Part of our job requirement, according to JoAnn, is to "... give ourselves wholeheartedly to His Logos Word, He will grant us revelation into the fullness of what He has for us. We must meditate on His Word. We will find that place of refuge, that place of peace, and will have a firm foundation - the very Rock of our salvation to stand on..."
Be encouraged as you read the message.
JoAnn McFatter: "Rallying the Troops For 2009"
Well, here we are...2009. Thought it would never get here! Most people I know had a very trying year in 2008 and it didn't take the prophets to make us all aware of that reality! One of the things I think we can walk away with from this past season is that we really need to hear the Word of the Lord ourselves to navigate through what He is bringing us into in this next season.
I'm not just referring to the Rhema Word, but the Logos as well, in equal doses. We need to be strong in spirit and in truth. A firm foundation in both is a must as we make the transition into the very courts of the Lord to call for restoration for what the enemy has tried to do.
"Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you." Zechariah 9:12
A Season of Restoration
Another thing that needs restoring is our joy. The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy - three things we are in desperate need of in this coming year. If we can operate in these three things we will stand as a light on a hill in the days to come! I believe it is part of the package of restoration that is coming.
"For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans 14:17
"Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit." Psalm 51:12
"So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you." Joel 2:25
As we embrace this season of restoration we need the wisdom to determine what was the "locusts eating off of us" and what was of the Lord's doing - a little "spirit/soul surgery." To make it even more of a challenge, sometimes it's BOTH! What is this about "...My great army which I sent among you"? You mean to tell me that God sent those locusts? The Hebrew words here are "piel preterite," meaning "which I sent."
PIEL: Generally indicates some shift in meaning, such as "to break" becomes "to shatter." PRETERITE: Generally indicates past of completed action, but they may also be translated as present or future actions which can somehow be thought of as complete.
It's hard to explain as we are dealing with spiritual-eternal concepts within the limits of our physical time-based reality. But what is basically being said is that He took drastic measures to shift and/or reposture us, by removing something from us, so that He might add something even greater to us. Is that perhaps the big SHIFT everyone was referring to this past year? That is what we have to hold onto as well, as we transition from the prison to the palace, so to speak. He is graciously bringing us to a keener place of discernment, aligning us with HIS wisdom and understanding.
Trust in His Word
"For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12
We could save ourselves a lot of pain if we really would dive into the Word of God and ask Him to blow on it with His Breath, His living Spirit, and bring us into the Truth of what He is saying to us. I believe if we will give ourselves wholeheartedly to His Logos Word, He will grant us revelation into the fullness of what He has for us. We must meditate on His Word. We will find that place of refuge, that place of peace, and will have a firm foundation - the very Rock of our salvation to stand on.
"Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119:105
Thank God for the sayings of Ecclesiastes that tell us there are times and seasons and they last for a bit and then change. For if that be true, and of course it is, then we sure have a good season to look forward to - because the past one has been pretty challenging to say the least! We look forward to the coming relief as we call on Him, not losing Hope and not letting up on Faith. We take a deep, deep breath, gird up our loins, and having done all - we stand. It's what we must do to do our part.
When the army went to battle and they sent the singers ahead with "the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever," I can imagine they took a deep breath, closed their eyes, and shouted at the top of their lungs, trembling with uncertainty as to what was about to happen. They moved in faith, putting their trust in His Word that was being released from their own mouths into the atmosphere - even doing their part to shift what was in the air up to that moment.
May we have the wisdom and courage to do the same, with heads held high in the hope of our calling as the manifest sons of God, who are about to do some serious damage to the enemy because of the One who lives in us - Christ in us, the hope of glory!
I want to encourage us with the words of a song that has come to me over and over in the last year:
The Battle Hymn of the Republic -by Julia W. Howe, 1861
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
"As ye deal with My condemners, so with you My grace shall deal";
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
JoAnn McFatter
WhiteDove Ministries
Email: contact@joannmcfatter.com
January 21-24, 2009
Awakened for Harvest
Church of Glad Tidings
1179 Eager Road, Live Oak, CA
Contact: 530-671-3160
or info@churchofgladtidings.com
February 12-14, 2009
Word of Life Church
Ft. Myers, FL
Contact: contact@joannmcfatter.com
February 19-21, 2009
Revelations of the Open Book - East Coast Conference
Cornerstone Fellowship
66 Waverley Drive, Suite 630, Frederick, MD
Contact: 301-631-0969
or office@cornerstonefellowship.net
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