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Nate Johnston

YOUR PROMOTION IN THE MIDST OF WARFARE

Nate Johnston

YOUR PROMOTION IN THE MIDST OF WARFARE

YOUR PROMOTION IN THE MIDST OF WARFARE

(This is part of Chapter 12 of Letters to the Pioneers released late last week)


Earlier in the week, as I was praying, I kept seeing this vision of people with targets that were painted on their backs, and they were unaware, and they had these huge sickle-type instruments in their hands, and they were creating paths and slashing through the scrub and bush of untouched terrain.


And I saw these barriers or fences they were coming up to, and I was like, "Who are these people?" And in my spirit, I instantly discerned these are the pioneers who are paving new paths for the kingdom of God.


The reason the target was on their backs was because they were coming up to significant thresholds in the spirit realm that they didn't understand, and the enemy had painted targets on their backs because he was threatened.

They were coming up to significant cultural and social thresholds. Their pioneering had been so significantly successful, but they had no idea.


I looked at their faces, and they were oblivious to what they'd accomplished in the spirit. They were oblivious to what they'd built that was so significant, and they were oblivious to just how powerful and advancing their work for the kingdom of God had been because they were feeling the pain of the arrows that were flying and hitting their backs constantly.


It was the words of slander, judgment, and misrepresentation of their character. It was taking them out.


It was causing them to stop and not keep plowing ahead. It was causing them to feel like God had abandoned them. They were saying “God, why would you allow people to do what they're doing towards us? Why would you allow this land to continue? Why would you allow those circumstances to keep swirling around us?”


But God hasn't abandoned you. This is the call that you're anointed for. This is the task that you are anointed for.


THE IMPASSE


Guaranteed if you ever come up to a threshold in the spirit in your pioneering journey, you will face resistance.


You'll face the sudden onslaught of territorial spirits trying to prevent you from breaking through into new ground for the sake of the kingdom.


Over the years, I've seen the same pattern happen over and over again, where I'm pioneering semi-peacefully with a little bit of warfare here and there. Suddenly, I come up to a place that feels like some barrier in the spirit that I know I need to push through, and I can sense the victory on the other side.


Everything inside me knows I must become a battering ram and break through to the other side. But then, in a moment, I'm hit on every angle.


Suddenly, things are happening in my family: health, finances, strife, division, fires erupting everywhere around me, and I suddenly feel too weak to push forward.


Many times, discouragement has set in, and I want to sit where I am and not move forward anymore.


Does this sound familiar to your journey?


But now, knowing what we know, these moments are critical for us to push forward into, not just for the sake of the kingdom but for the sake of finalizing that pioneering chapter that we'd been through.


Unfortunately, we tend to repeat chapters over and over instead of completing them, finding ourselves going around the same mountain of warfare and facing those same familiar territorial spirits over and over, never feeling any more victorious.


But I'm here to tell you today that those days are over. It is time to push through and break to the other side of our pioneering journey. It is time for us to enter the next chapter to experience new realms of authority and blessing and favor that God has for us.



IT ONLY PULLS BACK THE BOW


Opposition, when you are building and forging something new, is not only expected, but it's actually part of the process.


Let me say that again. Pioneers, opposition is a part of the process.


God doesn't orchestrate it. He doesn't design it. He doesn't send it, but he will use it for your benefit and for your favor if you allow him to do so.


If we allow it, opposition in the midst of pioneering will actually advance us into realms of favor that we could not ever have imagined.


“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD” Isaiah 54:17


God uses the things that the enemy sends against you to bless you. It is the pulling back of the bow. It feels like a decrease. It feels like a demotion, but it actually sends us into new realms of favor and blessing that we could not have experienced if that bow had not been pulled back.


And what happens when the Bow is pulled back? The arrow is sent further and farther and is able to hit its mark with more precision and force than it could have without that opposition.

I think its important for me to use the analogy of a bow because the arrows that the enemy sends at us only become the same weapons we use back. Does that make sense?


