Fortifying Word Amidst the Flood Waters

+ Genesis 8:1 But God remembered Noah…

I have been praying over this season we seem to be entering. This being a season where a flood of answered prayers is coupled with uncomfortable growth and I have found solace in these last principles that God has impressed upon my heart as I studied Genesis 6 and 7 and was then lead to chapter 8. After Noah was obedient to the Lord and was found at the center of God's favor he built the ark. The flood came and he was ready, though the flood destroyed some of the things Noah had invested in, God was also destroying everything in the dry places. God was about the business of making all things new. Throughout this, Noah had to trust that God would keep him safe above the flood waters, even though he could no longer see the mountaintops; the victories of days gone by were covered by the overwhelming circumstances. It is here that we find Noah, floating for an extended amount of time on the waters that covered the earth.

Just as Noah trusted that God was working out his plans for him, we must cling
to the fact that when the rain has come, when we see nothing but devastation, know God is in control. In the times where you look out your window with the last glint of hope falling with your tears on your cheeks, you look out at the glassy surface of the vast waters around you and wonder how long you can survive, trust God as your provider. As you stare intently into the depths just beyond your safety boat's edge and search desperately for some indication of the flood receding, and see nothing but darkness, hold fast to the Light
of the World who is at your side. For it is in these moments, when we let our hope take flight as Noah released the bird time and time again, just waiting for the sign that there was change-let your hope carry you. Let your faith breath for you. But never forget that God brought you this far-he is a finisher of the work he begins. When we are leaning with all our strength upon our Creator, this is when we see the words on our hearts as we see in Genesis 8:1.

Isn't it intriguing that the name Noah means peaceful, and has a myriad of meanings, one of which is wandered. At the moment our last hope seems to fall to the ground we can hear the soft reminder that says "But god remembered the wanderer…" Oh heart you must leap with joy at the declaration! At the end of this testing time, finally the ark, the wandered within, came to rest atop a mountain…

+ Genesis 8:1-5 But God remembered [the wanderer] and all the animals in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear. The underground water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains stopped. So the flood gradually began to recede…the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat...as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks began to appear.

 

The Holy Spirit will come to you in your time of growth and testing and begin to withdraw you from the trying times. Your foundation will be set, the cleansing rain
will turn to the sunlight of peace and you will come to rest atop a mountain unlike any before. Noah started his journey in the valley places of the familiar and was relocated to a new victory. A new place on the mountains, and as he trusted God through even this mind blowing time-the victories of past began to reinstate their hope.

Don't you see? If we obediently follow God through this season of the flood, we will come to land on a mountain top victory like we have never before experienced! God has greater things in store for you! He has greater victories then those of past ahead. Mount Ararat was above the flood waters before the other mountains began to appear, this mountain you have come to my dear ones, this victory will be so glorious! God brought the wanderer to rest atop a new mountain, but he also gave him a promise and eternal covenant. Beloved just as God gave Noah the rainbow as a reminder of his pledge to never again send such a physically devastating flood, our God is taking us to a place of promise!

Victory and promise are ahead for you dear child of the Creator of all things!

As I was thanking God for these things, he spoke to my heart a word for you who are seemingly drowning in the flood. As you read what follows open your heart to hear the words the Spirit may be speaking to you right now in this time. Open your mind to receive the revelation of the Holy One who has brought you through your past trials and the one who sustains you. Let these words be a gentle confirmation or a firm exhortation to cling to the Trustworthy One. Read these words and be encouraged, for these are fortifying words amidst the flood waters!

    Come beloved, you see the clouds rolling in. You have heard my warning, know this is to strip away the dry places. You have asked for a rain, it comes. The clouds are heavy with prayers; angels now stand on the ready for a word from me to begin. Build. Build. Build upon all I have spoken. Trust I am a performer of my Word. I am not a man that I would lie. No. I have said it, I will do it. Just listen, listen and know that as the rain comes down, people won't understand. Some may turn and choose to break under the flood. But trust and you will rise safely atop the rain waters. I am calling you my wife; I am calling my bride to come to this place of safety and transformation with me. Rise to a place where you are preserved despite the inability to see the victories in the past. Behold as Elijah saw a rain cloud just a small way off. This way it comes. Hear the thunders heavy with purpose. See the strikes of lightening coming closer. Come beloved prepare. Come and be made new. Come and trust my plan. Come and raise above all the hindrances. Come for here lies a season of the evident absence of my presence while I choose to work through the natural. Come, Ah the thunder! Ah the rain! The miracles of the first drop!

+ 1 Kings 18:41-43,45 Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go and enjoy a good meal! For I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!" So Ahab prepared a feast. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and fell to the ground and prayed. Then he said to his servant, "Go and look out toward the sea." …And sure enough, the sky was soon black with clouds. A heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm…

Floating Above the Flood Waters

We are on the verge of a season of forthcoming flood waters; uncomfortable change; a time where flood waters will be released from Heaven. The prayers of God's people have been lifted up to Heaven and the clouds are heavy with the weight of their plea. God is about to open up the flood gates, with this release comes growth. Change. A turning point. A new start. New patterns. A time where our past bondages will be broken and God will preserve us through this time of trial and uncomfortable change. But what are we to do in this season? We have learned we must prepare, be obedient to the Spirit's leading-here let me show you what I have learned will be some of the events could be in the midst of this flood. I also feel God spoke a word, but that I will place in another blog..

