by Joanne M. Bush | Jun 24, 2024 | Prayer |
PAGA = POP!
How many times have you made a statement of encouragement to someone who responded with the words, ‘I hope so’…?
How many times have you said those words, yourself, whether out loud or in your thoughts?
One of the single most powerful discovery I have ever made about prayer, declarations and intercession was found in the meaning of the word PAGA!
The following is an excerpt from my book, Prophetic Impact:
One of the Hebrew words for intercession is paga. Its basic meaning is to make an entrance to hit its mark. Every word that God speaks carries the power to move everything out of the way that would hinder that word. (Bush, Joanne M. (2014-03-13). Prophetic Impact: When Tomorrow Becomes Today (Kindle Locations 1942-1945). Xulon Press. Kindle Edition.)
This understanding opens up a whole new world in the concept of prayer…and especially concerning intercession. When we embrace the fact that the very words that God has spoken carry with it the ability to move everything and anything out of its way to allow it to make its mark, we will see results quicker.
How does this happen? We must first see the results in the spirit realm with the understanding that God has done it. Then it will be easier to see it in the natural realm knowing that God is doing it.
Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. Jeremiah 1:12
Begin to see the power of God in His word, moving His word toward its mark! All we have to do is speak it with belief!
What puts the POP in Prayer? The Power of Paga!
by Joanne M. Bush | Jun 23, 2024 | Uncategorized |
LAW OR LIFE?
To tithe or not Is a moot point with me. Debating on how or when to give is a moot point with me. Whether it is the law or life is not debatable…it is a truth that is loaded with life.
I learned about tithing, first, from my father, who wrote out a check every Saturday evening, placing it in an envelope and leaving it on the counter in the kitchen to be picked up as the ten of us trailed out of the door to church.
I first learned about tithing as a biblical doctrine when I started going to a protestant church. I first heard about giving, though, from a young missionary who was trained by an old missionary to Live to Give…not Give to Live.
I have since learned much from the heart of Father and giving the way He gives.
Our benchmark is always His Son, Jesus, who leads us to Father’s House by showing us the way, the truth, and the life. We have mistaken this biblical truth for the way to heaven, but we have sorely missed the point of where Jesus, as a son, was taking His brethren.
The connection with the prosperity of Jesus seems to be found in His obedience. Father directed or asked…and once Jesus agreed, the fruitfulness of Father in that area was demonstrated. The only time that Jesus showed up to give and did not receive was when what He gave was rejected by those to whom He came to give. He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief.
He agreed to come into the earth as a man…He prospered with godly, covenant parents and a trail full of enough substance to take care of every need He and His parents may had and probably every thing they may have desired. We know He was not poor because His very clothes were a picture of His quality of life in the earth.
His parents told Him to come home at the age of twelve when He had a greater understanding of the knowledge of His assignment in the earth. The result was the prosperity of a solid healthy life filled with much wisdom.
His mother asked for a miracle when the wine ran out at the wedding. Jesus obeyed and water turned into wine.
Every place where Jesus said yes, fruit came forth. He not only had wise men give at His birth, but wise women continued to give of their substance as He traveled. These were not women who struggled financially, for the supply was enough to require a treasurer.
When Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, he was not interested in the return of his giving as he was in the honor of his giving. The spirit in which he gave to the High Priest reached into the generation of Levi..and beyond.
I have discovered in my life that it is fruitful to honor what and who Father honors.
Somewhere, in the understanding of this principle, the thought of planting a seed only to receive the fruit fled from my thinking. It is scriptural to give with that thought in mind. I never require or demand others to interpret the ways of Father in the same light that I do. I do feel an obligation to live out of the revelations that He gives to me that produce truth. I never tested this principle to see if it worked. I just sort of saw it produce when my thoughts were far away from giving in order to receive.
I did not teach on tithing as a pastor more than maybe once or twice…and that was only in passing. Yet, I had a 98.9% tithing church. People would send their tithes and offerings through the mail when on vacation or if they had to be away from church for their jobs. There was never a sermon of guilt or condemnation if you were not giving enough. Opportunity was presented for the people to give. Those who did, gave…and those who did not, did not. As a result, our church ran on a cash basis without incurring debt.
There were times paying the rent on the building was a challenge, but never an impossibility. I promise you that I am not a financial genius. There are times I have had to rob Peter to pay Paul. I have dug into the couches for pennies to complete a fifty-cent roll. Over the years, though, Father has shown honor for honor in a stage of development that I did not realize until I was much older and was longer in the ministry.
