Activate Heaven

SOME TIME AGO I came across a message by Pastor Sarah Morgan of Prayer Academy Global. It was an amazing message about the books in heaven God has written about each of us. It was a very prophetic word unlike any message I had ever heard anyone preach before.

In the message she said there are books in heaven concerning each one of us, and those books need to be opened and read. She went on to say that many people will look at you and read a line or a chapter from your book but never really read the whole book. Though we can’t expect others to really know all about what we are called to do, this just lets us know that we have a responsibility to find out what’s in our book so that we can live according to God’s plan for our lives.

To further support her ideas on this, Pastor Morgan quoted Psalm 40:7–8, where Jesus said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart” (NKJV). We know this verse refers to the Word of God and the prophetic books that were written and prophesied long ago concerning Jesus’ life and ministry. These verses about the book of Jesus’ life indicate that He lived according to that prophetic plan, and He fulfilled it. For instance, in Luke 4, when He opened the book, He said, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD” (vv. 18–19, NKJV). And He closed the book.

One thing I want you to notice here is that Jesus was in the book. The book was about Him. His life was a book. Pastor Morgan mentioned the fact that each one of our lives is a book, but they are closed books that need to be opened, read, and understood. Jesus knew who He was and the will of God for His life because He found Himself in the prophetic books of the Bible. And in three and a half years He fulfilled every prophetic promise in the Book connected to His call and concerning His life. And He died on the cross according to the Book, or the Scriptures.

As Pastor Morgan continued with her message, I listened as she brought out the fact that we don’t know what is in our own book because we have never read it. We’ve never sought God about opening our books or allowed Him to do it so He can show us His plan and purpose for our lives. So many of us are closed books. We’ve never been opened; we’ve never been read. But according to the Book of Revelation, Jesus is the One who has prevailed to open the book.

Pastor Morgan’s message was one of the most amazing sermons I’ve ever heard. I shared it on my Facebook page. I’ve been preaching for forty years. I’ve heard many great messages, but I’d never heard a message like that concerning the fact that we are all books and we discover who we are by learning what’s in our books.

Knowing what is written on the pages of your book is central to understanding how you are to impact the earth with the call and gifting that are on your life. There are a few ways you can discover it.

Prophets and prophecy have a way of causing us to understand our calling, our purpose, and the plans of God, so I always encourage people to get good, quality prophetic ministry. It is very important for you to discover the will and plan of God. Often prophets bring confirmation. In other words, there may be something on your heart, you may be getting a glimpse of something, or you may be seeing through dreams and visions. These experiences may be God’s attempt to show you pages from your book.

Sometimes your purpose comes into view because you connect to the right people. The right people can help you open your book and discover what’s in it, especially when you connect with the right people who are also prophetic. They have insight concerning the plans and purposes of God for your life.

Now, all of us have the Holy Spirit, so the Spirit of God can also show you things about the assignments and plans He has for you. I don’t want to imply that you have to depend on a prophet to discover everything you need to do. God can show you things. Prophets can reveal things to you and help you. They can be used by God to confirm, give you revelation, and help you to see things, but they never take the place of God.

For instance, Samuel anointed David with oil, signifying that he was to be the next king of Israel. (See 1 Samuel 16.) He did the same thing with King Saul. (See 1 Samuel 9.) So sometimes prophets do play an instrumental part in helping us to discover the plans and purposes God has for our lives.

Years ago I read a book that made the point that in order to begin knowing the direction God wants you to go in life, you must have an inspired plan. That is important to remember as you seek to determine what God has written in the book of your life. Many people believe they should operate just on perspiration, telling themselves, “If I just work hard enough…” “If I perspire profusely, I’ll have success.” “If I just keep working, keep doing, I’m going to be successful.”

Have you known anyone like this? Instead of operating with inspiration, they operate out of desperation.

Instead of being motivated by desperation, we need to be motivated by inspiration. God doesn’t want our lives to be dictated by desperation; He wants us to have a plan, and He wants to inspire that plan. He wants to change us from the inside.

Many people have been taught to go to school, get a degree, get a job, get paid, get a retirement plan, get married, have children, die at a good old age, and go to heaven. But they never really move in inspiration.

The word inspiration means “God-breathed.”¹ When God breathes on you, when He blows on you or inspires you to do something, His inspiration could move you to do something that impacts government, business, education, media, the arts, church, or ministry.

A lot of people never move by inspiration. God inspires them to do something, but they shut it down and never act on it. They don’t move in it. They think that maybe what they are sensing is not God, especially when God inspires them to do something different from what everyone else is doing.

