I’d been praying for months, “Lord, if there be anything in me that doesn’t give you praise, that isn’t pleasing in your sight, take it from me.”
The first week in February, 2017, during a prayer meeting, we all knelt down and submitted ourselves to the Lord as a group. We told Him we were bringing all we were before His altar, and asked to be emptied of ourselves and filled with Him.
The Lord’s Response:
That night, for the remainder of our prayer time, I heard the Lord say several times:
“I AM Holy!”
“Be ye therefore Holy, even as I AM Holy.”
“Nothing unclean can stand before Me.”
“You must be a living sacrifice.”
“Are you ready to DIE?”
When the Lord asked this, I said, “Yes, Lord, I’m yours. Do with me as it pleases you.” Although I meant every word, at the time I had no idea what I was asking, and what would have to take place in order to be emptied of myself and filled with Him.
By mid-March, trials from multiple directions began to hit my life like nothing I’d ever experienced. Everything I held dear was attacked: my marriage, finances, family, friends, and even my health.
On April 27th, in the midst of all this, I was on my way to a friend’s house. It was pouring rain and the hour drive was taking twice as long. So I began praising the Lord and praying in the spirit. Suddenly, the full impact of the calamities swirling around me hit full force. Intense pain and sorrow welled up within my spirit and I began to groan in agony. The gut wrenching pain reached a level I couldn’t contain, and the groans turned to screams, which seemed to come from every fiber of my being.
So here I was, driving down the road, tears flowing, groaning and screaming in the spirit, heart completely crushed and broken, crying out to the Lord, when I heard Him say loudly:
“Dying is Not Easy!”
As these words penetrated through all the pain, suddenly everything converged in my spirit. I saw myself bowed before Him as I’d been doing for months, begging to be transformed into His image and likeness.
Then a vision of Jesus on the cross flashed in front of me, as I heard the Lord say,
“You must be crucified in Christ!”
Then I remembered what He’d said to me at the prayer meeting,
“I AM Holy!”
“Be ye therefore Holy, even as I AM Holy.”
“Nothing unclean can stand before Me.”
“You must be a living sacrifice.”
“Are you ready to DIE?”
When He’d asked if I was ready to die, I’d answered, “Yes!” Instantly, I realized The Lord was answering my prayers! Everything in me not of the Lord was being stripped away. I was being crucified in Christ!
Friends, I’ve been mostly quiet through this painful process, but last week the Lord spoke the following to me and made it clear it was to be shared:
“My people are not asking Me to finish the work I’ve begun in them. This final work may only be done with their permission.”
The Lord then led me to a section of the book The Pursuit of God by Dr. A.W. Tozer, which perfectly describes this process:
“Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us. It can be removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction… There must be a work of God in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us… The cross is rough and it is deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies. After that is resurrection glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for the joy that the veil is taken away and we have entered in actual spiritual experience the presence of the living God.” pp. 46 & 47.
If the Body of Christ is to be transformed into His image and likeness, we must die to self. Jesus told us, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Matthew 16:24. Jesus meant what He said!
Brethren, the Lord is asking our permission to finish the work he’s begun in us. His question to us is, “Are you ready to die?” He wants us to know in advance, “Dying is NOT easy!” And as the work of the cross is carried out, our total focus must be on Him – we absolutely MUST TRUST HIM in this. It’s been made very clear to me, without going through this crucifixion process, you’ll be useless to Him in the days ahead.
Remember, the cross doesn’t keep its victim hanging there forever. The moment will come when its work is finished and the victim dies. After that is resurrection glory and power!
Please pray and take what’s been shared before the Lord for further interpretation. I believe the painful trials many of the Saints are going through right now are because our prayers are being answered. The Church is being transformed!
Scripture References:
1 Peter 1:16, Leviticus 11:44, “Be ye therefore Holy, even as I AM Holy.”
Galations 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me…”
Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God…”
2 Cor. 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Matt. 16:24, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”
Hebrews 12:1-2, “…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross…”
Author: Diana Pulliam
Diana Pulliam has been a Christian since the age of 22, but it wasn’t until 2008, while going through an especially trying time, that she asked God what He intended for her life. She told Him she wanted her life to give Him glory, but didn’t see how it was making any difference at all for His kingdom. She asked Him to not hold anything back, she wanted everything He intended for her, and was willing to do whatever He told her to do.
