Resilience! Relentless! Rest!

Happy New Year sis!  I praise God for and with you for the gift of life. Quite a number of us have one story or the other to share about people we know directly, or whom we heard about, who didn’t make it into 2014. You and I are here in affirmation of the fact that God still has work for us to do. You know this right? We are daughters of destiny and purpose, with a mandate to empty ourselves of every gift that God has put in us with which to impact the world.

I feel led to first remind you that God is not bound by the 12-month calendar cycle of man. In the scheme of things, He sees, knows, and indeed authored the entire screenplay that is your life, sis. There are things He has ordained for us which, regardless of how we worry and aspire, will not manifest until the appointed time. Then there are also those things which we deeply desire, which if He has not purposed, will never come to pass or at least not in the way/manner/time in which we desired. We need to come to that point of spiritual maturity where we realize that in either of these situations, God is still God, and God is still good. The call is on us to believe, and to trust – unequivocally too!

My fifteen year old son changed his BB status on January 1^st. It read, ‘New Year, Same Guy, Different Perspective’. In the course of our interactions over a family meal a couple of days back, my husband asked him what informed his putting up this status. He explained that a friend of his from school lost his brother on New Year’s eve, and for some reason – while this was certainly not the first time he had heard of the death of his peer, it brought him to a more startling realization of the fact that even teenagers die; that their time is also precious and must be applied purposefully to things that count; that they really couldn’t afford to be casual about making it to heaven. As he spoke, all I could hear was God’s continuous call to me in this season that we need to come up higher in our walk as Christians in 2014 and beyond. If a fifteen year old boy is speaking of perspectives sis, does this tell you something about how you and I need to be framing our thinking in the year ahead? Hmmm!

I have been assailed with this message ‘Come up higher’ from every quarter you can imagine – in various teachings, in songs, in things I have found myself reading, and in sharing with people close to me as well as other people I happened upon in one random meeting or the other. Sis, you know I am bent on you and I growing together right? I so believe that when God speaks to me, He speaks for you and I to feed on His Word and to grow in Him together. If I may therefore, I would like to ask that this early in 2014, you please commit to walking with me on this journey to a higher place.

The Lord spoke a few things to me concerning this year and His declaration was and is that 2014 will be a year of ‘release into super-abundance’ and a year in which we will experience ‘an excellent newness’. He gave me what I have now termed my 3R assurances for a remarkable 2014. His words? ‘Resilience! Relentless! Rest! I would like to encourage you with the things that the Holy Spirit ministered to me regarding each of these words sis.

1.    Resilience: This year, more than ever before, we must cling to God (Deut. 13:4 amp). There is a clear call for us to walk this year in total submission and reliance on God, and to have His Spirit order our every step. God has assured me that He has great things in store in this year. He has said that some of the things ahead of His faithful ones are very weighty, heavy things; but we are more than able because His strength is available to us in our weakness. He has said that resilience is the key. As long as we press in, stay on the course and refuse to back-track, then this will be a victorious year for us and ours.

2.   Relentless: God said He would speak to His children more than ever in this year. This for me is truly great news, nothing I love like hearing the voice of God. However, He also instructs that we must be ready to obey even the strangest of His commands because all lead to the fulfillment of purpose. He said clearly that we should not struggle with His instructions this year. And you know sis that God’s constant call is for us to be swift to obey right? Being willing to obey and then promptly doing the things the Lord speaks to us is not always easy. Sometimes, it takes everything that is in us to be obedient doesn’t it? When He tells us in advance therefore that He will ask of us some things which appear strange, it strikes me that only the hiding of this revelation of an excellent newness in our hearts and a shifting in our perspectives in order to leave ourselves open to the super-abundance that He has declared can help us do this successfully. God is calling on you and I to stay focused sis. We must be relentless about being in His will, and doing His will. This is not a year that we can afford to be casual in the things of God. Please hear this clearly with the ears of your spirit, and hide this truth deep in your inner man!

3.  Rest: When we cling resolutely to God; when we are relentless about our prompt obedience to His will; we will find ourselves always in the right place and position before God - a place that is in accordance with His express purpose; a place where He magnifies our every effort and causes us to rejoice at everything we set our hands to (because the things we do will be according to His will) …and in this place, God’s rest is always available to us. Sis, the place of rest is the place of God’s choosing. Once we are leaving our choices up to our minds/ wills/emotions/intellect, we will always be fretful in our spirits. When we receive God’s rest however, there is an inner calm, quietness in our spirits, an unspoken unshakable conviction that all is well, that the Lord is good and that He will turn everything around for our good. When we are in the place of God’s rest, our homes are more peaceful; our relationships more fulfilling; our challenges less daunting; our spirits are completely awake and fully in tune with our maker; and our communion with Him is at peak. Sis, God assures us of entering His rest this year …if we are resilient, and relentless in Him.

I don’t know if like me you hit some sort of spiritual plateau in 2013. I have shared with you that in the latter part of 2013, the Lord chastised me about having becoming spiritually complacent. And He was so right! I had settled at some point on doing the things I had gotten used to doing. Growth implies an upward trajectory and I could see that I had leveled off. We all need to grow sis, and so even as I minister these revelations to you, I am really speaking them again also into my spirit. As the Lord shared these things to me, I made a fresh commitment to answer His call to that higher ground. Knowing full well that I can’t make it on my own, I have again asked the Lord to help me, to remind me, to chastise me, to encourage me, to lead me, to guide me. As I commit to pressing in, I know that the Lord will take me deeper still in Him. Can I encourage you to make this same commitment today, sis? How about you and I purpose to not just enter, but to dwell steadfastly in the rest of the Lord this year? Sound like a plan, sis? Yep, sounds like a great plan!

The Lord will help us sis. He certainly will!     

Be blessed sis…. for you surely are!