Blog Layout
THE SEASON OF CLOSURE, CLEANING HOUSE, & RESURRECTING FALLEN SEEDS
Recently I was in my study in worship when the Lord asked me a simple question “Will you give me that dream?” He asked me. I had been dreading this question for months knowing it was coming.
Since September last year it’s felt like a season of surrendering everything again and watching as unexpected doors closed and the plan changed dramatically. This dream was the last seed I had left and yet here I was holding onto it for dear life when the question came. “Will you give it to me?”
I didn’t want to being honest but I wouldn’t withhold anything from the Lord so I said yes. As I gave it to him whole heartedly a massive grief welled up and out of me like I was mourning a death. It was deep and gutrenchingly painful but I placed it on the altar - the last seed I had left. I spent the next hour on my face as I allowed God to minister to my heart and sever the tie and expectations i had with that dream.
It’s never easy letting go of everything you have been contending for and building for years. This is where many of us have been - a season of being emptied and giving God everything we have been carrying and building. But why?
THE LEDGER OF THE SEEDS
As I was on my face that night I went into a vision where I was holding a ledger and inside was written John 12.24;
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds”
I started flicking through the pages to see the different kinds of seeds that had fallen to the ground in the last few years but especially the last 8 months. This is what I read and what I discerned they represented;
- The seeds of planting/establishing/ & family - the seeds and dreams of being settled and established after a long season of transition. Surrendering these to the Lord has meant having to surrender to an unknown period of time of being in a holding pattern.
- The seeds of purpose/movements and ministries - the seeds of purpose, our ministries and movements we have been building for a long time. God has been asking us to hand them over to Him in this season.
- The seeds of promises unfulfilled - the seeds that haven’t come to fruition that we thought would have happened by now. God has asked us to place them and all our questions in His hands.
When I saw these first few headings I knew right away that these were the seeds that were painful to let go of or handover to the Lord yet were crucial to because of what was going to take place next - the resurrection, multiplication, and increase God was bringing to every single seed we handed Him.
But multiplication and Increase isn’t the only reason God leads us into these seasons - it’s a more strategic chess move than you know. It’s to cut the cords on areas that we have both been in bondage too or will be be on bondage to down the the track that would debilitate us.
THE CLEANING HOUSE & CLOSURE
Then I saw more headings written and I knew right away that these were the categories of seeds that God was sending to the ground never to come up again.
- The seeds of man - the seeds of our own ambition, desires, and will. The things we were trying to build and plant in our own strength and the empires that have been built without Him or have strayed from His design.
- The seeds of the enemies plans - the seeds the enemy subtly planted in our lives that would grow and strangle Gods plans and purposes. These are the seeds of diversion and distraction that were planted to attack us like an inside job when God was wanting to promote us.
- The seeds of wrong relationships and alignments - the ties we have to people, networks, and movements that are wrong for us. The ties we have to people who are secretly pitted against us that we can’t see.
- The seeds of false identity - I believe this is those who have built their life around a religious system or infrastructure of something that is not spirit led and keeping them in bondage. It’s a persona that requires lots of work and I keep and God is confronting that to draw out free you!
- Seeds of generational cycles and dysfunctions - the connection points that keep you tethered to dysfunctional cycles, habits, mindsets, and addictions. God doesn’t want you going around that mountain again.
- Seeds of hurt and trauma - these are the seeds that keep coming back like a dog for a stick. Seasons of pain and abuse have caused you to feel like a victim and God is burying those lies once and for all.
- Seeds of demonic torment - the seeds sown that have created entry points for the demonic to come and bully you daily. These seeds are falling to the ground in this season.
- Seeds of control and manipulation - this narcissistic tie has robbed you long enough by silencing you and keeping you bound like a puppet on a string.
- Seeds of complacency and lukewarm Christianity - the seeds of apathy that have taken the fire away from the church and turned your passion into a religious task.
That’s right, God is delivering us right now for our own benefit even if we don’t see it. We only see what’s been lost but many of us have been straddling the fence for far too long and it’s been wearing us out. This is Gods way of rescuing you even if it doesn’t look like it right now.
You’ll notice that everything that was man-made will stay in the ground, every but of striving, fighting for scraps, lofty ambition, and idea not co-birthed with the Holy Spirit. You’ll also notice that the relational attacks, slander, and constant barrage of chatter against you stays in the dust as God has used this season of deep surrender to clean house, sever ties to the wrong people, assassins, fake confidants, and those secretly opposing your mission.
Traps to avoid in a closure season;
- The temptation to run backwards to the avoid the discomfort of the new.
- Trying to hold on seeds that need to be given to the Lord.
- Taking this process on as judgement or failure.
- People from old seasons trying to reconnect or attach themselves to you.
- Old sources of control and manipulation trying to put their claws in you again.
- Opportunities to rehearse and revive the pain and rejection from a buried situation.
- Taking on the opinions and judgements of critics who are influenced by the accuser.
- Wallowing in hopelessness and defeat.
- Believing the enemy’s lies that it’s over for you and your best days are done.
IT’S NOT OVER - IT’S A NEW BEGINNING
You won’t believe the things God is going to resurrect in the days to come. Ministries, movements, plans, marriages, families, & legacies. It’s felt like a season of handing over the broken pieces of dreams and desires, promises, and destiny you have built your life around, but watch as God breathes new life into what you thought was dead and impossible to raise.
