Prophecy

URGENCY

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The morning broke cold today. The chicken’s water had turned to ice and the world was colored with frost.

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When I started sabbatical the autumn was in full swing. The nights were cool but not cold and the days were warm. I felt like I had some time to batten down the hatches for winter.

A month later and I realize my time to batten is running out. There is an urgency now to the work of getting ready for the long dark to come.

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I feel the same urgency in the spirit. I have come back to my regular church life feeling like things have changed. We must finish with our preparations quickly and be ready for a season of powerful, prophetic, good news ministry. I feel like our greater community is in need of prophetic good news.

I was going to wait until the turn of the year to begin meeting with our DLT (Doing life Together) groups to listen to what God had showed them through our sabbatical month of prayer. I know now there isn’t time for that.

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I have begun meeting with the groups this week. Here is one of the words that I have gathered.

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 God says, “I am on the move. Will you trust me for my move?… my way? I have a great plan for my family. Cling to hope. It will not look the way you think it should but I am doing a great work. Cling to hope. I am on the move!”

TIMES OF DELIVERANCE

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This morning was my last Sunday of sabbatical. I opted to stay in and watch our church service with guest preacher, Carrie Hackett from home.

During a waiting time in the music portion of the service I received a very strong prophetic message from God. Here is what I sensed

. The days ahead are days of supernatural deliverance! The power of the Spirit is going to begin flowing and moving in even more miraculous ways. Generational and ancient strongholds are about to be overthrown, but the ground is going to be hard won. Only the power of the Spirit will avail, no mortal weapons will do in these battles.

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Do not look for the dramatic , bombastic, instantaneous deliverances that have characterized the places of so many flashy dreams. Look for the move of small stones. Let there be an embracing of steps that bring compounding glory and progressive deliverance. Expect and do not despise the day of small things.

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Rejoice in each advance and encourage each other in every setback. Pray the power over each other continually without ceasing and walk in the Spirit until all that is to be done is done! Inch by inch the ground will be won. Do not be afraid!The center will hold until I call you forth.”

SABBATICAL DAY 8: ON ORDINATION AND DELIVERANCE

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This week is all about the projects.

Yesterday I harvested the last of the vegetables from the garden and began moving some of the herbs indoors for the winter. The temperatures are starting to get below forty during the nights now so it is time to start putting the outer Vicarage to bed and getting everything set for winter.

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Early morning view from the Vicarage

Today I filled out the paperwork for my ordination and began looking at all the church budgets for FY25 which are due by the end of the month for review by our church finance committee.

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In prayer I have begun to hear about a coming move of deliverance for our region. Here is something I heard in prayer today.

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“The next season will be about deliverance. Like repentance, deliverance is more about what you are moving toward than what you are moving away from. In fact you will never be delivered until you have a firm vision of what you are getting in place of what you are giving up and until you believe that what you are getting is better than what you are leaving behind.”

SABBATICAL DAY 5: CONFERENCING

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This sabbatical feels different from my last. During the last sabbatical my mother was just entering the most intensive part of her medical need. Travel was not really an option. Now Mom is gone. I guess I could go anywhere I want, but I don’t really have any desire to go anywhere.

I know many people think of sabbatical as a vacation. I don’t. I see it as a necessary change of life rhythm for the purpose of clarifying vision. I really need that. I feel more deeply than ever before that I need to see what is coming down the road. More than that I feel like I am commanded to it.

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One thing I did learn about sabbatical from last time was that the rhythm and events of sabbatical are only truly determined by God. I made intricate plans last time and God intervened heavily in my plans to change them. I didn’t get done all that was on my list, but I know now I did get done what I needed to do.

This time my plans are not as detailed, but I feel like I have come closer to matching God’s plans for this sabbatical. This first week of sabbatical was given to prayer and conferences. I attended several prayer services at TWR House of Prayer as they held their annual growth conference. Yesterday I was at Liberty Church in Shrewsbury MA for their L2L conference. Today I was at my own church for our Better Man Conference. I have pages of notes to pray through this next week as I seek vision from them for our church.

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This next week I am spending time in deep prayer, in working around the Vicarage, and in planning administratively for the church: I have budgets to do; missions job descriptions to update; and infrastructure plans to consider; I also think it is time to fill out the paperwork for the next step in my ministry licensing process.

