Dear People Who Keep Company with God,
For almost 18 months we have enjoyed a refreshing and renewing move of the Holy Spirit in our church, however, recently I began to sense and feel uneasiness in my heart. I felt like we were missing something. If you study revivals you will discover one of the reason revivals prematurely come to an end is the Holy Spirit began to shift His emphasis and the leadership did not catch it and adjust to what the He intended to do. Bill Johnson addressed this when he said, “the moment we become experts is the moment the move of God stops with us”. Several years ago Don Potter wrote an article on worship leading in the church and he clarifies what Bill was saying.
“When we come together in the church, it would be nice if everything we tried to do worked – if when we prayed for the sick, they would all get healed, or when we cast out demons, everyone would get free. But that’s not what happens. Some get healed and some don’t. Some are set free from demonic strongholds and some are not. We want the instant gratification of looking good in meetings, but when that fails to happen consistently, we look for something that is more predictable and dependable to lean on. That is where the whole idea of performing gets its hold. I don’t want to look foolish in front of others, and will do whatever is necessary to prevent that. Professionals often are those who know the limit of their abilities and stay within in their limits so as not to expose their weaknesses. The Holy Spirit is not interested in making us into professionals.” Don Potter.
Someone recently came to me asking for help to get back into the flow of the Holy Spirit. They said, “I did not do anything to get in the flow in the first place so I do not understand why it is not working now”. The truth is they really did do something when He first began to move, they humbled themselves to what He was doing. When the Lord first began to move I had to consciously bow to what He was doing. At first this made me feel very uncomfortable and I had to make a conscious decision to not allow those feelings to keep me out of the river. After a few months I became accustomed to this and it was no longer an issue of bowing. I became comfortable with what the Holy Spirit was doing and was very eager to facilitate His activity. From this experience I have learned a great lesson; one of the reasons the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter is because His ways make us uncomfortable when He begins to do something new.
One day as I talked with Becky about the sense of uneasiness I was feeling, she said, “Byron you are at the front of the ship, you need to lead the way in doing something about this, you are at the bow”. Those words sunk deep into my heart as I knew I had begun to protect myself and avoid situations that were uncomfortable and would expose my weakness. The front of a ship is called a bow. I knew the Lord was telling me it was time to humble myself and be willing to be vulnerable and uncomfortable again so I could catch what He intended to do now.
When Israel crossed Jordan into the Promised Land a new season was launched as God was giving them possession and stewardship of their heavenly inheritance. A new type of leadership would be required. Joshua had been trained by Moses in the wilderness and had spent countless hours in the Tent of Meetings in the Lord’s manifest presence (Exodus 33:11), but Israel was no longer in the wilderness. What worked in the wilderness does not necessarily work in the Promised Land.
Joshua 5:13-15 13 Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” 14 He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” 15 The captain of the LORD’S host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
I believe the Lord has brought our church into a new place spiritually and is beginning to release to us possession and stewardship of a heavenly inheritance and atmosphere. We must humble ourselves and be uncomfortable for a time to learn how work with the Holy Spirit in a new way if we are to truly steward all He has for us. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared to Joshua as the Captain of the Lord’s army. Joshua had never seen the Lord like this and his response was to fall on His face and bow to receive His word. I believe the Holy Spirit desires to give us a revelation of Jesus Christ as Lord and savior like we have never seen; this revelation will radically transform our lives. We will become true witnesses of Him and walk in a holiness and power reserved for us in this hour. God is pleased to do this.
Many Blessings, BW