Soon you’ll see that while painful this season was the reset you needed to be able to step into the new day God is opening for you. It’s going to be unexpected for those still living in the grief of letting go of what they built, and what they felt failed. But it’s going to feel like they are being given a new map, compass, and directions as God revives the shipwrecks from the past season and blows fresh wind in your sails.
Your heart may be still numb and feeling hope deferred but soon you’ll start to feel God reviving the deep places of your soul and a fresh rivers of living water will flow out of you again. Have you felt like you went into the grave? Have you felt like it was over? The enemy thought he had you beat? Think again..
"Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel" Ezekiel 37:12
RELATED prophetic WORDS:
RELATED prophetic WORDS:
By Nate Johnston
•
December 19, 2024
Next year is going to be an Acts 2 Year because we’re going back to simplicity. We’re leaving behind the hustle and bustle of institutions and empires for the basics once again. We’re choosing the humble over the proud and lofty. We’re choosing the private over the public stage. We’re choosing connection over club mentality or even shallow community. We’re choosing fellowship over programs. We’re choosing true worship over performance. We’re choosing the nameless and faceless over celebrity Christianity. And we’re choosing the pure over the convoluted and tainted. This is going to be an Acts 2 year because God is rebuilding our definition of the church, and He’s rebuilding us in the process. We’re coming back to the true foundations of the church again. We’re coming back to the simplicity and power of the fivefold, where people are built up into who God has called them to be. We’re going to see the breakdown of man’s hierarchies and systems. We’re coming back to the simple foundation of people gathering not around a man, but around Jesus and the finished work of the cross. We’re coming back to signs, wonders, and miracles again. We’re coming back to daily salvations and the pursuit of souls instead of preaching to the choir. We’re coming back to baptisms and lives being transformed, rescued from darkness and addiction. We’re coming back to being the hospital church again, instead of a museum or a palace. We’re coming back to what looks small and insignificant but carries immense weight in the spirit. We’re coming back to experiencing His face and His glory once again, instead of simply coming to a service to hear a cool cliché quote to take home. We’re leaving behind the goosebumps of man’s religion and trading them for true encounters and visitations with God. So, this next year, watch as God leads you in a new direction. Watch as your appetites begin to change. Watch as the Lord leads you away from systems and places that look good on the outside but have brought you into bondage. For many, this will mean breaking away from what you’ve been part of for years. It may mean relocation. Shifting. Migrating. It may mean leaving behind compromises, false coverings, and shallow accountability in communities that resemble but are far from the Acts 2 church God has destined for you. It will mean stepping out of isolation to find the people God has for you. It will mean leaving behind dead works and performance to discover the fire of His Spirit and a fresh baptism that overhauls your life. And it will mean closing the door on Act 1 so that we, as the church, can step into Acts 2—a season of power and baptism in the Holy Spirit that empowers us to walk in the fullness of everything Jesus made available to us at the cross. It’s going to be a year of departing from the flesh and man’s pursuit of building Babel and stepping into a year of building what looks simple but reaps eternal fruit. It’s going to transform your family, marriages, and every area of your life as you realign with God’s purpose and His original blueprint for the church. Watch, friends, as we leave behind decades, even centuries, of dysfunction and as the Lord begins to build His house. This is why you have felt the discontent in the last few years that has grown inside you. It’s the desire to go back to the original plan. It’s the longing for true connection with God and His people. And build something pure and not of man’s hands. If this is you, pray this dangerous prayer with me “Lord do Acts 2 in my life in 2025 onwards in Jesus name! And lead me to my Acts 2 people!” “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” Acts 2:42-47
By Nate Johnston
•
December 17, 2024
(REPOST FROM DEC. 2020 - PROPHETIC WORD FOR NOW) Towards the end of November, I had a significant dream where God spoke to me about the power of the posture of rest as we crossover into 2021. I had been asking God for specifics regarding many areas of our own family life, ministry, and dreams and was needing some clarity. At the time we were finishing up a very busy and fruitful year in our ministry school, finalizing writing for future projects, and preparing for our baby that is due early January. I felt like I needed practical strategies to navigate some areas of life and I needed some pieces to drop to be able to know how to move forward in the new year. Have you felt this way? I want to share what God spoke to me regarding rest in this dream so that you crossover into 2021 refreshed, full of vision and purpose, decluttered, and knowing where you are going in Jesus' name! OFF THE HAMSTER WHEEL & OUT OF THE DRIVER SEAT “Enter my rest, enter my rest, you need to enter my rest!” I heard audibly as I slept and I knew this was not just an order but a warning from the Lord and a powerful strategy to escape the burnout, disillusion, and panic that can set in when you are walking through a season of conflict like this year has been. His words felt like a cool drink on a hot day. So many have been on the hamster wheel of life in 2020, running, running, running, and treading water just to stay afloat because of the many changes and curveballs that have come, but now God is saying to you that it is time to surrender that place to Him. Finish the year out of the driver seat and giving Him permission to end it well. Do you trust Him to do that? Can you