BEWARE THE LEAVEN OF HEROD

Mark 8v15- 

And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.

We are often told to beware of FALSE TEACHING (i.e Pharisaical or any other kind of error), but equally important is to beware of the LEAVEN of HEROD. Herod represents the world, all it's ways and thinking. It also represents MAN'S way of doing things (distinctly different from God's way) and the POWER that man tries to exert upon others to do things according to fleshly/sinful ways, for the interests of men alone (the interests of the Lord are not considered as the central and most important thing), and also the way of the enemy-- for often the way of men and Satan is one and the same thing, for Satan desires the Kingdoms of the Earth and all its honour/glory/riches (note: you will know if this is happening, for you will be asked to sacrifice the Lord's desires i.e 'bow down' in pursuit OR for the sake of the enemy's/man's desires):

Matthew 4-
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’e ”

Matthew 16-

22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

When we think of leaven, we think of something which represents a very small part of a whole, specifically a whole piece of bread. It is something that, if we don't pay attention to it, seems unnoticeable, intangible, non-impactful and unimportant. If we're not careful, we only start to recognise it when it has already done damage. Usually we ignore spiritual leaven because, like when we eat bread itself, we are only thinking of our hunger and about needing nourishment.

As there are still righteous things in the Earth, law and order, and things that show the goodness and grace of God, we need to keep a CONSTANT guard and watch for the LEAVEN OF HEROD. The reason for this lies in the fact that, as Christians (and often with good intent) we love to focus on whatever is good about our society and those that rule and have power (this is still a very good thing!), and so by default pay little attention to whatever may endanger those good things or have actually begun to corrupt them to our own (and others) spiritual detriment.

So because of the nature of leaven (hard to recognise), our hunger (physical and spiritual- not bad things in and of themselves), and our good intention to love those around us and obey those in authority (good things!), we need to remind ourselves to beware the leaven of Herod. To do this we need to be able to recognise it. To do this we need to understand that, like in the Matthew 4 scripture above, the way of Herod is EXACTLY the way of Satan (i.e Jesus saying to Peter 'Get behind me Satan'). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, the character of men and Satan is the SAME THING (i.e in the flesh dwells no good thing). It is selfish, self-centred, and sets itself up as the most important thing at the sacrifice of EVERYTHING ELSE and EVERY OTHER consideration. More importantly, the character of men/Satan/Herod is the OPPOSITE of all of the characteristics of God (think: fruits of the Spirit etc). Lastly, you can always tell what the way of men/Herod is because, like the way of the enemy, it STEALS, KILLS, AND DESTROYS life and everything Godly.

Beware the leaven of Herod/men/the rulership/Kingdoms of men, for, like leaven, it SEEMS harmless if you have unwittingly put on natural lenses, but spiritual leaven CORRUPTS subtly and COMPLETELY. Don't justify Herod's leaven for the sake of your physical and spiritual nourishment, for man shall not live on bread alone, but on EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD- THE BIBLE (and God will take care of all your needs when you put His Kingdom and righteousness first, even if it SEEMS as though the Holy Spirit is leading you to a wilderness)-- which is the most important nourishment, for all other nourishment comes from this.

Leaven can be made to look good, and be hidden in good things, so we must be diligent to obey the Lord, and beware the leaven of Herod.

THE FIRE OF GOD

1 Kings 18 teaches us that if we want to see the FIRE OF GOD to witness for him, teach and instruct others, bring him glory, and even, God willing, bring about revival, then we must have the following five things:

1) We must be bold to step out for the Lord and represent him, no matter who it is front of, and what the cost may be:

1 Kings 18v22-
Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.

2) We must offer up our WHOLE life (every part of it) as a living sacrifice to the Lord:

v23 … I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.

