Operating in a Heavenly Power

Joseph Herrin (06-03-2012)

Solar Panels on Roof of The Dreamer

An hour is coming when the sons of God will walk in a manifestation of power that this age has not formerly witnessed. The general characteristic of the church at this time is one of fleshly strength. It is typical for churches today to have board members, committees, secretaries, treasurers, chairmen, and to incorporate following the pattern of the business world. The pastors and various ministers draw salaries. They have 401K plans, pensions, and insurance. Many are provided with a corporate vehicle, and they may even receive a per diem when travel is necessary. When decisions must be made, it is common for church members to “vote” in the same way that stakeholders in a corporation operate.

These external and visible signs of conformity to the system of business in the world reveals a tragic truth. The church is operating in the power of the flesh rather than manifesting the power of God. In the book, The Road from Babylon to Zion, I wrote the following:

Babylon and Zion - These names represent two groups of people that the scriptures have much to speak about. One group of people has the appearance of being very impressive. Their industriousness is legend. Their constant and unceasing labor  seeks to plan and to build and to enlarge themselves until their works reach the very habitation of Yahweh God. Yet with this Babylonian people, God is not pleased. He has rejected their righteousness as filthy rags. He has rejected their labor as being works of lawlessness. He has despised the offerings they have brought before Him.

This people is impressive and glorious in the eyes of man in the same way that the massive buildings of Herod’s temple awed the disciples of Yahshua the Messiah. Yahshua tempered His disciples’ misplaced enthusiasm by telling them that not one stone would remain upon another of all that appeared so magnificent to their eyes. Even so, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, who has glorified herself and exalted herself in the eyes of all men, will be suddenly destroyed, and that with great finality.

There is another people whose outward appearance is not impressive. They are a people that follow the pattern of the One who was despised and rejected of men. They have no comely appearance that men should desire them, nor stately form that the flesh of man should be attracted to them. These people are not known for their industry, rather they are marked by their oddness. They do not fit into the systems of the world. They are outcasts and misfits and they dwell in wilderness places. Consequently many consider them to have been smitten and stricken by God, yet these Overcomers are the apple of Yahweh’s eye.

These people are not renowned for their building in wood and stone. Instead, they stand out because they have undergone a spiritual transformation. The things of the world have lost their luster in their sight. They do not work and plan and strive to accumulate the goods of a passing age. They walk as aliens and strangers in the land, seeking a city whose builder is God. A world that judges by external appearance sees nothing of value, nothing that impresses, nothing that demands a second look, in this people. Yet Yahweh God, who judges the heart, is captivated by these Overcomers, these citizens of Zion, for in them He sees the image of His only begotten Son taking shape...

Babylon always seeks to ascend to God through its own works and to thereby find acceptance and approval...

This is actually the key distinction between Babylon and Zion. Babylon initiates great works and then asks God to bless them. Babylon has the appearance of great industriousness and her progress seems evident to all, but Babylon’s works are the works of man...

This is a large part of the trouble of coming out of Babylon: Babylon looks good on the outside. This is the same struggle that those who followed Messiah faced when He said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, you can in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” The Pharisees looked good. They prayed. They fasted. They tithed of all their substance. They meticulously kept the Law... Yet, they were relying on their own works to gain approval before a holy God...

The paradox today is that it is often the most righteous looking people who are the chief citizens of Babylon for they are working hard to find approval before God. They are striving laboriously to appear righteous. Many a minister has spent his entire life working to find the approval of God and of men, and he has yoked the people who follow him to the same burden of works. They may accomplish many remarkable things, but before God it is all striving and dead works...

This is the difference between Babylon and Zion. Babylon is a land of works where man must accomplish every task and fulfill every mandate. Babylon knows nothing of rest and faith. Oh yes, Babylon speaks very much about faith, but it is a faith that is rooted in man’s ability. Babylon’s faith is founded upon man’s ability to envision some end and to see it through. Babylon is built with blueprints, and planning sessions, and organization, and fund drives, and pep rallies, and the sweat of untold men and women. This is why when all is said and done and some project has come to completion, the people of Babylon feel justified to stand and proclaim:

    Daniel 4:30
    "Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built... by the might of my power...?”

Zion, however, is not seeking to build anything of her own will and initiative. Zion is a people of faith. Zion knows that salvation is of the Lord, as is sanctification, and as is glorification. Zion does not labor to build a city, for she seeks a city not built with hands whose builder and maker is not man, but God. Zion does not seek to work for the approval of Yahweh, she works because she is approved by Yahweh.

Zion is a city of rest. This does not mean that those who are of Zion are doing nothing, it means that they are doing nothing of their own initiative. They are doing those works that God prepared beforehand for them. They are not dreaming up their own works, nor are they stretching out their hands to labor in fields to which they have not been sent.
[End Excerpt]

For a season those who come out of Babylon have an appearance of impotence. Left behind is the drive to organize men into groups to accomplish some glorious human vision. Those who journey with their face set toward Zion must limit themselves to doing only that which Yahweh commands them to do. He leads them through a wilderness way where they are emptied. They see their absolute weakness and come to despise the flesh. This causes the people of God to feel very vulnerable. They are cast upon God lest they perish, or are overcome by the trials and the many adversaries they face.