They are the same arsenal that we use to advance the kingdom of God. Do not be afraid of those arrows, for right now. The Lord is plucking them out of your back, and he's placing them in your quiver for war.


He's removing the trauma, the wounds that have been sustained by them, healing them, and putting those arrows in your hands, the same ones that wounded you as arrows sent to be placed In your bow to hit the mark.


So pioneers, don’t count yourself out just because you are battered and weary from your pioneering journey. Don't think that this is the end. You just haven't seen that hammer yet. You just haven't seen that weapon that God's forged for you yet, but he's picking it up, and he's wielding it, and he's ready to take out your enemies before you.


PROMOTION LOOKS LIKE THIS


Over the years, I've noticed a trend. When I'm getting close to a breakthrough and about to step into a new level of authority, anointing, and favor, the enemy sends people in droves to slander me, curse me, troll me, and bombard me on all sides with lies from the pit of hell. It used to shake me, but now it just gets me excited cos I've been here before, and this is what PROMOTION looks like!


Yes, over the years, I've been at this place many, many times before, and I've seen the same patterns emerging in the spirit realm. I've seen the same chaos trying to ensue my family. I've seen sickness trying to rear its head, financial decay, discouragement, defeat, weariness, and then a sudden onslaught of slander and character assassination. It's when you are already down, but the boot gets kicked in even deeper. Ouch.


I know this pattern. I know what it's about. Its when the enemy is screaming over and over, "Demotion, demotion, demotion. You have failed!”


But I want to tell you today what it really means: It’s the Lord saying over you “Promotion, promotion, promotion!"


This is the sign that you are entering into a promotion season, not a demotion season.


Let me share one last story with you. In 2022, when we were stuck back in Australia, everything felt like it was falling apart. I remember being in my car one day, and I remember yelling out to the Lord, “What am I doing here in Australia? My assignment isn't here! God, I feel like I'm floundering!”


Only two days later, I received an email to my inbox spouting the same words that I'd said to the Lord and using them as a demonic confirmation that I was right.


This man wrote all these curses against us, told us we'd failed, and then said, “haha, you're back in Australia floundering!”


At first, my heart felt crushed, realizing maybe I had failed. Maybe this person was right. Had I disobeyed God, what was going on? And the Lord began to speak to my spirit and said, “No son, that is not from me. Stand firm and watch what I'm about to do!”


Only three months later, our visas were approved, and we started to plan to come back to America. And here we are.


Yes, I've seen this pattern time and time again. I've seen the word wars; I've seen the enemies games. I've seen the rising up of witches in my inbox, cursing us, judging us, trying to limit us, hex us, but all of it always falls to the ground.

I've been through the seasons of deep betrayal and the heartbreak of walking through family members forming a resistance against us.


But when you stay at the feet of Jesus, he turns it around, and he turns it all into your blessing.

Let me say that again. When you stay at the feet of Jesus, all of it is disarmed, and he uses it to increase you.


In fact, all of those words fall to the ground like dust, and then God uses them as mortar in between the bricks of the thing that you are building for him.


Is that not an amazing revelation? That He uses those arrows and turns them into your weaponry or into dust that you use as mortar for what you are building for him?


Be encouraged, pioneers. This may be a place you have to pass through, but it's not a place that you stay.


"For every warrior boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire" Isaiah 9:5


A TABLE PREPARED BEFORE YOUR ENEMIES


Yes, pioneers, don’t be moved or intimidated. This is where the Father anoints you in front of those who can't stand the glory on your life.

This is where He honors you amidst the trials of dishonor, and he exonerates you in front of the Pharisees.


You are His prize and possession. The apple of his eye.


What He blesses can't be cursed. What God sets apart can't be broken apart.


"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows" Psalms 23:5


PROPHESYING INCREASE & PROMOTION OVER YOU!


Now I hear the Lord speaking this over you “Don’t be dismayed or discouraged people of God, for I am not going to let you decrease or fall into the pit. For the enemy is like a lion pacing around you right now and speaking his lies over you but his words are false! I am not decreasing you but leading you into a season of increase and promotion! I am leading you out of robbery and into a RECOVER ALL season!” Says the Lord.


