and enjoy it, the challenge is are we going to co-labor with Him as He has designed us to do? From the beginning of time, God designed us to co-labor with Him. In Gen 2:5, we see the beginning of that partnership. “Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was NO MAN to cultivate the ground.” Do you see that? Think about it for a minute. The creator of the universe waited to fulfill His “master gardening” because “there was no MAN……to cultivate the ground.”  Couldn’t God have worked the fields himself or sent angels to do it? Of course, but the point is, throughout time He has often chosen to work in and through man and continues to do so.  Why send a prophet when God could speak directly to man? Why did the Lord speak to Ananias in a vision directing him to lay hands on Paul that his sight would be restored? (Acts 9:10-12)He had knocked Paul off his “high horse” and had him blinded on the ground. Wow, don’t you think he had the man’s attention at that point? Wouldn’t Paul have listened to him then and gotten the message loud and clear? So one of the reasons I pray is to be able to more fully move in “divine partnership” with the Father and the son and the Holy Spirit. To have the privilege and honor of “being about the Father’s business,” not just tending to my own, is one of the main reasons I pray. To seek the revelation, leading and guidance necessary to be in step with him and enjoy the intimacy of partnering with Him draws me to Him daily. Prayer fosters the relationship with Him that allows me to experience His love, companionship and oneness, or at times his gentle rebuke and correction, thereby being in a position to hear His voice and walk in the purposes He has for me. So experiencing the divine partnership of God and man, God doing His part and man doing his, calls me to prayer and allows me to experience relationship that is not just a one-sided affair but a true relationship, a partnership, a friendship.

Sally Koch

PART 2 / WHY PRAY? COMING SOON!  

By Sally Koch

“Our challenges are great but our opportunities are greater!”

The word for today is OPPORTUNITY! God is giving the body of Christ a great OPPORTUNITY TO speak the truth in love, to share the GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST as we dialogue about the election, the economy and the future of our country and our world.  1^st Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” 

God “who causes ALL things to work together for good,” (Rom. 8:28) is using this current crisis to open up opportunities for the gospel, to wake people up, to draw people to repentance, both in and out of the body of Christ, and to give people opportunities to rebuild, to restructure, to realign, to redo, to reassess, to restrain, and to return to Him.  (Zech 1:3b “Return to me says the Lord Almighty and I will return to you.”)

Opportunity knocks, but do we respond and open the door? Opportunity calls

but do we answer? Opportunity beckons but do we discern it? Opportunity draws but do we follow? Opportunity is all around us but do we see it? Opportunity speaks but do we hear? (Matt. 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened.”)

God is giving us tremendous SPIRITUAL and NATURAL opportunities, but are we allowing a fearful mindset to create blindness and deafness toward these divine opportunities?  Pray that God will show you the doors that are open before you and the roads that he desires for you to take. Don’t let the difficulties of this present hour dim your vision, dull your hearing, affect your thinking or control your emotions. (2^nd Tim 1:7 “For God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.)

God is our ROCK of REFUGE to which we can continually go, but I believe he is saying , “don’t  just stand (still) on the rock in this present hour, GO FORTH and LAY HOLD OF the opportunities that are before you, WALK THROUGH the open doors as they will not remain open for long.  Hearts are tender right now. I am using the present fear and insecurity to show myself the master of fear and insecurity.  I am SECURITY; I am PEACE; I am OPPORTUNITY!  Run to the places where I am sending you and to the people who await your arrival, for I have prepared the way and the hearts for this very time and hour.  (Matt. 10:19 “And when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time, you will be given what to say.”)Don’t miss the opportunity or it may not come again!