Marriage Fails

Marriage Fails

Marriages are failing!  As I reflect on the state of marriage I see almost complete and utter failure.  Here is the latest statistic I found:

• 50–60 percent of marriages end in divorce, according to multiple online sources.

            That is failure.  What this statistic leaves out is how many marriages might as well be divorced as all they are doing is merely “existing” in misery.  I would venture a guess to say that number is well above 80% of marriages as that is the percentage of marriages that will experience infidelity.  These are numbers that apply to everyone, religious and non-religious alike. 

            With these numbers fresh in our minds it’s no wonder that the world has become less and less excited about growing up and getting married.  The trend is becoming more and more “let’s just live together instead of getting married because if it doesn’t work out it’s much easier to split.” 

            There is so much pain and brokenness out there as a result of marriage people are not just turning from it, they are running from it like it’s a plague with only one goal:  To destroy them! 

            Those of you who have become so cynical about marriage and relationships in general have good reason to be the way you are.  You have probably been hurt and/or seen marriage ruin lives.  You have probably said “I will never let that happen to me/again.”  Shielding ourselves from potential pain is a very familiar reaction we all have.  Nobody likes to get hurt.   Nobody enjoys pain.

            However, for those of us who claim to follow Jesus, all this cynicism creates a problem.  The importance of marriage in scripture cannot be ignored as Jesus uses marriage as an analogy for His desired relationship with us.  The intimacy God longs to have with us is compared to the intimacy we could have in our marital relationships.  Those who love Jesus are referred to as the “Bride” and Jesus as the “Bridegroom.”  We cannot ignore the pure romanticism, intimacy and love as described between the “bride” and “bridegroom” in the Songs of Solomon.  However intimate the bride and groom relationship is represented there, the possible intimacy with God is so much greater.   

            But most of us aren’t experiencing that intimacy in our marriages. In all of the pain, tragedy and brokenness all that’s left is bitterness, regret and cynicism.  Many of these feelings have led us to ask “What’s the point?”  The reasons we got married have proven to be unattainable and we feel like our spouses failed us and we them.

            I want to tell you that there is hope!  I want to tell you that there is a point.  I want to tell you that you can have everything God designed marriage to be.  Share this blog/article with everyone one you know because every week or so I am going to be sharing with you the reasons we get married and why they fail.  Then I am going to share with you the real point and purpose of marriage, why we haven’t been able to see it and how we can break off the chains and truly live!  Get ready for God to bring transformation to you, your marriage and your family.    

Jesse Birkey

Author of “Marriage What’s The Point?”

www.marriagewhatsthepoint.com

Read the first chapter for free at the website and discover the tragedy this book was written out of!

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Wilderness

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Isaiah 53

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Untitled

http://jazoxabo.tripod.com/

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Video blog Isaiah 39

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video blog Isaiah 39

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THIS IS A MUST READ!!!!

THIS IS A MUST READ!!!!  This is a word I recieved from some friends of mine.  It is awesome!  The Lord is soooooo good!  Read this word carefully and pay attention to it.  PRAISE BE TO GOD! 

   EARTHQUAKE in THE CHURCH - a Word
> -by Phil Buck.
>
> January 27, 2010 - Prayer time for the Church, at our home.
>
> I heard a word in my mind saying, There’s coming an earthquake
> of the magnitude 7.0 that was experienced in Haiti, only it is
> coming to the Church. I have sent many warnings down through
> the portals of time, that this day was coming, and now is here,
> even at the door. The earthquake will start from outside the Church,
> and then will permeate the Church from within. Prepare, prepare,
> there will be destruction as would never have been imagined.
>
> The rubble of the buildings of man will crumble to the ground. The
> teachings of man will have come full circle. There will be people
> that have bought into the man system and will be destroyed in
> the rubble of the collapse, some spiritually and others both
> spiritually and physically. For they have believed a lie and will
> suffer the consequences of their doing.
>
> Of those that have escaped, I see a long line extending beyond
> my vision to see. They are the walking wounded from all religious
> persuasions, that were not caught up totally in the man-centered
> religious system of beliefs. But being exposed to the system has
> left its mark in various forms on each one.
>
> I see this line in my minds eye, people lined up at the entrance to
> a white tent. This is where they are coming to receive life spiritual
> life from inside the tent. Those inside the tent are like doctors
> and nurses, ministering to the wounded, hurting spirits of each
> one. As they help them heal, with the proper perspective and focus
> of the gifts they have to offer, then they are sent from the tent
> whole and ready to minister to others as they were ministered to.
>
> "Now behold the ones on the inside of the tent, before they stepped
> inside the tent they had nothing to offer in and of themselves, but
> as they stepped in they received the power to work the works for
> which I have call them to. This is a special people that have closed
> themselves up with me. Yes, and some have been in preparation
> all their lives for this time and this mission".
>
> "I want you to see those in the tent, for they are those that have
> given everything to Me. These are they that this day I’m calling
> my people to come out of the religious systems of man and into
> the marvelous light of my Son Jesus. Will you be counted as
> numbered among those in the tent? Or will you be one of the
> many in the long line?"
>
> "Come away with me this day and give your all to me for the line
> is long and is now just beginning to form. They need your gifts,
> your love & your sacrifice of service. Will you be there for them?
> Or will you be among them?"

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renew me

Renew Me

I cry out to you from the depths

My soul is troubled and in pain

My sin has been raised before my eyes

And I see what your hand has revealed

Tell me oh Lord how to be clean and pure once again

Lord I need a clean heart

I need my spirit to be renewed

Please don’t turn away your child for I’m crying out tonight

Return the Joy I’ve lost and lift me up in your arms

All of my strength is gone and I need your love to rescue me

Lord renew me, Lord renew me

Is it too late, have I done too much?