Two weeks later, during her quiet time with the Lord, she heard the Holy Spirit say, “Clean your house and write.” The last few years, He has given her dreams and visions about the times in which we live. In 2011, she started the blog The Mighty Hand of God as a place to write whatever the Lord inspires.
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Tracie,
Yes, and Amen to all you said. What is amazing is, this article is titled, ‘ARE YOU READY TO DIE?’ on my blog site! Then you stated you’d commented in a previous post, I knew you understood… That is the question the Lord is asking ALL His people right this minute. Unless you are ready to surrender ALL to Him, you will remain in the state you’re in and keep going around the same mountain.
But the Lord is so gracious to us in this process. He points out all the hidden idols and “high places” in our life that we are unaware even exist, and then the demolition and destruction of these must be completed. See my previous article which James posted, https://z3news.com/w/hes-coming-cracks-revealing-cracks/, for a detailed explanation.
Blessings to you!
Amen Diana, EVERY Idol in our lives must go. When The Lord starts this process we end up finding out we have more idol’s than we may have thought. Once you have been broken to deep and you realize that it’s the LOVE of Jesus that has put us in this refining fire to save us then and only then it becomes much eaiser to allow him to cut us off from these idol’s. I am so honored to have met you and I look forward to hearing more words the Holy Spirit may urge you to share with the body.
God bless sister 😀
Tracie and Diana…bears repeating on this post as well: precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints. We always thought this to be physical, but we now know the death of self is highly esteemed in His Eyes.
Thanks for sharing Tracy and Diana. This topic is central and crucial for all of us – one of the most important for this time. It’s our God of Love that puts us in the testing, refining fire so we’ll be ready for him to meet him in peace. “This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Ps 118:24. Easier said than done.
Amen Mark. His LOVE puts us in this refining fire and for me he did it to call me back to true fellowship with him and for me to trust him above everything and obey him and his word.
God bless 😀
Mark,
Amen! Yes, Lord, bring in the refining Fire – make us ready!
Blessings!
Diana , I am trying to help a friend in ministry and I am stuck , would you pray about asking James for my email & contacting me . Thanks & blessings
John,
Email me at dpulliamgirl@gmail
The return of Jesus is for His Bride. She is the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, adorned as the wife of the Lamb. She is a land married to her Messiah. She is paradise, a people and a place in covenant with the Lord. She is expectant, waiting for the return of her Husband. She is watching and waiting, refusing to make idols of other men. She is yearning for the unity of the Body, part of its brokenness, longing for unity and harmony, being laid down as the foundation of the new heavens on earth. She is holy, set apart only for Him as He set Himself apart for her and for their seed. Their children will be brought to the gates of New Jerusalem, come to covenant with their mother. This is God’s plan and His dream come true, gathering us by family and by tribe. Join the discussion
So true, Richard but in the last year or so while writing my book, Give Me Back My Wife, which I finally published this month, the Spirit showed me that even those who call themselves the Bride have a deeper level of purifying to go through to bring them to true holiness – His alone
Wow, thank you for sharing. That helps explain and confirm what’s been happening to me when you said, ‘ I myself have be(sic) broken to the point that I have hit many road blocks and have to jump back into this Dying process.’
It seems that just when I believe the dying process is over and the breakthrough has come, He reveals yet another ‘stumbling block’ of sin/compromise within me that He wants to have permission to remove and, upon remembering the painful death process I’ve been through in the past and the glorious revelation of His All-Consuming Presence afterwards, I am reduced to bitter tears of remorse and the sweet fragrance of His cleansing fire at the same time. That thought reminds me of the angel who took the little book and told the prophet to eat it, that it would be sweet in his mouth but bitter in his belly.
Shalom, Thomas Nodoubt
Amen Thomas, but this refining fire the Lord puts us in is bitter at first and then sweet as honey BC we come out like fine gold.
And I also agree just when you think the Lord has burned up every last bit of sin in us here comes another. I believe this is BC we are flesh and sinful by nature so since the Lord searches the ” Deep” thing’s of a mans heart their can always be sin emmbeded in us that only he knows is a issue. At the same time I am glad we can never ” Arrive” so to speak BC if we ever got to a place where we thought we no longer needed to be cleansed then pride would start to puff up and we would stop seeking God and would start to believe that our works were saving us when no matter how great in the Lord we become it is still as dirty rags to the Lord only a surrendered Humble life and ONLY the blood of Jesus can keep us covered and Reedemmed .
