Righteousness, Righteousness, Righteousness!

In 2007, God released some prophetic words confirmed with signs and wonders. The most notable was a prophetic word released by Julie Meyer in February 2007 about the coming of late snows: (This is edited)

Prophetic word... with a sign:

From: Julie Meyer
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007
To: Mike Bickle
Subject: dream

Mike,
I had a dream. I believe I have really encountered the Lords heart for the House of Prayer. He came as the most tender of Fathers but He came very, very firm, like an athletic coach that was determined that we win the race. Like He has so much passion for us to be all that He created us to be, that He is coming to us.I do not know if it was God talking or an angel of the Lord, but "The voice of the Father said, " He did not just say it, He declared it......It was a decree. He said,

"Do not get out your spring and summer clothes as of yet, for there is still more snow coming.. With every snowflake that falls, I want you to remember ....RIGHTEOUSNESS... ..RIGHTEOUSNESS... RIGHTEOUSNESS. With every snowflake that falls I want you to remember PURITY....PURITY… PURITY......

.He said, "IHOP You are not yet ready.....lest the power take you out.” But, His eyes were like eyes of a Father.......His eyes were like the eyes of a 'training coach' and it was like we were all at training camp. It was not an angry rebuke, it was a 'heads up' He said, "I am going to get you ready." I could see in the dream, that after the next season of snow there was going to come a season of intense rains. It was raining and raining; and with each drop the Lord kept saying......"Remember Grace".

The scripture that was highlighted to me was Hosea 6:1-3. I could see these eyes of the Father......they were also the eyes of the coach....and the Lord said, "I am going to help you." "The literal snow is coming as a reminder of righteousness; the rains are coming as a reminder that I am going to move the Host of Heaven on Your behalf because I want a pure and shining Bride.....If you will do your part......I am going to come along behind you and SHOVE you into victory."

The sign:
On April 13th, 2007 during the Israel Mandate conference, God sent a surprise snowstorm! Around 2 inches of snow fell on the assembly as we celebrated Passover at the Israel Mandate conference. The whole house was filled with a sobering joy over this event as God sent a sign in the weather patterns to confirm the message.

Later that year, God sent record flooding from Texas up to Missouri up- all during the Onething Jerusalem conference in Israel. Record floods also hit Jerusalem during the 40th anniversary of Jerusalem coming under Jewish control.

What does this mean?
God has yet to release apostolic power upon the western Church. It is literally divine authority to shift nations through prophetic and apostolic decrees. It is the Gospel of the Kingdom preached with widespread signs and wonders. In December 2007, God graciously gave me a small token of this divine authority. Other friends of mine have also experienced tokens of this coming power.

The prophetic word clearly indicated that righteousness is required or else the power will take us out. Unfortunately, I also experienced a small token of this (see my last blog entry..."STUCK!") dimension as well. It created a lot of turmoil for me in relating to God ( I acted like a brute beast before God at times...uugghh), and it may have done some damage to my other relationships as well. I believe there are 5 dimensions of righteousness God is calling us to embrace.

1. His righteous decrees and commands in scripture. These alone describe the glory of His wisdom. God is altogether right!

2. Righteousness at the heart level. Matthew 22:37-39 and Deuteronomy 6:4-6 describe righteousness in the inner parts. After what Jesus has for us, anything short of 100% devotion to Jesus is unrighteous!

3. Embracing His righteous leadership methodologies. In leading us to mature love in God, Jesus' methods of leadership seem very strange. (Assembling together to speak to someone I can't see? skipping lunch? giving sacrifically? serving regardless of payback? Blessing enemies?) His leadership is brilliant! For example, I listed 14 different general ways that Jesus built up the Church with the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) when taken as a whole. Song of Songs and other Biblical stories (especially Abraham, David, and the narrative accounts of Jesus) give us some glimpses into His righteous, brilliant, wise leadership.

4. Embracing His righteous choices of roles and assignments- God gives individuals and corporate people groups specific special roles. But, what if God gave someone else a role that I really wanted (because it is honored and esteemed by people)? NO FAIR!!! How can God's choices (beginning with Israel as a chosen nation) be right?

5. Embracing God's righteous design in the created order. This is the fun part, we get to make wrong things right even if it is naturally out of order.
Many have been asking God for a greater level of righteousness. I believe that the place we need to look the most at is category #4. I believe this is the hardest one to embrace because it violates our sense of fairness and justice.

In reality, we don't (or at least I don't) understand God's righteousness and justice very well at the heart level. My confidence in this righteousness is only through Jesus Christ.

All this to say, it will take far more than human zeal to walk out this righteousness. God, Help!