V30: …he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins.

v38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

3) We must have a good understanding of the Lord and His ways, by having a good understanding of the WHOLE COUNSEL of the whole Word of God (otherwise we will do foolishly with the fire of God- using it for our purposes or men’s purposes instead of the Lord’s, wrongly represent the Lord, and minister in a harmful way to his people), otherwise the sacrifice of our lives will be in vain:

v31: Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD…

*Note: the 12 stones represent the Biblical teachings of the Old Testament (on those rocks he built the identity of his people, who they are in God and all the lessons that God gave because of and through their example) and also the New Covenant teachings of the 12 Apostles.

4) We must call out to the Lord in prayer for the fire of God and it must be for the sake of HIS PURPOSES (Biblical desire) and HIS KINGDOM/PEOPLE:

v24 … I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire --- he is God."

v36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

5) We must persist in prayer, believing that God will answer:

v41-: And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah went to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
“Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
“There is nothing there,” he said.
Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
The seventh time the servant reported. “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”

ANOTHER UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT DREAM, AND THE REASON FOR REPETITION

I don't know about anyone out there, but for me at least, it often takes the Lord saying things more than ONCE for a revelation, point or teaching to really be understood. As clay vessels, we often need things repeated and expanded on for them to really go in. I think that's why, when he wanted to emphasise the importance of a point, Jesus said "VERILY, VERILY" before he actually made his point. It was the Lord's way of saying "Now take note, because what I'm about to say you REALLY NEED to know and be aware about." The Lord never said anything without it being important, but some things were especially so.

In the last few weeks the Lord has revealed something THREE TIMES to me. Two of those dreams I believe I may have also had years ago. All of those dreams included the revelation of UNIDENTIFIED flying aircraft out there. They didn't include what they were or who, exactly, was behind it, although it seems likely that it has to do with the enemy and deception. The fact remains though that I have never had a revelation about any other future event repeat three times in the space of a few weeks. I'm taking it as the Lord's VERILY, VERILY-- in other words, his way of saying, TAKE NOTE, THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW ABOUT-- not as a reason to fear or speculate, but to encourage us to pray and to give us a Godly HEADS UP. Jesus said there would be SIGNS in the sun, moon and stars before he returned, and that they would be important for us to know about, because they would encourage our expectation of the Lord's SOON return:

Luke 21v28:

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near.

This 3rd dream about a UFO I had this week:

I dreamt I was looking out of my apartment on the Gold Coast (out over the Coast, parallel to the ocean). From the left appeared a MASSIVE green aircraft that flew (though it seemed more to float) horizontally right across my field of vision. It flew in a floating motion all the way to the right, although it was so long that I don't think I saw the end of the craft. I got a close-up look at it, as the aircraft was only about 50-100 metres away from my building and flying low; just high enough to clear the Coast's high-rise buildings.

The aircraft was green and extremely long-- I don't think I saw the end of it. It's most striking feature included being made up of two long pillar-like poles that seemed to make up at least 30% of the aircraft itself. The poles must've been at least 50-100 metres in diameter. The poles were attached to the rest of the aircraft. At the head of the poles the shape of aircraft was very box-like, and at the other end it was also very box like, but more rectangular in shape.

As I watched the aircraft fly/float across my field of vision, I was obviously amazed, and wanted to post something to find out if anyone else on the Coast could identify what I was looking at. I couldn't identify it (having obviously never seen something like that before), and knew that no one else would be able to as well (because it was obviously a UFO).

Update (/fulfillments):

On the 7th of January 2017, I found news of the Chilean Navy releasing proof of an unidentifiable flying object: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/groundbreaking-ufo-video-just-released-from-chilean_us_586d37bce4b014e7c72ee56b?section=weird-news

A DREAM OF THE FUTURE, AND THE ARK OF GOD

Dream received on Sunday in the 3^rd hour of the morning of the 3^rd of April, 2016:

The day before I had this dream I was talking to someone about the need to gather grace by prayer for the coming storm, just like Noah did when he built the Ark. That day I had read Psalm 27 where God emphasised to me the need to seek him (just like David did) for future protection.

