Recently I was sharing an experience with a friend of feeling the grief of the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30) during a prophetic meeting then felt that this was to be my next blog post.
Over a year ago, I had been called out of the crowd at a conference by name with personal details no one would have known about, not even my best friend. A lengthy, accurate, confirming prophetic word was released with a portion of it being, “Where it has been so bitter in the past, the LORD says you’re going to eat the honey and you’re going to say yum. Shout yum, yum.”
After the word for me ended, he turned to the crowd and repeated that there was a heavenly portal for honey so shout “Yum, yum! The honey is dripping…Drip, drip.” The congregation went wild with people running up to the front altar to “get some honey.” The congregation was manifesting a celebratory fleshly atmosphere with exaggerated movements mimicking the scooping up and eating of honey.
What had been a beautiful moment was suddenly marred with the feeling of the Holy Spirit’s overwhelming grief. The sudden shift in atmosphere shook me to the core. Why would the Holy Spirit be so grieved by the minister confirming a portion of my personal word to the entire congregation? I didn’t understand how that was an error.
Suddenly, I saw a picture of Samson finding honey in the carcass of a lion. The Holy Spirit pointed out that the honey wasn’t the problem. Honey is naturally clean from its original source. The problem is the moment it enters into a dead carcass, it is suddenly defiled. Samson knew this yet he still offered defiled honey to his parents. Tears poured that night, and we did not feel at peace returning for the rest of the conference. The memory was shelved and I renewed my focus on the word given to me.
“Eating the honey” is found in Ezekiel 3:3, Revelation 10:10, Prov 24:13-14, Isaiah 7:15 & Mark 1:6 confirming my calling of a warning prophet/evangelist, much to my dismay. I mean, who WANTS to be the warning prophet calling the church to repent like Ezekiel & Jeremiah & John the Baptist that rebellious leaders despise and reject? It’s much more “fun” being the encouraging prophet, the exciting miracle worker, or the teacher that gives everyone those “ah-ha’s!” Yet, the prophesy showed that one day I WOULD see the sweetness of this calling. I badly needed that reminder of late where I’ve seen a drastic upswing in unrepentant leaders receiving their consequences.
Ezekiel 3: 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. 4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. 5 For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; 6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. 7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted. 8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
Revelation 10: 9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Prov 24: 13 My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: 14 So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.
Isaiah 7:15 – Butter and honeyshall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Mark 1:6 – And John [the Baptist] was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eatlocusts and wild honey;
As the LORD is drawing my attention back to this memory of the conference that night, I’m seeing that night of God’s grief over the congregation’s reaction to the honey with fresh insight. The problem being highlighted was that we have lost the reverence and awe of God’s holy prophetic word and treating the presence of God glibly. Eating honey was symbolic of His people knowing to refuse evil and choose good yet they lacked understanding of the significance of the moment and turned it into feeding frenzy. When the Prophet Samuel would enter a town, the elders would come trembling in fear.
1 Samuel 16:4 – “And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?”
We certainly don’t have that attitude in our churches today…yet. If my dreams are any indication, it’s coming and it won’t be a pretty exit out of the gate until the church learns the new way of running things. If we truly believed that God could see all our sin and would hold us accountable for how we brought our offerings, would we still be as blasé in our attitudes of holding onto our sin as we tried to eat our cake too? We need to wake up because this is what is returning to the House of the LORD as we step across this threshold into something new.
Lev 10: 1-2 – And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. 2 And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
Acts 5:1-5 – But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. 5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
I mentioned the theme of this post with a rabbi who shared a meal at our table recently, and he shed fresh light on my download. Both these examples of God’s wrath happened at the beginning of something new within the children of Israel. With Nadab and Abihu, it was the foundation of the tabernacle service. With Ananias and Sapphira, the New Testament church was just getting rolling and leadership was getting sorted out. Once their sin was exposed, it was too late to repent. They were already dead. Their death served as a severe warning to the rest of the church body to fear the all-knowing God with pure reverence and awe by doing things His way, refusing to tolerate any sin in the camp, either your own or hiding the sin of others. As Achan taught us (Joshua 7), the sin & judgment of one man can ripple out causing catastrophic effects for the entire body of Christ. Not only did he die for his blatant sin for stealing & concealing the first fruits offering against God’s commandments, but his entire family, livestock, and material possessions were destroyed by fire. His sin caused Israel to lose a significant battle, the lives of 36 men many who likely left behind wives and children, the hearts of Israel melted in fear, and in turn their reputation in the eyes of their enemies was tarnished.
