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…