The Rude Awakening

If you have been following along with these posts for the last few years, you will have noticed that I have communicated often referring to the 10year period we are walking out. Currently 2022 being in year 3 of a 3year grace period of time, where God is inviting and urging us to awaken and shift with Him dramatically, both personally and corporately. The door on that grace period is quickly closing. And I have previously referred to what follows as quite a rude awakening, particularly more so for those who have not prepared themselves with the Lord and hung on for dear life to the old ways over these past 3years. Until recently I had only a glimpse of what to expect and that it would be tough. Honestly, I think I didn't want to look too closely because a sweeter word would have been much more desirable for us all. However, if there has been any soundtrack in my spirit that the Lord plays on repeat these past years, it has been to help prepare His bride. To look more like her Christ, and to awaken and walk out this season well. In this case, a season that will circumstantially be one tougher corporately than most of us have ever experienced. But not without a greater glorious redemptive purpose of God woven throughout. I think we mostly all, as the church, expected an awakening like rainbow sprinkles falling from the sky. I'm exaggerating of course, but that's to say I think we expected the Lord to suddenly drop everything we ever desired into our laps without having to do much but wait until He felt like it. We put more stake in an awakening of the bride that oriented around blessed outcomes than our hearts would let us honestly acknowledge. The Lord said we had built ministries as altars for the fire of the Lord to fall upon as a stage for the next great awakening. But the Lord did not want us to be able to boast in anyone other than Himself. We had not considered that this time an awakened remnant would be produced through trail. These next 5-7 years of this decade will be incredibly refining and defining. I say 5-7 because I believe there are turning points in those last few years that will be significant before the completed turning of the season.

Recently my apostle friend and I were having one of our processing and sharpening chats with one another. While my friend was sharing something he had noticed in another nation years back, it struck me as Holy Spirit reminded me I have heard something very similar before in scripture and to go find it. It was in Judges 6, the contents of His word then opened up to reveal the coming years of the Lord. You will be familiar with it, it is the accounts of God redeeming Israel from themselves (His way), Gideon and the 300. We tend to focus on God calling Gideon and the might of the Lord to deliver them from their oppression. But we overlook how they found themselves oppressed in the first place. Judges 5:31 says "And the land was at rest for forty years". For forty years Israel experienced rest after the defeat of Sisera, but their prosperity and complacency led them to do "evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave (some versions say delivered) them into the hand of Midian for seven years" (Judges 6:1). The evil that Israel was guilty of is found in Judges 6:10 "and I said to you, "I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live." But you have not listened to and obeyed My voice.' " Their forty years of rest had led to the emerging of the next generation, they had feared or revered the idols of the Amorites before their God, and they had not listened and obeyed the Lord. The Lord is alwa