Throughout Scripture we see God reveal to his people His plans and highlight certain focuses for the coming season of time. Each year, we pray and seek the Lord for His guidance, insights, and direction for the upcoming year. This series is an overview of some of the prophetic insights God is highlighting to the AeroNova spiritual family for the year 2023 and beyond.
God is always present. He's always at work, but he's not always doing the things we think He should be doing when we think He should be doing them. And the world tends to respond to that with ignorance and arrogance, blaming God or accusing him. But the response of faith says, teach me your ways God. More than ever in order to be positioned to cooperate with what the Lord is doing we need to pray bold prayers that please Him and serve His purposes.
Full transcript generated by ai (please excuse errors):
Okay to kind of simple two and a half kind of simple things that I wanted to share. The first was just that the thing that I didn't think that I was going to share tonight, because I thought it was just for me personally. But it has been echoed by so many other people that I just want to give that word of confirmation. The one word that the Lord has been speaking to me over and over again, over the past few weeks is simplify. And I feel that it applies to what Rod was just talking about with the kind of spiritual frenzy of you know, this word and that word in this teaching in that teaching. And I really the Lord's been very, very vocal about limiting options, reducing choice. And that's hard for me, I'm finding it's harder than I then I realized. But you know, to choose just the best, just the things that the Lord is saying is the best for me for this season. And to really eliminate those other options he's in, and he's talking about that in every area of life. You know, the mundane as well as the spiritual. And so I just wanted to give that word of confirmation. The other thing that I've sensed the Lord talking about, and this is something that I've been chewing on, just recently, is the repeat the repeated refrain. In John Eldridge, his book on prayer called moving mountains, which if you haven't read it, it's terrific. He says, over and over and over again, there is a way things work. There is a way things work. And people get disillusioned with prayer, because they don't realize that there is a way things work. And if we don't learn the way things work, then we will be frustrated in prayer. So many people get frustrated by life, particularly life in God, because they keep holding God to the way they would do things, or the way they think God should be, instead of becoming students of the way things work of God's ways. And so I don't claim to have any kind of a lock on the ways of God. But I do notice that throughout Scripture, we see wisdom portrayed in the life of Moses, and in the psalms as seeking after God's ways. In Exodus 33, that famous conversation between Moses and the Lord, where Moses says, if you are pleased with me, Teach me your ways. So that I may know you and find favor with you. And then I've been spending some time in the Psalms and Psalm 25. I just recommend spending some time with it. But the psalmist is crying out in verse four, show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me for you are God, my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Later, he says, Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore He instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble and what is right and teaches them his way. I, verses four through 15, are all quite relevant to this. And then I've also spent some time recently with Psalm 86. There's so much there. But the one verse that I wanted to point out is verse 11, where the psalmist says, Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness. Give me an undivided heart, that I may feel your name. And one biblical event that speaks to me about this is in from Joshua 10. And you know the story the Israelites have entered into an unsanctioned covenant with the Gibby knights, and then the Gibby knights call in a favor because their enemies were threatened. And so they're attacking. And it's in this context when Israel's army marches into unfamiliar territory, to defend Gibbon that Joshua praised this incredibly audacious prayer. Son stand still over Gideon, and you Moon over the valley of Aijalon. Now I've always wondered where Joshua got the chutzpah to pray for that. And I think that it's because he had been at mo aside for all those years, and he had seen Moses, learn the ways of God. And he too, was a student of God's ways. And because he had come to know God in His ways, he could pray with faith for something that it would never have occurred to me to pray for. Right? Like, how many of us would go, I know, here's the answer that we need, I need for the sun to just stand still in the sky. So I can see this unfamiliar terrain so that our army can prevail. But Joshua knew God well enough to pray for that, because he knew God's ways. He knew the power of God, he knew the commitment of God to his covenant people. So he issues this order to the sun. And because God backed him up, it obeyed. Now, Scripture doesn't say, but I think that