Invitation to a Romantic Meal

I received this word last week, and waited before posting because I didn’t want it to be harsh. But I have since felt a clear conviction that I mustn’t delay further to release it, so here it is – please pray and ask God what He wants to say to you through it…

A month or so ago (I haven’t been able to find it in my journal) I felt that there was a new temptation arising – that we had been in a season where the primary temptation coming against the Church was one of religion. Many prophets had shared the same thing: calling the Church to leave the old wineskin, forget the former things of religious structure, and embrace the call to pioneer into God’s New life.
Most of us heard that – some embraced it.
And now the new temptation that I have seen arising is not as obvious as religion… it’s deception. I believe there is a new, more subtle wave of temptation coming that will make even Spirit-filled believers complacent, believing they have rejected empty religion, so they are OK. But the enemy is a master deceiver, we cannot afford to be complacent. He knows how to use the appearance of good to disguise that which destroys.

For example, the gatherings of Christians (largely but not exclusively charismatic) who have earnestly embraced the call to the New. It is vital that we gather to encourage each other as we press into what is ahead. But there is a danger too – that the desire to share God’s gifts with each other can become a wave of noise. Where the enemy cannot stop to flow of true revelation, he loves to bury it under so many “words of encouragement” that we become overwhelmed, with scriptures and revelations cheapened. We become distracted, confused and deep revelation is obfuscated. As with all deception, this tactic must be defeated by discernment – ie identifying God’s deep revelation and focusing on it, rather that the fluff of ‘nice words’. Such discernment can only be gained through personal, one-to-one relationship with Jesus – the wisdom that comes from walking carefully in step with the Holy Spirit.

So I have been sensing a warning, and an invitation to deliberately abstain from chatter: to intentionally deprive ourselves of the practice of every one sharing what they are sensing, but then hastily moving on to the next ‘word’ before giving time to truly meditate on the deeper richness of what has already been said. And in place of the chatter, God wants to invite us to something much more meaningful…

You see, since the Church moved online over the pandemic, and there are more groups, gatherings and chat rooms than ever, they can be like permanently open Pick-n-mix stores where multiple options (‘words’) are given of differing weights and flavours, and recipients get to choose the ones that appeal, (‘resonate’). It’s sweet, but shallow, and not at all the kind of nutrition that sustains healthy growth.
Pick-n-Mix groups can result in a group of people in the same online space, all indulging in very different experiences at the same, as if the Holy Spirit has multiple personality disorder. That may sound harsh, and I don’t want to be. I know God will bless us in whatever way we allow – and if all we know is Pick-n-Mix, He will use that.
But we ARE being invited to something much more real, more nutritious, more lasting. We are being invited to deny ourselves the ‘Pick-n-Mix’ sweeties of shallow chatter and words that last a few seconds before moving on to the next one, SO THAT we can sit down for a hearty meal, a romantic dinner one-to-one with Jesus: to switch off the tantalising noise of what God is saying to everyone else and just spend time with Him, letting his words to you sink in and be digested, becoming part of you, to sustain you and contribute to genuine growth.

It’s not about leaving online groups – they are not wrong in themselves. Just be aware that we need to be able to discern when we are enjoying the encouragement of Spirit-filled fellowship, and when we are spending more time enjoying Pick-n-Mix sweeties than we are eating nutritious but romantic dinners with Jesus. Because we are in a season of deception, and we MUST be diligent in discernment.

So let’s each prioritise sitting down one-to-one with Jesus and taking our time over His words to us until we know they are part of us – then the pick-n-mix sweeties will be a lovely treat after the meal as intended, rather than a shallow, insubstantial imitation of food.

Amen