I will remember you also in my prayer’s he is able to keep us Praise God!!!
God bless 😀
Thomas,
It’s very obvious you are in the middle of this process, as you die daily!
Blessings to you, my friend!
One day I came across Bob Sorge’s youtube clip called Sons and Bastards and cried like a baby, it has everything to do with this post which is really about becoming ‘qualified’.
In another anology, a potter fires a vessel quite a few times. If I am not mistaken, the last firing in rich CO2 environment – in other words – little oxygen which feels familiar doesnt it?
Clubs,
Yes, you’ve described it perfectly. At times, it feels like you are literally dying. The lack of oxygen in particular. I felt I couldn’t breathe
God bless!
and vessels with gold on them can be fired up to seven times at the very highest temperatures!!
Diana – This post was incredibly powerful to me & explains why the “Prosperity Gospel” has become so popular in our culture.
1) It is easy & makes people feel good because it’s about giving us the MATERIAL things of this world & leading believers to think they can “have it all” ( a close relationship with Christ while prospering in this world & not making the sacrifices to DETACH ourselves from the world – I.e. Be IN the world but NOT of the world)
2) it does not prepare us for the path to refinement by the Lord. We are not mentally, emotionally, physically & SPIRITUALLY prepared for the ANGUISH, SADNESS, LONELINESS, SHAME, DESPAIR, HURT, EMBARASSMENT, REGRET, DISAPPOINTMENT & DEJECTION we will feel as we go through this process so we have a higher likelihood of being DERAILED by our limitations & low tolerance! This is the Enemy’s goal! Get us to give up & either stop or slow down the process. We need to REVEL in the process when we feel most like screaming for it to STOP! This brings to mind the Casting Crown’s Song “Praise You In This Storm”.
We need to be prepared for a FULL BLOWN war in our relationships, habits, unconscious beliefs, behavior & priorities if we really want God to REFINE us. We need to “have skin in the game” & suffer & feel ALL the EMOTIONS JESUS felt when He took OUR PLACE ON THE CROSS!
Thank you Diana for really helping me to clearly see we must sacrifice ourselves the way JESUS sacrificed himself!
Expat gal,
You have summed it up beautifully. Yes, we are being prepared for the times ahead. The sad part is all the churches were the preachers are not preaching the need to be crucified in Christ, will not be prepared for all the things you mentioned. Many will be offended and turn away.
Blessing to you!
What a blessed and timely word! Am going through this process, it is not easy! But simply know that Yahweh (God) can be found at the end of your rope. Where we end is where he can begin. He can’t and will not pour into vessels that are filled with the idol of self…no self must die; then new wine may be poured into new wine skins.
Michelle,
You are exactly right! Where we end is where He can begin. And it will not be until we come to the end of our self that we can fully encounter Him!
God bless you!
Diana,
I long to see believers that are willing to be placed upon the alter. It is not a choice that one can casually make. However, when we choose to bow to him, in essence we are choosing to submit to freedom. It is in this place that he dwells richly and takes his rightful seat of authority; which is upon the throne of our hearts.
Bless you dear sister
A great man of God once said this: “It is easy to die for Christ…. it is hard to live for Him. Dying takes only an hour or two but to live for Christ means to die daily”.
Good saying Shimon but for me dying was the hard part and still is, but once you have died to yourself and the world and surrendered yourself to his will living for him is easy even unto death. That’s why after the 120 went in the upper room still with sin and their flesh they came out empty of self and full of the Holy Ghost and NEVER again did they ( in fear) deny Jesus. There was a boldness on them that was not on them before the Upperroom that’s BC when they got there they died and Christ began to live and breath though them. So I see what your saying but it was not like that for me the dying was the hardest part ever now that so much has been broken off me now I live for him much better than before because it cost me something and it was a death to me.
I am still being broken many areas and every time I die to something else and get it behind me I am much more stronger.
God bless 😀
Shimon,
Living for Christ will NEVER be easy in this fallen world. But it is much easier once you die to self.
God bless!