There’s another thing people fall into—trying to live by someone else’s inspiration and calling and trying to find their identity in someone else. Serving and following other people by being part of their ministries, organizations, or businesses is different from what I am talking about here. Sometimes God will inspire you to work alongside an individual. He’ll inspire you to submit to a mentor or coach. He’ll inspire you to work with an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher. You can get an impartation from them as you are growing and maturing in the thing God has called you to do. But there are things—separate and different from anyone else—that God will also inspire you to do concerning your life.

Job 32:8 says, “There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (emphasis added). The New King James Version says, “And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding” (emphasis added).

This verse is saying that when God breathes on you, when He inspires you, when His Spirit moves on your spirit, it gives you understanding. You begin to understand the plan of God, the purpose of God, and the calling of God through inspiration. When God inspires you to do something, it is one of the most powerful things that can happen to you. I can hear Him saying, “Open a business, start a charity, get involved in the governmental realm, get involved in education, do something in ministry, create something, innovate something, build something.”

Your calling is your pulpit. It is the place from which you will preach and bring heaven to earth. Can you see it? Your business is your pulpit. Your charity organization or position in local or national government is your pulpit. If you don’t know just what God is calling you to, let Him breathe on you so you will understand what His plan is. Ask Him to reveal the pages of your life’s book.

Then when the Spirit of God does breathe on you, don’t quench the Holy Ghost. Let God breathe on you. You are a spirit being, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives you understanding.

Then there is Proverbs 16:3: “Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.” In other words, commit your works, your plans, and the things you are doing to the Lord, and your thoughts shall be established.

Now, I want you to see the connection here. It basically says that when you commit what you are doing to the Lord, something happens in your thought life, your mind. This is key because we are governed or steered in a direction based on our thoughts.

In the classic edition of the Amplified Bible, Proverbs 16:3 says this: “Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.”

In other words, when you commit your works to the Lord, He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will. This is how you will know the will of God. So whatever you’re doing—your plans, your future; whatever you’re planning—when God inspires you to do something and you commit that to Him, you say, “Lord, here are my plans.” The Scripture says write the vision and make it plain. (See Habakkuk 2:2.) So write your dream. Write what you’re thinking, because sometimes we’re inspired to do something, but we don’t know exactly how it will be done or how we are to do it. We don’t know all the details of what is to be done, so we need God to intervene in our thoughts, to cause our thoughts to become agreeable to His will. Because remember, finding your voice is finding the plan and purpose of God for your life.

“What is the will of God? What is God’s plan for my life?” To gain the answers to these questions, you need your mind to come into agreement with His plans. You need God to work in you as His Word says: “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). God is the one who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. God will do that in you. God will cause your thoughts, your mind to become agreeable to His will when you commit your works and your plans to Him.

What this also means then is that anything in your plan that is not agreeable to God’s will and purpose will fall by the wayside, and God will cause your thoughts to zero in on the exact thing He wants you to do. Then your plans will be established and succeed because your plans line up with His plan. Your thoughts line up with His thoughts, and your decisions line up with His plan and His purpose.

The Contemporary English Version says Proverbs 16:3 like this: “Share your plans with the LORD, and you will succeed.” Then Psalm 37:5 adds more to this by saying, “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”

Now, this all seems so simple, and it really is. It’s not difficult, but many believers have lost the power of it, and many believers have not fully committed to it. We do things on our own and say, “Well, God, if I need You, I’ll call on You.” Or, “If I get in trouble and things are not going well, I’ll call on You.”

No. Do it at the beginning. Submit your plan—whether it’s regarding ministry, business, education, marriage, or relationships—to the Lord at the beginning, and your thoughts will be established according to His will.

God will charge and inspire your thoughts. He will breathe upon your mind, your thoughts, your plans, and your purposes. He will give you inspiration. That’s how you will begin to succeed and move in God’s will and plan for your life.

Now again, the Lord can use prophets to give you inspiration, because prophecy is inspired utterance. Whether or not you consider yourself a prophet, you will find that God uses you in this way. I have taught for years that every believer ought to be prophetic in the sense that we can hear God and do or say what He tells us to do or say. So it is that when the Spirit of God moves upon us, we begin to prophesy inspiration. We begin to speak by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost upon someone’s life. We are giving them inspiration. All Scripture was God-breathed, or inspired by God (2 Tim. 3:16). Prophecy is the word of the Lord. When we prophesy, we are speaking the thoughts and mind of God.

