Know Jesus, Know Peace! No Jesus, No Peace…

If you have not met the Prince of Peace, let me introduce you to Him. Even in the midst of the storms of chaos and confusion, there is one who is the Peace that passes all understanding! My sister Rene reminded me of the story of the One who was asleep in the boat, amidst the swirling winds, the raging waves, and the mounting fear of all who were present, except the One, the Prince of Peace who was seated, actually sleeping in the boat. What an amazing picture of finding Peace in the midst of the storm, it is a Person, actually Peace personified! They did not have to go find Him, He was already there with them though everything around suggested another picture! What childlike faith my sister Rene expressed to me, “I want to be asleep with him in the boat!”

So maybe, we just need our spiritual eyes to be opened to see where He is sleeping in perfect peace in the boat! And where He is, there we may be also, presently, not just in the “By and By!”

I am also reminded of my youngest son, Michael, who at the time was five years old. And he had heard this Bible story in Sunday Schol. Well, we were all out at the soccer field, and his older brother Zachary was out on the field playing. Then it started raining cats and dogs, and all of the families and parents ran to get under the cover of a pavilion, while our children were still out there playing in the rain, and they had not stopped the game. So Michael stood at the edge of the covered pavilion, and looked at his father behind him, garnering his support. Michael went and stood out in the rain and held his hands up and said, just like he heard Jesus say in the story, “Peace be still!” Well, al little bit frustrated, he looked back at his father, wondering why it didn’t work! So he tried this again, out in the soaking rain, with his hands up, and said louder, “Peace be still!”

Looking back at his father in amazement that nothing happened, his father Paul went and stood right next to him, with his arms raised in the rain, mind you in front of a couple hundred parents and families, safely tucked away under conver, and they both raised their hands to Heaven, and loudly proclaimed, Peace be Still!!!

And immediately, the rain was reduced to a little trickle, to the shock of everyone! I was never more proud of two people then that moment! And then I realized, Michael found where the sleeping one was in the boat, and with the same authority, spoke to the storms and the waves around him, and they obeyed the Lord!

Two lessons were learned and demonstrated that day, through the childlike faith of my five year old son. First, find the one who is Peace, and from where He is at rest, administer Peace to the storm, chaos and confusion! Instead of marveling at how chaotic and crazy things are, speak to it and demonstrate how Marvelous our Prince of Peace is to the world!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:                                                                                  Ephesians 1:3

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,                                                                                                 Ephesians 1:20

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:                                                                                                                                                                 Ephesians 2:6

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;                                                                                                               Ephesians 2:14

In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.                                                                                                                                                                              Ephesians 2:21-22

To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,                                                                   Ephesians 3:10

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.             Ephesians 2:14-22

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.                                                                                                                            2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Let me bring this stream of thought to conclusion…

My sister Rene Semones always stirs my heart with God has been showing her, and I don’t think she would mind, she was sharing with me a vision she had recently, where she was in the Throne Room, sitting next to Jesus, next to the Father. And under her feet was blackness like a cloud… she asked what is that? And the Lord replied, that is Satan, and all his chaos and darkness! But guess what it is all under you your feet!

My father who was here with us, reminded us of scripture…

The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”                                                                                                                                                    Psalm 110:1

It is all under our feet in that Heavenly place where we are seated with Christ! And guess what else? I know the One who walks upon the waters, amidst the raging storms. He extends His Hand out to us, to walk upon the water with Him! Keep your eyes focused on Him, and you will not sink!

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.                                                                                                                            2 Corinthians 5:16-21

I am an Ambassador of Christ, and a minister of reconciliation, a citizen of Heaven, seated with Him in Heavenly places!

Just a few thoughts in the middle of a storm…

Dr. Raelynn S.Parkin

Bride Song Ministries

Worship Houston! Project Founder

The Glory of the Latter House

⁶  “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ⁸ ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty.  ⁹ ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”   Haggai 2:9

This is such an amazing promise and one to which we eagerly look forward. As with many scriptures, there usually was a more immediate context as well as a prophetic forecast for another day yet to come. But to understand we have to visit the former house.

¹¹ The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. ¹² All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. ¹³ The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang:

“He is good;
  his love endures forever.”

Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, ¹⁴ and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.    2 Chronicles 5:11-14

¹ When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. ² The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. ³  When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,

“He is good;
   his love endures forever.” 2 Chronicles 7:1-3

Such an incredible level of Glory, one that came directly from Heaven manifesting as the Cloud that filled the Temple and the Fire that consumed the sacrifices. Do you remember the pillar of cloud and the fire that led the Israelites through their wilderness wanderings? This was the tangible manifestation of the Glory in the earth with a history and a precedent that Israel could remember and to which they could relate. This glory was so magnificent the priests could not perform their service for the cloud of Glory filling the temple, nor enter in. And in verse 3, when the people saw the fire coming from Heaven and the Glory filling the temple, the people bowed and worshipped the Lord and gave thanks. The glory filling the temple drew the people into reverent worship. I believe that is a key to worship evidenced by the Glory coming and the people worshipping. It was not a one man show it was a worshipping priesthood releasing a sound under Heaven that ushered the Glory into its dwelling place in the earth and among the people.

I want to revisit Haggai 2:6-7 and address the shakings of Heaven and earth, dry land and sea as well as the shakings of the nations. I believe we are seeing the shakings all around us like never before, almost like these are a signpost that points to the season and sets the context of verse 9, the Glory of the Latter House. These are not just the responses of a groaning world weary of sin, but God says He will shake all these things around us. The comfort for us is that we know and trust the Hand of the Lord. And it is not meant as a punishment for sin, but for the express purpose of filling the Latter House with His Glory! And we get to partake and enjoy His magnificence and His Presence as we taste of His Glory!

Many would argue that this passage only refers to Israel and not to the Church, but I beg to differ. Remember the precedent of the Glory evidenced by the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire? Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and his Church was built with Jewish apostles and disciples.  His Church was of Jewish origin, and Jesus instructed his disciples to wait for the power from on High.  The Day of Pentecost, which was when the power from on High came that Jesus promised, saw the wind of the Holy Spirit and the tongues of fire! The Glory came into the first church and the Jewish people saw and recognized the Glory according to their history, and 3,000 were added in that first day of the Church, with Glory and Power!

I believe Jesus is not coming for less than what he left in the earth. He started His church in power and Glory and he is not coming for anything less than a full harvest and the full fruition of His Glorious Church. And as the Father is a master gardener, he is not coming to inspect a few little shoots or dried up vines, but a luscious garden with bountiful fruit, beautiful branches loaded with fruit, connected to the vine of His Precious Son that was the seed in the earth that abided alone.

²⁴  Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John 12:2

The Lord is not just coming for a harvest, but he is coming for a house full of Glory!

A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

¹ Unless the Lord builds the house,
  the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
  the guards stand watch in vain.   Psalm 127:1

Not only is he the master gardener, but Jesus is the master Carpenter!  And he came to build for His Father a House of Prayer!

¹⁷ And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called   a house of prayer for all nations’? …’” Mark 11:17a

See you in the Latter House of Glory!

Dr. Raelynn S. Parkin, Bride Song Ministries

BrideSongMinistries.org