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(The Shulamite Bride)- “Listen! My beloved! Behold, he comes, climbing on the mountains, leaping and running on the hills!” Song of Solomon 2:8 Shortly after the beloved Billy Graham went home to be with the Lord, the Bible museum in Washington, DC held a temporary exhibit in honor of his life’s service. Unaware of the Lord’s intentions, we wandered upon the display and eagerly ran in. Wall after wall was covered in legacy and testimony, like words of inheritance embossed in gold. Each plaque and showcase caused my heart to tremble inside of me. The further we delved into this man’s story, the more my spirit ached. At the end of this exhibit, Mr. Graham’s suit hung above a board with statistics numbering each pledge to Jesus that came from his ministry. I began to weep. This suit before me was dawned on a simple man that embodied the Great Commission. All he had to do was say yes. One yes. That one yes can turn into one thousand yes’s when man partners with God. And that one yes from that one man turned into millions of yes’s across seven decades of partnering with heaven while still on earth. The reality of the cataclysmic occurrence that takes place when even one person bows before the God of eternity – the ripples that go out through a coming timeline – my mind began to explode with possibility. What if thousands said yes today, just like that one man? I believe with my whole heart that we are about to see those “thousands of yes’s”. We have heard story after story, prophesy after prophesy of the coming revival. “It will be the greatest outpouring man has ever seen!” “The final, great awakening is coming!” “Get ready, get ready!” But what if, as the church, we have spent far too much time in skepticism, waiting in the identity of a weak pauper who doesn’t know their place – and far too little time bombarding the gates of heaven with the cries of “Come, Lord Jesus, come!” I believe we are at that moment. I believe it is time (and yes – hearts are feeling and acknowledging this pressure!) to go to the deep, secret chambers of His presence (Song of Solomon 3:4) to pull at the strings of His heart! For true, devastating-to-darkness revival to happen, He needs to hear us say no to every lie, every deception that says He is too lofty and unattainable, and say yes to the manifestation of His coming glory that will be seen in you and me. Because, my beloved, His glory is coming! He promised it! God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Numbers 23:19 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:11 Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Isaiah 56:1 25 “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. 26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame. 27 Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. 28 “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. Joel 2:25-29 But what does that look like? It looks like the beautiful name of Jesus echoed across the sky by confident sons and daughters, every generation living in joyous expectancy of His return! (Yes – joy! We are supposed to be full-of-joy, not the old-church perspective of a continual state of false humility and sorrow! See Proverbs 17:22 and Romans 15:13) He is coming to destroy all that hinders love. He is coming to separate all that He has made us to be from every lie that suffocates His truth from being made manifest. See, the thing is – sin isn’t behavior that we “want to do, but have to give up.” Man’s sin-nature is the expression of being rooted in an identity that is anything other than what God calls us: Beloved! Hephzibah! Beulah! (See Isaiah 62:4!) Sin is simply a lie that the enemy of God taught our bones to believe so he could steal away everything that the Lord predestined for us from the foundations of the earth! “For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in His sight in love.” Ephesians 1:4 Sin is the shackle that binds you to orphan-hood. It’s the voice that tells you over and over again that you will never be enough, never do enough, never truly be accepted for who you are. (See Ephesians 2.)
It’s like a dog drinking windshield washer fluid – they think it tastes great but leads to destruction! It may taste good for the moment, but sin is the separating substance that keeps us from our God! This post is not a “everyone’s a sinner and going to hell!” type of post. It’s a Luke 21:28 “Look up for your redemption draws near!” type of post! When the fullness of this “greatest revival of all-time” bursts through heaven’s gates, you will find me in the midst of it. I have given my yes and my heart yearns for “His coming glory”! We may all be flawed and, at times, struggle with our past sin nature, but our focus should never be, “Ah – we are but weak sinners!” Our focus should always be on His gaze as He whispers our true identities back to our hearts! All He needs is our yes.
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7You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. 9 Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you. 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. 11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart! Psalm 32:7-11 Just when you get your head above the water, another wave comes. Financially, emotionally, ethically – every avenue of our lives are being challenged. Fear is being broadcasted like the morning Reveille trumpet call; how do we even know where to go next? What will remain in the coming days? Lately I’ve been asking the Lord a plethora of questions – How do I even dream, God? Where do I go from here? What avenues do you want me to invest my resources? What will even be left standing when this is all over?! His voice in Psalm 32 is soft and gentle, like hands lightly sweeping away the hair from a child’s tiny face: 8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye." In this verse, “eye” can be translated to “spring” or “fountain”. Remember Psalm 36:8 from my previous post? 8 They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures In this verse, "river" can be translated to “torrent” or “stream”. He brings us to the river in the midst of all our questions to guide us in the direction we should go! And sometimes, He answers the questions that should have been asked, not the endless questions we have on repeat. I actually started this blog a week before “the storming of our American castle” (if you will), before things got this crazy. Often the Lord likes to prepare our hearts, providing a foothold, before the real storm comes. Right now, without a shadow of doubt, I can tell you that the best thing we can all do is to shut out every voice (including our own) and wait before the “river of His pleasures”. We serve a King who will always have the last laugh, no matter what it may look like to our understanding. The world may seem like it’s falling apart around us, but His goodness and His promises never change. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.” Hebrews 13:8 So if He is unchanging, utterly unmoved by the plans of the enemy, then why should we be? “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 This week, take the time to sit quietly before the Lord- because “the work of the Lord” isn’t always doing. His promise to answer our every breath is set before us, just like a dowry (see Ephesians 1:14). Sometimes He answers with extraordinary breakthrough that comes rushing in like a “torrent” or a “stream”. And yet, more often than not, His sweet whispers come gently like a “fountain” or a “spring”. How He chooses to answer us is not dependent upon our insistent coercing with strong words or saying the most providential prayers; This week He has shown me that sometimes His responses fully correspond with the position of our heart in that moment. When we are in desperation, struggling and fighting to catch a breath through the chaos, sometimes His soft, sweet words sound something like - My dear, put down the gloves, end the warring - with yourself and everyone else. I just want all that you are to sit with all that I Am. I promise you (from my own recent, raw experience) that the moment you strip off those old, worn, tired gloves from your aching fists, the thought of sitting at His river of delight won’t make you cringe any longer. Soon you will see all that you are to Him, and the chaos around you will fade.  |