Sow a seed

RELATED prophetic WORDS:

RELATED prophetic WORDS:

Pioneers, I Keep Hearing: “Begin Unusual”

By Nate Johnston • January 29, 2025
Over this last month, as I’ve been off social media, the Lord has been highlighting a profound yet simple instruction for 2025 and beyond. This is something He has spoken to me personally, but I know it applies to many others who have felt a deep reverence stepping into 2025. There has been a real fear of the Lord regarding what we are meant to do, what we are meant to be involved in, and how we are to advance His kingdom. It feels as though, especially over the last six months, the Lord has been shifting our appetites and affections, down to our appetites and desires. He has been prompting us to redefine and even question what we have been doing in the past and what we are called to do moving forward. It feels like the Lord is making a very loud statement to us - begin to build unusual! As pioneers, what we step into in 2025 must be a brand-new blueprint. It is as though we have come to the end of the last map. We had to write it, plot it, and walk into the unknown to discover it. But now, that map is complete. We have walked the path we were meant to walk. And now, stepping into 2025, the Lord is handing us a blank slate, a new parchment and a pen to begin charting a new course. This means stepping into something that has never been done before. It means forging a path that has not yet been paved. But it is impossible to step into the new while still clinging to the old instructions, methods, and mindsets of our last pioneering journey. What needs to happen now is a grand departure. That is why your affections have changed. That is why your appetites have shifted. That is why you have felt an unusual discontent watching what others are doing. It is not that those things are wrong; rather, the Lord places that discontent in us when He is calling us to detour from familiar paths and step into our own unique journey. In 2014, Christy and I felt this pull deeply. At the time, we were involved in a church where I was serving as a worship pastor and we both began to sense that if we didn’t step into what God was calling us to, we would be forfeiting a decade of our lives. We knew that if we ignored the call, we would be stuck going around the same mountain, doing what everyone else was doing instead of what God had placed on our lives. The Lord was asking us, “Are you willing to feel uncomfortable for a season to step into the destiny upon your life?” I can tell you, it was a deeply uncomfortable season of leaving behind the familiar. We had to burn the oxen and the plow and be okay with being misunderstood. Yet now, ten years later, we are reaping the fruit of that obedience. We chose the unfamiliar, the unpopular. We took hold of the blank parchment and began to etch out the revelation of the Lord, taking daily steps of obedience. That journey has now formed a map for many others to follow. And I believe we are at that same moment again. I know many pioneers reading this are asking, “What is my next step? Why do I feel lost? Why does nothing seem to be coming together? Why do I feel the pull to leave this, to walk away from that, to not do what others expect me to do?” It is because the Lord has called you for seasons, not to be a lone ranger, not to be isolated, but to walk in the grace He has given you for the unusual. You are called to step into the unfamiliar, to embrace the unknown, to pioneer a new language and build an infrastructure that no one else is building. Right now, God is redirecting many. It reminds me of the Macedonian call, when they were set to go in one direction, but God gave them a dream and redirected them elsewhere. In the same way, God is now releasing mass revelation to His pioneers. He is sounding a clarion call: “You cannot follow the same path as before” There is a temptation to fall into complacency because it is comfortable. It is easy to think, “God, I’ve paid my dues. I can settle into ease now.” But the Lord is saying, “I have not called you to ease. Ground does not break beneath your feet through comfort. I have placed a sledgehammer in your hands to break the hardest of ground. And as you break that ground, what has been hidden and concealed will begin to erupt.” Wells need to be uncapped and YOU are called to do this in cities and regions that are blocked. We are in a season where the nations are ripe, but the ground must be tilled to prepare for the harvest. So, pioneers, my word for you today is this: Lean into the unusual. Do not do what everyone else is doing. Do not fall into the trap of continuing with the same religious or ministry endeavors simply because they are familiar. Step into the unusual. There is a grace and anointing upon the unusual. There is a grace and anointing upon that which is organic and grassroots in this season. You do not need the masses. You do not need widespread approval from people. You simply need the yes of the Lord. Step into what may not make sense to others, because in heaven, it makes perfect sense. This is your call. 

