A Call to Rebuild God’s House

A Call to Rebuild God’s House

by | Nov 13, 2022 | Dreams, Prophetic Words, Uncategorized, visions

In this season God is highlighting the book of Haggai. Many prophetic voices are echoing the word of the Lord: It’s time for the rebuilding of God’s house.

BUT! Do we really understand how to apply this word in our day? I have heard many prophetic voices speak this word accurately, but then misapply what it means: They apply it to some man-made agenda or false teaching or the misapplied “new thing” prophecy.

The time has come, not only for this word, but also to align the prophetic voices to the Lord’s true intent for this word! What does it mean to rebuild His house? We cannot simply apply it to any agenda that we believe the Lord might have for this season. We have to look at the definitions, analogies and teachings the New Testament gives for His house and then apply it correctly to these teachings.

“Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people say,
“The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.”

Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?”  Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!

 “You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 

“You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.  Therefore, the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

~ Haggai 1: 2-9

Consider Your Ways
God’s house, His true New Testament church made up of living stones, lies in ruins. He is calling us to the work of rebuilding it. The complaint in the book of Haggai was that everyone was dwelling in their own panelled houses, while God’s house lay in ruins.

We must consider our ways. To consider something means to deeply think about it. To contemplate it. We need to consider and ask ourselves: “Are we really busy building God’s house the way He wants it? Or, are we building our own little kingdoms, what we call God’s house, built on man-made systems and institutions? “

We will touch on some of the elements of God’s true New Testament house in the last section of this blog.

The Funnel of Cleansing and Purification
A few months ago, I had a dream about the book of Haggai. In the dream, I looked at a piece of paper. The paper was torn on both sides. It was wide at the top and narrowed towards the bottom. It looked like a funnel.

The Words Haggai 2 was written in bold on the piece of paper three times: top, middle and towards the bottom. Promises of God were written underneath each heading.

When I read Haggai 2 after I woke up, I discovered the following promise:

“The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts.
‘And in this place, I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

~ Haggai 2:9

If we are willing to obey and rebuild God’s house the way He wants it, He promises that He will fill His house with His glory and that His peace will rest on it.

The context of this verse is very important. Before God will fill this latter temple with His glory, He will first shake the nations:

“For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. 

~ Haggai 2:6-7

Before the glory falls, everything will be shaken.  This is where the FUNNEL features. The promises of God take us through the funnel. A funnel is wide at the top and extremely narrow at the bottom. In order to rebuild God’s house, we need to go through this funnel.

This speaks of a process of deep cleansing and purification. The narrow end of the funnel is PURE TRUTH where all human add-ons and mixed seed will be filtered out. God wants us to build His house exactly according to HIS blueprint and design. Before He can entrust anyone with this major responsibility, He will take us through the funnel (and the shaking), ensuring that the pure truth is cultivated in us first.

Going through the Funnel
Some time ago I had a very intense experience. I was busy praying for God’s house to be rebuilt and restored. The next moment I felt as if I was situated at the bottom end of a funnel, at the very narrow part. As I wanted to go through, I sensed the presence of an angelic messenger standing at the entrance of the last part of the funnel. The message I received was that I could not go through.

I asked God why I was not allowed to enter. In a vision, I saw that I had baggage. I saw a very small backpack on my back. It was preventing me from going through.

I wanted to take it off but I wasn’t able to. God showed me that it represented mindsets that I carried. These mindsets had roots and I saw that the roots of the backpack had grown into my brain.

Jesus then said to me that He is the only one able to remove it. I asked Him what these mindsets were and I repented as He revealed them to me.

After repenting, I felt my body being pushed through this narrow space. This went on for some time. Then I felt how I was pushed out on the other side! It felt like I was birthed into something new!

This message of the funnel is an extremely important one. As long as we hold on to ungodly and inaccurate mindsets and concepts, God will not allow us to be part of this promise: The promise of the rebuilding of His house and of being partakers of the glory of His latter house.

These mindsets can be so subtle that we are not even aware of them. Like the small backpack on my back that barely carried any weight. These are the very mindsets that will stop God’s house from being built among us and in the way He wants it.

We need to throw everything off and allow Him to take us through the narrow end of the funnel and cultivate PURE TRUTH in us. Do you have an open and teachable spirit?

