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4 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/december-2-2022 December 2, 2022 Hit the Mark (I will be leading us in Communion at the end of today’s post. If possible, pause your recording and/or reading and get some juice (or wine) and bread ready so you can join me.) On January 2 of this year, my friend Greg Hood was given a dream which I have visited often throughout the year. In this dream, the Ekklesia and the kingdom of darkness were contending for America; this was pictured by a baseball World Series, called the World Seers Series. It was the last game of the series, the eighth inning, and we were winning by a score of 20-22. I and others felt that the 4 batters we sent to the plate in this inning represented prayer assignments for the 4 quarters of 2022. For those of you who would like to see the entire dream and my comments regarding it, you can use the following links (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4,). Today, however, I want to talk about the batter/assignment for the fourth quarter of this year, which we are obviously now in. The assignment for this quarter was to remove the voice (influence and control) of Baal, the ruling principality over America. We did so by hitting the baseball into his throat, with a bat taken from a box marked “Communion,” and engraved with “Ephesians 1:17,” a verse referencing “the spirit of wisdom and revelation.” In the dream, it was said to this fourth batter, “If you hit the mark it will change this game.” “Hit the mark” is one of the definitions of the Hebrew word for intercession (paga). If we do and pray as we are instructed, we will change this nation! I have known since 2007 that this spirit was “the strong man” (Matthew 12:29) over America. Demons and angels do not have physical bodies and, therefore, do not die. The same spirits that operated in ancient history are still alive and active today. Baal was a principality mentioned often in the Bible, who was frequently used by satan to oppose Israel. His influence produced violence, blood sacrifices and great immorality, including all forms of sexual sin. He is no doubt the spirit behind abortion, adultery, homosexuality, pornography and the blatant attempt to defile our children with sexual perversion. The sudden escalation of activity in our nation to promote abortion and sexual perversion - even to small children - is no doubt due to this spirit’s desperate attempt to remain in control. My purpose in this post is to focus on the method God gave us in the dream with which to end Baal’s control over America. And I will be doing several more posts between now and the end of the year on this subject. It is beyond significant that the baseball bat used to remove Baal’s voice was taken from a box stamped “Communion.” This is all important. Spiritual forces of darkness are not defeated through human powers and weapons. They are overcome only with spiritual authority that flows from Christ and His finished work. The Lord’s Table, Communion, pictures this. To war with Communion is not warring with a ritual or tradition. First Corinthians 11:26 tells us, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” Proclaiming Christ’s death is proclaiming His victory, for it was through His shed blood that He conquered death. Proclaiming His death is declaring the power of the New Covenant. Proclaiming Christ’s death is declaring He defeated all principalities and powers and reclaimed Adam’s lost authority over the earth. Proclaiming His death is declaring His ownership of earth and all the nations there in. All spiritual warfare must be an enforcing of Christ’s victory. It should be done from a position of accomplished victory, seated with Him spiritually in His seat of authority. The sacrament of Communion pictures and reminds us of this. It declares that we are free from sin through the shed blood of Christ. It declares that we are more than conquerors through Him and Holy Spirit, the greater One, living in us. It decrees that all principalities and powers are under our feet. To swing the Communion “bat” is to swing Christ’s redemption, covenant, victory, authority and dominion. “Ephesians 1:17” engraved on the bat obviously refers to wisdom and revelation. I believe the specific revelation it refers to is the above mentioned victory of Christ. The more we talk about, meditate on, declare and proclaim Christ’s victory and the covenant we have with God through Him, the greater this revelation will become. This increased revelation will then produce greater faith and lead to greater authority. I am going to partake of and lead in communion on many of the posts for the remainder of this year. We are going to swing the bat frequently and with great power. This will do what God said it will do: proclaim and release the victory of Jesus, removing the voice of Baal in our land. Pray with me (Communion): Father, we take this bread now and hold it up before You as a remembrance of Christ’s broken body. Through this sacrifice He took our suffering and purchased our health. We proclaim His death, burial, resurrection, and victory over all of hell. As we partake of it now we are releasing this victory over every principality and spirit of darkness in this nation. And we hold the cup up before You, as well. It represents the blood of Jesus sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of heaven. It represents our covenant with You. It represents victory over death, hell, and the grave. As we partake of it today, we are swinging the bat and driving the “baseball” of victory into the neck of Baal. We declare that the blood of Jesus is greater than all of our sin. We declare that His redemption is coming to America to free us from the influence of this evil spirit. Our faith is not in our good works, wise strategies, individuals or organizations. Our faith is in Christ alone. Of Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. Amen. Our decree: We decree that the power of Christ’s redemption is our victory over all evil in America. ********************* Click on the link below to watch the full video.

