Great Expectations

Author: Shane Pippin

  • The Night Shift

    In March, I had a dream. Someone slipped me a note. It read:

    “TEXT BOB MARLEY YOUR NUMBER.”

    In April, I had a dream. This was a couple weeks after my Bob Marley dream. In this dream I was walking with someone I didn’t know. Then, we stopped and someone joined our hands together. I awoke.

    I prayed immediately about the dream. Then, it was as if God randomly asked me a question.

    “Haven’t you heard and read that people of color have been hit especially hard by Covid-19?”

    I said, yes, Lord…the numbers are much worse in the black community. Then, the Lord seemed to pierce me with another question.

    “How do you typically interpret such targeted attacks?”

    Boom! Revelation swept over me in that moment.

    The devil has launched a targeted attack on black people. Anointing attracts attack is a cliché I have often used. But, this situation is about more than anointing. It’s about destiny, and it’s about deliverance.

    So, as I again stilled myself, I asked:

    “what are you trying to say to me, Lord?”

    I don’t know how, but I immediately knew God was saying that he wanted me to join my heart with my black brothers and sisters.

    I thought we were different people, but God wanted to fix the way I see.

    I shared this only with a handful of family and ministry colleagues because I didn’t have the wisdom to most lovingly and humbly walk this out.

    The next week Ahmaud Arbery was shot. Then, I learned of Breonna Taylor who was shot just one hour away from my home. Shortly thereafter, George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight by police officers.

    I have been stunned, shocked, numb, and I have cried.

    I have been angry at the President and all of those ignorant, prejudice, white people that have minimized and judged the outrage.

    Prejudice and racism runs deep in this country. Many of the prejudiced ones don’t even realize they have racist knee-jerk tendencies.

    I have sympathized with the hurting. I have chosen my side. I’m pretty sure God linked my heart to the side He wants me to be on.

    The victims and the downtrodden are near to God’s heart. Their cry has come before Him. Change is coming.

    The devil could sense destiny percolating. You see, The devil lives in the spirit realm and he’s privy to things before they materialize into the natural.

    The devil didn’t know exactly what God was about to do. But, the devil sensed it so keenly that he reacted from the invisible, spirit realm. The devil triggered violence against the very people he sensed God was about to use. That’s always been the devil’s way.

    It was just a little more than a hundred years ago when God used a black man to introduce Pentecost to America.

    William Seymour was the preacher at Azusa Street in Los Angeles around 1906. He dealt with the injustice of racism in his own time and was still used by God to ignite one of this country’s greatest revivals.

    In 2020, at the time of Pentecost, America was burning with fires of protests along with cries for justice.

    God has heard.

    What we have seen in the natural is a prophecy of what’s coming in the spirit. God has been moved by the torn, broken, contrite heart of the black man. The black community has been a target of hate and injustice by the enemy…but God has now received their actions and tears as intercession and markers.

    A bowl has been filled in Heaven. A spiritual tipping point has been reached.

    Now, an anointing of deliverance is about to be released. Help for the hopeless is coming. Aid for the impoverished is on the way.

    At Azusa, the early days of American Pentecostalism, the cloud of glory hovered over and within the mission house.

    Exodus 13:21 “The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.”

    Allow me to speak prophetically here: It’s nighttime now. And, the cloud is giving way to the fire.

    Holy Fire is coming.

    It will be seen in meeting places where God’s Glory breaks out. The night shift has been set apart, for such a time as this.

    The black community has lit fires from their brokenness. Accordingly, they have unknowingly prophesied fire with their desperation.

    In February, I had a dream. In the dream I was shopping in the Mall of America. It was getting ready to close. My shopping was growing frantic. I was looking for something specific and I wouldn’t quit until I found what I was looking for. Finally, in what seemed like the final moments of opportunity, I found the black nike shoes I was looking for.

    I didn’t understand the dream at first. But it was so strong and made such an impression on me that I went and really bought a new pair of black nike shoes as a prophetic act.

    >God has a night shift coming on duty.

    >God has fire that we haven’t seen yet.

    God’s fixing to raise up some black folk, some women, some children, some recovered addicts, some delivered homosexuals, some saved witches and occultist, some forgiven racists, some sanctified and set-free perverts, some dead dry bones, some discarded dreams, and some mended shards and pieces.

    God moves in the night. He moves with fire.

    >The Mall of America is in Minnesota.

    >Minnesota is the North Star state.

    So, if you’re feeling lost, put your nike—victory—shoes on, and look up. We’re about to exit out of this oppression. We’re moving with the fire. We’re brothers and sisters.

  • Cultivating Fruit

    We are responsible for the fruit we bear.

    In Mark 11, Jesus cursed a fig tree after he approached it in hunger only to discover that it was fruitless. The fully bloomed leaves were usually a sign that fruit was abounding. However, this particular tree was claiming to have fruit that it had never produced.

    We all bear fruit. Hopefully, our lives show things like love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

    Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

    But, without God’s Spirit helping us, it’s harder to be good. Even with God, we are mostly just works in progress.

    That’s why Jesus said, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” John 14:16

    It’s often more natural for our lives to show things like prejudice, arrogance, anger, sulky-sadness, worry, meanness, impatience, rudeness, intolerance, cheating, lying, harshness, and hot-headedness.

    If you’re a Christian, your nature has changed. Some things about you are immediately different. Other unfortunate behaviors will be tamed by God’s Spirit.

    Holy Spirit will convict you, meaning He will cause you to see your error. It’s your responsibility to accept His help in these highlighted areas and give attention to the behaviors that He has convicted.

    “When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment” John 16:8

    This is His way of working good fruit in you. Still, you have to take ownership and responsibility of your own fruit.

