Latest / This Is That: Believe Again / Ep 5 - America the Beautiful: From Sea to Shining Sea
Transcript
- Yvonne Denise Hicks: what has God placed in your hands? what's in your history? who's your family, your children? What what can you share with Your grandchildren and your community and what has God given you as as gifts and anointings and and so you know, what's what's your passion, what's your What what assignment has he given you that will make you run into a battle and and you know survive bullet holes c going through your hats and so forth because it's a part of the Lord's promise I want to welcome everyone to This Is That, Believe Again. I'm your host, Yvonne Denise, and in our last episode, I had the privilege of sitting down with my friend Kim Poteat, and we had a conversation about faith, family, children, community, as well as what gives her hope for our nation. And toward the end of the conversation, I ask Kim what these mountains stir in her. And so today we're going to pick up that thread and continue interweaving another part of the Believe Again story. And so I'm calling this portion of the journey America the beautiful from C to shining sea. And so I've been blessed to travel through more than 35 states. And I know I took one of those surveys and you know it it asks you how many states you've gone through and so there's over the years I've just had a chance to see many different people places experience and I've had what I call God encounters and so they've stayed with me and as I've looked back, I've begun to see threads, many of them connecting. And so this isn't going to be just one episode. we'll return to America the beautiful along the way, but before we begin traveling anywhere, I think we have to start with the one who created it all. So Lord, we just thank you for who you are, that you are a creator full of love, mercy, and truth. And thank you, Lord, that we were made in your image and likeness. Help us, Lord, to step into who you first made us and then redeemed us to be. And so open our eyes, Lord, to see what you've entrusted to us and help us steward and faithfully steward it to our generation. And so in Jesus' name we just thank you, Lord. Amen. So I I want to start. With God as the creator. And Genesis 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and creation truly displays the wondrous beauty, creativity, and abundance of God. And so scripture tells us that we're created in his image and in his likeness. And so God blessed mankind and gave us responsibility within his creation. And that's in Genesis 1, 26 to 28. And so in Psalm 24, 1, it talks about the earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof. And Psalm 115, 16, the heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth have he given to the children of men. So creation, what image, likeness, blessing, fruitfulness, dominion, stewardship. And then Genesis records the fall, you know, and Genesis also reveals the story of redemption. And so part of the story that comes through in that regard is is about Abram. And in Genesis 12, God tells Abram to leave his country and go to a land, he he would show him. And the land it that promise included land, lineage, generations, nations, blessing, and so forth. And the Lord said, In thee. Shall all families of the earth be blessed? And so the promise continues unfolding through Abraham's life. And in Genesis 14, we see land and people and conflict and redemption all intersecting in just a remarkable encounter. And so Genesis 14, we see that Lot and others were taken captive and Abram gathers his trained men of his household and he goes after them and he rescues Lot, he brings back the people and possess possessions, and on the return, Abram encounters Mekazedek. And Machazedek is called the king of Salem, and he's also the priest of the most high God. And Machazedek blesses Abram in the name of the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth. And so Abraham gives him a tenth. He's a king. He's a priest. He's the God most high, possessor of heaven and earth. And Mekchedek appears again later in Scripture. And in Psalm 110, verse 4, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And then Hebrews brings that forward, that thread forward to Jesus, who is our great high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And so the priest of Melchizedek the king and the priests, the story that begins in Genesis continues unfolding through redemption. And eventually that story reaches every tribe and every nation. And it brings me to the scripture that has become very important in the way I look at places in history, and that's Acts seventeen. We had mentioned that before, but Acts seventeen, twenty-six to twenty seven, because God made the nations, he determined our appointed times and the boundaries in which we were to live and so that we might seek him. And so and so when I took a look in my own story, through that scripture, I was born in Philadelphia and I believe the Lord orchestrated all of that. And history growing up was all around me. You know, the the Liberty Bell and Christ Church and Society Hill, the cobblestone st steps and things like that. And I'm gonna be touching on more of my history and more of it the encounters I've had specifically today about Oregon and Kentucky and where I am now in Western North Carolina, but there were a couple of recent films that came out that really stirred me. about my history again and one of them was called a great awakening and it was about George Whitfill and I had heard his story with d different touch points because the the ministry the Lord had me start in in twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen was called Releasing Heaven Ministries and he he commissioned us to to go and and to pluck up iniquity and to release blessings and so the thing in growing up in philadelphia that i longed it's the city of brotherly love as William Penn founded it and when I grew up there was a lot of chaos and so when I saw the movie A Great