Today’s Reading:
Genesis 28
“Never forget—I am always with you and will protect you wherever you go. And one day I will bring you back to this land, for I will neither leave you nor fail to fulfill every word I have promised you.”
Genesis 28:15 TPT
I heard the Spirit of the Living God say,
When you can’t see the road ahead, get your ducks in a row. Change is coming. When you don’t know what to do, do the things that you must do and wait for the rest to present itself. This is a steady marching toward a new chapter. I know you feel as though you’ve been blindfolded, and you want to just stop right here until the picture becomes clear. But while you feel as though you are in the dark, continue shuffling forward with those tasks that need to get done regardless of what comes next.
When Jacob awoke from his dream, he was overcome with awe and said, “Yahweh is here! He is in this place and I didn’t realize it!” Terrified and overwhelmed, he said, “How awesome is this place! I have stumbled right into the House of God! This place is a portal, the very gate of heaven!” Early in the morning, Jacob took the stone he had under his head, set it up as a pillar and anointed it by pouring oil over the top of it. He named that place Bethel; though the city was once called Luz. Then Jacob committed himself to God, saying, “If you will always be with me and protect me on this long journey, and if you give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safely to my father’s house, then Yahweh, you will be my God!”
Genesis 28:16-21 TPT
This is a get your house in order, get your ducks in a row time. I’m preparing you for change, and part of that preparation is recounting where you have been. Your past is important to your future. Your history and the history of My faithfulness is the road you need to walk upon. Take My hand, and walk forward with Me. Even shuffle forward, because you can’t see. I will keep your feet from stumbling, and I will soon open new vistas before you. Right now, be faithful with what I have put in your hand. The holding place is giving you the time and space you need to prepare your heart and your life for what’s next.
See! I have set up this sacred stone pillar and it will be your house, God. I promise to set aside a tenth of all that you give me as my gift to you.
Genesis 28:22 TPT
Allow yourself to take joy in the review of My faithfulness as you take the steps to get your life in order, prepared and trimmed down for what is coming. Delight in My Presence as you tidy things up and recall moments upon moments upon moments when I have seen you through difficulties, challenges and pain. Allow those moments to come back to remembrance, and let them be stakes in the ground or memorials to which you can return. Just as Jacob did, you can build an altar in your history to which you can return, and when you go back there, you can say with unwavering conviction, this is a place where I met the Lord.
This is a time to be reflective even as you attempt to look ahead, even as you attempt to shuffle forward in obedience — because your history is vitally important to your future. When the path opens clearly before you, you will see that your history is what marked out the path this whole way to get you there. Nothing wasted, nothing lost.
How to Respond
- Use this time in between chapters to do the work that needs to get done regardless of what comes next.
- Take time to go through old journals or pictures and recount the faithfulness of the Lord in your life.
- Pray, Holy Spirit help me to not rush ahead. Help me to be faithful in the close out work of this season. Help me to carve out time to sit with You and remember Your great faithfulness to me. You can see the big picture of my life. You know where I have been and where You taking me. Help me to rest in the confidence that You are with me, and You’ve never let me down. Help me to see the signs for what is next as You bring them into view.
- Declare, great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I hath needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
- Decree, I will do the work the Lord has put in my hand to do now. I will get my house in order and my ducks in a row, so I can move forward fully prepared when the Lord opens the new chapter in front of me. I will not stubbornly stay here until the full picture emerges. I will shuffle forward on the Lord’s arm — even in the dark as He moves me forward to the place I can’t yet see.
For more encouragement from The Glory & the New Wine, check out the post from this day in years past:
2023: Days of the Lord’s Obvious Victory
2022: A Word for Archbishop Vigano; the Stirring of Truth and Freedom in the Nations
2021: Stand Firm and Watch the Move of the Lord