    “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”

    Ephesians 5:5

    Dismissive excuses aren’t ok.

    You can’t write off your bad actions to things like:

    God loves me just the way I am.

    In Actuality, God’s love is working to perfect you…if you’ll just stop making excuses.

    Everything about a fruit tree is driven by its purpose to bear fruit.

    1. It grows, reaching for the sun, so it can bear fruit.

    2. It eats, taking in necessary nutrients, so it can bear fruit.

    3. It drinks, absorbing the rainwater, so it can bear fruit.

    The fruit-tree is a living organism with one incessant drive. It will do all that it has to do in efforts to bear fruit.

    Likewise, bearing good spiritual fruit is the responsibility of a believer.

    Eph 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children

    That is, unless you’re ok with being a jerk, grieving the spirit, and facing judgement.

    Be fruitful. He will help you.

  • Prophets and Politics

    The Jim Bakker Show

    Galatians 1:12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

    Prophetic people, Holy Spirit people, intercessors and the like, should be especially guarded and protective over their spiritual senses in these last days.

    Many people have already allowed their spiritual filters to be tainted by over-abundant horizontal information.

    Let me explain: prophets are especially peculiar because they know things that can only be revealed to them by Heaven. However, in an age of information overload, we are inundated with nonstop airwaves touting news, opinions, angles, scoops, and narratives driven by man-made media machines.

    Alas, it has also become a trend in many ministry circles to be aligned with preferential political figures, views, and governmental allegiances.

    Politics, conspiracies, and idolatry have skewed some people’s dream life, making them think their governmental dreams are from God when many of these are just subconscious effects of already existing opinions established from worldly inclinations.

    Consequently, when spiritual voices are being too heavily influenced by the systems of this world, their filters can become clogged up by their own soul, soul ties, and subconsciousness.

    A person’s soul is their mind, will, and emotion. Soul-ish impressions are not easy to differentiate from spiritual revelations.

    Too many contemporary Christians are being moved by their mind, their logic, their intellect…or, by what the Word calls a way that seems right.

    Proverbs 16:25There is a way which seems right to a man,But its end is the way of death

    Furthermore, many good, moral people are being duped by emotional trickery. This is the undercurrent of the Antichrist that is already at work. No other force in history has had the subtle and subliminal powers to deceive like the antichrist will have.

    The antichrist is probably alive today.

    It takes great maturity to understand ones own vulnerabilities. True prophetic insight is a narrow way. Accordingly, it seems that few are finding this path.

    Another problem I aforementioned is soul-ties. This is a real tactic of strong demonic forces to ensnare godly influencers.

    These soul ties are formed in spiritual people by relationships/friendships, positions/boards, money, gifts, flattery, and special invites to events, gatherings or conference calls.

    Prophets are NOT called to any mountain of this world. They are:

    to be sanctified unto the Lord, to knowing Him, and going from Him and His mountain…to whomever/wherever He sends them.

    Many different prophetic figures in Scripture had influence with governmental leaders. Moses, Isaiah, Elijah, Daniel, and Samuel are some of these. Still, you will find that their strongest allegiance had to be to God. And, sometimes God ordered them to give hard words, rebukes, and warnings or judgements on the governmental leader.

    Do we have a prophet today that could/would do that?

    Therefore, spiritual people should be careful to not cater to sides, parties, or any earthly affiliations that might unknowingly lend to subconscious impressions, that in-turn affect their dream life and other revelatory pipelines.

    Prophets, apostles, intercessors, and spiritual people must be consecrated, sanctified (set apart), wholly devoted to God alone.

  • Mystic

    I’ve always adored the idea of originality, and authenticity. By originality, I mean the thought, the message, or the art came from somewhere inside of you. Such treasure comes to us through inspiration, or pondering and meditating on the hunches, imaginations and ideological scents that we track down. Also, it comes through work…through editing, or chiseling away at raw chunks of deep feelings.

    And, when I say authenticity, I mean a very similar thing. It’s so important that we find our voice, our sound, our style, our connection with our genealogical and geographical roots. Our wells run deeper than we probably realize. Unfortunately, however, music, ministry, philosophy, and art are all too prone to replication, and duplication.

    John Prine, who recently died from the COVID-19, felt like his sound came from Kentucky. But, that bewildered even him. Prine grew up in Illinois. Nevertheless, his parents were from Kentucky and he spent many of his summers in Kentucky. Later in life, Prine recognized his voice was coming from that well; that geographical well, that ancestral well. His voice had roots.

    I celebrate creativity. The brilliant nature of God shines through a person when they give themselves to their creative gifting.

    Another cookie cutter—copycat—is probably not what we need. We need identity. Our churches need their own unique fingerprints. What’s the DNA of your sound? Your art is waiting to be discovered, to be valued, to be set free.

    My daddy mined the mountains for coal and money. My Heavenly Father mined Calvary for destiny and victory. I…I mine my insides for the stories, the dreams, and the spirit.

    There’s treasure inside of you. Take the time to find it. Value it. Dig for it. Chase after the sound, the gift, the voice, the thoughts, the God that waits within.

    This treasure isn’t discovered by trying to be like whatever is popular, hip, trendy, or cool.

    Find your voice. Find you. Embrace your art, your gift, your song, your roots…your well.

    Matt 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how [a]can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

    My sister recently had multiple dreams about salt mines. She asked me, “what could this mean?”

    Well, consider that salt is mined from the earth. And, consider too that you are made from the earth. There’s salt (treasure, tastiness, value) within.

    Mystics like Madame Guyon spent their time finding God within. The invaluable principles of this monastic lifestyle are quietness, stillness, and listening.

    Mine your salt. Have alone time with God.

    Find the treasure and give your life to it. Become it. Be it.