7 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/may-10-2022 May 10, 2022 DSM has been blessed with a wonderful, hard-working, and loyal team. Ceci and I are going to do a staff retreat with them, then she and I will take a much-needed vacation. I have asked some of my close friends and associates - many being regular contributors to the Give Him 15 posts - to fill in during this time. You will recognize most of the names; and I’ve thrown in one or two whom perhaps you haven’t heard from. You’re going to love the insights from all of them - this will be a wonderful smorgasbord! Enjoy! _____________________________________________________________________________ Everything is Coming to Light - Welcome the Fire! Sometimes it may be hard to see but God is moving in the world today. He’s establishing His Kingdom on earth and He needs our participation. Yet we can easily ignore, overlook or even misunderstand all that God is doing. There is a difference between God working in our midst and God working through us. We are called to partner with God—speak His words, call forth His will, declare deliverance and freedom on the earth, but we can’t do that as long as we are out of step with Him. We must be focused on Him and not the conditions around us. On the surface, everything could be falling apart, it could look like it's going to hell, succumbing to sin. But on a deeper level, God is transforming our world, reclaiming it for His people. When we fail to discern what God is doing, we risk failing to do our part, even if that part is to stand fast, pray, prophecy, decree, and believe. How do we share in what God is doing? How can we know what our part is? It starts in the core of our being, the place of surrender, honor, and reverence before God. It starts at the altar—the meeting place of God and man. We read of a similar struggle in the life of the prophet Elijah, from 1 Kings 18. This parallels where we are today in the United States and the world. We have, in large part, in times past, forsaken the ways of the Lord, and this has brought us to the place we find ourselves where deception and death reign through confusion, fear, and lawlessness. Thankfully, our God is a saving God. Amen! He always does things with a redemptive purpose in mind. God is not finished with America. Indeed, the trouble we see on one level is a sign that He is working on another level. We might see the disrupted soil and question what God is doing, all the while missing the plow and the seeds of restoration being planted into the very fertile soil of this nation. No, God has not determined which nations will be goat nations and which will be sheep nations. The world is changing, it is evolving, and growing. Nations can be turned and saved in a day. Understanding the message of the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 18 is key to our ability to begin postured to reshape America again. In this passage, the prophet Elijah meets with Ahab, the King of Israel, and tells him that he is troubling the nation because he has forsaken the commandments and direction of God. (A prophet confronting a government leader.) The trouble Elijah refers to is evidenced by a crippling drought that had afflicted Israel and its economy for several years. Ahab has followed his wife, Jezebel, and turned to Baal worship, a form of demonic paganism. Most of Israel follows Ahab’s example as Jezebel endeavors to slaughter all the prophets of God. Elijah, at God’s command, is ready for a showdown so he challenges Ahab to gather all the people of Israel to Mount Carmel. Elijah is confident in the faithfulness of God, but note also, the confidence of the prophets of Baal. They go up to Mount Carmel fully expecting to prevail. Where does such confidence come from? It comes from past experience. God was not the only source of the supernatural in that day. As long as the people aligned themselves with the powers of darkness, the powers of darkness manifested. Just as God is doing in America today, in this passage, God is letting things get to the breaking point for a reason and that's to bring things to light. This is the hour that we are living in. We must say to the people of this nation and the world as Elijah said to Israel, “Come near to me. I have something to say; I have got something to show you.” Still, there are a lot of words in circulation today, a plethora of prophetic messages and teachings. Some tell us to comply with the flow of society and the edicts of governmental authorities. Others implore us to separate and withdraw from the “world systems.” It seems that each side can support its position with Scripture. Most of us are just caught in the middle, confused and being pulled this way and that, struggling to hear