move out of your strength and put your trust in His? What areas of your life are you still trying to hold onto the wheel? Let go and let Him do what only He can do. Key: Hand him the keys to your vehicle, ministry, purpose, and life, especially the areas you have been trying to push and strive in. MIRACLE WORKING POWER WHERE YOUR STRENGTH HAS FAILED “This is where I MOVE IN POWER as they rest!” I heard the Lord say. “If you lean into my rest I WILL DO WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DO! So enter my rest and let ME MOVE, let ME ORCHESTRATE, and let me DELIVER!” Is what the Lord continued to say. God wants to take over where you have been burning out trying to make ends meet and hoping to see that breakthrough, that miracle come to pass, and that promise manifested. This is where you rest and as you do you will see HIS power take over and BREAK THROUGH for you! Key: Rest in His miracle-working power where it feels like you are in the 11th hour. Will He not do it? THE TRANSITION INTO REST & THE CHANGE OF THE GUARD “It's the transitioning into rest and the changing of the guard” He continued to say, but it wasn’t an order of inaction or decommissioning but an order to change posture. In the same way that if you are swimming a long distance you change up your swimming style to preserve your strength God is saying “TRANSITION into rest” meaning “Change your stance!” In Hebrews 4:11 the rest spoken of had to be an intentional decision or move that resulted in God working where man's ways didn’t. The changing of the guard spoke to me of an army that was changing its position and right now I believe that God is calling the army of God to shift its formation. We will not be moved from our post, but now we turn, we set our sail. Like Nehemiah’s men, we continue to hold up our swords but we bow our heads. Now watch what He does as we shift. Key: Ask God what slight adjustments you can make to posture yourself in rest to receive and be refreshed? What areas of your life are unnecessarily wearing you down? REST WILL REVEAL WHERE YOU ARE SPREAD THIN & CREATE “CAPACITY” FOR THE UNEXPECTED This is what He spoke to me about next. Capacity. He said that heading into 2021 that He was looking for people that weren’t already too busy or had their hands too full because there were going to be UNEXPECTED opportunities and assignments that He would be giving. Posturing in rest was the key that would reveal areas where God was wanting to untangle you from, commitments you shouldn’t be involved in, and open up your schedule for new possibilities He had waiting for you as you crossed over. Key: Allow God to show you what carries His glory on it and what is just taking up space in your life. What are you doing that is good that isn’t God? He will show you. REFRESHING TO THE BURNT OUT AND FATIGUED & THE RE-IGNITION OF DREAMS Then He said “You can’t do this in survival mode. You can’t do this fighting for air, fighting for scraps, and scrambling to make ends meet” I knew that He was speaking to the subtle and seductive mentality of survival that is birthed from a traumatic year of hearing endless news stories and constant fear-mongering, and it has driven so many to the brink of burnout and fatigue. But as you rest God is breaking both the survival mentality and the fatigue that comes with it. He wants you to step out of the place of fear and begging for bread and back into faith so you can DREAM with Him as you crossover. Key: Ask him to break off the fatigue and reignite your creativity, innovation, and passion. HAND IN YOUR OLD JACKETS & I WILL BREAK THE HEAVY YOKES “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 “Watch me break your heavy yokes! Watch me shatter the mantles of madness that have tried to settle! For I am mantling you afresh in the rest! Hand me your old jackets and rags and let me replace them!” This year the enemy has tried to put his yokes of heaviness and hysteria upon believers causing them to chase after the wind and go on a wild goose chase. These yokes are demonic and are the counterfeit of true mantles and mandates. But as you rest watch as Holy Spirit breaks every heavy yoke and mantles you with power and purpose for the season ahead. Key: Give him your old rags. Give him your heavy yokes. Ask for discernment between what are the yokes of the enemy and the easy yoke of the Lord. What causes rest and peace, and what brings burnout and heaviness? That’s your key. THE SHADOW-BOXING WILL STOP IN THE VORTEX OF REST “The shadow-boxing must stop!” I heard Him say and in the dream, I saw a picture of a whirlwind of imaginations that were swirling around people and they were wearing themselves down by trying to fight it. Close your eyes in the next few weeks every day for a moment in His presence and the 10 fights and opponents you have been shadow-boxing will suddenly disappear. Every whirlwind and storm you have been facing will stand still and you will see it for what it really is. No hype or cheap gimmicks of fear. Key: Learn the art of the secret place again. Lay there and learn to be still even when the thoughts against your mind are warring. Soon they will be silent and you will get your peace back and enter that rest. RECEIVE THE NEW WINE ORDERS FROM HEAVENS PRINT PRESS & THE NEW DOWNLOADS There is something about the posture of rest in the presence that PRODUCES. In the next few weeks, God wants to give you “new wine orders” as he told me that will be fresh off the printing press of heaven orders that have not been seen or heard yet. Generals are going to receive their new orders.. leaders are going to download the blueprints for the thing that the SPIRIT is upon. The old wineskin won’t cut it and you know it so it’s time to RECEIVE and you can’t receive unless you are postured in rest, in ENCOUNTER. This is where you lay down like Jacob at Bethel and have the dream and lay down like Samuel and get your orders and the download that will shift the course of your family, your city, and nation. Key: Fight the temptation to be busy and realize that without the fresh download you are stuck. You need the fresh thing so rest to receive it. MISSING PIECES ARE GOING TO DROP & DOTS WILL CONNECT It’s a “strengthen yourself in the Lord” moment where