Deborah Perkins is a seasoned prophetic writer, teacher, and Christian leader with more than 35 years of ministry experience across denominations. Her passion is to communicate God’s heart to his people, empowering them to build the kingdom of God.
Encouragement, Prophetic Insight, & Real & Raw Life Stories!
Have you heard about Spirit Fuel Live?
Subscribe to our channel on youtube at: www.youtube.com/c/spiritfuel and click the bell so you get notified when we go Live.
We also upload some special video episodes to Rumble at: www.rumble.com/spiritfuel so make sure you subscribe to our channel on Rumble as well.
The Divine Invitation – A Word by Deborah Perkins
Deborah Perkins
Email: [email protected]
As I reviewed prophetic words today, the Lord brought to my attention a word I had originally published three years ago, on August 28, 2018.
I feel strongly that this is a “now” word for the Body of Christ which will strengthen our faith.
The Lord is reminding us that these keys from John’s life have powerful implications for us corporately right now. We will need to function supernaturally, BY FAITH, in the very near future. It is important to be familiar with the scriptures that deal with such experiences in order to navigate what is ahead!
Solutions to complex problems will not come from human wisdom or intellect, but from supernatural strategies and insight. Renew your mind with the Word of God to eliminate any remaining unbelief. Strengthen your spirit and do not lean on your own understanding! This is the biblical way to walk above worldly circumstances.
Here is the original word from 2018:
GOD IS ISSUING A DIVINE INVITATION!
It’s not just an invitation to salvation, although believers begin here.
It’s not just an invitation to experience healing or deliverance, although those are benefits of belonging to the Kingdom.
It’s an invitation to come up higher spiritually, to experience the supernatural dimensions of the Kingdom of God.
Why would we need this? Francis Frangipane says it best: “A Christian is not just a person going to heaven. Shouldn’t a Christian also be a person coming from heaven, with the goods, power and virtues of heaven?”
Christianity isn’t meant to be a just a security blanket, providing comfort when we contemplate death. It’s meant to be a dynamic relationship involving supernatural power here and now. The beloved disciple, John, understood this and gives us a glimpse into God’s multi-faceted invitation.
JOHN’S INVITATIONS
Rejected. Exiled. Imprisoned.
Holding tightly to the Word, yet cast out because of his faith.
A brother and companion to those in tribulation.
Yet in the end, John was a great communicator of prophetic revelation to churches throughout the world.
In the Gospel of John, there are no fewer than eight direct invitations from Jesus recorded for us, including: “Come and see!” “He who comes to Me will not hunger.” “Come and drink!” “Come to abundant life!” “Come forth to resurrection!” And even: “Come have breakfast!” The book of Revelation contains even more: fourteen invitations!
John the fisherman accepted Christ’s initial invitation to salvation, then recorded a boatload of other invitations he heard from Jesus as he walked with Him. John communicates so much to us about God’s desire for a deeper relationship with Him!
If you are waiting for an invitation from God, John presents it! John’s gospel gives us practical reasons to come to Jesus: we will no longer hunger or thirst. We’ll find life and rest. We’ll get to know Him, and He will also come dwell with us (John 14:28, 15:26, 16:7-13). Jesus, we find, longs for us to come to Him as a hen longs to gather her chicks under her wings.
RSVP, PLEASE
Perhaps even more remarkable is John’s second book – the book of Revelation. I think what is most amazing about Revelation is John’s experience within it. Here we see, in diary form, what happens when a believer responds to God’s deeper invitation to “come.” We find out the details of what God has invited us to!
Having known Jesus in the flesh, John now comes to know Him more deeply by the Spirit. Despite being physically confined to the island of Patmos, John ascends into heaven spiritually at God’s invitation. He then returns from his encounter carrying heaven’s “goods, power, and virtues” – in a series of prophetic words.
John comes face to face with the Son of Man in bright fiery glory, a reminder of his previous encounters at the transfiguration and resurrection of Christ (Rev. 1; Matthew 17; John 20).
John then encounters the crucified Lamb in the midst of God’s throne (Rev 5), the only one worthy of opening the sealed scrolls. He is invited to “Come up here” to witness an historic and prophetic unfolding of events.
We wonder at these miraculous impartations of revelation to John: the detailed things he saw, the pattern for the end of the age, and the inner workings of heaven.
We see repeated invitations, first by the Lord, then by the four living creatures, to:
“Come and see.”
“Write what you see.”
“Come up higher.”
We watch as John looks and heaven unrolls its carefully sealed secrets, scroll by scroll. John soon needs no further angelic invitations; he looks for himself, he sees, and he becomes convinced of the Lord’s desire to impart prophetic wisdom that will shake the world as he knows it.
What exactly does John see, apart from the revelations concerning the end time churches? Here is a short list:
~John sees Jesus, the Son of Man, clothed in a robe with a golden sash, white hair and piercing, fiery eyes. His feet are brass and His voice is like the sound of many waters. He holds 7 stars in His right hand and a sharp two-edged sword proceeds from His mouth. This Jesus holds the keys of death and hades.
