As I was in worship recently, I felt the Spirit of God come upon me ferociously; it was like the response of Heaven intervening in the middle of what looked like the summit of many people's crisis and personal battles.
I was wondering who I was feeling this for, when I then saw a huge, multi-lane highway with many cars traveling upon it. I instantly knew these were the pioneers, the nomads and forerunners of this season who have stepped out of their comfort zone to follow God's leading.
A 3-Year Window
As I saw the cars, I felt like I was peering into a timeline where, for these pioneers, the call had intensified and become very real; the steps were costly, the risks tangible, and the movement forward into the unknown was life-changing.
A calendar appeared before me and I saw the long journeys many had embarked on, but I heard "3 years" and knew that these 3 years – from 2018 to now – were where the call had become very real, and the faith steps had become more like a series of faith jumps ever since.
What I sensed was that this 3-year period of time, for them, was like a pressure cooker, full of trial and error, giants in the land, testing and strength training, leaving them feeling no closer to the finish line than when they started.
These pioneers have lived a lifestyle of faith jumps during this time, without any respite or break from the journey of extreme risk. They have laid down everything for the Lord, and now in 2021, they have come to a place of tension; a place where they either feel broken and dashed, or they experience breakthrough. Many started out with wonder, excitement and adventure, but instead of supernatural outcomes and fulfillment, they have been experiencing delays, loss, hope deferred and closed doors.
Then I saw the months of March – July, and how in these months there was a boiling point that had been reached in the spirit, full of even further-increased hardship, stops signs and the overwhelming pressure to give up.
I Am Releasing Eyes of Faith to See!
Then I heard the Lord speak: "I AM GIVING EYES TO SEE! Do you see this season for what it really is? Can you look through the smoke and fog to see what is really unfolding? Do you see the door of hope or the door of death and finality? Do you see the tension and pain or the birthing that is happening?
"Right now I am releasing eyes of faith to see this moment the way I see it, so that those pursuing the uncommon promise do not lose hope!"
"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope." (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
In the Bottleneck of Breakthrough
The reality is we are in a moment of extreme tension right now between the hopelessness and hope deferred that the enemy is wanting us to buy into, and the fresh hope God is revealing. We are in between the tension of the battle that we see raging around us and the promise of God and it's fulfillment. We are in the place of extreme contention where the warfare seems to have increased because delivery is just around the corner!
This is the bottleneck of breakthrough. It's where everything you have been standing for and all the pieces of transition seem to converge into one moment of time. We are in that moment. Do you have your eyes fixed on the breakthrough or the pressure?
The Seed Dying & the Closure
The other tension of this moment for pioneers is that we are in the difficult process of "unless a seed falls to the ground and dies" (John 12:24), where many have been experiencing the pain of the death of what didn't come and what didn't work out. (Photo via Piqsels)
You have been experiencing the grief of what has felt like a death of dreams and promises, because they have been delayed and the waiting season has been crushing. It's felt like a season of burying and laying to rest personal promises and things that you never imagined you would have to say goodbye to. It's been a time of your heart having to reconcile areas of closure that you have been trying to hold on to and surrendering deep places of devastation to God that you have been soul-sick over.
But you have only seen the end, not the new beginning. You have only felt the pain of letting go of the difficult road and the not the glorious "revealing" that's about to take place. Now watch what begins to come up from the ground...from the place of death, from your place of painful grief and loss. Watch what God brings back to life. Watch what He does through your surrender.
This is not the end, pioneers, but a transfer checkpoint in the road where you must lay down the pain, the questions, the grief, the trauma, and the burdens you have been carrying. They must fall to the ground.
It's a "Four Winds Resurrection" Moment
Many have said in this season, "After everything I have done it still looks lost." But there is something coming that you can't orchestrate or even anticipate. You've done what you can do; now this is where you watch God do what only He can do. You tried everything to keep that old thing alive and breathe life into dry bones, but to no avail...now watch as the four winds of God blow upon your life, cleansing you, healing you, and resurrecting something brand new. You will realize that the death of the seed was needed so that new life could come forth. The burying of the old had to be done so that something new could emerge.
