In the month of April, there was a territorial struggle that began as the body of Christ in the pressure of the cocoon began to be awoken to the sound of their new roar that had been developed in the pressure of adversity. Many who had been for years silenced by endless onslaughts, setbacks, delays, and witchcraft were suddenly starting to emerge from their caves and join the frontlines, raising their voices as a force to be reckoned with. Suddenly songs begin to resound from isolation, the raw cry of David’s around the earth started to respond to both of injustice of the hour we are in but also in response to the governmental upgrade and mantle change that has been taking place. We didn’t take it lying down. We fought back, we adapted, we rose up. We allowed the Holy Spirit to stoke our fires and do the deep heart reset we needed, cutting away the busy we had grown accustomed to that smothered our passion, and exchange it for the fiery gaze of lovers simply fixed on the face of our King. 

We have all seen and felt the growing pains, the uncomfortable moments of having to reevaluate, and accommodate what God was doing and saying, as well as navigate extreme polarity in views in the body and different messages and interpretations of the hour. This didn’t discourage me, in fact, I have never been more encouraged and excited because amongst the mess and mire has been a bride rising to her feet, not a defeated, broken down, disabled bride, but a victorious, not-to-be-messed-with warrior bride. 

With all this in mind, I want to share two encounters that have shifted my trajectory dramatically.. and what I believe is the current process many of God's varying voices are currently in and have been facing. I’m speaking foremost to the prophetic voices, known and unknown, with a platform or not, and the whole body of Christ as well who are burning with a new message in this hour.

THE MUZZLE AT THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY

Recently we arrived in San Francisco to stay the night before flying to the east coast to record a few tv segments for Christy’s upcoming book on intercessory prayer. While we were covered in prayer by faithful intercessory friends we felt an unusual level of warfare against the trip. We had unusual issues with flights, accommodation, transport, and then Christy became very unwell on the plane and we had to cancel the events. We felt very unjustified and frustrated that it seemed like there was roadblock after roadblock to getting her message out. Have you felt like that recently? 

Since you started raising your newfound voice in the last few months you may have found yourself suddenly facing an opposition, unlike anything you have ever experienced before. Maybe you have been thinking “I didn’t press through and leave the cave just to end up back there again!” “What‘s going on?” Without being dramatic it’s felt like an assassination attempt not just on your voice but on your purpose! It’s like the enemy has heard the sound of your roar and has thrown all his arsenal at you to shut it down before you clue on to its power and potency. 

In 1 Kings 19 after Elijah had called down fire upon the altar and killed the prophets of Baal, he heard the words of Jezebel seeking to take his life and so he ran in fear - the same Elijah who just fearlessly defied the false gods in the land and saw God show up supernaturally! What happened? The Jezebel spirit caused Elijah to run in fear and even want to die.

“ Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 1 Kings 19:3-4

Have you been feeling that same assignment coming against you? The silencing muzzle that causes you to want to shut down your voice and hide in the wilderness again? That assignment that causes you to want to give up your calling, destiny, and call it quits? Have you experienced irrational fear, foreboding, anxiety, in mental warfare? This is nothing more than this assignment coming against your voice because you are coming into its RIPENING.

WITCHCRAFT & HIRED GUNS

The other way the enemy has sought to shut down your voice in this season that God is increasing it is by assailing you with witchcraft and chatter. This is what I like to call "Jezebels hired guns" because the main purpose is still to shut down your voice but the Jezebel spirit will employ witchcraft prayers and chatter to come at you from all angles till you throw in the towel. Any time you are coming into something new it’s not unusual to suddenly sense that there are things swirling in the atmosphere around you. The enemy will find whomever he can to speak against you, judge you, and even prophesy things against you that didn’t originate in God's heart. Often the fruits of undealt with assignments of witchcraft are; wanting to give up, deep discouragement, complete defeat, scattered mind(unable to get revelation the way you normally would), writers or revelatory creative block, mental torment, and even physical symptoms too. 

In this season discernment has been going through the roof as God is done with the immaturity of witchcraft in the body of Christ. He is exposing sources of sabotage and hidden plots and slander that keeps trying to take people down a few notches. Have your dreams been revealing this? Just remember your best defense is to break off and cancel their words, bless them, then move on. You don’t need to hang out in this zone forever or make a full-time job out of knowing who is against you. BREAK IT, MOVE ON. 

