DEBRA WESTBROOK

Do Not Compromise Your Position in Worship

November 18, 2009

"Do not compromise your position in worship. Do not let go of the desires that I have placed within your heart to worship Me in the beauty of My holiness. For many do worship Me with their mouths but their hearts are far from Me. Do not be like them. Press past the places where many stop and press into that position where I have called you to gaze upon Me and Me alone. Do not be distracted but focus on Me. Your desire to worship Me in spirit and in truth will propel you past the place where many of My people are content to stay in these days. Again I say come up and go higher in Me! I am seeking worshippers. I am seeking those who will cast off all restraints and worship Me and Me alone."

In seeking the Lord and writing this word, my experience has often been that many times while participating in a corporate worship service, there is always a glass ceiling that is hit and they go no further. When God calls us into certain places we watch and are so often grieved that people go no further and are content to stay where they are, basking in a measured presence of God that is mingled with emotional feelings. Yet, there is so much more. How many of us stop when we see others stop? Do we judge and critique these situations and perhaps feeling somewhat self-righteous that we want to go higher but simply can't in the place where we are standing? What if we just forget where we are and just worship? Just worship and ignore anything that is going on around us. What if? Think of the possibilities, if not for others, but for us.

Why are so many gatherings stopping at the point of breakthrough when it is clear that God is saying to press and go higher? I sense it is fear.

Fear will contribute to unbelief, doubt, seeking the approval of man and a host of other repercussions that hinder true worship in our midst. There are many contributing factors but I see fear in the forefront - a fear of relinquishing all to worship. In worship, all fear is left behind in a revelation of His perfecting love.

1 John 4:18
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. NKJV

2 Timothy 1:7
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV

When I encounter this over and over as God sends us forth, we continue to be astounded yet also grieved. I sense that perhaps I should know this but I am always bewildered by this sense of obstruction in worship where people will not release and let go.

Song 2:8-9 8 The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. 9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall; He is looking through the windows, gazing through the lattice. NKJV

Jesus watches and waits for people to press past all fears and to enter into that place where He stands - where He waits and watches. He watches for anyone who will go beyond the mundane routine and vain repetitions and move out seeking His glory.

I would challenge you that are in places that are stifled and stuck - worship Him. If God has told you to be where you are and you are positioned accurately in Him, then worship in humility and grace but worship. Your worship can change the atmosphere in which you find yourself. You can ascend into eternity and bring that atmosphere down into a corporate environment. It may not happen immediately but your assignment may be to simply worship and leave the outworking in the spiritual atmosphere to God's hand. We are not dependant on what is around us to worship. We are dependent on who is in us - Christ Jesus, our hope and glory.

So wherever you are, worship. Don't make excuses if the atmosphere is dry and hard - just worship. Don't critique what is going on around you - just worship. Just worship in the secret place of the Most High. In your worship you will forge a path that will open up heaven in your midst. Then perhaps others may see, experience and know He is Lord in a revelation of His perfect love that is devoid of any and all fear. Worship.

Don't compromise your position in worship because others do - just worship.

God's Whisper Will Be Our Shout!

November 15, 2009

Vision
In concentrating on sound in these series of words, I began to see a parabolic microphone as I worshipped. This parabolic microphone was pointed towards heaven and picking up distant sounds and then bringing them back down to earth. Heaven was indeed touching earth when the person that was holding this microphone received these distant sounds into their spirits. These sounds appeared to be a whisper from God. As they came into the person, the person received them and they began to expand in revelation within the person. When the revelation increased, this increase became overflow within the person and they could only shout with the sound of heaven. The whisper of God, when taken in humility and grace, became their shout. His ways are not our ways and we receive by the Spirit and believe by the Spirit.

Parabolic Microphone: a microphone used to give improved sensitivity and directivity. It is highly directional and more sensitive to sound sources which it is directly pointed to than to other sources; useful for recording sources that may be faint and brings them closer; picks up sounds from a long distance away.

In these days as we are crossing a threshold, God oftentimes just whispers and that whisper when picked up in our spirit, grows and expands within us. As the revelation becomes clear within us that whisper from God becomes a revelatory shout as we receive it clearly within us. In other words, God often whispers when He is doing a new thing so that we can grasp the revelation and not run with it until we feel the unction of the Holy Spirit. This unction of the Spirit will bring an understanding to the ways of God since His ways are higher than our ways.

We must not run with the revelation before its time but must wait on God for the shout to come forth.

The parabolic microphone picked up with great sensitivity the hidden sounds. Is that not like God who draws those closer who long to hear His voice? He reveals that which is hidden to those who are most hungry and have their ears turned to heaven.