Have I disqualified myself from grace

Will you still wash me in your river

Can you still cleanse me from the mess

It there still mercy waiting for me?

Lord I need a clean heart

I need my spirit to be renewed

Please don’t turn away your child for I’m crying out tonight

Return the Joy I’ve lost and lift me up in your arms

All of my strength is gone and I need your love to rescue me

Lord renew me, Lord renew me

Your hand reach’s out and calls me closer

I’m aware of your glory all around

Forgiveness covers me and love washes away my sin

My Daddy still loves me and is waiting for my embrace

Lord I need a clean heart

I need my spirit to be renewed

Please don’t turn away your child for I’m crying out tonight

Return the Joy I’ve lost and lift me up in your arms

All of my strength is gone and I need your love to rescue me

Lord renew me, Lord renew me

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An Unexpected Encounter

An Unexpected Encounter

 

            This is an interesting story that I want to share.  A couple of weeks ago I was just leaving my house to hang out with a friend of mine.  It was about 9:30pm.  I decided to go the back way to my friend’s house because it runs by a Starbucks and I wanted a drink. 

            On my way out of my neighborhood I realized that I was 10 miles or so OVER having an empty gas tank.  I started to pray that God would help me get to a gas station.  It wasn’t too long after that my car began to sputter a little and then it gave up completely. 

            I coasted for a couple of blocks and came to a stop.  I looked to my left and there was a gas station just over the median.  I thanked God and then pumped some gas into my five gallon gas tank and took it back to my car.  I put enough to get me across the street and after a couple of minutes; I was pumping gas into my car from the pump. 

            As I was pumping I happened to look up and there, sitting on the gas pump, was somebody’s wallet.  I picked it up and looked at it closer.  There was plenty of cash inside with just about everything they tell you never to carry in your wallet like account numbers etc.  I just knew whoever left it there was going crazy looking for it. 

            I finished filling my gas tank and thought I would check inside in case anyone had stopped by to ask about it.  The attendants told me nobody had asked.  They asked to see the ID just in case they recognized him and they said they didn’t. 

            At this point I am starting to understand what God was orchestrating this whole night to be.  I sensed that God wanted me to go get my friend before I took the wallet back so 10 minutes later I arrived at my friend’s house.  He was less than enthusiastic about taking someone’s wallet back so late at night but I was finally able to drag him out of the house.  We looked up the wallet owner’s address and soon we were slowly making our way down his street. 

            When we arrived at the correct address, the owner (we will call him Frank) was standing in the driveway.  My friend and I got out of the car and approached Frank holding out his wallet.  Frank was overcome with relief and told us how he had been back to that gas station looking for it.  Frank said that he didn’t have much hope that he would ever see it again.  I looked at Frank and began to explain to him how God had orchestrated this whole thing.  I told him how I went a way I don’t normally go to get to my friend’s house and how I ran out of gas right next to the gas station where he left his wallet.  I told Frank that God had worked this entire night out just to let him know that He still cares for you and is protecting you. 

            Frank was overcome with the revelation and he began to tell us about how things were going so poorly in his life.  There were hardships in his work, marriage, relationships and just everything he was blaming himself for.  He was also dealing with some health issues so losing his wallet was the back-breaker for him.  On a side note….Do you want to know when God is pushing you to minister to people?  A big indicator is when strangers begin to pour out their hearts to you. 

            Standing before my friend and I was a broken man…a stranger to us….a precious child to God.  God began to speak.  We asked Frank if we could pray for him and what followed was amazing.  There was healing, prophetic, repentance and deliverance all in Frank’s driveway.  As we ministered according to how the Holy Spirit was leading us we saw a broken man being put back together again as hope and perfect love from the Father found a resting place deep within him.  He was visibly shaken by what God was doing inside of him.  A peace washed over him and he said he hadn’t felt peace in a very long time.  We talked with Frank for a couple more minutes and then left.  What an awesome night! 

I encourage all of you be willing vessels for God and ask Him to use you.  If you ask Him He will give you opportunities.  May our testimonies go forth to encourage and exhort all of us!  God bless! 

 

Jesse Birkey

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Who is your counsel?

Who are you getting your counsel from?

 

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, 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:  That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!  Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.  Isaiah 30:1-3
 
 

I have been spending some time in Isaiah lately and I came across this passage.  I think there may be some important questions we should ask ourselves.  Those might be "Who am I getting my financial counsel from?" "Who am I getting my spiritual counsel from?"  "Who am I getting my legal counsel from?" 

