Last month I shared a word titled “Called To Full Disclosure”. This was about Him desiring for us to go deeper and more honestly with Him without fear. Doing so would put us on a path to progressing in personal growth in the safe environment of His deepest compassions for us.
As He reminded me about that word He showed me that disclosure with Him was like giving Him permission to unravel our hearts. This was so that He could rearrange us into more maturity, healthy choices and to reflect more of His character. He used knitting as a kind of metaphor. When I knit a project I may find an error in the pattern, a hole, a misalignment or bad design. The only way to fix this is to take the end of the yarn and unravel all the hard work to restart correctly for a perfect pattern. I have often had to undo to redo. Un-knit to re-knit. It’s called ripping out. In the end I was so glad I did, but not when I was doing it.
The Lord showed me that the unexpected results to intimately disclosing to Him was to allow Him to work on the hard stuff in our lives and to bring it out and to unravel it or rip it out. We give Him an inch and He will take a mile. Many of us are feeling unraveled. Fears, anger, hurts, sorrows, memories, dark attitudes are emerging from the depths. Some are experiencing a cloud over them, but this is the unrest and anxieties emerging from the depths of our lives. All is well though. For some the emotional turmoil is triggering the flight mechanism and causing you to feel like you want to escape, run away or move away because it feels too emotionally overwhelming. Some ways to escape is to literally move away, substance abuse, sex, checking out from all activities and relationships, overeating or whatever brand of running away you do. He says not to give up and to stay the course.
He says in Proverbs 4:18, “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines bright and brighter until the full day.” In 2 Cor 4:17 it says, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…” Pretty much whatever affliction or discomfort we experience is transitory, but feeling like forever sometimes. It’s hard to believe this when you are in the midst of deep inner changes that feels very unpleasant.
He is re-laying foundations and swapping out the old to firmly establish the new. The Lord showed me a re-capped tire. This is a recycled tire that was worn out where a new layer of rubber is applied to the old surface. It’s a patch job and eventually it falls apart because the integrity is just not there. Most of us have found ways to cope with what we have experienced in life to get by and survive. We have been patch jobs with broken coping mechanisms, personality disorders, neuroses, bad behaviors, you name it. We fray and fall apart when we encounter bad times or conflict. In the end it’s better to get a brand new tire. So He has made us brand new in Jesus. We are new creatures in Christ, holy and perfect in His sight! Our growth in all this is to lay aside the old and take up the new.
Be honest with Him while you unravel and be present with Him. You can ask for moments of reprieve to calm the inner storm for a bit. Not every day has to be on the operating table. Not every day has to be a workout. I have found that He will do this and bring a feeling of peace in the midst of it all for a bit. I often ask Him to hold me when I am feeling miserable and He does with reassuring words or with calm inside. I have also found that the growth work resumes eventually, but with the knowledge that He is truly in control and totally understands what we are going through as He heals us.
Thank Him then for what He is doing. This helps. Ask for insight. In James 1 on trials that produce perfection it says to ask for wisdom. There are therefore gifts in what we are experiencing. What are they? Ask for understanding and He will give you answers. He will give perspective. As unpleasant it is to be turned inside out and unraveled a part of me can say, albeit reluctantly and with emotional trembling, “It kind of hurts so good.” I am sure to be honest with Him though that it’s a pain, but then I feel His caring presence.
He is encouraging us, as we find ourselves being unraveled, to continue to do works of love even if you don’t feel like the supernatural is moving. If your feelings are being impacted by being unraveled then spiritual experiences can seem far away. He says to choose love deeds regardless. In 2 Timothy 4:2 it says, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season…”. Pray and worship when you can. Don’t forsake fellowshipping because you need all the support you can get and you too are a support for your friends. Revisit any prophetic words spoken over you.
Corporate Experience
Not only is He is working on us individually, He is doing it collectively. The general body has sensed how important it is to be intimate with Him and so we have been and continue to do so. As a result of calling upon Him to go deeper He is obligingly taking that yarn end and unraveling the body as well and rearranging priorities and structures. The landscape of the church is shifting. He is re-establishing His order. When the Toronto Blessing Renewal in the mid 90s hit the world I had a vision of a huge wave washing people to new places. Many people and ministries found themselves on different shores. We had all cried out for more of Him and He came and responded and overturned everyone’s lives and ministries. Just so, we are in the midst of being changed. I recently saw in a vivid vision a flash flood and a tsunami overtaking the the land. It’s getting closer and closer.
I found this quote on a Facebook meme which resonated with me: “Sometimes our lives have to be completely shaken up, changed, and rearranged to relocate us to the place we are meant to be.”
I saw in a vision a murmuration of birds. It’s when thousands of birds fly together in undulating clouds in remarkable unison. This is the body of Christ and I could see parts of these clouds flowing into new clouds or merging with others. This is how the Lord sees us today. We are flowing into something new without encumbrances or personal and corporate brokenness because we let Him in to establish His new order.
Enjoy the worship video below – “Change My Heart Oh God” which was inspired by Isaiah 64:8. “Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.”