The Seed Multiplied & the Great Restoration
Then I heard the Lord say, "Now it's time to MULTIPLY!" and I realized that the seed dying was for the purpose of the harvest that had to come. The blessing God wanted to pour out was in the ending of what had limitations upon it. This is where you see what you faithfully stewarded suddenly multiply and increase right before you.
This is where you see what you surrendered turn into something you couldn't have imagined; where your small mustard seeds of faith to follow God's leading become sturdy trees in the nations. This is where what looks hopeless and lost and dead suddenly begins to blossom and bloom into something beyond what you could have ever envisioned.
You may not see it and you may not be able to see how but God is going to use what has come against you to multiply you. The words and accusations, judgment and slander are being shut down and buried, and in their place God is springing forth redemption and favor you can't even imagine.
"Will I not vindicate the road behind you?" says the Lord. "Will I not restore what the locust ate, what was robbed from you, and deal with injustice? For right now I am bringing restoration to your house!"
I hear for some that this is your "do over" season. Where the enemy said you failed and threw shame at you – you are going to be given a blank slate and a pen to write this new day with the Lord, clutter free, shame free and with hope for the future again.
It's an hour of consecration where the battle worn and weary, the ones who have been through Hellfire and storms, are running to the altar for fresh oil and for resurrection life to revive them from the long road they have walked, and to rescue them from the clutches of breakdown and death that the enemy prescribed to them.
No, this is not that day; this is not the end. This is your new beginning in Jesus name!
A "Hallmark of Faith" Moment
Then I heard the Lord say, "This is a hallmark of faith moment," but I didn't know what that meant. Through searching I discovered that a hallmark is a stamp marking and certifying something's genuine purity of properties. Many have been through a season of blind faith and obedience and God is stamping them with His hallmark. The hallmark is the branding of Heaven upon God's faithful who have been through the refiner's fire and through the valley of darkness. It's the mark of those who have navigated never-ending wildernesses, loss, isolation and persecution but have pressed on, despite only seeing the opposite of the promise they have believed for.
I believe this is a moment where all of Heaven is celebrating those who have continued to press through for their families, even though the journey has been rough and unforgiving, and it's a moment of graduation and transition from believing to seeing and from pursuing to beholding.
The Fullness of Faith – You Are Going to See It with Your Own Eyes!
Hebrews 11 is known as "The Hall of Faith" because it speaks of the heroes, the pioneers and the forerunners who have gone before us. They were the ones who moved, migrated and left all on a word from the Lord, and God calls them the heroes of faith.
"Faith motivated Abraham to obey God's call and leave the familiar to discover the territory he was destined to inherit from God. So he left with only a promise and without even knowing ahead of time where he was going, Abraham stepped out in faith. He lived by faith as an immigrant in his promised land as though it belonged to someone else. He journeyed through the land living in tents with Isaac and Jacob who were persuaded that they were also co-heirs of the same promise. His eyes of faith were set on the city with unshakable foundations, whose architect and builder is God Himself.
"Sarah's faith embraced God's miracle power to conceive even though she was barren and was past the age of childbearing, for the authority of her faith rested in the One who made the promise, and she tapped into His faithfulness." (Hebrews 11:8-11)
What has been stirred up in my spirit for the pioneers in this pinnacle moment is that you are about to SEE the fulfillment of the promise with your own eyes! People may have called you foolish and stupid for holding on beyond hope, but why do you hold on? Because God has deposited a rare quality in you, a stubborn faith that can't be moved, even in times when you wanted it to, and now you will see it established! (Photo via Unsplash)
Hebrews 11:40 says, "But now God has invited us to live in something better than what they had – faith's fullness! This is so that they could be brought to finished perfection alongside of us."
Migrating Pioneers, the Way Is Going to Appear!
