Rise, Be Strong & Courageous

Photo: Jack Brauer, SULTAN'S RAINBOW, San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Holy cannoli it is the middle of June! Almost the middle of 2019! How has YOUR year been going so far?
 
If I am honest, my year has been INTENSE. But God is good and did not lead me to believe it would be anything other. I simply didn’t know the circumstances that would make it so. Praise God for His grace as I’ve maneuvered through. Praise God for His mercy every single time I stumbled and fell flat on my face (which was a lot). He is ALWAYS FAITHFUL. ALWAYS!
 
He has been ministering to my heart – quite intensely – it’s time. Time for the change to come to pass. Time for transition to take place. This isn’t new. I have posted about this earlier in the year. It is as though that was the preparation, the lead up of sorts. The events of the past near six months have been in preparation for a moment of no turning back. It’s as though it is time to cross over into the FULLNESS I believe God has – no going back.
 
Imagine a mountain. I see the past 168 days of trekking up a mountain. There have been periods of rest on plateaus along the way. There have been moments where my footing was not as stable as it needed to be and I slipped down along the face of the landscape a bit. There have been moments when I stopped and looked out on the horizon long enough to capture the sunrise of revelation long enough to settle so deep within my soul a second wind lasted for days where the air was increasingly thinner than the elevation before it.
 
I’m sure you’re eager. Why such a climb? What has been going on? It seems almost like fiction…
 
The year was kicked off with more masses being discovered in my breast tissue following a lumpectomy last August. I literally found myself in the middle of a situation I was completely taken off guard by. I felt the tangible impact of spiritual warfare and became more privy to the tactics of the enemy on my life. I witnessed first-hand how the powers and principalities of the world will engage and attempt to activate my husband and daughters in his fight against God’s will. I experienced one of the darkest, if not the darkest hour (days) of my life. Another mass decided to rapidly grow and cause concern. The battle raged and only God’s mercy could keep me in the way I chose to respond to it on some days.
 
Intense? A little.
 
But the intensity of God’s presence and His Spirit empowering me to RISE each time I fell was overwhelming! He didn’t abandon me when I fell! He didn’t shun me from His presence! In fact, He drew me in even more.
 
During this same timeframe, I have learned more about spiritual giftings, resting in His presence and the importance of understanding who I am in Christ in order to fly freely. I have been blessed with an unshakable knowledge, God has surrounded me by women (and a handful of men) who will pray and intercede for me. I’ve experienced first-hand God preparing me for what lie ahead and trusted Him to move me through what He had already revealed. I was able to continue to take steps of obedience regardless of my circumstances, due to my growing love for Him and others. These steps of obedience are proving to be more fruitful than I knew they would be and a harvest is on the horizon. My prayer life has taken on a new life, hence, intimacy with God has grown.
 
I have received a couple words now in my spirit what God has been speaking. Turning point. Reset. Crossover. Interestingly enough this Friday is the first day of summer, or the longest day of the year, to which the days will begin to get shorter; an apex if you will. The midpoint of 2019? July 1/July 2.
 
This ascent is now looking more like a bit of a plateau at the top, not so much a sharp peak. The plateau holds within it somehow a reservoir of living water that must be passed through in order to, not return the way I have been brought, but to continue on along another side. Down? I don’t think so.
 
I am fascinated by the imagery God is placing before me. It’s as though He is saying to me, “A complete immersion in the Holy Spirit, like the river of living water spoken of in John 7:37-39”. As this vision is proposed before me, I smile.
 
“Can I float around for a while?”
 
Then I think of the Israelites walking through the Red Sea from Egypt and then again through the Jordan River from the Wilderness. They didn’t rest there, they continued moving forward as God made it so. They cooperated as led and moved on into the place of promise.
 
Moving and settling into the promised place – the place of FULLNESS – requires BREAKTHROUGH (another word He has been speaking to me). Breakthrough requires calling on Holy Spirit to manifest the fruit of the Spirit, self-control to ensure I follow His Spirit and not my flesh. I can see now why the battle has been intense. Shoot, it has been confirmed multiple times. God’s glory. Oh God’s GLORY is about to break forth in ways not known and I cannot wait. At the same time, I cannot even begin to describe what it may look like. I simply know it is going to happen and it may likely align with the glory of God described in Ezekiel 1:27 – 28:
 
26 Above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone. And on the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man on it high up. 27 Then I saw as glowing metal, as the appearance of fire all around within it, from the appearance of His loins and upward; and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was a brightness around Him. 28 As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud on a day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice of one speaking.
 
If your year has been intense to say the least, I pray you are able to slip away with the Lord. Allow Him to convict and correct and reveal His righteousness, prune and bring peace, trade sorrow for joy, and rest in Holy Spirit. Jesus, be made known. God, fill the earth with Your GLORY. Love, continue to come down. Holy Spirit, move us. Please let me know if I can join you in prayer.
 
Blessings!