            Today it seems that many things are up in the air especially with all of the economic issues swirling about.  Many are losing or have lost their homes and many others are facing possible bankruptcy.  Then there are also many who are drowning in debt, facing legal issues, spiritual struggles and relationship hardships.
            Are you getting your counsel from Egypt or are you getting it from God?  I think that may be a hard question to answer but I do think there may be something to line up our counsel against.  In this passage in Isaiah the Lord says that the counsel from Egypt leads to shame and confusion.  Are your choices bringing you peace like Jesus promised you can have no matter what the circumstance, or are your choices bringing or have brought shame and confusion to your life? 
            I believe that in every situation we encounter we have an opportunity to take the counsel of God or turn to Egypt and Pharaoh for our answers.  The one thing we know is that we can’t have it both ways.  If you take any counsel from Egypt you are making a rebellious choice against the counsel of God.  I think we could all agree that God doesn’t want to share with the wisdom of the world. 
            But what is Egypt?  I think it’s different in every situation but I do think Egypt consists of people, organizations and anything else which leads us away from complete trust and dependence on God.  I believe Egypt will consistently lead us to trust in ourselves and our own ability to solve our problems and prepare for our future. 
            These are important days and the calamities are only increasing in the world and in our lives as we begin to see things slip away in the world and in our personal lives as well.  We need to be wise only taking counsel from God and those He has sent to speak into our lives.  Let’s be testing and discerning recognizing that many who claim to have a message from God have only their own opinions and beliefs to give. 
            Maybe we think we need Egypt in our lives because we can’t hear God speaking to us.  But God promises that He will never leave us and that if we trust in Him, He will work all things out for good.  If we are asking Him He is trying to answer us!  If we can’t hear Him then maybe there is something that needs to be corrected in our lives!
            Sometimes it’s hard to let go of things and so we take counsel of people trying our best to hold on.  God wants to bring restoration to our lives and I have witnessed the Lord giving back things people have given up freely in order to be refined but the thing is that God cannot restore something we haven’t given up.  Many times we can lose something but we haven’t really let it go.  I encourage you to trust in the Lord and if there is something brining you shame and confusion just let it go and see what the Lord does in your life.  If you don’t, I fear the first part of this passage is for you!  It was for me for many years.  God bless!

Jesse Birkey

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Woe to the Rebellious Children!

Woe to the Rebellious Children!

 

 

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, 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:

That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in

Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

Isa 30:1-3

            I have been reading in Isaiah lately and I came across this passage.  This is a very powerful passage and it should cause us to stop and consider it.  In some of my earlier posts I have said that I consider Egypt to be the “world” today.  I have talked about how when God calls us to the wilderness He urges us not to go back to Egypt and to stay on the path to the Promised Land. 

            There are many issues affecting so many of us today.  I am going to address some of them here and in doing that may cause some controversy.  My goal is not to judge anyone but only to raise questions in the interest of continuing on the path of transformation. 

            “Christians” today are at many different points in their journeys.  Some of them have crossed into the Promised Land, some are trudging forward in the wilderness, some are lost in the wilderness, some have turned back to Egypt and some haven’t even trusted God enough to leave Egypt at all. 

            I think that it’s important to realize that the progress made on the journey of transformation leading to the Promised Land depends entirely on you.  It is our choice and ours alone to advance, stall or backtrack through the wilderness.  It is certainly our choice to enter it in the first place.  For all of you crying “Heresy” right now don’t worry.  Once we make the choice to move forward we depend on the strength, might, wisdom and love of God to get us through.  What I am saying is that God is not going to pull us kicking and screaming.  If you want to stop you will most certainly stop.

            By nature, the wilderness is a dry and hard place to be.  It’s the only place where God purges and refines us.  It’s also the place where God comes closer to us than we could have ever hoped for.  I have already written on that in my “Ishi” blog.  What makes the wilderness such a hard place is all of the choices we have to make.  Those choices are never easy and are almost certain to bring some kind of pain.  It hurts to be refined.  Is that pain God’s fault?  No it’s our own because if we didn’t make the unrighteous decisions we wouldn’t have to go through the pain of having the unrighteousness rooted out of us.

            The question posed to you right now is “when it’s time to make difficult choices, regardless of where you are on the journey, whose counsel do you take?”  Who’s your counsel in your finances?  Who’s your counsel in your realty?  Who’s your counsel in your marriage and other relationships?  Who’s your counsel at your job?  Who’s your counsel in your entertainment?  Who’s your counsel in what you believe about God?

            Let’s try to define Egypt.  Egypt is anything you’re going to for counsel before you go to God and anything telling you to do things that contradict how God tells us to live.  That might include financial planners, lawyers, therapists, pastors, supervisors and so on. 

            What is your financial planner telling you?  Are they telling you how to invest and to save appropriately?  Sure they are if they are doing their jobs.  But why?  Doesn’t Jesus say that He will provide our daily needs?  If you believe that why are you trying to prepare your future financially?  Why do you need a savings account?  We have been told that it’s wise to have savings.  Why?  Is it because it’s nice to have a plan “B” just in case God doesn’t come through for you?  Jesus said “give us our daily bread.”  He didn’t ask Father to set him up for life financially.  It’s because Faith is one step at a time! 

            What are your lawyers telling you?  Are they telling you about “loop holes” that will allow you to keep things you aren’t paying for?  Are they telling you to file bankruptcy?  Personally I don’t believe bankruptcy is a Godly option.  Do you?  If you have agreed to pay for something and then can’t but keep it anyway, how is that different from stealing?  Does it sound like a more Godly option to sell those things you can’t pay for and then try and pay the debt?  If you’re saying “I owe too much” don’t you believe that God can make the “impossible” possible?

            There are so many people going through the pain of losing their homes.  If you’re still reading at this point, can you answer this question?  “If you have agreed to pay for your home and aren’t, but still living there how is that different from stealing?”  Does it seem like a more Godly option to just move out and trust God to provide a place?  Maybe you’re saying “we are trusting God to work something out so that we can keep the house.”  Maybe He will but I ask “Why would He?”  If you are living in a house you owe money for but aren’t paying for it then isn’t that sin?  You have broken a contract but still expect to keep the possession.  Why would God bless that?  You might be surprised what God might do for you the day you move out! 

