Prepare, (Re-)Position, Let Go

We are preparing for our church weekend away next week. It’s a wonderful time for us as a church family to come together for fellowship with the Lord and each other. To take time to be intentional and hear what the Lord is saying to us as a church family.

We are blessed to have Steve and Esther Uppal with us to share with us their journey – Re-thinking Kingdom Discipleship & Church. Their church fellowship has been through a time of change – realising there had been a focus on converting people to Jesus rather than making disciples of Jesus and going out missionally as the Lord Jesus commanded.

I have been reminded whilst reading their book “Revival Ready” of something the Lord laid on my heart some years ago about preparing, re-positioning and letting go. Below, is a re-post of that initial 2018 post.

As I have been praying recently with my prayer partners there has been a great sense of God speaking again about His Fire and Oil being poured out on believers in an incredible way.  

A mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit to come suddenly and deluge us just as the rain came in the day of Elijah following years of drought.  

The fire first and then rain with a river of His Presence, Power & Glory.   

This will see many people being brought into the Kingdom as the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached with power.

I sense in my spirit that the Lord is saying Prepare and Position yourself ready to give and receive.    

The Lord gave me this word “Hitch up your garments and take up your position ready“.      

I believe preparation and positioning are keys for this season.   

In each of our lives we can prepare and position ourselves ready to give and receive as the Lord shows each one of us by His Holy Spirit and as we are led by His Spirit.

Each of us has been given through the Holy Spirit as He wills, different gifts, callings and ministries and resources to use in the body of Christ, to build up and equip and for the work of the gospel.

If we have put these down or neglected them then perhaps now is the time to change. To put our hands back to the plough.

I pray God will show each and every one of us what we need to do to prepare. 

I believe that for some people God is saying that you have to let go of the old in order to receive the new.  

If you are holding on to something from the past then perhaps it is time to let it go in order that you can receive the new thing God wants to do in and through you.

I am reminded of people of faith in the bible who prepared;

Joseph prepared provisions for a severe famine;

Esther prepared a whole year for a night with the King;

the Jews prepared themselves with weapons to defend themselves against Haman’s plot to destroy them;

the widow in the time of Elisha prepared jars ready to receive the miraculous provision of oil which only stopped when all the jars were used;

At the wedding feast the jars were filled with water ready for Jesus’ miracle.   

Jesus gives us the example of the virgins who were prepared for the bride groom’s return with sufficient oil in their lamps.  

In times of difficulty God will use his people to be His voice and to help those who are in need.

In Isaiah 54 v 2 the word is “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes“.    

This was a word on preparation.  

The barren woman in this verse did not need room in her tent as she had no children but God was promising that the desolate would have children and to get ready to receive them.    

You may feel barren at the moment and your ministry may look barren but believe in faith that God is going to bring in a harvest and birth something new. 

There are green shoots breaking through.      

Let us make room to receive the harvest and put in place the necessary support systems so that the stakes are well and truly strengthened.     

Let us mend the nets ready to receive the fish.

Some of us may need to re-position ourselves in this season.   

Are we in the right place to receive or prepare for what God wants to do through us?  

If you are in doubt then ask God to show you.  

It may take boldness and a step of faith on your part to move out of a place of comfort – out of the comfort zone and into the new place or ministry that God has for you.   

Where does God want to position you for His glory to work through you.     

It might be time to move out.

The instruction to “Hitch up my garments” reminded me of Elijah.     

In the time of drought Elijah first heard the rain in the Spirit.  

Before the rain even came he said to the King to go up and eat and drink “for there is the sound of an abundance of rain”.    

Elijah sent his servant to keep looking for the cloud and eventually on the 7th time of looking there was a small cloud.    

Elijah saw the sign and knew that the rain he had heard in the Spirit was on its way.    

He prepared himself by hitching up his garments in order that he was prepared to run ahead of the rain and presumably the dangerous floods due to the dry and hard ground.   

Elijah managed to outrun the chariot of the King over a great distance of about 25 miles.   

The people of God will do great and mighty things in these times.  

Elijah did something which was not possible in the natural.  He outran a chariot and over such a distance – God enabled it miraculously.

As the people of God, I believe this is a season to prepare ourselves and position ourselves ready to give and receive.  

May God be gracious to us and use us for His glory.  

Lord show us how to prepare and how to position ourselves so that we are ready for you. 

Ready to go, Ready to run.

Amen blessings in Jesus