I was praying over these little promptings the Spirit was depositing in me and asking him what it meant for me personally. As I was studying Genesis 6 and 7 some points jumped out, a outline, a glimpse of what the coming season means. I don't know where you are in all this. Maybe you are in the prep for the season of rain. Maybe you are in the desert just crying out for anything from God-even if it means a time of uncomfortable change, or maybe you are in the flood, and you don't see an end. Either way-this is what the Spirit spoke to me as I read.

Are you at a place where you just need a change, no matter what that means? I can feel the thickness of the air in the Spiritual realm God is moving, and I want to be around to see what he is doing. But as I've said, I feel like what is coming will call for endurance and ultimately sincere faith
in a Creator who is working all things together for your good. We read in Genesis of the 7 days until the rain. Then once this rain comes, it comes hard. It's a crushing feeling that washes away all we once knew. But our Protector doesn't leave us by ourselves. Oh the jewels he reveals in his inspired Word!

+ Genesis 6:18 But I solemnly sweat to keep you safe in the boat…

Amidst our obedience to God he will guide us through the flood waters…

+ Gen 7:11b-12 …the underground waters burst forth on the earth, and the rain fell I mighty torrents from the sky. The rain continued to fall for 40 nights.

This is a violent picture of the confusion and overwhelming sensations that can reign in your time of flood, these times are an outpouring of God's answered prayers, but he is always giving us the opportunity to grow and to learn and to change. The underground waters burst onto the earth-the foundation you think you have laid, will be tested. Can you confidently stand and say that you won't be shaken, you wont be swept away in the middle of a catastrophic flood?

+ Gen 7:18 As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth.

Please know, this season that some of us feel like we are entering is not a thing to be afraid of, we just know that as we go into it that you need to trust God to help you through any trial that may present itself. But note, in the above scripture-one, the boat floated safely above the waters. Second, the flood waters covered the mountains. As I prayed over this I thought of the mountains in my life as two things. It could be the mountains-obstacles-I can't seem to get over. Or are these mountains that are covered, in the midst of this overwhelming uncomfortable change, are they our past victories? The change that is coming-we will be safely delivered through it. But in the middle of it, if we aren't careful we can lose sight
of all past victories. BUT PRAISE GOD HE IS IN THE BUSINESS OF MAKING ALL THINGS NEW AGAIN!

+ Gen 7:22 Everything died that breathed and lived on dry land.

Do you see how God is still in control even when we can't see the victories? Do you see that he is working all things to our good as he makes all things new? A month or so back I was at this amazing event called "Jesus Now" where area youth groups and young adults from all sorts of denominations come together for one purpose-to praise and worship God. At the end we were all just listening to God and what he had to say to us in that time. I kept hearing him say the wilderness is over. The wilderness is over. Do you see that in this flood that he is allowing to rush into our lives and make us uncomfortable- it is REMOVING ALL THAT THE ENEMY HAS CREATED THAT IS THRIVING IN THE DRY PLACES. The dry areas of our lives have become breading places for apathy, discontentment and our complacent spirit. This flood that is painful, frightening and seemingly unending-it is striping the dry places in order to bring NEW LIFE! Yes, in the middle of this flood that covers all our victories we may not see the end. Yes, it will be painful, yes it can be intimidating-YES your God will carry you through!

+ Gen 8:1 But God remembered Noah…

Oh God. OH Father, you do not forget us in the midst of our trials. When we can no longer see the places you have brought us through- you are still ever so close. You are allowing us to grow, you are calling us to change, you are calling us deeper. We have cried out for an increase of your presence-may we see your hand in every drop of rain. Every answered prayer, God may we understand you have greater things for us and Lord, may we trust that you REMEMBER your children. God in the middle of the unknown, unmatched, unveiled flood, we cling to the one who has called us righteous! Lord Jesus, hold us and teach us in this flood, you are not a man that you would lie Oh god. Oh God , Oh Jesus, open the flood gates..

Forthcoming Flood Waters

God has been really speaking to me about the rain. I've learned to feel God's presence and grace with every drop of rain. There is purpose and there is peace in the rain, even in a thunder storm's torrential down pour. God has been teaching me and dealing with me in the books of Genesis 6 and 7, the story of Noah. So I am recording all this in two blogs, cause I've received random confirmations that someone, perhaps YOU need to hear of what God has for you with the first drop of rain. Last Sunday evening I was at a weekly prayer meeting and just praying for God to release the rain.