Laying the Proper Foundation
The most crucial part of any building is the foundation. If the foundation is faulty in any way, it will cause much trouble and instability in the future.

“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

 ~ 1 Cor 3: 9-11

A while ago God showed me in a vision that He is now busy laying proper foundations in the process of rebuilding His house. I saw each layer being laid with much care.

While the Ekklesia that I’m a part of were interceding for the laying of the foundations, we pondered on the physical process of how a foundation is laid.

Modern foundations are made out of concrete produced by a mixture of gravel and cement. The size of the gravel stones determines the strength of the concrete. Smaller gravel stones form stronger concrete. Gravel stones have to be under a certain size for them to be used in the foundation. If the stones are too large they will be thrown back into the crusher and crushed to the correct size.

The Lord revealed to us that this ties in with the concept of going through the funnel. If God is taking us through the funnel, to lay a proper foundation for His house, our self-regard needs to be the correct size.

A rock that is too large will not be able to fit through the funnel. God will take us back to the crusher to crush our pride so that we will be useful to Him in what He has called us to do. The crusher is the process of repentance through laying down fleshly mindsets and pride.

Back to the analogy: stones that are too hard to be crushed are thrown out. If we refuse to be crushed, God will not allow us to be part of the building of His house.

While we were praying, God also showed me a game of chess, in checkmate. I saw His Hands removing the pieces that are playing their own game and are not willing to submit and yield to His game plan.

We received confirmation of this word the following day, while we were at a conference. A man stood up and said that he heard a loud noise. The noise was the sound of foundations being laid. He saw people laying foundations and Jesus walking up to them with the building plans and asking them whether they were building according to His plans. This was such an amazing confirmation to us!

Elements of the Latter House
Please note that the following is only a summary of the main points. My husband plans to cover this topic in more detail in his booklet “The Household of GOD – Exploring the Vision of the Future City Church”, due to be released in March 2023. Make sure you are subscribed to this blog to not miss it.

  • The New Testament City Church did not divide into denominations nor separated themselves by different names. It was simply known as ‘THE CHURCH’ in that city (1 Co 1:2, 2 Co 1:1, 1 Th 1:1, Rev 1:11). The house that the Lord is rebuilding for Himself is a united household with believers who refuse to be known by any name other than followers of Jesus Christ – the Church.

  • They Gathered In Homes throughout the city (Rom 16:5, 1 Co 16:19, Col 4:15, Phm 1:2) and on occasion got together for bigger gatherings. But, all these smaller gatherings formed a greater network that functioned together for the benefit of all. They did not just see themselves as one body in the city theoretically. They shared resources and responsibilities practically in their daily lives (Act 6:1-3). They had shared elders, deacons and five-fold ministry equippers.

  • Keeping the Unity of the Spirit Despite Differences was part of their value system. They allowed for differences of conviction and opinion on non-essential matters (Rom 14). They did not force their convictions on others nor made it a requirement for fellowship. Jesus Christ through the bond of the Holy Spirit was their basis of unity, not any doctrine or institution. They received one another, just as Christ received them (Rom 15:7).

  • Thriving Under Persecution and Economic Instability was one of their distinguishing traits. It was an underground movement without easily recognisable buildings, large gatherings or easily restricted leadership structures. They also took care of one another economically and functioned under God’s supernatural love economy that was unaffected by earthly events (1 Cor 16:1–4; 2 Cor 8:1–9:15; Rom 15:14–32).

    The accusation God brought against His people in Haggai 1: 2-9 was that they were spending their resources on themselves,  instead of using it to build His house. In the New Testament, this means that we should invest our resources in helping to disciple believers, to spread the gospel and to develop and build God’s Kingdom on earth and not to build our own little empires.

  • They Gathered in Open Participatory Meetings were each member was a functioning priest that actively shared what they received without asking anyone’s permission (1 Cor 14:26-40). They were equipped by true Apostles to function under the direct headship of Christ by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

There is much more that could be said on this topic, but I believe this gives a good overview. Remember to subscribe to be notified when the booklet is released.

I can almost hear some people say to themselves: “We know these things”. The question is not how well we know these things, but whether we are living them daily.

May the Lord rebuild His house that lies in ruins!

