Articles

Message for the Church of Maranatha

given through Ian Oliver to the elders on Tuesday morning, July 22, 2014

I just want to speak to the church. The church has gone through tremendous transition. Your direction is right. Your direction is moving you and this church into the purposes of God , and in the right direction. God will deal with all of the peripheral stuff, so don’t sweat it. Don’t worry about it. It is stuff that you go through that you always find happens when you go through transition.

So keep your focus on the direction that you are moving in. Right now, it is crucial to continue in that direction, even though you have met opposition, and you have seen some things happen that you didn’t want to happen as a result. You have seen some move away. You have seen some people upset.

You have seen some people go through struggles with this, and they have wondered, even said, “Are we doing the right thing?” God says, “Yes! You are moving in the right direction. You are doing the right thing.” Don’t worry about those who have kind of moved away. Some of them will come back. Some won’t, but some of them will come back, and will see the purposes of God in this.

The pressure that it has added to you financially is coming to an end! There is going to be an inflow of new souls. God is now looking to add. You are in the place that God can add to you.

You went through a time of taking away, of removal. You know the Bible talks about there’s a time to throw stones away, but there is a time to gather. Now you are moving into a time of gathering. There is going to be an inflow of souls, and you must refocus on winning the lost. This is a time of harvest. It is a time when the Lord wants us to move out into the harvest fields! Many of you understand that. You have gone through a season where there hasn’t been a lot added to the church. There seems to have been more taken away than has been added. God says, “I’m going to add now!”

You have built, you are on a good foundation. You are on a good place. I see you have gone through, like, stages—this stage, and you have levelled, this stage, and you have levelled. You are now at a stage, and at a place where God can add to by His Spirit. It’s going to take simply a willingness on your part, a willingness to be a voice for God in the community again.

It’s almost like you lost your voice in the community. It is almost like some of you thought you lost your credibility, but God says, “No, you have never lost your credibility!” Your credibility has always been there, but your voice was kind of stilled. Your voice was kind of silenced. But now, God says, “Open your mouth, lift up your voice again! Let the cry of God be heard through you to the community as a church, as a people, as a unit, as one!”

And He says, “I am now going to do things as signs and wonders again. The signs and wonders are going to come back!” God is going to manifest Himself in your midst! The cry of your heart is to see more of God! You are going to see more of God! You are going to see more of the manifestation of the things of the Spirit of God, because you have positioned yourself aright before the Lord! You have positioned yourself in a place where God can do this.

Many churches are going to miss because they haven’t positioned themselves. They have not been prepared to come out of their tradition. They have not been prepared to move forward in the things of the Spirit of God, but because you have positioned yourself, you are now in a place where you can start to reap for the many years that you have sown, and you have watered, and you’ve done things, and you have just been steady. God says, “Now is the harvest time! Now is the time for you to move into that, and to start to reap from it.” So don’t hold back! Don’t change your direction! Very important, do not change the direction that you are moving in, though some would like to.

I just see this. In your enthusiasm in the newness for the things that God is doing, don’t become so enthusiastic in it that you lose the basic truths. Stay firm to your foundation! Stay firm! Stay deeply rooted in what God has given you over the years! Don’t be so quick to adapt to the world. You see, the manifestation of the Spirit of God is what is going to attract, not a new program, not a new thing, not a new way. It is, “Stay true to the old!”

There is a scripture coming to my spirit. “Remove not the old landmarks” (Proverbs 22:28; 23:10, 11). Because when you remove the landmarks (and this is the danger that a lot of churches fall into) is that when fall into the newness and the freshness of God’s Spirit, they have a tendency to lose the old landmarks, and then people lose their direction. They become wishy-washy. They become floating, and a lot of people are floating right now, and you need to anchor solidly in the old landmarks, but be prepared to push into the freshness and the newness of the Spirit of God, not letting go of what is right, and what is good and what is holy.

God is a holy God. He hasn’t changed. We cannot approach God with an unholy attitude. In fact, the Spirit of the Lord spoke this morning and gave me a scripture. I want us to look at it if you have got your Bible, and I want you to look at Psalm 89. There is a verse there that I believe the Lord wants to implant upon your spirit. Psalm 89 is a beautiful Psalm from David, crying out to the Lord.

But in v. 7 he says this: “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence by all them that are about Him.” The closer you are to God, the more reverence you need of His Presence. We do a lot today in church that drives the Presence of God away. We really do, folks, and you men and women in leadership need to be magnets to the Presence of God. It is the Presence of God that sets us apart. It’s the Presence of God that we should delight in and desire. More of His Presence! And so I encourage you to push into that, to move into it.

You cannot embrace the holiness of God without embracing personal holiness, and develop a personal holiness, a relationship that reflects that. So don’t become contaminated by the things of the world. Stay pure! Stay true! Stay holy! Keep your focus! And the blessing of God is going to be above and beyond your expectation. You have expected great, but God says, “The blessing is greater than even your expectation!”

The favour of God will rest upon you as you move deeper into the things of God. The favour of God will rest upon you. Now the favour of God is going to be a great witness to this community. They need to see the favour of God on the children of God, so you can anticipate that the businesses in your fellowship are going to blossom and grow. Some have come through hard times. There has been a hardness. There has been a hardness here. There has been a real time of struggle, and a time of just having to push through. Just push through!

