Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let our will be Thy will. Let our words be Thy words. Let our thoughts be Thy thoughts, and let our actions reflect You. Give us this day our daily bread. Provide for us what is needed both physically and spiritually. May the food we eat be blessed, the work You provide be prosperous. May we ever fill our spirit with Your word. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Help us not to hold grudges and become bitter in our hearts but show God's love and forgiveness to others as He has shown His love and forgiveness to us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Guide us Father so that we don't follow after our own lust and desires. Show us the path that we should walk and help us to walk in it. Bring people in to our lives that will bless us and people for us to bless. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and ever. And we ask this all in Jesus' precious name. Amen.

On December 20th, 2015 Sheryl was invited to give the opening prayer at a Christmas banquet in Seoul. Present at the event were the Mayor of Seoul and the Philippines ambassador to South Korea. It was a great honor. One morning she woke up and said "God gave me a prayer to pray, i have to write it down. I thank God for a wife who hears from God!

 Some thoughts as I sit at His feet.....

Jesus is my sound doctrine. My doctrines are not so much about what i know but who. He is who i believe in, not what i believe. Truth is a person. The Holy Spirit alone can "rightly divide" the Word of God for me, apart from Him i can understand nothing. The Holy Spirit teaches me all things, leads me and guides me into all truth. I care more about knowing Him than what He has to say to me, though His words are more precious to me than life itself.

Christopher Michael Tripp is the cocoon of who i was, not who i am, for the imago - my true self, whom God always intended me to be, to live, he must break free of who i was, he must live completely free of his old cocoon, the former life and identity that desires to remain my identity forever. I am who God says i am. I am who He has written on that white stone, known only by the two of us, like two lovers who create nicknames for each other, except my new name is my new, eternal identity. I am the name written in the Lamb's Book of Life - my true "birth certificate", not the one given to me by flesh. I thank God this cocoon is daily crumbling around me, the daily death of which Paul spoke. Whoever i was, I'm not him anymore. I'm Lazarus emerging from my tomb, I'm Peter, not Cephas, Paul not Saul, Abraham not Abram, Israel not Jacob, anymore. 

Lovest thou me more than these my child?

What will your answer be?

O precious Lord

I love Thee more than all of these -

More than fame.

More than wealth.

More than the world.

It's not how we rise but how we fall that separates pioneers from the rest - for when we fall, we must choose to land on God's promises. We land on the words spoken over us. We land on the marriage bed whereon God communes with us. So then, our failures become our greatest victories. The Cross looked like faolure to all who looked outwardly,  but inwardly it was the greatest victory ever known.

Some of you look like failures to everyone around you, but inwardly you are winning battle after battle! And your third day is on the way! When all will see the seeds you've sown sprout to the surface. So remember,  what is happening inside us is far more important than what is happening outside of us. All outward circumstances are used by God to form Christ in us more fully, more purely, more powerfully till nothing can defeat us - like Paul, we can be stoned, shipwrecked, abandoned and rejected of all men, and yet say "If i must needs glory, i will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities". He rejoiced in his sufferings! So should we, for we are privileged to partake in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. He died an agonizing death on our behalf, we should be willing to suffer for him. But he will never put us through more than we can bear. 

Many of Paul's teachings are watered down, diluted or non existent in many churches today, the result being a weak,nonconfrontational church that does more harm to each other than to Satan's kingdom. Make no mistake- each of us is in a battle for our souls and for the souls of others but when we battle, each of us must do more at the beginning- more fasting, more praying, more prophecying. It will get easier, meaning the victory will come but know this - the enemy's tactics are to sometimes feign defeat, withdraw, regroup, rally more forces, then, as you're gloating over your seeming victory,  attack you anew from your flank, from a direction you least expect. Some of my greatest victories have come just after defeats, i lost a battle but went on to win the war. Conversely,  some of my greatest defeats have come after mighty victories. Look at Israel, just after Jericho.

So don't let victories get you too high and don't let defeats get you too low. The key is to always be on guard, watching- "It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes." Luke 12:37 Watching for enemy movement but watching also for the moving of God's Spirit. Move with the cloud, stop with the fire. 

Often, pioneers are on the front lines, battling for their own souls as well as the souls of their nation. They suffer the most on behalf of others. They make it much easier for others to follow Christ on the trail they blaze. Those on the front lines face the most opposition, they must be more stubborn than their enemy - REFUSE TO MOVE!!! Never back down, never give him ground, that ground is hard won, that ground is soaked in blood, the very blood shed by God in battle for your soul. No! Stand and resist till your enemy flees from you! In every battle,  you will see the salvation of your God, if you do not grow weary, if you do not faint. 

