This month we celebrate Presidents day, Monday, February 15. Have you thought about what defines a good leader? I have been enjoying the devotional book that I recently found entitled “God’s Little Devotional Book” and have shared some of the thoughts with you, well here is another one.

Put others before yourself, and you can become a leader among men.

Matthew 20:26-27 – But it shall not be so among you; but whoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.

The following set of contrasting remarks has been offered as a character sketch of a good leader. For a personal challenge, as you read through the list, circle the descriptive words you believe most closely identify you or someone you know in leadership!

Self-reliant but not Self-sufficient
Energetic but not Self-seeking
Steadfast but not Stubborn
Tactful but not Timid
Serious be not Sullen
Loyal but not Sectarian
Unmovable but not Stationary
Gentle but not Hypersensitive
Tenderhearted but not Touchy
Conscientious but not a Perfectionist
Disciplined but not Demanding
Generous but not Gullible
Meek but not Weak
Humorous but not Hilarious
Friendly be not Familiar
Holy but not Holier-than-thou
Discerning but not Critical
Progressive but not Pretentious
Authoritative but not Autocratic

What do you think? Is this you? Is there someone in your life like this?

Proverbs 24:16 – For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again….

Go New Orleans Saints!!!!!! Wow! What a Victory that was winning the Super Bowl! Imagine for 43 years never being in the Biggest game in football. I don’t follow the football games during the season, but I always make a point to watch the Super Ball and it is not for the commercials. I find out who is favored to win and then I cheer for the underdog. I like to hope for those who are not favored to make it or win. I believe that everyone has a God given purpose it just depends on the choices that you make and who you listen to. There are a number of people who might have been told “you will never make it” or “that is not for you”. I have been told things like that, but I remember my Mom telling us when were growing up, “You can be who God made you to be, you just have try harder, make the right choices and never give up”.

The following is from “God’s Little Devotional Book”.

Falling down doesn’t make you a failure, but staying down does.

There was a man who conducted countless experiments with countless kinds of materials in search for an effective, filament to us in carbon incandescent lamps. As each fiber failed, he would toss it out the window. Ultimately, the pile of failures reached to the second story of his house.

One day in 1879, some thirteen months after his first failure, he succeeded in finding a filament that would stand the stress of electrical current, Here’s how: This man casually picked up a bit of lampblack, mixed it with tar, rolled it into a thin thread, and thought, Why not try a carbonized cotton fiber? He worked for five hours to make a fiber but it broke in two before he removed the mod. He used two spools of cotton thread before a perfect strand emerged, only to be ruined when he tried to place it in a glass tube. He continued without sleep for two days and nights before he managed to slip one of the carbonized threads into a vacuum-sealed bulb. Turning on the current, he saw the glow of electric light that we now take for granted.

A failure doesn’t need to mark the end. It can be one step closer to the success you desire!

If you have not guessed yet, that man was Thomas Edison. What if he would have given up? Think about it.

Check out the Saints history at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_Saints

Have you ever thought about the question “What If”? As we have been watching or hearing about the horrible disastrous earthquake that happened in Haiti, one could ask, what if you had not been born here in the US, but instead you were born in Haiti. What if you were there on the day of the earthquake? What if you were one of the ones whose family was lost in the disaster? What If you were one of the ones standing there in the rumble looking at what was once your house, but now is a pile of rumble?

I know there are many who could relate to this disaster if you were part of the disaster that happened in New Orleans. You may say, “What could I do I am only one person”?, but one plus two plus many can add up to something done for someone or for many who can do nothing for themselves right now.

If you are a believer in God, what would God have you do? I am asking myself the same question. It does matters what you do even if it is small, but just do something because “what if” that were you there in Haiti right now.

Bill Burns: 2010: A Year of Breakthrough, Restoration, Faith and Mysteries Revealed
by Bill Burns
Jan 12, 2010

The following is what the Holy Spirit has revealed to me about what will take place in the Church in 2010 (see John 16:13).

The number five is God’s number for grace (strength, empowerment and blessing), so ten is the number of double grace. A double portion will be available to God’s people in 2010. Romans 5:2 tells us that “we have access by faith into this grace.” Therefore, every person should establish himself in a position of faith to receive a double portion of God’s grace that is now being released.

Small Straws by Marsha Burns: “I’m giving you an extra measure of grace. I will exert My holy influence over your life to strengthen you and bolster your faith,” says the Lord. “If you will discern it, you will find and enjoy the unusual fragrance of My company. Receive with joy, and bask in the sweetness of My presence. Come and find your delight and rest with Me.” 2 John 1:3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

In 2009, the year of fullness, some Christians began to exercise a fuller and more complete faith. However, many in the Body of Christ went through a crisis of faith because of the hardship of the circumstances that they found themselves in.