When we prophesy over people, we’re really imparting to them God’s mind and thoughts for their lives, futures, and destinies. Prophecy is powerful, and it’s all locked into inspiration. It demonstrates the power of inspiration.

Often God will inspire you to do something that is very unusual, something different, something that you’ve never really seen before because, as we discussed in the previous chapter, you are a unique individual with a unique voice and purpose. You have unique callings and talents. You will not do what everyone else does. You will do something very different, something new. God may send you out to be a pioneer in some area, but your knowing this comes by inspiration.

Moses was the first deliverer. God brought Moses into Egypt. No one else had done that before, and he brought Israel out of Egypt. His mission was inspired by God. At the burning bush he heard the voice of God.

David was the first to establish twenty-four hours of nonstop prophetic worship. No one had ever done what he did before. These are people who did things by inspiration. The Spirit of God came upon them. They were inspired to move into something new and fresh that had never been done before.

God wants you to find your voice. He wants you to find His will for your life. Too often we try to figure out what God is calling us to do, and we end up copying what we see others do. Now, there can be patterns. There can be blueprints. There can be other people you can look to as models who are doing very similar things. God can use them to coach and inspire you.

You may not be the first astronaut or the first CEO of a particular company. You may not be the first one to walk in a particular kind of ministry and do a particular kind of thing. But you may see someone who has done it similarly, and that person becomes a model who provides impartation and wisdom. But even in that, there’s something unique about you.

God has given every one of us a unique combination of gifts. No two people are the same. That’s why I love the idea of finding your voice and understanding how it has been designed to activate heaven on earth, because no one else has your voice. Your voice is unique. No one else can speak into a situation and bring the plans, solutions, breakthrough, victories, and strategies that you can.

Let me be clear: they can try to sound like you. People try to imitate other people’s voices all the time. But a voice is like a fingerprint. Your fingerprint is unique. There are about seven billion people on the planet, and God is so amazing that He gave every one of them a unique voice.

No two people are exactly the same. Your voice is unique; it’s unlike anyone else’s. That shows us that God has given you abilities, talents, and gifts in a way that is unique from the way they have been given to anyone else. We can have similar gifts and talents, but the unique mix of our gifts distinguishes us from others.

You’re unique, and you have a unique voice. Finding your voice, that unique thing about you, comes through inspiration. Again, you can have people you look to as role models. You can be attracted to certain people and their gifts or expertise. They can teach you and help you much like a master would teach his or her apprentice. You may sit under someone to learn what he or she knows, but there’s still something unique God has given you to do.

Embracing something new or knowing what to do with the very unique anointing God has given can be very difficult for some people because it takes faith to step out in things like this. It takes faith to believe God and act on inspiration. It takes faith to move forward. Sometimes it takes confirmation to know what you’re hearing really is from God. Having prophetic people in your corner can help with this. They will prophesy things like “You’ve been thinking about this…,” “You’ve been saying this…,” “You’ve been doing this…,” or “You’ve been wondering what this means.” Then they may confirm your thoughts by saying, “But what the Lord was saying to you is, ‘It is Me. I am pushing you.’ ” Their words will give you confirmation.

We all struggle sometimes with what God is telling us, especially when it is so different and unique. We don’t want to mess up. We don’t want to do something God is not calling us to do, even if we are having visions about it.

Getting around people who inspire you is important if you’re going to find your voice. This goes beyond just prophetic and religious folk. People who are doing things similar to what you do can help you refine how you use your voice. They’ve been there. They know what people need or expect. They can help you then go beyond that and expand into new things in the area God has called you to. When you keep company with people who inspire, they speak into who you are and where you are gifted. When they speak, breath comes out. That’s the power. That’s inspiration. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). They are breath. Often God uses these individuals to speak His words to us, to breathe on us. The Greek word translated “spirit” means “breath,” “wind,” and “air.”²

What’s important to note here is that words carry a spirit. When someone is preaching, prophesying, decreeing, encouraging, edifying, or uplifting, their words carry the Spirit of God. Or they can carry a demonic spirit. People who lie, gossip, curse, and operate in witchcraft release demonic things with their words, their breath, their mouths. The Gospel of John says Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22).

As you begin to refine the way God has designed you to activate heaven with your voice and your unique talents and gifts, realize that what you speak carries the Spirit of God. This will happen as long as you commit your way to Him and speak what He says to speak and do what He says to do. Your tongue must be tamed by the Holy Spirit.

