Cultivating Communion

Let me start by sharing an experience I had almost 20 years ago. This moment forever impacted my life and initiated a core conviction and desire within me.

At 7:30AM on a Sunday morning before going to church, I was headed out the door to go to a convenience store to get a cup of coffee. My son Micah came up to me at the door; with his arms raised high he looked up at me and said "With you Papa! With you!" He was almost two years old. In my hurriedness I didn't want to take the time to take him with me. I am so thankful my wife Maureen interjected and said "Duke I really think you should take him." There is great fruit in listening to your wife.

So, I strapped Micah in the front seat of my company truck. I looked over and he was beaming with a huge grin. (I am sure Micah is even now.) I could see in his eyes: "I'm just so happy to be with Papa." I drove down to the store. And keep in mind that this was a privately owned Ma and Pa convenience store crammed with goodies, movies, toys etc. We walked in and the whole time Micah was beaming, so happy to be with Papa. He didn't care about the goodies, or the stuff. He was just so happy to be with me. I got to the counter to pay for the coffee and I looked down and he was still  beaming. I got in the truck, strapped him and he was still beaming with a huge grin.

Suddenly the Holy Spirit broke in: "Duke he is reflecting something I desire of you." In an instant, tears flowing (even now), I raised my hands and said, "With you Papa. With you! I don't care about the goodies, I don't care about the gifts, I don't care about the ministry. Just with you Papa!" I hear His heart: "With you son, with you. You are my greatest joy. You are my greatest delight."

Then and there I realized the greatest calling of my life, and I believe the greatest calling of the church, is to be with you Papa; to cultivate communion and to practice His presence.

Since Jesus my Lord and big brother paid for it all, "It is finished!", Papa is free to pursue me - unrestrained, uncontainable, boundless, blissful love. Since Jesus took care of all the issues, I am free to pursue Him, sit with Him, hang with Him, be with Him. Intimate communion. Here and now.

In this section of the blog we will talk about and share together different tools and ways we cultivate and practice the art of communion. One of the definitions for tool is anything that serves a means. I have discovered over the years in my relationships, there are multiple ways (things) people do or practice as a means to communion with Papa.

Starting next week, together we will share some of these means or tools. What do you do? What activities or things do you do to practice the art of communion? What tools of intimacy are helpful in your life? I am excited to share some of mine and equally excited for you to share yours!

Love from D-love,

Bro Duke

Letter from the Editor

Pioneer -

1. a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others.
2. one who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress. 
3. one of a group of foot soldiers detailed to make roads, dig entrenchments, etc., in advance of the main body. 
4. an organism that successfully establishes itself in a barren area, thus starting an ecological cycle of life.

Together, we are doing something totally new. There has been nothing like this before. We are part of something that will change the course of history, and our nation is never going to be the same. We are the movement!

Embrace the newness, get uncomfortable, and get caught up in the momentum. Watch God transform the barreness in your life and the lives of those who come into contact with you!

What is happening goes further than movement and into culture. We are literally creating Kingdom culture together. The Well is so much more than church or a meeting, it's a culture. We are living that culture everyday! I am being steeped and marinated in the bubbly lifegiving joy of our good God. This new thing God is doing goes beyond just revival. It's literally a sustainable way of life! We get to live in and experience this culture every day! Wow! It's neverending.

 Leah Level

Prophecy

Foundation for life: Holy Spirit's "remaining" presence and power upon us and our lives being an open heaven are directly related to our identity. Living as dearly loved and royal sons and daughters! (Matt. 3:13-17) You live from (not for) love, favor, acceptance and victory! You are a new creation and continually being transformed into the image of Christ, from glory to glory! (2 Cor. 3:17, 18) Your whole being has been made alive in Christ and you are seated with Him in heavenly realms. (Eph. 2:4-7) The work is finished! We live and minister to others out of rest.

The difference between Prophets and Prophecy: 

• To be a prophet (or prophetess) is a calling to an office to help govern and guide the Body of Christ. (Eph 2:11-16) Just because you prophesy does not mean you are a prophet. This calling needs to be confirmed by the Lord Himself and confirmed by other leaders in the body of Christ.
• A prophet is called to equip the body with eyes to see and ears to hear. They create a healthy prophetic culture in the body and raise up prophetic people. 
• Prophets themselves are the gift to the body where prophecy is a gift that believers can function in. 