God takes your faithfulness to stand and multiplies it and opens the way for the ANSWER to reveal itself, the missing pieces to drop, and the needed direction to appear. There are significant COMPONENTS & TOOLS that many need right now leading into 2021 to solve dire, 11th-hour decisions. As you rest God is making sure that EVERY missing piece drops and the mess and rubble you are walking through suddenly begin to make sense. This is where what has not been connecting suddenly starts to align and where there has been fogginess and no clarity you will start to see a clearing open up before you. Key: You can’t be a piece filler, trying to fabricate the piece that fills the gap because if you do it will eventually break down. REST and let the pieces come. RELOCATIONS, MIGRATIONS, & NEW ADDRESSES God told me that addresses and new cities would suddenly be shown to people in dreams and impressions for those who have felt like the season where they have been is over but they haven’t known the next step or place to go. There are mass relocations that are going to take place in January/February as God downloads new assignments and purpose that is attached to physical locations around the world. Your kids might even dream it. You might start randomly hearing a name, but it will come! In REST you will hear your change of address! Key: Don’t stress over the details. He knows where you need to be and He will make your transition and migration seamless. THIS IS WHERE OBSTACLES ARE EXPOSED & REMOVED This is where the things HIDDEN IN DARKNESS are exposed, as we rest, and war from our worship. This is why the enemy has tried so hard to get you into the hamster wheel.. so this would be in your strength and the miracle DID NOT SHOW UP. But as you rest the brick walls and endless obstacles you have been facing will be exposed and removed. You will suddenly see the weak spot, the open door, and the ways the enemy has been robbing you.. and you will SLAM THE DOOR SHUT! As you rest God is doing a spring clean and a protective reinforcement to make sure you are going into 2021 without the foxes robbing your vineyards . Key: Be open to see where the enemy has been robbing you. Adjust and shut doors that have been affecting you. It might be people, places, or even just things, but as you discern them you will make a clean break. IN REST, THE MONKEY WILL GET OFF YOUR BACK, THE SNAKES WILL RETREAT, & YOU WILL FIND THE SOLACE YOU HAVE LONGED FOR Lastly, I heard the Lord speak about “ALTITUDE” and I heard the scriptures; “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:6 “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Revelation 4:1 God is saying that as you rest in HIM in heavenly places you will move into the altitude that snakes start to retreat and the monkey of warfare gets off your back. So many have been facing a myriad of warfare in 2020 and this is God's way of delivering you, freeing you, and healing you as you crossover. This is where you breathe in the clean and fresh air of hope and posture yourself back into the delight of the Lord where you will be able to see what is to come and be tethered once again to the glorious future ahead of you and not the dim and dark future the enemy has been prophesying. So people of God, REST! This is where it shifts. This is where the reinforcements come in. This is where the blueprints are made clear and the pathway opens up before you where you have been detailed and delayed. REST is your scepter and your powerful key so that you crossover READY & ROARING in Jesus' name!
By Nate Johnston
•
December 19, 2024
Next year is going to be an Acts 2 Year because we’re going back to simplicity. We’re leaving behind the hustle and bustle of institutions and empires for the basics once again. We’re choosing the humble over the proud and lofty. We’re choosing the private over the public stage. We’re choosing connection over club mentality or even shallow community. We’re choosing fellowship over programs. We’re choosing true worship over performance. We’re choosing the nameless and faceless over celebrity Christianity. And we’re choosing the pure over the convoluted and tainted. This is going to be an Acts 2 year because God is rebuilding our definition of the church, and He’s rebuilding us in the process. We’re coming back to the true foundations of the church again. We’re coming back to the simplicity and power of the fivefold, where people are built up into who God has called them to be. We’re going to see the breakdown of man’s hierarchies and systems. We’re coming back to the simple foundation of people gathering not around a man, but around Jesus and the finished work of the cross. We’re coming back to signs, wonders, and miracles again. We’re coming back to daily salvations and the pursuit of souls instead of preaching to the choir. We’re coming back to baptisms and lives being transformed, rescued from darkness and addiction. We’re coming back to being the hospital church again, instead of a museum or a palace. We’re coming back to what looks small and insignificant but carries immense weight in the spirit. We’re coming back to experiencing His face and His glory once again, instead of simply coming to a service to hear a cool cliché quote to take home. We’re leaving behind the goosebumps of man’s religion and trading them for true encounters and visitations with God. So, this next year, watch as God leads you in a new direction. Watch as your appetites begin to change. Watch as the Lord leads you away from systems and places that look good on the outside but have brought you into bondage. For many, this will mean breaking away from what you’ve been part of for years. It may mean relocation. Shifting. Migrating. It may mean leaving behind compromises, false coverings, and shallow accountability in communities that resemble but are far from the Acts 2 church God has destined for you. It will mean stepping out of isolation to find the people God has for you. It will mean leaving behind dead works and performance to discover the fire of His Spirit and a fresh baptism that overhauls your life. And it will mean closing the door on Act 1 so that we, as the church, can step into Acts 2—a season of power and baptism in the Holy Spirit