A God who is the essence of justice could not turn his back on this sin no matter how much he “loved” Achan. Justice had to be served. Achan and his family were wiped out. Why would God require the death of his family also? Because the iniquity flows down the fathers to the children of the 3rd and 4th generation. At that time, Jesus was not yet crucified to atone for the father’s iniquity. This is why anyone who is closely paying attention to family genealogies will see the Houses of Eli (why by definition wouldn’t be Fearing the LORD enough to get their sin atoned for) being cut off not only spiritually but with physical manifestation of no more sons to carry on their family name.
Jeremiah 23:1-2, 19-22,26,34 – Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. 2 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord… 19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked [pastors/prophets]. 20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. 21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But IF THEY HAD STOOD IN MY COUNSEL, AND CAUSED MY PEOPLE TO HEAR MY WORDS, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings…26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. …34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, “The burden of the LORD,” I WILL EVEN PUNISH THAT MAN AND HIS HOUSE. (**House could be literal immediate family and/or that pastor’s church)
During the prophetic word over me that contained the honey comment, the minister uncomfortably exposed a root of bitterness that had been tainting the river, that sweet waters were coming in and I would drink of the sweet well. I confirmed this to be correct, as bitterness had been a stronghold for at least 3 generations, I was aware of and had been actively fighting against it but it kept coming back. Then he really squirmed and tried to be politically correct as the LORD highlighted that there was still active witchcraft in the generation above me that was the source of bitterness that kept attacking me and shutting off the double portion flow of revelation I carried. Although I heartily agreed I knew witchcraft attacks were causing ongoing problems I had been actively fighting against for over 5 years by then, I was shocked by the source exposed. My parents are life-long missionaries who both come from pastoral families that trace back at least 7 generations of preachers. How was it possible they could be operating in witchcraft???
I was reminded of King Saul.
1 Sam 15:23 – 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
Here we see that even in God’s anointed and chosen king of God’s children, rebellion against God’s commandments is as the sin of witchcraft. The majority of Western hemisphere preachers and these days are committing this sin while operating under their anointing, the sin which is tormenting their family lines via a familiar spirit. The evil spirit that came upon Saul was sent by the LORD as judgment. (1 Sam 18:10) Below shows why so many preacher kids are so messed up – because their parents have departed from God’s ways and taught that the Law no longer applies to us! The iniquity of the fathers goes down to their children until it is atoned for at the cross with His bruises. (Is 53:5)
Malachi 2:1-9 – And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. 2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I WILL CORRUPT YOUR SEED, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. 6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. 7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 BUT YE ARE DEPARTED OUT OF THE WAY; ye have CAUSED MANY TO STUMBLE AT THE LAW; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. 9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been PARTIAL (*aka cherry picking) in the law.
But why did it the witchcraft attacks kick up with such intensity in the last 5+ years? The only thing I could pinpoint was that’s when we first went through deliverance and my firstborn was miraculously healed of autism & severe allergies then we started learning about and obeying God’s commandments. I was led to 1 Samuel 18. King Saul disobeyed God’s commandment to slay ALL Amalekites in ch 15. David is anointed as the replacement king by God’s prophet Samuel in ch 16 then goes back to shepherding the sheep, NOT to the palace as most would think is the next logical step for the newly anointed king. He was kept hidden for a season in the sheep fields. David kills Goliath in Ch 17. King Saul moved David into the palace in Chapter 18 as the leader of his military, again not as king. (**It would be another 15-20 years before he was finally crowned king.)
Then reality hit King Saul. David “behaved himself wisely” (vs 5) under King Saul’s leadership, another way to say that he actively lived out God’s commandments in his daily life with the Fear of the LORD that lead to success (Josh 1:7-8, Ps 111:10), resulting in favour with both God and man, a favour that King Saul did NOT have because the Kingdom of God no longer rested upon him. The noticed disparity between the two men made King Saul so jealous and bitter against David, he started hurling javelins trying to destroy what David carried. David served King Saul as long as he could, even returning and forgiving King Saul when he thought the threats were over, but it finally got to a point that he finally had to withdraw from King Saul’s presence to preserve his own life, communicating only through couriers or safe distances. David never had a contentious bone in his body against King Saul, refusing the easy opportunity to destroy him when he could.
Why is God bringing this coming up now? As we see the Saul spirit in the earth being dealt with by the LORD, some by death and thankfully some by deliverance, we will see those who will be a part of restoring the Tabernacle of David in the earth begin to emerge from their wilderness caves. They won’t fit the religious mindset molds as the perfect leaders, just like David being God’s choice shocked Samuel and everyone else in David’s family, as being too young. David’s mighty men were the rejects, the outcasts, the ones in debt yet they put God first in everything they did and as a result, they were given supernatural favor and strength to overcome enemies that others couldn’t. The new breed of Davidic leaders won’t be perfect, but they will run to repent when they stumble, unlike the Saul’s who remain in their rebellion and whose lives will be cut short by the consequences of an unfavored life as a result.
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