Marc Dupont Ministries

Celebrating the Miracle Gift(s)

My first pastor said something quite brilliant regarding the Christmas celebration. In respect to non Christians, who are into the whole gift thing but have no regard for Christ, he stated: ‘those who are far from Christ who give gifts on Christmas day, even though they don’t realize it, are worshiping God by celebrating His nature on this particular day.”

I’ve hung on to that thought for over 3 decades now for two reasons: One, It’s true! The nature of God is love. This love was manifested by God giving the Gift of all gifts. Second, the setting aside of December 25^th even though it, most likely, is not the day Jesus was born is one more indicator of the impact Christ has made on so many around the world, whether Christian or non.

Some two thousand years ago plus, a miracle took place. A young woman who had never been physically involved with a man gave birth to a child. Both the inception and the nature of this child were miraculous. When the mother to be asked “How can this be, since I’ve never been with a man” Gabriel answered “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” Gabriel then went on to speak to Mary about Elizabeth who, as well, was miraculously pregnant! With Elizabeth, however, the miracle was that in her old age, well past child bearing, she had become able to become pregnant. What I would like to zero in on is the nature of the gifts and greatest gift, which God the Father gave and gives. They are all birthed out of our co-operation with the Holy Spirit. In short, they are miraculous due to responding to God.

Mary was well aware that her cousin, Elizabeth, had been barren and was now too old to have children. Gabriel anticipating her question went on to say ““For nothing will be impossible with God.” It’s not only critical to grasp the fact that not only is God in the miracle business, but He is always in the miracle business. Gabriel’s comment regarding the omnipotence of God was echoing the very same thing God had previously said in the very same situation some 2000 years prior. When Sarah, the wife of Abraham, laughed at the prophetic words saying she was to have a child, even though she was decades past her childbearing years, the Lord responded “Is anything too difficult for God?”

At this season of celebrating the miracle of God becoming human I would like to point out four miraculous aspects of that one miracle that continues each and every day in the lives of those who call Him Lord.

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;  And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,” Isaiah 9.6 & 7a

The Wonderful Counselor

Proverbs 3.5 instructs us to not lean to our own understanding, but to trust in God with all of our hearts. In the midst of turmoil in a very confusing world what voice do we trust in our heart of hearts? Jesus promised us, that He would not leave us as orphans but that He would send each of us the amazing gift of His Presence- the Holy Spirit. Of the Holy Spirit, Jesus stated: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” (John 16.13)

What an amazing gift- the very counsel of God to lead us into His specific will, care, and provision for our lives. It’s an absolute miracle that we daily have the opportunity to commune with God Almighty. It’s a miracle flowing out of the miraculous Word becoming flesh.

God Almighty

One of the names God gives Himself in the Old Testament is El Shaddai- God Almighty, who is able to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. In life we all find ourselves, from time to time, in impossible situations. In fact, God often deliberately leads us into impossible situations so that His strength might be realized as our weakness’ demand we lean into Him.

What an amazing miracle that, because of Jesus, we have been birthed into God’s Kingdom, which is one of power, not mere words. (1 Cor. 4.20) The miracle of God’s amazing power available to us flows out of the Person of God’s Presence. The Holy Spirit is in our lives and midst due to the only begotten Son being given as the miraculous gift.

Eternal Father

While praying to God the Father, Jesus said “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” The “they” in the equation is you and I. Jesus did not come to merely save humanity from all it’s woes. Rather, He came to restore us to the relationship with the Father, which we lost due to our disobedience.

‘What is the Father like’ we might ask. Jesus answered that by telling His disciples that he who had seen Him had, in effect, seen the Father. There is a very real significance and security in life that can only be realized by experiencing the reality God’s love. It is a sense of significance and a deep life long caring and nurturing that God the Father loves to lavish upon us. In that Jesus came to restore us to the Father and, in that, He and the Father are one, the miraculous gift of all gifts has miraculously become our Eternal Father. And due to this miraculous gift of all gifts we can experience the miracle of the Father’s heart each and every day.

Prince of Peace

The apostle Paul described the peace God gives as one ‘that passes all understanding’. It is not a peace based on our current situation. Neither is it a peace based on our being invincible. It is also a peace that has nothing to do with our understanding of how our problems will be resolved or how our questions will be answered. Rather, it is a peace that flows from God’s Spirit within our hearts. In fact, Romans 14.17 reads ‘the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.’ In the midst of the most traumatic and dramatic difficulties there is a powerful peace that will allow us to relax and realize God is both bigger and wiser than any dilemma we may face.

Beyond all of that, however, is the eternal life of being reconnected with God. That is the ultimate gift that the only begotten Son of God, who became man, came to give us. The peace of knowing that for all of eternity we will dwell with the Prince and author of peace is, indeed, a miraculous gift beyond compare!

2011- A Time of Transition

The absolute miracle power of God, which renders nothing as too difficult, is always there as we walk with, and in, the miracle Gift. And as, Isaiah continued in Isaiah, chapter 9: there need be no end to the increase of His rule of peace in the world, in you, and through you. My prayer for everyone who reads this is that as you step into 2011- a time of great uncertainty, that you realize daily that God’s miraculous counsel, power, fathering, and peace are yours to experience- as you go forth with the miracle gift of all gifts.

