The Lord has been leading me in a different way this year and I feel as if he gave me some clarity regarding this last weekend so I wanted to share it with you.
Recently I felt drawn back to a prophetic forecast I believe I received from the Lord 4 years ago. A time of change that was coming where God would breathe on us and give us His rest.
I believe we have entered into this time. A place where we can find rest for our weary souls.
At the time I really didn’t understand all of what the Lord was pointing to in this change but since Covid-I do.
This place of rest is meant to fortify us in him by returning our focus and love back to the Lord our God as our main source in life. A place of returning our hearts FULLY to him. A place where we shelter with him like Adam did in the garden. A place where we know him as Father and divine protector and Holy Spirit as the Lord and giver of life. A place where we won’t be bothered about hurrying here and there and doing this or that.
I remember thinking at the time when I received this Word from Holy Spirit -oh that’s nice Lord. No more striving and working so hard. Rest. Breath. Those were all the things I was picking up on as he spoke with me. A Time where God himself was breathing into us like the picture we get when he formed Adam from the dust of the earth. The Bible says he breathed into him (Adam) the breath of life and made him a living soul. Adam means mankind. I believe this is a time where God is breathing his life again into mankind. His PNEUMA (Greek for breath).
What I did not understand at the time was that this divine rest would come about during a season of some of the greatest unrest in the world. The very time period we are currently experiencing.
God has such a unique way of preparing us for the future if we would just slow down and pay closer attention. But that’s the problem-we are going at such a rapid pace that we aren’t identifying the way he’s moving in the earth.
I remember hearing his voice say that hurrying would be a thing of the past. And that people would receive a shot of vitality and a breath of fresh air as they took time to rest. Those words sound incredible in any season-but they are truly life giving if your world is falling apart because of a worldwide pandemic. It’s life-giving if you’re dealing with fear, anxiety and stress.
For some reading this, the virus may not have affected you quite the same way; but there are still things ahead of us that will require us knowing how to shelter in God. More is coming.
2020 should have taught us the importance of physically finding refuge from the plague as Psalm 91 reminds us:
“One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” For it is He who rescues you from the net of the trapper And from the deadly plague. He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may take refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and wall.“ Psalms 91:1-4 NASB2020
Unfortunately I believe there’s a mental oppression coming in the months ahead of us that people aren’t prepared for.
I realized this even more so when Texas had their power outage. I was shocked at the things I was reading on Facebook. I saw friends sharing things from people in Texas and how desperate they were.
Ultimately they were unprepared-mentally and practically. I was praying for them but I was also very shocked at the unpreparedness of people. I have never felt the urgency to get prepared as much as I have this last year. If you go to the homepage of my website you’ll see what I mean. I want to shout it from the rooftops. Get prepared!! Get prepared!! Without sounding like chicken little.
I’m preparing in many ways but I sense an urgency on preparing mentally through resting our minds- our souls. We have got to be able to rest in God when times get tough. Growing up I often heard this familiar phrase- “when the going gets tough the tough get going.” God prepares mental toughness in us as we take our anxious thoughts captive and trust in him. Stillness helps us do that.
The writer of Hebrews tells us we have to strive to enter into God‘s rest. Sounds like an oxymoron right? But the simple truth is that most people do not understand divine rest. Rest God’s way.
I’m concerned that most people have no idea how to be strong IN the Lord or even how to wait for him to act on their behalf.
We’ve lost the ancient art and path of sitting alone with Jesus. Don’t you find it interesting that Scripture says-you’ll FIND rest for your souls as you walk the ancient paths of God?
You can only find what you’ve lost.
“This is what the Lord says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’” Jeremiah 6:16 NLT
The ways of God are spelled out in scripture. Stillness, silence, quietness, rest and trust.
I sense that we have years of disruption and unrest in front of us; so learning now to find refuge with God in the secret place of his Word and His presence through these ancient paths, will not just be a nice thought but a life-saving method for us all.
Taking time to pull back and get alone with God daily will soon be paramount.
Can I share some thing with you?
I crave silence. I have to have it daily. There was a time I couldn’t take in enough information in a day as it relates to learning through podcasts or teachings etc... but in these last few months I have to have time during my day for quietness and rest.
I struggled initially understanding why certain things that used to fill my day no longer brought satisfaction to me.
Anyone else experiencing this? Do you crave quietness and stillness as much as I now do?
It’s crazy I know, but I believe 2020 was a place of reset for us-I’m just not sure we understood it to the fullest extent. It was meant to get us ready and prepared for the years to come by slowing us down to the speed of now-the speed of true life.
Unfortunately we don’t get to choose how these things happen.
It’s time to slow down and rest. Rest your mind, and your body. It’s time to learn how to quiet not only the voices around us but the voices within us. The inner critic, the complainer, the talker!! That voice within you that must have the answer needs to be still and know that God is God. The voice that says if you’re not working then you’re being lazy must be silenced.
It’s time to take your life back- your power and sanity back.
I believe God is wanting to take us to deep deep places in him. Deep places of his wisdom, deep placed of his love and peace and deep places of trust for the years ahead. I believe he’s returning us to our first love-Him alone.
I’m a solutionist. I’m wired to find solutions for people. I have always had this need to understand and solve problems no matter my job. So I’m learning how to draw back into God in a way that I have never had to before. Resting and relying solely on him.
I shared in an earlier blog about how I felt Proverbs 3:5 was such a relevant scripture for now and I’m learning more and more each day the truth of that.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.”
Here’s a few more scriptures to help you know what Jesus is up to and where he’s going and how he is leading us:
“This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.” Isaiah 30:15 NLT
I think we can all agree that we are at a crossroads and learning to rest is harder than we realize. It’s obvious that the Israelites struggled with this too-“but you would have none of it.”
I believe we are going to encounter more and more disruption, civil unrest, and more chaos in the months and years to come; and if we don’t know how to find rest in our souls now while there is still time-we’re gonna be in a lot of trouble.
We must take this seriously and learn now how to take refuge in God by walking the ancient paths. Paths of silence, solitude, quietness, trust and contemplative prayer.
God is getting us ready; and if we would only wait upon him quietly- he’d renew our strength.
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives strength to the weary, And to the one who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”Isaiah 40:28-31 NASB
Please join me in this journey of divine breath and rest with God. ❤️
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Dana
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