Hill of Zion Magazine - SUMMER 2108: A SEASON TO WORSHIP

Women of A city on a hill cannot be hid.

Light

Issue 04 Summer 2018

Matthew 5:14

Rescuing, Restoring, and Releasing a Redeemed Army Hill of Zion: Rescuing, Restoring, and Releasing a Redeemed Army Hill of Zion Co-Founder: Harold Morgan Hill of Zion Co-Founder: Sarah Morgan Chief Editor: Sarah Morgan Proof Editor: Carissa Meyer Layout and Design: Robert Gonzales Cover Photography: Nicole Chelf Instagram: @thehillofzion Facebook: @thehillofzion Twitter: @thehillofzion Women of Light and Bio’s: Christi Blain Lisa Cortese Jen Enoch Kelli Goin Mallory Jenkins Katy Johnson Carissa Meyer Sarah Morgan Sally Peterson Christina Russell Jessica Sowards Amy Terry

Dear Reader, Two years ago I was shaking off the sand from the wilderness, ready to cross over Jordan to claim all my promises from the Lord.

It was spiritual war, and I was on the frontline.

I still have bruises from the initial blow, but I will NOT go down without a fight. I believe too much in all the visions, dreams, and promises God has been sharing with me over the years...not just for me but for His church, His people, my family, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I’m ready to advance in worship!

I don’t know what I expected when I finally crossed over Jordan, but I didn’t expect war. I didn’t expect betrayal, divorce, rejection, fear, loss, abandonment, guilt, shame, anger, bitterness...I didn’t expect any of the jabs from the enemy that brought me to my knees with wounds that pierced deep into my soul.

I definitely didn’t expect my eyes to be opened to the spiritual realm. I didn’t expect to be gasping for breath as I was being suffocated by the real enemy in the darkness that surrounded me.

Our fight is not against people on earth. We are fighting against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness. We are fighting against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world. (Ephesians 6:12 ICB)

So sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him. This is the spiritual way for you to worship. (Romans 12:1 ICB) This is a season of war...which means it’s a season to worship.

It’s when the Israelites blew the trumpets the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

What are you waiting for, Warrior? Grab your trumpets, march in obedience, and when God says blow that trumpet...you blow it with all your heart and take what God has already given you.

Much Love, Sarah Morgan

This is a season of war … which means it’s a season to worship.

Be strong in the Lord and in his great power. Wear the full armor of God. Wear God’s armor so that you can fight against the devil’s evil tricks.

(Ephesians 6:10-11 ICB)

Table Talk Contents An Ezekiel Generation...........................................................................1 Jessica Sowards It Doesn’t Have to be That Hard.............................................................3 Morgan Paul Worship is Your Weapon........................................................................4 Christi Blain The Warrior in You is Ready...................................................................5 Rose Jordan What the Mountains Won’t Move..........................................................7 Danette Duncan Come to the Heart of Worship...............................................................9 Carissa Meyer Chosen in Love....................................................................................10 Erin McEndree I Will Sing............................................................................................13 Katy Johnson Love, Mercy and Grace.......................................................................14 Kelli Goin The Greatest of These is Love...............................................................16 Lisa Cortese Unconditional Love.............................................................................18 Sally Peterson Hope Will Rise....................................................................................19 Mallory Jenkins The Buffalo Tree...................................................................................24 Linda Ahern Author Bios.........................................................................................27 Women of Light: Prayer Journal...........................................................33 Prayer Journal Pages.............................................................................34

An Ezekiel Generation Jessica Sowards A few years ago, I heard the Lord clearly invite me into an “Ezekiel Life”.

He told me, back when He first began to speak of Ezekiel to me, that He was raising a generation of these faithful ones...an Ezekiel Generation. They would come from the most common places. Some would come from seminaries but more would come from kitchens and classrooms and tattoo parlors. They would speak a common language, they would dance a common dance. And they would be anything but common.

I immediately began to study the book and anything I could find that was written about it, and in searching, I came to a couple of quick conclusions: Ezekiel was used mightily by the Lord, he experienced incredible insight into the Kingdom of God, and he was very weird.

I said, yes.

My voice trailed and tears began to stream as I simply said, “Excuse me. I’m just realizing how faithful God is to do exactly as He has said He would.”

Rather simply, with my heart set fully to obedience and truly not grasping understanding of the thing, I gave a wholehearted “yes” and set down the road of an Ezekiel life.

Not much seemed to change at first. Life went on. My boys grew. My dreams of homesteading unfolded. My marriage strengthened. I received prophetic words. I learned to wait on them and war with them.

Since my great realization, I have come to submit everything I put my hands upon to the Lord.

It was a random afternoon, years after He posed the invitation, as I sat on a Q & A panel sporting a fading black eye and a killer sunburn that God showed me what He had done with my life.

In deep prayers, surely the weeding of my garden is breaking down strongholds. Surely my love and patience for obstinate goats, when married to my prayers and my revelation-hungry heart, is moving something in this supernatural kingdom.