CALLING OUT TO DRY BONES - COME ALIVE!

By Nate Johnston • January 28, 2025
As we begin the week, I have a word for you. God is resetting our circuit boards and rewiring areas of our lives that aren’t visible on the exterior or sometimes even apparent. Do you feel it? It’s been happening for months now. He is working behind the scenes, doing a deep work right now to get us back on track and declutter many, many years of loose wiring and heavy burdens in our lives. This is where our journeys lead us through unexpected roads, terrain, and difficulties that scatter us and these challenges bring in external influences and distractions that slowly rob us. Think, for instance, about a jug with a pinhole in it. Over time, the jug leaks water until it’s depleted. If it’s not refilled constantly, it requires more and more input to sustain it. I believe many people have been like that leaky jug, slowly losing themselves over time. Right now, the Lord is repairing those small holes, those small fractures and areas of our lives. This work has been ongoing for many months. I even wrote about this in October, November, and December, but I felt led to encourage you again: God is at work. However, if we misdiagnose this process as the enemy’s doing, asking, “Why am I feeling this way? Why are these things coming to the surface? Why does it feel like I have so many issues right now?” We will miss it. God is healing you. He is setting you free. God really wants you whole in this season. This reminds me of how, as a father, when my kids get hurt playing a sport, I want to see them patched up and healed before they head back out onto the field. It feels the same way with God. He wants you completely restored and ready, with the capacity to embrace the amazing things He has for you in this season. But if you’re still running with the mindsets of the last season - empty, soul-sick, or hope-deferred, it will create issues down the road. This morning, I woke up in our new house here in California and discovered a fuse issue. The bottom part of the house wasn’t receiving power. Instantly, I went to the circuit board and flipped the switch for the circuit that wasn’t working and nothing happened. I tried again, but it just kept flipping back. Normally, this is the fix for a tripped fuse. That’s when I realized I needed to reset the entire house. Once I reset the main circuit, the power came back for the whole house, fixing the issue. This reminded me of how God sometimes needs to do a hard reset of our internal wiring, our hearts, and our souls . Every area of our lives needs resetting so we can function properly and the power can turn back on. What does the power represent? It represents the power of God and the Holy Spirit working mightily in our hearts and lives. This process requires us to lean in and surrender to the rewiring. Here are three areas I feel the lord asking us to do this in right now; Our Assignments: God is asking us to surrender the work we are doing for Him. It feels like a holy moment, a new chapter, where He is asking: “What’s in your hands? Are you going to keep doing what you’ve always done, reaping the same results? Or are you willing to surrender it to me, empty your hands, and let me place in them what is needed for this season?” This is a time to step back and evaluate if what we are doing is truly aligned with His plan or if we’re holding on to outdated assignments. Surrender your work, your ministry, and your efforts to Him so He can give you the clarity and provision you need. Our Relationships: God says, “Give me your relationships, your connections, and the people you’re running with. Empty yourself and allow me to put the right people and alignments in your life.” Some relationships may no