Processing Reality

In the beginning, the mother of humanity, Eve, entertained a suggestion that changed everything. Compounding the beguilement she had yielded to, her husband Adam yielded to her reasoning and the suggestion she acted on, compounding the impact of the beguilement. It wasn’t like this couple didn’t know God or hear from Him with clarity. It was at the crux of this divine setup God had created for them …. and a matter of processing the reality of the subtle things.

These being the subtle things tied to the colliding dynamics of the spiritual and natural worlds, the dominion of which we, as people of God, bear the responsibility to harness.

So it has been over the ages. So it is before us …. not just the necessity and vital importance of hearing God, but in recognizing and avoiding the subtle and deceptive enticements that create distortions that bear on this grand, unfolding scheme of the merging of the natural and the spiritual realities of this world.

When manifesting more intensely, the impact of this colliding of the natural and spiritual worlds, across the ages and throughout scripture, has evolved into times of trouble; turbulent times wrought with change.

So the days are now before us. These are times for which the prophets have called for extremes in our vigilance of not just accurately reading the signs of the times, but in getting beyond the superficialities in consistently hearing from God and responding with discernment as we process the realities of our responsibilities. It is a call for growing up spiritually …. and sharpening our outlook.

Throughout the word of God are both examples reflecting and admonitions of keenly adhering to this principle of hearing and discerning from God as the basis of how we process reality. Never has there been a time of greater significance in being alert to the vigilance required to discern and avoid the subtleties of the distorted “suggestions” bearing on the unfolding realities around us.

So, it’s about carefully discerning the clamor of voices manifesting. It’s about getting the timing right. It’s about honing the clarity with which we seek and hear from the Lord.

Processing Reality and the Power of God in Community
Following the days of Moses were challenging times of adjustment and turbulence. Simultaneously, these were days of opportunity far beyond anything the household of faith had in any recent times seen. It was a new generation being led by Joshua. Joshua is the one, who as Moses’ protégé had been described as being addicted to God’s Presence (Exodus 33:11).

So it was when Joshua began leading the people of God into the promised land that two events complicit with these subtleties took place. Each represented hurdles in processing reality in the natural world in order to advance at the spiritual level.

The first began as a humiliating defeat against Ai due to Achan’s sin of what scripture describes as the thievery and deception of taking accursed things as his own. In so doing Achan had undermined the power and advantage the entire community had had against their enemies. When actuated by the community, the power of God can backfire from hidden deceit within the camp. Processing reality is serious business that cannot be combined with deceit or self-promotion. The consciousness of God’s presence requires purity on the part of those participating in its operation.

The second occurrence unveils another side of the same coin. It began with the deceit of the Gibeonites in their intent of avoiding being slaughtered and aligning themselves with the Israelites. In so doing, they made covenant with Israel, including converting and believing in the Lord. Yet, scripture reveals that in making this covenant that Joshua did not seek the Lord’s counsel. However, despite this gambit of deceit to establish this relationship …. the Gibeonites honored the covenant and became committed neighbors.

In doing so, they provoked the ire of their neighboring tribes who joined together to destroy them. And so they cried out to Joshua to come and save them. It led not only to the defeat of their war-mongering neighbors, but in one of the most spectacular demonstrations of the power of God, with the sun holding still in the sky according to the word voiced by Joshua.

In processing the reality of the plight of the Gibeonites’ quest to honor the Lord and establish covenant with the Israelites, we have the first instance of the establishment of what scripture refers to as “strangers in the land,” non-Jews who embrace the God of Israel and stand with His people. Until the days of Saul, this covenant with the Gibeonites was honored by Israel.

So, from the time of Eve, this dynamic of processing reality addresses the priority for God to be at the forefront when drawing the power of the spiritual world into the natural one.

The Word of God and Conflict
At the crux of this issue is the dynamic that the word of God will attract conflict. At the time of Jesus’ baptism, as He prepared for the onset of His ministry, the Father said: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” From that point, Jesus removed Himself from worldly surroundings and went to be alone for prayer in the wilderness. As that time alone culminated, the devil, not unlike his subtle suggestion to Eve, came to Jesus with: “IF You are the Son….” From God’s word of: “This is My beloved Son,” to “If You are the Son.”