            What are your pastors telling you when you go to them with your problems?  Are they telling you to pray more, come to special programs, fast, buy things or read the bible more?  Where’s the teaching about repentance?  Where’s the teaching about being delivered from the things afflicting us by actively engaging in spiritual warfare taking on the authority Jesus gave us to cast out demons?  Where’s the teaching about obedience and that after being set free it’s the only way to stay free?

            Why do so many therapists and counselors give us superficial exercises to fix our relationships while ignoring the existing spiritual battle at the root of our issues? 

            If you are being taught these things by people they are not helping you to trust in God they are helping you to trust in Egypt!  If that’s you, you are called by God in the passage above “rebellious.”  And according to the Lord through Isaiah these things providing your counsel will instead be your shame and your confusion and through them you are adding sin to sin!

            I do believe that God loves to restore things we have lost but God can only restore something back that has been lost or taken. 1 more thing is required, that you give it up freely. Many of us have lost or had something taken but have never truly given it up. We must willingly separate ourselves from things and release them to God in order Him to restore them. 

            THERE ARE EXPECTIONS AND some pastors, lawyers and counselors can help you walk in truth and do, in fact, speak the Word of God but it seems like the majority can only help you walk in the strength of Egypt.  Does that sound too harsh?  Jesus said only a “few” would find the path leading to the kingdom. 

            I would love to hear some of your comments on this.  Just please try and keep it civil if I have really upset you with this blog.  I could be wrong about all of this.  Also I am not talking without knowledge of how God can provide.  I have been a part of many testimonies of God delivering me from debt, asking me to give away my savings and to remove any financial planning for the future.  Since then God has never failed to supply my daily bread.  Again even though it may sound like it, I judge nobody.  I only hope to raise questions and through them we can all hopefully progress down the path God has laid out for us.  God bless!

Jesse Birkey

www.marriagewhatsthepoint.com

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This is what I heard the Lord speak this morn

From The Lover to His Beloved:

Behold!  I am coming for my pure and spotless bride.  Raise your head Zion for you are the object of my love.  Your lover comes adorned in wedding garments prepared for his bride.  Come and meet me in righteousness and splendor and I will lift you high in my love.  Come, for your salvation is near.  Your hearts beat with love for your lover and I come to collect you into my arms.  Rest in peace and knowledge that I will never neglect, turn away from or depart from the object of my love.  Have peace my beautiful bride and cast away the rags that have become a part of your soul and put on the wedding garments I have prepared for you and join me at the feast.  For your lover has come to cast off your burdens and to make you light.  To give you hope and a future.  I will never leave you.  I will never betray you.  For my foundation is built on righteousness and holiness.  I am the Lord and you are the object of my love.  Come and rest.  Come and let me rescue you from the quicksand that wants to pull you under.  Take my hand and let me lead you.  Gaze into my eyes and understand just how much you mean to me.  Look at my face and look at a Love far beyond anything you can understand but what you can hold onto is so overwhelming that it will take you to your knees.  I reach for my bride.  Reach back!  Run to me and you shall experience peace.  Come and draw your water from the wells of salvation with JOY!  Let the remnant shout! “Look!  Our lover comes adorned in glory and splendor to deliver us and take us home!”  Walk with me in the valleys of peace and you shall find rest for your soul. 

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Spirit of fear Go in Jesus' Name!

Spirit of fear Go in! Jesus' Name
 
 
I am sure many of you are familiar with panic attacks.  Some of you may have had one or know someone who has.  They can vary in severity and I have run on a ton of them over the years.  Sometimes they can be so severe they will completely incapacitate the person causing a need for sedation.  Some time ago I was at work (firefighter/Paramedic) and was dispatched to a young man who was having a panic (anxiety) attack.  This young man was lying on the floor curled up in the fetal position completely incapacitated by the severity of the attack.  Normally this is a case for our sedation protocol.  As I approached him I took authority over the spirit of fear, bound it and cast it out.  I would say it probably takes at least 10 minutes for a person having a average panic attack to begin to calm down and I have taken people to the hospital in this young man’s condition who haven't calmed down even after sedation efforts.  We picked him up off of the floor and sat him in a chair.  I turned around to get something and when I faced the pt again his breathing had returned to normal and he was acting appropriately once again.  This was probably 1-2 minutes after I bound fear.  The power of a severe panic attack was broken as spiritual authority was exercised.  AMAZING!!  It was enough to illicit some comments from my partner about how fast the pt was back to normal.  I have never seen someone recover that fast especially from an attack as severe as this one.  Purely the power of God.  Amen!
 
Jesse Birkey

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Delivered!

Delivered!

A month or so ago I got a phone call telling me that I would be working at a different station for my next shift.  The next morning I drove to my normal station to pick up all of my gear and then headed for the station I had been assigned to for the day. 

            I was pretty annoyed because I don’t like having to go work at other stations because it can be a hassle to drag all of my gear and belongings along.  So I was annoyed but then I began to think.  I realized that if I was being sent to another station for the day there must be some purpose in it.  I began to ask God why he was sending me where I was going to work for the day.

            I got my answer at about noon.  We got called out to a person having chest pain.  As we arrived on scene I could see that we were in the bad part of town.  We were called to help someone in an area known for drugs, shootings and terrible living conditions.  We entered the multi-family house and attended the patient.  We did what we needed to do, loaded him up onto the stretcher and placed him inside of the rescue. 