longer be fruitful for the season you are stepping into. Trust God to realign your community and partnerships, placing the right people in your path. Be willing to let go of unhealthy ties or connections that are holding you back, and allow Him to bring new relationships that will propel you forward. Our Dreams: What dreams, desires, or expectations are you clinging to? Are you willing to release them to God? Enter the secret place, lay them before Him, and allow Him to give you what is truly necessary for this season. Some of the dreams we hold onto may be good but not God’s best for us or the right timing. Others may need refining or replacing. Surrender your ambitions and plans to the Lord, and let Him give you fresh vision and purpose. God is also restoring childlike joy and adventure in this season. As I voice-record this, I see a picture of a child laughing with their father. This child is filled with joy and delight, eagerly participating in the father’s work. I believe God wants to restore that childlike faith and joy to us, something the enemy has robbed from many of us. In recent years, so many pioneers have lost their joy, fire, and fight. They’ve been running on empty. Now, in 2025, God is beginning to fill us with fresh vision. But even with fresh vision, without the power supply to sustain it, it won’t come to fruition. God can give us building plans, but without the power to execute them, they will fail. Right now, God is recalibrating us back to our original factory settings. This morning, I was led to the story of Peter, who denied Jesus three times. After Jesus died, Peter went back to his fishing boat. In a powerful moment of restoration, Peter, still carrying the weight of guilt, ran to the shore when he realized it was Jesus. Jesus asked him three times, “Do you love me?” and instructed him to feed His sheep. This moment not only overwrote Peter’s denial but also brought deep soul and heart healing, restoring him to his original mission. Can you see how this is happening right now both personally and also corporately in the church? It’s the Lord loudly pleading “Come back to your first love! Be made whole!” As I say this, I feel led to declare: Dry bones, come alive! You migh t feel like those dry bones in the valley, scattered, lifeless, and forgotten. But hear the word of the Lord: The breath of God is coming upon you. He is breathing life into your weary soul and raising you up to stand as a mighty army. Just as Ezekiel prophesied to the dry bones and they came together, bone to bone, God is knitting you back together. He’s covering you with tendons, flesh, and skin and filling you with His Spirit. You will no longer live in the valley of despair or feel abandoned in the shadow of death. The Lord is calling you out of darkness, out of hopelessness, and into the fullness of life. You may feel like you’ve been lying in a grave, hidden, forgotten, and lifeless, but the Lord is saying, “Come out! I am not done with you.” He is restoring your strength, renewing your vision, and filling you with a fresh wind of His Spirit. This is a moment of awakening. The things that felt dead, the dreams that seemed lost, and the purposes that seemed unreachable are being revived. The Lord is calling you to rise up. No longer will you carry the weight of shame, guilt, or defeat. No longer will the enemy hold you captive in the graveyard of past seasons. The Lord is saying, “Stand to your feet! Mighty ones, it’s time to live again.” He is placing His Spirit within you, empowering you for the days ahead. Get ready for new assignments, fresh alignments, and the fulfillment of God’s promises. The dry bones are coming alive. This is your season of restoration, renewal, and revival in Jesus name! 

