Author Profile
Rob and Lyn Packer
Rob and Lyn are itinerant ministers with Extreme Prophetic in New Zealand, and minister throughout the South Pacific and Asia. They are passionate lovers of Christ who have given all to follow the call of Christ on their lives. They carry a catalytic revelatory anointing that brings breakthroughs and shifts to both individual lives and churches as they minister. They are a part of the Prophetic Round Table in New Zealand and are widely respected as prophetic ministers for their ability to hear and declare what God is doing in the nation.
They are accredited pastors and have pastored in New Zealand in a variety of situations for over 30 years. As a couple, Rob and Lyn minister in many ways. The different facets of their ministry - worship, music, teaching, the prophetic, dance, art, poetry, storytelling, healing, and restoration – are a powerful combination of giftings enabling them to minister with sensitivity and passion in any situation.
email: nz@xpmedia.com | Web: xpnz.wordpress.com
Article Archive here
New Music
We just want to let you know of some new music coming out by friends and contributors to This Side of the Cross. We encourage you to support these ministers of music who are blessing the Body of Christ with their creative gifts.
SAILING SEAS OF DESTINY - Matthew Dahlitz
Matthew has released another single in his typical orchestral style. Sailing the Seas of Destiny is a 9min soaking piece composed to take you places as you dream about the call and destiny God has over your life. Much of Matthew's music is based on what he calls "Musical Transliteration"; taking the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures and transform the matrix of letters into musical expressions. If you are interested in what Matthew is composing you can visit his site at www.matthewdahlitz.com and check out his offerings on iTunes
RENOVARE: Music to Renew and Restore the Soul - Marty Mitchell
Marty is a worship leader from Queensland, Australia and has produced this soaking CD of solo guitar to "renew and restore the soul". If you are after some calming, relaxing music then check out this CD available on iTunes.
You can find out more about Marty at http://martymitchellonline.com/
REST - Rob Packer
Rob and his wife Lyn head up Extreme Prophetic New Zealand.
Rob's New instrumental soaking CD is out -its great for kids to go to sleep to or adults to relax to. You can get a pre-release copy just in time for Christmas. Rob is doing a Christmas special of $20 (usually $25). You can either ring 09 833 6873 (New Zealand) or email nz@xpmedia.com to order a copy.
Check out more about Extreme Prophetic here http://www.extremepropheticnz.com
What are Satan's Favorite Strategies? - Lyn Packer
I thought this month it would be good to remind us of some of the enemies most used strategies. The scriptures tell us He goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 pet 5:8). Notice he is not a roaring lion but he does go around impersonating one, trying to get people to believe the impersonation and succumb to his lies and bluff. Notice also that the falsehood concerning his ability to devour even is a part of that lie. He has been defeated and disarmed; all he has left to use are fear and lies.
As we know his purpose is to steal, kill and destroy so all his strategies are aimed at achieving these goals. When we look at the enemy’s attacks they all have at their heart an attack on the nature and character of God. So next time the enemy comes against you ask what of God’s nature or character is he slandering. This will give you a good idea of what to release prophetically over your life and the lives of those you are praying for. So what are some of his strategies?
Lies - Jesus told us this about the devil Joh 8:44 When he speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and of all that is false.
Suggestions / Innuendo’s - The devil loves to suggest to us that God is not who he says he is and who the Bible says he is. His suggestions will always paint the Lord in a negative light and will be disparaging in nature suggesting God is not good and will not act accordingly. (Do a little study on all the times the Bible speaks about the goodness of God – it’s epic!)
Delay – The devil wants to weaken your faith and eventually destroy it. One of the tactics he uses is delay. He will try (as with Daniel in Dan 10) to delay the answer to your prayers getting through so that your faith weakens. He wants you to move into unbelief and dishonor thereby shutting God off from coming through for you. Delay can sometimes cause feelings like confusion, a fog of fatigue and make you feel like you are losing your way. Instead use the weapon of praise as in Ps 50:23 He who brings an offering of praise and thanksgiving honors and glorifies Me; and he who orders his way aright (his speech / conversation - other translations) (prepares the way that I may show him), to him I will demonstrate the salvation of God. Stand your ground, don’t back down!
