I had a dream where I was sitting at a table listening in on an interview with a boss and an individual that had been in this interview process before.
I recognized this individual as a dear friend from my past who had at one time a sincere and close relationship with the Lord, but because of life and pain and hurts he had not kept his intimate relationship with God, though still a believer. And because of that he lost a position he was being screened for to be a mighty prophetic voice for the Lord.
My heart was incredibly happy to see this friend of mine returning back to where he left off in this interview process. He appeared more determined than ever before to fulfill a call placed on his life.. and the boss, recognizing this man, was also eager to give him a second chance at attempting to fill the vacant position.
Friends, God is calling people back to Himself and their calling in this hour! Friends of yours that have walked away from pursuing their calling will return, some will come back and choose salvation in Him again. They have abandoned their posts because of trials and siftings, taking offense to God for Him allowing such intense hardships to take place in their lives. But they are returning.. because HE is wooing them back.
“Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again. They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.'”
Ezekiel 11:17-19
Wherever their hearts have turned in their rebellion, to whatever places they have been scattered, to whatever idols they were worshiping…. it does not matter when God softens their hearts towards Him again. They will return in full repentance and with minds and hearts set on only Him. It will be wonderful!
As we have walked this race, too many I personally know have fallen away, and surprisingly some that had a gift of speaking prophetically. And my hearts sings as I have not ceased praying for these to return, because God is moving to gather them to Him as a hen does her chicks.
Pray with me for those that have turned away from their calling to come back to it and God. Pray that as they walk into their hour of being screened and interviewed in order to be used by Him in a great way(for trust, loyalty and faithfulness to God needs to be tested) that they would not give up in their process. Pray that they withstand their personal testings to be shown that they can be trusted with the words and heart of God.
To be clear, salvation is a free gift in Christ, but I am talking about a returning to a calling on one’s life, not salvation alone. To be trusted with assignments from the Lord you have to withstand trials and testings. And the dream was specifically for those that had abandoned their calling within their hour of testing.
We are in a grace season for them to return and step into who God is calling them to be fully! Prophetic voices are being called back!
As evil is being revealed and uncovered in our nation and the world, the righteous are being prepared to take their stand.
“All the trees of the forest will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.”
Ezekiel 17:24
God can definitely multi-task, I may not be able to, but He can! At the same time that darkness troubles our hearts the more it becomes exposed, He is still speaking loud and clear to encourage and uplift His own.
And as each nasty principality raises its’ head to combat what God is now doing, do not let that alarm you or put fear in you.
Things have been hidden behind closed doors for a long time, and more and more will be exposed in the light. It will be troubling and awful, but that does not take away God’s involvement in our lives and HIS good plans for us.
Evil has to be exposed in order for judgement to be brought down on its’ head. This is a time to rejoice! To see our God move mightily and swiftly in this hour.
Discern good from evil.. listen to the Spirit of God.. He will speak to you if you ask and seek.
But to not work out of a discerning heart and to choose to be ignorant for comforts sake, will lead you in the wrong direction and keep you blind.
Let Him remove that blindfold and grace you to be ready and prepared to see truth. Let Him prepare you to take your stand!
“It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name….”
Ezekiel 36:22b
Anything the Lord does for our nation is not done for our sake, it is done for the glorifying of His name and making Him known to other nations.
In fact, our nation is so steeped in sin and the church is not shining as bright as God intends for her, that any acts of mercy and grace shown us by God are not because of what we have done.
Nothing we do will be enough to deserve His hand of grace … our salvation is grace alone in Jesus and we never worked or could work enough to bring ourselves to have that salvation.
So then why do we feel entitled for God to move on our behalf as a nation and, much like spoiled children, cry and complain that He does not do as we ask.
The response to God doing anything for us is to have a heart of humility and gratefulness.
Too many times we want to see our will be done rather than agreeing with His will. Too many times our prayers and petitions are for our own selfish interests, rather than for His plans.
Entitlement is raging in our streets.. agreeing with the ideas of the world has sidestepped us away from God’s plans, His agenda.
Repentance is needed in this hour.
We must ask God to forgive us of our entitled hearts, to forgive us for overlooking evil when it’s clearly in front of our eyes, to forgive us for being easily tossed within the waves of what is told us from any sources of media, and to forgive us for not being grateful for the protection God has provided us in this storm.
When we are met with great difficulty we need to tell our souls that God can sustain us and hold us above the raging waters. We need to not be offended that He allows these things to happen.. for He has given people free will and we are seeing the results of human free will… but He is still on His throne!
Walking in dark seasons does not mean God is against us.. it does, however, mean He will walk with us through it.. and we can learn by His grace to not be bothered or discouraged by such storms.
Everything we do have is by the grace of God. Nothing is deserved. Nothing should be expected to be ours.
A heart of gratitude of what we do have will carry us deeper into relationship with Him. Let us not allow our present sufferings to bring us to a place of being offended by God for allowing them, but instead seek His heart in the situation.
The greatest challenge for missionaries overseas is not being overcome with bitterness and anger towards the Lord when, after committing our lives to Him to serve Him, He still allows seasons of great storms to come to us.
A heart that believes they will be kept free from difficulty because they have done so much for God, will be sorely disappointed because that’s not why we follow and obey Him.
We follow Him because we love Him and because He first loved us. To feel entitled to not have to walk through valleys as a believer is foolish. But to have a heart that understands this walk with the Lord is not about us, but about glorifying Him and making Him known, then when life becomes unsettling we will have found a resilience we never knew we had in Him.
For a time may come, sooner than later, when the world we live in will not want Christians in it. That time has come for so many other believers in other nations. This is not new to see ridicule of the believer. Yet, it is not a time to shrink from our faith, but to grow even bolder. That’s what persecution can do for the church, make her unstoppable. But first we need to move past our immature thinking and behavior.
We are more than believers of Jesus Christ, we are warriors for Him. And warriors learn how to fight and not complain about the battles. It is time we grow in our maturity of faith in the Lord. Be strong.. have courage.. and don’t be easily offended or swayed!