Pioneers, I Keep Hearing: “Begin Unusual”

By Nate Johnston • January 29, 2025
Over this last month, as I’ve been off social media, the Lord has been highlighting a profound yet simple instruction for 2025 and beyond. This is something He has spoken to me personally, but I know it applies to many others who have felt a deep reverence stepping into 2025. There has been a real fear of the Lord regarding what we are meant to do, what we are meant to be involved in, and how we are to advance His kingdom. It feels as though, especially over the last six months, the Lord has been shifting our appetites and affections, down to our appetites and desires. He has been prompting us to redefine and even question what we have been doing in the past and what we are called to do moving forward. It feels like the Lord is making a very loud statement to us - begin to build unusual! As pioneers, what we step into in 2025 must be a brand-new blueprint. It is as though we have come to the end of the last map. We had to write it, plot it, and walk into the unknown to discover it. But now, that map is complete. We have walked the path we were meant to walk. And now, stepping into 2025, the Lord is handing us a blank slate, a new parchment and a pen to begin charting a new course. This means stepping into something that has never been done before. It means forging a path that has not yet been paved. But it is impossible to step into the new while still clinging to the old instructions, methods, and mindsets of our last pioneering journey. What needs to happen now is a grand departure. That is why your affections have changed. That is why your appetites have shifted. That is why you have felt an unusual discontent watching what others are doing. It is not that those things are wrong; rather, the Lord places that discontent in us when He is calling us to detour from familiar paths and step into our own unique journey. In 2014, Christy and I felt this pull deeply. At the time, we were involved in a church where I was serving as a worship pastor and we both began to sense that if we didn’t step into what God was calling us to, we would be forfeiting a decade of our lives. We knew that if we ignored the call, we would be stuck going around the same mountain, doing what everyone else was doing instead of what God had placed on our lives. The Lord was asking us, “Are you willing to feel uncomfortable for a season to step into the destiny upon your life?” I can tell you, it was a deeply uncomfortable season of leaving behind the familiar. We had to burn the oxen and the plow and be okay with being misunderstood. Yet now, ten years later, we are reaping the fruit of that obedience. We chose the unfamiliar, the unpopular. We took hold of the blank parchment and began to etch out the revelation of the Lord, taking daily steps of obedience. That journey has now formed a map for many others to follow. And I believe we are at that same moment again. I know many pioneers reading this are asking, “What is my next step? Why do I feel lost? Why does nothing seem to be coming together? Why do I feel the pull to leave this, to walk away from that, to not do what others expect me to do?” It is because the Lord has called you for seasons, not to be a lone ranger, not to be isolated, but to walk in the grace He has given you for the unusual. You are called to step into the unfamiliar, to embrace the unknown, to pioneer a new language and build an infrastructure that no one else is building. Right now, God is redirecting many. It reminds me of the Macedonian call, when they were set to go in one direction, but God gave them a dream and redirected them elsewhere. In the same way, God is now releasing mass revelation to His pioneers. He is sounding a clarion call: “You cannot follow the same path as before” There is a temptation to fall into complacency because it is comfortable. It is easy to think, “God, I’ve paid my dues. I can settle into ease now.” But the Lord is saying, “I have not called you to ease. Ground does not break beneath your feet through comfort. I have placed a sledgehammer in your hands to break the hardest of ground. And as you break that ground, what has been hidden and concealed will begin to erupt.” Wells need to be uncapped and YOU are called to do this in cities and regions that are blocked. We are in a season where the nations are ripe, but the ground must be tilled to prepare for the harvest. So, pioneers, my word for you today is this: Lean into the unusual. Do not do what everyone else is doing. Do not fall into the trap of continuing with the same religious or ministry endeavors simply because they are familiar. Step into the unusual. There is a grace and anointing upon the unusual. There is a grace and anointing upon that which is organic and grassroots in this season. You do not need the masses. You do not need widespread approval from people. You simply need the yes of the Lord. Step into what may not make sense to others, because in heaven, it makes perfect sense. This is your call. 

CALLING OUT TO DRY BONES - COME ALIVE!