that empowers us to walk in the fullness of everything Jesus made available to us at the cross. It’s going to be a year of departing from the flesh and man’s pursuit of building Babel and stepping into a year of building what looks simple but reaps eternal fruit. It’s going to transform your family, marriages, and every area of your life as you realign with God’s purpose and His original blueprint for the church. Watch, friends, as we leave behind decades, even centuries, of dysfunction and as the Lord begins to build His house. This is why you have felt the discontent in the last few years that has grown inside you. It’s the desire to go back to the original plan. It’s the longing for true connection with God and His people. And build something pure and not of man’s hands. If this is you, pray this dangerous prayer with me “Lord do Acts 2 in my life in 2025 onwards in Jesus name! And lead me to my Acts 2 people!” “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” Acts 2:42-47
By Nate Johnston
•
December 17, 2024
(REPOST FROM DEC. 2020 - PROPHETIC WORD FOR NOW) Towards the end of November, I had a significant dream where God spoke to me about the power of the posture of rest as we crossover into 2021. I had been asking God for specifics regarding many areas of our own family life, ministry, and dreams and was needing some clarity. At the time we were finishing up a very busy and fruitful year in our ministry school, finalizing writing for future projects, and preparing for our baby that is due early January. I felt like I needed practical strategies to navigate some areas of life and I needed some pieces to drop to be able to know how to move forward in the new year. Have you felt this way? I want to share what God spoke to me regarding rest in this dream so that you crossover into 2021 refreshed, full of vision and purpose, decluttered, and knowing where you are going in Jesus' name! OFF THE HAMSTER WHEEL & OUT OF THE DRIVER SEAT “Enter my rest, enter my rest, you need to enter my rest!” I heard audibly as I slept and I knew this was not just an order but a warning from the Lord and a powerful strategy to escape the burnout, disillusion, and panic that can set in when you are walking through a season of conflict like this year has been. His words felt like a cool drink on a hot day. So many have been on the hamster wheel of life in 2020, running, running, running, and treading water just to stay afloat because of the many changes and curveballs that have come, but now God is saying to you that it is time to surrender that place to Him. Finish the year out of the driver seat and giving Him permission to end it well. Do you trust Him to do that? Can you move out of your strength and put your trust in His? What areas of your life are you still trying to hold onto the wheel? Let go and let Him do what only He can do. Key: Hand him the keys to your vehicle, ministry, purpose, and life, especially the areas you have been trying to push and strive in. MIRACLE WORKING POWER WHERE YOUR STRENGTH HAS FAILED “This is where I MOVE IN POWER as they rest!” I heard the Lord say. “If you lean into my rest I WILL DO WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DO! So enter my rest and let ME MOVE, let ME ORCHESTRATE, and let me DELIVER!” Is what the Lord continued to say. God wants to take over where you have been burning out trying to make ends meet and hoping to see that breakthrough, that miracle come to pass, and that promise manifested. This is where you rest and as you do you will see HIS power take over and BREAK THROUGH for you! Key: Rest in His miracle-working power where it feels like you are in the 11th hour. Will He not do it? THE TRANSITION INTO REST & THE CHANGE OF THE GUARD “It's the transitioning into rest and the changing of the guard” He continued to say, but it wasn’t an order of inaction or decommissioning but an order to change posture. In the same way that if you are swimming a long distance you change up your swimming style to preserve your strength God is saying “TRANSITION into rest” meaning “Change your stance!” In Hebrews 4:11 the rest spoken of had to be an intentional decision or move that resulted in God working where man's ways didn’t. The changing of the guard spoke to me of an army that was changing its position and right now I believe that God is calling the army of God to shift its formation. We will not be moved from our post, but now we turn, we set our sail. Like Nehemiah’s men, we continue to hold up our swords but we bow our heads. Now watch what He does as we shift. Key: Ask God what slight adjustments you can make to posture yourself in rest to receive and be refreshed? What areas of your life are unnecessarily wearing you down? REST WILL REVEAL WHERE YOU ARE SPREAD THIN & CREATE “CAPACITY” FOR THE UNEXPECTED This is what He spoke to me about next. Capacity. He said that heading into 2021 that He was looking for people that weren’t already too busy or had their hands too full because there were going to be UNEXPECTED opportunities and assignments that He would be giving. Posturing in rest was the key that would reveal areas where God was wanting to untangle you from, commitments you shouldn’t be involved in, and open up your schedule for new possibilities He had waiting for you as you crossed over. Key: Allow God to show you what carries His glory on it and what is just taking up space in your life. What are you doing that is good that isn’t God? He will show you. REFRESHING TO THE BURNT OUT AND FATIGUED & THE RE-IGNITION OF DREAMS Then He said “You can’t do this in survival mode. You can’t do this fighting for air, fighting for scraps, and scrambling to make ends meet” I knew that He was speaking to the subtle and seductive mentality of survival that is birthed from a traumatic year of hearing endless news stories and constant fear-mongering, and it has driven so many to the brink of burnout and fatigue. But as you rest God is breaking both the survival mentality and the fatigue that comes with it. He wants you to step out of the place of fear and begging for bread and back into faith so you can DREAM with Him as you crossover. Key: Ask him to break off the fatigue and reignite your creativity, innovation, and passion. HAND