About five years ago my wife planted a grape vine.  A couple of years later she planted two more.  We knew nothing about grapes.  But we sure are learning and it is bringing scripture to life.  Jesus says in John 15:1-2:

" I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."

Vines won't produce really anything the first three years.  It takes time.  The first year it began to produce (3rd year) I let it grow.  Those vines were shooting out everywhere and growing fast.  My goodness it looked great.  But it did not produce much fruit at all.  I trimmed it a little and the next year it did a little better; but not much better.

The next year I pruned it so aggressively Brenda was concerned that I'd killed it.  Boy was she wrong!  That year it produced more fruit than the first two combined.  Then I learned, the more I pruned the vines that produced fruit, the larger the grapes grew.  The fruit of the vine became plump and plentiful verses puny and pitiful. 

Then I began to actually do some research to learn more about how to actually grow grapes.  One of the things I learned was that to grow good grapes it is recommended that you remove 80-90% of the previous years growth.  Think about that. That is aggressive.   

Now I learned that by experience!  Imagine if I'd paid attention to what the scripture said and also to what experienced vine-dressers taught before I started growing grapes.  Typical guy!  Trying to operate something without reading the owners manual first.  Sorry, I digressed!

So the Lord has been challenging me to apply these truths from His word to  my life and our ministry.  Here is what I have learned.

Zion was marked by 24/7/365 prayer, praise and worship.  It was established by King David because He understood how critical God's abiding presence was to him, and the success of his people, his city and his nation.  The road to Zion is paved through prayer, praise and worship.

Isaiah 35:8-10
A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. ....   And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away. NKJV

2 Samuel 6:13-15
And so it was, when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod.  So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.  NKJV

Excerpt from Aligning with the Apostolic Volume III - "The Spiritual Architect" by Tim Taylor

1 Corinthians 3:9-11
For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.  For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. NKJV

Paul the apostle is the one who penned this portion of scripture which provides keen insight into another aspect of the apostolic gift, its role and its order.  He describes himself as a “master builder.”  The Greek word translated “master builder” literally means chief architect.  Architects are the first ones to work on a project and design plans which move a structure from vision into reality.  These plans provide the pattern from which the general contractor and all of the sub-contractors work from. 

This is why in 1 Corinthians 12:28 apostles go first, prophets second and teachers third.  It is an order of function.  God has uniquely designed this gift with revelation and wisdom to build.  This gift working with the prophet lays the foundation for all of the rest of the gifts to successfully build their part while interacting with the rest of the team.

Dr. Emmanuel Ziga of Grace for All Nations click here hosted the Hour of Prayer Conference June 13-16.  I was honored to speak during a few of the sessions regarding the restoration of David's tabernacle.

During the conference I shared some of my experiences and the fruit of the ORT prayer strategy which is designed to establish 24/7 prayer in a city while also forming councils representing all 7 spheres of society and the five fold ministry.  This strategy is based upon a revelation and a goal to see David's tabernacle restored today.  During the course of my ministry I shared how God had marked this message with more than 70+ signs and wonders along with references to Psalm 18:6-14 and Isaiah 22:22 in two sessions on Friday.  I also introduced the concept of an ARC (apostolic resource center) which hosts and facilitates 24/7 prayer, praise and worship in a city.

Before my last session Saturday evening on June 15th the GFNA team was involved in heavy intercession at the Westin Hotel in Bellevue.  One of the intercessors looked out and saw the sun with two halo's around it and took the picture.  Everyone in the meeting witnessed this.  

Sign & Wonder Training
That evening they shared this with me which provided a marvelous opportunity for some "just in time training" on signs and wonders.  

There was the sun with two rings of light or rainbows around it.  These are called sun dogs and also 22 degree circle halos (King 5 News called is a double son halo)!.  I know this because the Lord had done this before a few years ago after we shared the scriptures presented through ORT in Bellingham Washington. 

• Genesis 1:14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; NKJV
• Hebrews 2:4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?  NKJV

The two halos around the sun pointed to the Word. Now don't be overly enamored by the signs.  God uses signs just the way we use signs.  Signs point to something else which is the main thing or contain a special message.  In this case the signs pointed to and reinforced an emphasis on God's word.   

God bore witness with these signs as 2 Samuel 22 refers to the same portion of scripture as Psalm 18:6-14 and Isaiah 22:22 deals with the "key of David."   God used the sign to point to this message being brought forth during "The Hour of Prayer Conference."  To hear the full message I encourage you to contact GFANA for the CDs from the conference.  It is powerful.  My heavenly Father wants, desires, longs for churches to do what David did in Zion in their city.  But it gets even better.

The next day I checked King 5 News website and found this.