By Nate Johnston • January 28, 2025
As we begin the week, I have a word for you. God is resetting our circuit boards and rewiring areas of our lives that aren’t visible on the exterior or sometimes even apparent. Do you feel it? It’s been happening for months now. He is working behind the scenes, doing a deep work right now to get us back on track and declutter many, many years of loose wiring and heavy burdens in our lives. This is where our journeys lead us through unexpected roads, terrain, and difficulties that scatter us and these challenges bring in external influences and distractions that slowly rob us. Think, for instance, about a jug with a pinhole in it. Over time, the jug leaks water until it’s depleted. If it’s not refilled constantly, it requires more and more input to sustain it. I believe many people have been like that leaky jug, slowly losing themselves over time. Right now, the Lord is repairing those small holes, those small fractures and areas of our lives. This work has been ongoing for many months. I even wrote about this in October, November, and December, but I felt led to encourage you again: God is at work. However, if we misdiagnose this process as the enemy’s doing, asking, “Why am I feeling this way? Why are these things coming to the surface? Why does it feel like I have so many issues right now?” We will miss it. God is healing you. He is setting you free. God really wants you whole in this season. This reminds me of how, as a father, when my kids get hurt playing a sport, I want to see them patched up and healed before they head back out onto the field. It feels the same way with God. He wants you completely restored and ready, with the capacity to embrace the amazing things He has for you in this season. But if you’re still running with the mindsets of the last season - empty, soul-sick, or hope-deferred, it will create issues down the road. This morning, I woke up in our new house here in California and discovered a fuse issue. The bottom part of the house wasn’t receiving power. Instantly, I went to the circuit board and flipped the switch for the circuit that wasn’t working and nothing happened. I tried again, but it just kept flipping back. Normally, this is the fix for a tripped fuse. That’s when I realized I needed to reset the entire house. Once I reset the main circuit, the power came back for the whole house, fixing the issue. This reminded me of how God sometimes needs to do a hard reset of our internal wiring, our hearts, and our souls . Every area of our lives needs resetting so we can function properly and the power can turn back on. What does the power represent? It represents the power of God and the Holy Spirit working mightily in our hearts and lives. This process requires us to lean in and surrender to the rewiring. Here are three areas I feel the lord asking us to do this in right now; Our Assignments: God is asking us to surrender the work we are doing for Him. It feels like a holy moment, a new chapter, where He is asking: “What’s in your hands? Are you going to keep doing what you’ve always done, reaping the same results? Or are you willing to surrender it to me, empty your hands, and let me place in them what is needed for this season?” This is a time to step back and evaluate if what we are doing is truly aligned with His plan or if we’re holding on to outdated assignments. Surrender your work, your ministry, and your efforts to Him so He can give you the clarity and provision you need. Our Relationships: God says, “Give me your relationships, your connections, and the people you’re running with. Empty yourself and allow me to put the right people and alignments in your life.” Some relationships may no longer be fruitful for the season you are stepping into. Trust God to realign your community and partnerships, placing the right people in your path. Be willing to let go of unhealthy ties or connections that are holding you back, and allow Him to bring new relationships that will propel you forward. Our Dreams: What dreams, desires, or expectations are you clinging to? Are you willing to release them to God? Enter the secret place, lay them before Him, and allow Him to give you what is truly necessary for this season. Some of the dreams we hold onto may be good but not God’s best for us or the right timing. Others may need refining or replacing. Surrender your ambitions and plans to the Lord, and let Him give you fresh vision and purpose. God is also restoring childlike joy and adventure in this season. As I voice-record this, I see a picture of a child laughing with their father. This child is filled with joy and delight, eagerly participating in the father’s work. I believe God wants to restore that childlike faith and joy to us, something the enemy has robbed from many of us. In recent years, so many pioneers have lost their joy, fire, and fight. They’ve been running on empty. Now, in 2025, God is beginning to fill us with fresh vision. But even with fresh vision, without the power supply to sustain it, it won’t come to fruition. God can give us building plans, but without the power to execute them, they will fail. Right now, God is recalibrating us back to our original factory settings. This morning, I was led to the story of Peter, who denied Jesus three times. After Jesus died, Peter went back to his fishing boat. In a powerful moment of restoration, Peter, still carrying the weight of guilt, ran to the shore when he realized it was Jesus. Jesus asked him three times, “Do you love me?” and instructed him to feed His sheep. This moment not only overwrote Peter’s denial but also brought deep soul and heart healing, restoring him to his original mission. Can you see how this is happening right now both personally and also corporately in the church? It’s the Lord loudly pleading “Come back to your first love! Be made whole!” As I say this, I feel led to declare: Dry bones, come alive! You migh t feel like those dry bones in the valley, scattered, lifeless, and forgotten. But hear the word of the Lord: The breath of God is coming upon you. He is breathing life into your weary soul and raising you up to stand as a mighty army. Just as Ezekiel prophesied to the dry bones and they came together, bone to bone, God is knitting you back together. He’s covering you with tendons, flesh, and skin and filling you with His Spirit. You will no longer live in the valley of despair or feel abandoned in the shadow of death. The Lord is calling you out of darkness, out of hopelessness, and into the fullness of life. You may feel like you’ve been lying in a grave, hidden, forgotten, and lifeless, but the Lord is saying, “Come out! I am not done with you.” He is restoring your strength, renewing your vision, and filling you with a fresh wind of His Spirit. This is a moment of awakening. The things that felt dead, the dreams that seemed lost, and the purposes that seemed unreachable are being revived. The Lord is calling you to rise up. No longer will you carry the weight of shame, guilt, or defeat. No longer will the enemy hold you captive in the graveyard of past seasons. The Lord is saying, “Stand to your feet! Mighty ones, it’s time to live again.” He is placing His Spirit within you, empowering you for the days ahead. Get ready for new assignments, fresh alignments, and the fulfillment of God’s promises. The dry bones are coming alive. This is your season of restoration, renewal, and revival in Jesus name! 

