Month: August 2018

I was working with some people yesterday, and mention was made of the throneroom.
This morning, as I was devicing out receptacles, I was stirring an idea.
Here goes.
Why do I as a believer have to pick between being where my conception of His Throne Room and not there?
Here is my thought. His Throne Room is comprised of heaven, where his throne is, the portion where His butt rests. assuming He has a butt, and earth, which is His footstool.
We are capable of being always in the vicinity of His Throne Room.
Psalm 110
Ezekiel 1
Revelation 4
Isaiah 6
Ephesians 2:6
Everywhere earth is, some part of Father’s throne is.
I don’t necessarily think I have to depart from His Throne Room.
And if He deigns to dwell wherever and whenever I worship Him, not just in song, then His Throne is present in that moment.
In my prayers, my presence, my gifts, and my service.
In my bridal identity and in my sonship.
Now unto Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you faultless before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy , to the only wise G-d, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever.

Portion of an old testimony:
Read at your own risk.
I have those days where I think that I may be a Mercy. Which means the three-legged octopi are out (pardon the inside joke)
Let me explain.
During one of my stints teaching, a group of my students were feeling a specific urge to spend time worshipping the L-rd. And I knew that He simply wanted to meet and commune with us. Period. No agenda. No info session. No prophetic word. Just meet.
So, I had taken them into the chapel with the express purpose of spending some extended time in the L-rd’s presence.
However, word had spread to two other classes and they decided to join us, which I was fine with.
The issue is that after about 5 minutes of worshipping, the two teachers asked me what the purpose of the gathering was.
“Purpose…?”
“Yes, every time we meet there is a purpose for meeting.”
Sure. We are just meeting with the L-rd.”
“But what is the reason you are meeting?
I was tongue-tied. I was fairly certain I had just communicated our purpose: to simply meet and dwell and be.
These two teachers then decided that we needed to gather I to a circle and discern what the L-rd was saying, at which point I verbally checked out.
This action of theirs had quenched the L-rd’s presence, when all He wanted to do was be with us.
It really drives me up a damned wall when people assume there is an agenda when we are meeting with the L-rd, and when they find there is none, they have to manufacture one or else find some reason to start speaking prophetically when the L-rd intended nothing of the sort.
It is also infuriating when the L-rd attempts to move one way, and we sideline that because we have all of this info that says G-d is somewhere He is not.
Needless to day, that was a day when I converted some of my design because it got sidelined to make room for the obsession with the prophetic gotta-have-a-word, gotta-have-a-purpose.
Gang, we gotta sometimes not have an agenda or a point.
Deal with it.
And Mercies, for the record, I get you more than you know.

If these fires out west are not the result of Californians walking in massive non-reality on many levels.
I realize the massive unpopularity of such a statement, but I don’t get paid to make statements that accord with the majority of what the body is saying.
And I regularly find myself in a differing point-of-view to most people within the so-called prophetic segment of the church.
I recall the stem-cell bond that was voted in and the massive ecological disasters that followed.
And I wonder, if instead of praying for rain, we shouldn’t be praying for repentance.
What specifically is the Spirit saying?
Curious.
Revival will not solve this problem, gang.
Walking in principles will.
I don’t think the issue will be fixed by the band-aid of rain.
The problem lies deeper than that.
And the church in California has run in severe non-reality on many levels simulaneously.
The job here is to get Father’s mind and Father’s sequence rather than react to what we merely see and hastily pray to escape from something that may be part of Father’s larger plan for Northern California.
Just some thoughts here.
What say y’all?

Fr. Darryl Fitzwater is a dear friend and former Pentecostal preacher.
I assume as much guilt and responsibility as the L-rd will assign to me for his taking the Canerbury Road and leaving the Pentecostal movement for the Anglican Communion.
Below, this dear man shares some thoughts on his transformation and what he sees as a concern we have in our revival-obssessed church culture.

One of my favorite preachers has always been Leonard Ravenhill. Ravenhill, who lived from 1907 – 1994, was a Revivalist. For a long time, since my freshman year of college, he was my bread and butter. Listening to his sermons, reading his books, etc. was like fire in the bones, fresh water in dry land, and vision in the dark. My soul resonated with his cry “Where are the Elijah’s of God?!” and “Known in Hell.”
It was Ravenhill who taught me a passion for Wesley, Whitfield, and Asbury. Should be no surprise, the man was an Englishman! When I ventured into more personal Wesleyan studies at college – tucked away in the basement of Central Bible College’s library – I stumbled across Wesley’s journals and sermons. I found, like Gandalf in the scroll room of Minas Tirith, Wesley’s daily devotional use of the Church Fathers and his near daily attendance to Eucharist, while field preaching Christ to coal miners or heralding from the gravestone of father the glory of God. Wesley! Revival, awakening, discipleship, church starting, preaching, sending out preachers, and… he was a priest and lauded the Anglican liturgy.
I thought it was interesting as a Pentecostal minister, and then continued on with what I knew as a Pastor, with Ravenhill and with a smattering of Church history… still thinking the seasoning was the whole meal. What I didn’t realize was that revivalism is akin to what Kierkegaard said about his philosophy – it is like “salt and pepper.” It’s not enough for the whole world-view, for the whole understanding of the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” But you still need it.
Revival is not enough to create an entire systematic theology. In truth, revival implies and necessitates that there has been some divinely established point that has been neglected, rejected, or supplanted. We need Revival, and Revivalist prophets, but we cannot consider the salt and pepper the whole meal. Reflect on Peter’s comments about “times of refreshing” (Acts 3).
Revival, but reviving what? Having the life in the Spirit, but missing the historical depth of the living-memory (Tradition) of the Church as both eternal and present (anamnesis/epiclesis/prolepsis). Experiencing the sacramental life of the Church, but not fully embodying it since it couldn’t be articulated. The Church Fathers aren’t just dead guys, no, they are those who “being dead, yet speaketh” (Heb 11:4 KJV). Historical, doctrinal, and practical continuity with the redemptive acts of God in history are not just reference points to help us feel good, they are definitive acts that reveal His character and judgement. The Church is not an abstract, she is the Bride of Christ. And He is jealous.
That is revival my friends, when the jealousy of Christ burns in your souls and you join in the heavenly intercession of Christ for His Church – that she would burn with zeal again for Christ’s Name, she would care for the poor and the orphan, she would educate her children, and be the soul to the nations of the world.
Revival means the should-be-hot meal has gotten cold and needs to be warmed again. Revival is the fire in the fireplace, not the fireplace. You need both – maybe you need a fireplace, or maybe you need a fire, or maybe you need both. Today is the day, set to work and get burning.

Fires need a fireplace to consistently be harnessed of their power and intensity in order to channel it to good use.
May we be ever-guilty of having both fire, a place to put it, and a purpose for igniting it (Leviticus 6:12).