Wow! Was all I could say when I read this. Then my next thought was ‘be careful what you pray for, you just might get it!’ I often say that we in Christendom have a habit of minoring on the majors and majoring in the minors. This topic of dying to self as far as God is concerned is a major! But so often we place it in the minor category; why? Because we all know dying isn’t easy!
Paula,
That is exactly right! Because of the candy coated messages being preached in most of the churches today, many “christians” would be offended if they heard a message even implying there may need to be some suffering on our part.
God bless!
indeed, Paula. I asked for a visitation of the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord!! Oh my…. what a deep cleansing that initiated!!
Now that we have all read this, we are responsible for the contents before the Lord.
Diana. Excellent and timely testimony! The Kingdom of Self and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil on which it feeds must be eliminated from our lives. Embracing the cross, until we are dead to self and sin, becomes the Tree of Life, Christ Himself! In Him we live and move and have our being! What the Lord said to you, really becomes the key; we must ask! Oh Lord, grant us the grace to keep on asking!
Amen to that!
Amen Diana , such a beautiful & important truth and it aint easy to give all of our self up. I would like to recommend Watchman Nee’ s teaching on * The Importance of Brokenness and Rebecca Brown’s book * Becoming a Holy Vessel .
I second what John said, I highly recommend Dr. Rebecca Brown’s book – Becoming a Holy Vessel. A pastor friend of mine gave it to me to read awhile back. Crucial read and I mean truly life changing.
As a matter of fact. My husband and I have a friend who used to be a professor at Oklahoma state. We met him through the paper we worked for , he was actually our editor at the time. I say all this to let you know he’s a reliable and credible person. He just wrote us last year and told us he had almost died and it was a true miracle of how he was spared but he gave an account of his hospital stay that is directly in line with EVERYTHING Rebecca Brown states, as far as satanism goes. he actually had witches who worked in the hospital and there job was to lead people to give up and go to hell. They abuse the patients and so forth. Ted saw and heard demons carrying people into hell. He heard the screams of all the people being carried into hell. The witch/nurse would whisper into is ear the only reason you didn’t die is because you have too many people praying for you.
I recommend all of Rebecca Browns books. We are fighting a very real enemy that has faithful , loyal workers. Her books are truly eye opening as to the importance of Holiness and communion with God, the protection of God to His people and the very real battle lines that have been drawn. Anyway, God bless you.
Katie 5 years ago my wife spent 11 days in ICU on life support…we prayed her back from death the doctors said she was finished. She has many stories of the demonic encounters she experienced there.
Mike, did your wife happen to write about any of her experiences in the iCU ? Just wondering if maybe she had, I’d love to read about her experience. Thanks!
She is in the process of putting a book together…it has been taking a while. I could have her email some of the pertinent parts to you if you’d like?
Mike, I would love to have a copy as well if I may. Thank you in advance! heavensheadlines777@gmail.com
Absolutely.
Oh wow I’d love that if it didn’t put her out in any way. If not , I’m first in line to buy her book! Ted is writing one too! Thanks!
katietrout17@gmail.com
I will give her your email address. Take care sister!
Thanks brother you too!
Dear Mike, would you send it to me also? I think this topic is the Lord’s guidance. gogolya.eniko@gmail.com
Thanks, Any
Yes will do.
Mike M – I am so thankful your wife survived. I believe it. I was very short with Ted’s experience. It was pretty intense as I’m sure your wife’s was.
Yes, I read this book. Very eye opening.
John,
Yes! I highly recommend Rebecca Brown’s books.
Why does it not surprise me Diana you have read Rebecca’s books ! 🙂
Thank you, Diana. I need to get my last toe in all the way.
I agree too Diana, and I sort of hit a breaking point yesterday with things I’ve been struggling with. Thankfully God opened one of those doors and gave me an answer, although it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, it did give me more of a sense of peace with it now. I don’t think any of us really realize the magnitude of what this is all about, I mean the seriousness of what Christ did and the impact of it on our future and what is coming. I think the understanding of it all will become clearer as we approach the end of the end times. Thank you for this strong word that we need to hear.
Yes, Nancy, the Holy Spirit is faithful to lead us into ALL truth and show us things to come. As long as we are truly seek Him, we’ll be shown what we need to know – when we need to know it!
God bless!