A Portal Opens in the Heavens in response to obedience
‘ I painted this on October 11th, 2009 during a worship session my sister and I were having at home. While she played on her keyboard and sang, I decided it was a great time to break out my canvas and paintbrushes and see what message God gave at that time. I started off painting something entirely different, but as the music changed, the atmosphere changed and so did the painting. At the end of the worship…we both stood back in awe as this painting emerged with a message. The painting was alive, it was drawing us in and God was speaking loud and clear. In response to a decade of learning how to fully trust and walk in complete obedience to God regardless of our circumstances, He was opening up a
portal in the heavens where torrents of abundance were going to overtake us. Even though we got that Word back then, the season wasn’t quite over yet…we still had another year left before it was officially over. But the season did come to an end. We are now in the season where we are experiencing the torrents of abundance over taking us.
For some reason this morning as I was reflecting on this season and how we could not keep up with how God was blessing us…He reminded me of the painting. I began to tell God that I literally could not find a description that would appropriately match this season. Then I read on http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=10283 a particular word by Paulettte Reed. These particular paragraphs below, truly described in a nutshell what our last season was like and what is happening now:
Several months ago I began pressing in for the “evidence” of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). I wanted to see the unseen manifested on earth as it is in Heaven. I wanted to glorify the Father as others saw that God did it. God did it! The Lord has responded to my contending faith, and His blessings have been overtaking me. I’ve been gifted with Lasik surgery, beautiful clothing, fine quality jewelry, financial blessings and much more. I am overwhelmed by the goodness of God, by His love, by His faithfulness.
This flooding of His love reminds me of the great need for a deep work in each of us, from the inside out. We must continuously reach for the character of Christ and stay grounded (Ephesians 3:17) in bad times and in good. The showers of blessings are surreal and bring me to my knees. Oh, how I desire to decrease so He can increase. After years of learning how to get along with humble means, I want to be like the apostle Paul who “learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” I want to shout from the rooftops, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13).
I prophesy to many of you now, “You are about to be chased down by the blessings of God.” Why? Because you have been faithful in the small things, so He is about to give you much. You have proven to be good stewards, and the Lord wants to bless you so you can be a blessing – giving to the orphans and widows, raising the poor from the dust, and lifting the needy from the ash heap.
While I haven’t been given lasik surgery (don’t need it) or a car (…yet..anything is possible)…there are other things happening that literally don’t make natural sense but it does make God sense. Without asking, we have been given upgrades and all kinds of things that ordinarily we would have talked ourselves out of it saying we don’t need it. These upgrades and blessings have been literally thrown at us whether we wanted them or not. I sit before God and say “God..this is too much..it is sooo huge and I don’t know how to thank you. I can’t even understand this level of over abundance”. I keep hearing from Him, “Because you have been faithful in the small things..”. We were willing to go through a season where we were stripped of everything in order to learn true dependence on God. We learned how to truly put our trust in Him. We learned to walk in obedience even when it seemed crazy to everyone else including ourselves. I remember hearing a story about how shepherds used to train wandering lambs to trust them completely…to follow them no matter what. If they had a lamb that had a tendency to wander off constantly(disobey), they would break a couple of the lamb’s legs and carry the lamb around until they were completely healed. In that time, the lamb would come to know and trust the shepherd to meet their every need. Usually after that period, after the lamb was restored to health, they would not wander off again. Interesting concept, considering Jesus is our ultimate Shepherd and we are described as His sheep.
Obedience to God is a major key in walking in the Kingdom of God. Trust and obedience go hand in hand. In order for you to walk in obedience to God in every aspect of your life, you have to fully trust Him. We say we trust God, but do we really? Your children will not listen to you or obey you if they don’t trust that what you are telling them is for their good. I love the dictionary’s definition of obedience:
‘a sphere of authority or jurisdiction, especially ecclesiastical. conformity to the authority of a religious superior, especially on the part of one who has vowed such conformance. Hmmm…ring a bell’?
It is very easy to have faith and to obey God when life is good and things are going our way. It is a whole different cup of tea, when God is asking us to go against the grain, to focus on Him and to do exactly what He asks of us without questioning. That is faith…that is obedience. Obedience to God requires us to trust the One that sees everything even if we don’t.
So for all those out there who are terrified of surrendering completely to God because you are not sure what that will look like or require of you…remember, when you gave your life to Him..you gave it to Him…meaning, you asked Him to take full control over every part of your life. Stop giving it to Him and then taking it back! You tried things your way and it didn’t work; try His…trust me, you want to do things His way. This requires you to give everything over to Him…put your full trust in Him. The attitude should be, ‘God whatever you require of me, regardless of what happens, I choose You. I choose to walk in complete obedience to you. If you need encouragement to make this choice…read Noah..read Abraham. Remember, Abraham was
considered God’s friend…why? Because he chose to trust God and walk in obedience..even down to almost having to sacrifice his own son. What are you willing to do to walk in complete obedience to God? What are you willing to do to live in the fullness of
Christ?