IN YOUR OLD JACKETS & I WILL BREAK THE HEAVY YOKES “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 “Watch me break your heavy yokes! Watch me shatter the mantles of madness that have tried to settle! For I am mantling you afresh in the rest! Hand me your old jackets and rags and let me replace them!” This year the enemy has tried to put his yokes of heaviness and hysteria upon believers causing them to chase after the wind and go on a wild goose chase. These yokes are demonic and are the counterfeit of true mantles and mandates. But as you rest watch as Holy Spirit breaks every heavy yoke and mantles you with power and purpose for the season ahead. Key: Give him your old rags. Give him your heavy yokes. Ask for discernment between what are the yokes of the enemy and the easy yoke of the Lord. What causes rest and peace, and what brings burnout and heaviness? That’s your key. THE SHADOW-BOXING WILL STOP IN THE VORTEX OF REST “The shadow-boxing must stop!” I heard Him say and in the dream, I saw a picture of a whirlwind of imaginations that were swirling around people and they were wearing themselves down by trying to fight it. Close your eyes in the next few weeks every day for a moment in His presence and the 10 fights and opponents you have been shadow-boxing will suddenly disappear. Every whirlwind and storm you have been facing will stand still and you will see it for what it really is. No hype or cheap gimmicks of fear. Key: Learn the art of the secret place again. Lay there and learn to be still even when the thoughts against your mind are warring. Soon they will be silent and you will get your peace back and enter that rest. RECEIVE THE NEW WINE ORDERS FROM HEAVENS PRINT PRESS & THE NEW DOWNLOADS There is something about the posture of rest in the presence that PRODUCES. In the next few weeks, God wants to give you “new wine orders” as he told me that will be fresh off the printing press of heaven orders that have not been seen or heard yet. Generals are going to receive their new orders.. leaders are going to download the blueprints for the thing that the SPIRIT is upon. The old wineskin won’t cut it and you know it so it’s time to RECEIVE and you can’t receive unless you are postured in rest, in ENCOUNTER. This is where you lay down like Jacob at Bethel and have the dream and lay down like Samuel and get your orders and the download that will shift the course of your family, your city, and nation. Key: Fight the temptation to be busy and realize that without the fresh download you are stuck. You need the fresh thing so rest to receive it. MISSING PIECES ARE GOING TO DROP & DOTS WILL CONNECT It’s a “strengthen yourself in the Lord” moment where God takes your faithfulness to stand and multiplies it and opens the way for the ANSWER to reveal itself, the missing pieces to drop, and the needed direction to appear. There are significant COMPONENTS & TOOLS that many need right now leading into 2021 to solve dire, 11th-hour decisions. As you rest God is making sure that EVERY missing piece drops and the mess and rubble you are walking through suddenly begin to make sense. This is where what has not been connecting suddenly starts to align and where there has been fogginess and no clarity you will start to see a clearing open up before you. Key: You can’t be a piece filler, trying to fabricate the piece that fills the gap because if you do it will eventually break down. REST and let the pieces come. RELOCATIONS, MIGRATIONS, & NEW ADDRESSES God told me that addresses and new cities would suddenly be shown to people in dreams and impressions for those who have felt like the season where they have been is over but they haven’t known the next step or place to go. There are mass relocations that are going to take place in January/February as God downloads new assignments and purpose that is attached to physical locations around the world. Your kids might even dream it. You might start randomly hearing a name, but it will come! In REST you will hear your change of address! Key: Don’t stress over the details. He knows where you need to be and He will make your transition and migration seamless. THIS IS WHERE OBSTACLES ARE EXPOSED & REMOVED This is where the things HIDDEN IN DARKNESS are exposed, as we rest, and war from our worship. This is why the enemy has tried so hard to get you into the hamster wheel.. so this would be in your strength and the miracle DID NOT SHOW UP. But as you rest the brick walls and endless obstacles you have been facing will be exposed and removed. You will suddenly see the weak spot, the open door, and the ways the enemy has been robbing you.. and you will SLAM THE DOOR SHUT! As you rest God is doing a spring clean and a protective reinforcement to make sure you are going into 2021 without the foxes robbing your vineyards . Key: Be open to see where the enemy has been robbing you. Adjust and shut doors that have been affecting you. It might be people, places, or even just things, but as you discern them you will make a clean break. IN REST, THE MONKEY WILL GET OFF YOUR BACK, THE SNAKES WILL RETREAT, & YOU WILL FIND THE SOLACE YOU HAVE LONGED FOR Lastly, I heard the Lord speak about “ALTITUDE” and I heard the scriptures; “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:6 “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Revelation 4:1 God is saying that as you rest in HIM in heavenly places you will move into the altitude that snakes start to retreat and the monkey of warfare gets off your back. So many have been facing a myriad of warfare in 2020 and this is God's way of delivering you, freeing you, and healing you as you crossover. This is where you breathe in the clean and fresh air of hope and posture yourself back into the delight of the Lord where you will be able to see what is to come and be tethered once again to the glorious future ahead of you and not the dim and dark future the enemy has been prophesying. So people of God, REST! This is where it shifts. This is where the reinforcements come in. This is where the blueprints are made clear and the pathway opens up before you where you have been detailed and delayed. REST is your scepter and your powerful key so that you crossover READY & ROARING in Jesus' name!
