Deeper

Yesterday in prayer I asked God to help me understand everything that’s been going on: the darkness and confusion that so many of His precious people are experiencing: what is His perspective, His purpose?

In response I received a single word and an accompanying picture. Both were very clear, so although I don’t think they said anything new, it was a comfort to be reminded that it is all in Him.

I heard the word “Deeper”, and saw a picture/ vision of a well. This well is one that I have seen before in a picture that God gave me for a prophet I know, and that is significant because I do believe that many of the people experiencing the deepest confusion and struggle at the moment are His prophets: those who have heeded the call to pioneer into the unknown New and who have refused to return to the old religious order. Living in the unknown is too hard for most, and many have returned to the old wineskin, but the prophets can’t ignore the call, so they remain surrounded by un-formed chaos. But that’s an aside – I don’t think this word is just for prophets, just that many of them will strongly relate.

In the picture/ vision there was a bucket being lowered into the well as if to draw from the crystal clear water it contained. But as the bucket reached the bottom of the well it kept going, through a layer of disturbed ground: silt, mud and rocks, and kept going further down until it reached a layer of magma (fiery molten rock). And the bucket that had previously been used to draw up water for washing and drinking was now used to draw up fire for consecration and purity, and liquid rock that will be used for establishing, once solidified. And those who partake will be consecrated and commissioned – forever marked, like Isaiah when the burning coal touched his lips (Isa 6:1-10), and like the disciples who were transformed by the flame of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3-4), transformed from those desperately in need of refreshing, to those who run, taking the fire of God all over the world.

It showed me that this season of disruption, disturbance, shaking and shifting the soil at the bottom of our wells (representing the places in our lives where we draw on God), is to break up the hardness of our hearts that used to set our limits, so that we are able to go deeper in the Spirit. It is so we may draw not just water to satisfy our own thirst, but press through the pain to draw fire to satisfy GOD’s thirst for revival. And that’s not just revival as the catchword that everyone seems to be talking about right now, but true revival that begins with the deeply personal consecration and purification of the individual, far away from the gaze of others.

Magma – or lava as it is called once it breaks through to the earth’s surface – changes the landscape. It burns up the old and forms new ground, full of rich nutrients to support new harvests. But it is not polite and takes no heed of structures that try to stand against it. What is coming is very good, but it will look destructive. God is looking for representatives on earth who have already been consecrated by submitting to and steadfastly worshipping Him through the disruption and sheer muddiness of a confusing season. Those are his prophets and leaders and those who will pass on His fire to those around and reassure those who are scared by the change. For they have been called so much DEEPER than before. It doesn’t feel nice or comfy, but it is GOOD.

Lord, thank You for taking us deeper, and for holding us steadfast as we put our trust in You. Thank You, for all that You are doing is good. Amen.