Deceit - Satan is the master of deception, error and seduction. He attempts to derail God's purposes by making principles of the spirit into laws of legalism. When this happens we will think that somehow we have to do something to move the hand of God. His answers are not based on our prayer (or behavior or anything else) but on his goodness!
Distraction – The devil will try and distract us from our intimacy with the Lord and the assignments we have been given. If he can distract us from intimacy then we will soon move into a works mentality. We are called to relationship first and out of that we will naturally serve. Proverbs 4:27 Do not turn to the right nor to the left; turn your foot from evil.
Disappointment - This can occur toward others, self, church and God, etc. The enemy attempts to magnify the weakness of others to offend and embitter. When this happens it will cause you to withdraw and to see others and God in a negative light. The goal is to cut you off from openness of heart in our fellowship with God and others.
I’m sure there are other things he uses but these seem to be some of his most used strategies. Take note this month when he tries to use one of these and instead of giving in go on the offensive and take ground instead of giving it. Declare God’s goodness, stand your ground and praise your way to victory.
Restoring The High Praises - Lyn Packer
The Unleashing Of Governing Praise
God is causing a new sound of praise to arise in the church in this day. It’s a sound of authority, it’s a sound that shifts things in the spirit realm; it’s the sound of governing praise. It’s the sound of the High Praises of God being released to bind kings and execute judgement.
Ps 149:6-9 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, To execute on them the judgment written; This is an honor for all His godly ones. Praise the LORD
In Ps 149:6-9 we see a type of praise and worship that the church globally has yet to fully step into. It’s a sound that occasionally individual churches have stepped into for small periods of time but have not taken it to its place of fullness. This type of praise is a governing praise. It literally will topple kings and nobles in the spirit realm from their positions of authority. The Lord says this is a part of what he has honoured us with; the destruction of ruling principalities to make an open heaven so that the glory of God may be seen in all the earth
Preference or Presence
But for many of the church who have fallen into the trap of Preference worship instead of Presence Worship it will be a sound that they will not want to hear. Let me take a minute to explain what I mean by Preference worship and Presence worship. Preference worship is when our agenda, our timetable, our musical preferences are given higher priority in our worship times than the presence of the Lord. Most of us would say we allow the Lord to come and we want him too. But the test comes when the timetable says its time to move onto the next part of our service and we shut down what God is doing. That is when our preferences speak louder than our words.
We have not built a culture in our churches that says God comes first, we have built a culture that says we do. In many churches today the culture of preference worship is present to the point where people wander in late after worship has started and some people don’t even bother to arrive at church until worship is over with. As leaders and Pastors we can easily go along with that because we too have our preferences and even let them rule. Because of that we don’t address it because to address it would mean we have to look at what we have built. But the day will come for each of us when we have to look at what we have built, we cannot ignore it forever.
But back to the sound of the High Praises that God wants us to unleash. We so often think of worship and praise as somehow being ‘nice’. It pleases God when we worship Him and it does. But we have in many cases overlooked either deliberately or by ignorance the governing side of our worship.
Kings Govern
Scripture refers to us as Kings and Priests and the job of a King is to govern. The job of a King includes keeping his lands safe by force if necessary. We see in scripture a very clear picture of the danger that can befall a King who does not go to war when it is the time when Kings go to war.
2Sa 11:1 Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.
David was a King who decided to stay home in the time of war. He didn’t realize that the war was not just a war for a nation but was a war he personally needed to be involved in. He didn’t go to battle to protect what was his and take new ground.and the result of that was that he became an adulterer and a murderer. How many of us have neglected to go to war in our own lives and it has lead to us compromising and sinning?
It is a time for war and yet we hear the church crying ‘Peace, peace’ when there is no peace. Sir Winston Churchill once said “Peace comes only to those who are willing to fight to maintain the ground they have already won.” Is that us, are we willing to fight to maintain the ground that either we personally have won or that Christ won for us on the cross?
Release the Sound
A sound waits to be released into the earth. It is the sound of the High praises of God. It is a sound that will establish the authority of the sons of God on the earth. God will not release that sound for us and will not take authority for us. He has done that already on the cross when Jesus released a sound that echoes for all eternity – “It is finished” and now we get to enforce that victory in the earth.
