This post grew to over four pages so I split it. You’ll have to come back next week for Part 2…
As I scan the spectrum of vibrant Christian groups I observe that the fresh move of God’s Spirit has brought us out of dry powerless religion. It has brought us to a place where we pray for and receive healing and where words of encouragement are common. The vast majority of groups I interface with are in that place, enjoying this new vibrancy of His life in them, basking in that sauna of His presence. However this is only the beginning, the baby phase. This is Primary School.
Those in this place are discovering Christ as their Foundation. This is essential and cannot be over-emphasized. It is here that new believers are trained in the fundamental principles of discipleship. Yet at this place we are still children – imbalanced or focused inward, having not yet matured to be able to comprehend His Kingdom vision and the purpose of our Citizenship in Heaven.
A few individuals and groups, their feet firmly planted on Christ the Foundation, can see “another horizon.” A horizon that is beyond self, beyond God’s goodness and healing toward the individual, which builds upon that foundation already laid but isn’t satisfied to stay there – which must move up higher, closer to God’s heart, closer to His purpose and His best and His destiny for us.
In today’s meeting my spirit reveled in the Scriptures ministered by each contributor. It was that more lofty horizon which was seen and declared. It was bigger than self, bigger than “me and God.” It was about God’s people going forth in Word and power releasing His love and salvation across regions, territories, cities, nations.
This is Secondary School. But those in Secondary School are still children. There’s something more, and it constitutes the whole purpose for which we are alive!
It’s rare that I have the privilege of being in a meeting such as today’s, in which multiple ministers all declare the same thing, which also aligns with Scripture and with God’s character. Thus what has been said is confirmed to be the very heartbeat and intention of God. Such indicates a spiritual vortex, a moment in time at which those things spoken are the living breath of God preparing to cause something to burst into being. They aren’t just encouraging words. They are not intended to be merely a spiritual Red Bull, propelling individuals for a few hours or a few days but then forgotten or set on a shelf.
When we sense that we have participated in a spiritual vortex, a high level revelation of the heartbeat of God for ourselves, a group, a region or a sphere of influence, then we are in a unique place. But too often we are like the gold miner who has picked and jack hammered and blasted his way to the heart of the mountain. One day deep in the shaft shining his beam upon the wall he glimpses a faint trace of gold peeping out from between the rocks! The miner rushes home and with exultant joy tells his family the great story – he tells how hard he worked and all the trials he underwent and at last the triumphant news of the shimmering gold vein he has discovered in the rock wall.
But by morning he has forgotten the treasure. He is so accustomed to hammering and picking and digging that the nearness of the prize passes him by. Instead of returning to the shaft to pursue the vein and extract the treasure, he trundles off to a different mountain and begins digging all over again!
When God releases a mighty and confirmed declaration but we neglect to press into it, we downgrade it to a mere word of encouragement. We go home much encouraged only to forget it a few days later, and thus we miss an awesome breakthrough which God had intended to release from the shadows of vision into tangible fulfillment. But when we do not press in to dig the promise out and bring it forth into fruition, we are no different than that poor miner who, being so close to his life’s fortune, let the moment pass him by.
Today we were in a vortex of God’s heart. Things which are not were being called forth. We have a choice: Enjoy the moment as mere encouragement and soon it will drift from our minds and hearts, the anointing which could have birthed it into reality lost; or receive it as the real, true and genuine intention of God which can really and actually come to pass… discuss it, pray into it, strategize around it and pursue it to fulfillment. If one day is not sufficient time, then immediately plan a followup meeting where the guidance received is taken seriously and developed into one or more action plans.
For example: Today multiple ministers all declared that for this particular group and region, this is a season of transition. Echoing a powerful word of prophecy received moments earlier, the first speaker took Joshua 3 declaring God is moving us from a Moses season to a Joshua season, from a time of maturation to a time of going forth to transform and influence. Another saw God’s people surrounded by mountains of impossibility and the mountains collapsing as God’s people arose in faith and action. Another read a previous word of a “triumphant reserve” and a “changing horizon line.”
Prior to all of the above, I received (but did not deliver till the meeting’s end) “Helm’s Deep” It meant “You came here thinking you were just coming to a safe place to be encouraged, but in fact you are to be transformed into God’s warriors of hope and salvation. The pressure of whatever you have faced has prepared you for this moment. This is a transition moment. You no longer attempt to find safety instead you face and challenge the darkness. One translation of Mk 16:15,17 reads “As you go… preach the gospel… and these signs shall follow…” So also AS you arise to face what seems impossible odds the Host of Heaven is at that very moment also released to win the battle and propel you into victory.”
The Lord forbade me to lead the prophetic action, but bid me call upon the appointed indigenous visionary of the network to lead it. And so the congregation in unison stretched out the sword of the Lord, the Word of God enlivened by Spirit, in every direction declaring the mountains of impossibility torn down and transitioning the group into conquest as Joshuas to influence territories for God’s Kingdom.
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK!
🙂
