What is Happening?

As we entered into September I began pondering (musing) from deep within my being and asking … “Lord, what is happening”? Something is changing. What is it?” I decided to post this conversation I have been having with the Holy Spirit because perhaps you are feeling it too. On September 3rd, I had this conversation throughout the night with God, and then as I awakened in the morning I found myself asking the Lord this question:

“Lord, what’s changing?  Something is changing.  I want to know what it is.  I want to be like the sons of Issachar who know the times and seasons.  I want to hear what you are saying and doing.  I feel something changing.  I don’t know what it is, but I want to know.  Something has shifted and changed … the newness in the air is one of expectancy and anticipation.  What is it, Lord?  I want to know and to align myself with you and what you are doing.  I don’t want to go off yesterday’s manna and revelation, rather I want to see you, hear you, know you, and follow you in this moment of change.  I feel it inside of me, I sense it around me, but I don’t yet know what “it” is.  I look to you (pray) that you will open it up and reveal it to me and to your people who are also sensing this change. Something is stirring, Lord.  What is it?  Holy Spirit, only you can make this plain to me – to us.  You are the wisdom, revelation, understanding of God.  You are the one who takes what belongs to Jesus and makes it known to us.  It feels like the calm before the storm!  It’s eerily quiet and ominous, but at the same time, filled with anticipation of something like a breakthrough”.  

Then, I read this quote in Vessels of Fire & Glory and realized THIS is what I am feeling: “The Lord wants us overtaken by dual emotions: an unshakable expectation that something is coming and a reverential fear that we CAN miss it”!  

That’s it!!!  I don’t want to miss what is coming!  I don’t want America to miss what is coming!  I don’t want the Nations of the world to miss what is coming!  Most importantly it boils down to this one factor for me personally:  I don’t want to miss what is coming!!!  I realize it can happen all around me and yet I can miss it!  I don’t want to miss it!  I want to be a part of it!  I don’t want the parade to pass me by, I want to be right smack dab in the middle of the most amazing move of God the world has ever seen!  Not simply as an observer, but as a willing, ready, and able participant!  We cannot simply wish or assume that we will be in the midst, for we must be willing to rise up, step up, hear God, and align ourselves with what He is doing!  Recalibration and realignment are not the easiest of processes. Think about going to a chiropractor! It takes some snap, crackle, and pop for our spines to be realigned! We cannot remain the same in our understanding of God and be realigned at the same time! It’s impossible to remain the same and yet change. This is a huge shift in time where the Holy Spirit is seeking those whose hearts will be tenderized in order to allow the realignment of our thoughts, perceptions, revelation, and beliefs so as to more fully know Him.

This desire to KNOW Him more fully continues to brew within me. The other day, I had a personal moment of crisis where my mind began to rage and contemplate what I must do about a physical issue. Those who know me well, know that I am a DIY (do it yourself) girl when it comes to health and wellness. I don’t easily even consider submitting myself to a doctor. I’m not saying it’s wrong to do so, I’m simply saying, for insight into my process, this is how I am wired. You have to understand that the struggle of what to do at this moment, was very real to me, as I considered what I might be facing. As I began praying about my situation … all of a sudden, I found myself face down crying out to the Holy Spirit:

“I want to be a torch in your hands Holy Spirit!  I want to be set ablaze for your glory and use.  I want to emerge from this small trial as a torch set ablaze by the fullness of oil in my lamp.  That you will lift me up as a torch to burn for you.  To shine upon your people.  To bring true liberty, true freedom, true justice, true opportunity.  That I am only the torch – you are the one who holds me and burns through me.  I want to be a reformer.  I want to be a torchbearer of your glory, your reformation, your transformation that burns deep within the hearts of men, women, and children.  Burn deep within me, fill me with your glory.  Raise me up as a vessel of fire and glory to burn brightly for you.  Not on my own strength but as a vessel forged in the fire of your love.  Take me into the holy of holies, touch my lips, burn up the dross in me, light me on fire for your use.  I want to burn brightly for you, Lord.  Holy Spirit I must know you!  I must!  I must know you.  Not just know about you or know you in the outer courts.  But to know you inside the holy of holies.  I ask that you would so burn your fires deeply within me and burn out the dross, burn up the chaff.  Cause me to emerge with oil as a torch in the hands of the Great Liberator!  Holy Spirit, please introduce yourself to me.  Illuminate yourself inside of me until it transforms my entire being.  That I will have nothing left except to know you.  I yield myself to you.  I cry out to you to reveal yourself.  I desire to emerge as an Isaiah-type – cleansed, purified, lips cleansed, and commissioned for your use.  That the ‘send’ will not be out of my need, but out of the holy fire you place within me.  I am yours!  Do in me what you desire.  Have your way in me like never before.  I want to emerge as a reformer – as a torch in your hands to be used as you desire.  I pray that I will never take for granted your power, your glory, your demonstrations, but I will remain in the awestruck fear of the glorious King.  I will yield myself to your use and plans, not to my need for purpose or of being useful.  I yield myself in ways I don’t understand.  I yield myself to your fire, to your purifying, to your holiness.  Burn in me and brand me with your hot iron of fire that I will always belong to you no matter how you choose to use me.  I will always know that it is YOU and not me.  I am the torch held in your hands”.  