~John sees the future prophetically, as seal upon seal is broken off the 7 scrolls.
~He sees the Lamb of God, standing in the midst of the throne with the elders and living creatures, having 7 horns and 7 eyes; the Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
~He sees day and night worship around God’s throne and a glassy sea in front of it. He sees 7 lamps of fire burning in front of the throne; the 7 Spirits of God.
~He sees judgment on the Great Harlot, Babylon.
~He sees the marriage supper of the Lamb.
~He sees the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, free of curses, full of light, gems, and healing trees. He sees the saints ruling and reigning forever!
YOU’RE INVITED!
All of what John saw was possible because of one thing: he desired more of Jesus. Not content to settle for salvation, John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day” when these events took place (Revelation 1:10). He had positioned himself, despite his tribulations and captivity, to pursue relationship with the Lord and to hear from Him. He then received an invitation.
Because John “turned aside” and responded to God’s unique invitation (like Moses, Jacob, Gideon and others before him), he was rewarded with an increase of God’s presence. (See Matthew 4:21-22, Revelation 1:12.) Those who “turn aside” from everyday life to pursue supernatural invitations are blessed!
David Guzik of Enduring Word ministries writes of Revelation 1: “This was a spectacular vision, and many people wish they could have a spectacular vision like John had, but we can know the very same Jesus John saw. We can know His purity, His eternal wisdom, His searching judgment, His victory, His authority and His majesty. Each of these aspects of His nature are ours to know intimately.”*
In other words, throughout the Scriptures you discover that you’re invited! Heaven still summons us to life-giving encounters with the Lamb, our Savior! Every step we take towards authentic worship of Jesus gives us another opportunity to see Him in His glory and receive from Him prayerfully and prophetically. We learn from Him, then we share His heart with our world.
If we are too busy making excuses to respond to Divine Invitations, we will be left out like the guests in the parable of the Wedding Banquet!
Our quiet times and corporate gatherings are meant to be full of wonder, worship and awe as we experience new revelations about our Savior. How do I know? When John returns from heaven full of these revelations, he opens and closes his letter to the churches with specific invitations from the Trinity:
Rev 1:4 – John sends greetings from God the Father, Jesus Christ, and from the “seven Spirits who are before His throne” – as if he knows them personally. (He does!) Imagine: The seven-fold Spirit, with seven horns and seven eyes, sent throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are “fully committed to Him,” is eager to send greetings to YOU, a fellow believer and member of God’s corporate church.
We greet those with whom we desire relationship. It is amazing that the magnificent 7-fold Spirit who stands before the throne, greets John as He would greet us, welcoming us to come and encounter Him. Even more amazing is His indwelling Presence within our hearts. We are as He is: bilocational beings; able to exist in at least two dimensions at once.
Rev. 22:17 – John closes his letter with a final invitation: “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” (NKJV) There can be no mistaking such an invitation. You and I are the “whoevers,” and the only requirement for access into the supernatural realm of faith is our desire. As it was for John, the door in heaven is standing open, beckoning us to come in (Revelation 4:1).
Rev 1:3 – “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near!” We are promised a blessing as we engage with Christ in His glorified form, along with prophetic revelation released from the Throne.
CONCLUSION
For prayer warriors and prophets alike, John’s exquisite letter to the Asian churches reveals the prophetic process like no other book of the Bible can. We see John’s obedience to observe the Sabbath and his discipline in stirring himself up in the Spirit. We see his receptivity to the voice of the Lord – a listening ear in prayer. We see his openness to the things of the Spirit, even experientially, that allow him to cross that great supernatural threshold into heavenly realms. And we see that his worship of Jesus and a subsequent encounter with the Lamb is what transforms John from an exiled and rejected disciple into a confident prophet and spokesperson for the Lord.
The greatest revelation known to man began with an exiled (dare I say “locked down?!”) believer on a far-away island, someone who took the simple step of being “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” John’s act of simple obedience has encouraged churches throughout the generations to hold on to the hope of their heavenly callings and to enter into the fullest experience of Christianity.
I pray that you will respond to God’s “Divine Invitations” with a wholehearted “yes” every time. Not just for the sake of experiencing God yourself, but because what you hear, learn, and experience in the supernatural will empower you to share your wisdom with future generations.
An ancient hymn by William Bradbury becomes a perfect prayer:
“Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!”
*David Guzik, Enduring Word Commentary on Revelation 1. Quote used with permission. Link here.
Special Note from spirit Fuel: This platform is good soil. We are working hard everyday, full time to add more readers so they too can be blessed. If you are being led, sow into this good soil today and watch God move on your behalf! Obedience is always blessed.
If you would like to mail a check make it payable to Spirit Fuel and mail to:
Spirit Fuel
PO Box 2134
Lake City, FL 32055