            As my partner began to drive us to the hospital I looked at the patient in front of me.  He was a middle-aged, hard looking man.  I could tell that he had been through some pretty rough stuff in his life.  His clothes were pretty worn and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days.  He looked like someone who was carrying a burden that was just way too heavy.  He turned his head to me and said “I have a weak heart.”  I said “No you don’t.”  He answered “Says who?”  I responded “Says me right now!”  After this interesting interaction he asked me if I was a Christian.  I answered him by saying that I am a follower of Jesus.  He understood that and said “Ok.”  I took this opportunity to ask him about his experience with God.  He looked at me and began to tell me about how he had run from God for 20 years.  He told me that long ago God had called him to preach the Word and since then he has been like Jonah, resisting God’s call on his life. 

            I listened to him tell me about some of the tragic things he had walked through and I asked God what he wanted me to do.  I looked at this broken man before me and I asked him if he was ready to stop running.  He said that he was and there was sincerity in his voice.  I asked him what he needed to repent of.  He thought for a couple of seconds and told me that he didn’t know how to forgive himself for the things that he had done.  There it was!  There was the reason why God moved me for the day.  God wanted to move through me to touch an area of this down-trodden man’s life that was still held captive by Satan. 

            I looked at the man and I asked him if he wanted to forgive himself right now.  He said that he did.  I began to lead him through a prayer of forgiveness.  I led him to a certain point and then let him begin to forgive himself for specific things that had brought shame and guilt into his soul.  He began listing things as tears filled his eyes.  His voice grew stronger as he continued to forgive I could sense the chains falling off. 

            When he was finished I led him in binding and casting out the spirits of self-hatred and unforgiveness.  I didn’t know what his experience with deliverance was or had been but I was only doing what the Holy Spirit was telling me to do.  After the demons were cast out the prophetic word came.  I was a beautiful word of love and encouragement.  It was also call to continued obedience and living a new life in righteousness.  The Holy Spirit was touching this man’s soul and a peace came over him that he had never felt before. 

            As we arrived at the hospital I asked him how he felt.  He told me that he felt free and smiled all the way into the ER.  Oh and the chest pain was almost gone!  Praise God!  This is what it means to take the light of God into the dark places and watch everything become light.  I don’t know anything about what this man did from that day on but I know that he was touched by God and set free in the back of a rescue.  I pray that he continued to allow God to change him into a new creation.

Jesse Birkey 

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Word from the Lord!

As I was praying and spending some time with the Lord, I felt my spirit stirred to walk over to a kitten that a friend of mine rescued from a car, put in a garbage can, and intended to take it home to be his pet.  As I walked over the Lord began to speak and this is what the Lord said:

 "My church is not unlike this small kitten.  You can hear the cries of sadness from a distance. (I could hear the kitten crying)  You can hear it cry out for safety and security.  You can hear it cry out for protection and provision.  But as you get closer and come upon it, it immediately moves to the corner shaking and hissing.(this is exactly what happened as I moved closer to it)  You discover that it is nothing but a small, insecure animal that is wrapped in fear and lashes out when threatened.  You discover that this little animal does not trust you and doesn’t really even know you.  Though all you want to do is to help and comfort it, it will not receive you and as you stretch out your hand it strikes at you. 

 I come to my church but it does not know me.  I reach out my hand and it strikes.  Fear and insecurity reign in my people.  I send my prophets with my word and they are disregarded.  They are persecuted.  They are turned away. 

 In response to this I was wondering then what can I do or how does this dynamic change.  The Lord then answered me and said:

 ”Consider this kitten and consider what I have already spoken to you concerning it.  Now also consider what happens as the kitten begins to know its master.  What happens as the kitten begins to trust and rely on the master?  The kitten receives the master’s love and even shows the master love.  There is no more hissing and there is obedience because the kitten has submitted to the master.  SO WILL MY PEOPLE SUBMIT TO ME AS THEY BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND MY LOVE.  I will bring revelations of my love to their hearts.  I will begin to prick their spirits.  They will begin to ask, seek and knock. “
 
Jesse Birkey

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Are you looking at rubble?

Are you looking at rubble?

 

            I was spending some time with the Lord the other day and He led me to an interesting passage in Haggai 2:1-9.  The Lord is speaking to His children who have returned from exile.  He has commanded them to rebuild His temple.  The temple had been previously destroyed and all that remained was a pile of rubble…..A daunting task to say the least.  I can imagine being one of those people saying “How in the world does God expect us to do this?”  The situation probably seemed hopeless to many of the people.  Some who had returned had seen the glory of the temple Solomon built and I can imagine they thought they could never make it look that good again.  Then the Lord spoke through Haggai.  The Lord recognized that some of them remembered the glory of previous temple.  He said (paraphrase) “There are those of you who remember the way the temple used to be and now all you have is rubble and desolation.  There is no comparison between the two.”  But then the Lord delivers a promise filled with encouragement.  He said “Even though all you see is destruction be strong!  Work hard because I am with you!  Remember the covenant I made with you as you came out of Egypt?  I have not forgotten!  My Spirit is with you.  Do not be afraid!”

 

            What do you see now as you look at your life?  Are all you can see destruction, desolation, hopelessness, despair, loneliness, emptiness……rubble?  Do you feel like you are in the wilderness all by yourself?  Do you often remember the past when you feel like times were better?  Does Egypt look attractive to you at this point in your life?  Do you want to go back and make things the way they used to be?  Is the pain too much for you?  Do you just want to run and hide?  I can relate to all of those feelings.  Feeling this way is definitely not the most enjoyable way to spend time.  Are you angry at God?  Do you feel like He led you out into the middle of nowhere?  Were you expecting things to get better and everything seems to have gotten worse?  Where are the promises of God?  Where is God?  I think that for those of us who have been down this road, there are a couple of different paths we can take.

