Over the last few days, as I was praying about what to release for this week's Prophetic Insight, the Lord began to speak to me about those who had felt like they had given everything for the call in this past season but were finding themselves here in January still struggling to break through mindsets of disappointment and hope deferred. Many felt like they had given everything, yet it seemed like nothing had come to fruition or had come to pass. I'll even be bold and say that many have even felt disappointed in the Lord. Many of you have said, “Lord, are you here? I don’t understand how I’ve ended up in this place of feeling like I’ve sacrificed my Isaac for you.” That was literally the phrase I heard “I’ve sacrificed my Isaac for you.” I believe this is even more specific to pioneer families and those who have been pioneering in hard ground and difficult places. The last four years have been very costly and there’s been a high cost to this call, and many have felt like they’re at the place where they’ve sacrificed their Isaac. But then I felt like the Lord was reminding me, and I want to say this, that in the story of Abraham and Isaac, God provided. God provided the ram at the last moment that was caught in the thicket. I feel like the Lord is going to show you in the days to come that what we thought we sacrificed wasn’t actually the sacrifice. What we thought we gave up to follow the call and the high cost is not even the cost. We’re going to see that in the end it was the Lord who provided the ram in the thicket as the sacrifice. Meaning, at the end of the story He will reveal Himself powerfully through your storyline as Provider and Protector. Right now, we’re only seeing one part of the story. We’re only seeing the part where it’s difficult. Just as Abraham must have felt, it was a challenge to go into a season or a moment completely prepared to give up everything, fully believing that was what he had to do. But I want to say this and prophesy this: I believe, especially in the next few years, we’re going to see the Lord provide the ram in the thicket. This is the Lord bringing redemption, recompense, and provision to you and me where it’s felt like the cost has been too high, depleting us and running us into the ground. COME TO THE ALTAR As we go into this week, I believe the Lord wants us to come to the altar and give Him those “costs” we have been carrying. Even right now imagine yourself heaping up all those disappointments, hurts, and frustrations onto that fire. Say, “Lord, I recognize there are situations I don’t understand. I recognize, that I don’t know how the chapters of my life will intersect, or why I went through what I did, but I trust you.” — it's time to give it to Him. Can you do that as we begin this week? Give those burdens to Him. Maybe you need to even just go lay down on your living room floor, put on a worship track, and say, “Lord, here I am. I’m on the altar again. I give you all my questions. I give you all my frustrations.” Let Him deliver you. Let Him heal you. Then you’ll begin to see the Lord provide. And also, I want to say this: there is no sacrifice that does not produce oil. There is oil gushing from your life. I believe even this week the Lord wants to show you the oil that’s been producing consistently from this season of pressing, crushing, and high cost. This is the costly oil, like the oil poured over Jesus by the woman before His crucifixion and burial. We’ve been in a season where it has felt like so much death, but now you will watch it produce life for you and for those around you. RESTRAINTS & NEW LEVELS Just a few nights ago, I had a dream of a vehicle being fitted out for some kind of ministry road trip. I remember being excited in the dream because it looked like an armored vehicle or cyber truck of some sort. It felt like some kind of governmental mission to go into a state or territory. When I opened the doors, I noticed two things. The car was fitted with toddler seats throughout, in every single seat, and over the seats were restraints. But not just normal seat belts, but proper crossed restraints like those in crash test dummy vehicles. Suddenly, I felt this overwhelming realization, “We can’t travel in this. This isn’t going to help.” On the outside, it looked like the perfect car, but on the inside, I thought, “This car is for babies. This isn’t going to help us complete this mission.” I began to rip out the seats one by one and cut out the restraints. What does this dream mean? I believe the Lord wants to highlight, especially this week, that there is maturation taking place in the body of Christ. Many have been operating from a place of immaturity and restraint. The baby seats in this dream represent the enemy keeping people at a level of low spiritual intelligence and immaturity, acting as a ceiling, containing them and preventing spiritual and authoritative growth. The restraints symbolize spiritual forces and assignments that have kept many in a season of constraint. God doesn’t want His body restrained. The cap that has settled over the church these last four years seeks to keep us spiritually immature, especially regarding discernment and warfare. When restrained spiritually, we naturally fall back into our own strength, relying on human methods and mindsets. God has equipped us with everything needed to fulfill our mission. Yet, if we feel restrained, we revert to our own methods. This week, I feel the Lord wants us to confront areas of restraint and spiritual immaturity in our lives. Can you identify places where you’ve been relying on your own understanding? Have there been areas where God has been challenging you to grow, but you’ve retreated to