Today’s Reading:
Isaiah 45
Matthew 5
I will strengthen you for victory, even though you do not intimately know who I am. Yet through you everyone will know who I really am. Those from the rising sun in the east to the west, everyone everywhere will know that I am Yahweh, the one and only God, and there is no other. I create light, and I make it dark. I make bliss, and I create adversity. I am Yahweh who does all these things.’ “Shower down righteousness, O heavens above. Let the clouds drip with deliverance! Let earth’s womb open and bear salvation’s fruit, with righteousness rising up beside it! I, Yahweh, have created all of them!”
Isaiah 45:45-8 TPT
I heard the Spirit of the Living God of Truth and Righteousness say,
Truth is lying in the shadows, but I Am bringing it out of the shadows, out from behind closed doors, out of elite homes and onto the main stage. Both the beautiful truth and the horrific truth will no longer be hidden, swept aside or locked down from public view. And your right response its to worship through it. Cry. Be horrified, repent on behalf of a very asleep and apathetic nation who has let evil go unchecked. But worship through it. I will be your anchor. I will sustain you, and I deserve your praise in the midst of your deep sorrow. In the midst of regret, in the midst of horrors unspeakable, I deserve your attention, your honor and your praise.
One day Jesus saw a vast crowd of people gathering to hear him, so he went up the slope of a hill and sat down. With his followers and disciples spread over the hillside, Jesus began to teach them:
Matthew 5:1-12 TPT
“What happiness comes to you when you feel your spiritual poverty! For yours is the realm of heaven’s kingdom.”
“What delight comes to you when you wait upon the Lord! For you will find what you long for. “
“What blessing comes to you when gentleness lives in you! For you will inherit the earth.”
“How enriched you are when you crave righteousness! For you will be satisfied.”
“How blessed you are when you demonstrate tender mercy! For tender mercy will be demonstrated to you.”
“What bliss you experience when your heart is pure! For then your eyes will open to see more and more of God.”
“How joyful you are when you make peace! For then you will be recognized as a true child of God.”
“How enriched you are when persecuted for doing what is right! For then you experience the realm of heaven’s kingdom.”
“How blessed you are when people insult and persecute you and speak all kinds of cruel lies about you because of your love for me! So leap for joy—since your heavenly reward is great. For you are being rejected the same way the prophets were before you.”
Don’t miss this opportunity to praise Me through the storm. Though it will seem like a muddy avalanche of sewerage, I will make it a cleansing storm. I will bring the cleansing rain. I will bring the grace to release and to forgive. You will never forget. But I will bring the grace to forgive and to release, and this shared revelation of the horrific truth will return humanity to the fabric of your society. It will return a deep desire for community, for connection that is real and personal and tangible. False and shallow interest in the lives and suffering of others will not do. It will not be on your grid any longer. You will understand deeply that I made you for community — to uphold one another, to carry one another’s burdens, to hold one another accountable and to a standard of light and godliness. The family and the community has broken down, but I will restore it. You will see and feel and understand and finally know that you are your brother’s keeper.
“Your lives are like salt among the people. But if you, like salt, become bland, how can your ‘saltiness’ be restored? Flavorless salt is good for nothing and will be thrown out and trampled on by others. Your lives light up the world. For how can you hide a city that stands on a hilltop? And who would light a lamp and then hide it in an obscure place? Instead, it’s placed where everyone in the house can benefit from its light. So don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others, so that your commendable works will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their praise to your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:13-16 TPT
Light reaches into the darkness, and you will come to understand that you can always do that before it gets darker. This is a lesson for My faithful ones. This is a lesson for the activated true Church. It’s past time to discard distractions and let go of petty differences and preferences. It’s time to truly be the Church. It’s time to truly love one another, help one another, support one another and be present for one another. The unveiling of all kinds of truth will mark you with this charge and responsibility. Gone are the days of the passive Church.
How to Respond
- Be anchored deeply in the Word of God. We are walking into a very dark time of revealing.
- Pray, Holy Spirit I can’t do anything without You. Speak to me. Encourage me. Give me wisdom, discernment, understanding and the strength to walk through this exceedingly dark time. Help me to perceive Your Presence and Your voice. Shut my ears to the voice of the enemy, and help me to sing and worship through all that I see and learn. Come what may, I want to be found faithful to You — not missing an opportunity to worship Your Holy Name.
- Declare, the Lord’s ways are higher than my ways. And His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. I would have despaired unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. The Lord is my refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. He is my salvation and my shield, whom or what shall I fear?
- Decree, I will be faithful to walk with the Lord. Wherever He leads I will follow. I will not hide my eyes from the suffering of others. I will open my heart and eyes with the compassion of the Lord. I will worship through every phase of the revealing of tremendous evil and wickedness. I will keep my eyes and my heart firmly established on the goodness of the Lord through the exposure. I will remain anchored to the Lord my God, come what may. And I will receive His cleansing rain that brings the grace to forgive and release all that is exposed.
For more encouragement from Glory & the New Wine, check out the post from this day in years past:
2023: You Are the Leaven of the Kingdom
2022: Resurrection, Reaping and Launching
2021: A Shaking and A Mighty Overthrowing Are Near