In every nation, there are princes of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places. Ask God to expose them, to reveal them, for they can't be confronted till you know who they are. This is why Jesus demanded to know their names, as we shou7do also. They hate being brought into the light. But to win the souls of a nation, these master manipulators behind the scenes, the ones pulling the strings, must be exposed "to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord IN WHOM WE HAVE BOLDNESS and access WITH CONFIDENCE by the faith OF HIM!" When we access His faith we will never lose another battle.

Expect the principalities to fight back. Expect them to lose. You are the true "giant in the land", look at them as the grasshoppers they are. Guard family members, the enemy will try to attack you through them if he can't get to you directly. Guard them in prayer. Satan may try to turn them against you as Jesus prophecied (Mt:10:36). Or he may try to use them to speak Satan's counsel, not God's (Mt:16:23). Rebuke Satan but not the one he is using, when they are friends or family. But do stand firm inbwhat you know to be true. This Satanic voice, that urges us to avoid suffering, and dying for God, is common today. God exists to comfort and serve you, to pamper your flesh. Nothing could be further from the truth! He wants to comfort and deliver your soul unto Him, not so it can serve the whims and pleasures of your flesh. Start with fasting one day a week, befriend a homeless person, and feed them the meals you would have eaten. Literally arrange a place and time to meet them each week and feed them. Don't go cheap either. Steak is not out of the question. Treat them like you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes. Love you.

        As i advance deeper into the Holy of Holies, i become more and more aware of truth i could not see in the outer courts. There is a clarity and a wisdom reserved for those who will not cease until they receive their hearts only desire - His presence.  In His presence,  all other cravings and desites fade away - we no longer even desire our own flesh except as a tool to be used to glorify Him and serve Him, no more, no less, for our flesh is full of sin and death, which is why we must crucify it daily. Either die TO sin or die OF it.

       There are truths known in the inner court that those in the outer courts will reject. They will not be able to receive inner court truths because of their positioning. Certain truths cannot be understood until other truths are digested. "For precept must be upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a littlle" "To whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." To "wean" means to cause someone to manage without something on which they have become dependant or on which they have become excessively fond. It means to "accustom an infant to food other than it's mother's milk." Many churches today are full of spiritual babies, drinking only milk - they cannot handle strong meat - sound, mature doctrines, that will cause their "souls to prosper". They cannot attain to the purity and maturity needed to enter his bridal chamber, as babies. Only the bride can "maketh herself ready" - babies cannot attend to themselves. Unless they mature, they will not make it into His kingdom. 

       If they do mature a little, and make it into the inner court, they are still like "foolish virgins" . Yet, God foreknew the present predicament so many faithful church attending Christians find themselves in. He says to them, through the Prophet Isaiah  - "Forasmuuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men (a precept is a rule intended to regulate behavior or thought), yrt "behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish." All the self titled "wisdom" of the countless wisemen they call pastors must be seen as the tainted milk it is, before the people can receive the wisdom of God found in the Holy of Holies. 

       I pray for and thank God for the day when "they also that erred in spirit, shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine" I thank God that in that day "the deaf shall hear the words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness." Too many today, called by Christ, anointed by Him, sit in obscurity - like over ripe fruit, rotting on the branch, their entire lives wasted sitting on a pew. "WOE TO THE REBELLIOUS CHILDREN THAT TAKE COUNSEL BUT NOT OF ME, AND THAT COVER WITH A COVERING, BUT NOT OF MY SPIRIT, THAT THEY MAY ADD SIN TO SIN." How often have i been asked "who is your covering? Proudly pointing to their pastor as their covering, who is not walking in His Spirit but their flesh only, or another spirit altogether (hint: the spirit of religion). "For this is a rebellious people, lyimg children, CHILDREN THAT WILL NOT HEAR (parents, can you relate?) which say to the seers,  see not, and to the Prophets, prophecy not unto us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophecy deceits, get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, CAUSE THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL TO CEASE FROM BEFORE US." (many pastors today simply say "prophecy not" thereby disobeying God's instruction to "despise not prophecy; quench not The Spirit.)" Yet i prophecy to you now He will have mercy on those that reject Him, and give them one more season to repent of their wickedness. Those that seek to please Him by entering into the Holy of Holies will be highly favored and exalted forever.

       Amen.