You will have, no doubt, realized I have made a serious writing mistake in this letter. I have seriously over utilized the word miracle in many different forms. At the risk of coming off redundant I have done so for a reason. God desires you to experience the miraculous this year more than you ever have before. God will be ‘birthing’ new things, ministries, projects, missions, and miracles through your life this year. 2011 will be a key time of transition preparing you for many years ahead. Many of these things, if not most of them, will first appear as impossible due to your present situation, resources, and past experiences. The Biblical encouragement is, once you move past the momentary laugh of unbelief (like Sara laughed), realize that nothing is too difficult for God. The miracle Gift that we celebrate on December 25, and hopefully everyday, desires to lead you into a lifestyle of the impossible moving to the possible and transcending into reality. And when the Holy Spirit gives birth to outrageous visions within you, never be afraid to pray “Lord, I believe- please help my unbelief”.

Marc A. Dupont

December 25^th, 2010

Biblical Grace Under Assault

God’s grace does not give us the freedom to do what we like and get away with it. It releases the power of God’s Word and Spirit to become individuals conformed to Christ.

Over the last few years a number of ministries have embraced a perception of grace that, Biblically speaking, is demonically distorted. True God given grace does not give us the freedom to do what we would like and get away with it. Rather, it releases to us the power of God’s Word and Spirit to become individuals conformed to Christ Jesus. Two passages found in Romans- 8.29 & 12.2 both address the conformity God is after in our lives. Perhaps more directly to the point, however, is Peter’s writing found in 1 Peter 1.14-16, which reads:

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

1) The assault of Old New Age Gnosticism

There are three primary sources feeding the current perversion of grace. First is a resurgence of Gnosticism. This, in essence, as with much of ancient Gnosticism, is a false separation between what is spiritual and what is physical. In ancient Gnosticism there was the teaching that the two were completely unrelated. In effect the belief was that what one believed and nourished in the spiritual realm was unrelated and untouched by one’s actions within the physical realm.

The emerging Gnosticism in the contemporary church is not so much due to a deliberate teaching as it is from a growing ignorance and ignoring of the Word of God. In some church circles where things like prophecy, healing, and impartations of the Holy Spirit are valued there is also, unfortunately, a devaluation of the written word of God. This vacuum of ignorance has sucked many into a spiritual climate with a lack of regard for the holiness of God. That holiness is what we were born again to experientially walk in. To reference Peter a second time, 2nd Peter 2.20-22 warns that those who have come to know Christ Jesus but return to practicing former sins are like ‘dogs who return to their own vomit’.

To some degree the current hunger for spirituality and spiritual experiences devoid of an appetite for the Person and ways of God is witchcraft. This witchcraft manifests in two essential ways: 1) a hunger for spiritual experiences aside from the Lordship of Christ, and 2) a prevailing of anti authority attitudes. Witches love to move in spiritual dimensions but also despise authority, which is in keeping with the demonic realm. As well, as was with Jezebel, there is usually a fascination with perverse sexuality. To sum up modern day Gnostic traits emerging in the church there is a hunger for spirituality while there is a de-emphasizing of the Lordship of Christ governing one’s attitudes and actions. The false application of grace provides the loophole to continue in doing what one feels like doing and still praying the prayer “bless me, Lord”!

What has also, in a huge way, fed into current Gnosticism is a de-emphasizing of the Biblical mandate to make disciples. In many churches today the gospel is reduced to the two things: 1) free fire insurance, to escape the flames of hell, and 2) consistent teaching from the pulpits that God simply wants to give us formulas for success regardless of our lifestyles. Of course, God does want to bless people, but not apart from our embracing God’s principal of dying to self and living for Christ by embracing Christ’s ways. Galatians 6.7 reads: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

If we sow to carnality that is exactly what we will reap- bondage and death, on many differing levels. The growing mantra today is “it’s okay to do what you like. God will forgive you.” Forgiveness is the result of repentance. Repentance, essentially, means to see things from a higher perspective (God’s vantage point) and to change one’s behavior accordingly.  The remedy is church leaders must return to preaching the gospel of ‘the kingdom’ that Jesus preached and seek ‘its righteousness’ not merely its blessings. Otherwise, when a so-called Christian is continually grieving the Holy Spirit it is the spirit of this age that rules them, not the Spirit of the living God!

2) The Assault of Fear

As much as the church growth movement has been a help to many leaders for the last several decades, I believe, it has also proven to be a curse for some. It has mandated the wrong measuring stick. God measures the success of leadership by things like obedience, fruitfulness, and the making of disciples. Strictly using the ‘nickels, noise, and numbers formula’ to qualify/quantify one’s ministry is like trying to assess heaven by earth’s standards. By many church standards today Jesus would have to be labeled as a poor leader due to His message of ‘eating His body, and drinking His blood’. Because of that message He went from the multitudes following Him to barely the twelve. It would be a contemporary pastor’s worst nightmare. Jesus, however, measured success by obedience to the Father, not the accolades of man or the size of the crowd!

Proverbs 25.29 states “the fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.” Due to success being primarily measured purely by numbers there has come about a great fear of offending church attendees by saying the wrong thing from the pulpit. That ‘wrong thing’ too often means anything that might cause that attendee to stop attending. Without necessarily intending to we can inadvertently become pleasers of men rather than of God. We must constantly remind ourselves that the gospel message itself (if Biblically preached) is offensive. It is offensive simply because God calls people to die to themselves and change their behavior. Less than a changed lifestyle is less than Biblical Christianity.