Yet, in their weakness, a remarkable thing begins to occur. These pilgrims who have left Babylon behind begin to grow in confidence and strength toward God. They begin to understand that what Yahweh has purposed, He will accomplish. When Yahweh calls a man or woman, He does not need anything they have to offer for He sees that they are empty. The flesh profits nothing. Like Moses after forty years of stripping in the wilderness, these men and women come to confess, “God, I cannot even speak. I have nothing to offer you. No man will listen to me. Please choose another man.”

It is when a man has been thus emptied that Yahweh is able to begin revealing Himself in power THROUGH THAT MAN. Did not Yahweh do mighty things through Moses that the Earth had never seen before? Moses at the age of 80 standing before the burning bush was very different from that man who forty years earlier had sought to deliver God’s people from bondage by the strength of His own arm and eloquence of his oratory. Moses at the age of forty slew one Egyptian. He then fled for his life, rejected by His people and hunted by Pharaoh. At the age of forty, the height of his human abilities, he could not deliver a single Israelite from bondage.

My call out of Babylon occurred in 1999. Since then I have walked through wilderness places. I have been weak and vulnerable. Uncounted, yet abundant, are the times I have confessed to Yahweh that I am desperately dependent upon Him. If He did not come through my family and I would be sunk. I have confessed to Him that I do not have any power or wisdom of myself capable of advancing His kingdom one iota. The power is not present in me to convince a single human being of truth. Apart from God performing it, I have no power to open spiritually blind eyes, or to unstop deaf ears.

As we depart from Babylon, the land where everything is done by human power and according to natural reason, we are emptied. We come to see our impotence. Yet, God helps us. He give us a little strength that we might stand and continue the journey.

Revelation 3:8
I know your [record of] works and what you are doing. See! I have set before you a door wide open which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My Word and guarded My message and have not renounced or denied My name.
[Amplified Bible]

When Ezra left Babylon with a ragtag group of Jewish men and women to return to Zion, they recognized their weakness and vulnerability. This did not deter them, however. Where they were weak they counted on Yahweh to be strong. Their faith was rewarded as Yahweh carried them through many threats and established them in Zion. There they took root downward and bore fruit upward.

Ezra 8:21-32
Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, "The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him." So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He listened to our entreaty... Then we journeyed from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was over us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way. Thus we came to Jerusalem...

Ezra did not appeal to the people’s pride. He held no pep rally to stir up the souls of the men and women who were bold enough to make the trek to Zion. He did not say, “Men, we are better than those men we will meet along the way. We are stronger, faster, more intelligent, and can beat any adversary who comes against us.” No! Ezra recognized the truth. They were impotent. They were leaving the strength of Babylon behind. They would not request an escort from the king of Babylon for the power of man could not bring the overcomers to Zion. They went in much weakness, in fear and trembling. Their only hope was in God.

Ezra showed forth the pattern for all who would journey to Zion. Those in the church age have followed the same course. The apostle Paul declared:

I Corinthians 2:1-5
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Yahshua Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Where is our faith to rest? Not on man and what he can accomplish. Our power is found in God!

Before Paul was converted on the road to Damascus he was a true Babylonian. Sure, he was an Israelite among Israelites, yet his confidence was in the flesh. Like Moses at the age of forty, Paul looked to his own strength, his own wisdom and zeal, to accomplish things for God. Paul had to be humbled. He had to recognize his utter weakness so that he would begin to look to the power of Christ in man to accomplish the will of the Father.

Philippians 3:4-9
If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Yahshua my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ...

You may ask, “What does all this have to do with solar panels?” Yahweh speaks through many means. Several years ago I purchased a set of solar panels. I was excited at the thought of being able to generate power from the Sun. I could run lights, fans, and various electrical devices without burning any fossil fuels, without consuming any earthly material. Free and unlimited power was available if only I could access it and store it.

My first attempts were very meager. I purchased a set of panels that were quite costly. They were fairly impressive at the time, generating 60 watts of electrical energy at peak hours of the day. In truth, however, this was only enough to run a few lights, or a small fan, or a laptop computer for a few hours a day. It was certainly not enough for air conditioning, or a microwave oven, a refrigerator, or other power hungry appliances.

About a year ago I installed the panels on top of my bus to keep the cranking battery from draining when I was parked for extended periods of time. These solar panels were quite adequate to do that, but not much more. This was my wilderness period. It was a time of humbling. Like these solar panels, I had only a little power, and that which I did have came from the heavens. Christ was my source, but I was deriving only a meager amount of power from Him. It was just enough to keep me going, even as the solar panels have served to keep the cranking battery charged up on my bus.