I dreamt I was in a very tall high-rise building along a coastline, and on the phone to someone whose name means ‘Pure’. Suddenly what was going on outside caught my attention. At first I was just curious, but then I became extremely alarmed as I saw a mass of dark storm cloud roll in and blanket the coastline. This happened in a matter of moments. I was shocked as I watched this scene unfold; amazed at what I was seeing, and I verbalised my concern out loud. I knew that what I saw was the approach of a deadly and ferocious storm. I also saw what appeared to be massive tornados that were out on the ocean.

The next thing I saw absolutely blew me away. In the sky above me I saw an absolutely mammoth aircraft that looked like something out of the movie star wars (or Independence Day). I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and I tried to figure out what it was. I thought it could either be a military craft or a UFO (as I couldn’t identify its origins), but I quickly quashed the thought of a military aircraft, as I have never seen anything like what I was looking at in real life. The aircraft was grey and at least a few hundred metres in length and width. Its size was enormous and its shape was like a thin rectangular prism (about 50-100 metres in depth/thickness). It flew through the air with ease, going right above me and over the building as I watched it.  

The next scene seemed odd, but its connection to the above (when you consider the context I gave this dream) is clear. I saw a truck with the writing ‘Timber’ on it, and another truck with the word ‘Seafood’ on it. God wants his people to build an ark for the coming storm/flood of trial (the timber) and consume the food of His Word (the seafood- i.e man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God) so that they’ll be sustained and kept when the storm hits (so that nothing will move us from faith in Christ and following God). I believe it also speaks about the fact that building the Ark is also our food/provision for what’s coming. The Lord is calling for and emphasising the need for purity (i.e the phone call at the beginning of the dream) as this is the timber of our Ark (i.e. the man that built upon the rock is the one who hears the Word of God and does it- when the rain/flood hits, he is not moved).

Let me be clear when I say that, in regards to the aircraft, I DO NOT KNOW WHAT I SAW (I’ve never seen an aircraft like it in real life, that is why I’m labelling it as a UFO (‘Unidentified’). I did not see who was behind/controlling the aircraft. However, in the dream and after it, and although I could be wrong, I don’t believe it originates from Earth’s military (though whether they are or will be involved is anyone’s guess). My personal opinion is that the enemy is behind whatever it is and whoever is concontrolling it, and that he will use it to try and deceive humanity and to lead people away from believing in Jesus. The Lord does not want us to be unaware of the enemy’s schemes, lest he take advantage of us:

NIV- 2 Corinthians 2v11:

in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

KJV- 2 Corinthians 2v11:

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

ISV- 2 Corinthians 2v11:

so that we may not be outsmarted by Satan. After all, we are not unaware of his intentions.

In regards to the storm I saw, I believe that speaks about the great storm that is coming to the Earth. I have seen this storm MANY TIMES in dreams over the years, and in nearly every one it is always the same: the storm is approaching and getting near. The onset of this storm is approaching very quickly (alarmingly so), and when it hits its effects will be monumental and devastating to the Earth. This is a storm that will hit everything, all over the Earth. My personal opinion is that we are now seeing this storm approach in the physical. If that is the case, it will come in full very quickly (matter of years?). God is sovereign over this storm, and He will look after His people. This approaching storm should not be cause for his people to become fearful as we have the same God as David:

Psalm 27:

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
 Whom shall I fear?
 The Lord is the strength of my life;
 Of whom shall I be afraid?

2 

When the wicked came against me
 To eat up my flesh,
 My enemies and foes,
 They stumbled and fell.

3 

Though an army may encamp against me,
 My heart shall not fear; 
Though war may rise against me,
 In this I will be confident.

4 

One thing I have desired of the Lord,
 That will I seek:
 That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
 All the days of my life,
 To behold the beauty of the Lord,
 And to inquire in His temple.