When the incomplete message of ‘it’s okay, God loves you just the way you are’ prevails there will be very little room for the Spirit’s conviction for change. The other half of that message is begging to be preached: “He also loves you too much to leave you the way you are”! Yes, by all means let’s be as welcoming and as friendly as the good news itself to all. But a physician who won’t warn a patient about a growing cancer tumor out of fear of depressing, or offending that patient is a lethal care giver! There is after all a sorrow the Spirit can release that leads one to repentance. (2^nd Corinthians 7.10)

We need to learn to discern between religious condemnation and the Holy Spirit’s conviction. The former wraps people up in the legalism of religion, while the latter opens people up to the potential of healing and abundant life in Christ!

The current statistics of 50% percent of all Bible believing, church going Christian men and 20% of the same group of women being addicted to pornography tell us that something is seriously out of order in the church today.  As if that is not enough of a problem there is almost the same percentage of divorce in the church as there is among non-church goers. If the ancient boundaries that God has established for healthy living are moved then we have managed to learn to graze in the camp of the enemy without fear of consequences! If the foundations are destroyed, or at least obscured, what can the righteous do?

We can begin by proclaiming and praying for a return to God’s standards of ‘grace based holiness’. If judgment starts first with the household of God, then it is probably a safe bet that judgment will start first with the gatekeepers of the church- leaders. We can either fear man, or fear God, but not both at the same time.

3) The Assault of Unsanctified Compassion

Due to past movements, which practiced a focus on the control of individual Christians, the word ‘accountability’ has almost been thrown out the window. Accountability, Biblically speaking, is not so much a thing of control, but rather of encouragement and strength. The truth is all healthy relationships demand some sort of accountability in order to function well. A relationship where there is a fear, or pride, based resistance to honesty is doomed to fail to reach it’s potential.

Out of fear of treading on people rights, or offending people in one’s church, accountability has become neglected. So when problems arise due to ongoing destructive behavior (sin) there is too often the tendency to issue blessings based on ‘unsanctified compassion’. Many church attendees and members want prayers of blessing and breakthrough despite the fact that the hurtful condition they are in may be due to reaping what they’ve sown. To continually bless some one who will not truly repent (change) from destructive behavior is comparable to giving throat lozenges to some one dying of throat cancer and thinking that because the pain is temporarily gone all is well.

In contrast to unsanctified compassion Paul and Jesus were seemingly harsh. Paul wrote,  “if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat” regarding the distribution of charity to poorer church members. There was absolutely no sense of unearned entitlement with Paul! Obviously, he was not speaking of those who simply could not work. When it comes to those who refuse to stop coarse sinning Jesus said to treat them as sinners, not as redeemed members of a congregation. (Matthew 18.17) Jesus also, categorically, without any ambiguity what so ever, stated that a man who leaves his wife to marry another woman is to be treated as an adulterer- a flagrant practicing sinner. (Matthew 19.9) Of course, this is excepting when his wife first committed adultery. Today there is a veritable plague of men and women in church leadership abandoning the ‘wife (or spouse) of their youth’ for a younger version! Truths regarding marriage, such as oneness and covenant, which God emphasizes have been treated as obsolete by many current ministry leaders. God simply sees this as sin on a grand scale. Yet the church has learned to sweep adultery, financial impropriety, substance abuse, and many other sins under a heavy carpet incorrectly labeled ‘grace’.

The love of Christ does not negate accountability. Rather, it gives a context for which healthy accountability can function.

There are those who claim that it is incorrect to call Christians into account for sin due to a very lopsided view of the grace of the cross. Please note: I am not speaking of those in the process of coming to Christ, but those who claim to be Christians and desire good standing within a congregation, or a ministry.

The grace of the cross is simply not available aside from truth. The apostle John tells us that not merely mercy was realized through the cross but ‘grace AND truth were realized through Jesus’. (John 1.17) Psalm 85.10 tells us “loving kindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” This is a prophetic picture of the grace of Christ. To claim forgiveness, as in one’s sins being washed away without truth (repentance) renders transformation an impossibility.

Should we have compassion for victims of sexual and substance addiction? Totally! But Biblical compassion is far more than feeling sympathy for the victim. It is to be moved by God in such a way that we lovingly call the victim into a sense of responsibility for their choices and assist them in reaching out to the power of God’s compassion. It must be stated, however, that God will not violate one’s free will. One must make the decision to reach out to God and trust in His power to change. That power through the Word and in the Holy Spirit cannot be experienced aside from repentance. We must take repentance out of the dusty church closet of shame and condemnation and view it as a great gift that God has given us to move towards wholeness & holiness.

Pseudo Restoration

Due to the onslaught of adultery taking place among church leaders today there has arisen a common scenario of what I call ‘pseudo restoration’. Pseudo restoration is a less than a real healing process that in many ways is simply waiting until the dust settles and then reinstating the still fallen leader back into their ministry position. Pseudo restoration has more to do with spinning the message than it does true accountability of the messenger.

Just because an individual takes a short break from ministry does not necessarily mean the root issues have been dealt with! It takes real time to realize God’s convicting truth in one’s innermost being. Merely feeling sorry for being caught and the damage one may have caused by one’s sins is less than knowing truth on a deep, deep level.

