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Dr. Shelli J. Baker — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:40:05 GMT

Welcome to the Travail of The Flag Website. Please check back soon for new entries.

The Travail of the Flag by Shelli Jones Baker

Dr. Shelli J. Baker — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:39:00 GMT

What is the Travail of the Flag?

Dr. Shelli J. Baker — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:35:00 GMT

The Travail of The Flag

Painted in 1987 by Shelli Jones Baker out of a vision from the Lord. Shelli worked 4 months on the painting often choosing to paint over eating and sleeping. When she was done it was evident she had in fact been used in a mighty way by the Holy Spirit to convey a very important painting to the world. The painting tells the story of God’s Covenant with American through his blood. It portrays every major American conflict as well as some battles not yet fought. The 12’x4’ mural is painted with acrylic paint on canvas. It is divided into 6 sections which measure 2’x4’ for easy transportation. The work has been on display in several museums across the country and currently resides at the Sacred Arts Center in Eureka Springs Arkansas.

Travail of the Flag - Photos

Dr. Shelli J. Baker — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:34:00 GMT

Click on the Picture to View the Travail of the Flag - Wide

Click on the Picture to View the Travail of the Flag - Left

Click on the Picture to View the Travail of the Flag - Wide

Click on the Picture to Study the Travail of the Flag Map

National Anthem Performed by Shelli Jones Baker with Travail of the Flag - VIDEO

Dr. Shelli J. Baker — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:33:00 GMT

A Summary of The Travail of the Flag Painting and Its Meaning:

Dr. Shelli J. Baker — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:33:00 GMT

Roadside America - Sacred Arts Center - Travail of the Flag

Dr. Shelli J. Baker — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:32:00 GMT

TSUNAMI! Tidal Wave! by Shelli Jones Baker

Dr. Shelli J. Baker — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:31:00 GMT

In 1987, the presence of God rushed in upon my hands and mind as I was working on my painting, "The Travail of the Flag." I had been at work on the 12-foot mural for three months already, and although the spirit was willing to continue to pull the prophetic vision to earth through the point of the brush, my flesh had become weary.

Colors on the pallet began to run together like mud at night, as I jabbed the brush at the canvas for the millionth time. "Which color now, Lord?" I mused, "They're all starting to look the same. I need Your grace to finish this in time for the unveiling."

Turning to the work one more time, I seemed to fall into a refreshing trance. I worked on, not noticing either sunset or sunrise. I was laboring in the spirit of prayer and communion with the Master, and He created on the canvas an ocean of scenery.

Then, suddenly, as the brush reached the shoreline of the United States (as it was featured in the painting), I realized what had happened. Dropping the brush in awe, I began to worship the Lord.

The entire ocean scene was complete, and it was beautiful. In it there were highlights of the blood of Jesus, of His glory and of the fire of the Spirit. And it all flowed from His side.

The Lord was poised over the far shore of Israel (on the other side of the mural), some five feet away from the spot where my brush had ended the task. I was stunned.

Who could ever paint the oceans of revival glory? Only under the guidance and inspiration of the Master Artist Himself could even the smallest glimpse of such a revelation be attempted.

How had I done it? Had angels helped? I wasn't sure. What I did know was that three days had passed from the moment of my cry, "Lord, give me grace to finish," and now the work was complete.

The painting of that ocean was a prophetic action, signaling things to come in the great revival of the twenty-first century, the great coming Oceans of Glory.

Be Still, Listen

Jesus answered,

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

(John 3:5-8)

I hear a certain sound in the realm of the Spirit...Be still...Listen. What is it?...A holy hush before the storm...Lapping waters, the whisper of a receding tide...The river of God changes course, carrying us out to a greater depth, as the wind is pierced with prophetic warnings.

A voice cries, "Stay alert! Be watchful and prayerful in channels of deep waters! We're heading out to sea." Another urges, "Beware of slow currents near the riverbank, ending in tidal pools, polluted already with new traditions!"

The calm is welcomed by some, but not by all.