We THE PEOPLE of THE LIGHT

We THE PEOPLE of THE LIGHT

by | Sep 30, 2021 | Uncategorized, Understanding, visions

After a long time of silence, I felt the release to start writing again. As I was praying about what I should write first, the Holy Spirit reminded me of an experience I had in early 2020.

I feel like it is a foundational revelation that the Lord wants to lay in our lives. We need to start cultivating this principle as a habit.

Willingly Position Yourself in HIS light
In early 2020 we went away for a few days. Close to the place where we were staying was these beautiful woods with very tall trees. One morning I decided to go out into the woods to spend time with the Lord. As I sat down and looked up a beam of sunlight shone straight into my eyes.

I was about to move because it was uncomfortable. But, at that moment, I clearly heard the Holy Spirit saying, “Willingly position yourself in My light.” As I looked around, I realised that there was ample shade around me and I was seated directly under the only spot the sunlight came through.

That morning the Lord spoke to me about intentionally choosing to position myself in His light. To open up the dark and hidden places in my heart and to allow Him to shine His light into every dark corner. To purposefully bring the dark areas of my heart into His light so that He can purify and transform me into His image.

There are many dark areas in our lives:  sin, offence, broken relationships, unhealed wounds, unresolved issues, unforgiveness etc. To bring these things into the light isn’t always easy. To allow our issues to come to the surface is uncomfortable and often painful.

It takes courage and vulnerability. We need to allow ourselves to be vulnerable before Him. Vulnerability leads to freedom. He can only work with that which we bring into His light. The parts that remain in darkness will remain unfruitful and we will never gain victory in those areas.

“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

~1 John 1:5-7

It’s All About Reflecting HIM
As I was seated in His light that morning, I felt that the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2) will arise over me and that He is faithful, to not only purify me of my sin and unrighteousness but also to heal all my wounds.

It is in His light that He frees us of sin and binds up our wounds, so that we can become a victorious people, a pure bride! This is how we are transformed into His image.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

~ 2 Corinthians 3:18

As we are being transformed into His image, we are becoming a transparent bride that reflects His nature.

If I choose to remain in the shadows, I cannot reflect His fullness.  The only way I can reflect Him is when I sit in His light and allow it to transform me into His image.

Christ our Inheritance
In 2019 I heard a beautiful teaching from a friend about bringing every part of ourselves into Christ. Every part of us that we bring into Christ will gain an inheritance. The parts that remain in darkness will gain nothing.

When I heard these words, I felt my spirit longing to become fully one with Christ. That every part of me is destined to be one with Him and that no part of my inheritance in Christ should be wasted!

This is what Jesus prayed in John 17. That we should be fully one with Him and His Father:

“That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

~ John 17: 21-23

This is the desire and prayer of our Lord: Oneness with Him, gaining the full inheritance that He paid for on the cross.

Preparing the Highway of Holiness
One day while I was praying, I saw a vision of people coming out of the woods and they went to stand on both sides of a road. I knew that these people coming out was going through a process of repentance and choosing to abide in His light.

As they were being transformed, they came out. As more people came out, they formed a line next to the road. It was like they were preparing a way for the return of the Messiah. I got the impression that the people were becoming a highway.

I then understood that as we repent, come out of darkness and are being transformed, we join to form part of the Highway of Holiness. The Highway of Holiness that will usher in the return of the Messiah.

“Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.”

~ Isaiah 40:3

”Go through, Go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, Build up the highway! Take out the stones, Lift up a banner for the peoples! Indeed the Lord has proclaimed To the end of the world: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.’” And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; And you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.”

~ Isaiah 62:10-12

This Highway of Holiness that we will be a part of, is a path of light! This path of light is so pure and so transparent that it only reflects the Son.

On the one hand, the Son of God is being revealed in us, for the world to see Him (Joh 17:21). On the other hand, it also stirs the Bridegroom to fetch His bride! Finally, after much purification, she will look like Him, a bride that reflects His image.

This bride will carry the gentleness and meekness of the lamb and the intensity and boldness of the Lion. Nothing will stop her from preparing herself for the One that values her the most. This is the hour she has been waiting for.

Let us align our hearts with Christ, let us push deeper into His presence, abiding in His Light. Let the cry of our heart be: LORD, REVEAL YOUR SON IN US!

“The Bride has made herself ready.”