But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

—JAMES 3:8–13

Whether you are speaking or listening, the words that go out from you and come into your life ought to be words that are God-breathed.

When you get around people who inspire you with their words, they give you inspiration. They preach to you. They prophesy over you. Whether they are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers, they stir you with their words. Their words inspire you to think new things, leading you to be innovative and creative.

You may say, “I never thought of that before.” You may begin to write, think, and plan. You may begin doing things you’ve never done before. That is the essence of the power of preaching salvation to people. Even as you go out preaching through your life, you will inspire people to think in a whole new way, breaking them out of sin, shame, and bondage.

You must guard your voice and your gifting, so you cannot allow yourself to hang around people who don’t inspire you or who inspire you to do the wrong thing. You don’t need demonic inspiration. You need God’s inspiration. The people who inspire you and help you find your voice, identity, calling, and purpose are those whom I call Cornelius connections. Others may call them divine connections. They are people you have been ordained by God to meet, certain people whom God has led into your life to speak into your life, prophesy, minister to you, and inspire you. These are the people who help refine your voice and make you better.

As I mentioned earlier, being in a prophetic atmosphere stirs us. You will continue to notice prayers, activations, confessions, and the word of the Lord placed throughout this book. I believe this will help sharpen and refine the accuracy of your voice and prepare you to embrace the sound your life will release into the earth. Even as I write this, I hear the Lord saying this:

From My ministers, prophets, and apostles, I am releasing inspiration upon the magnitudes of My people. As they preach, prophesy, minister, and teach, they will begin to inspire you and stir you up, and you’ll begin to think according to My will. My plans will be released to you, and I’ll cause new vision and new dreams. I’ll cause new things to be released upon you, for I’m causing My prophets to prophesy a new thing in this hour.

You will begin to move in a new thing, for I have designed you to walk in new things. I’m releasing new things by inspiration, so get ready, for truly, you will do something new, fresh, and different. You’ll create new models, you’ll have new strategies, and you’ll do new things. I’ll give them to you in your dreams and in your thoughts. I’ll show you things you’ve never seen before. I’ll cause you to think in areas you’ve never thought in before.

I’m breaking the limitations from your mind. I’m going to cause you to think outside of the box. I’m going to break the limitations of tradition, religion, and people that have said you can’t go beyond this area or you can only do it this way. I’m going to give new, creative models and new ways of breaking out of the box.

I’m breathing upon you. I’m causing your thoughts to be inspired by My word. I’m causing a new breath, a new wind to come upon you, even as you commit your ways to Me and commit your plans to Me.

I shall breathe upon your mind. I shall cause your thoughts to be inspired. And watch, in the days to come, as you move in inspiration, you’ll discover new ways and new platforms. I’ll connect you with the right people, those who inspire and stir you. I’ll cause their words; their counsel; and their preaching, teaching, prophetic ministry to release a new breath and a new wind upon your thoughts.

I’m changing the way you think. You’ve been thinking the old way. You’ve thought in a box. Your thinking has been limited, but I’m breaking the limitations off of you, and you will discover that your gifts, calling, and anointing are much greater than you have been told. Even the hidden things—the hidden gifts, talents, abilities; the things you have neglected; the gifts you have not stirred up; the things you have overlooked; and the things you’ve not walked in because of fear, apprehension, uncertainty, and doubt—I am causing those things to spring back to life.

I’m causing My word to come to cause faith to be stirred in your heart that you might rise up and go forward, that you might do the things I’m calling you to do in this hour. And there’ll be the release of new visions, new dreams, new strategies, new models, new blueprints, new buildings. New works shall come forward. You’ll do these things, and some will say, “Why haven’t I thought of that? Why didn’t I think of that? I’ve never seen that before.” Many will try to duplicate what you’re doing, but they’re not moving by inspiration. For when they try to copy what you’re doing, you already will be moving on to something new.

You’ll never ever be left behind. You’ll never ever lag behind. You’ll progress. You’ll succeed.

I’ll cause you to be on the cutting edge as you learn the power of inspiration and as I breathe upon your life. When they try to copy and duplicate what you’re doing, it’s time for something new. You’ll keep moving, you’ll keep progressing, and you’ll keep advancing. You’ll keep moving in a fresh, new thing. You’ll keep discovering new plans and new purposes. You’ll keep discovering what I’ve written in your book. I’m opening the book. I’ve called you to live not in the last chapter but in the present chapter, and there are more chapters to come.