So, the word of God …. that bridges the natural with the supernatural …. attracts conflict. This was explained more fully in Matthew 13. In describing the parable of the sower, Jesus said: “persecution and tribulation will arise …. because of the word.” He noted that it is the word that explains the mysteries of the Kingdom.

These mysteries are progressively being unveiled. Some, like the words Daniel was instructed to put aside until the time of the end, have significant timing issues. All of which bears on guarding our hearts, the soil from which the word takes root, grows and bears fruit. It demands consciously maintaining alertness and maintaining a close vigil in our connection with the Lord.

Never has there been a time in history when this truth …. the focus and means by which we process reality ….. the reality between the spiritual and natural developments unfolding around us …. been of greater significance. A reality that is distanced from the superficialities, deceptions and distractions.

Processing Reality and God’s Protection
Processing reality must incorporate reaching for and understanding God’s heart. Understanding God’s heart will unveil the priorities of what He may be “doing” at any given time. Following the misfires in the garden, God’s priorities took on a focus of the establishment of the nations. The establishment of the nations represents an important key to the priorities of His heart.

So it was, much later, at the onset of Joshua assuming Moses’ mantle, that the tangible task of establishing Israel as a nation was the process and priority. Even today, this key priority of His heart has evolved into the separation of the sheep nations from the goat nations …. those who, not unlike the Gibeonites in aligning themselves with Israel in the conflict …. as Israel faces their enemies, are willing to stand with Israel despite the threats of the alignment of their neighbors.

Establishing this priority in the processing of reality bears on understanding God’s protection of His covenant people. Aside from overt rebellion, this covenant Israel has with God is not conditional. Despite the inclination to point fingers, judgment …. especially when it deals with a people of God …. comes down to belonging to God alone. Not unlike the flaws represented in the inconsistencies found within the Church, so there have been and are flaws as Israel processes these realities and finds their place in this timely, unfolding pathway to their destiny.

Indeed, the Psalmist astutely observes: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” (Ps 2:1) Again, aside from when God’s people are in overt rebellion, historically He has been quick to intervene and defend His own. Yet God’s response to this question posed by David was and is: “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord will hold them in derision. THEN He will speak in His wrath and terrify them with His deep displeasure.” (Ps 2:4-5)

Processing Reality and the Focus
In processing reality in these turbulent times, the focus pivots on what God is doing. The admonition is DON’T BE DISTRACTED. KNOW that the distractions will be subtle. Subtle and alluring.

It’s interpreting reality through God’s eyes, sharpening the focus in discerning God’s priorities. Not unlike the days when modern-day Israel was miraculously birthed in 1948 and then almost 20 years later in 1967, Jerusalem was unexpectedly returned into Jewish hands, the Church has experienced supernatural waves of revival. There is a process and a consistent parallel underway between what the Spirit of the Lord is doing within the Church and what He is doing in Israel and the Jewish people. In each of these instances, it was unexpected and out-of-the-ordinary. Along with a dramatic God-response to the devastation threatening Israel.

So, with today’s rampant escalation of anti-Semitism and spurious increases of anti-Israel voices has come an awakening of Jews to the realities of their vital connection to the God of Israel. Similarly, in the face of these developments has been a growing commitment from across the globe of Jews making Aliyah and returning to the Land of their fathers. Within the Church has been an awakening of the household of faith to the hour …. and the importance of Israel and the Jewish roots to the faith; resulting in a growing solidarity of Christians to Israel and their commitment to pray for Israel and the Jewish people.

Processing Reality and the Birthing of the Mysteries
It comes back to the words of Jesus in the parable of the sower: “persecution and tribulation will arise …. because of the word.” THIS involves the word that explains the mysteries of the Kingdom, hidden for this hour ….. that will birth and release a dimension which that great cloud of witnesses in the book of Hebrews have been longing for.

So, processing reality for the mature in this hour entails a birthing. As a young man, the Patriarch Joseph received a strong word from the Lord. That word cost him. It triggered conflict so deep that his brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery. That word cost him his freedom. Yet Joseph didn’t deviate from living uprightly, faithfully embracing God’s mantle despite persecution and further backlash as a slave.
“Moreover He called for famine in the land. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet in fetters and laid him in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.” Psalm 105:16-19

The prophecies, the words of mystery from God that Joseph received as a young man were carried in his heart until the time that their birthing took place and Joseph was supernaturally taken from prison to reign alongside Pharaoh.

