Summer 2004
The Changing of the Guard
Clorissa DiPilato

About 12 years ago, I was attending a church where, from all appearances, God was moving. People were being saved, healed and delivered. Nationally and Internationally known ministries, who were anointed with the power of God, came through that church. They ministered with authority, and encouraged the present vision of the church with prophetic unction. What a glorious atmosphere to be in ... Right? So then, what was wrong with me?

I felt bored - been there, done that. I hated the attitude I was feeling within myself, so I sought the Lord because there seemed to be absolutely no legitimate reason to feel as I did. There was nothing happening with which to find fault, or criticize. Everyone on the staff was genuinely sweet-spirited and humble. This was a “big” church, but they did not have an offensive and arrogant spirit of bigness, which often results from success.

One night, the Spirit woke me up suddenly, and spoke these words into my being, “The Changing of the Guard.” In any “move” of God, there will be variables, but there is one thing that should always be present - the manifest presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. The overriding element to every true move of God should be the awesome manifestation of His glory.

His glory should be more riveting than the prophecies, the healings, the preaching, the deliverances and baptisms. His “glory” is nothing less than the aura of the Lord Jesus Christ emanating forth from His very person, showing up in the meeting, because He is present. The old way of doing things, and the old order of manifestations regarding healings and miracles is passing. Therefore, while attending such meetings, the Lord allows us to feel uncomfortable, because we are trying to cling to the old and the familiar.

Instead, the emphasis is changing to the manifestation of His presence within a meeting. Therefore, something very fresh and new is coming on the scene. Deliverance, healing, and miracles are beginning to come through “relationship” and “trust” in the Body of Christ, releasing the presence of the Lord - which literally brings His presence, manifested in healing.

The “one man show” for the miraculous, as being the Lord’s order, is passing. We must allow it to completely pass from whatever we desire in the way of the release of the presence of the Lord, and manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Will it be done away with all together? No, because the Lord in His mercy sees those who are in need of deliverance and healing, who, in their immaturity can relate only to such “one man” pulpit centered ministries. Therefore, the old will continue for a time.

But those who are spiritually hungry and desirous, are becoming dissatisfied. All those who have “ears to hear” are seeking for the place and message that most purely exalts the Lord Jesus Christ. They are searching for the “place” in which room is being made for ministry that most purely exalts the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have had two experiences recently that bear witness to this ministry that purely exalts the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first incident:

I was in a home meeting where I was ministering. There was a young woman who was in need of deliverance. My initial reaction was to lay hands on her, and rebuke the devil that was keeping her bound to a pattern that continually messed up her life.

The Spirit spoke to me and told me to hug her, and pray for her quietly. I obeyed the Lord, and went over and very tightly hugged her and prayed softly in her ear. She melted against me and cried like a baby. I could literally feel the wind being knocked out of the devil's sails. Something was broken in the spirit, and when we were through, her countenance was clear and filled with light.

Had I done what my previous experiences told me to do, I would have received much “attention” for being so powerful and dynamic in the spirit, and the result would have been more about a “ministry show,” then my ministering to her.

The Lord is lifting His presence and anointing from ministries that are more related to performance, than about His direct involvement and connection with His people. The “New Guard” will protect “relationship” more than it protects any ministry-driven image.

The second incident:

When praying in a group of people, I tend to be very vocal. The Lord has been revealing to my youngest son that the gift of healing is operating in his life. Recently, I needed prayer for something, and asked him to pray. This child is accustomed to how his mother operates in the Spirit. He began to pray for me, and I was doing my thing, as I ordinarily do. He stopped, looked at me and said, “Please be quiet, Mom. I need it absolutely quiet when I pray because I get distracted, and I need to focus and hear only my voice, praying.”

When he said that to me, there was such an authority in the spirit coming forth, and I knew that He knew what he was doing, and I was silenced. It reminded me of how Kathryn Kuhlman would require absolute silence and reverence at times when she was praying for people to be healed, as if she was hearing and listening for what she was to say or pray next.

He was operating in an area of authority that the Lord has given to him, and when I submitted to it, I came under the blessing of it. As I stepped back to allow him to flow in ministry, to release his “gift” into the present need, there was a release of the power of God. The “New Guard” will protect the present manifestation of a true anointing, more than it protects heritage habits.

No one of us “has it all,” or “knows it all.” The Word tells us that we “know in part,” and we “prophesy in part.” However, when each “part” that is resident within a corporate meeting of the Body of Christ, functions in their “part” - each of these parts make up the whole, and we have the “completed” word. The “part realm” as in a “one man show” is being done away with.

We receive the full revelation, when Jesus gathers up all the “fragments” that remain, and fits them into His eternal picture of “fullness.” This is realized only through the corporate functioning of His body. We must go beyond our “performance-oriented, side-show selves” enough to allow others to flow in the sphere of the authority, which the Lord has given to them, without our worrying how it will diminish us. When we do, we will have released the glory of God, which comes from the honor of preferring one another, above ourselves.

There is a true spirit of submission coming to the Lord’s people. A submission based on a sensitivity to the Spirit, and through this, a revelation of the power of God in the Church, such as we have never witnessed. The “New Guard” is not afraid to honor one another, prefer one another, or submit to one another in love.

In conclusion, “The Changing of the Guard” is moving spiritual authority from those who have a “ministry” focused on the self-centered protection of their gifts and ministries, into a “remnant” that He is calling apart and raising up to have understanding of the superior power that results from “relationship” between the Father and His sons.

The new guard will respect each and every believer as being a priest unto God, carrying the ark of God, and the presence of the Lord. This will result in a reverence that will fill the church with His presence, because the oil flows down from the head (anointed leadership in the household of faith), and sanctification that comes up from the feet (the people of God walking in dedication, and consecration to the ways of God).

There will be such an integration between power and holiness, that the true riches of the Kingdom of God will be protected and guarded from thieves who seek to break through and steal. The most precious thing to the Lord is you, and your fellowship and communion with Him, and His with you.

Beloved, the “New Guard” has the revelation that the Lord is in the “direct-connect” business with His people. The “new guard” is understanding this in a way that the “old guard” never began to perceive.

The New Guard is birthed in a paradox. This is understanding the revelation that the “corporate Christ” is coming forth in power and glory, through individual saints, “overcomers” who have opened the door to the Lord’s persistent knocking for fellowship and communion (Revelation 3:20) with Him.

Here is His promise to you:

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, has God chosen, yea, and the things which are not, to bring to naught the things that are: That no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption: That according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.” I Corinthians 1:27-30.