The Prophetic Gift: 

• We are to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. Earnestly desire means to "lust after"! Especially that you may prophesy! (1 Cor. 14:1-3) Why? Prophecy is for edification and exhortation (encouragement) and consolation (comfort). 
• "The primary purpose of the gift of prophecy is not to direct or correct the Body of Christ, but rather to encourage the church. We should never allow people who are ministering in the gift of prophecy to speak negatively into the lives of others. The goal of the gift of prophecy is to bring out the best in people! We are to mine the gold that is within the dirt and find hidden treasures in people's lives. If we see negative things in someone's life we are ministering to, we are to ask the Holy Spirit to give us the answer to the problem we discern. Then we prophesy the answer-not the problem. That way, the person we are prophesying to will receive grace to solve their problem." (1 Sam. 9:19)
• "For example, if we are ministering to someone and discern that they are struggling with pornography, the Holy Spirit will often give us a prophetic word for them such as: "God is calling you to a new level of purity and holiness." In this way, we have prophesied the answer without speaking about the problem and have released grace to break the bondage of pornography." (Kris Vallotton "Basic Training for the Prophetic Ministry")
• Anyone who is saved and has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit can minister in the gifts of the Spirit. (Acts 10:38) We need to be empowered supernaturally!
• "For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted." (encouraged) (1 Cor. 14:31)
• "And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour of My Spirit and they shall prophesy." (Acts 2:17-18) 
• Prophecy in its purist sense is "foretelling" - to know the future and "forth telling" - to cause the future. (Example: Ezekial and the dry bones) Prophecy can also confirm something God is presently doing in a person's life.
• Three Parts of Prophecy: Revelation, Interpretation and Application. When God stops speaking, we should too!
• Never, never, never use the prophetic to manipulate! (1 Cor. 13:9-11) Don't ever say "thus says the Lord". Say: "this is what I am sensing the Lord saying" and then submit the word to them. (New Covenant is "word perceived") (1 Thes. 5:19-22) We test the prophecy, not the prophet or person giving the word. 
• Not everything you are discerning about others is to be shared with them. Sometimes you simply need to pray until you get God's heart for them. God wants to trust us with His heart for others.
• Prophetic people need to be subject to other prophetic people and submitted to church leadership. There are no "lone rangers" in the kingdom!
• Always be willing to take risk as the Spirit leads.

Prophetic ministry can change people's hearts and alter their destiny!

• 
  
• (1 Sam. 9:19-22) Samuel called out the greatness in Saul where he was filled with low self-esteem. 
• (1 Sam. 10:5-6) Saul's heart was changed and his destiny forever altered!
• Prophecy will also alter the destiny of the unbeliever. (1 Cor. 14:24-25) We need to re-present Jesus to the world by calling out the greatness in people and who God called them to be.
• "Some believe that calling out greatness in people promotes pride. True humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. The truth of God's grace humbles a man without degrading him and exalts a man without inflating him." ("Basic Training for the Prophetic Ministry" Kris Vallotton) 

Stephen Bell

Hunger is an escort to the deeper things of you...

I am so hungry.

Hungry for more.

More of the Lord’s JOY…
Joy that cannot be described with the tongue, and yet can be shared among others who have experienced it…. they just know. They just… get it.
And though I now think I’ve got as much as I can handle; that my cup’s been filled…God will make it overflow tomorrow.

Why?

Because the Father LOVES us. He delights in giving us good gifts. GIFTS. As in, not just things we need. But things that make us happy. Just because He can.

Matthew 7:9-11
9 which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

God is emotional. God is concerned with our happiness — not that holiness is thrown out the backdoor… but we can have BOTH.

I’ve never known this side of God before — how could I have been so blind to it?

How could I have stopped with the Christ’s crucifixion and my salvation? — Don’t get me wrong, those are the primary elements! But how did I miss the actual relationship part that comes after the resurrection… I mean, that was the whole point, right?

So many people preach about Christianity being a relationship with God… but how many of us have lived under the pressure of obligation of reading the Word or praying, instead of living under the Gospel of GRACE, and allowing those things be the fruit of soaking up the presence of Jesus?

We weren’t meant to be saved just to continue with sucky despairing lives and just ‘hold on for the hope of heaven’…. HEAVEN IS HERE, AND HEAVEN IS NOW.

John Mark McMillan says, “I don’t want to sing about dying and going to heaven. I want to sing about living and heaven coming to me.”And I’ll add to that: And with the Holy Spirit working through me, I will bring heaven to others.

It’s like I’ve been sitting at a banquet table with a blindfold on, keeping my hands to myself, only smelling the aroma of the food before me. The smell was lovely…. but now, I have taken the blindfold off… I can actually see what delicious delights lay before me. And I am not minding my manners; I’m grabbing everything He gives me. God is filled with tastes — the tongue of my spirit is ready for a serious binge.

”Taste and see that the Lord is GOOD!”

Aly