In the Waiting

If you've been seeing the number 8 more often than usual (not to mention this year is 2018 or 5778), many of you may already know this is a BEGINNING that comes at the end of the old era we are exiting in the spirit. I have been seeing infinity symbols everywhere (you know, the ones that look like an 8 flipped on its side). The things that are BEGINNING this year are shifting things ETERNALLY. They are things that will not only change the rest of your life but have ripples out into eternity. It's arguable that every year changes eternity, but I believe there is a special anointing on this year that is beginning new things that are going to be BUILT TO LAST. Others of you, like me, may be finding screws or bolts in random places. These tools in the natural are used to FIX or JOIN things and can be both tightened and loosened. Just like those "eternal changes" the Lord has been speaking about, this year is going to be a time of loosening old things and joining new things together. We are under construction! "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19 Many of us find ourselves now in process, WAITING as things are taken down or built up and as we are prepared. There is discouragement or hopelessness for some during this waiting that the Lord wants to speak to. If this is you, receive these encouraging words. I cannot count how many hundreds of times I have read the Exodus story of Moses and Pharoah. For the first time, however, this read through I realized something. When God first calls Moses, He tells him: “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”... And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”... "The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭3:10, 12, 18-22‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Albeit reluctantly, Moses obeys only to have Pharoah increase the peoples' oppression and have all of his people mad at him. Moses MUST have thought "God this is not the ending you promised". He goes back to God saying what most of us can relate to: “Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭5:22-23‬ ‭NIV‬‬ God's response is merely to repeat the PROMISES. He doesn't explain why. He doesn't give Moses a heads up about how many obstacles there will be or how long it will take. He just keeps speaking His promises. When Pharoah agrees (in order to halt the plagues) to let the Israelites go worship, I wonder if Moses thought "Is this it? You promised freedom and plunder and all we get is a short time off. Pharoah even told us not to go far.". Then Pharoah goes back on his word completely! Total disappointment. Unlike our own story, we know how Moses's Exodus ends. MIRACULOUSLY. And JUST AS GOD PROMISED. Not a lesser version. The full promise just as He said. It just took the whole process. Many are in a place of repeated setback. Many have received blessings but not quite the fullness of what God promised and are wondering, "Was this it? Was this all God promised?". My friends, fix your eyes on the promises, not the process. Take hope! This morning as I spent time with the Lord, God brought to mind the image of the healing of the blind man with spit and mud. "After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 'Go,' he told him, 'wash in the Pool of Siloam' (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing." John 9:6-7 Again, to Scripture's detail only instructions were given...not what would happen. I wonder if that man thought "Great. This is just a mess. Not only am I still blind, but I have spit and mud on my eyes". Some of you reading feel like, "God, this is such a mess! How is there healing in this?". There is healing in the mess. There is method to His madness. Follow His instructions rather than questioning why. There is clarity, healing, and miracles in that obedience! Though it may be an unknown wait, though the process may be long or messy or unclear, this is a BIG BEGINNING under construction. Hold to the promises, stay obedient, and don't believe the lie that God won't come through for you or that He will deliver less than what He promised! "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." Matthew 25:13