RISE OF AN EMPIRE ☼

"It begins as a whisper, a promise. The lightest of breezes dances above the death cries of 300 men. That breeze became a wind. A wind, my brother, of Sacrifice. 
A Wind of Freedom. 
A Wind of Justice. 
A Wind of Vengeance." 

*Isaiah 66:7-13*

*Isaiah 4*

*2 Corinthians 5:17*

Background: Hello everyone! :) I have some exciting news to share!! :D I actually received this word during finals week of Spring Quarter (6/14/13)... and it was so fresh and exciting, it woke me up and I was going to share it right away... But then I did my favorite mistake of looking back which distracted me... But God is so good He kept waking me up and telling me to move forward.... So I'm awake now... so let's roll out! :-)

It begins as a Whisper, a Promise...

In 1970's Kathryn Khulman prophesied that one day a great awakening would come out of Santa Barbara and would spread to the whole world. In 2011 I was part of InterVarsity and we had a Pre-Fall Leaders Retreat. The summer before the retreat God gave some of the InterVarsity Staff dreams that a huge revival was coming to Santa Barbara really soon. And then at the retreat we had an experience that was out of the ordinary... totally not planned for. Yeah it was crazy, like it was ripped out of the book of Acts. Anyway, (you can read the story from that post) God gave many people (students and staff) visions of the events that would lead up to the promised great revival which could be summarized as: opposition from the devil and then God winning in the end -> lots of conflict and division in the body of Christ and then unity in the body of Christ... unity in the school then revival. So that was the whisper, the promise... A lot has happened since then...

During Spring break this year I was on facebook and decided to update my favorite movies section. I added the movie 300 and the picture caught my eye. I saw that a new movie was coming out. I decided to read about it and what I read was actually prophetic- pertaining to what was going on that Spring quarter (The With One Voice event that was being planned out and also a promise that God gave me in Isaiah 66: 7-13 at the beginning of the quarter) : "Based on Frank Miller’s latest graphic novel Xerxes, and told in the breathtaking visual style of the blockbuster “300,” this new chapter of the epic saga takes the action to a fresh battlefield—on the sea—as Greek general Themistokles attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war." (300themovie.com) The film centers on Themistocles and *Artemisia I of Caria, as well as Xerxes I of Persia = A Coalition of Commanders. *Historical accuracy -> Artemisia of Halicarnassus was the only female commander in the Persian fleet. During the Battle of Salamis she commanded five ships against the Greeks as an ally of Xerxes I of Persia (Wikipedia). So what does that have to do with anything??

So the quarter was coming to an end but I had fallen asleep i.e. depression :/  induced by not resting in God/ running on empty/ entertaining thoughts of self-pity and hopelessness. Being in such a state usually makes me very selfish since I'm focussed on my weaknesses, my self. But I got a wake up call:" IT'S FINALS WEEK. People are about to graduate and most people are leaving UCSB. There's no time to waste!" This lead to frantic (and futile) attempts to unite people to claim God's promises together - (You can check out the previous post and the Senior Send off post). Anyway by the end of finals week I was exhausted and discouraged by my failures... and then I was on facebook again and I realized that the 300 movie changed the picture as well as the release date to March 2014 (instead of this year). So I went to the movie page and saw that they had released a trailer (video below). When I listened to it I felt God speaking to me through it and reminding me of His promises and the nearness of their fulfillment (what we needed to do to partner with God to make our dreams come true). Oh yeah, another thing! At the Pre-fall leaders retreat in 2011 one of the staff, Paul Benthin, shared a vision that there was going to be an earthquake in IV then revival after that. The weekend after the With One Voice event there was an earthquake and the epicenter was in IV. YUP! Pretty crazy wake up call! =) 

PREPARE FOR GLORY! It's TIME! =)

Painting I saw in the Prayer Shed :-) 

