Dear Friends, 

Our deepest thanks to the hundreds who joined us on our Corporate Intercession Call Sunday night. It was such a tender, yet powerful, message that the Lord released to Nita for His intercessors in this hour. Of all the messages that could have come forth the Sunday after Passover – the Lord sent us a message of hope for the intercessors. Hope, to remind them that God is not finished with, nor has He turned His back on, this Nation. Such a loving Father we have to provide exactly what we need, the moment we need it most. 

Passover is a time for us to see the fulfillment of His promises and to rejoice as our hope is restored. The Bible says: hope deferred makes the heart sick (Prov. 13:12). And the Lord knows that there are many sick (weary) hearts out there today and our Father, in His infinite mercy and goodness, sought to bring His healing balm to comfort our hearts and renew our hope in the promises of yesterday that we might be properly prepared to see them fulfilled tomorrow. 

  

I encourage you to listen to the message. You can hear the heart of God as conveyed through Nita. He desires to bring healing and comfort to the heart of His people– both the heart of the intercessor and the heart of the Church. Times are going to get difficult, we all know this and we must prepare. However, it’s just as important to remember that God will not leave nor forsake us, and He does not want us to give up or feel abandoned. It’s time to rise up and embrace the promises He’s giving us. The work we’ve done together is not in vain, for His promises are true and just and we will see the fulfillment of those promises for this Nation in the very near future. 

She will be sharing the second part of this message Sunday, April 19th, please plan to join us. 

Blessings & love,

Ricci

PS- please read a special note about our recent BackPack Kids assembly under the CedarWood Section in the column to the right. 

I was talking with a pastor a few years ago, and we were talking about ministry. I asked him a certain question which I am not going to repeat here, and I said, “So how do you feel about that?”

He said, “You know, I'm trying to learn how to be a good Christian.” I kind of chuckled. He said, “No, I really mean it. I've never realized like I have in this past year how much has to go if I'm going to be the kind of Christian God wants.”

Invite Him to reveal the secret and hidden things in you. Invite Him to show you the things that are hindering your faith, hindering your transition into transcendent glory, and hindering you from being able to become a Son of God manifest in the earth. Ask Him to show you the things that are hindering you from being able to bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ because you will not give it up. Challenge Him to show you these things, to give you the grace to see what you do not want to see, and the grace to go through the discipline and chiseling you must endure to have these rudiments removed. You are not going to be able to remove many of the great strongholds in the earth if you cannot rule your own city.

Earlier today, I asked the Lord, “What is it You want to say to these people?”

He said, “I am a consuming fire, and I want to consume them.”

I started crying because I want to be consumed by Christ, and I want you to want to be consumed by Him. But more than that, He wants it. He wants to set you ablaze like the finest torch for His glory. He wants you to let Him stretch your vision to know what life can be like in the flame of the torch of the Lord.

Are difficult times coming? Yes, indeed. Do you want His glory? Then I am sorry, but you have to want the difficult times. There must be preparation for such as what is coming. He must cleanse, purge, discipline, and purify what He is going to inhabit. When the difficulties start and things get a little rougher than you thought they were going to get, my dear friend, do not get discouraged. Do not lose faith, get upset, or move into anger. Do not do any of those things, but start praising Him because it means that the glory is nigh. He is preparing a world for Himself, but moreover, He is preparing you. You are, after all, His heart throb.

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, Your Church is hungry, and we know not for what. Your Church does not understand the glories, the beauties, and the supreme magnificence of Your person. The difficult times are already here, and they are going to get a bit worse, but we do not want to keep our focus on that. We do not want to look at those things when You really start shaking things. We want to keep our eyes on the prize of Your glory and Your Kingdom. Shake everything that can be shaken. Shake it all, Lord. Just give us You.

While You are shaking, Lord, reveal Your glory, Your splendor, Your beauty, Your majesty, and Your holiness. Reveal Yourself, Lord. Shake. Have freedom to shake, but set us ablaze with the fire of God like a torch. You are the All Consuming Fire. John the Baptist said that You would come, and You would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Mt 3:11) He said You would purge and cleanse the threshing floor. (Mt 3:12) You would create in Your people a temple of light.