      

     Jesus, both as man and as God, had (has) a complete and total lack of egotism - he had no "excessive and objectionable reference to oneself, conceit, boastfulness, in conversation or writing, no over developed sense of self-importance" He did not have "an excessively favorable opinion of one's own ability or importance". He was not "wise in his own conceits" rather He "made himself of no reputation and " upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, HE HUMBLED HIMSELF". Jesus only did what his Father (not Joseph) taught him to do, he only spoke what his Father gave him to speak. He said "i do nothing of myself (for myself) but as my father has taught me, I speak these things." What do you think Jesus was doing when he "went up into a mountain apart (alone) to pray"? He was spending intimate time with his Father - receiving instructions, counsel, words to speak and future deeds to do. Like a soldier far from his command post, he was radioing in to receive his marching orders from his commander in chief.

     Jesus, and only he, can say "he that sent me is with me: the Father has not left me alone; for I do always the things that please him." This is a goal, albeit a lofty one, for each of us to pursue. This has become my heart's sincere desire- to speak to the Body of Christ only those things which I have heard of him and to always do those things that please him. I want my Father to one day say of me "This is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased". Jesus had no hidden motivations or agendas - he did not seek to glorify himself, his only desire was to glorify his Father "for the son of man shall come in the glory of his father" not his own glory. Jesus said "I seek not mine own glory." He taught us not to honor ourselves- for the praise of men profits us nothing, indeed, it is harmful to us. "If I  honor myself,  my honor is nothing - it is my Father that honors me." He continually pointed us to, led us to by his example, honor our Father - "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done......for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory" Jesus prayed "Father, glorify Thy name." 

     We should not seek to glorify our own names. A long time ago I asked my Lord to never allow my name to be known, or glorified in any way. Even now I wish to be known from now on as "that disciple whom Jesus loves." Jesus  modeled an ego-free life for us and I want to follow his example. When I meet people, I don't want them to just meet me but He who sent me. I want to say with Jesus "I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak." We should not speak of ourselves but of him who has sent us. Men who name their ministries after themselves still have not fully crucified their own egos. If I was a pastor, I wouldn't even put my name on the outside of the building.  The truth is, there is only one ministry we should glorify and honor on the earth today and that is the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  He invites us, calls us and anoints us to join Him because we ourselves  have no ministry in and of ourselves, apart from Him. "I am the vine, you are the branches.....without me you can do nothing" "I know nothing of myself ". 'The anointing teaches all things."

     Because we can do nothing apart from Him, because it is his anointing alone (not Bible college, not man's approval) that enables us to become "labourers together with God". We can in no way, shape or form take glory for ourselves for "every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above and comes down from the Father of lights" isn't this a lovely way to refer to the Father? Each of us who are birthed by Him, belong to Him and He has made us "blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world: hold forth the Word of life...." to all - some will rejoice, others will curse but all will bear witness to the "Light of Life" "I am the Light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness,  but shall have the Light of life." He is the sun, we are the moon, reflecting his light into this world's present darkness. "I know that His commandment is life everlasting; whatever I speak therefore,  even as the Father said unto me, so I speak," This is how Jesus could say "The words that I speak unto you, are Spirit and are life" because they came from the Father - the source of all life. In Him we live and move and have our being. This entire world was created to house our physical bodies but He also created a heaven to house our spirits. 

     There is indeed only one glory our souls should seek in this life - "Let him that glorieth , glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord which excersises lovingkindness,  judgment,  and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord" And so Paul, full of the Holy Spirit reminds us "as it is written, he that glorieth, glory in the Lord." When people call me a great man of God I (gently) admonish them and tell them I am not great but I serve "the great God of man." Too many are seeking to build their own kingdom, not God's.  If He exalts us it is only so we may exalt Him "Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify Thee." How do we become  invited to be found among the number that are priveleged to remain before His throne forever? We must "Fall down before Him" of our own will, "that sat on the Throne, and worship Him that lives forever and ever, and cast (our) crowns before the Throne." "Saying" (we must say this also, from the depths of our hearts) "You are worthy (alone) to receive glory and honour and power: now pay attention - this is crucial -"for You have created all things; and for your pleasure they are and were created." He put pleasures on this earth for us to enjoy - a glorious sunset, a stunningly fragrant and beautiful flower, the sound of our two year old giggling as we play with her - but they are here because He gets pleasure from giving us joy, as a good Father would. The truth is - we exist for His pleasure, not the other way around.  And notice "they are and were created" - all creation (including us) that makes it into His presence forever- will go through a recreation, a new heaven and a new earth and a new glorified, body. We were created, in our former lives, for His pleasure and we are created, in our eternal lives, for His pleasure. Pleasing Him is our highest honor and our chief pursuit in this life. Amen.