Aim for the mountain

God has laid on my heart through scripture since late last year (2006) and the beginning of this year continual words of shaking, fire and judgement – so much so that I reverted to using a ‘daily Bible reading’ guide for a while – but the Lord kept bringing me back to it.  What concerned me was the paradox in all scripture I have been led to in this period – the swing from being on Gods Mountain in safety, prayers being answered – with an abundance of blessing to the wrath and judgement of the Lord – this is very clear in Hebrews 12 and Isaiah 30 verses 27 to 30.

November – Hebrews 12:14 to 28

Mountain of Zion, Voice of God and shaking – so that what cannot be shaken may remain and worship of God acceptably – with reverence and awe.

January 2007 – Isaiah 30: 15 to 33

Initially confirmed the path of repentance, rest and quietness – that my strength & joy lay in this.  The reference to the land of plenty confirmed the move into my inheritance and the verses about the rain

January 2007 – evening of waiting on the Lord at my place

In prayer I was taken down a stair well – also with me were the members of the group as well – after a few turns going down this stair well I started to hear thundering water – it was almost deafening – we stood at he bottom of the stair well and the waters started to rise very slowly.

What shouted into my spirit on Saturday (and has been niggling at me since then is POSITIONING – its been such that I now just have to get it off my chest – I have a sense of urgency about it).

God has taken my thoughts back to the word about Hezekiah He gave me in the summer (2 Chronicles 29 to 31) – I summarise in point form from the notes I made at this time:

1. Open up the temple of God – I sense this is to open our hearts and minds to what God is going to do for believers (or the new church – as in the Bride of Christ)
2. Cleansing – cleaning out the dross from our lives – I keep getting the sense that we have to ‘wash the world’ off us.  We have to ensure that we are not like the world in any shape or form.
3. Consecration – accepting that the blood of Jesus has made us a royal priesthood and committing all we have back to God for His use – allowing Him into our lives in a new, sanctified way.
4. Sacrifice – ties in with consecration – giving to God all that we are and have.
5. Worship – getting back to the heart of worship – the word that God has emphasised in my heart is reverent worship – to start to acknowledge His sovereignty and His greatness.  To see Him, not just as our Father – but to look upon Him in AWE and WONDER as creator of hosts, healer, sanctifier. This worship to extend from the corporate worship into our private time with Him as well.

The results of Hezekiah’s reopening of the temple:

1.    Healing was released to the people and not just to the Israelites

2.    Blessings poured down upon them to such an extent that the entire community benefited from the return to worship. (verse 18 in chapter 31)  Everyone was included.

The verse that jumps out at me is verse 18 to 20 in chapter 30:  What comes to mind is that even though things were not done according to the ‘law’ – God still found it acceptable and healed the people – this speaks to me of Gods GRACE – that as long as we are committed to Him and worship Him – it is acceptable in His sight.  Apart from the grace of God upon the people – the celebration extended into extra time thus it became more than was expected.

This gives me the sense that its OK to do things differently as long as we underpin everything in Christ Jesus and the biblical precepts that are laid out for us as the road map.

The other key message I have received from the Lord also ties in with the word in Joshua about living and remaining in the promised land – the elements are quite simple:

• Tithe
• Keeping the Sabbath holy (for me this is to be a day of rest and relaxation with no economic activity), and
• Refrain from worshipping the ‘other’ gods in the land

In conclusion – I sense that we will experience some sort of physical manifestation of Gods judgement, but I believe it will be in such a way that the world will see the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in a way that they will turn to Him – the key for us as believers is that we are to ensure that we are POSITIONED correctly to be able to withstand the ‘shaking’ and ‘fire’ – we have to aim for the top of the mountain so that we are ready to minister to the harvest that is being prepared.