Awakening I saw the cobblestone streets and Benjamin Franklin and you know, the Christ church and and different places that I had visited and and known and it stirred within me a a reality of of what was built at that time. And there was a a a lot of merchants and families and William Penn was a strategist and and so the the streets were in order and and and all of that. And so I just felt connected more with the history and seeing it played out right before my eyes and so and so it stirred in me the real possibility of we can restore that, we can go back to the to be in the city of brotherly love, which it was up my heart because you would kinda sometimes go down the street and people wouldn't talk to you and all of that and there was just, you know, neighborhoods and chaos and, you know, kind of things growing up. And so the other movie that I just just watched a few days ago was Young Washington. And it was about George Washington in in the beginning, right? When he was just a lad and he had, you know, lost his father and there there was, you know, the the societal hierarchy and things like that. And his brother fit into that society but he didn't I didn't completely understand that part of it, but he had a passion of wanting to serve in the military and wanting to serve the king at that time. And he kept at it and and kept you know asking and kept pressing in and kept doing that. And the Lord blessed that it was like there was a call on his life. And he volunteered for different things and and got commissions and and so forth and lost some friends along the way and it discouraged him but his mother would encourage him, This this is this is your passion and so forth and and the Lord, I mean he was even in one of the battles he was he was ill and the he he gathered the strength and he went And was able to complete that mission. And there were Native Americans there and they were like and it the scenes show that we were shooting at you and you know he would have bullet bullet holes in his hat and his jacket and so forth, and he became known as the untouchable. And so it it it made me realize how much the the people who fought in the American Revolutionary War, how much They pressed in how much they lost. They lost friends and and you know injuries themselves, family members and so forth, but but God. And so I I really truly believe, as the scriptures say, that the Lord has preappointed our times and our boundaries so that we would know him. And he has a destiny for America. I saw that through Reverend Robert Hunt's story and so forth. And so, this nation was dedicated to the Lord and the Lord is answering those prayers. It was his his purpose and he's he's fulfilling that. And so we are connected not just with places but with the stories of the people who've gone on before, their history and so forth. And I I remember when I was preparing for this there was a a word that had been given to Dutch Sheets, who's a who's a minister. Hopefully many of you know who that is. But it was Julie Meyer had a dream about the the the intercession was waning and people were tired and she had this dream about the ambulances and the and and then you know the the angels were there trying to stir up the intercessors and it was like finally there was a heartbeat, you know, and th everybody the of the angels were like, What did you do? What did you do? And he was like, I told them the old, old stories. And so, Dutch Sheets has been doing that in terms of the the appeal to heaven flag and different things. So I encourage you to to check out. I'm gonna have the link to Julie Meyer's story and also you know to to Dutch Sheets and and his ministry and so forth and I just was really encouraged and you'll see some sprinklings of his ministry throughout what I'll share today. But I I want to kind of land on a little bit about this America Beautiful series that w we're gonna be visiting different places and one of the first places that was stirred within me was to to talk about Oregon. And so I'm going to share a little bit about an encounter that I had. it was in twenty tw twenty ten and I was a part of a ministry that that did a lot of worship and prayer and so forth. I was helping with a a Bible college and so forth and I was in a season of shifting. I was in a season that the Lord was having me lay down certain things and pick up other things. And in in that season I had this this this dream, this of an an open vision of seeing and I kinda drew it out in in the map but it I I saw these watch fires light up in Oregon and I saw just like the movie The Return of the King with the beacons of Gondor, you know, and I saw watch fires being lit from Oregon all the way across the northern border and and coming down to strategic key key places, even the Carolinas and some other places of of this this this fire. And and I was just like, okay, you know, again in in a lot of transition, but I remember and I I kind of mapped it out, right? I have it's called my map of seven 'cause it looked like the number seven. And I remember we had some guest speakers at one of the the conferences that that at the church I was at at at that time and they were like, I see a seven. I see this map of seven and I you know, and and you took these little things away. And so I had a opportunity to, you know, some downtime since I was doing some transition. So during L Labor Day weekend, I had some miles for you know, to travel and so I was like, I'm gonna go to Oregon and see see what's up, you know. And so I I got on the plane, and and flew for that weekend, you know, booked my flights and so forth, rented a car and there was trouble on the way, you know, I had to you know, there was a fire at the airport. I mean it's just it was kind of interesting you know getting there to Oregon. But when I got there visiting that there There is a pioneer spirit in the atmosphere. So I drove along the Columbia River and went to the end of the Oregon Trail and all of that. And I I could feel like the the past coming alive in those