Fractured Faith

The Lord used the term “fractured faith” to describe the condition of many of His people. This is what I saw:

People were praying by holding up bowls (representing faith) with their prayers inside the bowls (Revelation 5:8). However, when they lifted the bowls up before the Lord, the bowls fractured and then fell apart. The prayers then fell out of the bowls because they had no faith to support them.

Then, I had an understanding that these were Christians who knew the Word of God, and they knew that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). They also knew that faith works through love (Galatians 5:6).

So these were those whose faith should have worked, but didn’t. So, I asked the Lord why and He said it was because of the intensity and length of the battle that many had been worn out and had become discouraged.

I then asked how one recovers their faith when they already know the Word and love God, but their faith is fractured.

Faith’s Restoration

I saw the Holy Spirit come as the Wind and pick up the pieces of the bowls and restore them by cementing them back together, and He said, “This is My gift to the people of faith.”

And, He said, “This is the process of the restoration of faith.”

1. Repent for discouragement, because it gives birth to doubt, and whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).

2. Call on the name of Jesus because He is the Author and Finisher of your faith (Hebrews 12:2). Ask Him to restore your faith and to send the Holy Spirit to you (John 16:7).

3. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the Gift of Faith (1 Corinthians 12:9). This is the faith that restores. It is God’s faith and not man’s. This is the faith that becomes the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

2010 will become the year of the restoration of faith as we follow His process of restoration. “Ask, and it shall be given” (Matthew 7:7).

Small Straws by Marsha Burns: “I am not a God who cannot see or understand the tests and trials that you have endured. I see and I have sustained you through the trouble, for I am with you. And now, today, I pronounce a blessing on you—a tangible blessing; just open your heart to receive,” says the Lord. Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.

A Year of Breakthrough

The number 10 also signifies the perfection of divine order. The following is a word that the Lord gave me concerning His “divine order” for 2010:

The Trumpet, by Bill Burns, December 15, 2009: “That which I give you shall become completely yours, because that is My heart towards you, that you fully possess the Kingdom that I have translated you into. So get ready for this new year. For indeed, it shall be a year of triumph for many and it shall be a year of overcoming, because it will be known as the year of the breakthrough of those who follow Me. Zion’s path has already been established. Follow it. Follow it through My word as led by the Spirit. For all things will manifest at Zion. Come then, I say, My children, to that mountain. Come to the mountain that transfigures you, changes you. Come and see, come and taste, come and dine, come enjoy that which I am about to do,” says the Lord.

The Lord told me that He was going to give us a “new centering point” to work from. This will be a new point of entrance into the supernatural realm of the Kingdom.

The Holy Spirit will move us and center us in a position that aligns with heavenly portals. This is much like your satellite television dish, which must be perfectly aligned with the satellite so the signal can be received. As we enter into the heavenlies through these portals, we will see more clearly into God’s purposes than we ever have before. Out of the portal, experiences, visions, dreams, and prophetic words will be more revealing than ever before.

We will break through into a higher spiritual order than we have known. As these portals are established, angelic visitation will occur more frequently. These experiences will quicken our faith and establish such a spiritual reality of the Kingdom that we will begin to have breakthroughs on all levels. Breakthroughs will occur most frequently in our finances and in health issues first, and then in other areas.

The Lord of the Breakthrough is coming in this year to lead His people into victory, which will result in the recovery of those things lost.

A Year of Recovery

The thief has been relentless in this season, and he has stolen from many of God’s children. Nevertheless, the Lord is calling 2010 a year of recovery. He is speaking to us in the same way that He spoke to David in 1 Samuel, chapter 30. While David and his men were away from camp, the enemy came and stole the women, children, and belongings.

David was discouraged when his men blamed him and wanted to stone him.

The Path to Victory:

1. Like David, we must learn to overcome discouragement by encouraging ourselves in the Lord.

2. David inquired of the Lord, and God said, “You will without fail recover ALL.” And, He is saying this to us!

3. David pursued the enemy. Recovery will come because of spiritual warfare. David attacked the enemy and recovered all that had been taken from him and more.

This will be a year of recovery for those who will do spiritual warfare and demand the return of that which has been lost. Have you lost your health? Have you lost your finances? Or, has it been something else? Do you want those things stolen?

Then, go to war, and you will recover all!

A Year of Equipping

Last year the Lord told me that 2009, 2010 and 2011 would be years of equipping. We are being equipped with more of the authority of the Lord to defeat the enemy.

