Unmasking

There is so much happening. I am watching. I’m drawing conclusions, stuffing them in my pockets and drawing more.

The overwhelming reaction from so many is fear. There is a virus being spread among all people, from all walks of life, with no regard for how well we’ve lived. It is vicious. It clots the blood of it’s victims, making it hard to function, hard to breathe, hard to live. It causes complications on those it does not kill, and it pushes society into spasms of anger, fear, and blame. I am not afraid of this virus.

Yet, it isn’t tracking in our every day lives the way it should. The numbers are up, the numbers are inflated, the numbers are lies. We can’t trust what we hear, we can’t trust what we see, and we can’t trust what we thought yesterday. The numbers, whether true or false, are counting on fear. I am not afraid of these numbers.

Then there is the cry to be alert. It is a heartfelt, God awakened shout among many who say the whole thing is designed to steer sheep off of cliffs. “You are being lied to.” I know they are right. We are being told masks are the way to help, but masks are not obstacles to death. Masks are placebos and their value is only in dispelling that look of terror in the eyes of the little woman I passed at the market. She tried to avoid me, she leaned far to her right as we passed. Her face half covered by cotton didn’t hide her fear in the least, and my heart broke for her. Masks are not our saviors. They won’t end a virus, and they won’t end fear, but neither will it hurt me or her to wear one to the store. I know full well the danger in following the crowd, I don’t like crowds, never have. The crowd won’t lead me to death chambers, I’ve too long been swimming against the flow. It is in swimming upstream I see the fear. There is debate about the danger in wearing something demanded by fools, and I see the merit in considering them a gateway agenda, but they are not the hill I choose to die on. I am not afraid of masks.

I hear God more these days. I hear Him speaking more clearly and I feel as if a veil has been thinned between us and our awareness of Him. Of course the veil was torn in two at the time of Jesus’ death. He took away anything that would keep us from knowing His presence intimately. But that doesn’t mean all spiritual things are seen by my flesh. I believe angels are around us, protecting us, helping us, but I don’t see them. I believe demons are on the earth, tasked with destruction and chaos, but I can’t see them. I believe there is something that keeps me from seeing the spiritual activities around me, and that something is becoming less effective as the enemy steps up his game. It only allows me to hear and feel more distinctly the voice and power of the Holy Spirit though.

The prophets of our day are speaking out with greater accuracy. There are humble men receiving dreams and visions for our time. I do not discount these things. I do not argue their merit. I only argue my own responsibility toward them. I am not saying I should do nothing, but I question the purpose of hearing a pastor from far away, who I am not assigned to, speaking something into my spirit. I am not under his authority, I am under the protection and authority of the shepherd God has placed over me. What is he saying? Along with that, I have a relationship with almighty God, because of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, I have access to His beckoning and His instruction. What brings peace to my mind in all of these things is the question He asked me after listening to these dreams and prophets, “What am I saying to YOU?” He did not emphasize what He is saying, but He emphasized me. He is able to speak to me, He will tell me what to do. I am not afraid because of prophesies.

There are unwelcome changes being forced upon us, there are signs of evil growing more and more rampant upon the earth. We are seeing destruction, injustice, darkness, and upheaval. We are witnessing the darkest time I can remember living in, but I know this is not the end. I am not afraid of the end.

Earlier this year God told me to plant a garden. I can’t afford to plant a garden on the land we have. I would need a tiller, several planters, garden soil, seeds, little pots to start indoors, so many things I had no access to, but God said to plant. So I told Him He will have to provide what I need. Instead of tilling up the soil, and buying planter boxes, I used the area behind the back porch where the retaining wall puts the earth a few feet up higher creating a raised bed at my finger tips. I mentioned my garden hopes to my sister and she mailed me seeds that were expired and had been in her freezer for over a year. When my brother visited he brought me some large bags of garden soil. I now have a garden, with exactly the things I had hoped to grow, blossoming in my back yard. I’m learning, little by little how to garden. I know that God told me to plant a garden, I know this garden that I have is incapable of supplying our needs over any significant amount of time. I will be making salsa with our bounty. I may have enough to do a little more, but not much more. However, what I have gained already in education is enough to help us greatly when I have more resources. I am counting on more resources next year. My point is, that God is preparing me. I believe He is preparing many, many people to be ready for much harder times than this. I don’t know what will happen, but I know what He’s telling me:

“Know the Word.” Why? Because in all that we do, in all that we say, in all that is happening, only the Word of God can sort through the tangled mess of opinion, fact, logic, numbers, fear, and frenzy, and filter out everything but the TRUTH. Only the Word. If we do not know the Word, we will fall into fear.

“Put the boys in public school.” Why? They will get an education I couldn’t provide for them easily, while I write a book. Mostly though, I believe they will be a light, and a source of great comfort to many they encounter.

“Write a book.” Why? Because there will be greater need for an income for us. And a greater need to pass along the wisdom of God in times when what we say on the internet will be more heavily scrutinized.

“Plant a garden.” Why? Because we will need supply that cannot be taken away from us.

I am not afraid of what is ahead. The enemy is being unmasked, and I see him laughing at the unrest he causes, but I am being enlightened, and I know what to do today.

Matthew 24:32-35
““Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; ³³ so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. ³⁴ Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

Isaiah 30:21-23
“Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. ²²And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, “Be gone!” ²³ Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture.

God is taking away the things we’ve counted on, He is calling us to Himself alone. We are rich in His blessings. Even in all that we will encounter we are rich. God has been so patient, and His moments are the best of my days. He waits for me, and then He reminds me how wealthy I am to hold grace in my hands.