people making my decisions

for me. Let me find my own

success and deal with my

own failure.

2Corinthians 12:7 And lest I

should be elevated above the

status quo through all the

revelations, there was given

to me a thorn in the flesh, a

messenger of satan.

The Apostle Paul

was a true pioneer. The

Lord took him where no

man had ever gone. His

revelations would have a

profound effect on the Body

of Christ. They would

strengthen the church and

cause it to grow. The devil

did everything he could to

stop Paul and persuade him

to stop offering such truth.

The devil sent Paul’s own kin

to persecute him but he

knew why they were sent,

the devil hated his revela-

tions. When Paul sought the

Lord for help, the Lord gave

him His grace and with this

grace every attempt of the

devil failed. We do not face

any where near the attacks

the fathers that plowed be-

fore had to endure. Oral

Roberts laid his hands on

over a million people until

he wore his shoulders out

and with tears in his eyes he

said he was the most hated

preacher in the world.

In 1804 an expedi-

tion led by Meriwether Lew-

is and William Clark set out

to explore the western half

of the United States. Those

men were pioneers, the first

ones to see and learn of new

territory. Their journey

ended on the shores of the

Pacific Ocean and soon they

were settlers. I personally

live in a country that was

named after these two pio-

neers. Someone with true

grit always goes into new

territory before others will

follow. Men have opened

the doors of revelation and

sincere believers have fol-

lowed them into the bless-

ings the revelation pro-

duced. Lewis and Clark

were led by an Indian girl

named Sacagawea. The pio-

neers God sends out are led

by His Spirit.

Isaiah 28:24 Does the

plowman plow all day to

sow? Does he open and

break the clods of his

ground?

God sent His proph-

ets out to plow up new

ground in order to have rev-

elation for the believers to

sow into. Men like Oral

Roberts and Kenneth Hagin

have gone before us and

endured the hardships of

resistance we will not face.

Most folks are comfortable

in their “religion”. They are

not warm to fresh revela-

tion, fresh manna. Not eve-

ryone followed Lewis and

Clark to the land they ex-

plored and mapped out.

The land Lewis and Clark

discovered was wild and un-

civilized. It needed to be

occupied and developed be-

fore it could sustain the own-

ers. The revelations of the

Holy Spirit are new and

fresh and they need to be

accepted and acted upon

before they produce fruit.

John 16:13 When the Spirit

of Truth is come, He will

guide you into all truth.

How many Chris-

tians have a “pioneering

spirit”? How many are will-

ing to be led by God’s Spirit?

Many are content to stay

back and criticize those who

seek for more of their Lord.

I imagine those who fol-

lowed after Lewis and Clark

were warned not to go.

“You had better not go out

into the new territory, the

Indians will scalp you!” The

descendants of those wary

people are among us today.

“Don’t mess around with

that Holy Spirit because

tongues are of the devil!”

I’m like a teenager, the

more people oppose some-

thing the more I want it.

People can oppose good

things just as much as they

do bad things. I don’t want

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

The Spirit of

Lewis and

Clark

1

Don’t Kill the

Messenger

2

Can You Dig

It?

3

Get Your

House in

Order

4

F O R T R E S S O F

J O Y C H U R C H July 2017

Join us

July 17th

at 10:00am

for our

Annual

AFCM Meeting

P A G E 2

The men that

God chose to reveal His

truths were all persecuted

and killed. Men of a

“religious” mind set were

easily used of the devil in

an attempt to blot out His

revelations.

Acts 7:52 Which of the

prophets have not your

fathers persecuted? And

have slain them which

showed before the coming

of the Just One.

Every prophet

that foretold of the com-

ing of Jesus was murdered

by “religious fools”. Jesus

was God’s revelation of

His love and redemption

for all of mankind. The

devil didn’t want men to

know anything about

God’s grace and the sacri-

fice that all men might be

saved. The prophets were

the pioneers of the Bible.

They became martyrs for

their Lord and now are

enjoying the rewards of

the faithful. If you believe

what they said, you will be

persecuted but not to the

degree that they suffered.

Thank God for those men

who went before us to give

us the revelations we need

to live a victorious life.

Mathew 3:1-2 John the

Baptist came preaching in

the wilderness. And

saying, repent you, for the

Kingdom of heaven is at

hand.

John was a proph-

et and he was continuing

what all the other proph-

ets had said. The prophets

said the Holy One was

coming and John said He

had arrived. Keeping in his

tradition of killing those

who acknowledged Christ,

the devil had John behead-

ed. The devil believes that

death is the solution to

every problem. Despite

his best effort, the Just

One was born and fulfilled

what He was born to do.

God knew He could count

on the devil to kill His

Lamb that would bear the

sins of the world. From

the very beginning the

devil was set up for his last

best failure. Hollywood

loves a great mystery plot.

They could make a four

star movie depicting the

devil’s defeat. They won’t

do it because they have no

revelation and cannot be

made to understand.

Mathew 27:18 For Pilate

knew for envy the Jews

had delivered Jesus.