Luke 10:19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

This is one of the reasons that so many people had a hard time in 2009. Equipping takes place in adversity. In other words, adversity is the playing field of equipping. In fact, adversity is necessary for spiritual growth. Adversity is the opposing force against one’s growth. Adversity is trouble, persecution and tribulation that comes against us.

Acts 14:22 We must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God.

We are leaving the Church Age (age of compromise), and we are being moved prophetically into the Kingdom Age (rule of Christ). In doing so, we are going to encounter more opposition from satan. He does not want us to have the Kingdom authority that we are being equipped with.

If we want to be equipped with Christ’s authority, then we must embrace the adversity.

Romans 5:3-4 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

The enemy will come, but do not fear, because the Lord will come to us in His glory.

Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.

The word “standard” here means to establish a way of escape, to cause to disappear or hide.

We will be hidden by the glory of the Lord as He comes to fight with and for us so that we can receive His authority. I believe that this next move of God’s glory will be seen in the West—west of Jerusalem, in the United States.

The cry of the Spirit in this time of equipping is:

Isaiah 60:1-2 Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.

Allow the Lord to equip you. Embrace the adversity by trusting in the Lord to protect you. Walk in the glory, and grow in your authority. It is your destiny.

A Year of the Tithe

The tithe is a tenth part of our income that we give to honor the Lord and those who do His work. In this year of 2010, God is going to honor those who tithe. He spoke these words to me: “I am going to honor those who honor Me with their giving. The benefits of the tithe will be multiplied and amplified in this year. Give, and it will be given back to you, as it is written.”

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Listen to God’s benefits of the tithe:

Malachi 3:10-11 “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try 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 such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the LORD of hosts.

Some would say tithing is not a New Testament principle, but what did Jesus say in the New Testament? In Matthew 23:23 He said tithing is something “you ought to have done.”

Some would say that tithing was part of the law and was eliminated when Jesus fulfilled the law. However, tithing was part of Abraham’s covenant with God (see Genesis 14:20) before the law, and the law could not “annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ.” (Galatians 3:17)

Galatians 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Galatians 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Instruction – do not give your tithe because you have to, but because you want to give to the Lord with great joy.

2 Corinthians 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

When you tithe, wrap it up with faith, and then release it with joy, expecting God to bless you because of your obedience. God will then rebuke the devourer on your behalf and pour out His blessing upon you.

Financial recovery will take place for many in 2010 because of the tithe.

Mysteries Revealed

2010 will be a year when mysteries will be revealed. Some of the things that God ordered in 2009 have not been understood. However, revelation of God’s purposes that took place in our circumstances will be fully understood in 2010, and the benefits of those changes will be received this year.

The Lord usually gives me a chapter in His Word that reveals that which will take place in the coming year. This year I was given Revelation, chapter 10.

In chapter 10, the apostle John hears seven thunders, which spoke.

Revelation 10:4 Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.”

The seven thunders are mysteries yet to be revealed prior to the seventh trumpet.

Revelation 10:7 But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.

The seven thunders may reveal seven distinct mysteries, but I believe they will be more than that. I say this because seven is God’s number of perfection brought to completion. I believe that the seven thunders represent the voice of the Lord that reveals many hidden things.

The book of Revelation is a book of sevens (completion) in which God finishes (through Jesus Christ) all things that pertain to His creation.

Therefore, I believe that a multitude of mysteries concerning the lives of Believers will be revealed. These revelations will set them free from bondages, reveal their purpose, release their gifting, and many other things.

Mysteries will be revealed that will give direction to the Church (corporately), and mysteries will be revealed personally for individual Believers.

2010 will be a year of mysteries revealed, mysteries that will give wisdom and direction, much of which will come prophetically.

In verse 11, John is told that he must prophesy again. Prophets, do you hear this? Many of you have been silenced by the enemy. But God says that you must prophesy again.

The gift of prophecy will become more revealing in these days. We are living in the days of divine announcement. Will you listen, hear, and speak?

These are those things that I was shown for 2010. May you have a blessed and prosperous year!

Bill Burns
Faith Tabernacle
Email: ft111@spiritofprophecy.com

About Bill and Marsha Burns: Bill Burns is the Apostle and Senior Pastor of Faith Tabernacle. He has a powerful prophetic gifting. His heart is to bring revelation with clarity and purpose to the Third Day Church and to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. He continues to raise up the next generation of prophetic ministers.

Marsha Burns is a teacher with pastoral anointing and a Prophet to the local assembly in Kremmling, Colorado. She has been commissioned by the Lord to speak forth words of knowledge and words of wisdom to the nations via the Internet—best known for her Small Straws in a Soft Wind.

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