Firstly, he showed me the parallel to be drawn between rain heavy clouds with prayer. As we pray, our prayer rise up to Heaven and they build up. I picture these storm clouds up above, growing heavier an heavier with every prayer we pray, until the moment comes. Until our persistent prayers reach the cloud and the first drop of rain falls… The cloud bursts, a clap of thunder echoes across the spiritual realm-the sounds of God's power coming forth from the throne. Down comes the rain, things in our life shift, prayers are answered, we have encounters with God like never before-the rain clouds release the built up pressure that has been building for days, months, maybe years. However, while this rain is refreshing, it challenges us. While it is answers to our prayers, it means change, change in our spiritual life, and that also means change in our earthly life. It is a season of uncomfortable growth, we might need to be pruned before new buds can grow from this life giving rain. As I was thinking about all this and God was just ministering to me, I hear Genesis 7. So I turn to read

+ Genesis 7:4 One week from today I will begin forty days and forty nights of rain…

That is no mistake; it's a confirmation of what God was already ever so gently telling me. God, I feel, is telling of a coming rain, a coming season of rain. As God was speaking to me about this season of down pour, I began to wonder what brought Noah to that point; to the point of hearing of God's plans, the point of building an arc to float above the waves of crashing change. I turned to Genesis 6 for answers as I asked the Spirit to just speak to me what he wanted me to see and I found some things worth noting.

+ Genesis 6:5-6 Now the Lord observed the extent of the people's wickedness, and he saw that their thoughts were consistently toward evil, Do the Lord was sorry he had made them. It broke his heart.

How much more different could this present generation be from that of old? How wicked we are, how evil our thoughts have become being constantly filled with bitterness, anger, jealousy and lust! When we have a lustful thought, do we think twice about the pain to the HEART OF GOD we are causing? This generation that had developed in Noah's time were breaking the heart of their creator and they didn't-even-know. God makes us conscious of the times we are grieving the Holy Spirit! God open our eyes to see the painful consequences of not just our actions but also our thoughts!

As I read on, I was introduced to Noah. You see in even the New Testament letters that at the beginning of a letter the writer will state their position and name so as to clarify with what authority they write. The main character of this event God had brought me to-Noah enters the scene awash with the favor of God

+ Genesis 6:9 This is the history of Noah and his family…Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on the earth at that time. He consistently followed God's will and enjoyed a close relationship with him.

Do you feel that ache in your stomach at those words…can you help but wonder what scriptures would announce your profile as? Could we dare to hope it would contain such precious words and descriptions as Noah was accredited? The scriptures make it an important piece of Noah's identity that he "was righteous…and enjoyed a close relationship with [God]." Oh if only we could know that we to would be known for our relationship with our Heavenly Father!

It is obvious that he truly had a close relationship as we see in Gen 6:18, God tells Noah of his plans to flood the earth, but he also declares that he will keep Noah safe in the boat. While the flood, the season to come-is violent, painful perhaps- and seemingly unending purifying process, God wasn't going to allow Noah and his family to come to harm in the days to come. In order to get to the point of the flood gates of Heaven being opened up, we better know our foundation is set with God. He is telling us what to do to prepare for this coming season of growth and testing.

+ Genesis 6:22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

When we build upon our relationship with him, he keeps us safe. We can with stand his purifying process. But we must act in obedience!

Beloved please move in obedience to the Spirit! Prepare yourselves for whatever work, whatever growth, whatever change he has for you. Do not harden your hearts toward the call of the Father to build the ark, to build on your relationship with him in order to withstand a trial, do not harden your hearts toward the pressing of the Spirit to step out in faith and do the unusual. Get ready, the storm clouds are about to release all their pent up pressure. You have so long stood in faith that your prayer were to be answered, wont you now prepare for the stretching that comes with the answers? Beloved-you see the clouds rolling in; you have heard the warning-get ready.

But God

A poem for the times when you feel you've lost your grasp on everything. A song for the heart that feels it has lost hope in all else but God. A psalm for all who have realized their foundation must be on God and god alone, or else they will be shaken beyond recognition. A word of encouragement for the person who has realized that those two words, change the course of history.

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.. –Ephesians 2:4-5

Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. – Psalm 73:25

Things in life fall from my plan,

I thought I had a hold.

Maybe my hold broke it.

I'm learning what I am to do.

I know even still, God there is always you.

But God
has the knowledge

That I won't ever know.

The pain of hopes lost can hurt more than a bullet.

The shot of ache in my stomach reveals

How far I went.

I'm sorry I did not keep the door

Closed.

I'm regretting the first stage

Of hope.

But God
you make all things work together for my good.

I dive

In quickly

Only to find you on the shore.

I hesitate

On the edge just to hear you

Call me in.

But God your thoughts are higher than mine.

I hold to deferred hope.

But God
has desire for me

I grasp at strings of a gone season

But God
is making all things new.

I anchor to the dull ache

But God
wants me to live in the miracle of the moment

I feel lost in routine

But God
shows miracles in the mundane.

I wonder at words of past

But God
is speaking to me rhema, right now

But God
has victory

But God
knows my name

But God
sees my tears

"But God
remembered Noah"

But God remembered Noah…and the floods began to disappear –Genesis 8:1