moments. And I remember like driving with the Columbia River that I had to actually hold on to the steering wheels and pull over a couple times. It was so beautiful. And I was like, we had a beautiful nation. And so I even took a little trip over to, you know, Washington State. I went over one of the bridges and put my foot down in in in Washington State for the region. And so I just held on to that because it's it's a part of our story. And so in preparing for this, I saw I thought, okay, let me check out a little bit more of the history in Oregon and I found this whole prayer and awakening ministry and it it just was so powerful. I mean it started in eighteen ninety eight and it talked about how, you know, when the settlers came, ministers came and there was just a thriving ministry. they prayed for revival. you know, they they actually had seasons of revival and awakening and we're you know businesses were shut down and and and they were just worshiping the Lord and later generations different crus crusades came through and I I just marveled. In two thousand and five their their thing was like, you know, do it again, Lord, do it again. And I remember that that's the the spirit that I felt. And we'll talk in a future episode about I had gone to the river churches where revival and awakening along I I forty and had had been. And so I I know that feeling. Do it again, do it again, Lord. And there are like more than like twenty five hundred pastors and leaders that you know gathered at the Oregon C convention center. And and even recently they're they're developing prayer space in in Portland and Saturday morning prayer walks and they've been doing this for year after year after year and expectation of of the next great awakening. And so the embers have been burning and and we get to tap into that because it's all connected and then this summer Oregon came up again. I had participate in in a in a dream builders course 'cause it was like tagged about Nehemiah and so that's how this podcast got started and one of the speakers, Larry Sparks, talked about the Glory River conference that Tim Sheets had and he talked about a message that Dutch Sheets had and in there. And I just finished like, you know, a couple hours ago actually listening to the that whole message but it was all about the West Coast and the glory coming to the West Coast and so Oregon, Washington, California, and specifically Salem, Oregon, which is the capital of Oregon, was mentioned and people had come forth and hands were laid on them and they they were sent out. And so I I just was like, okay Ezekiel thirty seven was mentioned and and so forth. And so just the glory river. that that was a part of the prophetic word that I got in 2010. you know, you're you're gonna be like water on dry ground. And and I I see that in these places that I've stepped into. And so I I wanted to share just a little bit about where part of the the river, the part of the the water and hopefully I'm I'm not too far out of sync with that. But I'll I'll be sharing in just a moment about fuchsia picket and and the hydroelectric power plant that she had seen and so I I watched portions of Dutch's message even about I forty and so forth and again about the fire and the glory in the river. Just flowing to that. And again, I I'm gonna put in the show notes. I found a little clip of the beacons of of Gondor that are lit kind of thing is a fun thing to take a look at. But the message from Dutch with the I-40 Isaiah forty, he talked about the West Coast and fire. And this was a message from March of 2021, and it was a part of the confirmation that the Lord gave me. about moving to you know h I forty you know literally outside my window and just it it it just amazed me because that has been a part of of my passion and seeing the awakening that I touched on in in different places where in past generations and and just deliverance and healing what happened at Azusa Street and we'll we'll talk about that in a in a a future episode. And I was like, Lord, we we need that again. We need that again. And the having come across again a Dutch's message recently about Isaiah 4, it talked about doing again, doing again. And there were ministers who who were part of that because they had dreams and so forth and and one of them is Gina Golson and she's she'll be in our area in in just a few weeks actually and so just powerful but I want to take a little bit deeper dive about if you should pick it and the hydroelectric power plant because in in twenty thirteen we were doing some prayer walks and so forth and had, you know, taken a look at that book that she wrote, The Next Move of God. And in in that that time of of stepping into that, I saw, you know, and I don't know whether I just completely missed it or what I saw that she was in Oregon when she had that vision. And I was like, wow and it's coming up again. And her Her vision was that when the church, when different ministries across the nation would get connected and get on on fire, get their, you know, have prepared themselves in terms of having their their wells dug in in terms of things that they were doing, worship and prayer and all of that is is strategic in in in that. And she's like when they all get hooked up. you know, the Lord is gonna release the lover and there will be a an another great awakening, that would happen. And so I I realized the power of having that that that dam image is because dams bring life. they they funnel electricity and power and and it it causes a community to be able to thrive. I remember back in in in two thousand five I was asked to minister at the church I was a part of in in Charlotte and I had just gotten back from a a trip that included going to see the Hoover Dam. And I had no idea. I mean th th Hoover Dam is like one of the wonders of the world because I I d it it took so many people, a lot of people died in in the process of that. But what happened when you harness a river? It it creates life. It creates the the power and the electricity and it