By Darren J Stott

  Our study of Luke 3:1-19, on December 6^th, 2009, applied the text to the urgency that we are sensing in the church to enter a season of grace and prepare ourselves for an habitation of God’s presence in our hearts and lives which, I believe, will result in an awakening here in the Northwest. We saw the direct correlation between John’s name, meaning “God is gracious”, and his task to prepare the people for Christ.  Once our study was accomplished, the Holy Spirit began to speak through the body of Christ.  Here is what he said through his people:

Pastor Greg Daley – 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” And I heard the word “Vessels of Mercy”: that’s us – that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.  So God has placed within us a power that is superior.  It goes well beyond whatever we may need to do or what God is calling us to do.  Today, God has placed within each of us His Spirit and his power to take us beyond where we could ever conceive that we could go. God is calling us to prepare; I believe that.  I also heard the word, “Make room for daddy.”  So, God is preparing us for his presence.  …There is grace today (God’s divine enablement) to take you to where the Lord wants to take you, not just individually, but as a church: a corporate body.

Walt Cowart - This is a season that I am beginning to take you to places that you have never been and never wanted to go. That I can show my glory in you, with you, and through you to a people that don’t want you there and can’t stand the thought of you showing up. When you come, you will set at liberty those who have been bound up and have no desire for the kingdom’s truth. This is a season, children, where I say, “Let me out of the box that you have put me in.  That I can demonstrate within your life everything I have thought about you, because you are so valuable to me, you are everything I have hoped for and dreamed up for all time, and I want to show my favor in and through your life.” 

Sandy Hondiuk - So I heard this, this morning, and I want to be sure that we grab a hold of everything the Lord is saying. I believe we have entered a season.  Now there is grace in our lives all the time, but sometimes God brings us into a season of things.  Grace is a supernatural empowerment to change, to do something we cannot do on our own.  We have cried out to God, “Lord I’m looking for you and I can’t find you. Why am I not like this, Lord, why am I not like that?” I want to prophecy this today: I believe we have entered a season today, there’s been a declaration of a season of grace to prepare. What this looks like in its entirety, I don’t know, but part of what it is, is that place where you yield  to the spirit of preparation and you say, “God I yield to your spirit of preparation,” and where you take the time to say, “Prepare my heart God.” How out of your heart come the issues of life and the issues around you.  This is why it’s important to prepare your heart.  …Don’t go away today until you have said, “Yes”, to him and his preparing work. Traditionally, a season is three months, and I don’t know the timeframe on this, but I believe when God declares something over a people there is a supernatural acceleration and empowerment that is not regular in that walk. You will find a place of grace that is not the normal Place.  So I don’t want to lose this today: there is a grace, a supernatural, enabling empowerment to have your heart prepared. Whatever this looks like for you, on an individual basis and whatever this looks like for us, corporately, is taking this season to yield to God, taking time every day to say, “God I yield to your spirit of preparation.”

It’s not that you cannot engage in this preparation without a mutual sense of urgency and expectation: it’s that you won’t. If you don’t take the time to evaluate and prioritize your activities, passions and values, according to the Kingdom’s scale, there will be no room for the things of God in your life.  Church will remain a hobby and Christianity will remain your family’s primary philosophy for morality, values and goals.  Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life, and life abundantly,” not “I have come so that you might have belief, and be a good, moral person.” Like the audience listening to John the Baptist, our spirits need to be stirred, awakened and aroused, for the King is coming back for his bride. This story that we find ourselves a part of is ultimately not about fitting God into our pocket sized box so that we can live a comfortable balanced life.  Our Christian lives aren’t supposed to be about us, our activities, and our nifty day timer application on our iPhones, but rather centered on the supremacy, majesty and beauty of our magnificent bridegroom, JESUS CHRIST.  He’s coming, get ready!!!