One path might be to try and go back to the way things were.  We remember times in our lives when we knew that God was with us.  We remember when we felt the blessings of God on us so if we could just get back to that, things would be better.  Where is the deception in that?  Is God a God of yesterday or today?  Does God want to take us back to the past or does God want to constantly being doing a “New thing” in our lives?  If we choose to walk in obedience doesn’t God want to continually change us from “glory to glory?”  I believe that if we try to go back to “Egypt” we will miss everything God wants to do in our lives.  Guess what!?  You have not “peaked” in the Kingdom of God.  Even if you had been moving in the Spirit, walking in the anointing and seeing God move through you daily in the past, God still wants to do a new thing in your life taking you to higher and higher levels today and in the future!  Here is the promise of God in Haggai 2:9 “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former and in that place I will give peace!”  What does this mean?  Can we live in peace if we are living in the glories of the past?  I don’t think so.

The other path we can choose to take is one of trust and faith.  We can survey the “rubble” in front of us and remember some things.  That it’s the wilderness where Father speaks comfortably to us (Hos 2), that He will never leave us or forsake us (Josh 1), that God offers us great courage if we accept it (Josh 1), that He never forgets His promises and is always with us (Haggai 2), that He will strengthen us to do the work He has called us to (Haggai 1), that we will never face anything beyond what we have the ability to conquer through Jesus (1 Cor 10) and if we are faithful in putting all of our hope and trust in our Daddy the work that He will erect in our lives will be so much more fulfilling, glorious, amazing, joyful, healing etc. than anything that has ever come before! 

                 I have been in the “rubble” and I know many of you have to or are in it now.  The promises of God are TRUE!  The work God did in me pales in comparison to anything in my past and He continues to do a new thing in me daily!  Trust in your deliverer and redeemer.  Grasp onto the hand He is holding out to you.  Don’t go back to Egypt!  Some of the things God may bring to you in the wilderness can be scary.  They can challenge what you have held to be true your entire life.  They can challenge who you thought you were.  But if you can lay those things down and allow Father to take you on a journey, the longing and void that has been present will begin to be filled.  That's what transformation is and Jesus said everyone must be transformed (Matt 18).  It’s not easy to walk through the wilderness!  HAVE GREAT COURAGE AND MOVE FORWARD!  God bless!

 

Jesse Birkey      

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The Fiery, Passionate love of God!

The Fiery, Passionate love of God!

I want to share a short testimony that meant a lot to me. 

 I was on shift sometime a couple of months ago and we were called out to a person with a diabetic problem.  We arrived to find a young girl who had been vomiting all morning long.  She was feeling pretty weak and just very sick.  As I talked with the family they told me all about how brittle she was.  This young girl was more brittle than most elderly diabetics I have seen.  She had been to a children’s hospital and they could not seem to get her blood sugar down even with insulin.  She also had a number of other medical problems that just made her feel like crap all of the time.  She didn't say a word as we got her on the stretcher and took her out to the rescue.  Her veins were so poor we could not start an IV.  Even though she didn't open her eyes I could see the heaviness, hopelessness and despair on her.  It was breaking my heart.  She was breathing very hard trying to control the nausea and kept her eyes tightly shut.  She was very lethargic.  Vitals were stable as we began to head for the hospital.  As we were driving along the Lord began to speak to me.  I was filled with compassion for this daughter of the King and I asked her if she wanted me to pray for her.  There was no response for a couple of seconds and then I saw her head slowly nod yes.  She was still breathing pretty hard at this point and there was no peace in her body.  So I began and delivered the words that God gave me for her and after that began to bind down different spirits of infirmities and cast them out.  As I did this her body jerked a couple of times as her faced scrunched up a little.  As I prayed for the Holy Spirit to come in and fill her, a peace washed over her.  The breathing slowed and became peaceful and the atmosphere transformed into peace as her eyes began to water. 

 The testimony here is not one of complete healing because I don't know if she was healed in that moment.  What I do know is that this girls perfect Daddy reached through all of her pain, suffering, infirmities, hopelessness and despair and touched her heart.  In it he definitely touched mine.  The testimony here is the fiery, passionate love of God.  Amen!

   
Jesse

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Prophetic Word

Hey everyone!  This is a word the Lord spoke to me last year in August as I was sitting in the fire station late one night.  I feel led to share it with you all now.

 

 

August 23, 2009

 

I was spending some time with the Lord in total silence, which is something the Lord is teaching me to do, and this is what I saw and this is what I heard:

 

 I saw the number 5 and I heard the words “5 floods upon the earth.”  I stayed on those words for awhile because I was pondering what that meant.  I asked God to explain and I heard nothing.  After another minute or so it literally felt like God ripped open my spirit and dropped in 3 words.  This is what I heard:

 

 “Pestilence, Famine and the Sword!”  There was a long pause while I recovered from the effects of God dropping these words upon me and it seemed that the pause had purpose.  There is an intentional separation between the first 3 words that I heard and the last 2 I heard.  It took a minute or two and I asked God what the last 2 are.  This is what I heard:

 

 “The united Church of God” and “The world against the united Church of God.”

 

 As I continued to sit silently, this is what I heard:

 

 “Blessed are they who put their trust in me because the waters of the first 3 floods will not rise above their ankles.  Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will not be hungry.  Blessed are the pure in heart for they will not be sick.  Blessed are the peacemakers for the sword shall not fall down against them.  Behold!  I am rising up a nation of people for me and that nation shall not fall!  Blessed are they who do not walk in fear and doubt for they shall see their God.  I am gathering my people together to set them apart.  Blessed are my sheep because they hear my voice and know me and my peace shall follow them.”