You will see things concerning your life, business, plans, gifts, and talents that you’ve never seen before. And you’ll walk in My uniqueness and in My calling. You’ll no longer think it’s strange, but you’ll say, “God has made me this way,” and I’ll make you comfortable with who you are. You’ll no longer walk in self-rejection, fear, confusion, low self-esteem, and thinking that you’re not important or that the work you do is not important. You’ll no longer subjugate your gifts and your calling. You’ll no longer put it down and let it be dormant. But you’ll walk in My uniqueness. You’ll walk in the unique calling, gifting, and talent that I placed inside of you. I’m breathing upon you.

I’m causing your gifts, your destiny—even those gifts and callings in you that have been subdued—to be like a package that is being unwrapped like a Christmas gift decorated with a big bow. Take the gift wrap off, open the box, and look inside the gifts I’ve given you.

So commit your way to Me. Commit your plan to Me. Commit your will to Me. Commit your desires to Me, and I will cause My thoughts and your thoughts to become one. I will cause My thoughts to come into your mind, and you’ll walk according to My plans and purposes in the days to come. It will come through inspiration—the breath and the wind of God that I am breathing and blowing upon you now.

PRAYER TO RECEIVE THE INSPIRATION OF GOD

Father, I thank You that just as each person’s voice is unique, there is a unique calling and a unique gifting on my life.

Whether it’s in business, service, ministry, government, media, or the arts, You are breathing on me, for I am not limited to the four walls of the church. Break me out of that mindset now in the name of Jesus. Though I commit to the house of the Lord, because that is where I receive inspiration, I know that my voice can expand beyond it into the mountains of culture.

I commit my way to You so that my thoughts become Your thoughts and my plans, Your plans. Help me to know my unique talent and gift. Help me discover my authentic voice. Let me discover what is on Your heart and what You are breathing on me to do.

As You cause my thoughts to become agreeable to Your will, so shall my plans be established and succeed.

Lord, I trust You with all my heart. I will not lean on my own understanding. In all my ways, I acknowledge You so You will direct my paths.

I repent for the times when I have failed to do that. Increase my faith to believe You will do all that You promise. Let Your inspired thoughts come into my mind and make my plans and thoughts agreeable to Your will. In Jesus’ name, amen.

PRAYER PETITIONING GOD TO OPEN YOUR BOOK

Father, I pray now that You would open my book. Show me what is in my book. Open my eyes; open the chapters that I may read the sentences of my book. Lord, let my book not be closed to me anymore.

Open my book and show me the plans and purposes You have for me. I pray that I will see Your will clearly, Lord. I pray that as the book is opened, I will find my voice, my purpose, and Your plan for what You’ve called me to do. I will not waste my time doing things You never called me to do because I don’t know my book.

Lord, I pray that I will not try to live my life out of another person’s book. Let me know my assignment, commission, and mandate, whether it’s in the church or marketplace. Whatever I am called to do, Father, let me discover it. Help me see it. Open it up to me. Amen.

PRAYER FOR CORNELIUS CONNECTIONS

Father, I thank You for allowing this to be a season in my life when I am finding my voice. Thank You for bringing me to a place where I can know Your plan and Your purpose for my life. Lord, as I commit my works and plans to You afresh, forgive me for the times when I have tried to use my own wisdom and strength.

Lord, I commit my plans, ministry, business, education, gifts, and thoughts to You today. Let them be established according to Your will. Let me begin to walk in Your will. Let my gifts and talents come alive. Breathe upon my mind. Let me discover Your will, purpose, and plan for me, and let me walk in it.

Let my voice be a blessing to my generation. Let my actions contribute to this planet, to humanity. Let me be a blessing, and let me do what You’ve called me to do.

I put a stop to anything that comes to waste my time. I put a stop to anything that comes to take me off course. Any spirit that is assigned to block my gifts and talents, anything that has come to blind me from discovering what You’ve placed in me, and anything that causes my eyes to be closed to Your plan and purpose for my life, I cancel its assignment, in the name of Jesus. Any confusion and anything I’m doing that is not Your will for this season of my life, let it cease.

Lord, let me connect with the right people—those who inspire me, those who are part of my destiny, and those who even help me to live out my destiny. Let me be a part of the right team, and let me form the right team.

Father, I thank You, and I believe that even as I pray today, this day will be a day of change, a day of release, a day of discovering. Give me Your wisdom for how this is all to be done. You said wisdom is the principle thing, and I ask for wisdom.

Thank You for Your counsel. Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for insight. I give You praise. I give You glory. I give You honor for it all. In Jesus’ name, amen.