From the desk of Steve Shultz:
Have you found yourself cleaning up more than usual around your house or your work areas recently? Or have you discovered that some old relationships have been repaired in one way or another – almost out of nowhere, the situations in your life changed such that relationships began to be repaired?
And has your spiritual walk, however subtle, began to have the glimmers of change, of something new coming – even if no one else has observed it yet?
You are likely then, along with millions of other Believers, in a time of transition where you are unknowingly being prepared (and preparing yourself) for the birth of many long awaited promises of God. Natural, physical, spiritual, and even relational cleanings, are all signs that God is preparing to bring you very soon – into something brand new in the Christian walk!
For more on this phenomenon that you are experiencing, read Joy Parrott's full word below.
Enjoy,
Steve
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Joy Parrott:
Prepare Your Surroundings - Now Is the Time for the Promises of God to Come Forth!
A Passage Way to the Next Thing
Deep in my spirit I have known that we have been in a season of transition. Transition is a passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another, i.e.; change! Many of us are being uprooted from what we have known and are being relocated. For some it is a physical relocation and for others it is a spiritual or emotional one. It may be a period of time where you are just waiting to see what God is going to do.
In the past seasons we seemed to have been given a road map to our destination but now it is as if our GPS is only allowing us to know one step or turn at a time! It's like trying to drive through thick fog. You must slow down and sometimes just creep along hoping you see the stop sign or the street you are to turn onto. I prefer the clear and sunny days with my road map out and highlighted so I know ahead of time where I am going! But this is not the way God has chosen for us in this season!
Think of transition as a passage way to the next thing! In childbirth, there is a time during labor that they call the transition time. This is when the baby is in the passage way of the birth canal. It is during this stage that the pain of childbirth and labor is increased. The birth pangs are more intense and come with acceleration! Yet once that baby is born we experience no greater joy than to hold that little bundle in our arms which we have carried within our belly for so many months.
Now Is the Time and Season for Your Promise to Come Forth!
This past season, many of us experienced a long and difficult journey. We were in the midst of very intense circumstances. From every direction we may have been hit. Whether it was in our health, our families, our finances, our relationships, our ministries or all of the above! Disappointments and depression became a familiar feeling to many of us as we suffered the intense heat of our situations. However, it was during this time whether we were aware or not that God visited us!
In Genesis 18 verse 1 it says, "Now the Lord appeared to him (Abraham) by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day."
If you are familiar with this chapter you will go on to read that it was during this time, during this heat of the day, that God visited Abraham and released the promise to him. In verse 10 it goes on to say, "He said, 'I will surely return to you at this time next year and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son."
Abraham had a promise from God that he would have an heir from his own household (Genesis 15:1-4). Many years had passed and when the promise looked like it wasn't going to happen, Sarah and Abraham took it into their own hands to fulfill the promise that God had given them by using Hagar to become a surrogate for their heir. His name was Ishmael (Genesis Chapter 16).
Later in Scripture we see that God tells Abraham that Ishmael is not the intended promise but that the heir would come from Sarah's womb (Genesis 17:15-16). Sarah had been barren all these years and Abraham was 86 years old when he became a father through Hagar for the first time. It would be another 13 years before the intended promise was fulfilled!
Yet in the midst of the heat of Abraham's situations God shows up and says now is the time and season for your promise to come forth! When all seemed dead to him and Sarah, God shows up! Now was the time when the seed of his promise was finally fertile!
Friends, during our most difficult times, during the heat of our day, God came and the seed of our promise was fertilized! Otherwise known as "Pregnancy"! I believe that we are pregnant with the promise of what God had spoken to our hearts so many years ago. But not only are we pregnant, we are nearing the end of the pregnancy and some are already in labor to bring the promise forth!
Preparing the Surroundings for Our Promises
Prior to when labor starts, many women can feel that the time is near and they begin to do what is called "nesting". During the weeks preceding labor, the woman begins to clean and prepare the surroundings for the new baby! I remember this stage very well! I would begin to scrub and sanitize the areas of the house better than a normal cleaning. I wanted my child to come home to sterile surroundings so that there would not be risk of infection. I would also make sure that I had what was needed to care for the baby, i.e.; receiving blankets, diapers, clothes, etc!
Spiritually speaking, I believe that God is nudging us to begin nesting by cleaning up, sterilizing and preparing the 
surroundings for our promise. Just as I didn't want any virus or unsterile condition to threaten the health my child, God doesn't want anything to come in the way of the promises He has given! Spiritually this may mean taking a closer look at your character and how you use your words. Do your words and character bring forth life or death? What kind of environment will you be bringing your promise into?
Sterilization deprives the infectious area the power of reproducing. When we give birth in a hospital, they have taken many measures to be sure of a sterile condition. We must press in to hear from the Lord as to the areas of our life that may need the sterilization, hereby cutting off the power to reproduce that which could cause death or harm to us or the intended promise. Expect this season to be one of a cleansing of our house so to speak!
Friends we are in the transition time of labor! Let us prepare ourselves for the promises! Hang in there as the labor intensifies knowing that your promise is about to be birthed! Birthing is also a bit messy, but if we prepare now to sterilize our surroundings, child birth will be an easy clean up and we will enjoy the pleasure and joy of holding that bundle of promise in our arms!
Joy Parrott
Joy Parrot Ministries
Email: joyparrott@hotmail.com
Website: joyparrott.com
Joy Parrott is a dynamic conference speaker, minister, and encourager. She is the author of the best-selling books, Parables in the Night Season: Understanding Your Dreams and Watchman, Watchman, What of the Night? She has been called a modern day "Joy-seph" and has an anointing to impart dreams and interpretations. She is also gifted in healing, words of knowledge and prophecy. Joy has traveled both nationally and internationally, releasing the healing power and manifested presence of God. Her heart's cry is, "Show Me Your Glory." She has a passion to see every person rise up into their true calling and royal destiny in the Kingdom of God.