5 

For in the time of trouble
 He shall hide me in His pavilion;
 In the secret place of His tabernacle
 He shall hide me; 
He shall set me high upon a rock.

ASK, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN TO YOU (MATT 7V7...)

1 John v14-15:
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

A big part of God's great work in and through us is to give us his heart, and so advance his Kingdom through prayers which have his desires in mind. As we are human, these prayers often start in a very natural and sometimes even very selfish way (although there is nothing wrong with praying for ourselves and our wants and needs as long as they are good and Godly things). However, as we pray, the Lord intercedes for us and the Holy Spirit starts to lead us in our requests. He purifies the requests and makes them Christ centred and filtered, and very quickly we find that our prayers and requests are just as they should be (and even the prayer process is done in a Godly way).

That doesn't necessarily mean that Christ completely changes our prayers and requests, because he loves to keep the sincerity of them and hear them from who he has made us to be in Christ. Often the Lord only has to steer them in the right direction and remind us of the purpose of prayer, and that, ultimately, they are for Him.

Avoid an earthly mindset and fleshly fear that will keep you from prayer and prayer requests. This happens when we presume that we don't necessarily need more of the Holy Spirit, that the Lord will not answer us, or when we believe that we cannot possibly know the will of God. We always need his Holy Spirit (read about how much Jesus himself prayed) as we always need to rely on Christ, the Lord will always answer that which is his will, and we can always know the most important aspects of his will. The understanding of the will of God is made plain through his Word, and many scriptures make his will clear down to the letter. The Bible says that God will give us the Holy Spirit if we ask him, for this will always mean a practically stronger relationship with Christ, greater fruitfulness for his Kingdom, and that we will be a greater blessing and support to his people.

The Lord will give us anything to do with his Spirit if we ask him, but we do need to ask him. The Bible says that we do not receive because we do not ask. Prayer and prayer requests are about communion with Christ, being changed more into his image, better relationships with others, and greater effectiveness for his will and purposes. Prayer is also about the Lord wanting to deposit more of his grace and strength in our lives, and growing us in our faith. All things to do with prayer are good, and if they are not (due to our 'clayness', shortcomings or failings), he will quickly make sure they are by his Holy Spirit through the process of prayer (we just need to step out in faith when we pray- this is what pleases God!). Prayer is also designed so that God can fulfill His will concerning us and give us any promises which he may have previously given us.

What we request in prayer, if we persist for long enough, we will receive if we pray for his sake, his people's sake and for his will and glory. If we have these things as our heart, we will find that we ourselves begin to filter and purify our prayers. We will also find that our heart for the things of God grows, as will our love for Jesus (one of the great designs of prayer!). The Lord also greatly cares for us as individuals, so we can also pray for our own needs and desires if they are good and Godly, and we can be sure that he'll hear and answer us (even if the answer is sometimes a loving "No"- which he, not always, but sometimes will give us a reason for like he did with Paul's request to remove his thorn. His grace will always be sufficient for us, no matter what the answer to our prayers will be).

First check with the Word, then you will know if what you ask is his will or in the context of that will (then when you're answered you'll be able to accept HOW he answers as much as what the answer is). Then you can be ABSOLUTELY confident that he will answer. What is more, you can be confident that you are given His Holy Spirit in the PROCESS of that praying, which is as much a blessing as anything you will receive as a result of what you ask for in prayer.

DREAM: THERE IS STILL HOPE

Dream: received the morning of the 14^th of March, 2016

This dream was very short but extremely vivid. I dreamt I was looking at a nuclear device (nuclear bomb) and the word ‘Esther’ was written on it in red letters. The word was in the place where you’d usually see the countdown to the actual explosion. In the dream I understood that I was on the nuclear case, in other words I was on the case to stop the bomb from going off. I knew that the word ‘Esther’ was the key to solving the case, and I thought to myself that I would write that word down in my notes.