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. NKJV

Jeremiah 33:3 Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' NKJV

Intercessors must see this clearly as this parabolic microphone is pointed to heaven so that heaven may touch earth. One must be faithful to pick up the very heart of God and that takes patience and discipline to place yourself at the feet of heaven so that we may hear the whispers of God. These whispers are what transition us into the next part of our journey individually and corporately. Why is this so important? We must never assume that we know all that God is doing. That is presumption and presumption is a sin and moves us out upon good ideas that are not God or may be premature in themselves. So we wait on heaven with open ears to hear and open hearts to receive what comes from the Lord. We pick up on the sound that others miss because they run too soon and work the initial revelation in their own wisdom and strength. Every revelation comes with the grace to fulfill itself when we wait and then move out. I would encourage you to place yourself in a position to hear, to truly hear what God is saying. Then wait so that the revelation which is carried on sound and light may expand itself within you. This is surely Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Deut 29:29 "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. NKJV

When God's whisper is forming within us and grows and expands, there is nothing left to do but to shout when the fullness of time comes to bring it forth. When that shout comes forth, it comes forth with power and strength and that revelatory shout changes our lives, changes the spiritual atmosphere over us, and changes cities and nations.

Listen and you shall surely hear what others are missing! Listen for the sounds of heaven and hear the whisper of God as He reveals His will and His ways to us in the coming days. What a glorious time we live in!

Stephen's Sound

November 12, 2009

Acts 7:54-58
When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. NKJV

Look at the effects of sound here. Stephen spoke with a sound from heaven throughout the previous chapters in Acts, relaying the journey of Israel and the faithfulness of God to His people. Then he lifted his eyes and saw the Lord. That enraged the religious system and contradicted their sound. The religious system in this time lived in an atmosphere that refused to truly SEE or to truly HEAR. The words of Stephen, the sound coming forth from his life, captured the attention of heaven. Heaven heard and anointed Stephen's words coming from his pure passionate heart. These words came forth as light in the darkness. The darkness could not comprehend it and was enraged by it so it caused them to react by stopping their ears. They did not want to hear. They refused to hear.

I then heard the Lord say this:

"As you recount and speak forth of My faithfulness, many shall hear and stop their ears for they shall not be able to rightly receive what you are saying. Religion has blinded their eyes and stopped their ears but I would say to each of you to speak forth that which you have experienced on your journey in Me. Seek not to be understood but seek to stand in that realm of faith that I am bringing you into in these days. Confrontation shall abound on every side but I would say to you to confront the contradictions that relegate My works to seasons and times past. Confront the limited view that people have of Me. I am God and there is none like Me. I am a God that is moving and when you recount my faithfulness you propel yourself with greater faith into your future. Religion will bind you to the past or secure you in the present without any movement. Your sound will propel you into faith and in that faith you will be a walking contradiction to everyone who refuses to move forward. Speak what I tell you to speak where I tell you to speak and when I tell you to speak and you shall see the atmosphere change at the declaration of your words. Look not at the people but look to me. The words that I place in your mouth shall cost you, my dear ones, but there is no turning back now."

John 1:5
5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. NKJV

Just as Jesus confounded the darkness with light, so shall we in these days. As we step out in Christ, the sound coming forth from us shall indeed stir a religious system that has a form of godliness but denies the power. Stephen gazed into heaven and reflected what He saw and spoke what he heard. The result was that the sound confronted the darkness in the people who were in the range of his voice and they stopped their ears.

They stopped their ears and could not listen anymore. Then they ran at him in one accord with the intent of annihilation of the person and the sound.

This is the effect of the sound of heaven. Are we, as the people of God, ready for this? I don't think we actually have a choice. We will either be ready when faced with the situation or we will not. Heaven has something to say and it is looking for a people to speak it forth and to carry its sound.

Stephen was martyred for his conviction.

Climb the Stairs!

November 6, 2009

Vision
I began to see a stairway unfold before me in the middle of the sanctuary at the church we were worshipping at this morning. I then heard the Lord issue this invitation: "Climb the Stairs!" The stairs were an entrance into a greater realm of glory that had to be accessed by FAITH. Faith allows one's eyes to be opened to see a supernatural reality that may be right before you. By faith, one steps onto a platform that is not supported by our natural senses but by allowing one's eyes to be opened by faith to SEE, then to BELIEVE and then to RECEIVE.

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. NKJV

When one encounters greater realms of God's glory, there will manifest an invitation to 'come higher'. In that invitation, one is expected to obey, to walk it out and to walk forth in the reality of the revelation. We are called to live and move and have our being in Christ and that requires action when His presence is so strong in our midst. His presence calls to us to move in Him and to discern where He longs to take us and what He longs to reveal to us so that the atmosphere may be charged with prophetic momentum issuing forth a deeper revelation of Christ Jesus.

"I long for My people to move up and out IN ME!"