 

 “Woe to the nations who reject me and walk according to their own paths.  Woe to the people who put their trust in man.  Woe to the nations who delight in wickedness.  Woe to the leaders of nations who lead the people into unrighteousness and blasphemy against me.  Woe to the inhabitants of the earth who love their money more than me.  Woe to the people who hunger and thirst for the workings of their own hands.  Woe to the deaf ears and blind eyes.  Woe to these nations and people because they will be sick, they will be hungry and the sword will fall against them.  Woe to the people who know me and yet deny me for their fate shall be the same.  Woe to the wolves in sheep’s clothing who lead my people astray for they shall feel my wrath.  The Lord of Hosts anger burns against them for they are in love with their wickedness and deny the power of God.”

 

Jesse Birkey 

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Let God heal your grief!

Let God Heal Your Grief!

 

            I had an experience with a 93 year old woman today.  It was our first call of the day.  The nature of the call was that a woman had passed out.  When we arrived on the scene, the patient was fully alert and began to tell us about how weak she felt and how she felt as if she was going to pass out.  She explained that this had been going on for about a year and that she had been diagnosed with a blood disorder that affected production of platelets.  My partner and I helped her up off of the floor and on to the stretcher.  We took her out to the rescue and loaded her inside.  I did some things per our protocol (IV, ECG, etc.) and we started toward the hospital.  It was then that I felt the Holy Spirit begin to stir.  I was led to ask her some questions and the questions revealed that in the last 2 years she has lost her husband to illness and her son to a heart attack.  I was overcome by sorrow and compassion for this woman.  I sensed that this woman had a relationship with God and so I asked her what her experience with God is like.  She answered that she talks to Him a lot and that she has a relationship with Him.  It was then that the Lord spoke to me the word “Grief” and that He wanted to heal her pain and take away the grief.  I told her what God gave me to tell her and she nodded in agreement but there was a block there.  There was an emotional hindrance to accessing that grief and pain.  We know that in order to heal from trauma we have to be able to access those emotions.  So I looked at her and asked her if I could pray for her.  She said yes.  I began to pray what the Lord gave me to pray.  I could feel the presence of God fill the rescue but when I looked at her I knew in my spirit that it wasn’t getting past the wall.  It was discouraging I must say.  I knew God was there.  I continued on as I was led by God and took authority over sickness, infirmity, trauma, grief etc. and cast them out.  There were some prophetic words mixed in as well to encourage her and plant hope.  There was still no response from her.  I was a little frustrated and asked God what to do next.  Then God said “Release my Spirit of Peace over her.”  So I did.  Up until then there had been no response from this woman but the moment I released the Spirit of Peace over her something happened that I will try my best to describe.  It was like a strong wind hit her and she couldn’t help but breathe it in.  She took it in with 3 dramatic gasps.  It looked as if she was inflated.  The look on her face was one of shock and a little bewilderment and then incredible Peace!  The atmosphere was Peace.  It was at that moment we arrived at the hospital.  I found out a little later that the traffic was so bad that it delayed the transport time…..enough time for God to do what he wanted to do.

 

God had another word and a promise for this woman and it was the last thing I said to her.  I believe this is a word and promise for some of you as well who have had to deal with terrible trauma and grief.  The word is this: “Stop waiting to die and begin to speak life!”  The promise is this:  “As you allow me to heal your pain and take away your grief, I will bring healing and restoration to your body.”  We need to pay close attention to the first part of that promise.  We are the ones to have to face the pain.  We are the ones who have to stop burying hurt and wounds.  We are the ones who have to allow ourselves to “feel.”  We are the ones who allow God to heal us.  It’s a promise that requires something from us.  Don’t be afraid!  God is in the wilderness with you (Hosea 2).  God bless!

 

Jesse Birkey    

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Another Ressurection!

Another Resurrection!

God is still working!  God is still raising the dead!  This is another testimony of God bringing the dead to life.  I had just gotten to work (I am a firefighter/Paramedic) and we were dispatched to a cardiac arrest.  When we arrived on scene, we found the patients young daughter attempting CPR on her unresponsive mother.  We escorted the girl out of the room and I assessed the patient for a pulse and didn’t find one.  The patient was not breathing.  I started chest compressions while my crew brought in the cardiac monitor.  As we applied the cardiac monitor I audibly took authority and bound the spirit of death and broke the curses of death.  When the monitor was in place I looked at it and noted an asystole or “flat line” rhythm.  No hope in the natural.  Much like the drowning patient I told you all about.  I continued the battle against death and asked God to return her spirit.  I am sure my Lieutenant heard me this time but he didn't say anything.  At this point someone looked at the monitor and asked if there was a pulse with the presenting rhythm.  The rhythm had changed into something much better looking I felt for a pulse and wouldn't you know WE HAD A PULSE!!!  After a couple other interventions we loaded the patient onto the stretcher and started toward the hospital.  At the ER on transfer the pt had a strong heart rate at 120 and a blood pressure of 118/80.  Amazing! 

It’s hard to put words to a testimony like this because it seems so far out of the box than what most of us are used to.  I am discovering God is soooooo much more powerful than I ever lived like he was.     

 God is still raising people from the dead!  He is calling people who want to be bold and teaching them to be bold.  He is taking the people who he has taught to be bold and teaching them how to be bolder.  THIS IS AN OPEN INVITATION!!  God Bless!!

Jesse Birkey

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Untitled

Another Resurrection!