~ Revelation 19:7

 

Radical Obedience

by | Aug 12, 2020 | Uncategorized, Understanding, visions

We are entering a time where radical obedience is more important than ever before. The Spirit is leading me to do a series of blog-posts on obedience since it is a topic that He has laid heavily on my heart.

Before you continue to read, remember that the motivation behind everything God does is always love. He loves us and therefore calls us to obedience (more on this in the next blog post).

The Obedient Will Enter into Higher Realms of Authority
In 2019 I had an experience that the Lord used to teach me the importance of walking in obedience. As I was spending time with Him, I felt He was calling me to enter higher realms of authority.

That day I was struggling to breakthrough deeper into His presence, but I felt a prompting in me “to press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14).

The Lord showed me layers of victory in the spirit, and only when we have broken through one layer, we can enter into the next level. This is how we train ourselves unto godliness (1 Tim 4:8).

I kept pressing in and eventually, I felt the perfect peace of the Fathers’ presence. I saw a vision of a Lion’s face and I heard the words “The spirit of Elijah.” I then saw mantles of Elijah being released from heaven. It was such a heavy weight in the spirit that I could barely keep standing.

The Lord showed me that these mantles will be given to very specific people in the body of Christ. I received the scripture:

“Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things,
which you do not know”

~ Jeremiah 33:3

These great and mighty things are found in higher realms of authority. We will access it when we call on the Lord’s name and set our heart’s desire on Him.

The Lack of Obedience in the Body of Christ
Immediately after I had this intense encounter, I had a very strong feeling that the body of Christ greatly lacks obedience.

A strong conviction came over me that we do not listen and obey. We hear His words but we do not put them into practice. According to scripture, this is what a foolish man does, and his fall will be great on the day of testing (Matt 7:26).

I realized that we are so eager to receive the supernatural gifts and that everyone wants these mantles but God simply cannot entrust it to people of disobedience.

I saw a vision of what this looks like in the spirit. I saw people with layers of cement all over their bodies. Each time they hear the Lord speak and they do not obey, a layer of cement flows out of their hearts.

This then forms a thin layer over the body of that person. The more the person ignores the voice of the Holy Spirit the more cement is being secreted from the heart and the thicker the layer of cement becomes over their body.

This vision reminded me of the verse in Hebrews:

“Today, if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion”

~ Hebrews 3:15

All of a sudden, I saw what looked like an army of people that were completely stuck in cement and I heard: “THEY HAVE BECAME IDOLS OF THEIR OWN WAYS.”

These words pierced through me because I knew that most of us are guilty of this. The people in the vision could not move because they were idols of cement! I felt the grieving of the Lord Jesus over these people because He could not use them as a result of their condition.

God can only use those who walk in HIS WAYS and these people were walking in their own ways. They have stopped their ears and they cannot perceive His voice. I heard the Spirit say: “They cannot walk in their destinies because My Spirit cannot move them”.

This Condition is Not Incurable
This looked like a hopeless situation but the Lord said:

“You need to see your condition so that you can come to Me to fix it. Come to Me with a contrite spirit, ask for My Spirit of repentance to come upon you. Humble yourself at My altar and allow Me to crush the idols that you have created. Allow My Spirit to anoint you with oil so that I can flow through the cracks of your self-made idols to destroy it”.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

~ 1 John 1:9

Repentance is a beautiful gift! The Lord longs for us to repent from our wicked ways and to start walking in greater authority. He desires that we become good stewards of the mysteries and He longs to reveal them to us.

How to Gain the Mantle of Elijah
We will gain the mantle of Elijah in the same way Elisha gained it – through responding with immediate obedience!

I love the way Elisha responded when Elijah threw his mantle on him. We read in 1 Kings 19:21:

“So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and become his servant.”

Elisha immediately recognized the upward call of God! When Elisha uses his livelihood to host a farewell celebration, he openly declares that there is no turning back to his former way of life. What a beautiful and inspiring way that Elisha responded in. He gave himself as an empty vessel to the Lord.

While not everyone is called to receive the mantle of Elijah, the Lord is calling everyone to a higher life, by receiving the upward call of God in Christ Jesus and to walk in new levels of authority. Whatever the Lord’s call is on your life, it will require sacrifice and obedience.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me”

 ~ Matthew 16:24

I pray that these words will penetrate your heart and minister to you and that you will present yourself as an empty and useful vessel to our Lord Jesus Christ.

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