PROPHETIC WORDS

PROPHETIC INSIGHTS FOR 2019 (Part 1)

by Lyn Packer

As I was in prayer for 2019 I saw and heard several things in the Spirit, which I’ll share during these prophetic insights – the first of them was of someone sitting cross-legged on the floor weaving flax leaves into a large wide topped bag in which many things could be carried. Here in New Zealand we are very familiar with that picture, as flax weaving is one of our nation’s Maori cultural expressions. In the past, one of the uses the bags or baskets had, was to carry food. As I saw the vision, the Lord reminded me of a Maori saying relating to sharing what we have with others, that translated says “With my food basket and your food basket the people will thrive.” I realised that together ‘God and us’ each providing our part, would be the way that the people we serve would thrive.

This year as I prayed I felt the Lord talk to me about several areas. While these areas may initially seem diverse in subject, they all relate in some way to the church and the work He is doing amongst us, preparing us, filling us so that we may be the blessing we are meant to be to our communities, ensuring our communities continue to thrive. Here’s the rest of what we talked about and what He showed me. 

There is a fresh understanding of the new wineskin and our desperate need for it

As I’ve been praying, I kept hearing a phrase in the Spirit – “We need a new wineskin”. I realised, as I heard it, that it wasn’t the Lord speaking, but His church. On asking the Lord about it I came to understand that the church had become somewhat fixated on the idea that the new wineskin talked about in Scripture was a new church structure, and that this new church structure would be the answer to our current problems. We keep quoting that verse like it’s the answer to everything – when the new wineskin is revealed everything will be fine, the church will magically change. Everyone’s looking for a new way to do things, a new system to put into place, but what the Lord showed me was that our understanding of the new wineskin is short-sighted and ‘back-to-front’. It was putting end results first.  

The Lord showed me that the wineskin we needed was not a new structure, but a renewed mind; that a renewed mind is the foundational thing that would lead to the changes we are hungering, and crying out for.

The Lord is challenging wrong thinking patterns that have become entrenched and established over time and is calling for a renewing of our minds on a scale not seen before. As our minds are renewed we will live from accessing the mind of Christ, seeing things from the Trinity’s perspective, and functioning from that. This will lead to the reformation that we desire.

Functioning from a renewed mind is becoming ever more recognised as being essential in this season. More and more we will see a difference between those whose minds have been renewed – who see, think, and operate from Heaven’s perspective and with New Covenant understanding – and those whose minds have not been renewed, and who still see, think and operate from either a worldly or an Old Covenant mindset.

The new wineskin we are searching for is, in reality, a renewed mind, not a new church structure. Any new church structure built on an old mindset will soon become entrenched with the same old problems, but a renewed mind leads to renewed thinking, changed attitudes, actions, and living. People with renewed minds live, and therefore model, something different, and that’s how things will change. If we take old thinking and old behaviours into new church models we’ll stuff them up, just like we have the old ones.

In this season it is critical to allow the Lord to work with us to renew our minds. The Lord promises that Holy Spirit will work in us and help us as together He, and we, challenge and change our ways of thinking, and take on the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16; 5:17 PT).

 “Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.” (Romans 12:2).  

Refocusing on the Trinity instead of on their messengers

There is a shift back toward a renewed focus on the Trinity and their work, instead of a focus on those who work for them. There is a renewed focus on Jesus and the Trinity being the ones that are exalted and lifted up and made room for in our lives, our church services and conferences.

There’s a move away from the superstar Christianity we’ve unwittingly been caught up in over the past few generations. Many things have fed into that - one being the access and sharing that has happened through the internet. Another is the whole superstar culture that the world has developed that we have unwittingly bought into as Christians and transferred to the preachers we love the most. And sadly, a few preachers and pastors have fostered the superstar mindset by holding themselves separate from the people they minister to, escaping to their green rooms instead of praying for people, and also demanding exorbitant fees and special treatment for ministering.

There is a grace and supernatural empowering being extended for both speakers and church at this time – for the church, to realise the need to stop putting people on pedestals and to repent of that kind of thinking, while at the same time honouring people in a right way; and for speakers, that grace and empowering is to help them remain humble and accessible, and for serving without the excessive and unnecessary trappings of superstar service.

Be aware that the enemy will try to take hold of this beautiful thing God is doing in renewing our focus on the Trinity and their work being the centre of attention. The enemy will try to get us to remove honour and to assign blame to the preachers and accuse them of trying to draw people to themselves etc. People will be tempted to speak in a way that dishonours the preachers, or the gifts God brings to us through them. In the midst of this return to honouring the Trinity we need to remember to still honour people and the gifts that they have, just not to revere them or make them a false idol. 

A shift in leadership style and understanding

Within this precious movement of returning our focus to the Trinity and away from superstar leaders, God is calling preachers to come out from their ‘green room sanctuaries’ and back to being in touch with, and amongst, the people they serve. There’s a leadership style change happening and it is being called for by the people, who are the church. Many church leaders have slipped into a state of being out of touch with the hunger in their congregations for genuine relationship with them, and God is saying it’s time to wake up to this. This generation want authenticity and genuine relationships from their pastors. People are looking for mothers and fathers, that is, pastors and leaders who truly care for them as family, not just as those who can fulfil a leader’s vision.

They are also not satisfied any longer to come and watch pastors and “special” people, or superstars, minister; they want to minister to others, they want the reality of living a supernaturally natural life to be theirs. The church (the people) want to be equipped to minister in their spheres of influence in society. They are looking for leaders who will equip them and release them to minister, treating them like mature sons and daughters, not like kids who must ask their parent’s permission to do something.

BIO