Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Mercy from Below

The word I have to share is much too long overdue. “Forgive me, Lord, if I have neglected my responsibility with the words You’ve so generously given me.”

The Lord shared this revelation with me back in November while I was praying at a “Sacred Assembly” gathering in Grand Rapids, MI to pray, fast, worship, and intercede for the city and the end of abortion in Grand Rapids.

While I was talking with the Lord I asked Him if He would tell me something - anything. I just wanted a revelation from His heart.

I started thinking about the word He had given me months earlier about the sand and wells rising up and the outpouring of the Spirit in power and unity. (If you haven’t read it, it’s written in full under the title “Sand & Stones.” I recommend reading it before continuing with this as it is directly related to this word.) So, I was thinking about the wells and the rain and the scoffers and immediately I felt I heard,

“Judgment from above; mercy from below.”

“Huh? What does that mean, Lord?” “Is that really you? Or is it my own thought?” “Seems kind of strange if it’s my own thinking…”

I wrote it down in my journal and continued to ask the Lord for more information on it. The next thing I heard was,

“As in the days of Noah.”

“Hmmm… ok…” I wondered, still perplexed.

I then began to think about how all the way up until the time of Noah, there had never been any rain.

“For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.” Genesis 2:5-6

… the earth was watered from the springs and mists from the ground.

It wasn’t until sin had become so unbearable to the Lord that He determined that He needed to bring His judgment to the earth. So He opened the Heavens …

and it rained.

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” Genesis 7:11

Some believe that the reason the rainbow was given as the sign to Noah was because up until the rain at the time of the flood, there had never been water droplets in the air to create a rainbow. Now, after the flood, rains come - and so do the rainbows.

The Lord continued to lead me through this thought processes, but I was still a bit confused.

“Ok, Lord, but how does Noah and the flood connect to the vision you’d given me before about the wells and...OH!”

I don’t even think the Lord had said anything, but I just felt it deep in my heart and I started to cry.

“NO, Lord! You can’t mean that… not ME, Lord. How can I...? How can we...? Oh, my Lord.”

You see, the Lord in a moment told me something that both excited me, terrified me, and broke my heart. Do you see it?

The Lord’s judgment is coming, and perhaps is already in our land. The Spirit has been telling the prophets for some time about coming crises - natural disasters, health epidemics, economic struggle (which is already very real here in Michigan) - a time when the “love of men will grow cold.”

But the Lord has a plan. He always has a plan. Do you know what it is?

It’s us.

“Judgment from above; mercy from below.”

The Lord is pouring out His Spirit on His Children not just for our own sakes, and not only for His… but for the world’s.

In the times of the Lord’s judgment on the sin of the world, WE are and will be HIS MERCY!

We are the mist that rose to water the ground!
We are the underground wells that trembled and exploded out over a barren desert!

This is almost incomprehensible to me.

Friends, this is a big deal. It’s not just for our own kicks and “Holy Ghost chills” that the Lord moves on us and has given us His Spirit. We have a crucial role to play in the Lord’s plan for the last days. We are truly God’s gift of mercy to a dying, rotting, and sinful world. He loves them so much… so much… He loves them so much… and He is so overwhelmed with affection and love for us that He wants us to show them. Can you feel that in your heart? We are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world.

“Father, this still sits in my heart like a flame that weighs a thousand pounds. I want to show them, Lord. But I’m still so focused on me that I hardly ever even see them the way you do. Please, Lord, would you help me? Would you help us? I want to be your mercy, Jesus. I want to be your compassion and love. I want to be you. But I’m so terrified because I know who I am. Can you help me forget me and only know you?
Thank you, Lord, that you will do it. Thank you, Lord, that you believe that we will do it…. because we are Your Children, born of Your Spirit … and so we will. Amen.”