By Nate Johnston
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February 25, 2025
Last week, I shared this short post on social media: “God sees your process, and He isn’t rushing you right now. You have walked through a lot and seen a lot. Your heart has been through 20 years in 4 years, so give yourself space to let Him revive and reinvent you. Give Him room to clean out the hope deferred and the cobwebs of past seasons. Right now, it’s all coming to the surface, and He is tenderly scooping it out and breathing life back into your lungs. Soon, you’ll wake up no longer feeling heaviness, anxiety, or deep, unshakable weariness. Instead, it will feel like a valve has been flipped inside you, and out of your belly, rivers will flow again. You’ll feel the pain and hardship of this past season—the toll it took on you mentally, emotionally, physically, and even spiritually—begin to lift as God overhauls you in a short period of time. It’s an Ezekiel 37 ‘army of dry bones’ moment, and it’s necessary so you don’t stay in your sick bed but are revived back to full health.” But I wanted to share more in-depth about this and where it came from. Earlier that morning, before I posted it, the Lord spoke to me and said, “The heart process can’t be rushed or ignored.” He said there was another layer of healing and deliverance He was bringing through leaning into this process. We know that process is often where the Lord leads us into deeper levels of heart healing, character refining, and maturity—enabling us to walk in the increasing anointing He’s releasing. He always takes us from glory to glory, right? But what I’m highly aware of is that when we walk through difficult seasons—battle seasons, hardship, but also seasons where God is advancing us—our spirit tends to move and advance quickly, while our hearts, souls, and emotions tend to lag behind. They take longer to adjust. And that, to me, is what true process is. It’s the intentional focus on not just what God is doing spiritually, but how it affects me personally—and the walk I need to take with Him to adjust in all areas of my life. Far too many ministers and believers in the past have bypassed this step. They’ve embraced what’s happening spiritually—the advancements, shifts, and transitions—while suppressing their emotions and soul state. Eventually, it crushed them because they weren’t stewarding the heart process or valuing it as much as the spiritual process. So when the Lord spoke this word to me, it felt like permission—if not more. It felt like a summoning to lean even deeper into the process than ever before. Now, if you know my writings, you know I always talk about heart process—how our transitions and spiritual walk parallel our personal journey. But this felt different. This felt deeper. It felt like a moment where the Lord was saying: I know there are things I’m leading you into. I know there are parts of your calling I’m about to reveal to you. I know there are incredible kairos destiny moments ahead, open doors, and divine opportunities. But right now, this moment is sacred, holy, and special. And it cannot be whitewashed by Christian clichés. We can’t just view this process through the lens of: • “Oh, God is getting me ready for the next battle.” • “Oh, God is cleaning me up for the next assignment.” No, this is so much more than that, friends. This is where the Lord is asking us to lean into the process because He wants us. He knows we need Him. This is simply about relationship and intimacy. This is about recognizing that this process is needed for reconnection with Him. I’m not saying you’ve fallen away. I’m not saying He’s not your first love. I’m saying that much of what you’ve walked through in recent years—the battles, distractions, noise, and endless swinging of your sword—has had an assignment behind it: To get your gaze off Him. To reduce your marriage with the Bridegroom to a friendship or roommate status—when He wants to be your everything. So no, we can’t rush this moment. We can’t rush this process. This process needs to become the main meal again. Our morning, daily heart surrendering needs to become our everything again. Letting the rays of the Son penetrate the deep places of our hearts—healing us, restoring us to full health. Right now, there are layers of the onion being peeled back. The Lord is graciously exposing them so we can step into health, clarity, and peace. Because He never desired for us to live this Christian life broken or in bondage. He didn’t go to the cross for us to still experience the pain and effects of separation from the Father. There is no more separation. There is no condemnation for those in Christ, yet many have still been living as if there is. So for those of you who have felt lost in the swirl of pressure— the do this, go there, get that done mentality —I get it. I know it’s a tension. I know we can’t disregard the mission. But maybe we just switch up our meals this week. Maybe we reorganize the buffet. Instead of making the mission the main meal, maybe it can be the dessert—and let this process, this daily relationship, this being in His presence, become the main meal again. God is reordering our lives right now. Because He wants us to last the distance. He doesn’t want you living in survival mode anymore. He wants you to thrive. He wants you to go from glory to glory. And I believe that leaning into this process won’t just reveal the oil that has come from these past years of pressing, but it will also reveal the closeness—the fragrance, the perfume of our King Jesus—and what He provided for us at the cross. So that you begin to live daily in the victory He has already provided. That you step out of the shadows, out of the veils that have tried to overshadow the finished work of the cross—And step back into the limitless victory that He secured for you. So yes, this is permission for you to: • Lean into the process. • Lean into this moment. • Lean into healing. • Lean into rest. And watch as your dry bones come back to full health. People won’t understand it. Those who have built their faith around action over intimacy won’t understand it. But as you obey—leaning into rest, refreshing, and deep reset—it will become the spring of life that erupts within you again. One day, you’ll look back and say: That was the moment I chose Him over the doing… and yet, it accomplished so much more. Let me end with this: Bill Johnson once said, " There are lovers and workers, and lovers will always get more work done than the workers." This week, I prophesy over you: You are stepping out from under the yoke of work—and stepping into the rhythm of His rest and refreshing—In Jesus’ name.