What's with the wave? So I started going to Isla Vista Church (IVC) last year and I found it really cool and encouraging that God had also given them visions of a great revival coming to SB. There's this one Sunday when Mac Montgomery shared a vision that God gave Him of revival sweeping through Isla Vista like a wave and IV culture was totally transformed. [A Wave of Freedom] He saw that even the parties on DP had changed... yes people were still partying... but to worship music! (I have more to say about that in a later post). Waves are driven by winds. "Looks like the winds are changing." - Rafiki to Simba in The Lion King.  Yeah things are changing. And God kept telling me last year that we are in mixed season "the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God." (Isaiah 61:3) God told me this year - Hebrew 5772 (Sept. 2012- Sept. 2013) is the end of an age and the dawn of a new era. I have many posts about that e.g. Revolution and To be human again. I also saw the video below last summer from Marilyn at IVC who got visions of revival with the mixed essence I was talking about. [A Wave of Justice and Vengeance] Though the season is mixed the choice is ours. We can claim the blessings.

For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the desired of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’” (Haggai 2: 6-8)

So the kingdom of darkness has some really messed up plans up their sleeve- New world order, anti-christ and his false prophet, RFID chip mark of the beast,  nephilim,  (post: The Beast and The Big Boys) but God has plans for His kingdom as well. Isaiah 59: 19-20 says "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. The Redeemer will come to Zion” (Isaiah 59:19-20) It's BATTLE TIME! "a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." (Ecclesiastes 3:8) Post: Kingdom Come Down!
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"The Rise of an Empire"- One New Man/Voltron/ JOSHUA Generation 2013

*Empire = an extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority.

*Voltron = ♫ Unified Body. Transformed. Guided by The Head. ♫ (post: Be ONE)

We are a Joshua Generation and it's time to take the land! “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. The Redeemer will come to Zion” (Isaiah 59:19-20, NKJV) The works of the enemy is really clear in this nation. He has brought division amongst people in America along so many lines: ethnicity, color of skin, class, gender...etc. So that's why unity in the body of Christ is a powerful weapon against the powers of darkness in this present evil age (post: Colors of the Wind). So this is a call for the Church to unite and fight! Yes to be on the offensive. It's time to take back what the devil has stolen from us. How do we fight? By singing praises to God together (read the Psalm below). Also God kept giving me Acts 1 from last year. After Jesus told His disciples to wait on Him for the gift of His Spirit it says that "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." (Acts 1:14) And after that they were filled by the power of the Holy Spirit and were enabled to share the gospel with great boldness and were enabled to love each other self-lessly. So I had ideas of creative ways of doing this. But first let me share some observations I made so far this summer.

Psalm 149

1 Praise the Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song,

    his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.

2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;

    let the people of Zion be glad in their King.

3 Let them praise his name with dancing

    and make music to him with timbrel and harp.

4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;

    he crowns the humble with victory.

5 Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor

    and sing for joy on their beds.

6 May the praise of God be in their mouths

    and a double-edged sword in their hands,

7 to inflict vengeance on the nations

    and punishment on the peoples,

8 to bind their kings with fetters,

    their nobles with shackles of iron,

9 to carry out the sentence written against them—

    this is the glory of all his faithful people.

Praise the Lord.

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A Wind of Sacrifice, Freedom, Justice and Vengeance

Aimee's painting

1. Summer Cru- So I made last minute plans to come back to SB for summer school so I posted on facebook that I was looking for a place to stay and Alexa got back to me so I ended up subleasing from her at The Plex (An apartment complex full of people from Cru- Campus Crusade ministry). Once I moved in I was excited to hear that the goal of Summer Cru was to live as a cross-cultural community to be a proper reflection of God's Word and in order to reach the whole campus. I was even more excited to hear that unity was also the goal of Cru for the coming year. Summer Cru has bible studies (Tue), a prayer meeting (Wed), worship night (Thur), potluck (Fri) and outreach going on every week. For more info join the Summer Cru facebook group or just ask me if you're interested.... So when I went to Aimee's apartment in The Plex her painting caught my eye and reminded me of the wave prophecies. And it's funny coz earlier in the year God told me to go where the winds of change will take me... and the winds of change took me to Cru and The Plex whose theme for the summer was on my heart (unity). 