controls the flow because a lot of times when w in in different areas if you don't have th the a a dam in place there will be even more floods and we know about that in this area when things don't work well. it it causes tremendous damage but when it works well when they're when it's hooked up right and for the right purposes and stewarded well and all of those kind of things it really transforms a region and the who dam like harness that that river for for life, for goodness, for and even like, you know, in in the who were there are places that the dam creates for recreation and all of those kind of things. So it's like a fullness of of life in there. And and a part of that thread you know I I I I noticed again because we were doing some prayer walks That led to Kingsport, Tennessee. I had met some folks there and we had gone to visit a a dam in in that area. So I was like, we need to go connect with this ministry in Kingsport, Tennessee. And later on I discovered that Kingsport, Tennessee is actually where Fisha Pickett lived when she she passed away. And when I was giving that message in two thousand and five, it was on January thirtieth, two thousand and five. And I found out later that that was the one year anniversary of when Fuchsia Pickett went home to be with the Lord. So it it has all of these threads connected and the other thing about Kingsport that I recently found out is that we're related to Richard Henderson, our family and just found that out like as I was moving and Richard Henderson was in the 1700s and he was a judge. they were ran out of England and so always wanted to to live by a river because that's how they were able to escape. And he formed the Transylvania land company and he actually the territory where Kingsport, Tennessee is was a part of his land. development. He got as far as wanting to really be the fourteenth colony but it was was kind of turned down. But he made deals with the Cherokees and so forth and he served in the in the the army. So he the so the Kingsport, Tennessee area, parts of Kentucky and he actually d Tennessee the North Carolina Charter i initially went all the way to where where Nashville is now and it wasn't Tennessee at the time. It was just all like kind of a part of that same charter and and so we always like no we we always know why we we love Nashville. We're we're connected to it. And so I I I I saw that. So as we were I was moving and saw the connection there, I purposely took a trip to kind of find out the rest of that history with Richard Henderson and Kentucky and I found Fort Boonesboro. 'cause he had hired Daniel Boone to survey the land and so I actually in twenty twenty one I went to Fort Boonesboro and I'll include a couple pictures there. It was just kind of a a really neat connection and again it reminds me that it's generations. And so a a part of our story is, you know, George Washington's story, Benjamin Franklin's story, George Whitzfell's story, you know, Richard Henderson's story and s so th it's powerful in knowing, you know, it it's a part of Jesus' story, it's part of Abrama's story, Abraham. And because it's God's desire that all nations come to him and get to know him and and knowing him is knowing him as a creator. And we are made in the image and likeness of him. And so We're made to create, we're made to build, we are we're made to to plant and and to to harvest and all those kind of things. So you know, I'll I'll share a couple of those pictures again. I'll I'll put them in the show notes and so there's just this thread that goes through and so we're you know, we're living out the fullness of that story and so The question comes then what has God placed in your hands? And it it's powerful and it's it's not just what we have right now, it's what what went on before and what what came after and and what's our part in that story to bring it forth and a at one point we were actually see one another, but In the meantime we have the stories. We have our God stories. And so so what has God placed in your hands? What's what's in your history? What you know, who who's your your family, your children? What what can you share with them? What can you say? Your grandchildren and your community and what has God given you as as gifts and anointings and and so you know, what's what's your passion, what's your What what assignment has he given you that will make you run into a battle and and you know survive bullet holes c going through your hats and so forth because it's a part of the Lord's promise and so forth. And I just just want to to say that we're living in appointing appointed times and boundaries and this is our generation and we have responsibility to do our part. God has given us so much. And so before I close, I I want to share with with you that I'm I'm leaving in the show notes Ray Charles's rendition of America the beautiful and I'm putting that first in the show notes so it'll be easy to to see but listen to it and and think about the places you've been, the place where you were born, the place you live now, you know, what stones have touched yours and what things have you discovered along the way and and we're continuing the story. America the beautiful from sea to shining sea. And this is only the beginning of what we're going to share over the course interweaving these stories. So let's keep telling the old stories. Let's keep tending the embers and let's keep heck carrying the torch and let's keep looking up and and lift up our eyes on high and see and so that we can dream again, hope again, believe again. We have a glorious nation and we have promises from the Lord and We have angels that are with us. We have prayer that is powerful. We have power in healing and deliverance and building like Nehemiah and building like George Washington, building like Benjamin Franklin and our founders and building like your your mom, your dad, your grandfather, your your your grandmother and Let's do it. And so God bless you. Thank you so much for joining and we will see you next time.