Loss of momentum is a dangerous state to be in when one is in deep water. I hear a tremble in the distance—What is it?

Roaring ocean waves! A tsunami! A tidal wave of glory!

They're Coming: Ready Or Not

The fountains of the deep are bursting on the horizon of a new millennium. We praised God for "the river," but what shall we do with the ocean? The revival wave that is traveling toward us right now is like a tsunami at breakneck speed. It will come suddenly.

It will flood an unsuspecting world, visiting all of its religious and nonreligious leaders alike. They may either panic or rejoice, but the spiritual wave is coming like the natural wave of Noah's day—whether we are ready for it or not.

Tsunami! A sovereign move of God is upon us!

When this wave hits, everything in its path will be uprooted and changed. This great wave will come like a flash flood gushing down upon a dry riverbed. Every pebble, now set in its place, will be moved and carried far downstream.

People of stony hearts (set in their ways and attending to "business as usual") will instantly find their sedentary positions changed when this next visitation of God turns life topsy-turvy, upside down.

The rocks of the flooded creek bed will be disturbed by boiling, churning waters of fire and glory rushing through. Some are too busy to be revived. They would have to put God on their schedules first, but the revival waters of Heaven above will pour over their bounds like Niagara Falls—whether we have planned it or not.

They will be caught by surprise.

This rush of glory will be white water from the top, and the height of its spray, rebounding from the force of its impact upon the sea of people below, will surpass the boundaries of its spilling. Rainbows of every biblical covenant promise of all the ages will dazzle and astound us as they are reflected in the mist of the glory cloud that moves across this planet:

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14 NIV).

Waters to swim in! Waters to love God and man in! Birth waters of the womb of the Spirit, bringing new life!

"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38).

Floods of possibility will soon flow to the heart of every dreamer..."exceedingly abundantly above all [he] can ask or think"! No one can hold back an ocean, and all attempts to dam one up, as we do rivers, would be futile.

This move of God will sweep the whole earth. As in the days of the great Welsh Revival, everyone, even the bartenders, will be busy with revival day and night.1

An Ocean-Sized Revival

Whole towns are about to be flooded with Oceans of Glory! If it has happened before, it will happen again! You can count on it. Just like surfers on the Pacific Ocean who, with that same assurance, calculate the approach of those coveted "monster" waves, we can get ready for this next one.

This wave of revival glory will be "the motherlode!"

The tide of this ocean-sized revival has been here once before. It came two thousand years ago. Heralded by the sound of a "rushing mighty wind," and with a "whoosh" of fiery power, a tsunami-sized wave of glory burst through the heavenlies suddenly, without warning (as tsunamis do)!

It first crashed into the lives of 120 empty, praying vessels, who had been obeying Jesus' command to "tarry" in the Upper Room until the "power" should fall from on high.

Instantly, this rush of power disoriented them, disrupted the natural order of their lives and rolled them like drunken men in the backwash of its outpouring. It carried them into the streets of Jerusalem to testify of God's overwhelming goodness.

As those fasting, praying vessels began to bubble with waters of the Holy Spirit, they poured forth in the language of the glory and gave drink to a thirsty humanity with words of jubilation and admonition for repentance. Mankind had not experienced this much glory since the day Adam had lost it in Eden—more than four thousand years before.

Power and immortality fled from man's soul and flesh when the glory departed, and its voice, which had whispered to every fiber of his being since the day he was created, "live and be blessed," was gone (see Hebrews 12:24-29). In the quake of the departure of the glory, Heaven shook, and earth groaned for the absence of the goodness that it once spoke.

Without the language of that glory in man's blood, the DNA of every cell was abandoned to reproduce without the full secret codes of life. Man's mind became void of critical wisdom needed to survive. But, Hallelujah! When God's glory reentered the earth at Pentecost, it was manifested once again through humans with power and purpose.