Note that we get to enforce that victory with God’s strength and help. We cannot do it in our own strength but God and we working together can do it.
David released a sound when he went against Goliath (the sound of his sling whizzing and the words of faith and victory he released) that sound released something in the spirit realm as David released the stone that would give the victory to the Israeli army. David saw from Gods perspective. He saw that the enemy had no legal right to defy them and he decreed it and then enforced that decree.
Is 30:32 And every blow of the rod of punishment, which the LORD will lay on him, will be with the music of tambourines and lyres; And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them.
We see in this verse that God uses music and worship to become a rod of punishment to bring our enemies into subjection. In Ps 149 it says that it is “to execute on them the judgement written.” What is the judgement written? It is the judgement of the Lord of Hosts. What does the word of God say? Find out what the judgement is against them and execute it. God has given you that authority “What you bind on earth has already been bound in heaven and what you loose on earth has already been loosed in heaven.” Matt 16:19
The Word also tells us that as Priests and Kings “You shall decree a thing and it shall be established.” Job22:28
Now is the time to release the sound of governing praise over your personal lives, over our churches and over our nations.
Third Heaven / New Covenant worship perspective
It’s all very well to say we must release the High Praises but what are they and how do we do it.
In Ps 149 the words “High praises” come from two Hebrew words that mean – Strongs H7138 exaltation, praise and H7426 to rise, lift oneself up, mount up.
To re
lease the sound of the High praises of God we must come into that place of exalting Him for who He is and seeing from a Heavenly perspective. We release High Praises when we praise and worship from a Third Heaven or New Covenant worship perspective of being seated with Christ in Heavenly places. No longer are we worshipping from earth trying to break through to heaven (going through the outer court etc but stopping outside, at the entrance to the Holy of Holies) but we worship from the place of everlasting and immediate access (inside the Holy of Holies, which is in heaven itself, because of the torn veil). I address this whole thing of Third Heaven Worship perspective in more depth elsewhere so I won’t go into any more detail here on what it means to worship from a third heaven, new covenant perspective. Suffice it to say many of us still worship from an old covenant perspective at least partially because we have not fully got the revelation of what Christ did for us when He died and rose again triumphantly..
We must begin to see from a Third Heaven perspective and praise from that perspective. That perspective sees the victory of God and declares it into the Earth and into the second heaven; that sort of praise and worship issues forth from those who know who God has made them and walk in it. Does that mean it’s all about us – seeing “who we are?” Of course not but it is about knowing what Christ did and what he won back for us on the cross.
It is time for a new sound of praise to be released into the earth. It’s the sound of faith-filled governing praise. It’s the sound that sees what the Father is doing and hears what He is saying and steps into that place of decreeing by faith His victory in advance of seeing it in the natural realm. That sort of sound releases fear into the camp of the enemy. When the Church rises up and releases the High Praises kings will topple and demonic powers will be bound.
‘Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you coastlands and you inhabitants of them! Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare His praise in the coastlands. The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; he shall prevail against his enemies’ (Isaiah 42:10-13).
Purpose Driven or Presence Led - Lyn Packer
In these days of great harvest we need to go back to some foundational truths and values. One of which is being led by the spirit of God, and having His presence go with us. Moses cried out
Exo 33:13 “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” 14 And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. 16 “For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”
In Gods plans and purposes for man He never intended that we become Purpose Driven but rather that we be Presence Led and minister out of a place of rest.
I am not bagging Rick Warren here and actually have not even read his book “Purpose Driven Life” but God highlighted these two terms to me a couple of months ago and since then I have mulled over them thought about them and prayed into them letting them form this teaching in my heart. .
A purpose driven life - It sounds good.
We all ask the question – Why was I born? What is my purpose in life? Where do I fit? Our life is spent searching for the answer to those questions and if we do not find that answer in relationship with God we will find it in “purpose” and our life will become a purpose driven life.
We search for happiness, we strive for that next promotion, we must get that next possession, we must find that right person, purpose, purpose, purpose.
A Purpose driven life – if we take those words and build our lives around or on them we will build a wrong foundation, a false base to our Christianity. It is a foundation built on sand, remove the purpose and we have no life, no reason for living unless we find another purpose to live for….
