new orleans

two very tragic events are happening this week. One revolving around the hurricane in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama. The other the chaos and stampede in Baghdad. There are so many hard things happening in the world that turn our attention, but there is always a need for interpretation of these things. The hurricane events are hitting close to home as many people have traveled into Texas and even into Austin today looking for places to land. The RV parks here are filling with exiles.

I am happy that my city is a place to haven these people. I went to Walmart and everyone was talking about it. It was obvious it was shaking people on a deeper level this far away.

Today as I was walking around the house the Lord kept saying, “who knows the mind of God?” And “don’t be deceived; God will not be mocked”. Both of these are phrases from scripture that kept ringing in my head. I understand them both as being these statements of his mystery and bigness–there is nothing that is out of his sight or knowledge… I also felt that the situation in New Orleans was going to shine as something that would bring glory to him.

God will not be mocked–he will not let the enemy mock him, nor will he let the enemy receive the glory or all the attention for this event… and particularly this event. There is a mystery around how to interpret this particular event because I think that God is going to start showing us how to view his judgments accurately.

People had actually prophesied a flood in New Orleans. As well, there have been numbers of prophecies about London being exposed before the bombs this summer. There were prophecies about 9/11 long before it happened. There are many prophecies about Baghdad. But the prophetic understandings of disasters, both natural and man-made, are about to mature. It is not just about predicting them accurately–but understanding on a deeper level the unsearchable-ness of God’s judgments. God’s judgments are clearly filled with mercy and love. In his lexicon, judgment also means “a decision”–as in, God casts his decision. He is by nature a refiner–and so any place that experiences tremendous trauma is experiencing not just a punishment but also an act of mercy and an act of refinement. There is hope in that.

New Orleans is a beautiful city, a quirky city, a place of artists and unusual expressions. There is really no place like it. It is probably the only place in the U.S., in my opinion, that still feels “European” in its soul, with a Carribean dance running through its streets. It has some definite dark and labyrinthian parts–many people I met there have a lot of secrets and it is time that the secrets were exposed.

This is why it is so nice to see New Orleans and its people on the television, for something other than their “culture”. As a city these people don’t ever get much public exposure for anything other than their music and food. I do feel that He very very deeply loves this city. One of the prophecies of New Orleans is that God is going to give it a new identity, and new clothes. If you’re curious to read words over it, elijahlist.com, a website that chronicles prophetic words from some of the most visible prophetic people, has been republishing previous words for New Orleans.

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