Come, Lord Jesus, come. Do not allow us to stay in our apathy or in our human idiocies, but let us run with the vision, laying hold of the promise and not looking back. You will come for a glorious Church, Lord. (Eph 5:27) We have been saying it for years, but we do not understand the radiance of Your glory that is going to shine through Your Church in these last days. Give us a hunger that cannot be satisfied. Give us an understanding, a vision, and a new heart that thirsts for the things of heaven and of God.

Lord, set our hearts ablaze with the fire. Send the fire of glorious passion into our hearts, Lord. Send Your fire into our hearts until it hurts. Lord Jesus, give us a new heart with passion for the living God. Take this old heart, Lord, and transform it for Your glory. Let the anguish of soul take hold of our innermost being. We must be transformed. Let the fire go down deep into our soul, into the very pit of our innermost being. Let the anguish of heart go down into the pit of our soul as we weep, travail, cry, and wail for the transfiguration of the Church. We must have the fire of Your glory, Lord. We cannot go where we want to go, nor be what we want to be without the fire.

What does the song, “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” say? “With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.” Lord, it matters not what we must endure, but only that we have the prize in our hand. Through this transcendent, transforming fire and glory, we will bring You glory. We will learn to hate the lower man and love the higher. We will pick up our cross and come follow You. Thank You, Lord.
Prayer Ended!

The last several months have been very difficult, but I can promise you that I never complained. Elizabeth lives with me, and she can bear witness to that. I did not complain because I knew that for the suffering, there was a greater weight of glory. (2 Cor 4:17) I knew He would bring me out, and when I came forth, more of Him would be inside of me than has ever been before. How can you complain when you suffer when Paul says you cannot compare the suffering of this present moment with the glory that is soon to come? (Rom 8:18) Someone might say, “But why do you have to suffer to touch the glory?” You do not, but if you want to live in the glory, the flesh has to know the suffering of dying. The soul must identify with the death of our Lord for the resurrection glory. It is simply the way it is. So rejoice if you are suffering at this present moment. Remember who He is and what He is capable of doing.

If you set a log ablaze, soon the fire will sneak into the inside of the log and start burning from the inside out. If you look into the channel that has been created by the fire, and you see the inside of the log burning with that low flame that has enmeshed itself with the wood, is that not beautiful to behold? It is so beautiful because it speaks of the ways of God. He sends the fire inwardly so that He can create the beauty of Christ on the inside while the flame licks on the outside.

Who are we trying to glorify in this world? Ourselves or Him? If we are trying to glorify Him, we will let Him do anything He wants to do, and we will let Him take us through whatever we have to endure for His glory. If it is ourselves that we want to glorify, then everyone must see us as perfect as we see ourselves. Am I telling the truth? We can look in the mirror every day and see to whom we really want to bring glory. My dear friend, let it die. Let the fire go in and refine and beautify. God wants to purify His Church. Each person is called to a purification that belongs only to you. Ask Him to purify you in whatever way it is going to take.

The glory is coming, and you do not want to miss it. The shaking is coming, and you want to be able to endure it. There is a great lifting up of the Church that is coming, but you have to be very small to be lifted high. Some of the things God does are not necessarily always wonderful. When He has to tweak us, sometimes it pinches. He is a consuming fire, and He wants to consume you.

My messages are going to become more and more intense. I hope you can bear that. The days that stand between us and what God is about to do are critical days. You must be transformed and made into His image. You must prepare yourself in a Word life and in a prayer life for the transforming power of God. My messages will get stronger because the anointing wants to help you be what He wants you to be. Come and be with us. Do not grow weary. Let the anointing do the work that it needs to do. I love you, and I thank you for your faithfulness. The months have been long and difficult, but they have been effective.

In His Amazing Love,

Nita (LaFond) Johnson