FIRST CLASS CHRISTIANS
By, Paulette Reed
Step On Up
A few weeks ago I was standing in a line of homo sapiens at an airport, preparing for a flight to Canada. All of a sudden the check-in agent pointed to me and said, “Ma’am, are you ready for first class?” I was surprised and said, “Oh, I didn’t realize I had stepped into the first class line, but yes… yes, I believe I am ready for first class.” We both smiled and I told the agent that I was close to having enough air miles for “elite” status, but was not quite there yet. She motioned with her hand and said, “It’s okay, step on up!”
Don’t miss this prophetic moment, friends. The Lord is calling His body to step on up. When we truly know our identity in Christ, and have humbled ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will exalt us at the proper time to move into a first class position. It’s from this position that we live and operate as kings and priests to our God, reigning upon the earth (Revelation 5:10). It’s time to believe we are the head and not the tail, above and not beneath…citizens of heaven.
Several months ago I began pressing in for the “evidence” of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). I wanted to see the unseen manifested on earth as it is in heaven. I wanted to glorify the Father as others saw that God did it, God did it! The Lord has responded to my contending faith and His blessings have been overtaking me. I’ve been gifted with Lasik surgery, beautiful clothing, fine quality jewelry, financial blessings and much more. I am overwhelmed by the goodness of God, by His love, by His faithfulness. This flooding of His love reminds me of the great need for a deep work in each of us, from the inside out. We must continuously reach for the character of Christ and stay grounded (Ephesians 3:17) in bad times and in good. The showers of blessings are surreal and bring me to my knees. Oh, how I desire to decrease so He can increase. After years of learning how to get along with humble means, I want to be like the apostle Paul who “learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” I want to shout from the rooftops, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13).
I prophesy to many of you now, “You, are about to be chased down by the blessings of God.” Why? Because you have been faithful in the small things, so He is about to give you much. You have proven to be good stewards, and the Lord wants to bless you so you can be a blessing – giving to the orphans and widows, raising the poor from the dust, and lifting the needy from the ash heap.
Faith, Blessings, Curses
Luke 18:8 asks the question, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Recently, many Christians have shared with me how their faith is being stretched further than ever before. Well, that surely can be difficult, but the good news is – stretching strengthens. It strengthens our spiritual muscles to a new degree and increases our measure of faith. Come on, you can do it! One, two, three…one, two, three…build those muscles so you can administer Kingdom power and authority and function as the King’s ambassador. Keep going, keep marching, keep stretching. The Lord is preparing His people for the greatest move of God this planet has ever seen. We are overcomers and as we head toward the Promised Land, the Lord wants to move us from having “not enough,” to “just enough,” to “more than enough”!
Now, we know that remaining faithful to our Lord and Master seems relatively easy when life is going smoothly. Right! But how about when life gets tough – really tough! How’s our faith when darkness is covering the earth about us, and deep darkness the peoples? Does our faith shine in the midst of gross darkness? (Isaiah 60) I believe it can, it should, and it must, so nations come to the light.
Deuteronomy chapters 27 and 28 speak of obedience and disobedience, blessings and curses. In these passages we learn that Mts. Ebal and Gerizim stood over against each other, and on their sides the peoples were placed, half upon one and half upon the other, while in the vale which separates the mountains stood the ark, with the Levites. Those who stood on Gerizim responded to the blessings, those on Mt. Ebal to the cursings. We might ask ourselves today, “Which line are we in?”
Let’s read a portion of Deuteronomy 28, since faith comes by hearing. It says:
“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:
Your towns and your fields will be blessed.
Your children and your crops will be blessed.
The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed.
Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed.
Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.
The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!
The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you.
The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them. ?Deuteronomy 28:1-11 NLT
There we have it. Are we obeying the commands of the Lord so we can experience His blessings? How about when others think or say we’re wrong, we’re mistaken, we’ve “missed it”? Do we remain faithful by listening, obeying and following our Shepherd? As stewards of everything and owners of nothing are we ready to lend to the nations?
A Word from Our “Sponsor”
Recently I awoke at dawn singing, “How Great Is Our God.” Next, Holy Spirit spoke to my heart saying, “The Kingdom has everything you need, and you need everything the Kingdom has.” Wow! What a great word from our “Sponsor.” Of course we have this head knowledge about the Kingdom of God, and we pray the Lord’s Prayer, saying, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth...” But, it is not rhema until it is rhema. Praise the Lord! THE KINGDOM HAS EVERYTHING YOU NEED, AND YOU NEED EVERYTHING THE KINGDOM HAS!
All in all, that was a busy morning. While I was still beholding the glory of the Lord, having awakened in worship and rejoicing about the rhema word, I remembered I had just prophesied to a very large group of people in a dream, while I was sleeping. Or was it a dream? “Whether [I was] in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows–” (2 Corinthians 12:3 ESV). Either way, I recalled the words of the prophecy – I wrote down the word of the Lord in order to honor the word of the Lord and share it with my brothers and sisters.