My shiner came from a goat that kicked me as I struggled to train her to be milked. The sunburn I earned in the garden, day after day breaking ground, sowing and nurturing. My farm had grown into something wild and lovely in the passing time since I’d picked up the mantle of Ezekiel, and as I sat on the panel and someone asked about prophetic acts, the realization that it was all symbolic hit me like a ton of bricks.

We get so fixated on what we see in the natural that we forget this natural world was spoken into existence by the supernatural and within the supernatural. This is not a natural world where supernatural things sometimes happen. This is a supernatural reality in which a natural world happens to exist.

My voice trailed and tears began to stream as I simply said, “Excuse me. I’m just realizing how faithful God is to do exactly as He has said He would.”

And more than ever, I am certain that a generation is rising up to shake every faulty foundation that stands as grounds for man-made programs

1

masquerading as the body of Christ. This is a general that has locked eyes with the fiery eyes of Jesus and will settle for nothing less than His reality becoming the governing reality of their lives.

on behalf of God’s people, He is fully able of giving us eyes to see.

But if we could see the effects of our every action before we agreed to it, how anemic would our faith become? Would we be willing to step boldly on to water simply because He said, “Come” or would we weigh out every one of His requests with our limited, human understanding?

The Ezekiel Generation is breaking forth.

They are experiencing revival and awakening in the most beautiful of ways. They will offend the religious and perplex the complacent. They are lovers of Jesus in the most passionate sense. They have counted their lives as nothing and have committed their hearts to finding Him.

If I push my laptop from this table to the floor, I know it will surely go crashing to the floor. I am certain in the pull of gravity. But if God tells me to hand one hundred dollars to a complete stranger, why do I hesitate? Why do I question so fiercely?

Many of those in this peculiar generation of burning ones have felt the last few years were nothing but trial and testing. Perhaps they have even submitted their troubles to the Lord as refining, and in many ways this is accurate. After all, does He not turn all things to the good of those who love HIm and are called according to His purpose? But I believe there is a deeper level of understanding available through the Holy Spirit.

If He tells me to give my favorite red shoes away, why do I write it off as silly?

If He tells me to lay my plans down, quit my striving, get on the plane, plant the garden...why do I try to rationalize these directives as anything but His voice? Why do I trust the principles of physics more than the principles of the Kingdom?

Which is the superior reality?

Ezekiel laid on his side for 390 days. He cut his hair and beard and measured it in part: burning it, chopping it, and scattering it in the wind. He drank what he was told to drink and ate food cooked over human dung, just as he was instructed.

Rise up, Ezekiels—you know who you are.

You’ve felt the Spirit of God confronting your fear of man. You can’t do what He’s calling you to while bowing to people’s opinions. Loosen your grasp on your false securities. Check your heart for false humility.

Can you imagine? Can you imagine how he must have been ridiculed? I wonder if he just chalked it up to refining or if he understood something we have not.

And hear me—give Him your yes.

Our actions matter. What we put our hands to matters. God is looking for a generation to rise up and follow him in the fullness of devoted obedience. And I believe He is saying that if we will partner with His word and direction over our lives, He will put His Precious Spirit on our actions.

Dive headlong into obedience. Fall madly in love with our sweet Jesus. And one day, when you don’t even expect it, He will start explaining to you what you are doing. He will let you in on the implications of your yes.

He will shift your reality, and you’ll find yourself living in a supernatural realm, surrounded by the trappings of a natural world you do not belong to.

Simple acts of obedience shift the unseen realm more than we can fathom. He could show us if it was His desire. Just as He opened the eyes of Elijah’s servant to see the heavenly army that stood

He’s extending the invitation—do you accept?

2

It Doesn’t have to be that Hard Morgan Paul When it comes to talking about my journey with God, I can’t honestly say that it’s been fireworks and fuzzy things. As a matter of fact, I have only just begun to hear His voice in a way that I can understand. I have only just begun walking the path that He has laid for me.

Let me say that one more time; it doesn’t have to be that hard. You are not alone.

I was never alone.

So what can I, a ‘baby Christian’ contribute alongside this amazing, prophetic, powerful Women of Light? I can tell you that it doesn’t have to be as hard as I have made it; full of doubt, selfhate, literally pushing Jesus away. It doesn’t have to be all about comparison with others’ journeys, envy of their relationship with Him, it doesn’t have to be me against the world anymore. Let alone, me against God.

I started feeling these things that I thought I was dead to. Songs and words were wrecking me on a daily basis. I humbled myself by asking questions when I didn’t understand scripture, terms and visions. God showed me that it was okay not to have all the answers. I am not supposed to have all of the answers. Even now, years later He has revealed that I need to be mentored. That I need someone to walk me through this season of my journey. In any other area of my life, not knowing and needing help would frustrate me. I’d grow self conscious or I’d overcompensate. But, He’s got this way, this way of getting me excited to learn and grow in Him.

Let me say that one more time; it doesn’t have to be that hard. You are not alone. I was never alone.

See, I began my walk with Jesus sitting somewhere in the back of a prison sanctuary during a three year sentence. It was there, once I was away from all of the noise that I allowed in my life, that I finally started hearing the Holy Spirit. I was literally wept for and called out to in this otherwise dark, hopeless place. I didn’t know just quite what I was hearing at the time, but looking back, that was my beginning.