A Purpose driven life is (I believe) the religious spirits counterfeit to the Presence Led life.
As Christians we were never meant to live a purpose driven life. The religious spirit loves purpose and will cause our identity to become wrapped up in our purpose. Our identity is always to be found in that place of relationship with God – we are a much loved son or daughter.
Co-mission
Our service for Him must come out of a place of relationship – of teaming with Him. Yes He has commissioned us but that commission was and is supposed to be a co-mission – Him and us
Mar 16:20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
Let’s look at some of the things the enemy wants to accomplish by making us purpose driven …
Purpose driven says it’s all about the purpose – what’s the purpose (that’s a vision based life). You must have a vision for your life and goals so that you fulfill that vision. There can be a subtleness in this that sometimes will cause us to switch from being led by God to driven by vision and programmes.
Presence led says its all about His presence and His heart – what is his heart for this people (that’s a values based life) how does He want to show them his heart for them. That is our vision and goal. – to know Gods heart for a people and show it, leading them to come into the place of his heart for them. It is not about programmes
John 5:19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
Purpose driven will drive you and you will end up striving…
Presence led will bring you into a place of rest Ex 33 as above with Moses
Purpose driven says I have a relationship with God – for a purpose – in other words my relationship with God is driven by purpose –what will I get out of it, how will this help me? How can God help me get the job done? I know only what I need to know of God in order to get the purpose fulfilled..
Presence led says I have a relationship with God – first of all it is a relationship, – it is an unfolding and revealing of who we are to each other, a love based relationship, a friendship, it is covenant therefore it will be a end up being a mutually beneficial relationship
Purpose or vision alone will drive you; it will become your master.
Rom 6:16 Rom 6:16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
Presence will lead you, God will be your King & Father, the Holy Spirit your counselor and guide and Jesus will walk with you – they will lead you and work with you as you co-labour with them in the harvest.
Mar 16:20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
Purpose driven says what are the things you’re good at? what would you like to do for God? It’s all about us and what we can do for God. Subtle yet deadly.
Presence led says what does God want to gift you in? What does He want you to do? It might be quite different to your natural gifts Eg Smith Wigglesworth – a plumber – you might mistakenly think because of this he would have a gift of helps when God had a gift of faith to give him and a miracle healing ministry for him to walk in
1Co 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. :7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
Most Fruitful gift
There are seasons in God where one gift might be more used by God than another. Don’t think – this is my primary gift and that’s what I’ll operate forever. There is a time and a season where even your primary gift must make way to your most fruitful gift in this season. Eg Smith Wigglesworth – a plumber an evangelist and Pastor of a church with his wife Polly (The couple worked together to evangelize the lost and they opened a small church in a poor part of town. Polly would preach and Smith would make the altar calls.) His primary giftings up until that point – Evangelism and and Pastoring, – were to make way however for his most fruitful gifting - a gift of faith and a miracle healing ministry for him to walk in.
Purpose driven will lead you to possibly devalue and use people to get your vision done and if they don’t fit your vision they don’t fit and aren’t of any value. A purpose driven church will be like this too.
Presence led will always cause you to value people and place people before vision – why? You cannot be presence led without the heart of God filling you
Purpose driven says – what do I need to get the job done, what are my resources, what can I call on – people, finances etc Then when you don’t need the person any longer you drop them. – in the end if allowed it will come down to – by any means
Presence led says – How do you want to accomplish it God, what does God want to supply to get the job done – what are God’s resources for this job, where He calls He supplies, brings team to work alongside us
Zec 4:6 Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.
No doubt there are many other examples and differences between the two but there is enough here to open Gods heart to us on this and for us to see where we have been purpose driven instead of presence led. If this is the case then we need to repent. Our lives and churches need to become presence led instead of purpose driven again so that people will always be valued and honoured and we will truly serve and be in right relationship with both God and others.
Chuck Away Those Old Glasses - Lyn Packer
I have had my theology challenged lately and oh it is good. The result of that challenge has been like getting new glasses after seeing for so long with blurred lenses that are an old prescription.
