Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him. – Isaiah 43:7 (NKJV)
Bring me everyone who is called by my name, the ones I created to experience my glory. I myself formed them to be who they are and made them for my glory.” – Isaiah 43:7 (TPT)
ACCELERATION AND GLORY
The first few months of 2020 may have felt “slow” in some ways, but in the Spirit there is such an acceleration! Prophetic voices have been saying over and over the past year or so that there is a divine acceleration taking place. In some ways, I have seen it for myself in the natural. I have experienced a rapid growth in my own heart since January, as well as new friendships in ministry and alignments that seemed to come from “nowhere.” God is indeed up to something exciting!
Isaiah 43:7 says that we have been created both to bring glory to God, as well as to carry His glory on the earth. As He has drawn me to marinate in this truth, I am hearing His heartbeat more clearly regarding the acceleration taking place and how to best steward this so that we can carry a level of glory upon the earth that is unmistakable and undeniably His!
TEMPLES OF GLORY
Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary. - 1 Corinthians 6:19 (TPT)
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
-Romans 6:10-11 (NLT)
The scripture clearly says that we have a Spirit of Holiness – the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead – living within us. What an invitation to radiate Him upon the earth!
The Lord showed me recently a handful of different shapes and sizes of paintbrushes. As a prophetic artist, I understand that each brush holds a different function, and ads a different stroke to the grand design that the artist creates. Each brush can vividly smear paint and add to the overall masterpiece. So it is with each of His children; we each have the same mandate to smear the world with all the glory of Heaven, but we all have different ways of doing this.
As temples of His glory, even if we look and function differently to one another, He has actually created us to carry such a level of glory that the world cannot deny what Jesus is doing. Therefore, we must care for our “temples” and steward our time wisely in this season of acceleration so that we can smear His glory far and wide and not just for short amounts of time and in smaller circles. We must ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in this. It could look like more exercise, a different diet, spending more time doing things we love to become “heart-happy,” or sleeping more – He is ready to show us.
ADDING AND SUBTRACTING
The Holy Spirit told me around September 2019 that there were things that He wanted me to “add” to my life, and “subtract” from my daily routines in order to be able to clear the airways and hear from Him without distraction. For example, I added 15 minutes a day sitting outside, WITHOUT my phone and without my journal or Bible, just sitting in silence with Him as I learned to truly listen to the sounds around me. He also asked me to cut out sugar completely, as well as going for more walks and not watching any television or movies at all. Basically, He asked me to reset my daily life in order to truly feel His heartbeat.
Any prophetic voice will tell you – Covid-19 has been a major reset for the entire body of Christ! Forced quarantines meant forced times with the Lord and learning to hear His voice in new ways for many. Daily routines were shaken up and disturbed so that the Lord could begin to add and subtract what He wanted in the lives of His children yet without competition.
As time has passed and Covid-19 restrictions are changing, the Lord reminded me to not get comfortable with where I currently am in my “additions and subtractions.” As He is calling His children to be glory carriers at unprecedented levels in the coming seasons, we must be prepared to do what is needed to smear the globe with His glory. There is an even greater acceleration coming to us during the second half of 2020, and He is calling us to GET READY! Acceleration is coming whether we are ready or not, and it will be of great benefit to us, to the entire body of Christ and to the lost if we are READY. Remove what needs to be removed, and add whatever it takes to carry the weight of what He wants to pour out upon you.
PROPHETIC EBENEZERS
Acceleration is coming. The Lord is calling those who have ears to hear to get ready. Stewarding our temples, adding and subtracting things from our daily lives, and looking after ourselves is key to being able to steward with longevity what the Lord is about to do upon the earth. I also felt the Father say that setting up an “Ebenezer” before acceleration is fully upon us as a prophetic declaration and reminder of what is to come!
A prophet friend of mine recently found herself stepping out in ministry for the first time. To prophetically commemorate the season that she was in, I encouraged her to buy a new pair of running shoes as she was about to “take off” with the Lord on grand adventures, and I felt strongly that she needed the shoes as a prophetic declaration to herself that she was about to see the Father pour out upon her. She bought the shoes, and within months, her beautiful fellowship with Jesus absolutely exploded, as did her ministry. A few weeks ago, the Holy Spirit randomly told me to look at getting the same, sparkly pair of running shoes for myself to set up an “Ebenezer” as a reminder of where I am going with Jesus. Before I could do any research on what pair I wanted, He put it on someone’s heart to actually gift me with a pair of these same shoes as a sign of the promises of God over my life and the acceleration and overflow that is coming in and from my intimacy with Him.
Now when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. Then the sons of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the Lord; and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel and the Lord answered him. Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel. The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as below Beth-car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. So there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. – 1 Samuel 7:7-14
I feel the Lord saying that as we approach a season of acceleration, that there will be a need to remind ourselves of not just the WHY behind this acceleration, but also to declare prophetically what we know the Father is doing. Samuel set up an Ebenezer as a reminder of what the Lord God had done for them, but we are to set up Ebenezers to declare what we know the Lord God WILL DO and what Jesus has already done.
As I prayed into this, I saw in my Spirit that though some people were making prophetic purchases like my friend and myself, others were making daily declarations with their mouths and on social media. Some were posting scripture on their walls and mirrors, and others were doing physical, creative acts such as painting or dancing. Just as each of us paints Heavenly colors upon the earth in different ways, each of us also sets up very personal Ebenezers with the Father as He leads. We must commemorate what we KNOW the Lord is going to do.
FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD ABOVE ALL ELSE
I felt a warning from the Holy Spirit that as acceleration begins, we are not to become so consumed with it or with the glory that we carry that we forget that glory is two-fold. Isaiah 43:7 says that He created us for His glory – both to carry it as well as to give it back to Him in adoration.
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” – Revelation 4:11 (ESV)
In the time leading up to and in this great acceleration, we must always remember that He is so worthy to receive all glory and honor and praise! As a friend of God, we get the amazing honor of carrying His glory upon the earth, but also we are well aware that this is all rubbish compared to KNOWING Him as an intimate friend (Philippians 3). Being a temple of glory and running fast in my sparkly new shoes mean nothing unless I can sit and converse with Him daily. He is the REASON for it all, and in Him I “live and move and have my being” (Acts 17:28).
Stewarding a friendship with God looks different for everyone, but it is our reason for existence and we get the privilege of learning more and more about what moves His heart and how we can best move it. As we carry His glory and smear the world with all that He is, we get to do it WITH Him as co-laborers in Christ Jesus.
Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God! – Ephesians 3:18-19 (TPT)
May we ever overflow with His fullness as we prepare to carry His glory to the ends of the earth!
Ever Hopeful In Him,
Mandy xoxo