Isaiah 42:1-9 The Lord’s Chosen Servant -“Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or raise his voice in public. He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged. He will not falter or lose heart until justice prevails throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.” God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth. And it is he who says, “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations. You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons. “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols. Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.”
I truly believe that God is raising up a new breed of forerunners in the earth, putting his spirit on them to forge new paths for his glory. These forerunners will need to listen closely to the Lord, as he speaks and get into their proper position to navigate the way forward, as it is a way they've never been before. A great metamorphosis is taking place in the lives of these new trailblazers, as his spirit is being put upon them.
COULD THIS BE YOU?
Are you sensing that you could be one of these forerunners? Is God calling you out of an old way of being and operating and into something new?
Mark 2:22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”
Do you see something new on the horizon, waiting to be discovered? If so, start asking the Lord what this means for you. Traveling new trails are definitely gonna stretch and challenge many who are not use to walking off the beaten path with God, but he will not disappoint because he is putting his Spirit on this new breed and his Spirit will empower them in new ways as they face every challenge. Much of the new is happening inside of them, as God by his Spirit is shaping them into his image in a more glorious way. Their nature will be his nature, and his character, their character.
Romans 8:15-19 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.
As we allow God to process us and change us, yes it will seem as though we are suffering at times, because of all he must uproot from our personalities and hearts - all that does not represent him well. We are living stones being built up in Christ and the foundation of who we are must be like his character and nature. Some things are rooted so deeply in us that pride has kept us from seeing the truth of it. His desire to see us reflect his image in the earth is way more important than our comfort, so don't despise it when he begins the process of removing what needs to go. The foundation of any building requires a great leveling and inspection.
As the children of God we must remember that we belong to him and our lives are to be as living sacrifices to his purposes in the earth. This isn't a feel good theology but it is the bible. He gave himself on the cross as a ransom for us and we too should give up our lives in service to him for such a great salvation.
1 Cor. 6:19-20 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
The context of this scripture refers to fleeing from sexual sin but it relates to all aspects of us as living sacrifices as well. We don't belong to ourselves when we receive Jesus, we receive all of who he is, not just the parts that make us feel good. We honor God when we offer all of who we are to him. This is the gospel message that requires change on our part.
Romans 12:1-2 And so, dear brothers and sisters,I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Anytime God does something new it requires us to think differently and this is where we can get tripped up. Change is never easy because we are creatures of habit and comfort, especially as it relates to God. Even this world has shaped us into seeing God a certain way and it requires a deprogramming of sorts. The Word of God will help you in this process of deprogramming because not everything we have learned is of God as it relates to our relationship with him.
HAVING GOD'S CHARACTER
As God processes us and makes us more like him, he will begin aligning us to the new things he has for us. He cannot do that though before the process of transformation is complete and a new foundation is laid, so please do not negate the process or path God has you on for change. You cannot go forward sidestepping the process of character development as a trailblazer for Jesus. Your wounds and issues from the past must be healed up else you will hurt and bleed on others with a gospel message that is not of Jesus. It may sound like him but it will not bring the glory or transformation that people need in their lives and this is what it is all about.
NEW THINGS
Once you've allowed the Lord to do all he desires, he will begin giving you new people, new places and new things. Each of us have a work to do for the Lord, but the blueprint can't be revealed before the character is developed. God is desiring to take you where you've never been before as a trailblazer. A new paradigm is required though for this new season, as God is not conducting business as usual. When God is doing something new in the earth and it involves us, it will require us letting go of old ways of doing life and especially life in the Spirit. It will require your full attention, so you will need to let go of what is no longer fruitful in your life. It may mean leaving fruitless relationships, and fruitless ways of communing with God. What worked in past seasons may not work and he may ask you to let go of familiar ways of knowing him as you plow ahead. Somethings never change though, so staying connected to the Lord in worship, prayer and his Word will keep you aligned to truth and his voice.
These new trails will lead us to new relationships so begin asking the Lord about that. We can't listen to every voice out there in times of transition, because not every soldier has the same orders. God knows who we need to take us where we've never been before, and I know this all too well. Our times are in his hands and we can trust him with who he gives us to help in new seasons. He will use people near and far to speak to and help guide us, in times of transformation and metamorphosis, so pay attention to who God continues to highlight to you and search out their involvement in your process. Hear me clearly though, because no one takes the place of Holy Spirit in your life. He is your ultimate guide to truth, but he many times uses others that he has already processed and prepared for where you are going. I don't want a blind guide, I want someone who knows where they are going.
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR DREAMS
One of the ways he guides us is through dreams.
Job 33:14-17 For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing by the sword.
Matthew 2:13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
God warns us of our own destructive patterns of living and he also warns us of how hell will come for us as well. Lately the Lord has been speaking very clearly through dreams and warning his people in the night season of what is coming. For a solid month now God has been speaking very clearly in our gatherings and in our dreams as a ministry. Everything he warned us would happen, came about just as he said, so please don't discount your dreams or even a word he may drop in your spirit. Search that word out for further clarification with the Lord. One word can tell you all you need to know for what is ahead. Also, it is important to process your dreams with the people of God that you are in fellowship because there is safety in many counselors and that dream may be for them as well as you. God has been so good to give us as a ministry team, a heads up as we blaze new trails, so please pay attention to your dreams.
HUMILITY PREPARES AND POSITIONS YOU
Posturing yourself in humility is definitely as must as God resists the proud but lifts up the humble. Hell will try and interrupt the new things, people and places God is calling you to right now, so pay close attention to how he is speaking as you move forward over the next few months. This will keep you safe and in the momentum of God.
GUARD AGAINST ALL THINGS FAMILIAR
Getting rid of all things familiar seems to be the command and instruction for now as forerunners. Familiarity breeds contempt, and God is warning us to not get too comfortable with anything or anyone. Seeing ourselves as soldiers in an army is sometimes the best way for us to stand at attention when God is changing things up. All soldiers have a rank in the army and a chain of command to help them go where they have no experience. Being too familiar with the people he is using in your life must be guarded against as it leads to a lack of respect, trust and instruction. When God wants to change things up in your life, he will sometimes use new people or voices, or he may use people you know, but in a new way in your life, so you cannot afford to be familiar with them.
Familiarity: close acquaintance with or knowledge of something; relaxed friendliness or intimacy between people; based on a long or close association; the fact that you know it so well; casualness;lack of restraint or reserve
Some people, places and things should never be viewed as familiar. Our relationship with the Lord is a prime example. We should never view God as if he is our homey that we hang out with. We may believe we already know all about who he is to us, but God is unsearchable, and we must not get familiar with him. He has no beginning and no end, as he is the author and creator of all things, so we must maintain a healthy honor and fear of the Lord. Yes he desires to reveal himself to us, intimately and I love that about God, but that revelation requires me to view him in light of his surpassing greatness, as he is Almighty God. He made us not the other way around. This model of respect although not the same is useful for us as we relate to others he gives us as well. No one is to be on a pedestal or put in the same light as God but God does require us to respect the leaders he gives us. Whether it is your pastor or another spiritual leader God has given you, we must all guard against familiarity in those relationships. God will change things up on you in a heart beat and familiarity with his ways or him will leave you shaking your head in disbelief, when he does something new. The scripture is full of examples of how he will shift kings, leaders and even nations for his purpose. God does not change, but his methods sure do and if we view him or those he gives us as familiar we can certainly miss what he is doing in the earth and in our lives.
SHIFTING FOR HIS GLORY,