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Nate Johnston info@nateandchristy.co
Last week I was asking the Lord what was on His heart for the pioneers when my spirit began to flood with His thoughts and insight, so I quickly took out my phone and wrote down what came to me.
THE PEN, THE KEY, & THE NEW CHAPTER
The first thing that came to me was a vision where I was holding a pen, a key, and a book opened in the middle to a new chapter with blank pages.
I instantly knew we were shifting from one chapter into another and there was something God wanted us to pioneer this year onwards to fill those pages.
As I was thinking about this I heard these words in my spirit “It’s up to us to write the future. We must write history!”
We aren’t powerless in the storyline taking place right now, in fact, God wants us to be the writers and authors with Him of what takes place.
Pioneers, you are God’s pen and this year He is anointing you to be His vessel of glorious poetry to usher in His heart into the earth.
“We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us” Ephesians 2:10
In the last few years, there has been a major attack against the pioneer’s pen, the creatives, and the ones called to write history with God through the unique expressions He has given to us all, but in this new chapter, the pages will be filled with the words, topics, themes, and language of a new day and hour.
The blank pages represent the blank slate season we are in that demands a response from the body of Christ to stand up and courageously step into the unknown and speak what has been unspoken and create the world we want to see.
We have to close the doors to the past, the past moves, the past methods, ways, formulas, and embrace the uncharted road.
The key I saw is the authority God is reminding us that we have. It’s the Isaiah 22:22 key of David that is a governmental key that changes everything it locks or unlocks.
“I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open”
This speaks to me of our role to impact and change the storyline taking place in the earth and around us. We get to shut doors and open them. We get to determine what is allowed and what is not, and what is acceptable and what is not.
This new chapter beginning slams the door to the era of powerlessness In the church and is the Father handing us the keys to the kingdom saying “Ok mighty ones it’s your time to step up with the authority I have given you through the blood of the Lamb!”
PIONEERS, LET’S SET THE STAGE
Then I heard the Lord say “This year sets the stage. What you write and legislate from the heavens will become the cornerstone for the days to come”
We have the responsibility to set in motion the things God has on His heart but with that comes the reality that if we don’t then something else will fill that vacuum.
Will we author heaven to earth this year or will we allow man’s ways and methods or worse, the enemy to fill that void?
I believe that this “setting the stage” means that we have been called to lay a foundation, lay the groundwork, or establish a precedent.
What comes into my spirit is the call to break new ground and pave a new path or way forward that the body of Christ will walk in.
How do we set the stage? We have to recognize the areas God is asking us to prepare for the new in. We have to sow into tomorrow by planting seeds now.
The crops of the last season have ripened and are beginning to droop and it’s time to break new ground and plant what we want to see become a harvest in the days ahead.
This year is the decider year of determining what doors we will open and walk in and what doors and areas need to be shut. It’s a stocktake year of removing the unnecessary extra baggage from the church and casting it over the side of the ship.
We must shift our perspective and position. We have been so focused on the fruit and trying to hoard more fruit that we have forgotten to plant the seeds that others will feed off in the days to come.
A GREATER TENSION BEGINS
As the Lord continued to speak I sensed a greater tension coming upon the pioneers. It’s the tension of the call to DEEPER while feeling the call to launch out FARTHER.
It’s the call to the secret place and the clarion call of the hour to live at His feet more than seeking the public place, but at the same time not sitting still or being inactive.
We have already been in a season of extreme delay and pull-back where the enemy has warred against us producing so those days are over.
This will be a season of deeper wells and a greater outpouring AT THE SAME TIME!
Many pioneers have mistaken this tension as inner conflict but you need to know that this is simply the pull of the new chapter and the reality of what you are seeing and experiencing in the now.
This tension will make you feel uncomfortable at times but it is harpooning you to the future you are the representative for.
That’s right, God is planting you in the future and you will learn to navigate that line between what is coming and what you see.
This tension will cause you to feel deeply dissatisfied and unable to settle in the wilderness and it will uproot all places of potential apathy in your life but the good news is that YOU WILL SEE the goodness of God and the breakthrough you have been praying for.
THE SHELVES OF HEAVEN MUST BE SEIZED!
I heard Him say “The shelves of heaven must be seized!” and I knew this was referring to the books, the songs, the blueprints of movements, ideas, strategies, and themes on God’s heart that have not yet been discovered.
But the word “seized” struck me which means;
To grasp suddenly and forcibly; take or grab.
To take by force; capture or conquer.
To take quick and forcible possession of; confiscate.
This is not just a retrieval or a pickup of goods but a TAKE BACK of what has been both blocked and stolen.
“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it” Matthew 11:12
Pioneers your role this year is peeling back the curtain so the church can see what is theirs for the taking.