It’s still not fireworks and fuzzy things. I still doubt myself sometimes. I still doubt God sometimes.

I question my faith, His plan, where I am versus where I think I should be. I still catch myself sometimes during church envious of the ones who worship without holding back. You know, those people who have it all together and God on speed dial. I often think to myself that the Holy Spirit just flows through them more, God talks to them more.

But He tells me otherwise. He tells me that it is not a race or a contest, nor He the trophy. But that this is a process and that He is always there. He tells me that I have a place, a purpose in this world that I was specifically made for, a purpose that I was specifically chosen for. I am certain that the same God who saw me through the chaos and sin, sees you exactly where you are. And just like He got my attention, if you let Him, He’ll get yours too.

Back then I collected white noise, chaos and drama in the forms of promiscuity, addiction and crime. And I wore them arrogantly. I chose that as my identity over who God had been trying to tell me I was.

Is it any wonder that God, who loves me so much and longed for me to seek Him out, put me in a place like the penitentiary to strip me of my old self and get my attention. He took away the noise, drama and chaos to talk to me. To get me to talk to Him. Spoiler alert, His plan worked.

3

Can I tell you a secret? I can still be found in the back row. I sometimes open my eyes during worship and instead of envying those worshiping, God really opens my eyes to the beauty of the room. I don’t hide back there like I used to, I stand in awe of the view. The view that only someone in the back can witness. The view of the Holy Spirit

coursing through the room, from the stage, to the ones on their knees to the ones dancing with joy and then eventually back to me, just swaying, mouthing the words from that back pew, with eyes that He opened, able to see His glory and giving me a place in His church to take it all in.

Worship is Your Weapon Christi Blain What could I possibly say, and what do I really have to offer anyone?

Worship is not about how well you sing or play, but it’s truly about the heart.

These are the thoughts that I have been battling my entire life. It’s paralyzed me and kept me from being a vital part of the kingdom.

Worship is a lifestyle and not just the three songs you sing during a worship service at church on Sunday. Being a true worshiper is showing God’s love in all you do.

I know the truth in my heart, but I have allowed comparison to let the plans God has for me lie dormant. Someone else has more to offer. They are better equipped. I’m not smart, pretty or talented enough.

I recently started a small women’s group. It’s not a bible study group, but my vision was for women to get together to sing, pray, and encourage each other.

The funny part about all of this is it never discouraged me from worshiping.

He deserves to be praised. He’s so worthy. I was saved from a deep dark pit of lies I believed about myself: I’m fat, ugly, and worthless. These feelings drove me to being bulimic for many years, BUT through worship and the word I have overcome.

Worship is my weapon. It’s the one thing that has always been able to give me comfort and peace through the darkest of times. Something about lifting up the name above all names, the Creator of all can bring light to the darkest places.

Worship brings that peace that passes all understanding. As the tears fall when I sing, it’s like a healing balm to my broken heart and wounded soul. Declaring in song the truth over my life tears down the lies that I let myself believe.

My favorite verse that I found, a few years back reading through the bible, is Zephaniah 3:17: “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

We are all struggling with something. Life is not all unicorns and rainbows and I think that is so important to remind one another. We’re not alone.

The church has to start bearing one another’s burdens.

4

During our first meeting at my house, I debated printing out the lyrics to the songs we sang.

However, so many times we’re so focused on singing the words right, that we never truly enter in to worship our King.

saved from a deep dark pit of lies I believed about myself: I’m fat, ugly, and worthless. These feelings drove me to being bulimic for many years, BUT through worship and the word I have overcome.

My favorite verse is and always will be Psalm 139:14: “I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.”

I know that lyrics have become a huge distraction for me personally. Add playing an instrument on top of that, and your focus quickly begins to be on the music and not the heart and purpose of why we are playing and singing in the first place.

I am so grateful that He calls me daughter, friend, beloved. Through Him, I am enough.

He deserves to be praised. He’s so worthy. I was

The Warrior in You is Ready for War Rose Jordan Jehoshaphat sought the Lord in prayer, called Judah to a fast and then waited on the Lord. And then…as everyone was bowed low and praying, the Levites stood to their feet and “with a loud voice,” worshipped God.

For several months now, the Spirit of God has been calling the warrior in me to ready for war.

A stirring.

A rising up.

A flood of energy like that of a corralled stallion anxious for the gate to fly open.

20 Early the next morning the army of Judah went out... On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and said, “Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm...”

21 After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang:

“It’s time!”

“It’s time,” He says.

Do you feel it?

The stirring is so strong. The body shakes and trembles with electricity. You don’t know what to do with it all.

“Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!”

Pick up your sword and charge in?

Fall prostrate on the ground and pray?

Just stand?

22 At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. (2 Chronicles 20:20-22)

Yes. To all of these, yes. There are examples of these all through the Bible.

The worship referred to in this passage was in the form of song and praise. Jehoshaphat sent worshippers to the frontlines of the battle. Not men with swords. Not chariots.

But also…worship.

It seems a strange way to fight your enemy, yet that is exactly what we see in 2 Chronicles 17.

5