It's a New Year and time for you to shift into a higher gear. This year is going to one almighty wild ride as the church becomes enveloped by His cloud of love and peace. You are going to be overwhelmed by a constant, tranquil state of total assurance that you are His... forever!

Did you know that Jesus isn't looking for another Lonnie Frisbee, William Branham, John G Lake or Benny Hinn? As great as they all were and Benny still is, the focus from Heaven right now is on this generation of “Cloud Babies”. Those who live and dwell and have their being in the tangible presence of God 24/7.

You are a unique individual and the world and the church needs what you have.

There has been a”Celebrity” culture developing within the church for many years now, which isn't all together bad, so long as we follow the cloud and not the crowd. We are at saturation point with information but we are greatly lacking revelation. A new years resolution may last a few days but a new years revelation will last for eternity.

I know people that can quote every “celebrity” minister word for word and phrase for phrase but they can't tell me in which book Moses had his Tent of Meeting... or Tent of the Presence. I believe this year Holy Spirit will be drawing a focus back to the Word so that He can release revelation of it into our spirits. I love it when I hear of someone's revelation, it releases an anointing when they share it and it releases overcoming/breakthrough power into the lives of those who receive it.

There is so much that God wants to share with you.. directly.. you and Him, your very own Tent of Meeting. Numbers 11. While it is great to listen to and drink from anointed ministers and the revelations they have, it is so vital that you get your own. So that when hard times and trials come, you will have a solid foundation within you in which to stand. You cant just get on the phone to the latest celebrity preacher and have them pray for you. That is when your personal relationship with Jesus kicks in. He is always with you, He has His Spirit living inside of you and with that comes everything that brings life and Godliness.

God has an entire army of cloud babies who are living in the Cloud of His Glory. Who have been transformed by His love and set on fire by His grace. Ezekiel 1 gives us a great description of the Living Creatures, Cherubim. They each had the face of a Man, a Lion an Ox and an Eagle. They are representative of the personality and the character of Jesus.

Verse 12 says... ; wherever the Spirit would go, they went, and they turned not when they went. AMP.

This generation (you) is one who will only go where the Spirit goes (the glory cloud) and this is a generation who will move as one and will not break ranks. The four living creatures moved as one and only went where the cloud went. So keep your head in the cloud, don't get proud because the harvest is about to be ploughed.

Have you ever had someone come to you and say that “God has told me to come and tell you that you are heading in the wrong direction, you should be sitting under Mr XYZ and you need to be going to ABC Church.” Recently one of my interns was bombarded by “prophetic directives” from a few different sources, none of which were speaking from the Glory Cloud. How do we know that? Because when God speaks a word He backs it up with His presence. Apart from that, all three sources came up with totally different cities and pastors. Be careful speaking on behalf of God. Sure it's okay to make some mistakes, but carelessly throwing around so called 'prophetic words' of direction is out right rebellion. When you do give a directive word and the person who receives it follows through, you are now accountable to God for that word. If you are speaking for God it is critically essential that you are really speaking for God.

I grew up on the water and sailing was a great part of my child hood. When I used to race my little yacht against my peers, it all came down to position, your ability to tack, and the wind getting into your sails. As children of God we are all on totally different yet equally exciting journey's with Him. We all start the race at the same point. The wind blows and for those that have their sails ready, they will start to move forward. Sooner or later you will need to make a tactical manouver in order to keep the wind in your sails. So you have the choice, tack left or tack right. The choice you make will either increase or decrease the wind in your sails.

You will either speed up or come to a grinding halt. All the other yachts are busy tacking left and right throughout the race, but eventually all will end up at the same place. Jesus has us all on different tack's and we are all in different seasons of our lives. We all have different people speaking into our lives and that can change as the years go by. Make sure the people speaking into your life speak out of the cloud.

If this particular intern was insecure in his relationship with God and he didn't trust his current mentors, then he may have tacked off course and run a ground. I love and value the prophetic in people and I encourage all my church people to launch out into it, but let's not use it to control people.

I test everything by the cloud. If what someone is saying to me has the tangible anointing of God on it, then I will definitely listen. Even if it is the most super anointed apostle and what they are saying is not smothered in the liquid honey of His love, then it's dry and dead and it won't last.

The Lord has a new and unique calling for you, so don't create a template for God by looking at what others may be walking in. God has a special tailor-made mission for you that can turn the world upside-down should you chose to accept it.

Follow the Cloud, not the crowd!



Matt Ford
Fire It Up Ministries
www.fireitup.com.au