Sara Whitten: "How Areas of Soaking Become Weapons"

"How Areas of Soaking Become Weapons"

Sara Whitten, Kerrville, TX

The Dry Valley Will Be Filled with Pools of Water

On a recent morning, the Lord brought me to 2 Kings 3. As I started in the middle of the fifteenth verse, the Lord began to open up a picture of what He's doing now. 2 Kings 3:15-26 reads:

"...While the harp was being played, the power of the LORD came upon Elisha, and he said, 'This is what the LORD says: This dry valley will be filled with pools of water! You will see neither wind nor rain, says the LORD, but this valley will be filled with water. You will have plenty for yourselves and your cattle and other animals. But this is only a simple thing for the LORD, for He will make you victorious over the army of Moab! You will conquer the best of their towns, even the fortified ones. You will cut down all their good trees, stop up all their springs, and ruin all their good land with stones.'

"The next day at about the time when the morning sacrifice was offered, water suddenly appeared! It was flowing from the direction of Edom, and soon there was water everywhere.

"Meanwhile, when the people of Moab heard about the three armies marching against them, they mobilized every man who was old enough to strap on a sword, and they stationed themselves along their border. But when they got up the next morning, the sun was shining across the water, making it appear red to the Moabites—like blood. 'It's blood!' the Moabites exclaimed. 'The three armies must have attacked and killed each other! Let's go, men of Moab, and collect the plunder!'

"But when the Moabites arrived at the Israelite camp, the army of Israel rushed out and attacked them until they turned and ran. The army of Israel chased them into the land of Moab, destroying everything as they went. They destroyed the towns, covered their good land with stones, stopped up all the springs, and cut down all the good trees. Finally, only Kir-hareseth and its stone walls were left, but men with slings surrounded and attacked it. (Photo via Unsplash)

"When the king of Moab saw that he was losing the battle, he led 700 of his swordsmen in a desperate attempt to break through the enemy lines near the king of Edom, but they failed."

Your Dry Valley Will Be Filled

Collectively, places in culture and current events that have been "dried up," lifeless, progress-less, not yielding fruit, or emptied of God are becoming places that are overflowing with His presence. The least likely areas that are spiritual "Saharas" will begin showing signs of the presence of God.

On an individual level, that dry valley you've been facing is about to become your very place of refreshing. Just like the Valley of Dry Bones, nothing is too hard for the Lord. Instead of withdrawing from those hard places, He is calling us to focus our faith on His goodness prevailing in them. Soak in those places. Worship in those places! Where there was once no living water, there will be pools of soaking in His presence.

Not by Wind and Rain

In this passage, the Lord specifically said that He would fill these places "neither wind nor rain." In other words, the source won't make sense. You also won't see or feel it coming. When the Lord speaks something to us, our natural response is to imagine the ways He could make it happen or to look in the natural for the slightest signs of a breakthrough. In the natural, we can see clouds or wind in weather forecasts and know what to expect, but now the Lord is spiritually saturating us in a way we wouldn't expect, for the sole purpose of letting us know that it is 100 percent by His power. It won't be by your effort. What's more, it won't even come by "storm." Sometimes we expect to see God's power the greatest in the toughest storms, so we board up our spiritual windows and prepare for the worst. In this passage that isn't so. He merely shares with us to expect this, and then does it in a way that is not natural, usual, loud, strenuous or predictable.

Soaking Scares the Enemy

In this passage, the enemy saw the areas that the Lord had soaked, and that the water had the appearance of blood. It scared them off before they even attacked! The way the Lord is moving in dry areas is going to cause the Blood of Jesus to appear all over our lives and culture—so much so that it will scare the enemy!

Your dry places—those places that have been footholds in the past for the enemy—will now become your weapon against him as they become saturated by the Lord. Just as the blood in this Old Testament passage was prophetic of what Jesus would one day do, the areas of soaking are now going to become prophetic areas. They will become both a testimony of what the Lord has done and a prophecy of what He will do again.

Ruin the Enemy's Plantings

This passage comes with a directive for us. We must be about preparing the land in such a way that all that has been used by the enemy will be cut off. "Cut down all their good trees," "stone up their springs," "ruin their good land with stones"—these directives carry images with them. We recently had to uproot a small tree that was growing too close to our oak tree. The bigger it got, the more it was going to tap into the resources the oak needed. What area in your life is the enemy leeching resources from (time, energy, money, creativity, etc.) that should be used to grow what God has planted?

Once, at a friend's ranch, we had to stone up an old creek. It was running over the road, but by stoning it up, it made a place where you could swim. Stoning up a creek redirects its flow. There are places where the Lord is redirecting you—not to cut you off, but to stone up places where good water is "leaking off" and watering what God isn't growing in your life. (Photo via Unsplash)

When we moved into our house, the yard had been xeriscaped completely with rocks. Getting the rocks out took us the better part of a year, but we couldn't grow grass until it was done. Placing stones in the "soil" of the enemy has a way of preventing him from growing things too. Stones, biblically, are monuments to what God has done. They are testimonies of what He's brought us through, what He's brought those before us through, and what He's brought those around us through. Any time the enemy tries to plant a lie, put a testimony stone there. It stunts the growth instantly.

Don't Fear the Last Ditch Effort

The passage ends with a last "desperate attempt" by the enemy. Doesn't that happen to us? We are finally making progress when here comes a last-ditch effort from the enemy to derail us. It's often loud, exaggerated, out of nowhere and very stressful. But if we rise above it in peace and see it for what it is, then we know from this word that it will come to nothing. It will fail. Don't pay any attention to it. Instead, enjoy the abundance that the Lord is creating in the places where you least expect it. Shift your focus to soaking and watch what He will do!

Whatever you do, don't miss another ELIJAH LIST email! Subscribe at this link: elijahlist.com/subscribe.

Sara Whitten
Arrows of Zion
Email: sara@arrowsofzion.com
Website: www.arrowsofzion.com

Sara Whitten is an author, speaker, equipper, and founder of Arrows of Zion Ministry. She and her husband are pastors for the youth at Impact Christian Fellowship in Kerrville, Texas. Sara is a prophetic writer that has been featured on The Elijah List, Spirit Fuel, Charisma and more. She hosts "Hear God Everyday" on Charisma Podcast Network, a podcast with tools to help amplify the voice of God amidst the noise of everyday life. Sara also co-founded One Spark International, an organization that sponsors Bible-based training and education in unreached and restricted nations in order to see the gospel reach all people groups. She is also an active part of groups that train and invest in professionals wanting to use their business and marketplace skills to transform unreached nations for the Kingdom.

Find us on:
 * Facebook click here
 * XAPiT click here

PLEASE FORWARD to all your friends! Permission granted (and you are also encouraged) to reprint these articles in hard copy form, as well as sending them to your own email lists and posting them on your own websites. We ask only that you keep Elijah List website, email contact info, and author contact information intact.

Elijah List Publications
525 2nd Ave SW Suite 629
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250