A Door of Hope
Many people have been asking me what I have been sensing from the Lord since the
Consumed gathering last August. I know that the communications from Watchmen
have been very sparse. But it wasn’t until recently, in the last few weeks, that
I understood that what I have been going through in this season was part of a
bigger picture of what many across the nation have also been experiencing.
I have faced a lot of spiritual opposition throughout our journey in Canada, but
I have personally never experienced the kind of attacks which started last fall.
Discouragement, extreme tiredness and a weariness of soul were coupled with a
strong spiritual dullness, an insensitivity that made it all the harder to
discern and stand against what was happening. For the first time in the last
twelve years, I found myself trying to find a way to leave. I thought maybe I
had run my part of the race and now the grace had lifted and I needed to hand
the baton to the younger generation and get out. I just wanted to retreat at all
costs.
A Breakthrough
At the beginning of February, I had the opportunity to participate in the
Together Tour as Watchmen hosted Israeli Knesset Members and other Jewish
dignitaries in receptions with the Christian community in three cities: Ottawa,
Toronto and Vancouver. While I looked forward to the tour I didn’t have any
specific expectations spiritually for this time. I just thought I would go
mainly to welcome our Jewish guests and to spend some time with them. But from
the moment I got to the first venue, I was astonished by what I felt. The
atmosphere was electric with the tangible presence of the love of God. And I
wasn’t the only one who could sense it; the Jewish people too were overwhelmed.
At the close of one meeting, an Orthodox rabbi came to one of the Christian
leaders and he was so deeply impacted by the love he was sensing he asked,
"Could it be we are living in Messianic times?" On another occasion, one of the
Jewish tour delegates went up to his room after the meeting concluded but a few
minutes later, he reappeared in the meeting room wearing his casual clothes. He
shared with one of the pastors that when he got to his room he couldn’t stay
there alone – all he wanted was to experience more of this love and so he came
back downstairs!
The tour was just what I needed to "snap out" of this attack and dullness I had
been experiencing. Suddenly I was able again to see the big picture of what we
are contending for in Canada. And that helped me to gain perspective on the
warfare we are facing.
In the last few weeks, I have had the chance to connect with hundreds of leaders
across the nation. Not surprisingly, as we shared our hearts, I heard the same
story repeated everywhere: an unprecedented attack of discouragement,
disillusionment, loss of vision and a deep sense of isolationism. As we shared,
prayed and discerned together, a clearer picture emerged of what we are facing
at this time.
What Time Is It?
One of the most important things we need to realize right now is that we have
entered into a very significant season of transition in the body of Christ.
There is a shift taking place from the church age to the kingdom age. Everything
we have known about “doing church” is about to be turned upside down. Religious
structures and mindsets that have not been founded on the pure word of God are
being uprooted and pulled down, so God can download new revelation, strategies
and blueprints from heaven to see the establishment of His kingdom on earth.
This shift is critical to the end-time preparation of a glorious Bride and our
enemy, knowing that he cannot stop God’s eternal purposes, is doing all that he
can to “change the set times and the laws” of God (Daniel 7:5). This strong
spiritual dullness is meant to make us insensitive and unaware of the urgency of
the hour. It is vital that at this time, we remain “self-controlled and alert.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your
brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” 1
Peter 5:8-9
A Time of Pruning
Every transition in life brings some confusion because we find ourselves in a
place where "what was is no more but what is to come is not yet". Before God can
reveal to us what is to come, He has to prepare us by cutting off and freeing us
from the forms, ways, and structures of “what was”. This is a pruning period
that Jesus talked about in John 15 – where God draws us into deep
intimacy/abiding with Him that He may deal with the unproductive areas in our
lives so that the productive areas might become more fruitful. This process can
be frightening because stripping away the familiar allows for a deep exposure of
our hearts. We begin to see how much of our security and trust is in what we
know and what we can control. This causes a deep purification of our faith as
God calls us again to walk forward in simple obedience into the unknown,
ensuring that our dependency is wholly and solely on Him.
Leaving the Old
This era of the church, especially in the Western world, has been one where we
have lived like the inhabitants of fictional Narnia, without the rule of the
Rightful King. We have battled hard but many times it seems we have suffered
stinging defeats and disgrace at the hands of our enemy. And even when we have
persevered and prevailed, our victories have often come with great personal cost
and suffering.
Now the Lord is challenging us that we are entering into a new age. Aslan is on
the move. Our King is rousing Himself like a Mighty Warrior and He is thundering
at the head of His army. He will establish His Kingdom and His Dominion shall
never end.
Our King is inviting us to enter into His kingdom with Him. But there is a
catch…
Restoring Innocence
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you
the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never
enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2-4
In the last few weeks God has been waking me up in the middle of the night to
spend time with Him. For hours He has been taking me back through deep roots and
deep issues of hurts and wounds in my life, things that go back even to my
childhood. Miraculously He is freeing and delivering me. I feel a tenderness
returning to my heart that I haven’t felt for years. Without realizing it, the
years of battle upon battle, disappointment upon disappointment, betrayal upon
betrayal, had taken a major toll on my heart. Yes I developed faith and
perseverance along the way, but I also lost something very precious: my
innocence. And this is what I believe the Lord wants to restore in this season
Circumcising Our Hearts
Before God released the children of Israel to begin the battle to possess their
promises, their inheritance, the Lord told Joshua he must circumcise everyone
who was born in the desert and not yet covenanted to the Lord in this way. When
this was completed, the Lord said to Joshua:
"Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." Josh 5:9
Reproach means disgrace, discredit, rebuke or disapproval. The circumcision was
a visible reminder to them that the pain and shame of their years of bondage had
been removed.
Today I believe we are in a season of grace where God is giving us the
opportunity to undergo a deep circumcision of our hearts by the Spirit (Romans
2:29). God is jealous over His Bride and He wants to cut deeply the roots of
bondage to hurts, to wounds, to fears, to the lies of the enemy, even to things
we are not consciously aware of. He wants to take us back beyond our battles,
back beyond our hurts and wounds to the place where we first fell in love with
Him. As we are quieted by His love (Zephaniah 3:17), we will be able to enter
into rest knowing that the battle really is the Lord’s and all He is asking us
to do is walk with a childlike faith, trusting in His bigness, safe and secure
in Him.
A Door of Hope
The Lord spoke to me this fall that this is a time of establishing and laying
foundations. What we do in these next months will determine what authority we
will walk with in the next two or three years. If we will yield ourselves fully
to God’s pruning in this season, I believe we will receive a greater revelation
of His love than we have ever experienced before. The Lord does not want us just
to carry a message; He wants us to be the message. This is the most excellent
way that Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians – following the way of love.
There is a portal opened in this season and the Lord Himself, is alluring us,
wooing us tenderly into the desert, into the secret place with Him. There He
promises to restore us, to make our deepest places of trouble and defeat into a
door of hope and to restore our innocence as in the days of our youth.
"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt." Hosea 2:14-15
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