As the Mist Clears, a New Day is Inevitable
One day last month, the Lord spoke into what the process of changing seasons would look like not just for me personally, but for the Church.
I woke up to the aroma of fresh hyacinth and to pink sunlight streaming through the windows. Yet when I got out of bed and got dressed to meet the day, there was nothing but early morning mist. Eventually, the mist burnt off as the sun rose higher and higher into the sky, revealing a new dawn.
The mist is temporary, but the new day is certain. The more Jesus lifts himself up and puts his glory on display, the more obvious it will be that his grace is over new methods, new styles of leadership, and new understandings of what it means to be the Church.
Rather than doubting what you’ve heard or seen, now is the time to hold fast, nestle up close to God, and get his perspective. We are crossing into a new epoch, and glimpses of eternal strategy are available for people who are willing to meet him in the high places.
Altered Perspective
Those people who choose to meet God in a higher place will inevitably come away more insulated during shaking and more clear about what battles they should and should not be fighting. This is still a time of refining and receiving, and as individual and collective perspectives shift, what we will be building late this year will look much different than the approach we might take now if we move too quickly.
There is still time to receive whatever you lack. In need of joy? Take delight in God. Not sure why those things didn’t work out? Ask him to show you how he positioned you to receive more and better. Unsure where you are meant to be relationally investing? Ask him to show you where to find your spiritual food and places of belonging. Aware that the clothes from a previous season no longer fit? Draw near and he will help change your garments.
There will be plenty of time for activity and movement later on. As for right now, I plan on just delighting in being with the Lord as he keeps sharing how some of these changes look from his point of view. It’s like standing in a high lookout place above the treeline. The peace that comes from dwelling in that place has the effect of grounding me in ways that I didn’t know I needed–like lashing down train tracks with iron bolts. I’m sure I will need this degree of deep stability later on as things start to move. In the meantime, it feels like being progressively well-insulated.
Ministry Developments
- Most High: God giving me glimpses of long-term strategy, epoch change, and how the pieces fit together for decades. Having my perspective on small things change as a result of seeing the bigger picture. Greater capacity to remain the head and not the tail, breakthroughs with logistical hurdles to change as a result of not being intimidated and resting in the Lord. Comprehensively greater yielded-ness and clarity.
- Most Deep: Working with Generations of the Nations to intercede over regions before we start building there later on. Investing in a region as a team building on layers of intercession month by month as the Lord leads.
- Most Joyful: Spending quality time with a local friend who has a similar calling to China, missions, and the education sector
- Most Loved: Moments where God is increasing the quality of my provision and doting on me. Being surrounded by amazing people and recently, better resources than I would have anticipated.
- Biggest Stretch: Finishing chapter 1 of my doctoral thesis! So many layers to synthesize. Doing it right and not too quickly! Excited to see the methodology come to life after I graduate and in the coming years.
- Most Mysterious: Retracing a history of mysticism and revival through France, Germany, and Scandinavia as God consolidates Europe to be sent
Worship
Music
Verses
- John 15-16
- The Ascension
- Psalm 101
Names of God
Each month, I give God a name that aligns with scripture and how he revealed himself to me that month. This month, I spent the majority of time knowing him as,
“God who Holds All Things Together”
Isaiah 41:17-20,
“The poor and needy search for water,
but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the Lord will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
19 I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together,
20 so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Isaiah 41:25-29
“I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes—
one from the rising sun who calls on my name.
He treads on rulers as if they were mortar,
as if he were a potter treading the clay.
26 Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know,
or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’?
No one told of this,
no one foretold it,
no one heard any words from you.
27 I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’
I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news.
28 I look but there is no one—
no one among the gods to give counsel,
no one to give answer when I ask them.
29 See, they are all false!
Their deeds amount to nothing;
their images are but wind and confusion.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
Hab 3:19
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
Media
Books
The Rhineland Mystics: Writings of Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and Jan Van Ruusbroec and Selections from the Theologia Germanica and the Book of Spiritual Poverty translated by Oliver Davies
As my Generations of the Nations group dives deeper into declaring what God is doing in Germany, I’m taking the time to understand more of the Rhineland’s history of mysticism. Though I studied Meister Eckhart and Jan Van Ruusbroec for seminary last summer, I was most impressed by the practical, clear teachings of Johannes Tauler. While it can be difficult to find good translations for his works, they are really something special. Here are a few of his quotes from the book!
Movies
Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1968)
Prayer Requests
- To remain focused on what God is doing eternally and within this epoch rather than fixating on lesser things
- Ease of logistics with the transitions I need to make this season, while still keeping my eyes on him
Age of the Unexpected 