Round and Round we go

I have been trying to be very careful over the past few days as to what I am posting and where I am spending my time.  It is easy to get sucked into the roller coaster of emotions as 2020 continues to deliver the dramatic, polarizing feels.  This morning it was a moment of clarity that though we have a two party system fighting things out, and we all feel as though we are behind our perspective winner, we need to have Kingdom sight and wisdom.  In Isaiah 55:8 God reminds us that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways not our ways.  It is easy to try to build up our cases and bring God into our sides, our ways.  There is a much bigger picture that we are losing sight of (maybe have lost sight of long ago) and it is time to lean into what the Lord has actually said to us.

Joshua 5:13-14
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

Joshua is asking a question that we have been asking a lot, the answer is not what any of us expect to hear.  (In some versions it actually just says the reply was a simple NO.)  We want God to take our sides, we want to convince God and others that WE know best.  In this moment with Joshua, He has come as the commander of the army and He then shares the battle plan.

Today my heart is replaying this simple thought.  God is not Democrat and He is not Republican.  God's ways are higher than our ways.  We need to meet with Him in His spaces, not expect Him to come down to ours.  There is a greater war being waged right now than what we can see.  There is a much higher stake than most take the time to realize.  Are we asking God what message He has for us?  Are we willing to march, (SILENTLY) and trust God has a plan far better than we can produce?  

Are we ready to love our enemies and lay down our righteous indignation to share Christ's love for those who are entrenched in the weightiness of all that is being spewed into all of their senses?  Are we ready to walk out the peace that passes all understanding and pour it into those spaces we walk into?  Are we ready to be so filled with His love that it pours into everyone we come into contact with and we can be known by that love?  

In the midst of this chaos, do we believe that God remains the same?  Will we be blown by the wind or grounded in the truth of who Jesus is and what He has already accomplished?  This seems to me to be the best time to be proofed by the fire.  We have an opportunity to BE THE CHURCH now more than ever before and to let the world know that we look different and we are different than what everyone else is offering.  We have the opportunity to stand in prayer, speaking power over truth and light.  It is time to pray for all of the parties and all of their hearts.  It is time to remember that our enemy is not flesh and blood.  

This is a new time for the Church to arise and shine.  It is actually our calling, our purpose.  It is time to stand as His Church, united together by His love.  It is time to live out the reality of Jesus' prayer in John 17.  Let us unite in a way like never seen before.  Let us not miss this opportunity.
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John 17:20 TPT
And I ask not only for these disciples,
    but also for all those who will one day
    believe in me through their message.
I pray for them all to be joined together as one
    even as you and I, Father, are joined together as one.
    I pray for them to become one with us
    so that the world will recognize that you sent me.
For the very glory you have given to me I have given them
    so that they will be joined together as one
    and experience the same unity that we enjoy.
You live fully in me and now I live fully in them
    so that they will experience perfect unity,
    and the world will be convinced that you have sent me,
    for they will see that you love each one of them
    with the same passionate love that you have for me.