I heard the Lord say, “I am the Finisher and I will finish what I have begun! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last—the One who goes before to prepare your way in order that you may prepare Mine!”
God is the perfecter of our souls! The Holy Spirit, who does marvelous and magnificent work, has fashioned an awesome army of lovers of God in union with Him in mind and heart. He’s done all of it because of His passion to see billions of precious souls come into the family of God.
” Overcomers are now arising in the power of God, and the gates of Hades have no power over such ones!”
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and FINISHER of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
A Season of Great Faith
I was in a prayer meeting and I wanted to share the Scripture about the woman who was sick with an infirmity, but I was confusing it with another Scripture about another woman. I asked the Lord where it was so I could check it and He said, “Luke 18”. When I looked, I discovered this was the Scripture about the persistent widow. (The passage of the woman with the infirmity was Luke 13:11.)
The woman referenced in Luke 13 was sick for 18 years. Jesus spoke the words of freedom to her and said, “Woman you are loosed.” The persistent widow in Luke 18 was crying out for justice day and night. Regarding this parable Jesus said, “Will God not avenge His own elect that cry out to Him?” He then confronts all with the question that when He comes, will He find faith?
The Lord showed me this year is a season of the release of great faith. That 8 represents a new beginning and 18 represents the completion and finishing of faith. Jesus is the Author and the Finisher of our faith! One of the root words of the word finish is teleios which means: growth in mental or moral character; completeness—of full age, man, perfect.
God has been working over the last season to perfect us in character, in wisdom and discernment; but most importantly He is perfecting us and completing us in LOVE! The Finisher is finishing the work of cleansing our hearts, and our history of iniquity, to release us to run a race of strength where we will not stumble or be shaken!
Forgiveness is the Key to Your Freedom
A friend of mine recently shared that the Lord spoke to her and said she was carrying a spirit of regret. When she said that, it also resonated in my spirit. I spent some time in prayer one morning and I realized I was carrying this same spirit. There was so much in my life that I regretted. There have been things I have said to hurt others and things I have done that I am not proud of—before I became a Christian and even after.
I was broken before the Father and truly sought His forgiveness. I asked Him to set me free from this spirit. I sensed His forgiveness but heard Him say, “You must now forgive yourself.” I realized this was true as I still did not feel free. I spoke to myself, to my spirit and soul, and forgave myself. At that point I experienced a true freedom of conscience and I saw in my mind a picture of an old door. Around its edges were painted red in the Blood of Jesus and written across it were the words: FORGIVEN!
“…when He comes, will He find faith?”
This door represented the door to my past; a door God had sealed shut with the Blood of Jesus. Freedom in Christ is amazing! The doors to the past must be closed with no lingering regret! We cannot move into the new carrying old baggage and the heavy burdens of the past. Forgiveness is the key to freedom for our souls and for the infirmity in our bodies. Overcomers are now arising in the power of God, and the gates of Hades have no power over such ones!
God is now opening a great door for the saints to break free into their futures and their destinies, “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor. 16:9). These are divine, anointed double doors into the Harvest fields. Yet, we are warned—there are many adversaries. Hence, the years of preparation and the deep cleansing work to rid us of any potential legal holds the enemy has over us!
“Loose Them and Bring Them to Me!”
At the time of His entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus tells the disciples to go and get Him a specific donkey and colt that were prepared for Him for that moment in time:
“‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. LOOSE THEM AND BRING THEM TO ME. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.’ All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ‘TELL THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, LOWLY, AND SITTING ON A DONKEY, A COLT, THE FOAL OF A DONKEY.”” (Matthew 21:2-5 emphasis mine)
The Lord is trumpeting over His Body a command to His angel armies right now: “Loose them and bring them to Me! Untie their ministry, untie their destiny, untie their bodies and their health—untie their finances, untie relationships locked in battle, untie their families and children—untie their chains to addictions, untie their hopes and dreams imprisoned by hopelessness and discouragement—untie their feet entangled in the muck and mire of the world, untie them to run their course ordained before time.”
God is untying us from all legal entanglements of the past so we can ride with Him to the nations of the world—in every sphere and arena of culture. God is saying (through the story of riding on the donkey), “GET READY TO RIDE! I am going to ride on you, in you and with you!”
Faith Marie Baczko, Executive Director
Headstone Ministries International | Schools of The Last Wine
Email: contact@headstoneministries.com
Website: www.headstoneministries.com
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