By Nate Johnston
•
December 12, 2024
For about a month now, I keep dreaming of the Lord saying to me audibly to detox. At first, I thought it was a personal instruction from the Lord but as I’ve been dreaming more and more about this, I’ve recognized this is what the Lord is really wanting us all to focus on leading into 2025. Because we have been caught up in so much in the last 4 years that has muddied the waters of our lives and callings. There’s spiritual toxins and parasites that need to be flushed out right now. There’s been flies in the ointment that God wants to clean out. Coming to the end of this chapter for many has felt like staggering to the finish line, worn out, burnt out, disillusioned, and flat-lining. You feel depleted.. The battles of the season has been costly, and the casualty of war is that you are carrying scars and toxins you don’t quite know how to shake. The other word the Lord keeps saying to me clearly over the body of Christ is that we need to UNTANGLE. The Lord was showing me that so many in the body of Christ have become entangled in so many issues and dramas and taken on so many burdens in the last four years. They’ve become entangled to the point of bondage in many areas that God never intended for them to be. It’s stolen your gaze and focus. It’s choked the life out of you and bled you dry. This may come in the form of the wrong relationships or the wrong dynamics in relationships, or it might be areas of wrong covering or involvements. It might be where the enemy has led you on the wrong path, on a diversion, and you’re currently living in an Ishmael reality. Or it might be even spiritually, where there’s become an entanglement in your life, in disappointment, hope deferred, or even areas of compromise and addiction. These are things that are causing you to be in bondage when God wants you to be set free. As I was praying into this, I just kept seeing this clear vision of a man being untangled from grave bandages until he was completely freed. It reminded me of Lazarus coming out of the tomb and untangling himself from the grave clothes. That’s what I’m seeing right now - it’s like the body of Christ is being untangled from every single demonic entanglement that we have allowed over the years. This is what the body of Christ at large is going through right now, where God is untangling the church from so much religion, witchcraft, slander, and Jezebel oppression that has become normalized and is choking the life out of the church. This is what you and I are experiencing - the tension right now between that bondage we’ve been feeling, that intense heaviness, and the new day dawning and the realization that we can no longer keep living with the heaviness and burden we’ve been carrying. It’s choking the life out of us, and choking our voices. It’s brought so much confusion to us. But the Lord is setting us free right now. The difficulty is that many are in burnout in a time where we need make the effort to shake some things off. But there’s a struggle and a lingering defeat. You know that God’s been leading you to freedom, but there feels like there’s just not the will or the strength to lean into it. But let God shake you free right now as you simply crash land in His presence. I felt the Lord saying to begin now, leading into 2025: untangle in His presence. Get on your face. Lay on your back. And ask Him to detox and untangle you. It means surrendering to the process of being untangled, healed, and delivered. And He will do it. It means leaning into Him and allowing Him to begin to break the yokes of bondage that have placed you in a place of burden for a long time. As I was in worship last night, I kept seeing this vision of Psalm 23:5: “He anoints my head with oil. He seats me at a table in front of my enemies.” It hit me so hard because the way I was seeing it was like the Lord pouring gallons and gallons of oil upon your head. It wasn’t just a little religious smidge of oil, it was a gushing out. It was a washing. It was a cleansing like the man healed of leprosy who said “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” (Mark 1:40) It’s the oil that breaks the yoke, the fatness as Isaiah 10:27 says. I decree over you that in the next month there will be a breaking of yokes and an untangling of everything that has been holding you back. The Lord will begin to detox you from pain, from trauma, from hope deferred, from so many spiritual toxins. These toxins have been working against you, poisoning your vision, poisoning your flow, poisoning your direction, and bringing confusion will be flushed out in Jesus name and you will get a fresh wind and a deep reviving of where you have felt like you have lost yourself and died. There is so much the Lord is wanting to untangle, In fact, He gives you permission today to untangle from the noise of culture and the drama of the church and to begin focusing on His face again. As you do, you will step into 2025 with fresh vision, full of hope, joy, and purpose for what He has called you to.