2. ONE Body- I was going to create this facebook group to call for unity in the body at SB but decided to just update the With One Voice Leadership group since it's the same vision... just a little modified. Unity in and through worship, prayer, outreach and community-building. So yeah, this year God led me to Impact, the black community and Cru so that I could meet more of my family and also to see how God was at work there and also to allow God to do more work in me (post: Hair Revival). I know it may have appeared that I just deserted my InterVarsity family but that was not God's intention nor mine. I love you all and still want to be part of your lives. I have friends who are part of different groups and it's my heart's desire to go deeper in my relationships and also to see more unity... especially coz it's summer and there's not as much people here so we can easily plan to do stuff together. That way I can be with all my friends at once :-)

2."Coalition for Justice SB"- After the Trayvon Martin/ Zimmerman case this group formed in less than 24 hours and with 65 people in the first meeting!! And people have been meeting and planning consistently after that. It was amazing me to see all the different people that came together sparked by the verdict from the Trayvon Martin case. There are people from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, undergrad students, grad students, alumni, professors and other staff. My heart was really touched by the solidarity that formed and just the level of vulnerability that we shared. God is truly doing new things in the desert.  I'd really like to encourage the body of Christ to also stand in solidarity with The Coalition of Justice... Seeking Justice and Freedom for the oppressed is at the very heart of God. Also by attending the meetings/ events you get to learn from other people's experiences as well as share your own (so many opportunities to share the gospel just by sharing your thoughts and feelings) plus you get to meet lots of really cool people and build friendships! At the end of the day, it's all about love. So the challenge for all of us is to go out of our way to love. To be moved by love.

Church, God is doing something new in this season... he is creating ONE NEW MAN - A Coalition of Commanders so it's time to Rise Up in our identity and spiritual authority. It's time to unite. This has been happening outside the church. Can you now see it? It's a Revolution! (read the previous post). Do you know how powerful it will be when the church awakes and unites and stands by the rest of the school? Really Powerful! So let's not let this moment pass us by. Let's ask God to give us His eyes and His heart to see and love people as He sees and loves them. Church it's batttle time. Unity is defensive as well as offensive. We really do need each other in this season we are going into. It's time for us to ARISE! 

♫ Calling everybody, are you ready for the battle? We laugh at fear (laugh at fear), Covered by the King's shadow (Covered by the King's shadow). All my soldiers! All my warriors! Risk takers and history makers! Freedom fighters! Planet shakers! Let's unite and shout a war cry! We are (we are, we are) the revolution! This is a love, love revolution!  ♫

So yeah just want you to know the time. It's time to MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER. It's TIME TO LOVE. TIME TO PRAY. TIME TO BUILD. And it's URGENT. There's NO TIME TO WASTE. Jesus is coming back SOON!. So He is waiting for us to be united in love coz that's when we'll be ready for the rapture (The marriage of the lamb and His bride. For His bride to be filled with greater glory= fullness of God. Fullness of Love). So yeah, let's get ready!

Oh yeah another thing about the Wave of Justice and Wave of Vengeance... don't know if you've noticed but American system is pretty messed up when it comes to justice and other things... America is actually Babylon prophesied in Revelation (post: Revolution) which makes God really sad and angry. So yeah, lots of people have prophesied huge earthquakes and tsunamis hitting the west coast and other places... not just as judgements but wake-up calls from the earth (alarm clocks telling us Jesus is coming soon!). So let's take action by ourselves, together and on behalf of our loved ones and for this nation. Don't be afraid though... be awake, be a warrior. So I was wondering whether it would take the earthquakes and stuff to awaken the church then God showed me the order of events from this passage in Acts (post: Prison Break) - unity in the body: unity in prayer and worship then an earthquake in response resulting in more people being awakened. That happened in the Spring: the With One Voice prayer and worship night (unity in the body of Christ) then the earthquake in IV a few days later. So yeah stuff's changing ("the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God") but the choice is ours. Let's WAKE UP and UNITE. Let's pray for mercy and revival. God is bringing restoration. Let's claim His promises and blessings! =)

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APPLICATION: LET'S WAKE UP & LOVE!
Let the breeze become a wind. A wind of Change! It's TIME.