The baptismal fires of glory brought an anointing to proclaim God's goodness and to heal all manner of sickness and even to raise the dead. It was the first New Testament revival:

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

"I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."(Acts 2:14-21 NIV)

What an awesome gift! Who could contain the joy of it? At Pentecost, the envelope of Heaven poured down love like liquid glory, and the roaring of its reentrance into the human race sounded like a "rushing mighty wind" to listening ears in Jerusalem.

Where floodwaters of destruction had once ripped Heaven wide open in Noah's day, the glory tore it open again and out rushed oceans of blessing to a people trapped in the laws of judgment. Until then, they had only known God's Law, not His love.

Holy Boldness

The disciples were overwhelmed with feelings of shock and gratitude. The joy of it made them "drunk," and, with or without consent from others, they automatically became witnesses for God. When we know that what we have is real, nothing can hinder us from being bold and confident to demonstrate it and declare it to others. Soul-winning becomes as easy as a fresh sea breeze!

Can you imagine how Adam would have reacted had he been there that day? Oh, to experience a taste of the glory realm and fellowship with God, after having lost it! Soul-winning becomes as easy as a fresh sea breeze!

So many Christians have struggled throughout history with the guilt of being told to disciple all nations, while at the same time, having no power to win souls. Jesus did not plan for His followers to win souls apart from His glory. He prayed that God would glorify us—as He had Him.

Jesus wanted us to have a flood of glory in our lives that would find its way into every nook and cranny of stone-cold hearts, in the same manner as floodwaters fill the crevices of a submerged city. No resistance or sandbag can keep out an ocean tidal wave.

God's Oceans of Glory sovereignly flooded Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. It was not just a trickle or a shallow stream. A tidal wave, a wall of God's presence, covered an entire city in a few moments' time, so that no one in Jerusalem was ignorant of the day's events by the time the sun had gone down.

As it was in Jerusalem, so shall it be in our cities; for that wave has moved throughout the earth, revisiting each ensuing generation on a cycle nearly as predictable as the passing of the comets.

As the waves of the sea lap against the shore, bringing in the new and reclaiming what was before, tides of revival are rising once more. As the waves of the sea lap against the shore, bringing in the new and reclaiming what was before, tides of revival are rising once more.

ENDNOTE

1 Forerunners are already appearing as this book goes to press. In Oklahoma City, we met a woman who sang at TBN Channel 14 while we were hosting one day. She related the testimony of a bartender in the city who had been saved and turned the bar into a church. Then we saw a news clip of the man on the local news dumping out his liquor as the patrons were being saved one by one and joining him in the transformation of the bar into a church.

Source: Oceans Of Glory by Shelli Jones Baker

About Dr. Shelli Jones Baker

Dr. Shelli Jones Baker is founder of Harvest Projects International Inc. She earned her Ph.D. in Christian Education and is an accomplished artist who has exhibited at the Pentagon, Senate Rotunda, Lincoln Memorial, and various State Houses.

She is also a recording artist in vocals and harp, and a composer/psalmist. These giftings of God have taken her to the stages of Branson Missouri's theater, Martha Vineyard's Tabernacle, Tulsa's Maybee Center, Israel’s Knesett and TV shows on Daystar, TBN stations, TCT, LESA and various radio programs. Shelli's book on revival, "Oceans of Glory," may be purchased at CFAITH.com.

She is best known as a Bible teacher and revivalist. Her prophetic mural paintings of visions and biblical themes often illustrate her sermons on one resounding theme; Prayer, Revival, and Healing.

Shelli is also a historian on American History and will soon be releasing a new book with co-authors; Peter Marshall and David Manuel, well known for their best seller, "The Light & the Glory." Shelli believes God called her in 1998 to turn the focus of her ministry towards New England for another Great Awakening!

Election 2008: Shift the Focus!

Dr. Shelli J. Baker — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:25:00 GMT

TIMELY VISION for AMERICA!
20 yrs in the making.
A COVENANT for AMERICA PROJECT

Click the Story Board for a peek at the musical theater project to focus our nation on Jesus in 2008!

We NEED YOUR SUPPORT as never before. We need to raise 1.5 million for the production and performance in major theaters across this nation!

TRAVAILOFTHEFLAG.COM