By Nate Johnston
•
December 11, 2024
I will be sharing a few different words for 2025 in the next few weeks in smaller pieces that will help give language to what God is doing, where we are going, and the process we are walking out. I recognize that I see in part, and so I humbly present what I believe God is showing me for you to determine if it aligns with your inner witness and with the Word. The first word I want to share is about the global and personal impact of the season where God is dismantling and rebuilding us. DEMOLITION & THE BLANK CANVAS Have you felt the internal shaking? Growing up, my father worked in the mines, setting up the infrastructure for the mining companies and then breaking it all down once they were done and moving to a new location. We tend to think of seasons where things that once worked and no longer do, as a bad thing, but it’s simply the effects of the ark moving and the Lord breaking down the old infrastructure for the new move of His Spirit. We have felt the repercussions of this personally and globally. Over the last four years, there has been a window of mercy to let Him demolish what is no longer working. In many ways, the church has become reliant on the infrastructure of man’s methods, and the Lord, in His mercy, has allowed us to see how they no longer “mine for gold” in the way that is now available. He has allowed us to see the frailty and limitations of our own methods so we can let them go and let Him build His house. We’ve seen this in mainstream churches and ministry empires, too, where it feels like many are running on the charisma and sales tactics of man. God has been inviting them to lay everything down to follow Him. When that doesn’t happen, demolition begins. Things start to fall apart because the grace is no longer there to continue in dysfunction, compromise, or man’s agenda. “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). In the midst of what is breaking down, God is building His house. This is what we are seeing right now: the tension of two extremes. It reminds me of urban renewal - demolition alongside new construction. God is leveling strongholds and uprooting spiritual assignments that have plagued the church for too long (Jeremiah 1:10). Let me emphasize this: while it may feel messy, it’s the Lord’s mercy and His desire to see the church rebooted and rebirthed in purity. Here are the scriptures He gave me for this season: Exodus 20:25 – “If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.” The Lord is saying we can’t build anymore using our own methods and man-made tools. Leviticus 20:25 – “You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that crawls on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean.” This rebuilding involves separating the unclean from the clean. Numbers 20:25 – “Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up to Mount Hor.” This speaks of a changing of the guard and moving out of the old order. DETOXING FROM MARA/MURKY WATERS I believe the Lord is saying over the body of Christ that we have been camping around Mara, the bitter waters, for too long. We must take the body of Christ to the sweet waters. That is our responsibility because we’ve been camping in compromise, where the waters have been muddied and murky, and it’s time to leave that place. We have a responsibility to transition to the place of purity, the sweet waters. I truly believe this is a picture of the church that is no longer compromised by culture and demonic influences, which we have allowed to have a seat at the table for far too long. I believe this is part of a divine detox that the body of Christ desperately needs to move into the place God is calling us. Over the next two years, we will face critical decisions: Will we surrender to this detoxification process, or will we continue pretending the murky waters are sweet and clear when they are not? THE PERSONAL RESET The personal word I want to release over you is that the Lord is resetting you right now back to your factory settings. The season you’ve been in has been one where you’ve acquired a lot of pain, trauma, and bondage, but the Lord is unyoking you from that past season. This is a personal dismantling. The Lord, in His grace, mercy, and great love for us, dismantles us so He can rebuild us. In the natural, this process may feel cruel, like things are falling apart. But what it really is is the Lord delivering us and bringing us back into the freedom and joy that He wants us to have in our calling. Picture yourself carrying a 100kg backpack on your back, constantly bent over by its weight. That is what I believe the body of Christ, as well as many individuals, have looked like: burdened by religion, Jezebel influences, demonic lies, and witchcraft. These have weighed us down and prevented us from walking in the purity of our calling. God is leading us into a reset - a detox from all of this. Understand that much of what is happening around you right now is not the enemy. Sometimes, when doors close and you’re removed from places or relationships, it’s not the enemy. God is freeing your hand and delivering you from these weights. God is rebuilding His Church - not the bricks and mortar, but His people. He is detoxing us from the things we’ve normalized and allowed within the church. At the same time, He’s rebuilding us from the inside out. Many of you have been faithful to your calling, but you cannot continue in the same way because you’ve been burnt out, disillusioned, and frustrated. You can no longer operate on empty. God wants you in overflow. So let Him reset and rebuild you as you go into 2025! REBUILD IN THE SECRET PLACE How? You reset in the secret place and by untangling from the drama of the public place. You reset by prioritizing your heart process and preparation over trying to build prematurely. It’s a blank canvas moment. But what we build will firstly be built in secret. On our faces. In the fear of the Lord. Not in boardrooms or planning committees but from the overflow of lives dedicated to prayer and fasting. And He will inhabit the praises of His people and the train of His robe will fill the temple once again. Not of buildings but in the hearts of his laid-down lovers. It’s a time of fresh consecration and visitation. As the Lord uproots so then He plants. As he turns the page, a new day begins. So this moment is holy, and an invitation to the original call as priests unto the Lord and being the empty cup.. so He can fill us once again. This process may feel overwhelming, but I encourage you: Look beyond it. Ask the Lord to show you what to release and what to carry into the next chapter. Let this hard reset bring you back to the simplicity of the Gospel and the joy of relationship with Jesus. Embrace the refining process, knowing it’s the mercy of God preparing His bride for her finest hour. IT’S TIME FOR ACT 2 So lastly, let me make this clear - we are leaving the era of the religious institution and stepping into a return to Acts 2, or “ACT 2” as I like to think of it. In act 1 mans ways prevailed and were championed, but now in the second act, the HOLY SPIRITS ways will come back to the forefront! This is a shift from man-made systems, traditions, and programs to a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church rooted in devotion to God, unity among believers, and supernatural power. In this new era, the church will no longer rely on charisma, methods, or structures built by human hands. Instead, we will embrace the simplicity and purity of the Gospel, the centrality of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s a call to lay aside the old ways of striving and performance and step into the freedom and joy of living as a true Acts 2 community, a people united, walking in God’s power, and carrying His presence into the world. This is where we are headed. The church is being recalibrated, realigned, and rebuilt according to God’s design. The old towers of man are being replaced by the humble and lowly move of God's nameless and faceless. Let us embrace this moment and surrender fully to the process, trusting that God is leading us back to His original blueprint.