the Lord was tickled pink, to have a son who knew his ways enough to pray that Daniel tells us that the people who know their God will do great exploits. And so more than ever, in order not to be dismayed. In these times, I think we need to be students of the ways of God. God is always present, he's always at work, but he's not always doing the things we think he should be doing when we think he should be doing them. And the world tends to respond to that with ignorance and arrogance, blaming God or accusing him. But the response of faith says, Teach me your ways, God, more than ever, in order to be positioned to cooperate with what the Lord is doing, and to pray bold prayers, that please Him and serve His purposes, we need to know Him. And we need to know His ways. And so I just believe that this coming year is a year we need to be praying with the psalmist Teach me your ways, oh, Lord. Okay, so that was the two things, here's the half. Here's one of the ways of God that I've noticed. One of the ways that the Holy Spirit shapes us into Christ's image is through desires. So I think in this season, we need to pay attention to our desires, not the I want another cookie desire, but the Holy desires that the Lord is placing in us, I think that we need to pay attention to those desires that would draw us more into the life of God. And this can be very simple, like, wow, I have a real desire to spend more time in the Word, okay? Then shut off the TV, and spend more time in the Word of God, or, you know, cancel, you know, whatever it might be, pay attention to the desires that the Lord is placing your heart, because that's the Holy Spirit at work, doing that work of preparation that we've heard so much about tonight, the Holy Spirit never forces he invites. And the way he invites is often through desire. So that's one of the things that I'm noticing that we need to pay attention to, is the desires, the holy desires that the Lord is placing in our hearts. Thank you. The answer, that's good. And, you know, I will say also, I like to pay attention to the desires that are not the better desires. We don't like to talk about that much do we? But if I start noticing, like, if I start noticing, I'm like, man, you know, I'm, I'm trying to read the news too much. Or I'm trying to watch TV too much, or something like, you know, I'm talking about pay attention to those because a lot of times, you know, the thing is, is if you keep feeding something that desire will get stronger. And so it's not always sin, I don't mean that it's not something sinful, I guess, but it can't be sin. Nancy, you had a great example, a few weeks back, I don't remember where we were teaching. But you were teaching and we maybe it was the one in Alabama, but you said, you know, you might just feel like you need a rest. And so you just kind of get lazy and start. You use some example that's not sinful. But you know, it's like, you know, I don't need to be doing this. I don't need to be spending a lot of time doing something that's really not going to produce much for the Kingdom. And so I find that it's good. To me, it's good to pay attention to those. Because then I can go, No, this is not healthy. I want to go what are these holy desires that God has. And a lot of times Holy desires get suppressed. If you you know, if you start looking at buying stuff all the time or doing something that's not necessarily a kingdom activity, it can easily start suppressing holy desires, and we often don't think about it because it's like, well, this is not us. In, but you know, a can be missing the mark, which is and so we don't like to talk about that. But really, it's very helpful. And I encourage people to do it. Those are good words, though. Thank you for sharing a lot more to dig into there. If you guys don't mind, I'm just gonna read straight from my notes because I'm getting tired. And I know I'm gonna forget. But before I do, I did not talk to anybody. So I'm not copying anybody. I promise. We just, well, I did get this from the Lord. So it's a little bit like cheating. No. First, I felt strongly from the Holy Spirit that I wanted to speak a couple of passages over our spiritual family. And like dad mentioned, this has been a really difficult year for some of us. And this is where I felt the Holy Spirit was hovering today. Isaiah 4028 Have you not known? Have you not heard Adonai is the eternal God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not grow tired or weary, his understanding is unsearchable. He gives strength to the weary, and to the one without vigor, he adds might. Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall, but they who wait for Adonai will renew their strength. They will soar up with wings as eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. And Isaiah 43 Thus says I don't lie who makes a way in the seeds and a path in the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and the warrior, they will lie down together and not rise again. They are extinguished, quenched, like a wick. Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of the past. Here I am doing a new thing. Now it is springing up, do you not know about it, I will surely make a way in the desert rivers in the wasteland. The field animals honor me, the jackals and the ostriches because I give water in the desert rivers in the wilderness to give drink to my chosen people, the people I formed for myself, so they might declare my praise. And this declaring the praise of the Lord is what I feel the Lord highlighting to us that worship is the way forward in all we do worship, worship will keep us in the spirit of victory that Isaiah is prophesying, worship will cleanse us of the unbelief. It is the door to walking in the fullness of faith, for the miraculous, and bringing the kingdom of God and the will of God down to every area of our homes and our lives. We are to embrace the fullness of a life of victory in faith. The lyrics of the song cannot be and you can look that up later. It's an old vineyard song, but the lyrics of this song, it's like it's been a metronome. In my heart. You know, a metronome keeps the beat of the song and keeps it on target. And the lyrics to this song, The chorus is you will run and not grow weary, you will walk and not fight and not faint for his power. It sustains you and His joy. It is your strength. As you're waiting in his presence, he'll bring the refreshing rain, can it be can it be he's doing it again and again in that spirit of faith and victory for the strength that he's going to give us day by day through every challenge through every trial, that he's going to continue to give us strength and faith and belief for the victory. In Matthew 1128 through 30, Jesus says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. And when he says you will find rest for your souls. He's quoting Jeremiah 616, where Jeremiah says stand in the roads and look. Ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls. Rest is found on the ancient paths where the way is good. Rest is found in the fear of the Lord and wholehearted obedience to Him. Rest is found in abandoning every other way, abandoning the way of busyness, abandoning the way of worldly recognition, abandoning the way of security and self rest is found in the way of the five virgins storing up oil. And the picture I keep getting from the Lord about this year is kind of a unique one in that it's like an animal in its little burrow, you know how foxes and rabbits they build these burrows in the borough's keep them safe, and they keep them warm, and they hide their food there. And that's where I feel like the Lord is calling us to create our homes to be that sanctuary in that borough, as a place of rest and safety and abundance. And just like many of us are walking in obedience to store up food. And some of us have been hearing from the Lord that we also need to create libraries of books, we need to be like the five virgins storing up oil. So practically, this may look a little bit differently for each of us. But for me, what I feel on my heart is a few things. One is to be totally, and I put in parenthesis violently, because I think it's going to take this great strength and will to be committed to time with Jesus, in prayer, in the study of scriptures, and in communion. And a note about communion that I think is important is that in communion with Jesus, we are accepting that he made himself fully vulnerable to us. And so we have a gift whenever we come in communion, to make ourselves fully vulnerable to him, and asked for his finger of conviction to be on our sin, so that we can repent and receive forgiveness. And this is the way of rest. The second thing is establish regular routines and rituals that teach and give our kids the experience of walking with God. Experiences of prayer and worship and communion. And this has been something that the Lord's put on me and tase heart very strongly, and that we're we're working at it to continue in because again, you have to be violently committed to it. But this is possible, don't let the enemy tell you. It's not possible with little kids. I just I refuse to believe it. I absolutely refuse to believe it. And not only that, I think it's absolutely vital that we are teaching our kids by giving them the experiences of walking with God every day. Number three, and this is just like Nancy was saying, cut off every unnecessary distraction or commitment that is not for this season. And the Lord said to me, roses are beautiful, but they rarely grow in snow. Don't give yourself to things, even ministry. That's not for this season. And parallel to this, fully commit yourselves to your calling for this season. fully commit yourselves to your calling for this season. without bitterness, something dad said last spring that convicted me and it stayed with me and I've probably thought of it at least once a week. I may I'm probably putting it into my own words, but it was something along the lines of this. Sometimes we're willing to pick up our cross. But we can become bitter when it's more difficult than we expected. Or when we look to the person next to us. And the path seems easier than ours is. Don't become bitter as you're carrying your cross. Walk in humility and wholehearted commitment to your calling in real love in real humility in real trust in the Lord. Take gave me the gift today of several hours to just be alone and seek the Lord and each year is kind of fun for me to ask the Lord what he's