Yesterday I took steps to accomplish the final job I have had on my wish list to bring my bus’ transformation to completion. I ordered the necessary components to bring additional solar power to the bus. I installed two deep cycle auxiliary batteries in the bus when I first outfitted it a year and a half ago. They have been powered only by that energy I draw from the local power grid. Off the grid they would last no more than a few days powering some lights, or a small fan, in my bus. I purchased two 140 watt solar panels to charge them so I can run lights and fans and small appliances inside the bus when I am detached from “shore power.” This will give me a renewable power source that should permit me to run lights and a few small appliances indefinitely.

I also recently ordered a large deep cycle battery (153 amp/hours) to go in the trailer behind my bus. This will be used to power the freezer and the grain mill in the trailer. Yesterday I ordered two additional 140 watt solar panels to charge up that battery. In total, I placed an order for 560 watts of solar panels to supplement the 60 watts I already had. This is a power increase of approximately 1,000%.

The above picture is not of my bus, nor of the panels I have ordered, but it demonstrates the manner in which I plan to use them. I will set my four panels (larger than those pictured) on the ground angled at the Sun, and will use them to power appliances and to charge my batteries.

As I was pondering this final step in the job of completing the work on The Dreamer I was seeking to understand what the Father was signifying by these things. I believe a time is at hand when certain sons of God must walk in a greater divine (heavenly) power. This is revealed through many Biblical types. When Joseph was brought out of prison and ascended to the throne to be Pharaoh’s second in command throughout the land, he received power. This power was to accomplish a specific task which Joseph defined in the following words.

Genesis 45:7
“God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.”

In this hour Yahweh once again has His eyes upon a remnant of His people. With this remnant a bride will be fashioned for the Son of God even as a remnant portion of Adam’s body was used to form a bride for the first man. When Yahweh calls people to a task, as He assigned Joseph to keep a people alive during a time of famine, He gives them the wisdom, authority, and power to accomplish that work. They are NOT called upon to use their own abilities and strength to accomplish divine purposes.

Genesis 41:39-43
So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you." Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt." Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. He had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed before him, "Bow the knee!" And he set him over all the land of Egypt.

The power Joseph received was given from above even as the wisdom Joseph walked in was not a terrestrial wisdom. When Joseph was summoned before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams he testified that the power to do so was not in him. It was God who would give Pharaoh the answer he sought. Those sons who have been in wilderness places have been learning this lesson. Every good and necessary thing comes down from above. The purposes of God cannot be accomplished by human wisdom and strength. They can only be performed by the power of Yahweh.

Zechariah 4:6
Then he said to me, "This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,'” says Yahweh of hosts.

Zerubbabel, whose name means (Called out of Babylon), was given a task by God. He was instructed to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. He had only a small remnant of Jews who had returned from Babylon with which to accomplish this great work. Their strength, wisdom, and abilities were insignificant and insufficient for this great work. Yahweh, however, did not look to man’s ability to accomplish this task. He would provide the power, wisdom, and resources needed.

It is an awesome thing to observe what Yahweh can accomplish when His power is revealed in weak men. When He puts His Spirit in a man and causes him to work His works, that man can accomplish supernatural things. Yahweh stirred up Zerubbabel, and He stirred up the hearts of the people who labored with him.

Haggai 1:14
So Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of hosts, their God...

Ezra 1:5
Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem.

There is a house that needs to be rebuilt in this hour. The sanctuary of God has fallen into disrepair. Yahweh will once more raise up a people to be a praise in the earth. These will become His habitation. Who is adequate for such a work? As Joseph stated, it is not in man to accomplish such a thing. Yahweh must bring it about.

I sense that there is great symbolism in this final work to bring this bus Yahweh has given to me to completion. It must be endued with power from above. The bus represents the people of God. It is forty years old at this time (signifying wilderness experiences), and it is stamped with the manufacturer’s ID “Body By Carpenter.” The bus rides on Power King tires, and the house of God must truly be powered by the King of kings.

The power supplied by the Sun will be used to grind grains and beans to feed a remnant that God has chosen. The battery I was led to purchase is rated at 153 amp/hours, and this number parallels the 153 fish drawn up in the nets by the disciples at the third appearing of Christ after His resurrection. This number signifies those the Father does not want to be lost. The nets did not break. It is the number of the righteous, drawn up on the “right” side of the boat. These ones will also have to pass through fiery experiences even as Christ instructed the disciples to bring of the fish so He could lay them in the fire He had already prepared.

The work ahead is such that only a heavenly power can accomplish it. There will be no participation by Babylonian churches and church members in this endtime work of Yahweh. The Father would have no flesh boast before Him.

Psalms 44:3
For by their own sword they did not possess the land, and their own arm did not save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, for You favored them.

The Father is setting an expectation in my heart for those things that lie ahead. As the earth enters into very dark days, the glory of God must arise upon a remnant of His people. These will do exploits in His name. As Moses performed wonders in the land of Egypt, Yahweh will have a people to show forth His wonders in the earth.

Isaiah 8:18
Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.


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Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063