The bottom line has been the motive behind the “yes.” When I agreed to obey Father in giving, it always came back to me, but usually in trickles and through a long time of waiting, hoping and praying. There were times I did without while waiting. I always trusted Him…and it always came…just never in the flood I thought should happen, based upon what others were teaching.
One day I went to the mailbox and found a check someone sent me for $15.00. I had not solicited the money. I was not prepared for the money because, even though I was a minister, I had been a lousy person that day and did not think I deserved anything more from Father. I sat in my car and wept when I saw that His giving to me had to do more with Him, than me.
by Joanne M. Bush | Jun 23, 2024 | Dreams/Visions |
Waiting for prophecies or dreams to come to pass.
I’m sitting here amazed at the amount of years that have swept by me. Numerous people over the years have asked me to interpret dreams and judge words given to them by some of God’s people. Many people have responded as if to say to me…you’ve missed it by more than a mile. Then they give me their interpretation…and I just smile.
Dreams, prophecies and other predictive phenomenal are not glued to one time period or even the same people.
When I was ten years old I saw the airplanes enter into the World Trade Center. The planes looked like toy planes and the dream started out fascinating…until explosions.
Now, when I was ten years old, The Trade Center had not yet been built. I did not realize at that age what a prophet was, prophecies or what to do about dreams. My parents did not understand and discouraged me from sharing such fantasies.
As I grew older I became more quiet. Then, I ran into some of God’s people who could sense my seeing knowledge and encouraged me, only to discover I was their commodity. Finally I grew into some level of maturity and began to figure some things out. I did not have the training that is available to many today. However, I did come across a precious spiritual father (Apostle Melvin L. Tisdale) who recognized what was happening with me. He was able to discern how Holy Spirit worked in me concerning times and dimensions. My mother always told me that I was ahead of my time…and when it caught up, I would just simply move further ahead. I did not understand that…however, Apostle Tisdale told me that I saw many years ahead of others, frustrating myself when things just did not happen as I saw them…or people did not believe me.
As I became more fluent in the scriptures, I came to a place of peace…as this is the way Holy Spirit talked most of the time. Jesus said things such as…”you do not understand now, but when it happens you will understand and/or remember.”
I am now looking at things before me having come to pass that I saw fifty years ago. Don’t discard dreams and interpretations that do not seem to fit what you thought. I had a dream about a precious woman of God…when I told her what it meant she did not seem too impressed. I now understand what I saw that she did not see. The people in my dream were not yet in her life at that time.
I had a strange dream not too many years ago, of being in the water as the pioneers were forging their way into America. I saw some of them die. I would swim over to try to help them. I encountered a creature I knew was a demon. It grabbed hold of me by my mouth and started dragging me away from those dying in the waters. When I woke up my mouth was bruised and hurting.
I asked the Lord what did this all mean. I had actually been thrust in the past to an incident that was now in our history books. He said that there were the seed of grandchildren, great grandchildren and more who would make it through. Babies born during that time whose parents eventually died, but they lived on are still among us somewhere today, fulfilling their destiny. It was a form of intercession rarely talked about among believers.
Sound strange? Imagine how I felt dreaming it and then hearing God’s explanation of what He was still doing and working in the midst of it. The assurance of what He was doing in our nation.
Never underestimate what God has already done. Several years ago, while in a dream of some kind I found myself in Israel. I was among a bunch of young people, teenagers. They were walking around in a maze of huge bricks while singing songs. The melody of the songs captivated me. For days I could hear those songs playing in my head…and surprisingly, in my heart. A couple of weeks later, a friend of mine invited me to a conference held in a nearby city. I went…and during the praise and worship the pastor introduced one of the worship leaders who had some original music to present to the congregation. She began to play and sing the songs I had heard while in Israel, a place I have never physically visited. I have thought about it since the current battles in Israel. The ones on that praise team are now so much older. However they were led into intercessory songs years before they were needed.
Take care how you judge a prophet or prophecy. Keep it before the Lord, and when not sure, do not act upon it. Holy Spirit will tell you how to pray about these type of things. I do not share everything I am shown, for He does not give me information to shout to the world. I have even learned that, even after some things come to pass, unless He gives me permission I do not say I saw that, dreamed that or prayed about that.
Holy Spirit wants to trust us with His mysteries. There are some things I am very cautious about. The lives and destinies of others are entrusted to us by Father…and I honor His trust.
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