Revelation 4:1-5 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
The Spirit invites us to come up higher and and see things from the Lord's perspective. Often when we are in the thick of a pandemic, challenge, loss, or heartache there is a measure of spiritual and emotional warfare involved. The battle rages against our faith in the promises of God, especially when what we thought we heard from God but it was only our own wishful thinking. We can become weary, worried and wavering in our faith. We are living in days of intense warfare. The definition of warfare is a vicious, unrelenting conflict. Just turn on the news you will find endless drama and trauma. We cannot fight the good fight of faith when we are exhausted. It is imperative, critical and commanded that we come away so we can come up higher and see with heavenly perspective. Song of Solomon 2:10 My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away. Many years ago, at a time when I felt completely drained from ministry, the drama of peoples lives. I attended a prophetic conference hoping to hear a word of encouragement. I got more than I bargained for. The word of the Lord was, "Daughter, if you do not learn to come away and rest in Me, I will pass you by for what I have planned for you." At first I was horrified that He would pass me by. But then the Scripture brought understanding. Hebrews 4:1-3 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:“So I swore in My wrath,‘They shall not enter My rest,”although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. It was then the Lord revealed to me that I did not trust Him to take of His business, His church, His people if I set time aside to rest and seek Him. I chose to obey and honor the Lord of the Sabbath by setting aside time to rest on the Sabbath and to set apart one month the first of the year as a sabbatical. When I first started the month sabbatical I was warned that if the pastor is not present it may effect attendance at the church. To that my response was, "Well then they must be coming to church to hear from the pastor, not to hear from the Lord." A sabbatical has been my practice now for over 14 years. Since doing so I can say, The Lord has blessed me with great joy and strength to face every challenge I have encounter on the journey. Every seven days the Lord commands a rest for His people and every seven years a rest for the land. Leviticus 25:4-5 but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. When we honor the Lord with our obedience we demonstrate by faith that we are only co-laborers with Him, He is the One who gives us the fruit of our labor. When we learn to rest and trust Him we will not fear in famine, pestilence or pandemics we will trust in the Lord our God! 2019-2022 has only been a dress rehersal for the church for what is coming on the earth will be far more challenging than anything we have known up to this time. Now is the time to learn to rest, cease from striving, and trust in the Lord. Come away with Him and come up higher. Ask Him to show you things through the biblical lense of Scripture. Trust that the Lord is in your midst, He is strong and mighty in battle. Stand still and see the salvation of your God! We are praying for awakening in the land, but revival must first come to the church. Jeremiah 12:5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?
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AuthorMarlene Yeo: Archives
January 2023
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