God says, “You are coming into a time of My favour, because, when people see my favour…” I mean, who wants to join a losing team? Nobody wants to be part of a losing team. So the favour of God is to say, “Hey, this is the winning team. This is My team. I have chosen them to win,” and so God wants that favour to be evident in the community.

So these are the things of God that He wants you to move into, and as you stay true to the things of God, you can expect to see God manifesting His Presence in your midst. I mean real manifestations, not an emotional reaction. They are not always bad, but they are not always God either. Did you hear me? We can react emotionally, but God is going to show up and do things that can only be Him! If you’ll receive that, and move into it, you are going to see God’s moving, and God’s power. Praise the Lord!

Prophetic Word Given for Maranatha through Ian Oliver on February 25, 1994, but delivered for Maranatha on Wednesday, July 13, 1994 at Rock Lake

You must learn to focus on the positive in your life, not the negative. This means keep thanking Me for what you are, not for what you are not. It is true there are things that need to be changed in your life, but change will not come if you focus your situation on the negative.

The fact is, this is a trick of your enemy, to try to draw you into needless battles. When Satan gets you to focus on the negatives in your life, it will cause you to pray negative prayers. These are prayers that come out of you, your soul, your mind and your situation. These prayers are not effective in spiritual warfare and are mostly confessions of failure.

I do not speak these things to condemn you, but to give you light, joy and faith. Don’t be negative, be positive. Thank and Praise Me for what you are and for what I am doing in your life, for our mutual enemy hates it when you do what I designed you for…that is to live in fellowship with Me and glorify My Name. When you praise Me you release My power in your life, and that will bring the changes that are necessary.

When you focus on what you are in My Son, it will be much easier for you to see what you can further become, but if you continue to focus on the negatives, your growth will be very small. It is like you are trying to build a house by continually laying a foundation.

I have designed for you to grow so stop making it difficult and work with Me. Yes, there is need for change in your life, but you only see the smallest part of it, but I am doing a far greater work than the little you see and it is necessary for you to trust Me.

You express this trust by praising and thanking Me. These outward expressions will:

1. Reinforce your faith. 2. Declare victory to your enemy. 3. Welcome Me to do further work in your life. 4. Release you from guilt and bondage. 5. Enlighten others to My power. 6. Always lift you up and make you strong in Me.

When you praise Me, you acknowledge Me at work instead of Satan. So start praising and thanking Me. You are a new creature. This means that I have RECREATED you!

From my part, I have already completed the work. You are simply moving into that completion. The only thing you do is effect the rate or “speed” at which you move forward into what I have completed. Praise, worship and thankfulness are the “accelerator,” whereas negative prayers, complaints and doubts are the “brakes” to your growth and coming into what I have prepared for you.

You see, you really cannot do anything to add to what I have done for you, so let go of the brakes and push hard on the accelerator and let’s get going on the wonderful journey I have planned for you.

Yes, there will be times of pain, but you will also find times of joy beyond compare. Just trust Me!

Lovingly, your Father

Prophetic Word for Maranatha

given through Ian Oliver at Rock Lake on July 14, 1994.

No more will Maranatha be a “hissed at” church, for you have been a word of reproach, and a “hissed at” people. And no more, says the Lord, will that be your word, for My Glory will rise upon you and from in your midst. And My Glory will be that which causes men to look at you with amazement.

And they will gaze upon you because they will see the favour of the Lord upon you. Now there is a healing that I must do. For there is a root of disappointment, and there is a root of bitterness, or a fruit of bitterness that has come out of a root of disappointment. And God is going to cut that off. God is going to cut the root off. He wants you to see that. But He says to you—do not pluck of the fruit because the fruit, while it may taste sweet will produce bitterness. And he says, do not pluck the fruit.

The fruit is not going to die immediately. The fruit will remain on the tree until it dries up from the very root. So He says, “Do not partake of the fruit that causes this bitterness.” Now you partake of the fruit by speaking these words that should not be spoken.

For there are those that have gone out from you, and Satan would put it in your heart to speak evil of them. And the Lord says that if you are to bless your enemies, how much more are you to bless your brethren that do not understand? How much more are you to bless those that are not quite where you are. “Speak blessing—speak favor, speak the right things,” He says, “for I, the Lord, am in control.”

And He says when you do that, you are not partaking of that fruit. And because I have cut the root off, ultimately the fruit will perish. But it is not My design that any person would perish in the process. There is need, therefore, of love to come up within you. For you must love your brethren. You must love those that have even spoken words against you. You must put forgiveness in your heart. And you must reach out to them in love. You must work the work of reconciliation. For if I have reconciled you unto Me, how much more ought you to reconcile yourselves one to the other.

BUT YOU CANNOT DO THAT ON THE NATURAL REALM, therefore draw on that WELL that flows from deep within, and draw upon My Spirit, for My Spirit will give you the ability to do it, and it will bring forth the right fruit. There is a fruit that is going to come that many will come to pluck from your branches. For the Lord is going to cause His
Spirit to rise upon you, and it will produce a fruit in your midst that many will come and pluck from.

For you shall be like a pleasant tree—the planting of the Lord, and the sap running through you will be My Spirit, and the fruit that will drop off of you and hang off of you in abundance will be love, joy, peace, temperance, faith—these will be there in abundance, and many will come and pluck the fruit from your branches!