Partially the syndrome of quick fix restoration is due to the church not always grasping the importance of Christ like character being the foundation for one’s ministry. But, mainly, it is due to unsanctified compassion. We say ‘look at the high calling’ and ‘well, there under so much stress due to ministry’. Both are an affront to God. How can one claim to be a servant of Jesus and refuse to honor the ways of Jesus? Jesus after all stated that if we truly love Him we will obey His commandments- the Word of God!

True restoration takes time.

As stated it takes time to allow God’s truth to filter past layers of guilt, shame, and bring about deep down change at the root level. It takes time to rebuild equity and trust between a leader and his/her followers and supporters. It takes time to close the doors to condemnation so that the enemy can no longer manipulate one through the memories of sin. It takes time simply to rebuild trust in one’s own self towards one’s own will. When we see patterns over several years of sexual sin, or financial impropriety, or substance abuse some of the blame lies at the church which places greater value on that stumbling leader’s ministry than on the leader as a person in need of true, not false, compassion.

“If the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do?”

(Psalm 11.3) Edmond Burke is credited to have written “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” I believe that God is calling church leaders today to rise up and begin to champion grace based holiness. Grace based holiness is teaching the truth in love, without condemnation!  While the foundation of Christianity can never be destroyed we can quench the Holy Spirit to the degree that we render the church impotent in moving in the fullness of the grace and power He has for us. He is after all ‘the Holy Spirit’. I believe that God is calling the contemporary church to essentially four responses in regards to the plague of misperceived grace, which is afflicting many ministries and congregations.

1)   Pray for a revelation of God’s heart and power to walk, model, and champion grace based holiness especially for leaders. Let’s cry out for a revelation that would cause us to echo the cry heard around  God’s throne- ‘holy, holy, holy’. Isaiah 6.3 & Revelation 4.8

2)   Begin to boldly, yet, with love & humility, educate and encourage the church in what the Bible has to say regarding healthy behavior to the point of hating sin! It is possible to hate sin, and yet love sinners- after all Jesus did it.

3)   Become intentional about taking to heart Paul’s admonishment to “not grieve” (offend) the Holy Spirit- the very presence of God in our lives and midst! After all we no longer belong to ourselves. He is the one who is in us to do His will & good pleasure.

4)   When serious sins do emerge in the life of a leader, let’s learn to value them as a person, more than their ministry. Let’s take the time to deal with the source of the issues rather than simply putting on the band-aid of ‘time out’.

Marc A. Dupont

Mantle of Praise Ministries, Inc.

November 2010

I have had the opportunity of being involved with prophetic and apostolic ministry
and ministries internationally for close to 3 decades. I count myself the richer
and wiser for this privilege of rubbing shoulders with many men and women who
God has spoken through to the body of Christ in wonderful ways with wonderful
messages of encouragement and exhortation.

Unfortunately, over the last decade, or so, I have also seen the current prophetic
movement both become more extreme and, more extremely irrelevant to
true Biblical Kingdom purposes. I believe there are three specific harmful
phenomena that have emerged which are much in evidence today. They are:

1. A Phenomenal focus on self promotion
2. A Phenomenal lack of self accountability
3. A Phenomenal emphasis on phenomena, to the cost of de-emphasizing
the Lord Jesus

Dangerous Territory

For the sake of not unduly loosing anyone too quickly, allow me to discuss the
last point first. I have absolutely no problems with Holy Spirit caused, or induced,
manifestations. Whether it is Holy Spirit induced laughter, weeping, shaking, or
such things as gold dust appearing, or even gold teeth. My concern is rooted in
the hunger for these things as opposed to hungering and thirsting for the person
of God and His righteousness. As my friend Loren Sandford has written “In the
church today there is a trend toward seeking ways and means to generate these
experiences by our own initiative”

The danger of seeking after spiritual phenomena is really two fold: Firstly, it
ends up becoming a downward spiral of deemphasizing the Person and lordship
of Christ in one’s life and ministry. Secondly, it opens the door for demonic
deception in a huge way. The devil can, and will, appear as an angel of light
if that’s what you’re hungering for. My fear regarding this current hunger for
phenomena is summed up by the apostle Paul’s words found in 2 Corinthians
11.3: “I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds
will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”

Ministries which continually emphasize extreme phenomena and revelation do so
to their own, and others, destruction. There is absolutely nothing more extreme
than the love, the compassion, the power, and the majesty of God Himself.
The moment we begin to emphasize His gifts, or manifestations, more than He,
Himself, we are headed down the same track of those carnally obsessed lost
souls Paul spoke of in Romans. They chose to exchange the worship of creation
for the worship of the Creator!

Until we have truly grasped and realized the height, the width, the depth, and
the breadth of God’s love let’s not settle for focusing on anything less than
that. If, as we journey with God, He sovereignly causes phenomena to happen
and releases paradigm shaking revelation then let’s grow in our sense of
amazement and wonder of His goodness. But to digress from seeking Him and
allowing Him to lead us and guide us as He sees fit is a demonic digression.

What’s being built- the Kingdom of God, or the empires of man?

