One morning out of my heart I prayed the following prayer: "Lord, I want to grieve where you are grieving and to rejoice where you are rejoicing". I meant this from my heart and assumed that God would answer me, but I didn't realize how quickly He would answer this prayer. Later this same morning, He gave me the following vision.
In the vision I was standing before Jesus who was sitting on His throne. He was weeping. I was so shocked that I did not know to adequately comfort Him. I sensed in my Spirit that the Lord was weeping because His people were not believing His word (bible commands and promises to us).
Jesus then handed me a bible with a sword placed on top of the pages and He said: "It brings me great Joy when you fight with my Word". He continues as He points to the bible..."I purchased all of those promises with my blood - JUST BELIEVE!"
After this revelation I heard in my spirit "Gird up your Loins". I actually did not know what that meant, but I thought to myself that sounds like something I read once in scripture. Sure enough its in two places in the new testament: "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 1:13 and again it says in Ephesians 6:14: "Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness"
After I received the vision, Jesus shared the enemy's strategy which is "to take the fight out of my children". Think about this for a minute....if we are not willing to fight then we won't stand for the truth when its most needed. The authors of the new testament were constantly reminding us to stay sober and alert. To be watchful and ready with the truth of Gods word in our hearts and on our lips ready to stand and fight for His promises.
And just as importantly, we are to keep our Hope fully trusting in His Grace. It reminds me of the lyrics from the song "Oh Lord" by Lauren Daigle that say's "I will stand my ground where Hope can be found". During this revelation, I sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit putting "the belt of truth" on me. What a powerful impression God was making about the importance of girding ourselves to His truth. Its the truth that sets us free! We must have a love and hope for the truth to overcome.
Soon after this stunning vision, I realized that we actually have the power to bring either sorrow or joy to our Lord and it all depends on what we do with His Word. Why is this so personal to Jesus? Because He is the "word that became flesh". When we believe His word, we are believing and honoring Him. And when we are fighting for the promises He gave us (especially in the face of difficulties or even defeat) we are bringing Him Joy. However, when we are allowing defeat and unbelief to infiltrate our thinking and actions we are bringing Jesus grief.
The vision was such a real example of how our action and attitude towards His word affects our Lord. Its a powerful reminder to us all to take the word of God seriously. However, we are not to be in a place of fear and regret, but rather, God wants us to pick up His word with a new boldness and courage rejoicing over His blood bought promises to us. Its time we stop weeping over our past failures and current setbacks and starting rejoicing over His faithfulness to us in His word by believing His promises for us.
Therefore, I want to encourage all of us to simply take Jesus at His word. Get in the bible daily and start standing and believing His promises to us. It brings Him great Joy when we choose to stand and believe in the face of trials and difficulties not relenting from His promises! Our breakthrough has already been promised to us in His word. And the power of our breakthrough is locked up in His promises...waiting for our believing faith to open and release it. When we do this, it brings Him great Joy and as the scriptures declare...The Joy is the Lord is our Strength!
So Rejoice! Don't let the enemy take the fight out of you. Jesus already PAID the price for all of God's promises for us to claim and walk in: "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ..." 2 Corinthians 1:20. We all have a destiny to fulfill. Now is our time to advance into 2018 with courage and fortitude. By doing so, together as the church we will step into our prophetic destinies, but we must have believing faith in His promises to do so. God told Joshua when he was entering the promise land to spend time DAILY meditating on His word:
"Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful" (Joshua 1:8).
Notice that there was a condition to Joshua's success. He needed to meditate on the word of God daily (morning and night) and THEN he would be successful in the promise land. The same is true for us today. We need to spend more time in His word. So let's take the word of God seriously and step into our callings for us and for our families. Amen?
"...This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, ....This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the JOY of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8: 9-10
"So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it" Isaiah 55:11
"So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it" Isaiah 55:11