K, sorry that's a lot for one post. Feel free to ask questions if you were confused about anything I said. But I would like to place emphasis on the action to be taken. I'll post the One Body events we can do together in the With One Voice leadership group. But for an overview I was thinking: community-building activities, prayer walks, more worship events and outreaching together. Yay! Love will change the world! God is changing our hearts and equipping us to change our city and our world! Yay! (post: Pimp My Ride) Let's pray, let's love, let's worship, let's unite! K, check out the events below. Peace! =)

The Coalition for Justice Events

Trayvon Martin Teach-In
Thursday, 7/25, 11:30am-2:00pm
UCSB Arbor
Learn more about the social conditions regarding the Martin-Zimmerma case as related to systematic discrimination of black youth.  Speakers, musical performances, collective art, and an opportunity to discuss and connect with others concerning your own feelings and questions surrounding the tragedy.   All are encouraged to attend.

Candle Light Vigil and Silent March around IV
Friday, 7/26 at 8pm
UCSB Theatre & Dance Courtyard
Justice for Trayvon Martin! Please come with your reflections, feelings, thoughts, etc regarding the case. We will light candles and then march silently through the streets of Isla Vista. We will begin at the Theatre & Dance Courtyard & loop around IV. Some banners will be provided. See you there!

Downtown SB March & Rally at Courthouse Sunken Gardens; Saturday 8/17 at 11am 

Join us as we march the streets of downtown Santa Barbara to let the community know that although young Trayvon Martin lost his life, the battle against injustice still continues. We will begin our march at Sunken Gardens, and end at Stearns Wharf.

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MORE WORDS OF CONFIRMATION:

"AND NOW AMERICA!"

A Gospel Crusade with International Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke.

I have seen God in His omnipotence in Africa. Over time my ministry saw 74 million people respond to the call of salvation. Our God is an awesome God. America has thankfully enabled us financially to bring in this harvest of souls in Africa, but now “the bread cast upon the waters shall return to you.” God spoke to me that the time has come for a mighty wave of salvation to sweep the USA from city to city, from state to state and from coast to coast. And since Jesus Christ is the same there and here, I expect no smaller outcome. America shall be saved.

In February this year we started in little Vero Beach, Florida and the Holy Spirit moved mightily. In September we will be in the AMWAY CENTER in Orlando, Florida and then continue in rapid succession across the nation Gospel Crusade after Gospel Crusade, from stadium to stadium. This is not the day to join the choir of the despaired, but to “blow the trumpet of God in Zion.” This day is the best day ever, because IT IS THE DAY OF SALVATION. It will be a crop and not a flop. My team is now on two active Gospel fronts: Africa and America.

Evangelism must always lead into the church. This is a central truth I have practiced everywhere. I, the evangelist, bring my nets and borrow the boats of the local churches. Together we will cast the net into the human ocean and pull it in, to be emptied on the beach. My promise to you is not to take a single fish, but leave them all with the local churches. Then I will dry and mend my nets and move to the next place.

I am scanning the skies for men and women who pray and weep for the salvation of America. As Bill Bright used to say; “let’s leave our logos and egos,” let’s rally at the foot of the Cross of Calvary and preach the Gospel of salvation to the nation. The Holy Spirit will cooperate. God is pouring out His Spirit with glorious indifference to our differences! "I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh." And it seems to me He pours Himself into the mold of any vessel.