It’s your role to remove blindfolds and reveal the glorious future that has been shrouded by doom and gloom and open the eyes of those who have been stuck.
THE KEY OF DAVID & THE PSALMISTS DETOUR
However, the key you possess this year is not just the key of authority and access but the key of David. It’s the key of worship and priesthood that has been lost.
I feel this so strongly – there is a new sound of worship rising this year onwards that is going to break the church out of the glass ceiling of man’s ability and restore the raw cry of a generation that must have Jesus at all costs.
The radio edit can inspire and it can definitely encourage, but the Lord is looking for those who will put the emphasis back on the altar floor over the studio room. He is looking for those who will run into the secret place and not leave till they carry HIS SONGS and HIS MELODIES.
For there has been a subtle spoiling of the ointment in the camp of the Levite’s but God is bringing refining this year to distinguish between the musicians and the worshippers.
And He is calling the worshippers deeper and there will be a personal revival break out in worship communities around the world that are seekers of His heart. And they will begin to unveil the songs of their pursuit.
And they will untie and ungird the bondages around nations. There has been a chokehold around the church but this fresh sound will break it in a moment.
“Yes, I am handing the key of David to the Davids,” says the Lord. “But will they take it? Will they detour from the path to grab hold of it?”
Worshipping pioneers, know who labors among you. Find the other David’s, and hold out your hands.
For this year it is the WAR-ship that will steer the rudders of the armada of God in new and unknown waters. You are that rudder. Lead us well.
NEW TERRITORY IS FOR THE BOLD
The last thing I heard was “New territory awaits!” and sensed hesitation in the hearts of so many pioneers stepping into new and unknown areas.
There are mantles of courage coming upon those who are going to pioneer movements this year. This won’t be on you but you will need to launch. You will need to step out.
When you do you will feel the grace and strength of God all around you to take land and pursue what belongs to you without it taking you out.
I then saw someone sitting down doing the numbers or the pros and cons of going in this new direction and they kept saying “It doesn’t add up!”
And no it won’t add up at first, but will you miss out on your purpose while things don’t add up?
Will you forsake your calling for the sake of having things neat and tidy? Things will look messy for a while. They won’t make sense. Numbers won’t add up at first and people will not understand you.
BUT GOD IS ON THIS! Step into your shoes pioneers!
This is a birthing season for the pioneers but If you don’t birth the new, you’ll either feel barren or you will feel like you missed the boat.
There will be an unusual call to risk and a faith to accompany it, so create margin for things you don’t have on your daily planner because God will surprise you with assignments and ideas not on your radar.
There is more favor and fruit on the raw and spontaneous than the managed and calculated. If you are looking and longing to see greater anointing and greater presence you will have to lean into what you cannot control but that which the Holy Spirit is beckoning you into.
You will accomplish more with less and experience more mountain top moments than any other season of your life – it will just cost you your plans and expectations.
It’s a changing of the guard and a changing of the garb year. Roles and uniforms are changing in the spirit. There are new mantles for the taking and a letting go of the expired capacity you once filled.
There are new roles and nameplates to be filled. You can’t stay in the same role and seat that you have in the last season. You have sensed this. You know there is more and you need to activate your new office by putting on that new jacket and owning it.
This is a “buy low” year. God will put his favor on certain avenues and expressions and it’s up to us to discern them and change our spiritual stock and focus.
This is our time. The enemy thinks he has the seats of power occupied but it’s take-back time for the church.
IT’S TIME TO RE-WRITE HISTORY TOO
As I am writing down all these thoughts I am suddenly aware of something so near to God’s heart for us in this hour – the re-writing of history.
The re-writing of the stories of those who have been through the darkest night season in the last few years and have felt like their greatest days were over.
The rewriting of the stories of those who were taken out and derailed, assassinated, and shipwrecked.
The rewriting of those who have been through the deepest heartache and don’t see a future anymore.
Let me say this clear – We wield the pen to take back the authorship from the enemy and his demonic plans.
We get to determine the pages going forward and we get to steer the plot and storyline of history.
With that said, it is burning on God’s heart to see the past storyline flipped and redeemed. It’s time you and I saw the years of devastation and robbery re-written and pioneers, you and I hold the pen.
We are in the season of the rewriting of the destiny of families, relationships, and marriages. That’s why things have come to the surface because God is doing an extreme makeover and a do-over.
“Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings” Isaiah 58:12
Pioneers, we will look through the mess and rubble and call forth the new day and new beginnings in the lives of those who have only seen pain.
We will see hope where in the natural there is none and we will write the songs and stories that tether us to that hope.
We will pioneer the reality of what God is saying where the media is only spewing lies and we will make it a reality.
Pioneers, grab your pen and wield it well, and let’s go!
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Feb 10 With Part 2 with Kathie Walters