And the Lord would say:
Go back; go back and look again,
Do you see a cloud, the size of a man’s hand?
Go back I say and look, my friends,
For rain that’s coming, and never ends,
Did I not say go seven times?
Up the holy mountain you must climb
Did I not promise latter rain?
Oh, I would never waste your pain
The whole earth groans, the birthing’s long
But in your heart, there is a song
It’s for the King, it’s for your Groom,
Look up, look up … He’s coming soon
Listen now, beloved Bride,
Heaven’s windows are opening wide
For those who brought Me offerings and tithes
I am about to create a landslide
Blessings will flow from the top of the mountain
Down to my people, flow like a fountain
For I am about to rebuke the devourer
Run my people into My strong tower
There’s a place of immunity,
A place that’s safe
There’s a shield of favor and abundant grace
It’s always been there, waiting for you
Now, walk in it, walk in it in all that you do
It’s for your assignments, the tasks of the Lord
There’s a mighty transference about to be poured.
Gifts for the Bride
As we, the bride of Christ, make ourselves ready (Revelation 19), it’s important to remember that in accordance with Hebrew customs we’re already engaged to our Heavenly Bridegroom. It’s so crucial to stay committed in our relationship with Jesus Christ. We do not want to forsake our First Love (see Revelation 2:4), for love without commitment isn’t really love at all. During our betrothal we must give the Lord our devotion, time, thoughts, attention and finances; for it is then that our Maker takes care of all other matters. We don’t have to seek after wealth as the world does. Instead, our Husband adds to our lives liberally.
Since Jehovah Jireh has promised to take care of us as we turn to Him with our whole hearts, He walks in covenant with us. Therefore, the blessings/gifts He gives us and the blessings/gifts we give Him are not just about offerings or tithes…they are about covenant. As with an earthly marriage, all that He has is ours and all that we have is His. So, I believe the manifestations of blessings/gifts we’re seeing from the Bridegroom are so the world will see, and know, and ask, “How can I know this Jesus? How can I know the covenant of redemption?”
The prophecy I received in the nighttime hours speaks of the windows of heaven being opened. How exciting! We may want to ask ourselves: When our windows are opened, will there be anything to pour down on us? Is our storehouse full so we can reap what we’ve sown? Malachi 3:8-12 teaches this profound truth very clearly as the Lord speaks of breaking covenant by withholding tithes. It says, “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts. “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.
I believe we’re entering a season of abundance as the King holds out His scepter to His queen. I believe the Bridegroom is giving extravagant natural and supernatural gifts to His bride. Oh, how beautifully our very own royal wedding is described in Psalm 45, where Jesus is standing before His throne with a scepter that rules…a scepter of justice. How wonderful are His garments with the aroma of myrrh and aloes. We see our King dressed in His military regalia as His sword glitters on His thigh. He reigns in power and peace. His Kingdom is secured, as He has conquered His foes. All of His acts of mercy and grace, and every battle, have been for His beautiful bride. Oh, how He loves us. Step on up, beloved, step up!
The Conclusion When All Has Been Heard
One morning while on my glory walk I was seeking the Lord for the conclusion of this message, and I whispered, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
A moment later, a gentleman walked out of his home with a beautiful, vividly colored parrot on his arm (parrots can denote the revelation of secrets). We exchanged smiles and he said, “Look who decided to break out of the house!” I responded with, “Oh my gosh, he’s so obedient!” Now, this bird could have flown out into the vastness at any given moment…but he remained on his master’s arm, going only where the master went.
Alleluia! It’s time to break out. It’s time to step on up and come out of the “house” into the streets. It’s time to take authority over the nations with the scepter of justice. No more self-abasement, no more thinking, “Oh dear, I must have stepped into the wrong line.” You can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens you.
I’m telling you, abundance is coming to First Class Christians, an abundance of favor and blessing (Psalm 5:12). Not favor for us to keep, but favor to fulfill the assignments of the Lord. We see this throughout history when Noah found favor/grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:1-8) and Ruth found favor with Boaz, foreshadowing our relationship with Christ (Ruth 2:1-13), as well as many others. Favor and blessing are coming, beloved, so we can be dressed in fine linens, fulfilling the righteous acts of the saints. Step on up!
Epilogue: Upon completion of this message from the Lord, some brand new friends in the body of Christ, a precious couple from afar, gifted me an exquisite Lexus. A dream, a promise fulfilled…a miracle! TO GOD BE THE GLORY, GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!
Suggested Resource: A Powerful Force
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Paulette is a powerful preacher, prophetic minister, encourager, and author. Her passion is to share the love of Christ and unite people to the inexplicable love of our Heavenly Father, exhorting them to arise and reach for their destiny. Paulette loves to see God’s people awakened and proclaim the active extension of the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. She ministers in the revival anointing accompanied by revelatory ministry, healing, miracles, signs and wonders.
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