God is still working!  God is still raising the dead!  This is another testimony of God bringing the dead to life.  I had just gotten to work (I am a firefighter/Paramedic) and we were dispatched to a cardiac arrest.  When we arrived on scene, we found the patients young daughter attempting CPR on her unresponsive mother.  We escorted the girl out of the room and I assessed the patient for a pulse and didn’t find one.  The patient was not breathing.  I started chest compressions while my crew brought in the cardiac monitor.  As we applied the cardiac monitor I audibly took authority and bound the spirit of death and broke the curses of death.  When the monitor was in place I looked at it and noted an asystole or “flat line” rhythm.  No hope in the natural.  Much like the drowning patient I told you all about.  I continued the battle against death and asked God to return her spirit.  I am sure my Lieutenant heard me this time but he didn't say anything.  At this point someone looked at the monitor and asked if there was a pulse with the presenting rhythm.  The rhythm had changed into something much better looking I felt for a pulse and wouldn't you know WE HAD A PULSE!!!  After a couple other interventions we loaded the patient onto the stretcher and started toward the hospital.  At the ER on transfer the pt had a strong heart rate at 120 and a blood pressure of 118/80.  Amazing! 

It’s hard to put words to a testimony like this because it seems so far out of the box than what most of us are used to.  I am discovering God is soooooo much more powerful than I ever lived like he was.     

 God is still raising people from the dead!  He is calling people who want to be bold and teaching them to be bold.  He is taking the people who he has taught to be bold and teaching them how to be bolder.  THIS IS AN OPEN INVITATION!!  God Bless!!

 
Jesse Birkey

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Ishi

I’Shi

“And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.” 

Hos 2:16

            Why, oh why do we resist the wilderness?  What is the matter with us?  Why do we resist the place where God will purge, refine and strip us from everything that is unholy in our lives?  I’ll tell you some reasons why:  Pride, fear, selfishness and idolatry.  Those were the reasons I resisted and I bet I’m not the only one.  I was too prideful to be broken, I feared what would happen to me if I gave up control, for the most part I only cared about myself and I loved other things more than God.  I stood in Egypt and said “Look at all of these things my ‘other lovers’ have provided for me.”  Just like what Gomer (Israel) said as they chased money, power, sex, comfort and every other idol in our lives.  The thing is that they had nothing.  God allowed Satan to come and destroy everything that they had.  God says in Hosea chapter 2 that he allowed their feasts and parties to end, all of their luxuries to be stripped away and destroyed, money to be stolen and exposed their nakedness (shame) before everyone.   Yet they still stood there with their feet firmly planted in Egypt and resisted the wilderness. 

            As I stood in Egypt, presenting all of the things my idols had provided for me, I began to realize something.  I had NOTHING!  I worked overtime for more money but didn’t ever have any extra.  I owned a pool business striving for many accounts for extra money but stilled lived paycheck to paycheck.  I had many “luxuries” that required monthly payments and commitments but always faced the increasing likelihood that I was not going to be able to pay them all.  I exercised and worked out to keep my body in shape but it never caused me to truly love and accept myself.  I went to church, small group and read my bible but realized that I had never experienced a close, intimate, real love relationship with my Daddy.  I had nothing. 

            How many of you drive and strive but never feel like your gaining any ground?  How many of you seem to constantly be facing breakdowns, repairs and un-expected bills?  How many times does something seem to come and steal money from you however it looks?  We get promoted, make more money, buy bigger things, get more religious and yet the unbearable emptiness is still there.  How many times have you asked the question “Where did all that money go?”  We get hammered and beat down.  There is never ENOUGH money to make us feel secure.  Even with all of this we still would rather find comfort in Egypt than step out into the wilderness.  WHY?  What is so scary about the wilderness?  Don’t you know that’s where God is?  Hosea 2 gives us such a beautiful picture of the wilderness.  God says that’s where he will speak comfortably to us.  Yes it is where we get purged, refined and made white and it can be painful but God is there.  God never leaves.  In fact, unless you go into the wilderness you will never be intimate with God.  It says in Hosea 2 that it’s in the wilderness where we begin to call God “husband” and no longer “Lord.”  What better picture of intimacy is there?  But its only available in the wilderness.  God says its in the wilderness where he will establish us and begin to give back what we have lost.  This is what God says happens in the wilderness: 

 

There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

Hos 2:16  "In that day," declares the LORD, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.'

 

Hos 2:17  I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked.

Hos 2:18  In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.

 

Hos 2:19  I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.

 

Hos 2:20  I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.

 

Hos 2:21  "In that day I will respond," declares the LORD— "I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth;

 

Hos 2:22  and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.

 

Hos 2:23  I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.' I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.'"

 

But we resist the wilderness don’t we?  We turn our back on these promises because what we can see in front of us is so often ALL we can see.  Our pride and fear holds us fast don’t they?  Unless we humble ourselves and crawl into the wilderness on our knees, we will live our whole lives disconnected from out Daddy.  The only path to the Promised Land runs through the wilderness.  Nobody is going to make you walk.  You have to decide.  Jesus said the gate is small and few find it.  Does that surprise you?  How many people do you know willing to humble themselves in front of others?  It takes desperation and humility to find it.  Some of us enter the wilderness and then for whatever reasons decide it’s not what we want.  You don’t have to wander lost like Israel did.  Israel wandered as a result of disobedience.  Be obedient and you will find the path God has for you leading to the Promised Land.  GET OUT OF EGYPT AND FIND I’SHI (your husband)!   God bless!

 

Jesse Birkey

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