I saw that the months of August – October were shifting months for the pioneers. There are held-up outcomes and decisions that will be released in this time, and pivotal, decision-making revelation and insight will come, which is necessary for knowing how to move and when to move. There will be the final release of delayed legalities and red tape that will be unlocked, and there will be loopholes and ways to move forward in areas that have looked shut.
The convergence of hardship and promise, simultaneously, is going to produce not only a new beginning and way forward, but a breakthrough that is going to be like a sonic boom, clearing the air and settling the road behind you.
These months will be very important shifting months for those who are still living up in the air and haven't known where to settle and to plant. Nomads and wanderers, buckle up just a little longer, because all your transition has not been in vain! This is the time that, for all your moving around and "back and forth," God is going to lead you to the land where you will be able to put down roots.
In the next few months, give Him the frustration of not belonging and the pain of feeling not grounded in this process, because you are being led to your nexus. This is the place where everything you have been stewarding will begin to unfold and be built.
The purpose of the warfare sent against you in this convergence moment is to cause you to shut down instead of pursuing the final stages of this grand adventure with God. But resist it! Keep moving forward! This is where migration begins to increase because God is moving you into position for the next phase of your journey. This is where God opens the way where it feels like there has been no way forward and no clarity and direction.
Even right now as you are reading this, I pray for maps to open in the spirit, and for you to see what your eyes have been too clouded to see. I pray that you would suddenly receive GPS navigation to this place God has been preparing for you.
Movements Multiplying & Next Level Vision Plans
In the months to come, God is going to stir you in a way you haven't felt in years. It will feel like a river is beginning to swell, breaking the banks of your heart, and you won't be able to contain it. It will be like a fresh, mighty wave building on the inside of you that you cannot hold back or hide. It's the wave of the Spirit of God that He gave you to run with at the beginning of this journey...once just a tiny swell, now, through agitation and the process, it has become a formidable force for the Kingdom.
It's your movement...it may be small and insignificant at first, but it's building and something has shifted in the battle. Your movement has multiplied too and soon you will see it impact the earth publicly and globally and go beyond what you could have imagined.
Your raw faith steps have produced this. Following Jesus has created this. You said "yes" and He poured out the bowls of Heaven upon it, and now you will see what has looked hidden and foolish to the world become a mighty giant for the Kingdom of Heaven. Your movement is about to MULTIPLY. Even now God us downloading new plans and fresh vision for it, and establishing connections and pathways you couldn't have orchestrated. Soon it is going to burst over the banks, because God knows He can trust you with it, and you'll need to know what to do with it.
Like a puzzle God is using you as a major player and piece for this time of history and for the harvest at hand. Soon you and others will see the full picture and measure of what this looks like.
You once moved with it obediently but you are about to move with it strategically. You once saw it as an overflow of your worship but soon you will see that your worship has created an apostolic movement that is going to impact nations.
Get ready for fresh downloads and visions that will confront the outdated methods and start to expire old ways you've been operating in. God is giving you the building plans to the next 5 years and the vision that will require another huge jump of faith to step into it. It's already in you and God has already cleared the way.
Pioneers, this is what you were born for. You aren't alone. Keep trekking forward because your life will be a sign and a wonder of God's goodness to all who see it!
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Nate Johnston
Everyday Revivalists
Email:Â everydayrevivalists@gmail.com
Website:Â nateandchristy.co
Nate Johnston is a prophetic voice 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 school "Everyday Revivalists," he leads people from the basics of the Gospel through to being sent and released into their mission field, as well as championing and raising up emerging prophetic voices around the world. His burning cry and desire is to see the Body of Christ become a beacon for the lost by raising up a generation that walks in the love and power of God, representing Him well. Nate and his wife Christy have three daughters, Charlotte, Sophie, and Ava and live in Redding California.
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Nate and Christy Johnston are some of our readers' most favorite prophetic voices...they have so much wisdom to offer to the Body at large.
