My dear friends, I have so much on my heart to share with you right now. As I sit and type this I am literally praying for words and ORDER to begin sharing what we experienced at Bethel and what I have come away with. More clearly now than ever I am grasping two things.
One, I must be intentional to share it all, share everything I have received in order for God’s work in and through me to produce fruit not only in others but in myself as well. As a person who tends to hold things in, and deeply I might add, God is moving me to an understanding of how this is not His desire. I am so thankful that Abba completes EVERY good work He starts. Amen?
And two, I can best explain from a quote from a book. In Lifestyle of a Prophet, author James W. Goll says, “It is time you come to understand not to sacrifice long-term goals to achieve short-term success.”
I’ve shared a little bit in the past about the prophetic calling that God has placed in me-a gift that is available to all of us. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:5, “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.”
And Paul’s last words there are key. It is for edification of the church. I will explain more about this soon, so take this as precursor of what will come. For now, let’s go back to my second point-sacrificing long-term goals to achieve short-term success.
We do this from a place of impatience. Sometimes we are so anxious for something to happen now that we are willing to accept a lesser result in order to satisfy our impatient nature.
When we started this ministry it was and still is about thriving in a spiritually mismatched marriage. My question for you, dear friends and I’ve asked it before, are you willing to run the race to achieve the goal set before you? (This does not include abusive marriages-we do not believe that Abba would ask you to stay in a physically or emotionally abusive marriage.) We cannot put requirements based upon our own impatience upon the plans of God. If we do, He may just let you have the lesser result so you will understand that His higher result is the better plan.
I’ve said many times I’d rather wait longer for my husband to come to know Jesus so that he is completely sold out to a faith that will not wane or fail instead of seeing him come to faith prematurely and fall away. I’m not saying I do this easily either. Some days I have to remind myself of this.
And one other truth I want you to hear today in light of what I am sharing. Never mistake your spouse and their impending salvation as a project. This is one truth I heard at Bethel last week that rang so loud in my ears I thought I would go deaf!
And this applies to every prebeliever we know, including our children. We cannot make the salvation of others our projects. We can honor God best in these places of service by seeing those who do not know Jesus yet through the Creators perspective and His love. And this is what Abba’s heart is right now. He spoke these words to me very clearly Monday morning as I walked, worshiped and prayed:
I am grieving over empty temples.
I wept when I heard His words and felt as much of His heart as He knew I could handle. My friends, Scripture is clear that we are His temples and we hold the Spirit of the Living God, Jesus, within us. And our Heavenly Father who desires all to know Him is grieving over the empty ones who do not know Him yet.
And this kind of grief only comes from intense and relentless love. Dear friends, I pray you receive this from my place of love for you and Abba’s heart for you and those you are praying for.
He is asking us to widen our perspective beyond ourselves. He wants us to see the grander pictures of not just our places but the places our children and grandchildren will hold. He desires us to partner with Him to be part of the greatest revelation of His power He has yet to release as He begins to move people into place for this Great Harvest.
Our homes and families play a crucial part to the bigger picture. God is asking us to seek His heart specifically for understanding and wisdom of what this looks like for each of us. And then to wait expectantly for Him to reveal and unfurl this within our lives and the lives of our loved ones.
As I said, God is moving me to an understanding that I must share what I am receiving. Jesus never intended His Salvation to be limited to one person, one home, one church, one city or even one nation. He died to save all. And in the Bible, the Greek word for all means ALL. We don’t just walk in mismatched marriages. We walk in a mismatched world.
SUMites, we are part of what God is doing and on the bigger scale, what He's about to do. Let Him show you how to let His heart for you overflow into your home, your neighborhood, your city and even this country. The big picture is so much bigger than we ever imagined.
Soon I will share how God has moved in my life to affect my church and city. It is a story that blows even me away, because it something I never imagined Abba would call me to do. I am not that girl, but He says I am, so I am running with Him!
Love you all so much, SUMites!
Dineen
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