God in the unpleasant, prolonged noise around us. Like Elijah, we have to reach a place where we hear what God is saying. His voice! Not the voice of the media or conspiracy theorists or dooms-day prophets. Elijah was confident that he had a word from God. Let’s face it: The odds of 850 to 1 are not very good odds...unless that one has the One True God on his side. 1 Kings 18:30-31 says, And he [Elijah] repaired the altar of the Lord which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob… Get this picture. Elijah has 850 frustrated and armed-to-the-teeth prophets of Baal ready for him to fail so they can cut him to bits, and the first thing he does is rearrange some rocks? Really? The conversation could have gone something like this: “Hey God, save me and your nation of Israel from these demon-fed liars, but first, let me get these rocks in the right place.” Yeah, that’s exactly what he did. Elijah was challenging the reigning force of evil in his day, counting on God to respond to his preparation of the sacrifice. So, after arranging the rocks into an altar, he pours water all over it, soaking the wood, the dirt, and even the bull. Think about this, why did he use all that water, especially in the midst of a three-year drought? Three reasons. First, it’s clear that Elijah got the water from the people because, in 1 Kings 18, we see King Ahab sending people throughout the land to search for water and finding none. So, this must have been the populace’s personal stash. Now, imagine the faith it takes for the people to make such a sacrifice of that precious commodity. This is about more than showing down; it’s about having a dog in the hunt, like we say in the South. The people are being asked to commit life-giving water to prove that God is the God of Israel. Secondly, Elijah needed to cleanse the altar, both physically and, more importantly, spiritually. The water represented a spiritual cleansing. Ephesians 5:26 says, “So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” Finally, the water demonstrated God’s dominion over the demonic realm. God had stopped the rain in Israel, and he would restore it...if the people gave their all. They did and God did and the rest is history. God heard Elijah’s prayer. The fire fell. The sacrifice was consumed. And the people were changed. As great as this miracle was, it is too easy to focus on the spectacle of what God did and miss what it took for God to do it. If we are not careful, we can miss the true process at work as God performs miracle after miracle. Elijah’s motive for following God was crucial to the successful outcome that day, just as our motives are for everything we do. If we are seeking to do anything instead of expanding the Kingdom of God and turning people’s hearts to God, then we are missing the mark. Even if we are having great success, drawing people to us, exercising our gifts, or seeing fire fall from heaven. If our motives are wrong, we are on the pathway to error. We cannot allow that to happen. We have to keep our hearts constantly before the Father. Elijah knew that the stakes could not have been greater. The fate of God’s nation hung in the balance. As does America’s today. Evil reigned, figuratively and literally, for years. It was time to right that wrong. And yet, the first thing he did was rebuild the altar of God that had been torn apart through Baal worship. It is time to take up our part in rebuilding the broken altar of the Lord—the place where God meets man, and the fire of God falls. God does not reveal His presence just anywhere. There has to be an altar—a surrender, a sacrifice, a place satisfactory to God to pour out His Holy Spirit into the earth. Pray with me: Father, we thank You for what you are doing in America and the world even though we don’t like some of what we are seeing. We know it is necessary. We thank You that you have called us to partner with You in this great restoration process. We are asking you to give us ears to hear what YOU are saying to us, Your Ekklesia. Give us the boldness of Holy Spirit, in order that we stand and act in the face of great evil. Amen Our Decree: We decree that we will stand. We will be God’s voice to this Nation of purpose as it goes through this cleansing process, and turns its heart back to Jesus Christ! We decree, Light of God come and expose the evil. Fire of God come and consume it! Rain of God come and restore us! America, move into the salvation God has provided for you through the Kingship of Jesus Christ. ******************************* Portions of this post were taken from my book Rebuilding the Broken Altar - Awakening out of Chaos. You can find us at greghood.org or most social media platforms. Click on the link below to watch the full video.