---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Byron Wicker
To: People Who Keep Company with God
Date: 10/30/2008 8:03:57 AM
Subject: The Home of His Heart

Dear People who Keep Company with God,

I recently discovered one of the earlier revelations of the Father's heart in scripture. "Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2:19. Here was Adam, a perfect man living in a perfect world, yet he was still not complete without a mate. It is important to see that it was not Adam who approached God about the situation and asked for a wife. Adam didn't even know what he was missing or even if he was missing something. It was God who initiated the whole thing revealing His Father's heart toward man for possibly the first time.

The next thing that happened is also important to note. "Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name." Genesis 2:19. It says God formed the beast, etc. but God brought them to Adam to name them. God did His part by creating the animals, but He wanted Adam to name them and it specifically says God accepted whatever name Adam gave them. So from the very beginning God created a partnership between Himself and us. He does what only He can do, but He gave us a role to play in His creation. "Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it." Genesis 2:15.

We still suffer with a wilderness mindset that tends to wait for God to do everything, but God has placed us in the Garden of Christ. In this garden, like in the garden of Eden, God expects us to take what He has created, cultivate it and prosper it. In the wilderness, the miracles were for one purpose: to sustain the people. In the Garden of Christ, miracles are not simply to sustain us, but to prosper and advance us and His kingdom in this world. God has given each of us a specific assignment, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10. These good works are diverse as all of us are uniquely created and gifted.

God has also prepared and given our church body a corporate assignment. It all began when God offered us a piece of property and we asked Him what we would do with the property as we had no God given vision for it. Through a series of Holy Spirit encounters and revelations He revealed to us a glimpse of His heart for us and the property. We chose to name it "The Father's House" from John 14:2. We received the property believing it will be a place where the manifest presence of the Lord will abide and many will come into the home of His heart. We further expanded the property by purchasing an adjacent piece of property which gave us the required right of way for public access. We cast the vision to the church and in a few months we received the finances to hire an architect to put this vision in plan and picture form.

Last week, we had the meeting with the architect. Looking back over those three days, I am in awe of how much the Lord was speaking and doing in and through the meetings. In the midst of it the enemy was doing all he could to distract, discourage and create a negative atmosphere. I went home the first evening very sad, fighting a feeling of heart break, however God was even in that as He allowed me to see that "The Father's House" really lives inside of me and He has given me passion to see it manifested into this world. The second evening I went home with a combination of joy and brokenness working in my heart like I have never experienced as I began to see "The Father's House" take some form in this world. It was one of those special times with the Lord. The third evening I went home knowing that God would do what He promised as I saw in plan and picture form what the Father revealed to me was in His heart for the property. It was one of those times with the Lord I will never forget. God showed me several other things during the meetings that are related to "The Father's House", but also about the people in the meeting. One of the most personal and special things I saw was the architect has a remarkable resemblance to my daddy in his younger years. I knew this was the Father speaking to me. There is so much more I could tell you, but I will sum it up like this, He made the home of His heart a lot more real to me. I am very thankful and humbled.

Many Blessings, BW