The devil had no

problem persuading the

Jewish leaders they had to

kill Jesus. He appealed to

their erroneous doctrine

that they added to the law

of Moses. He convinced

them that Jesus was a

prophet that got out of the

will of God by claiming to

be one with God. Despite

the devil’s best attempts,

he could not stop what

Jesus and the prophets

spoke. Their revelations

have become the word of

the new covenant, the one

we live by today. The devil

knows he lost but needs to

be reminded by those who

believe the prophets. Now

the devil has his hands full.

The world is full of little

Christs, those who bear

the image of the one true

God.

Philippians 1:21 For me to

live is Christ and to

die is gain.

The devil doesn’t

know when to quit. After

the death and resurrection

of Christ, he set out to kill

all the apostles. He fig-

ured that if he killed the

messengers, the whole

event would just fade

away. He made a strategic

error. You see, God’s

Word is alive and it comes

from the Holy Ghost.

There is no way to stop it.

We must be giving the

devil a headache. I sure

hope so! We are the new

messengers of the new

covenant. We are speak-

ing the same thing the

prophets said and God is

confirming the Word.

J U L Y 2 0 1 7

We are the new

messengers

of the new

covenant. We

are speaking

the same thing

the prophets

said and God

is confirming

the Word.

P A G E 3

Thank God for those

men and women who went

before us and were profoundly

criticized for preaching the

truth of God’s Word. If we will

accept what they had been

given from the Holy Spirit, we

will reap the fruit from their

seeds of revelation. God gave

these precious saints the seeds

of revelation the church need-

ed in order to be prepared for

end time events. Those Chris-

tians who would not receive

these revelations are now re-

sisting the move of the Spirit.

Those ministers came in the

spirit of John the Baptist. John

said prepare ye the way of the

Lord, make His paths straight.

Mark 4:

14 - The sower sows the Word

15 - some of the seed fell by

the wayside

16 - some fell on stony ground

18 - some fell on thorns

The Word of God is

His seed, it is alive and power-

ful, if sown into good ground it

will become flesh. Why does

God’s Word fail to grow when

sown? If the seed falls on

ground that is not plowed, it is

not prepared to accept seed so

seed cannot grow to maturity.

This is the reason the Word of

God is not spreading as fast as

God intends for it to grow.

There is nothing wrong with

the seed, it’s the soil, which is

the heart of men.

Mark 4:20 These are they

which are sown on good

ground, such as hear the Word

and receive it, and bring forth

fruit (manifestations of the

Word), some thirty fold, some

sixty and some a hundred.

These four places where the

Word is sown is in the lives of

people. Some were prepared

for it and some were not. Eve-

ry man has the option of being

good ground or unprepared

ground. This is not God’s re-

sponsibility. He has provided

everything we need, it’s our

decision what type of soil we

will be.

Mathew 11:12 From the days

of John the Baptist until now

the Kingdom of Heaven suf-

fered violence and the violent

take by force. (AMP A share

in the heavenly Kingdom is

sought with most ardent zeal

and intense exertion)

Don’t be confused by

the King James version of this

account. The Kingdom of

Heaven was known only by

prophecy. Men were trying to

access it in the flesh and they

were wearing themselves out

through what the Bible called

violence. In the new covenant

only those who are serious and

committed will enter the King-

dom and prosper in it. If you

want to have the promises of

God, you must be willing to

put in some effort. I think

some folks are believing and

waiting for God to just walk up

and give them the desires of

their heart.

Mathew 7:24 Whosoever hears

My sayings and does them, I

will liken him unto a wise man

which built his house on a

rock.

That rock is Jesus, He

is the rock of revelation

knowledge. It takes a lot of

work to get down to bedrock,

but all who do rejoice when

the weather turns bad. We

can have no shortcuts in Chris-

tianity. Shortcuts weaken our

foundation and we become a

prey to the devil.

Every man

has the

option of

being good

ground or

unprepared

ground. This

is not God’s

responsibility.

For the past year and a

half Kenneth Copeland has been

telling the body of Christ to get

their house in order. He is not

telling us that death is immi-

nent, he is telling us that God

has begun to move supernatu-

rally and we must be ready to

flow with Him. How does one

get his house in order? He gets

out all of the lusts of the world

and recommits to a life of faith.

2Timothy 2:21 If a man will

purge (clean) himself from the

lusts of the flesh, he will be a

vessel of honor, separated unto

the Lord and able to do the

Master’s plan and prepared unto

every good work.

Fortress of Joy Church

720 Faw Rd

Helena, MT 59602

Phone: 406-442-1819

Fax: 406-442-8037

E-mail: mandy.fortress@aol.com

restoring the supernatural power of

God back to the church

Fortressofjoychurch.com

,

I have personally wit-

nessed some of God’s great miracles

and I know more are on the way. I

don’t want to be a bystander, I want

to be involved. I want the Lord to

use me. The Lord has used me to

heal some folks but I have always

known there is more than what I

have seen. God doesn’t randomly

just pick people, He chooses those

who will obey Him. Jesus could do

nothing of Himself. He could only do

what He heard His Father say. It can

be no different for us, we can do

only what the Father gives us. Ex-

amine yourself whether you are in

faith or not. Make any necessary

adjustments and get ready for the

best God has to offer.