comfort? That’s the baby seat. God is calling us to remove it from our mission. Rip it out and step into the fullness of the calling, authority, and anointing God has placed on your life. Look for opportunities to do this in the week ahead. MASKED SPIRITS On that note, I want to highlight something the Lord has been showing me in dreams and revealing to me as I’ve been praying over this week. I truly believe that, on the back of the Lord increasing the maturity of the church, we’re entering into days of discerning spirits more than we ever have before. There has been a major cap over many in the body of Christ in understanding the true mechanics and nature of spiritual warfare. There’s been a very superficial and fleshly way of looking at the realm of the spirit. Many in the body of Christ have fallen into the trap of improperly discerning, not just moments or seasons but also actual assignments and events on both private and public levels. The fruit of not discerning well is that we react in the wrong spirit. You think about the sons of thunder in the Bible who wanted to call down fire on a city that rejected Jesus. “When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” Luke 9:54 They were discerning correctly in one sense: the city had rejected Jesus. But in their discernment, they thought the answer was to destroy the entire city, which was not Jesus’ heart at all, so he rebuked them because they were of the wrong spirit. It wasn’t harsh for Jesus to say that. As believers, we should discern correctly because death and life are in the power of the tongue. When we react out of the flesh or discern incorrectly, our responses are also incorrect. Without realizing it, we can increase the enemy’s influence in moments we’re meant to counteract them. For instance, if there’s a situation in our church or family life and we discern incorrectly, we might respond in the wrong spirit, creating more damage. Conversely, if we discern correctly, we foil the enemy’s plans, bring true repentance and change to the situation, and restore relationships in the process. I believe this week the Lord wants to give us eyes to discern properly. I love the Scripture that speaks about Elisha being able to hear what the king was saying in his room. I believe the Lord wants us to have eyes to see in this hour, to understand what is happening in the spirit realm, so we know how to respond with the Spirit of the Lord rather than partnering with the wrong spirit. We’re living in a time of masked spirits. That’s the phrase the Lord showed me: masked spirits. Spirits that would deceive many in the body of Christ. They appear as one thing but are actually another. They look like righteousness but are not; they look like devotion and consecration but are actually rebellion. Only those who discern correctly will be able to distinguish between them. Yes, we’re in an hour where it’s becoming harder to discern, and God is calling you and me to come up higher this week. I believe there’s an invitation to step into a new realm of discernment. Hebrews 5:14 speaks about the discerning of spirits that comes by use. This week, ask for it. Ask the Lord to lead you out of a critical spirit and into true discernment. Christy recently said something that struck me: “The counterfeit of intercession is accusation, and the counterfeit of discernment is a critical spirit.” WITH ME OR AGAINST ME? I hear the Lord saying to the body of Christ this week, “Are you with Me or are you against Me?” It was a sobering thing to hear: “Are you with Me or against Me?” It reminds me of when Saul, on the road to Damascus, had his encounter with Jesus. Jesus asked him, “Why do you persecute Me? Why do you kick against the goads?” I feel like we’re in a moment where man’s methodologies and pharasee-like methods are working against the true kingdom. God is saying to us, both personally and to the body of Christ: “Are you for Me or against Me?” I believe this week the Lord wants us to reset ourselves and consecrate ourselves before Him. Let’s come back and say, “Lord, any areas of my heart or life that are working against You, I surrender. I give them to You, any arrogance, any pride, I give them to You.” We’re entering days where it will become very black and white, where it will be clear who is serving the Lord and who is not. All the gray areas that have been concealed and hidden, where people with wrong motives have pretended to serve the Lord but were actually serving their own ambition, are coming to light. The gray is decreasing. It’s becoming black and white. There will be no more lukewarm. No more middle ground. No more fence-sitting. The Lord is looking for those who are on fire for Him, or those who are not. Choose this day whom you will serve. As we go into this week, say, “Lord, I serve You. You are my Lord. I give You all idols, all other lovers, all other affections in my heart and my life. I return to You, in Jesus’ name.” I WILL VINDICATE One of the most instrumental insights the Lord gave me this past week involved two visions of the same thing: wheels turning in the spirit. I saw these wheels churning, looking like the inner mechanics of a clock or an industrial machine, something you wouldn’t normally see. The wheels moved slowly at first, but then they began to speed up. They moved so fast that they became a blur. I heard the phrase: “wheels of vindication.” There’s a correlation between vindication, justice, and wheels in the spirit. The Lord begins to shift areas of divine government, dominion, and power. This happens on a large scale, impacting regions and cities but it also affects us personally. Before I share my greatest insight for this week, I want to say this: major things are shifting in the spirit right now. They’re happening behind the scenes and aren’t obvious unless you’re paying attention. We’ve been in a time of massive delay for years now, globally and individually. Cycles of being stuck, unresolved prayers, and lack of resolve have persisted. But the Lord is bringing vindication and divine resolution. On a personal level, God is bringing resolve to areas of your life. Write out a list of unresolved areas, and watch the Lord bring answers. The Word of God says many times that God will vindicate such as Psalms 37:6-7; “He will vindicate you in broad daylight, and publicly defend your just cause. Wait patiently for the Lord! Wait confidently for him! Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner, a man who carries out wicked schemes” It’s His promise. We must surrender our desire to vindicate ourselves. Vindicating ourselves only brings more confusion, frustration, and burnout, and it hurts others in the process. Divine vindication brings healing and redemption for all involved. DIVINE JUSTICE Last week in our prayer group I shared a voice note stating this next part; “On January 20, I believe something significant will take place, not just in the natural, but spiritually. In Luke 18:6–7, Jesus tells the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. The judge gave her justice because of her persistence. Jesus used this to illustrate the power of prayer. In verse 7, it says: “Will God not bring justice to His chosen ones?” Over the last four years and beyond, it has felt like justice has tarried. Prayer warriors have grown weary, crying out for divine justice. It feels like evil continues to thrive unchecked” “Christy and I have been deeply moved in recent days by the insight that God is indeed going to bring justice. I believe we are entering a divine shift of justice on January 20. This is what the enemy has been afraid of, a significant spiritual change of the guard and in the spirit” “As the hands of justice shift, there will be an eviction of spiritual principalities and powers. We are entering a season of new conquest, much like Joshua entering the Promised Land. But let me emphasize, this is not a time without battles. I believe the next four years will be a season of conquest and battle but not in the way we’ve seen it in the past, but in a new context” “We are stepping into a time where we are anointed and authorized to evict principalities, powers, and the “sons of Anak” from the land. Justice that has been delayed for so long will suddenly be overturned, and things will begin to be revealed and resolved quickly” “This is what the enemy has been fighting to prevent. However, as we pray, we must remember that we are not the tail - we are the head. We are discerning these movements in the spirit because God is revealing them to us” “Christy and I recently spoke with our good friend, Lou Engle, about the correlation between Joel 2:3 and Acts 2:3. The fire in Joel 2 and the tongues of fire in Acts 2. Something significant emerged during our conversation: In some translations of Psalm 2, the chapters are divided into Act 1, 2, 3, and 4” “ In Act 1: the nations rage and mock God. We have seen this act play out for years now with the mockery of righteousness” “ In Act 2: God responds and laughs, installing His kings upon Zion” “Lou said, “We’re not just in Acts 2 right now; we’re entering Psalm 2, Act 2.” This is the moment where God responds!” “There is a correlation between Psalm 2 and Daniel 2:21–22, where God dethrones kings and installs His chosen ones. These are the Davids those who have stewarded well, who are now being installed in places of authority” “All of this is to say: you have authority and power. As we pray, we are moving toward a monumental moment where divine justice is shifting and changing. I believe we are about to see extraordinary things in the months and years to come” ACTS 2 FAMILIES ASSEMBLE! My last exhortation is an encouragement for those of you in seasons of movement and transition, as our family is right now. I want to say to you: Acts 2 families, assemble! The Lord is shifting you out of the season of shifting sands. He’s planting your feet on solid rock again. After years of instability and waves knocking you back and forth, He’s bringing you into stability and a season of establishing. He’s calling you into your greatest divine assignment, one that will supersede every other ambition or idea you’ve had. God is bringing you back to the simplicity of Acts 2 and the simple gospel. He’s untangling you from the snakes of the ministry world and everything that has choked the life, joy, and adventure out of your calling. He’s bringing you back to the simplicity of His presence and to loving people well. Acts 2 families, assemble! Begin to dream with the Lord. There is grace this week to dream with Him. Come together as a family and ask, “Lord, where are You leading us? What do You have for us?” If you’ve been in a place of frustration or confusion, or if you’ve seen your children bending under the weight of this season of crushing, come together. Consecrate yourselves before the Lord and ask Him, “What is our next step?” He will give you your next step. The Lord is bringing families back into divine order. He’s clearing out all the debris and planting your feet in a place where you will flourish not just as individuals or ministries, but as families. This is a time where your children will thrive. They will step into their own Acts 2 as well. This is what the Lord is doing right now, bringing us back to the original call, the simple call. Let’s embrace it, dream with Him, and step into what He has prepared for us.