As Joe and I sit here this morning, the morning after our first family fellowship day, we're discussing our devotionals and some of the amazing messages we've received from those who came to celebrate with us yesterday.
One of the men responded to Joe "...you move fast, you're a man of action" in response to Joe's reaching out to one of the pastors we know to lead one of the men's fellowship meetings. Joe's response, "I've learned that when I hear God speaking, that needs to be my next move. Any delay will only cause confusion in me as the enemy and my own thoughts get in the way. Immediate obedience clears the path to more of Him speaking."
This is so true. I've always been a "doer" and when God put on our hearts to open our home in such a way, we immediately began planning. Yes, the enemy crept in from time to time (usually when progress had been made) and said "No one will come," or "It will be lame," but as the weeks went by and we sent out invitations, God made a way. We had amazing worship. People we had never met before came - we had 13 baptisms, including all three of our own boys. Joe was blessed and honored to be chosen by the son of one of our dear friends to baptize him. About half of the baptisms were children and half were adults - all in different stages of their walk with the Lord but all ready and willing and excited to commit their new lives to their Savior. What an honor to be able to witness!
We had an amazing day of food, fellowship, worship, swimming, farm exploration etc. To see so many people, comfortably coming together and so many new faces enjoying the fellowship of one another was the most authentic representation of "church" I've ever experienced. God has blessed us with so much to GIVE. It might not be in the traditional sense of financially but as His children, we are each given unique talents and gifts. The more we lean into His word, pray for direction and wisdom and submit our will and our life to Him, the more opportunities he presents to use us to further His Kingdom here on Earth. If you've had the blessing and honor of experiencing that, then you know there is no greater gift.
One of our primary focuses here is not only to share what God has done, is doing and will do but to encourage and inspire others to discover their worth, their value, their God given talents and gifts - to do the same. The greatest lesson I've learned since we began this journey in 2021 is that immediate obedience will clear the way for God to MAKE THE WAY.
Joe's Word Feb 28th during a 3 Day Fast: "We are on the precipice of a new season. This is a crossover generation. What God is about to do isn't what God has done in the past. So we need to break away from our perspectives and perceptions and clear the way for what He has already ordained. The canvas is clear and He is calling those willing to risk it all and offer up the "YES" not knowing what the agreement is for. We need deeper intimacy so He can interpret through us the blueprints, the order and the design of what He is about to do. It 's not going to be built on the systems and structures of yesterday, and our eyes and minds can't yet discern the plans that are only beginning to be released. They have been loosed from Heaven and staked down in the spirit and we need His eyes and discernment to walk the unseen but already laid path. We're in a full circle moment following a wilderness season where God is calling out leaders to be pioneers, not just for this next generation, but for this crossover moment in time for things to come. God is raising up a people that are perceiving things to come before they every are. They are perceiving dominion and the glory of the knowledge of God before they fully manifest here in the natural. And they are being mantled and anointed for something Kingly that hasn't been born yet but it 's being perceived and conceived. There is a yearning and a groaning that proclaims that we were maid for dominion. We were made to expand and influence and take back the ground that is rightfully His. Our circumstances don't confirm it yet because our physical bodies and minds can't yet handle what has already been laid in the Spirit but it 's on the way. The birthing pains are getting stronger.
"See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."
-Â Isaiah 43:19
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