We see and understand from such a limited perspective. A lot of our theological understanding comes from things we have heard preached, picked up by osmosis along the way or have studied for ourselves. The trouble is when it comes to God and even theology we only see through the lenses of our current theological grid. Things can be ‘hidden in plain sight’ in scripture but because we have been taught to see something from a certain perspective we don’t see that there could be another perspective. Or even, that maybe our current understanding is wrong.
Then along comes God and he challenges what you or I believe. What we do with that challenge is vitally important. That challenge can come in many forms and God is not afraid to use circumstances we face to challenge what we believe about him or his word. What are our options when God challenges us and do we always choose the right one?
Option 1 - Ignore the challenge. Sometimes God comes and challenges us and we choose to ignore the challenge. Why? It could be we think there is nothing wrong with our theology, that what we believe now is true and is right. Or it could be that we don’t recognize that we see in part and do not know all truth about anything. So it is easy to push the challenge away or even apply it to someone else we know.
Option 2 – Treat the challenge superficially or apathetically. God challenges us and we may even recognize we might not be 100% right but we don’t or won’t search out the truth. We have many justifications for doing this but each one comes down in the end to pride, passivity or apathy. We will rationalize and defend our passivity too. We may think – Its not like I’m going to find out I’m not saved or something like that, so it’s not vital. So we choose to live on the poverty line of revelation and understanding.
Option 3 – Find an excuse to not to let the challenge change us. We may agree in principle to the new update God has given us but that’s where it stays – as a concept and principle. It is easy to give assent with our minds to something but we must let our theology change us, we must live it out. Updated theology should radically affect everything and will often have a domino effect challenging and toppling other wrong beliefs as well.
Option 4 – Admit that we are challenged and let the challenge change us to a certain level – usually to the level of our rights – for example – I may believe I have the right to live comfortably and with ease so no I won’t answer that call to serve on the mission field, but I will support them financially. If I ignore it maybe it will go away – usually it does too and unfortunately we stay in the place of unbelief and fear. At this point also it is all too easy to use excuses – maybe we hide behind our kids or our job or even what our Pastor believes and we don’t want the boat rocked so we do nothing.
Option 5 – Allow the challenge to do its work in us. This is where we recognize that God is at work and is challenging us for a reason – that the image of Christ may fully formed in us. In this option we are willing to hold loosely what we have believed and allow God to challenge it, shake it, sift it and let the wind blow away what is chaff. In this place we are willing to allow ourselves to feel uncomfortable while still trusting that he knows what he is doing and why. It is a place of surrender, a place that while not necessarily easy to be in is absolutely necessary if we are to move into greater revelation.
This is a season of many challenges for the church. Finances, confidence, mind sets, theology; it is a season where everything that can be shaken is being shaken. What a glorious time it is – God is challenging us and we are getting to see the truth about where we stand. For many, if not all of us, we are discovering that we don’t trust God as much as we thought, we don’t believe him as much as we ought to and largely, we don’t really experience the reality of what we believe. Oh the wonderful grace of God in revealing these things to us.
The devil would have us believe that these times are like they are because God is judging us yet the truth is far from that. In these challenging times the whisper from heaven is – “Come closer, come and see the real me, come, see and experience the reality of who I am. And when you see me as I truly am, everything will change. You will see your challenges from a new perspective, you will see the answers I have for those challenges and faith will rise in your heart, so that what you believe and what you see may be manifested in your realm.”
God is challenging our theology especially in this season – what we believe about him, what we believe about his word, his kingdom and so much more. Let him do it, let him challenge your theology. In doing so you will come out the other side with a wonderfully updated view of God that will change your world. Allowing God to update your theology in this season is vital. The church worldwide is undergoing a reformation that at it’s culmination will dwarf any other that has been before. Out of that reformation the Bride will arise in all her glory, pure and spotless, rightly displaying the character, love and power of God, releasing heaven into earth everywhere she goes.
Letting God change you in this season is not only essential on a personal level but it makes you a part of the pioneering work of birthing reformation. That’s how big this is, it’s not just about you maturing it’s way bigger than that; it’s about the Church becoming who she was created to be.
Bring on the change, I say! Challenge our theology God, change it and change us!
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