saying about the next year because my birthday is also in four days. So it's like I'm seeking the Lord for a new year and I'm turning another age and this one does especially exciting for me, because I'm coming into a new decade I'm turning 30. And I've been remembering that 10 years ago, is when I felt the Lord calling me to come to Colorado. And so with the beautiful weather today, I decided to go and pray at one of my favorite places, which is that little pond across the street from every home for Christ. And I used to live at the house like, right, like right across the street. From there, I lived at that house. And I spent many hours praying around that pond whenever I was 20. And just pray and you know, seeking the Lord and asking him what he had for the next few years. And so it was so surreal to be walking around this pond 10 years later, and to be thinking about all the things that God has done in my life, in 10 years, giving me a husband and five kids. And we've been through some really difficult things that only the Lord knows about, and the trials and the challenges and his faithfulness, that every day he has been with me. And I knew this 10 years ago. But now I know it with experience, that there's nothing as precious as a history in God. And there's nothing so precious. And I'm looking at you girls, who are probably, you know, getting close to the same age I was 10 years ago. And I can make a promise to you that there is nothing so precious, as a history and God that if you seek Him every day with your whole heart, you will be rewarded, and you will bear wonderful fruit. So that's what I feel like the Lord speaking to me for the year, and also a few little extra things. Thank you, Nicole. And this, it's amazing how much you shared ties into several different things that were shared tonight, I'm really looking forward to getting deeper into this no ache rest. And without spilling too many of the beans, there's an amazing connection in the word study, to victory. And you don't often associate those two words, rest and victory. But in that song, that vineyard song you were quoting, you know, it's this is just a side note, that song is a spontaneous song. And they happen to be recording during a worship service. And that just came forth. It was not pre written or anything like that. But like you said, it says he's doing it again. And again. And this is the faithfulness of God. God is calling us to this kind of faithfulness, this kind of faithfulness to each other. It's you know, Beth and I have been married over 35 years now. And the longer we're married, the deeper in love we are, I will tell you, the easier it gets. The hardest year of our marriage was year one. You don't even want to know about your whatnot. But it's what I'm saying is that it the faithfulness of God, it's like, it becomes a joy, arrest to be faithful. It becomes a rest to be faithful to you faithful to the people God called me to faithful to the work and the calling that God called me to. And so there's a rest in that. Now, Tom, you and I, once upon a time, we used to run a lot in a former life. And you know now I'll go out there and I get on the this is after several surgeries, but I get on the treadmill and I'm looking at my heart rate in and I'm walking in my heart rates like a little higher than it was before when I'm running an eight minute pace mom, like how could that be literally, though, on those runs in those days. It was around I was resting. It was a you know, my heart rate was so low. Even though I was running it was a rest in that it was a consistency. And you just it was enjoyable to do that. And then God there is that kind of faithfulness, where every day you wake up and it's a joy, to be faithful to God faithful to your family, faithful to your spiritual family faithful to the call of God that he called you to not those other things. And there's a grace for that. And there's a victory for that and you're that's what you're talking about. And you hit the nail on the head, one of the things that will steal that rest, and steal that victory quickly is unforgiveness, which turns into bitterness. And I've seen many people who they're like, Lord, I'm willing to forgive them. As long as I don't have to do anything with them, well, you know, God doesn't always do it that way. You know, he's like, No, you need to forgive them. Now you need to love them. And in the love, we learn to truly forgive. And there's that, whoa, now we're in this groove, this faithfulness groove of God, that you're talking about Nicole, and pretty soon that just time passes, because that faithfulness is such a joy that grace is such a joy. So praise the Lord, that you're no, you're just That's awesome. I love it. And for so many reasons. So, a Lord just been speaking to me. He's, he just said renewal this year is about renewal. I know that there's been a lot kind of along the lines of the renewal and but it's, you know, a renewal of faith, renewal of heart, no mind, no love spirit, renewal of family renewal, you know, just that just been going through my head. And when I when I prayed about, you know, just what he meant by renewal, he just kept bringing up these different things that he's going to be doing in our family.