Earlier this year (I won’t say when, or where) I spoke at a conference with two
other speakers. One of the speakers took one of the night sessions and spoke 3
hours and mentioned the Lord Jesus twice in passing. The Bible was never once
referred to. His whole message, and his whole ministry I suspect, is all about…
his ministry. God wants to heal us of all woundedness, but there is such a thing
as a Godly brokenness which David sang about in Psalm 51.16 & 17: “You do
not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt
offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, You will not despise”. This ‘godly brokenness of David’s is evident in his
prayer in Psalm 27: “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall 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 meditate in His temple.”

Jesus’ whole ministry on earth was to restore people to a vital relationship with
the Father. (John 17.3). His protein, what nourished Him, was to do the will of
the Father. He was so fixated on pleasing the Father He walked away when
the crowd wanted to crown Him- it simply wasn’t the Father’s time. Too many
ministries today, however, run to any opportunity at all of being crowned before
men.

Speaking for myself, I love to tell testimonies of God healing, delivering, and
revealing Himself to people. And I thoroughly enjoy the privilege of being able
to be part of the process. But there is a huge difference between telling stories
in such a way that glorify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as opposed
to glorifying me, myself, and I. Much of the self-promotion being done today on
websites, book covers, and presentations is at the very least self aggrandizement
and at worst demonic in that it, again, deemphasizes the wonder of Jesus. And
what seems to be a bigger problem is the willingness of many Charismatics
to chase after ministries that are preoccupied with themselves. After nearly
sixty years of the countless moral failings of supposed giants of faith with midget sized
character the Charismatic and Pentecostal church is still hungering for the next
hero. This speaks volumes of our lack of discernment due to a lack of experience
with the real thing- Jesus. At the very least let’s take hold of Paul’s wisdom
regarding reputation; “For it is not he who commends himself that is approved,
but he whom the Lord commends.” (2 Cor. 10.18) Let’s live and breath for the
commendation that comes from God. That commendation is often far from the
conference crowd.

Does Truth Matter?

Two presidencies ago (in the U.S) the president was caught in a very public lie
regarding martial infidelity. At one point while being questioned he responded to
a particular question with the question: “what does ‘is’ mean?”. Essentially, with
one swell swoop, the truthful meaning of words was, to a large degree, thrown
out the window. And while politicians have always been politic to the point of
saying the right things to the right crowd, in today’s arena of public speaking,
whether political, or otherwise, truth is now largely seen as negotiable. In a
demonic Machiavellian manner the end justifies whatever means are utilized.

This almost absolute disregard for truth has, in turn, infected some contemporary
prophetic ministries. When I say prophetic ministry I am more speaking of the
ministry of prophets as opposed to the ministry of prophetically gifted people in
the local church. These are two very different ministries with two widely differing
spheres of influence.

The first red flags I began to notice were back in 1998 and 1999. At that time
it was quite fashionable, albeit, unanoited, to prophetically jump on the Y2K
bandwagon. A lot of the ‘whose who’ in the prophetic arena prophesied that
global economic destruction was going to take place as we entered the new
millennium due to the computers not being able to handle the digital change.
While I have certainly made my share of prophetic mistakes I heard the Lord say
quite clearly that not only was the Y2K catastrophe not going to happen, but the
false prophecies were actually going to derail many churches which were quite
focused on prayer and outreach to their communities. To a certain degree this
did happen. Many, many churches began to focus on the supposed inspired
message to buy generators, store up food, water, and supplies and get ready.
Well, the catastrophe never happened. And a lot of the church members who
were part of those ‘get ready for the worst’ scenarios ended us very disillusioned
with prophetic ministry. I saw first hand how the number of churches in North
America, Europe, and the UK who were beginning to grow substantially in
intimacy with God and seeking to know His voice began to view prophecy today
with real skepticism.

As bad as all of that was, that in and of itself, was not the worst part of the
problem. The big problem was the lack of accountability. Very few, indeed, of
the big voices who had given the false words ever came back in a public way
and said “sorry”. For the most part no one is expecting prophets to be perfectly
accurate. The weight of New Covenant priesthood is for  the hearer of
a word to correctly weigh the word and see if it bears witness with his or her
own discernment from the Holy Spirit, as well as ascertain the Biblicality of it.

But to the level that God grants visibility
accountability must be in evidence, or else the whole of the ministry comes into
disrepute.

A friend of mine who pastors an influential church on the East Coast confronted
one of the loudest voices of the Y2K message. When he asked for a mere public
acknowledgement of being wrong that prophet responded “oh no, because we
prophesied the warning the church prayed and the problem never happened”!
The problem with her justification, how ever, was it was simply dead wrong.
The prophecy had not been “if My people pray”. It had been “this will absolutely
happen and God will use the chaos to birth revival”. Now 10 years down the
road many so called prophetic ministries used this sort of ‘open ended’ theology
as a loop hole for false prophecies. Any evidence of humility and authentic
accountability has been thrown by the wayside. The reality of this can be seen
in the 2008 U.S. presidential elections when so many prophetic ministries cooked
up wrong predictions as to who would win. And only a few of those I know of
who falsely predicted the outcome have publicly acknowledged their mistake.

In order for the body of Christ to take seriously a critically important God
given gift there must be accountability within the context of grace. Since many
prophetic ministers head up their own ministries the weight is doubly on them to
regard accountability as a context for the operation of the gift. Other wise the gift
of God speaking will continue to be devalued in the church at large and those
ministries will end up kings of ‘anointed entertainment’. There will be a degree
of revelation and power but it will not have the true kingdom fruit God desires.

