Have you felt like you're in "uncharted territory" lately? If so then be comforted knowing...you are not alone!
Nate and Christy Johnston share a vision they recently had which sheds some light and brings clarity to the new season many of us have entered:
There is plenty more insight they have to offer about this new season...please read on and share with your friends! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
Not long ago, I had a vision of hundreds of people on the shores of a new and unknown land, standing unsure and scared of what lay before them. They had no guide, no map, and no plan, and there was a sense of panic and and overwhelming fear. Right now, many people can relate to these feelings in this season. They are feeling a strange sense of purpose and destiny unfolding but at the same time fighting the feeling of concern after being suddenly directionless and lost.
Have You Felt the Tug?
As I watched this scene play out, a vivid thought came to me, almost as if I was sensing what these people were thinking: "This feels like starting all over again."
For too many of us, this is quite true – in a sense. It can seem as though, right we get comfortable and put our roots down into a certain methodology and wineskin, God begins to tear us away from it and invites us into something brand new, again. It can feel like constantly pioneering over and over. Right now, the past seasons of pioneering are done and God is inviting you into pioneering something completely different and new.
Have you felt the tug? This means, for many, having to let go of the baby – that which you poured your heart and life into in the past season, and saying, "Yes" to starting fresh.
Adapt and Thrive or Resist and Dive
In the vision, I could see that behind the people there was a large ship, and surrounding it was cargo and bags floating around in the water. Some people were looking back in a frantic state of needing to embrace the familiar. (Photo via Unsplash)
You know when you have outgrown your environment and surroundings in a season and it's time to move on when you can be doing what you have always done, and it just doesn't seem to work anymore. Right now, many of us are on the shores of new territory with a new assignment at our feet, if we choose to accept it. But if we succumb to the fear, we will forfeit what lays before us and never move from the beach into promise.
This is happening across the earth right now, and this uncomfortable realization is causing mixed reactions in Believers and leaders around the world. Some are trying to swim back to the ship to the wilderness season they were used to, while some are missing their old luggage and swimming out and clinging desperately to the past. But there are also many who are blindly embracing the new at all costs – at the cost of security, control, and even reputation.
The warning in this season is that if we don't let go of the old and embrace the new, we may just find ourselves and ministries, shipwrecked.
We have to follow the Spirit over our comfort; over what makes sense; over our own will and ideas. We have to adapt and yield to whatever the new season package looks like.
Like Learning a New Language
As I was talking to the Lord about the vision, something came out of my mouth that I've been thinking lately: "This season is like learning a new language!" And that's exactly what it feels like!
Imagine being a settler in a new language land. Not only do you have to learn the weather and climate of the new land—how to grow crops, find water, make a home and stay safe—you have to learn the language of the land! Right now you are learning to connect with God in ways you haven't before. You are learning to trust Him deeper and hear Him louder. It's so new and foreign and takes time to develop, but press in and soon you will begin to understand the new vocabulary of the season you are in.
Explorers, Pack Your Bags!
At the end of the vision I saw the people who were on the beach, charging forward up a sandy hill that stood before them, and to a place where they could survey the land. What met them was the most luscious land you could imagine, with valleys and fruit groves, creeks, and rivers. Probably just like what the Israelites saw when they first laid eyes on the Promised Land. At that point, the people weren't frustrated and confused anymore, just filled with hope and excitement for the future. (Photo via Unsplash)
Then the words hit my spirit: "Pack your bags, explorers!" and I sensed that many were about to be launched into this season with fresh fire in their eyes and passion to run the race, letting go of all the weariness of the long journey to the shore.
Will You Let Go?
"Will you follow Me into the unknown?" the Holy Spirit is asking. "Will you let go of what's in your hand for what's in Mine?" There is a new rhythm in His presence, a new grace to yield and see fruit for what you couldn't work for. It's a new way, a new mold, a new language, a new wineskin, and a fresh and rich new wine He is pouring out.
I prophesy that fear is not your companion of this transition, but the power and comfort of the Holy Spirit, and every time you surrender you are going to feel the weighty presence of God lead you deeper into the increase He has waiting for you! Your glorious, new future awaits!
"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." (Isaiah 43:19) (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
Nate and Christy Johnston
Everyday Revivalists
Email: everydayrevivalists@gmail.com
Website: www.everydayrevivalists.com
Nate Johnston is a revivalist and worshiper who has a heart to see sons and daughters unleashed into passionate friendship with God and an effective, supernatural lifestyle. Through his ministry, "Everyday Revivalists," he teaches on intimacy and hearing God's voice which was birthed from a hunger for authentic, real, and powerful relationship with Jesus. Christy Johnston was born and raised in Australia. After living the majority of her life plagued with insecurity and fear, she came to learn the power of her identity in Christ. She now lives with the mandate to breathe fresh hope and life into God's sons and daughters through her passion for writing, and uncovering the truths of living in grace and freedom through our identity in Christ. Nate and Christy currently live with their family on the Gold Coast in Australia.
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