We probably have to go back to the days of Enoch and Noah to find a time when this dynamic tension between the natural and the spiritual worlds was as overt as it has been manifesting in recent days. And it is accelerating.

In gleaning wisdom concerning the unfolding mysteries, I need to share some foundational dimensions tied to my own journey. It begins by understanding that my connection with Vietnam has been palpable and extensive. From the mid- to late-sixties to the years between 2008 and now, I have spent over five years of my life in that nation.

My mid-sixties experience included being apart of a behind-the-lines parachute qualified Marine unit that penetrated deeply into enemy territory. I returned in the late sixties as a senior battalion advisor, one of two Americans in a 700 man Vietnamese Marine unit.

All this birthed a burden and mantle in my calling as a believer that later opened the doors to minister economic community development strategies to both the visible and underground church in Vietnam. In the process of this ministry to Vietnamese believers, I became acquainted with two men, each of whom had been high ranking officers in the North Vietnamese Army during the sixties and my own Marine Corps tenure in Vietnam. Independently, each had eventually become a committed believer …. and as former enemies, we fellowshipped together with great affection as brethren in the Lord.

My early encounters in combat, with the behind the lines unit, triggers two graphic representations of combat that unveil wisdom in processing reality for these times and insight at the gateways of the unfolding mysteries. One is the Marine description of a fire-fight when it seemed everything was coming against you with no discernable way out: that being a “s**t-storm.” The other was the safe-place used by special ops practitioners, such as we were, where we observed enemy activity-without being observed ourselves: a “harbor-site.”

There is no question that the intensity and static tied to the spiritual atmosphere most committed believers are encountering in this hour might aptly be described as a “s**t-storm.” The key thing in most instances when you hit a “s**t-storm” is the resoluteness and presence of mind …. AND action needed to reverse its impact.

It bears on the wisdom that we need to seek from the Lord in terms of the significance of our enemy engagements …. as distractions are one of the enemy’s chief strategies in this hour. It is the wisdom to overcome the “s**t-storm” …. and map out our access to a safe-place of observation …. a harbor-site ….. where we can monitor enemy activity without being observed ….. that we might better process the realities around us to glean beyond the subtleties of the distractions, as we discern the subtleties of the mysteries …. and gain strategic focus for the steps before us.

There are many things that can be done from a harbor-site …. that safe place where enemy activity is observed and discerned ….. ranging from air-support to communication of the enemy activity to the potential release of the capabilities of a much larger, friendly unit.

So it is and so it has been …. that many are called, but few are chosen. Even more so in such a time as this. Those to be chosen will be those whose preparation enables them to overcome the persecutions and tribulations …. by wisely processing reality ….. and not unlike the Patriarch Joseph to faithfully monitor and respond to developments that lead to the timely birthing of those unexpected God-responses to the enemy incursions that the Psalmist so presciently described: in reigning terror on the anti-God, anti-Israel alliances.
“Have you entered the treasury of snow or have you seen the storehouse of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? The LORD has opened His armory and has brought out the weapons of His indignation; for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts.” Job 38:22, 23, Jer 50:25

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Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner of the Joseph-calling and God’s economy message, being an international voice for the higher dimensions of spiritual game-changers and intercessors since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation, the Strategic Intercession Global Network [SIGN] and designer of the God’s Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program and the Jewish Business Secrets YouTube series, Mr. Ruddick’s messages equip leaders and economic community builders with strategy where God’s light is dim in diverse regions around the globe.

He is author of “The Joseph-Daniel Calling;” “Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;” “The Heart of a King;” “Something More;” “Righteous Power in a Corrupt World;” “Leadership by Anointing;” and “Mantle of Fire,” which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders with destinies to impact their communities. They are available in print and e-versions from www.Amazon.com, www.apple.com/ibooks and www.BarnesandNoble.com.

Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts mobilize economic community builders imparting influence and the blessings of God. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to 3838 South Wabash Street, Denver CO 80237 or by credit card at https://strategic-initiatives.org/donate/

Since early 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors and leaders committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For more information go to https://strategic-initiatives.org

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