If we are going to represent the truth of Jesus, in truth, then that begins with our
hearts and motives being focused and absorbed with the Truth, Himself. Let’s
take heed of the prayer from the ‘man who shook the world’: “Now to Him who is
able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the
power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

Marc A. Dupont
September 28, 2010

Pat Caudill March 20 at 11:05am

In 2001 on Super Bowl Sunday, I was in Phoenix, AZ on business. We lived in VA at the time. I was returning from a horseback riding trip when a car pulled off of a side road and we collided. I was going about 45mph when they pulled directly in front of me. The collision was unavoidable. I hit the car in a T-Bone fashion pushing it over 120ft, breaking a fire hydrant and totaling both vehicles. I was out of work for the better part of a year. I had not been the same since; I had pain in my back, leg and numbness in my right foot. There was honestly not a time when I was not uncomfortable or in some level of pain.

During a prayer team training session for the Dayton Campus Vineyard, which Marc Dupont was doing he had a word concerning God wanting to heal some one with a bad hip & back. I was prayed for, hands were laid on me and a healing occurred. There are days that I am stiff but NOTHING like it was. As a matter of fact, I dug my garden this year by shovel and by myself. Last time I paid someone to dig it for me because I was not capable.

God’s mercy and grace is not only sufficient, it’s unimaginable. This healing has initiated other healings, emotional healing and thought process healing. I am a full-time student. Today, I don’t have to contend with the negative thoughts planted in a child from a broken home; instead I study and I learn. According to my earthly family I was never supposed to be a good student or be successful, by the love, mercy and extravagance of my heavenly family, I’m on the Dean’s List. There were times that my back was geting sore after my initial healing and I would think, “I have been healed, I don’t need to be sore.”

Sometimes the soreness would go away and sometimes I would take a Motrin. Today for the first time in almost 10 years I do not take narcotics for back pain. No narcotics, no being bed bound, no canceling plans because it’s a “Bad Day”, just living without thinking about my back.

No longer does my physical body determine my spiritual mood. No longer does my back control my mind. So by claiming and owning and even defending the healing in my physical body God has blessed me with emotional and mental healing, all of which have immediate results in my daily life. I thank you Father, for your attention, affection, love, grace, mercy and justice.
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The first 9 Vision & Destiny Insights and accompanying prayer:

Every single human being has been created by God to know Him, love Him, and be loved by Him. In God’s extensive and extravagant love are His unique plans for each of us.  When we come to be cognizant of those plans we are experiencing His calling on our lives. When we begin to move into those plans we begin to experience destiny.

The following 9 insights and prayer are intended to be simple, yet powerfully effective, to help each of us journey towards the fulfillment God has for us. Please feel free at any point to pray the prayer. And feel free to pray your own personal version of it often. It is built around several of God’s great promises. As we communicate with Father God, we don’t use scripture as incantations but we do constantly use it as our platform, grid, and wisdom to know (and pray) God’s kind intentions for each of us.

1.    Vision & Destiny Insight #1: One of the greatest lies satan uses to hold people back is “as it has been, so it will be”. This lie can get ingrained into one’s thought patterns to the point where one’s identity and future is always determined by the past disappointments & failures. God has more for those who love Him than can even be imagined. (1 Cor. 2.9)

2.    Vision & Destiny Insight #2: God not only sees you in Christ, He sees you and calls you according to the calling (destiny) He has for you. In John 1 Jesus acknowledged Peter’s current name of Simon, (“reed like” and “shifting sands”). Jesus then said you shall be called “Peter” which means a rock. (Christ like, as Jesus is The Rock). God knows our current issues but always sees us according to His finished work!

3.    Vision & Destiny Insight #2, con’t. God sees you according to His calling(s) on your life. His vision of you, as you move towards His vision, makes room for the mistakes He knows you will make on the journey. Abraham & Peter made mistakes in not fully trusting God between the times they were called and the times of fulfillment. God’s vision for you is situated between His all knowing & His mercy/grace.

4.    Vision & Destiny Insight #3: God’s great plans for your life were established in His sovereign will before even one of your days began. (Psalm 139.16 & Jer. 1.5) Despite what seems like random & even bad circumstances in life He is working past & through all of that to bring you to a banqueting table- even if you are surrounded by enemies. Your job, like Enoch, is simply to walk with God! (Genesis 5.22)

5.    Vision & Destiny Insight #4: Your destiny in God is unique. God is never a paint-by-numbers artist. While He is always the same in whom He is, He rarely does the same thing, the same way twice. His destiny for you is as unique as your fingerprints, vocal chords, and eyes. The spirit of religion, which is fear based, breeds conformity. God, the creator of creativity, releases uniqueness out of love!

6.    Vision & Destiny Insight #5: Walking out your God given destiny is intended to be unique. Due to the mix of your primary motivational gift (Rom.12.6-8), your God given passions, and gifts (natural & supernatural) the odds are there is no one else exactly like you! And that is due to God fearfully & wonderfully creating YOU. Religiosity demands you blend in. God desires you to compliment the whole by you being you!