A WORD FOR ACTS 2 FAMILIES!

By Nate Johnston • January 24, 2025
I have a word of encouragement for those of you in seasons of movement and transition, as our family is right now. I call us all the Acts 2 families! What are acts 2 families? Families who have given God their complete yes to go where He has called them despite the COST and UNKNOWN. Families commissioned in this new day to lead the church back to the original blueprint. I feel to say to you: Acts 2 families, assemble! Step out of the funk of the past season! Get your focus back! I know you are in a season of massive change, transition, and even many changing locations, missions and so much more...but God is mightily at work right now! 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 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. I kept hearing this scripture over you this morning; “and provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor” Watch what God does in this season.. so shake off the dust because it’s going to be glorious! 

PUT YOUR EAR TO THE GROUND

By Nate Johnston • January 23, 2025
Put your ear to the ground. What do you hear? Do you hear the sound of wild horses galloping in the distance? Horses that were once lame and bedridden, without strength, when suddenly a fresh wind came upon them causing them to muster themselves for a new hour? Striking their hooves down into the dust as each strike stirred up fresh vigor and strength and breaking off past yokes and bridles? Can you hear it? Can you hear the sound of rain in the desert places? It is beginning to touch down on the parched lands and nations that have been in drought for years. It is beginning to form heavy rainclouds as the curse that has been spread over nations is beginning to break. The reproach that has been hanging over nations is beginning to roll back as a mighty thunderous roar of freedom trumpets forth over the land. Can you hear it? Can you hear the sound of a voiceless and canceled breaking off their muzzles, beginning to shout into the night, knowing that a new day is dawning before them? Their years of being hidden, broken, and battered are coming to an end. Can you hear the sound of the blood crying out in the land, the injustices that have lingered and tarried? Can you hear the sound of the blood of the Lamb beginning to fall over the places of deepest pain and injustice as God brings the earth into an era of restoration and recompense? Can you hear the sound of the bowls of the intercessors and the tears of the saints beginning to tip over into the earth, into places where, for so long, evil has endured and people have thought that God has been silent? Yet, the bowls have tipped, and fresh new life is beginning to bud forth. The new day is dawning over nations and peoples, but you’ll only hear the sound if you’re blocking out the noise of the hour. The sound of the righteous mob, the Pharisees and their screams in the streets. The whitewashed tombs in their vendettas and plots. The Sanballats and those that would try to tear down but never build. Those who point their finger but never deal with the turmoil and bitterness raging within their own soul. It’s the sound of the accuser creating his own storm when the real rain is coming. The counterfeit shouting and screaming and thundering in a time where the rain we have prayed and longed for has come. And God is looking for a people who would look to the rain clouds and begin to declare that the drought is over. Can you hear the sound? Or have you forgotten what He sounds like in the chaos? Put your ear to the ground and you’ll hear it. It’s the sound of a mighty move of God that has come on the back of so much heartache and so much pain. The fires that have raged, the desolation that has endured, but God has answered. And now He’s asking you, what shall you partner with in this hour? Will you partner with what I am doing in the earth? Or will you partner with the noise of the hour? Will you partner with the accuser of the brethren, or will you partner with Me? Will you put your ear to the ground and begin to shout out: I hear it. I hear it. I hear it. I hear it, until you begin to see it and yell out: I see it. I see it. I see it. I see it. And then you pick up your mat, leave your sick bed, and walk again. For the Lord says over you today, I am giving you new eyes to see and ears to hear. Put your ear to the ground. Lay down in the dust, mighty one, and hear for the deaf and see for the blind, for I’ve called you to be a bell ringer of a new day. Hear ye, hear ye, O herald of revival, for you shall speak forth what I’m doing, and it shall catch like wildfire in the nations. 
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