PUT DOWN YOUR WHITE FLAG

That night Christy was unwell I walked up and down the hallway of the hotel praying at 3 am and half-jokingly I said “Lord I want to wave my white flag here!” then I stopped at the view of the bay through the window and suddenly felt a strong familiar presence I had felt once before. I knew it was the two angels I had seen almost three months ago in the same vicinity. The angels I saw had the words Isaiah 45 engraved on them in the spirit. These were BREAKTHROUGH angels, but more importantly they were governmental angels sent to bring breakthrough for cities and regions and dethrone principalities. 

“Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped as my servant to conquer nations and dethrone their kings. For I will open doors before himand no fortified gate will remain closed. I will march out in front of you and level every obstacle. I will shatter to pieces bronze doorsand slice through iron bars” - Isaiah 45:1-2

At that moment the presence of God hit me so powerfully and the Lord spoke to my spirit “Do you see what is at stake in this hour? This is a governmental era that I am raising up voices who will be breakers over cities, regions, and nations. This is not a time to wave your white flag but it’s a time to CAPTURE the flag! Nate remember this night because I am calling you and the body of Christ higher out of defense and into the offense. Look out the window and what do you see? I have given you a rod to rule nations and to release my kingdom upon the earth”

So many have been hit with an exhaustive defeat because the stakes are higher and the opposition more relentless. Maybe you have felt the intensity of the time we will live in and have had many moments recently of wanting to wave your white flag in the air and be done, but God is not raising you up and launching right now for you to simply be a weak whisper or an echo, but to be a mighty roar of JUSTICE over the land. You might be thinking, “But what do I have that the enemy is so threatened by?” The answer is EVERYTHING because just as Jesus is in this world SO ARE YOU! So put down your white flag, shake off the defeat and set your sights on the new territory that is before you, in fact this month you are going to not only take back the ground you lost but you are going to RECOVER all and ADVANCE in Jesus name!

FINDING THE NEW FREQUENCY 

The following night was the encounter with the Lord that has marked me so deeply. Shortly after falling asleep, I woke up sensing I needed to pray. I walked up and down the house praying much like I did the night before in the hotel but this time I didn’t sense angels and I didn’t hear the Lord speak so after a while I fell back asleep. Suddenly I woke up to the most violent earthquake I have ever felt which lasted maybe 2 seconds. My first reaction was to check on Christy and the girls and see if they were ok and they were. Then I walked around the house to make sure nothing had fallen over or had broken but nothing had. I was confused so I looked online to see if there had been an earthquake but there hadn’t been. What I experienced was spiritual, so I said "Lord what are you trying to tell me?" Instantly the verses from 1 Kings 19:11-13 came to mind;

“The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave” 

As I read the passage the Lord spoke so loudly into my spirit. “I’m not in the earthquake Nate, I’m in the whisper. Will you attune your ears to my whispers? Will you shut out the noise of everything else for my voice? For I am right now putting new coals on the tongues of my people who will let go and be emptied to pick up the fresh words and messages I have for them to speak”

I felt so raw sitting there as His voice refreshed me and uncluttered me. We are in a time where the world wants us to pay attention to the wind, the fires, and earthquakes but God wants us to simply listen to the sound of His voice, his heartbeat, his mysteries, and the new frequency of His voice. It means laying down how we have heard Him in the past that maybe isn’t working and getting low to hear His whispers. As we attune our ears to his frequency we will get out of tune with the frequency of fear that keeps causing us to run and hide.

THE REDEFINITION OF THE PROPHETIC VOICE 

What this spoke to me;

• We are coming out of the bullied, victim mentality we have known and into an era of victorious warfare.
• We can’t operate the way we have been - reactionary to the enemy and his opposition. God has mantled us with authority like a general and generals don’t react, they fore-plan, foresee, and look through the smokescreen and preempt what the enemy does. 
• We are living in a HOLY MOMENT.. a holiness moment. An hour of being set-apart and consecrated again. 
• The body of Christ and prophetic movement is in an unusual tension of both ripening and resetting and they are going hand in hand.
• We are having to let go of many things we have known, ways, and methods we have operated in to pick up what He is giving us to wield. 
• We are in an hour of redefinition and refining personally and corporately for the sole purpose of us stepping into this era of greater impact. 
• We are being invited into the tuning of our ears to His heart so we will be able to properly receive what He speaks in this new era. 
• We can no longer play at the shallow end of the pool. The nations are experiencing injustices that you and I are called to be a voice for - our mantles aren’t for show and tell but to raid the gates of hell. 
• We are moving out of the fear of man and into the fear of the Lord and into the conviction to speak the heart of God no matter the cost. 
• We are moving into an era of power and authority where we will see public displays of the power of God through the lives of people yielded to his voice. 
• We as the church are coming out of the wilderness years of being silenced, without influence or impact, and into our era of being the ROAR of the Lord on planet earth!