7.    Vision & Destiny Insight #6: For clarity’s sake, it could be said there is a difference between destiny & calling. Destiny is God’s will for your life. Calling is the recognition that you have experienced the leading/voice of God’s Spirit calling you into His primary will for you in life. The former is already given. The latter you need to experience and respond to. The first is true of every one, the second is only realized by those in Christ!

8.    Vision & Destiny Insight #7: Along the journey (of destiny) God will, from time to time, do miracles in your life. Because God purposely causes His destiny for you to be unreachable without His amazing grace He will, from time to time, allow you to be surrounded by impossibilities. He is merely setting you up for miracles as you learn to place dependence on Him, which in turn releases His miraculous grace

9.    Vision & Destiny Insight #8: As you grow (mature) in Christ you will find God’s destiny goals for you are not merely the ones He initiates. As you delight in Him (adapt your ways & goals to His) He expects you to have faith that He desires to bless your desires. (Psalm 37.3-7) Maturity involves trust, commitment (prayer & obedience), and last, but not least, resting in the truth that He desires to prosper you soul!

10. Vision & Destiny Insight #9: Keys to determining God’s goals for your life: 1) There will be accompanying faith, despite the challenges. 2) You will experience God’s peace. 3) It will call for miracles on God’s part for fulfillment. 4) There will be mature Christians who will help confirm it as time goes on. 5) It will provoke a growing passion within you. 6) You will feel over your head! 7) THERE WILL BE OPPOSITION!!!

Praying into your destiny (don’t forget to personalize it):

Father God, Father of all glory, and the God of my Lord Jesus, (Eph. 1.17) I trust you and thank you today for the amazing promises you have made me. Thank you for fearfully and wonderfully creating me in your image. (Psalm 139.13 & 14)). I ask that as you teach me of yourself and your ways you will lead me and guide me by your Holy Spirit (John 16.13)) into the fullness of your kind intentions for myself and my family. Thank you that your intentions are to give me a hope and a future not plans for destruction. (Jeremiah 29.11) And thank you for the ultimate gift of Jesus- that by His life and love and sacrifice on the cross I can know and live an abundant Holy Spirit filled life. (John 10.10) Thank you that these plans are filled with your amazing creativity. They completely exceed all that I can think, hear, or see. (1 Cor. 2.9) Thank you for your great grace for me to live life as Your Son (or daughter). (1 John 3.1) Thank you Father that as I enter into the destiny you have created for me I can reflect Jesus and your love to all I meet.

In the powerful Name of Jesus,

Amen.

Occasional miracles, or a miraculous Lifestyle?

Paul asked the rhetorical question of the Christians in Galatia; “does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” Paul’s question was to specifically call the church back to an emphasis on grace and intimacy with God and deemphasize their focus on the law- their performance. For the contemporary church (and contemporary leaders) we need to ask ourselves why Paul’s underlying presumption is not current for most of the church today, in the western world. Where are the miracles, which should be the norm rather than the exception?

I have witnessed first hand over almost 30 years of international ministry how many churches and ministries have grabbed hold of Paul’s teaching in Ephesians regarding the true purpose of the “ascension gifts”. They are not simply for performing ministry, but rather, for training and equipping the body of Christ as a family to move into mature, fruit bearing lives as each seeks to imitate Christ Jesus. This “releasing” of ministry to every day people has, indeed, brought about a wholesale increase of healings and, even, miracles, to many, many, churches. However, we are at a point where, I believe, God wants to take many into the next level of break through. And that is going from experiencing miracles occasionally to experiencing miracles as a lifestyle.

Duel citizenship in the land of the always possible!

Anyone who has truly surrendered his or her life to Christ Jesus while still in this world is no longer of it. They have been born into the Kingdom of God. In effect, we have dual citizenship. We have the legal rights of our home nation and, more importantly, we now have supernatural rights due to our citizenship in heaven.

With the Kingdom of God, the things that are often impossible for man are always possible for God. I like to say when the Kingdom of God is moving on earth ‘the realm of the always possible is invading the realm of the often impossible’. Hence Paul’s rhetorical question to the saints in Galatia.

If you are a follower of Christ, you actually began life with a miracle- you supernaturally entered into both the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus! (Romans 6.3) So as we seek first the Kingdom of God to manifest and spread on earth, as it is in heaven, there should be a consistent manifestation of God’s nature- compassion and grace, expressed supernaturally, i.e. miracles!

When discussing a Kingdom lifestyle, however, we must make sure we are not shortchanging miracles to only those of physical healings. A true miraculous Kingdom lifestyle is one in which we experience God multiplying resources (as Jesus did) and restoring lost relationships (as Jesus did). After all, the Kingdom of God is first and last about relationships- that is the only context in which Biblical love can be fully realized. And the Kingdom of God is about seeking to give, nor merely seeking to get. That is love in action.

To make some simple observations regarding miracles let’s observe a few simple facts regarding the feeding of the multitude, as related in Matthew 14.15-21:

1)     Jesus directed the disciples to miraculously provide for the hungry multitude (well over 5,000 counting women & children) even though they did not even have enough even for themselves.

2)    Jesus (always our model) took what they gave him and thanked the Father for it.

3)     He then instructed the disciples to have the people sit down. In other words to be in a place of rest.

4)     He then instructed the disciples to begin giving.

5)     No one went away hungry. In fact, they had 12 basketfuls left over.