My son and his wife are signing papers this week on a condo so I am beginning a big fall cleaning as they prepare to move at the end of the month. It feels like threads are coming together and I am beginning to see the tapestry, streams are blending in a divine confluence. I certainly am not the only one sensing this. I don’t even understand the bigger parts of it, but I am very clear on the fact that I need to understand my own small part of the stream. I think much depends on it.

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DO YOU FEEL THIS NEXT YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT THAN THE LAST?

SABBATICAL DAY 2: WE NEED TO KNOW

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My son and I were talking about this sabbatical our church is on. I explained to him that sabbatical is not a vacation for the pastor or the church. It is a change of rhythm for the purpose of finding God’s direction and strength for next steps. The change of rhythm does involve rest, but it also involves other practices as well.

Today was all about the practice of flexibility. I set my plans to pray for at least two hours at the Worship Room House of Prayer this morning. I made it forty minutes and then… God showed up and I ended up taking a trip with my daughter to a town about an hour and a half away to pick up some equipment that had been wrongly shipped to another Cornerstone Church.

I was going to go by myself, but you know I am learning to be the DOING LIFE TOGETHER guy. It was good we went together, as it turned out. My leg has been bothering me the last few days and it cramped up pretty badly just as we were arriving at the other Cornerstone Church. Amanda had to drive home so I could stretch out.

Anyway, we made a morning of it. The drive was through some of the most beautiful autumn territory of the Quabbin Valley and we stopped for lunch at Herrick’s in Orange. So I actually accomplished one of my other goals for this month which was to take a leaf peeping drive.

There were a few other “divine interruptions” in my plans today. Some unplanned reorganization of schedules shortened my time to burn brush by about an hour and once again reoriented how I was going to pray. I think learning to be flexible with my prayer life is something God is trying to teach me.

In the midst of all the reorganization I got this thought. “As a people we need to know God’s plan for the next years. We do need a clearer vision of the future. We do need to understand what God is doing. That said, we don’t just need to know God’s plan or the future or what God is doing. We need something more. We need the church to also have a revelation of itself, a revelation of who we are to Christ, who we are to ourselves and who we are to our communities.

TELL ME WHO OR WHAT DO YOU THINK THE CHURCH IS?

SABBATICAL DAY 1: ETERNAL DEFINITIONS

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I need to begin living by God’s definitions of things rather than the world’s definitions of things. I need to bring the definitions of words from eternity into the here and now. I need to begin living by those eternal definitions in the here and now.

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For instance, the Bible teaches us that the word “power” means something different in eternity than it does here. I…we must begin living by the eternal definition of the word “power” rather than living by the temporal definition.

As I begin to live by the eternal definition of all things in the here and now, the New Heaven and the New Earth, when it is finally established, will be a stepping into the presence of a long awaited friend rather than a violent shift to a new thing.

THE LEADERSHIP RHYTHM

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This week God has been speaking to me about fully embracing the rhythm of my leadership. I believe, there is a leadership rhythm that spiritual leaders must follow consistently if we are to walk in the fullness of our giftings from God. Without the consistent rhythm we will not walk in the fullness of our gifts or reach the fullness of our ministry callings.

I don’t believe that this rhythm looks the same for everyone. Each of us are called to discover the rhythm of our spiritual leadership for ourselves, and then to live it constantly We must no longer allow distractions of the world to take us away from the rhythm.

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For me, this involves a rhythm of constant prayer throughout the day, everyday: Matins, Laudes, Prime, Terce, Sext None, Vespers, Compline. For me, work and the rest of life flows out of prayer and back into prayer. Prayer is the constant rhythm and it must not be allowed to stop…ever. 

The Lord showed me that this rhythm is the manifestation of the armor of God for us as leaders in the church, this is why Paul says…“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground” (Ephesians 6: 11-13)

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This means that letting go of the rhythm is akin to taking off the armor, and therefore not being able to stand in the day of evil against the agents of evil. 

Here is the struggle I am having. I have sought God and told Him how overwhelming this thought is. I know I cannot be consistent to this level of constancy on my own. In my own nature I am too distractible, too flighty.

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The Lord has sent me a quiet assurance in prayer that the rhythm is not something I accomplish on my own. It is something He accomplishes and I receive.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.Ephesians 2:10

So now I am taking time everyday to believe and receive the rhythm that is God’s gift to me and which opens up my ability to use my gifts for Him.

DO YOU HAVE A RHYTHM GOD IS TRYING TO ESTABLISH IN YOUR LIFE?