Word of the Month- February 2011

A transportation of the Spirit has been defined as your spirit and your body supernaturally jumping geographical locations together. We see in the scriptures several instances that men were caught away by the Spirit and lifted to other locations to do certain tasks (Gen. 5:24, 1 Kg. 18:11-12, Ez. 8:3, Acts 8:39, Heb. 11:5). Recently, I had posted on my Facebook that this supernatural experience had happened to me and my family.

It has taken several weeks for me to process what God was saying in this experience so please forgive me for the delay in writing on this encounter. I truly believe that God has a purpose far beyond having a good story to tell at a church gathering so I took some time to sit and ponder on what I am about to share. It is a simplistic word, but I believe it will speak deep to your heart for this year.

On December the 8th at around 7:10 while driving down a hill to cross an intersection that we pass through almost every day, Brynn began to read to me out of the book of Revelation chapter two from the message translation. We were also talking about a podcast that a friend had recently posted.

"Write this to Ephesus, to the Angel of the church. The One with Seven Stars in his right-fist grip, striding through the golden seven-light' circle, speaks: I see what you've done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can't stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders. I know your persistence, your courage in my cause, that you never wear out. But you walked away from your first love—why? What's going on with you, anyway?  Do you have any idea how far you've fallen? A Lucifer fall! Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I'm well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle. You do have this to your credit: You hate the Nicolaitan business. I hate it, too. Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I'm about to call each conqueror to dinner. I'm spreading a banquet of Tree-of-Life fruit, a supper plucked from God's orchard." (Revelation 2 MSG)

It seemed as though we had traveled about a mile when suddenly to our shock we found ourselves driving down the hill and passing again through the same intersection that we had just previously went through. We both were in amazement and looked at one another. My son, who is only four, made a remark that we had just past this place only moments before. Awe and wonder hit us as we realized that we had just transported back and went again through this intersection; Bell Road.

Coming away from this experience left me with a few questions in my mind. Why did God do this and what was the message he wanted to get across. We could have walked away from this thinking, man that was cool and left it at that. We would have completely missed what the Lord was really saying.

I called a dear friend of mine in the ministry, Munday Martin, and told him about the experience and as we talked it became crystal clear what God was saying. There is a loud bell God is ringing at this time. He is calling His body to return to their first love for one another. If we truly want to move in the faith of God this year we must first have the love of God. Faith works by love and God is love. God's love is perfect. He is calling His body to return to perfect love and perfect love cast out all fear, the fear of rejection.  This is not a new dimension, simply a perfect one. It is through the love for our brothers and sisters that we know we have passed from death into the life of Christ (1John 3:14). Let our love not just be in word, but in our actions as well. If we are truly crucified with Christ as we boldly declare from Galatians 2:20, then let us be like Him- arms wide open and hearts exposed.

This is real love, when we can love and bare our hearts to one another without fear that we will be rejected. The Bible says, how can two walk together unless they agree, but agreement should not be on the condition that you do what I want you to do. Or even that you take the same journey that I am going down. The agreement should be based around building the Kingdom. I believe that God is going to restore many broken relationships this year with families as we return to this love. Family members that have not spoken for many years will once again come to speaking terms and love will be restored for one another. Relationships that have been severed because of misunderstanding and where the enemy came in with envy and strife that caused division, God is bringing unity and love to mend hearts back together. Even in ministry many have fallen out of love with one another. Friends in ministry that once walked together and in recent years have had a falling out will once again return to love and understanding.

Blessings in Christ,

Charles and Brynn Shamp