All of a sudden I totally didn’t care about my small trial. I knew that somehow I was going to be alright and yet my prayer had absolutely nothing to do with my health! It was a yielding from deep within my being that led me to such peace and joy, that my situation was no longer the consideration.

The process of mulling over this deep place in God is continuing, as I yearn to be prepared as a part of what He is doing in the earth, both now and soon-to-come!

“The branding with your hot iron seems to capture my heart.  Branded means that there is a permanent mark blazed upon my heart and soul that tells everyone who looks to whom I belong.  A ‘firebrand’ that comes only from being fashioned and marked in the fire.  Not the fire of destruction, but the fire of reconstruction and creation.  A fire that so consumes my being that it burns like a flame no matter where I am, what I am doing, or what situations surround me.  A fire that will display the glory of God and the awesome fear of Christ.  A fire that will spread to those in whom I come in contact with.  A purifying fire that causes us to emerge as vessels of fire and glory, burning brightly for our King.  To be people who ourselves will light fires everywhere we go.  Fires that will burn brightly in our hearts and lives.  The torch, the flame does many things … it provides light in the dark, it leads the way along the path, it clears the way, it goes before the crowds to show the way.  This is the city on a hill the Bible talks about.  A life burning so brightly that it will light up the world around it”.  

I had a thought … “It’s like the Statue of Liberty”! Wait! What? It’s like the statement that sits so profoundly in the Gateway to America: The Statue of Liberty!  A torch held in the hands of a woman. In the bible, the woman represents The Church – the Bride of Christ!  This is a picture of what America is supposed to be.  A Church (a woman) holding the torch of the Holy Spirit high into the skies.  Standing bold, strong, erect, and sure.  A beacon of light that is to radiate the reflection of the glory of God to all those who look upon her.  We are like the Statue of Liberty – meant to be held high, set ablaze to radiate the glory of God to all those who look upon her.  She is the bride of Christ.  She is the partner of the Son of God.  She is the reflection of the light of Christ that is to burn brightly with the constant infilling of the Holy Spirit (the oil).  Held in His righteous right hand – high above all.  A beacon, a light of liberty, freedom, and justice for all mankind.  A torch held high that beckons the nations of the world to come to her shores!  The shores of grace and abundance found only in Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.  With a torch in her right hand and a tablet in her left, with a crown upon her head!  An amazing prophetic statement of Christ and His Bride – the Church!  

Here are a few facts I read about Lady Liberty: Bartholdi’s massive creation, titled “Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World,” depicted a woman holding a torch in her raised right hand and a tablet in her left, upon which was engraved “July 4, 1776,” the adoption date of the Declaration of Independence.

France built the statue and the US was responsible for the foundation upon which she would sit!  Wow!!!  Look at the role that was given to the US!  The foundation, built upon the Declaration of Independence – the declaration includes that we have freedom of religion!  Wow!  (I’m curious to understand spiritually the connection between France and the US, for God never has coincidences, but that’s for another time)!  

On a plaque at the entrance to the statue’s pedestal is engraved a sonnet called “The New Colossus,” written in 1883 by Emma Lazarus as part of a fundraising contest. Its most famous passage speaks to the statue’s role as a welcoming symbol of freedom and democracy for the millions of immigrants who came to America seeking a new and better life: “Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Think about these things through the lens of your spiritual eyes – not the natural perception. (Lest I be misunderstood about immigration, you can read my post entitled: Do You Hear the Anthem).

Wow!  This is a picture of “come unto me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest”!  God’s declaration over America!  A prophetic torch, declaration, statement, and memorial.  Remember the God who established this nation for His purpose to shine His light of liberty, freedom, and justice to all those who come! We have a stand to take in this moment, in this election, and in the days following. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to hold us like a torch, lifted high into the skies, with plenty of oil to shine brightly for His plan and purpose! God bless you! And may we align ourselves with Him, so that we can continue to say … May God Bless America – land that we love”!