Come to Me, Honor My Word, Be My Torch!

Welcome to 2018! I have spent the first month of the year doing a little internal "house cleaning & reorganizing" and seeking God for direction for the year ahead.  The word for "18" in Hebrew is "Chai" which translates to "life" and "being alive". Just before the beginning of the year, I heard the following:

"The Body is pregnant with the purposes of God. 2017 was a transition phase of labor. It has been an intense season of laborious work making all the necessary changes to prepare for the final push. 2018 is the time to receive the "baby". Ready the receiving blankets."

I believe the Lord has been preparing many individuals in the Body of Christ to step forward into the dreams and purposes He has planted in their hearts. I believe we have entered a time in which we will see Him pour out anointing, favor and acceleration as Believers step out in obedience and confidence in Him. The key is always that we can do all things through Him, nothing apart from Him, and everything for Him. About two weeks ago, the Lord broke this wide open during a powerful time of worship at our church. I received the following during that service and over the course of the next several days. 

"Come to Me my Bride!

Come to Me my children!

Turn away from the problems and distractions of this world.

Run to Me!

I long for you! I have from before the foundation of the earth!

Bring everything to Me. I will take care of it all.

Try Me, test Me in this.

I will not fail you!" 

There was this overpowering sense in the whole encounter directing, urging, crying out to us to come to Him every day, constantly, expecting something different - expecting encounters. I could feel the passion, the longing in His heart for us - it's a powerful love! This was followed by:

"Put away the "young" mindset. Come up to a new level of maturity. Come up, come up - I have more to reveal to you!"

Over the next several days, the Holy Spirit went on to reveal that imbedded within this invitation is a call to a renewed honor for His Word. A promise to take us to new heights of understanding the reality of His Word, both written and spoken. Just as we are instructed to measure and apply our own words carefully, so we are to measure and apply His Word with great care (Eph 4:29,  2 Tim 2:15). This fit with a promise and direction I had received from the Lord about a week earlier:

"Peace, assuredness and wisdom belong to those who will quiet themselves before Me and be still and know that I am God. Many a good book, message and service have been shared. Visit them, but live in Me!"

This is very similar to an exhortation given by Charles Spurgeon years ago: "Visit many good books, but live in the Bible." We are being called once again to draw in even closer to the Word of God and allow Him to work deep within us.

The following was opened up to me with specific regard to the region in which I live, the Chippewa Valley of west central Wisconsin. I believe, however, it is a word that can be grabbed onto in faith and applied by the Body as a whole. The Lord has entrusted the declaration of His Word to His children. This is an awesome responsibility. To emphasize that point, the Holy Spirit allowed me to see what will happen in the Chippewa Valley, in the spiritual realm, as His sons and daughters obediently speak out the Word He is releasing in this hour. 

I saw a blue ribbon of light moving throughout the entire Valley. The Holy Spirit revealed that this is His presence moving in power and activation and that it is the Lord's intention that His Spirit will touch every part of the Chippewa Valley. It is also His intention that it will occur in partnership with us - it will be voice activated by His Church. This will not be a spectator event. There is a direct connection between what we speak out and the condition of our communities. The rate and consistency in which we speak His words with faith and honor is the rate in which we will see sustained transformation in the places where we live. Not only will His Word, spoken out in faith, shift things in the spirit, but it's impossible to continually speak out His Word and not be changed personally in what we think, say and do. These changes in the spirit and in us will capture the attention of those around us. No man and no community is an island. It will reach beyond the borders of our immediate regions, bringing sustainable change for good and much glory to God. 

We are capable of so much more that we have been saying we are!

The Lord's answer to us is already "Yes"! He is issuing a call, searching for a company of people who will respond, "Amen!" to this invitation in this hour to carry the torch of His good plans and purposes in word and deed. (2 Cor 1:20) Very fitting as we are just a week away from the Winter Olympics. I looked up the origin and meaning behind the Olympic torch and learned the following:

1. In the original games, mirrors were used to direct and focus the sun's rays to light a torch which was to represent purity.

*Lord, help us to position ourselves rightly before you - "focus" in on us so intently that we become the burning ones!

2. Runners carry the torch in a relay to the stadium.

*Help us to be the torch - running, straining for the prize - and pass the baton forward through time!

3. The torch represents a truce between nations and a commitment to purity, reason and peace.

*As burning ones, let our lives represent the reality of our assignment to be ambassadors of love and reconciliation! We are walking embassies of the Kingdom of God, bringing this Kingdom to the nations.

The Lord is assembling His qualifying team. All are eligible - there's no cap to the number He will receive. All who are willing to go "all in" qualify. He's been dreaming about this from before the foundation of the earth. It's His "Dream Team". 

Who will run to Him?

Who will come up higher?

Who will put away the "young" things and mature?

Who will honor and explore His Word?

Who will declare it with bold faith?

Who will run as a torch of His purity and goodness and pass it forward?

He will provide the light and the strength.

Who will provide the "yes"?

“Moses said, ‘Please. Let me see your Glory.’ God said, ‘I will make my Goodness pass right in front of you; I’ll call out the name, God, right before you.’” (Ex 33:18-19a)

Let the whole earth be filled with His glory!