This word is submitted by Mike Eicher [mikeeicher1@yahoo.com]

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                            Shake Down
 
I had a vision recently of an eagle flying high, looking down at all 
the church steeples. The many church structures stood firm on their 
foundations pointing up towards the heavens. I then saw that some of 
the church foundations were actually not on firm ground as they seemed 
to be. The foundations and the churches with their tall steeples were 
on sand. In the vision, I saw the sand and the churches were inside of 
a gigantic sand sifter, like the kind children play with at the beaches. 

The Lord said to me "be prepared for a gigantic shaking of My church 
from it's foundation. I will sift the sand and remove all impurities 
from My church. What comes through the sifter will be holy and true. 
I do this to unite My one church from what stands today".

The Holy Spirit is the Sand Sifter. There is a movement beginning in 
the church that will become the greatest revival know to man to date! 
It will begin in His people and reach out to all humanity. The new 
church that comes out of this revival will again know God as He truly 
is: righteous, holy, loving, forgiving and without end. 

Then I heard the Lord say "I will not stop there. I will make pure 
the impurities that remain in the sifter. All My church will become 
one again". 

The Lord says in Matthew 7:26 "But everyone who hears these words of 
Mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built 
his house on sand." We, being the body of the church, must also make 
sure our own individual foundations are built on the rock, which is 
Jesus Christ. This will ultimately ensure a strong church foundation 
as each one of us is part of the Church. 

Each of us has a calling from God; and that is to give away what we 
have received. The Lord says in Matthew 10:8 "Heal the sick, raise the 
dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have 
received, freely give." 

Jesus gave us the opportunity when He gave it all and now asks us to 
give that same blessing to others. This glorifies God and we will 
receive more blessings from him, (see Matthew Chapter 13). It enables 
and activates the Holy Spirit to not only work Himself through us in 
the Body of Christ, but also to release the same God given grace He 
gave us to humanity. What starts off as a small gesture from us for 
His sake will become the great "Shake Down" to come.