After this dream, I went online to refresh my memory about the story of Esther (see Bible Hub summary- http://biblehub.com/summary/esther/1.htm). Mordecai encourages Esther to intercede for the people of God:

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (4:14).

The Bible tells us that we also are a royal priesthood because of salvation and Jesus and so have the same power with God that Esther had because of Jesus. God is wanting us to pray and intercede for his people regarding the future nuclear bomb threat because He wants to deliver them in the future! By those same prayers and intercedings He also wants to save us and our families! This is obviously awesome news- praise God! We certainly don't have an uncaring Lord! Our hope to avert the nuclear threat in the future rests upon our willingness to pray and intercede. Remember that God doesn't hear us because of our many words, but because of our earnest words. Even the shortest prayer has great power with God (the Lord's prayer in the New Testament was very short!) because He listens and doesn't let any prayer go to waste! 

Esther was only one person, and yet through her, God brought about a miraculous deliverance for his people. Haman was wanting to exterminate them, but Esther intervened by appealing to the King, and everything changed. Like Esther, even if one person prays, it will make a difference! Even a nation-changing miraculous one!!!

ORIGIN OF THE CALLING: MEN'S VOICE OR THE LORD'S?

Samuel was already serving the Lord when the Lord called him to another, different kind of service. However, it took Samuel a while to recognise that the Lord was calling him to that service! (3 times! see 1 Samuel 3). Initially, he though it was just a human calling him in Eli. Three times the Lord called him, and three times Samuel mistook the voice that called him for Eli's and so just went back to what he was already doing in his original service for the Lord. How often do we ignore men's voices, simply for that fact, because they are men! Sometimes it is difficult to discern whether it's just the voice of men or the voice of the Lord, but we should be open to hearing His voice through men, otherwise we may miss it:

1 Samuel 3v8-10:

Then Eli realised that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
v10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"
Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

Matthew 11v15:
Whoever has ears, let them hear

If we think it's just a human calling us to another service, we will be tempted to just rely on our own way of thinking to discern whether we should either accept or reject that call. But if we know it's the Lord's voice, we, like Samuel, will accept that we're being called to a different kind of service, and perhaps even something more than we've done in the past or are currently doing. Sometimes, even when the Lord is calling us, it takes another human being to make us realise that that is happening, and that it's not just men saying it. We need to be humble enough to hear from men, no matter how unimportant and simple their voice may be, for the Lord loves to use the lowly and despised things of the world rather than the things that are (1 Cor 1v28), for in doing so He reveals that only He is good, powerful and glorious.

So how will we know if it is the Lord's calling and not men's? Primarily, we need to ask whether the service has a Biblical foundation. Secondly, whether we have a desire for it (for the Bible tells us that it is He who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure). Thirdly, whether it will be edifying for the body of Christ. Fourthly, whether we have been equipped with something that we can actually give to others (in the way of a revelation, teaching, instruction etc -1 Cor 14v26). Fifthly, whether we know how to minister with what we've been given by the fruits of the Spirit, love, and in truth according to the Bible and its doctrines. Sixthly, whether it lines up with the talents we know we've been given by the Lord. Lastly, but most importantly, whether we've had the voice confirmed to us by the Lord himself through his Word and prayer, and to our own hearts and minds by the Spirit of God, and even by other people? This last one is very important but often requires that we allow time and prayer to properly test whose voice is speaking to us and thus what service to begin.

Generally speaking, if you've been given something by the Lord, scripture tells us, in the story of the talents, that this has been done so that we'll serve with what we've been given. The Bible tells us that the manifestation of the Spirit is given to one, for the benefit of all. Some things that we're given are just for us personally, however, the way we figure out what is just for us personally and what is also for others in the Body of Christ is simple. We only need to ask ourselves, "Would this also spiritually benefit others?"

Perhaps the Lord is calling you to another service, but up until this point you have just thought that it is man calling call you, or even vice versa! Make sure you are very careful to discern who is calling you, and be open to hearing His voice, even if it comes through men!