2 Corinthians 3:17-18
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
NKJV

Glory to glory to glory to glory - moving up and out in Him. This realm of encounter is not a passive time but a time of interfacing with the Lord in the atmosphere that He creates by His manifest presence. Climbing the stairs brings forth an interactive environment so that the very essence of the service is prophetic. We steward the glory that He reveals to us so that we move in Him, live in Him and have our being in Him. We interact through the manifest presence of Christ within us that is rising up and out. Therefore the service is charged with life and that life is in Christ.

What am I saying? I will write more on this. I am hearing God strongly impress upon my heart that we are called to steward the atmosphere of His presence. How is that? By watching where the Spirit of God is moving and in holy reverence and obedience following the Spirit so that the Lord Jesus can truly manifest in our corporate lives as we worship Him together.

What is required to do this? Leaders who will move up and move out and climb the stairs to a greater realm of glory and through this obedience allow the freedom of the Holy Spirit to move. Leaders who will discern and allow the creative hand of God to move in churches, meetings, and gatherings. This is so strong on my heart and the call of Rivers of Eden. I will expound more on this in the coming days.

Creative Sound

November 2, 2009

Gen 1:1-4 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

There is creative power in the voice of God as it comes forth in sound and light. Creative power that is waiting to be unleashed in us and out of us through Christ in us, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) His sheep hear His voiced and know His voice and declare what He is saying NOW.

John 3:5-8 5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." NKJV

You have a sound if you are born again. You are to flow in the sound by the Spirit of God. It is as the wind - blowing and spontaneous and with effect. We should be heard with the sound of the Spirit. But why aren't we? Because we are too busy talking and not listening. To bring forth and birth a CREATIVE SOUND you must hear the CREATOR. When He speaks, we speak. His words - His way.

There is a sound being birthed from the redeemed of the Lord and it is contradictory to the sound in this environment. It confronts the contradiction in the heavenly atmosphere. Can you hear it? There is a sound God wants to bring forth corporately through His body here and individually through your life.

Salvation is a mystery in and of itself and we can only be thankful that this glorious new birth is given to us by God. We receive it by faith. Therefore when we are born again we receive a sound by faith that emanates spontaneously by the Spirit just as the wind, creating an atmosphere that we seed for His glory.

But, there is wisdom that must be sought for to release this creative sound. We must be found trustworthy to bear the TRUTH that God wants to declare though us. We must be pure consecrated vessels submitted and holy unto our Lord. Our lives must be dedicated to show forth and sound forth His glory, and not ours.

John 16:12-15
12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. NKJV

There is a simple word in this verse - bear. It means that there is much to be released to us but there a requirement to be ready to bear this sound. It means "to support as a burden; to be able to carry the weight of spiritual truth." So are we really ready to bring forth this sound? Are we indeed ready to carry the weight of truth? God is getting us ready to receive His sound so that we may declare with accuracy and intent to see the heavens shift on behalf of the Kingdom.

Get ready!

Sound Within A Sound!

October 31, 2009

While walking by a mosque in Abu Dhabi several months ago, I suddenly heard the prayer call come forth, loud and clear. I continued to walk when suddenly I began to hear another sound behind the call that was going forth around me. It was a sound of death being masked by the outward sound that was coming forth. I began to hear the sound of chains rattling and immediately I knew that the sound that was really coming forth was the sound of hell - calling forth a people to their spiritual death.

This appeared to me to be a 'sound within a sound'. I continued to walk and think and pray so as not to be captured in any way by that sound or come under its influence. I am a child of the King, seated in heavenly places far above all principalities and powers. Yet the reality is that we are bombarded by sounds on a daily basis. How does one discern the sounds that come forth each day? Which are we to listen to and which are we to take in? I live among many mosques and that sound penetrates the atmosphere day by day.

God gave me this verse.

Ex 32:17-1917 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp." 18 But he said: "It is not the noise of the shout of victory, Nor the noise of the cry of defeat, But the sound of singing I hear." 19 So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing.

While I continued to mediate on this over the months, God revealed to me some simple truth. Why was Moses able to hear the true sound of what was really going on in the camp? The answer is very simple.

Moses had been on the mountaintop with God and in the glory realm, in heavenly places. The presence of God was strong upon his life and when he came back down to the camp, the sound that he was confronted with was a direct contradiction to a heavenly sound. What was his response?

He contradicted the true sound of darkness that he heard and confronted the powers of darkness. And so should we. We need to challenge and confront any sounds that perpetrate our spiritual space with the sounds of heaven. We need to declare the sound of the Kingdom in the sphere that God has given us. A sound must come forth from us filled with declaration and praise, filled with faith.

John 1:5 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The sound of light and life coming through us will pierce the darkness and the darkness will not comprehend it. In not comprehending it, the darkness will be confounded and be dispersed by the power of light and life coming from our words of faith and declaration.

