Day 21 Fortitude
Jeremiah 12:5 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
Happy Twenty First Day of Thanks Everyone!
If you have been on the journey for the last week, you remember me mentioning how "wellness" is the theme the Lord gave my prayer community for 2023. Everyone in our core team seems to be quite excited about rolling out this theme in its many aspects. I am too. However, the more I go before God, I believe He is speaking clearly about how we may need to pump the brakes to ensure that our team is actually ready to facilitate wellness within our community.
The first night I was in prayer, the Lord told me to do something that He rarely has told me to do. He told me to go back to a message about how to open doors, teaching the community how to "knock" so that the door will open. We knock by praying. The Lord shared that prayer is going to be crucial in this coming season. People who claim Jesus as their Lord must pray fervently, persistently, and without ceasing to stand while many things in our lives and nation will be completely shaken.
The next day, as one of the core teams members began sharing details about the "wellness" theme for 2023, the Lord said to me "they are going to have to learn to really disciple the other community members as you have done for them." Hearing that concerned me. Discipleship requires so much time, consistency, and comes with a great deal of warfare that I'm not sure the entire core team is prepared to deal with doing real discipleship in this season. The core team has so many things on their plate, a discipleship component is a very weighty component to add. When I mentioned to the core team that they will have to facilitate discipleship, one member confirmed that God showed her the same thing but I know that she still doesn't understand the magnitude of what is being required of her.
During the third night of prayer, God sent me another message through a sermon that I watched. The title of the sermon was called "Contending with the Horses" and was a reality check. Jeremiah, also known as the weeping prophet, would warn the Israelites of the punishment coming for rejecting the Lord and worshipping idols. Jeremiah was so tired and fed up with warning the people and giving them the prophetic words God was speaking through him because the Israelites continued to ignore him. As Jeremiah was at his worse and ready to throw in the towel, God gave him the word in Jeremiah 12:5. The message of this scripture paraphrased is "how can you ask for more, if you can't even deal with what's going on at the level you are on?' The Lord brought me back to the wellness theme and was highlighting that our team wasn't exactly ready to contend "with the horses" and the bigger battles/trials/tribulations on the next level because they were barely dealing with the battles/trials/tribulations on this level.
Whoa!!!!! That was a huge reality check!
The following day, as one of our team members was hosting prayer, she mentioned how she was spent and didn't have anything to give but was present. She had been going through several life and family crises, which were trials on this level. After six a.m. prayer, as I was making a fresh batch of sorrel, the Lord told me to call her and tell her that she was to pray. She was not allowed to sulk or feel sorry for herself or throw in the towel. God told me to tell her that she had to put on her boxing gloves because she was in training, preparing to contend with the horses. I called her and gave her the message.
With attitude, she made it clear that she had taken the day off to have a moment. I told her that she was summoned to pray and that we needed to get started. We spent a few hours in prayer, worshipping the Lord. As she cried through prayer, I encouraged her to continue worshipping through her tears and the heartache. I told her that as a frontline soldier, there would be many days and nights of crying through prayer, while she was in deep travail. I also mentioned that some times the only words she would be able to manage to cry out is "Jesus help" or "Hallelujah." I encouraged her to lay all her burdens down in prayer. We prayed until the Breaker, broke through, and provided her strength and she was able to pray a Psalm.
Many of you who are reading this reflection are asking God to do more or give you more. But, God is asking this question of you, "Can you contend with the horses?" With the more you are requesting, there's more warfare and you don't deal well with the warfare occurring now. There's more required because as you have heard the phrase, "with every new level there is a new devil." Right now and in the new season coming, you will need to be equipped with the whole armor of God, covered in the blood of Jesus and hedged with prayer. Are you ready for that warfare? Can you contend with the horses? Or do you need to stay on the level you are and better equip/prepare yourself with a solid foundation to contend with the horses that are coming?
Today as we give thanks for fortitude, in honor of my friend, Bill Hill, whose birthday is today, I ask that you donate to the organization,top Soldier Suicide (https://stopsoldiersuicide.org/donate) and support soldiers/veterans who need help.
Love ya,
Have a Great Day of Thanks!
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