A few simple observations:

1)    Right where you are at, no matter how absurd the need of the moment, there is the possibility of the ‘realm of always possible invading the realm of the often impossible’.

2)    Always give thanks for God’s provision, even (and especially) if it is by faith in what He will do to meet the need.

3)    Striving is the opposite of faith for grace, hence Paul’s rebuke of Galatians 3.5. It is important to live in God’s rest, even when there is turmoil all around you. Isaiah 30.15 reads: “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.”

4)    A true Kingdom lifestyle is one of seeking to give, not to get. God does not desire to take you from poverty to prosperity, but rather, from poverty to generosity. (2^nd Corinthians 9.6-11) *

5)    When you give out of God’s miraculous provision there will always be an incredible return to you.

The Key: What, or Whom, are you focused on?

The first generation out of Egypt certainly experienced miracle, signs and wonders. However, they failed to go from their initial experiences of God’s supernatural grace to a miraculous lifestyle because their eyes were focused on the natural problems, as opposed to their supernatural Father. When the spies came back with the report of the fierce and giant enemies they chose to focus more on the enemy than on the person of God. In contrast, Jesus, when taking the 5 loaves and 2 fish from the disciples then lifted His eyes to the Father and gave thanks rather than focus on the seemingly inadequate resources and the hungry multitude.

God is calling many of us to learn to stop focusing on the giants of famine, recession, and being seemingly underfinanced for the vision He has given called us to. When Peter asked Jesus if he could do what Jesus was doing- walk in the miraculous (walk on water), Jesus said, “Come”. When, and where, Peter got in trouble was when he took his eyes off of Jesus and focused on the size of the waves and the increase of the wind. If you are floundering at this point due to stepping out into the miraculous be encouraged. God will get you back into the boat to complete the journey. His heart, as it was towards Peter, is to give you the desires of your heart, as you adapt yourself to Him and His will for your life. Our job is to keep our eyes on Him as He leads us in a way we have never gone before!

A Final note: God is all about relationship

A final encouragement I would like to leave you with concerns trusting in relationship. While God often releases the supernatural directly by His Holy Spirit, much of the time the Holy Spirit utilizes others in Christ (the body of Christ) to release His amazing grace. This is a lesson I have been dramatically relearning the last few months. In facing some of the giants I am being confronted with God has been doing amazing miracles in many different areas. How ever, He has been doing them as I have reached out to others I am in relationship with. Let us remember: Jesus never said wherever two, or more, are gathered I will be “on him, or her” but rather I will be “in their midst”!

Marc A. Dupont

June 30, 2010

* I highly recommend Terry Appel’s excellent book “The Father’s Financial Favor”.

Being fruitful is high up on God’s priorities for our lives. In fact, the first words we read of God speaking to humanity is the directive to be fruitful. Jesus stated in the gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 8, that it was by bearing much kingdom fruit that we proved to be His disciples, which in turn would glorify God, the Father! This blog, and the next several will be focused on fruit, fruit tree’s, and bearing supernatural fruit. By supernatural fruit I mean fruit we cannot achieve on our own and fruit which brings life and blessing to ourselves and others. It is fruitfulness that can only come about by living a Holy Spirit filled life!

A fruit tree, as with all of plant life begins with a seed. The Bible, and, in deed, life itself has a lot to say about seeds being planted. Jesus spoke the parable of the “sower” in Matthew 13 to communicate the importance of seed being planted in good soil. The soil that God plants seeds of vision and calling into, as well as the salvation message itself, is our hearts. It is out of the heart that we have ‘ears to hear’ and ‘eyes to see’ what the Holy Spirit is desiring to plant that may grow into something way beyond what we can understand, or envision, on our own. As with the young woman, Mary, who had never had a physical relationship with a man, God can impart something to us by the Holy Spirit that gives birth to things way beyond our natural comprehension. The key was Mary’s incredible response to the angel Gabriel- “let it be done, according to your word”.

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Who’s on the throne of the local Church- the princes of profit, or the prophetic Serving King?

For more than the first half of the last century the overwhelming challenge for the church came from those Bible and Seminary teachers who championed a liberal perspective of the Scriptures. Truths such as the virgin birth of Christ and the infallibility of the Scriptures were not only questioned but often times derided and rejected as foolish by the very people who should have been championing God’s supernatural power interacting with our natural limitations. That battle has largely been won by those who believe the Bible as being completely true and completely inspired by the word of God. It is interesting that certain groups such as some Anglicans in the UK and some Episcopalians in the US who have theologically embraced liberal moral standards due to a liberal interpretation of the Scriptures have themselves been recently derided and rejected by their African counterparts within their respective denominations.

This battle is well addressed by Pastor Mark Hoffman in his book “On Earth, as it is in Heaven”. One particular chapter is aptly titled “the battle for the soul of the church”. In the final section for Pastors and leaders Mark concludes with the argument that the huge battle we currently face is the tension between churches and leaders who are Kingdom led and inspired versus those who are church growth led and inspired. The former group places a much higher priority and dependency on prayer, worship, and God’s voice, and power where as the latter group is more focused on prevailing methodology based on what ‘seems to be working’ in today’s culture. No matter how learned we may be it seems that each leader needs a personal revelation that they cannot face today’s giants while wearing another king’s armor.

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