Discern the sounds that are coming into your life. Take authority over these sounds and challenge the darkness. Walk in faith and not in fear.

(To be continued)
----- Original Message -----
From: Rivers of Eden
To: ft111@spiritofprophecy.com
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 12:05 AM
Subject: A Sound Within A Sound!

Rivers of Eden

A Sound Within A Sound!

While walking by a mosque in Abu Dhabi several months ago, I suddenly heard the prayer call come forth, loud and clear. I continued to walk when suddenly I began to hear another sound behind the call that was going forth around me. It was a sound of death being masked by the outward sound that was coming forth. I began to hear the sound of chains rattling and immediately I knew that the sound that was really coming forth was the sound of hell - calling forth a people to their spiritual death.

This appeared to me to be a 'sound within a sound'. I continued to walk and think and pray so as not to be captured in any way by that sound or come under its influence. I am a child of the King, seated in heavenly places far above all principalities and powers. Yet the reality is that we are bombarded by sounds on a daily basis. How does one discern the sounds that come forth each day? Which are we to listen to and which are we to take in? I live among many mosques and that sound penetrates the atmosphere day by day.

God gave me this verse.

Ex 32:17-1917 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp." 18 But he said: "It is not the noise of the shout of victory, Nor the noise of the cry of defeat, But the sound of singing I hear." 19 So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing.

While I continued to mediate on this over the months, God revealed to me some simple truth. Why was Moses able to hear the true sound of what was really going on in the camp? The answer is very simple.

Moses had been on the mountaintop with God and in the glory realm, in heavenly places. The presence of God was strong upon his life and when he came back down to the camp, the sound that he was confronted with was a direct contradiction to a heavenly sound. What was his response?

He contradicted the true sound of darkness that he heard and confronted the powers of darkness. And so should we. We need to challenge and confront any sounds that perpetrate our spiritual space with the sounds of heaven. We need to declare the sound of the Kingdom in the sphere that God has given us. A sound must come forth from us filled with declaration and praise, filled with faith.

John 1:5 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The sound of light and life coming through us will pierce the darkness and the darkness will not comprehend it. In not comprehending it, the darkness will be confounded and be dispersed by the power of light and life coming from our words of faith and declaration.

Discern the sounds that are coming into your life. Take authority over these sounds and challenge the darkness. Walk in faith and not in fear.

(To be continued)

A Transcendent Sound!

October 29, 2009

A transcendent sound emanates from heaven, from the throne of God filled with His glory, His life and light.

Transcendent- to be above, independent of the universe and time; superior or supreme; going beyond ordinary limits; surpassing or exceeding; to outdo or exceed in excellence, elevation, extent, degree

I have been thinking a lot about sound lately and its effects in piercing the darkness and changing and charging the atmosphere with God's glory. In meditation on this, I heard the Lord say: " For there is a transcendent sound that I am bringing into the midst of My people."

This sound will come forth in the midst of the people of God as heaven touches earth. It is sound that is filled with the force of righteousness and filled with the power of God. This sound is flowing from the throne and intermingled with the worship that flows through a people desperate
of heart to know the living God. These sounds intermingle with each other and electrify the atmosphere and push the powers of darkness back with the violent upheaval of sound that comes through worship and praise. When we worship, we come into agreement with heaven and the very atmosphere changes is our midst.

This is a supernatural sound in agreement with the heavenly realm and it cannot in any way be duplicated through any fleshly means or endeavors. This sound will come forth where people worship and as they worship unto the Lord the atmosphere is pierced with light and life and glory. This sound will be empowered by the hosts of heaven to bring glory to the King.

There is the sound of the Lord that will flow in, through, and around His worshippers in increasing light and sound in agreement with heaven in increasing levels in the days ahead as we touch heaven with our worship. This sound will change and shake atmospheres as we are joined to the Lord in the power of His spirit in greater measure. Worship that is focused and sure and pure. Worship empowered by grace and glory. Worship that is saturated with life and light coming into agreement with heaven itself.

"Where is this sound?" I asked the Lord. (So often when Marvin and I visit churches we often see very little of true worship that takes place and in the places that have pressed into the Lord, I feel that we are barely skirting the limits of where God wants to take us by His Spirit.)

This sound is now birthed in a people!" I heard the Lord simply say. It is not coming from a structure, a form, or a program but from a people filled with His glory, filled with His sound. When people of like mind and like heart come together, they bring forth the very sound of the Lord that is put in their spirit by Christ in them, the hope of glory.

I then heard the Lord say, "I have seeded a people for My glory so that I can birth through My people My sound, one that comes into agreement with my heart."

This sound is not manufactured or produced by any means known to man but comes from pure worship that is focused on the Most High God. A manufactured sound in worship grieves the Lord's heart because it comes forth from a heart that is untempered by the fire of God.