I met Representative Matt Shea in Spokane WA in 2010 while I was mobilizing the Church in that region through Operation Rolling Thunder.  I liked Matt right away.  He is an army officer, a combat veteran, an attorney and a Christian.  I like all that, but what I truly like is that Matt entered the political arena to serve.  He did not check his morals and convictions at the door of political expediency.  From my observation, truth is something that is important to him and he is not afraid to stand up with boldness and courage to fight for the truth. 

I remember the oath I took to defend the constitution of these United States and from watching him over the last three years, I'd say he remembered that oath too.  It also appears like he has actually read it and is defending it rather than undermining it and violating it for political expediency.  I appreciate the moral conviction and courage he has been demonstrating.  Now, I'd like to share with you some sage advice he just offered in his recent blog

Carl and Brenda Krames have been overseeing the ORT strategy in Gainesville since 2009.  Last year they began to form the government council in their Transformation Task Force by reaching out to law enforcement in their city and county.  One of the prayer targets was cold cases.

In March I reported in the following article "Gainesville FL - ORT Strategy the Police Chief & Decreasing Crime!" the long term effects of concentrated prayer on crime.  One month later I reported in "Strategic Prayer Breaks Cold Case Wide-open - Serial Murderer Apprehended" how they played a role in the case of a serial killer.  

On May 3, 2013 a fugitive who had been on the run for 11 years happened to turn herself into authorities here in their county.  Click here for Long-missing Pennsylvania mom surrenders in Gainesville.  

Why did this fugitive just happen to turn herself in here?  Well, we really don't know.  But, I can't help but think their targeted prayers requested by law enforcement officials on cold cases had something to do with it.  

This is the fruit of continual prayer inviting God's abiding presence.

Attention Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle

Two days ago I received a call from a prophet (seer) I know. I discovered Tim McClellan 7 years ago through Operation Rolling Thunder.  He has a well developed gift and he has submitted words for over the last 7 years and I (we) have found them to be accurate.  He is also a man of character and submitted to one of my sons in the Lord (Jason Hubbard).

Tim  reported that he had two dreams on April 17, 2013

He saw jet trails (contrails) flying from South America (southern portion of the continent) over the Pacific Ocean then it turned right, split in two and one went to Los Angeles and the other to San Francisco.  He went back to sleep and saw the same thing going into Seattle.  

The word he got was that judgment was coming to these cities and he was to sound the alarm and mobilize the Church to pray.  We are to pray like Jeremiah and Amos prayed asking the Lord to relent.  

1 Corinthians 14:29 says let the prophets speak two or three and let the others judge.  In keeping with the mandate we've received from the Lord I have begun to form a prophets council made up of proven prophets we work with across the nation.  In collaboration with other apostles and teachers we will use the Word of God and our discernment to decide if it is from the Lord and if so, what action is required.    

Hebrews 2:4  -  God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with
various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? 

We invited Al Houghton as the primary speaker during our Key of David II conference. Revelation says that we are called to be "kings and priests."  The Church today excels in the priestly function but is weak when it comes to performing the functions of a king.  Revelation 19:11 uses Jesus to illustrate the role of a king which is to judge (make decisions) and make war.  

Al brings a revelation of Jesus the judge teaching us how to plead our case with God's word while I emphasized how to seat the Ancient of Days in the courtroom of heaven and shared the revelation Christ gave me concerning ARC's (apostolic resource centers).  We also had a number of  local pastors here as well as leaders from Canada, Texas, California, YWAM in Hawaii and even one from Jordan.  Therefore I devoted a portion of time to presenting Operation Rolling Thunder.

Once again God chose to mark the message with supernatural signs in the heavens and on the earth.  He testified in front of many witnesses as he opened the treasury of heaven and poured out hail in the midst of worship Saturday evening.  These unusual weather events came alive as the scriptures described the characteristics associated with God's abiding presence in a community.  This is the 73rd+ time that this has occurred.  I've learned that God does this to encourage His people to DO HIS WORD until they see measurable results.

Carl and Brenda Krames began working with us using the Operation Rolling Thunder (ORT) strategy (click here) in Gainesville FL and on the University of Florida campus.  They've been focusing on the 24/7 prayer portion of the strategy.

About a year ago they asked us  to begin to pray for them about forming the strategic councils which are part of the ORT strategy.  They started a government council by facilitating a meeting with pastors and local law enforcement (police chief & sheriff).   

I remember them asking us to join with them to pray.  One of the first requests for prayer was regarding cold cases.  Yesterday they reported how that law enforcement in their county was credited with solving a 30 year old case which led to the capture of a serial murder.  Click here for Local records chief hailed for helping crack a nationwide cold case.  Thank you Lord! 

That my friends is a testimony that illustrates what Christ can do when God's people step out in love with God's wisdom to serve their community.