Time of Preparation

When direction is given, burdens are relieved, comforts are received, and strength is granted.

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Over the last week or so I keep seeing in my spirit an image of a wall clock.  No specific time is indicated on it, just a clock that has hands on it.  So I asked the Lord what are you saying?  The obvious would be a message about time and making time with Him.  I left it at that with no further instruction or revelation given.  When that happens, I wait, knowing that I’ll have my question answered, “Not in my time, but in His.”  See I am learning as I grow in God!

Then I had a dream…

In my dream, I was in the house that I grew up in standing in front of a kitchen cupboard door.  The cupboard door looked like my present kitchen cupboard, but it was in my parent’s house, the one I grew up in.

As I opened the doors I could see a shift that was starting to occur.  The shelves inside the door were shifted downward and everything on those shelves were about to fall right into my direction.  I was feeling overwhelmed knowing that I could not handle the mess that was about to happen.  Everything behind that door was shifting.

So what did I do next?

I ran to get my father who was asleep upstairs, for he had worked the night shift, and was still sleeping, even though it was daylight.  I wanted my father to help and handle the shifting that was taking place, that I saw; for I knew the door before me could not hold what was about to be poured out.  Everything on the shelf was falling off.

What I remember was I kept repeating out loud, “There is a shift coming.”

Oh, how I wanted my father to help, to handle what was coming.  There was change coming that would disrupt the normal day-to-day occurrences.  The shelves were moving, things were shifting and shaking, and I wanted to be ready, for the shift would be big.  I kept opening and closing the doors to view it, thinking I could hold it back, or closeout what was inevitably about to happen; but I knew that I could not.

This was too big for just one to carry.

What was the Lord saying?  Here’s what I heard:

The change, the shift, that is about to occur and shake things up will overwhelm us.  Run to the father to help see and maintain the open door; for what’s about to be poured out, shifted in our direction will change everything.  All the things on the shelf were being moved and released through the open door.  No longer what was being shelved can stay there.  When the shift, the shaking takes place, what was securely still and in place will be shifted and disrupted in this move.  It may look like a mess, but I bring messages out of messes.”

I kept repeating, “There is a shift coming.”  I needed the father to help me embrace and handle what was about to be poured out.  I knew he was there, but I never saw him when I went to the room to get him.

Yes, there was change coming that would disrupt the normal day-to-day things.  Things will be different.  “Get used to different,” I remembered.  This was a phrase released in The Chosen series and has stuck in my spirit as Jesus spoke it out on the TV series.

Within the different, I know that I wanted to be ready for this big shift and know that preparations must be made.

I opened my Bible to Ezekiel 46, where it speaks of the Lord in the east gate and mentions other gates in the temple.  The places where the offerings were being prepared were being highlighted.  Here’s what I read from Ezekiel 46: 21-23

My guide brought me to the outer court and took me to each of its four corners.  In each four corner were smaller, confined courts, each measuring 70 feet long and 52 1/2 feet wide.  

There was a stone shelf that ran alongside the inside wall of the four corners.  Beneath these stone shelves were hearths.”

Remember, that a hearth is the floor of the fireplace.

Our foundation in the Lord will be secured through the fire.  The things on the shelves are going to shift because the fire of God is going to touch them.

As I read further, the places described in Ezekiel are the kitchens in the temple.  Kitchens are a place of preparations.  The stone shelf is a concrete structure.

How concrete and solid is our relationship with the Lord?

So I ask, If we are priests of the Lord, what are we called to do in the time of preparation?

As I asked myself this question, I remembered the wall clock I keep seeing in the Spirit.

The kitchen in the temple was the place where the priests prepared the offerings for the sacrifices at appointed times.

I moved back up to the previous verses reading, “When the people of the land come together to worship the Eternal at the regularly scheduled feasts, all those who come in through the North gate are to go out through the South gate, and all those who come in through the South gate, are to go out through the North gate. They will exit the temple through the opposite gate so they continue to move straight ahead.”  (Ezekiel 46: 9)  

When God moves things around, continue to move straight ahead in His direction.  Going the wrong way could affect the right direction and ultimately affect our destination.

So what was the purpose for having the people go in one door and out another?

His direction is the only way to follow.

His directions were given for the folks in the temple as they came to gather for worship.   God does not isolate Himself when the people come to worship.  One commentary said this, “He never puts His sheep forth, without going before them.  He never thrusts us out into the fight without preceding us. If we have to take the way of the Cross, we may always count on seeing Him go first, though we follow Him amazed.”  (Wiersbe)

 

How can we prepare?

  • Begin our preparations at the place of worship as the living temples of God.
  • Ask yourself this:  “Is my relationship with the Lord concrete and strong?”
  • Run to the Father to ask Him to secure those things that need to be secured before they shift.
  • When the shift happens, learn to accept and shift with the new, for new doors will open causing us to come in and out.
  • Welcome the new ones coming through the doors.  Some will come and stay; some will go out.
  • When we meet with God, we should leave and go out of the place differently than how we came in.

He changes everything!  Embrace the new thing He shall do.

Embracing the new can be:

When new doors open up, walk through them.  When direction is given, burdens are relieved, comforts are received, and strength is granted.

Change is good!

God wants our relationship with Him to change us, shift us, and prepare us.

Yes, my friends, a time of preparation is at hand.  The hands of the clock are ticking and God’s timing of things shall be implemented.  

Order and direction are given in following Him.

It’s His order of things, not our order.  His order may appear to some folks as disorder.  The root word of order may be displayed as extraordinary and ordained.

If God ordains something it is no longer ordinary, or out of order, it is extraordinary.

Extraordinary goes beyond the ordinary methods and/or means and flows from the power of the Holy Spirit.

May the continual flow of the Holy Spirit accommodate the massive amounts of people coming into the temple, into the houses of the Lord.  Extraordinary shall replace ordinary.  Get ready and let the unprepared become prepared.

 

 

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About the Author

Mary Beth Pecora, a faithful wife, mother, grandmother, friend, worshiper and servant leader, who loves life and loves people. More importantly, she passionately loves God and the fullness of who He is! For twenty-three years she has served in leadership positions within the ministry of Aglow International. Currently, she and her husband serve at The Secret Place--A Psalm 91 Ministry. It's a place for individual folks to come, be exhorted and prayed for, while being ushered to ministry stations within the room. They continue to serve monthly in the Prayer Room at their home church that they have been a part of for almost forty years. In April of 2022 they both received their Ministry License and were Ordained in May of 2023. She delights in encouraging folks of all ages within various walks of life. Her love of writing is now her passion, which led her to publish two books, "Restoration Explosion In The New Year," and "Navigating The Mysteries Of God." Above all that’s been accomplished and concluded, the BEST thing to her is knowing her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is her everything—her very best friend. Visit: Mybelovedsvoice.com

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