Released April 13, 2015
Theresa Harvard Johnson
(Please watch the video above before reading this prophetic word.)
The Vision
As I prayed over Voices of Christ today, I saw a dark “Charlie Brown” rain cloud over the heads of some of God’s people. Everywhere they went, this cloud followed succinctly – remaining directly above the head bringing forth lightning and dark rain. These believers were moving about in the midst of a blinding sun within their communities; but they could not see the bright light of the son. For those who are not familiar with this example in the old Charlie Brown cartoons, the dark cloud came with its own personal storm and would follow the characters around to signify their depressive moods. (The Lord often uses familiar scenes from my life to illustrate his word in the Spirit. I have learned to share these illustrations with confidence and scriptural support.)
For this particular group of people, however, this cloud did not dissipate. It literally became a part of their identity and hung in the midst of every activity – even as they prayed, worshiped, spent intimate time with family, had coffee or otherwise moved forward in their daily activities. No matter the effort, they could not seem to shake it or detach from it. It was bonded to them.
As I watched from the position of an intercessor, I noticed a second type of “Charlie Brown” cloud forming around some of them – around the feet and up like a dust cloud. There was a character in this cartoon named “Pig Pen” who is pictured to the left. He was known for “stinking or smelling bad.” Where ever he went and whatever he did, this cloud of dust and flies followed him. The thing is, Pig Pen was loved by his friends, but it was difficult for them to tolerate his presence causing them to withdraw or step back. Pig Pen had become so accustomed to being “stinky” that he continued all of his normal activities as if nothing was wrong. His friends, who were children, eventually accepted this abnormal behavior, tolerated it when necessary and loved him as best as they could.
The people in my vision were living in a “dark cloud or pig pen” experience among an enlightened group of people. While they were in the midst of the blinding light, they were unable to receive it for themselves. To them, it looked as if the light was rejecting them INSTEAD OF seeing themselves as catalysts for rejecting the light. It was at this point that the vision ended. For clarity, this vision is not related to occasional heaviness or depression; but to a condition that stretches into months and years without release. Please keep this in mind when reading.
Prophetic Insight
The bright light in this vision represented the liberty and glory of the Lord – pure freedom from oppression, heaviness and a sign of great joy. It represented clarity in the spiritual senses. It also represented the very “obvious and tangible” presence of the Lord. This blinding light was in direct opposition to the obvious “pig pen experience.” It was also a sign that God, in His infinite wisdom, cannot break through as light in the midst of a hardened, self-consumed darkness. The heart must truly submit.
The dark cloud represented deep places of heaviness, suppression, depression, oppression and silent rebellion… that, instead of being confronted or acknowledged, had been nursed and covered up with a “wish” that it would go away, but no sacrifice. This “pig pen experience” in part, needed to be starved out… not nurtured in a massive, monumental, agonizing pity party.
These people were able to function because they accepted this “state” as a part of their natural existence — believing that they were waiting on God to “do something” to break them free, when in fact, the act of breakthrough rested on their ability to see themselves as they truly are… and take the necessary steps of humility to enter into that freedom process.
The inability for the cloud to dissipate represents trying to find release “in one’s own strength” and in one’s “own plan for deliverance,” instead of recognizing and identifying God-centered help and reaching out for God-centered support in prayer; and/or professional, God-centered help in a therapeutic capacity. Sometimes, this is indeed necessary. (God has indeed ordained deliverance and healing ministry in mental health professions. It is not a sin to seek help when the need is beyond the person, the capabilities of family, friends and nonprofessionals — meaning untrained specialists.)
Inadvertently, the people under the cloud were walking in deep denial, enduring the torment in their souls – and simply waiting for it to lift off. They prayed alone. Cried out alone. Read the bible alone, and spent significant time listening to a combination of voices in their head believing it was God. The lingering cloud represented a place acceptance to a point of dangerous perversion.
The lightning and the rain coming from the cloud is not heavenly; rather it is the torment itself that comes from spending an excessive amount of time examining self, harboring on past hurts, losses, sins; and even more time examining others – to a point of paranoia, suspicion, and grave, self-directed distrust. There is an extreme lack of trust in God… and this “woe-is-me” element consuming their lives. There is also this inward belief that others are “acting funny” toward them — when in fact they are simply reacting to or navigating around the “storm cloud and the dust bowl” — which presents the “pig pen effect” seen in the Charlie Brown clip.
Father revealed that a person afflicted by this type of heaviness tends to seek answers in this mixed up “spiritual realm” that is perceived as godly but is in fact demonic. While these believers have good intentions and seek the spirit realm for answers, they emerge with monumental spiritual distortions concerning themselves, others and even God’s Word. Their hearing is disrupted and often tainted with ungodly prayers, odd directions, and distortions. No matter the press, those suffering cannot “shake off or climb out” of the pig pen in their present state.
Prophetic Word
I am causing you to face the truth, says the Spirit of the Lord. Denial is not your portion. I am drying up the storm cloud and taking you out of the dust bowl of your own creation as you fully surrender your heart, your will to me. You will see your current state as I see it. Break covenant with denial. Break covenant with perfectionism. Break covenant with paranoia and suspicion. Break covenant with the rain cloud and the dust bowl that you have nurtured. Denounce the sin of pride and self-pity. Break covenant with self-imposed isolation and every form of oppression. Break covenant with pride and false humility. Make a decision to pursue every avenue I present to you in humility.
I am breaking into pieces and uprooting the spirit of death. Will you receive me? Will you acknowledge my instructions? Will you trust the plan I have presented before you? Remember my servant Job in the midst of your affliction (Job 3:3, 11, 20-26, 17:1). Remember my servant David in the midst of your affliction (Psalm 43:2-5; 25, 27). Remember my servant Paul (2 Corinthians 11:23b-28). Remember my servant Hannah in the midst of her affliction (1 Samuel 10). Just as I brought them through, I have empowered you with the tools necessary for overcoming, says the Lord. My light, my glory is overtaking you.
While pursuing me with all your heart, I am cleaning up and clearing out your mind. I am amplifying my voice above all the other voices in your hearing. I am placing every distortion before “what is written” that you may know the truth and be free. The mind of Christ is your portion as you awaken, as you go about your daily affairs and as you rest. I am causing every ungodly prayer and lying word to fall to the ground, says the Lord. Your way will be made straight. I am accelerating lost time, places in your life where time has stood still and there has been no progress. I am preparing you for a spiritual renewal and reset, greater vision and focus.
John 1:4-5NIV, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.”
Matthew 4:16NIV, “…the people living in darkness have seen a great light; upon those living in the region, in the shadow of death, light has dawned.”
John 8:12NASB, “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, I am the Light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
Mark 4:22 NASB, “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.”
(I do not own the image in of Pig-Pen and Snoopy in this article.)
