Again and again, this is what I hear. Again and again this is how I live despite all that is shaking around me. I am in a time of restraint. Restraint as far as holding back in order to free me from my own presumptuous thoughts and declarations to truly enter into His way. His way is a narrow way and we are all learning how difficult it truly is to be set free from US - our thoughts, our ideas, our, our our, me, me, me.
To be still is easy in Christ but impossible in us. We cannot work up being still because in trying to get still, we struggle quieting down and just being. Ever gone to a cabin where you wanted to spend time alone with God? It inevitably takes you hours or days to get still and tone down yourself in order to enter into an atmosphere of stillness where the reality of His presence surrounds you and in that place, you are with Him and peace surpasses all understanding and then you hear, and move in Him, and live in Him. God created this quite easy. We are the ones that make it hard.
Look around. The chaos is increasing and as this increases, those who are hid in Christ will decrease IN HIM. Why? Because to navigate these waters of treachery and uncertainty, it is only the wind of the Spirit that can move you through by the strength and power of the Lord. Instead of searching for a word to prophesy what is happening, I look to Him and He will open my mouth. Instead of trying to understand what is going on, I look to Him and in Him there is the simple understanding that I am hidden under the shadow of His wings and in that place there is safety.
What do I exactly see? The chaos is driving people...................driving people into anxiety. That anxiety manifests in many ways - depression, illness, fear. It also can manifest in an attitude that reflects itself in seeking pleasure at all costs to deny the pain through alcohol, drugs, partying, excessive traveling, spending money. Ah yes, the way I see it is that the world is getting darker by the moment.
I want you to know. I want you to see that you will not and cannot avoid it so to stick our head in the sand and to think that it will bypass us is ludicrous. Remember when Elijah told Ahab that there would be a drought? Well, Elijah was in the midst of what he himself was prophesying. He had to live in the drought and live in the prophesy that was affecting the nation while at the same time being protected and fed by the very hand of God. I don't believe for one moment that suddenly the USA will be all light and avoid earthquakes, floods, famine, disaster.....................we are already in it BUT BUT BUT we are in the world and not of the world. God keeps telling me to be still, be still and be still. To spend times with Him in intimacy so that I know Him so intimately and the sound of His voice that I will be in the right place at the right time.
I believe with all my heart in the light of the Body of Christ increasing but the darkness will also increase. I look around at those in the church that I randomly see and I see so little equipping taking place and much of the same ole' same ole' day by day and in that the people are living without any sense of destiny and purpose. They are building their homes on sand and with that it will all wash away and they will be unprepared.
As we start Rivers of Eden in April, I see that our assignment is to raise up a people who desire personal responsibility and a passionate desire to follow and serve the Lord Jesus Christ with no thought to what it costs them for they love Him wholeheartedly. The simplicity of our call is to draw people into a trust and a faith in Him that they are able to stand in Him and look to Him and know that He will lead and guide them through the coming days. In other words, Marvin and I want to work ourselves out of a job. We don't want people clinging to a form or structure in a building or a ministry.....we want them to grow, be free and stretch in Him. Like Esther, we want them to see that they live for such a time as this and their lives mean nothing to them apart from the Lord.
That is what we believe and that is what we impart. I will continue to sound the alarm that is being raised in my spirit with the simple message of 'Get ready!" Ready for what? Ready to follow Him where He is leading you despite all the roar that is around you. Separate yourself from the current chaos even though we continue to live in it and build your life and your house on the unshakable rock that is Christ Jesus. Seek wisdom to know. Seek peace to pursue. Walk contrary to the prevailing attitude in the world. The world is going to continue to shake with more and more earthquakes, more floods, more disaster, more disease and more and more..........the earth itself is groaning for the manifestation of the sons of God. It can't get any simpler that this....be still and know He is God. Turn off the noise and the voices that speak fear and destruction and know He is on the Throne and will never leave you.
More coming........................
