We are in a season of transition and provision.
It is all around us spiritually and naturally as well as corporately and individually. We are transitioning from winter to spring seasonally, an indicator of the times and seasons. (This is the month of Nisan which is the month of new beginnings and miracles.)
It is important that we recognize the times and seasons we are in.
According to the calendar, we are in what should be a season of preparation with Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Passover is a time of preparation.
One of the important rituals of the season was a thorough cleaning of the home. They were also to remove any chametz from within. What is chametz?
It means leaven. NONE could remain.
We know biblically that leaven represents sin. In baking, leaven is the active ingredient that creates fluff or holes in bread. We can see the mirror of that when we apply it in our lives. When we have any element of leaven (sin) in our lives, it creates holes in our foundation and our walk with Him and it prevents us from going deeper, keeping us in the “fluff” or milk rather than meat. It is a time that we are to go deep and eat the meat.
The Lord spoke to my heart “PASSOVER WAS (IS) A PLACE OF PROVISION.”
Passover is the major Jewish spring festival that commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, lasting seven or eight days from the 15th day of Nisan.
In Hebrew it is known as Pesach–which means “to pass over,” as God passed over the homes of all who had the blood of the lamb covering their doorposts. It marked them as HIS by their obedience, and protected them from destruction of those that had enslaved them.
In this season we are to remember His blood covering our lives, purifying our hearts through repentance and “cleaning out the home” of our hearts and lives, as we enter the time of “passing over.”
And what God reminded me was that, “THERE IS PROVISION IN THE PASSOVER.”
Passover was a place of both transition and provision which is available to us all.
Immediately following the Passover, the Israelites were released from the slavery that had yoked them for 400 years. (Note that is also significant as 400 was 8 cycles of 50. The number 8 represents resurrection or regeneration and every 50 years is a Jubilee which was the release of debt, offering forgiveness and slaves to be set free.)
So when the Israelites were released from their slavery at 400 years it also marked a cycle of REGENERATION AND RESURRECTION IN THE JUBILEE of release of debt and slavery.
We are in such a time of transition now.
We all feel that pull of transition now in this time in the spirit. It is a transition as we have never experienced before. That is true personally and corporately. Many people are transitioning into a call previously unrecognized.
We have never seen a time such as this. And it is an exciting time—but one in which we must see with eyes of the spirit.
For it is those who will see past what is in the natural (giants in the land) to press in and say, “yes that IS my land and we are well able to take it.” It is a time of pressing in to walk through.
TAKE YOUR MANTLE
What is the “land” He has placed in your heart to take hold of? That is your seat of authority—your inheritance. For you are now at the door, the very precipice to take the land. It is available for all who are willing to take hold of it and press in.
It is much like Elisha who was given the mantle of Elijah. He didn’t just grab hold of it and wear it. He took it and used it as he held fast to it and struck the waters.
AND THEY PARTED.
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“He picked up the robe of Elijah that fell from him, and he returned and stood on the bank of the Jordan. And he took the robe of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the water, and said, ‘Where is the Lord, God of Elijah?’
When he had struck the water, it parted from one side to the other, and Elisha crossed over” (2 Kings 2:13-14 MEV).
This is a word for you today. The waters that have prevented you from passing over are going to part and you will be able to walk over that which was previously impassible and impossible.
The waters are parting. You ask, “How does that happen?”
Let’s look at Elisha.
Elisha took hold of the mantle given to him and started forward with the expectation that the same anointing that Elijah walked in, he would walk in. And he did…in fact with DOUBLE the recorded miracles.
That is also a word for today.
There are new mantles and callings in which there will be a DOUBLE manifestation as we take hold of them, use them and walk in them.
But we have a part to play. We can either just hold them or we can use them.
Groaning is taking place. The earth is groaning. We are groaning. It is the travail of the last birthing stage. In the natural, that stage is referred to as the stage of transition.
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Transition usually isn’t pretty. In fact, transition often involves chaos. I saw two things as the Lord spoke to me of transition. A bridge. And a move.
Have you ever been involved in a move from one home to another? It’s usually not for the faint of heart. Packing, transporting, the actual move from one location to the next, unloading, unpacking.
In general chaos.
And while there is expectancy, it can be accompanied by fear of the unknown. That fear is trying to magnify to intimidate you from continuing in the process. For it is in the process of transition (crossing over) where you will find the next thing and place God has in your walk with Him as we go from glory to glory.
The Israelites wanted to be free, but once they were into the move/transition, they became afraid. It was taking longer and was way more complicated than they had imagined. There was much to fear in the natural. Not enough food. Not enough water.
The enemies that were following them and the unknown before them. And some chose to allow that fear to dominate their thoughts and said, “We want to go back to Egypt.” If they had, they would have never reached their promise.
I Saw a Bridge
There is a bridge which lies before you. In order to get to your next place, you must cross it. It’s a place of unknown and it doesn’t look safe.
What I saw was a swinging rope bridge high above a chasm. There was nothing safe about it in the natural. The bridge was so long that it was impossible to see the end on the other side as it was engulfed in mist. The wind was blowing and the bridge was swinging.
It didn’t look safe. It didn’t feel safe.
But the only way to get to the other side was to cross that bridge into the unknown. I knew as I looked at the bridge that to stay would bring only frustration and disappointment, but as I started to step on the bridge the wind picked up and the bridge began to blow back and forth with it.
Only now I was on the bridge blowing with it as well as I put one foot in front of the other pressing in to get across. It took fighting to hold on even as I continued to cross.
Are you there in that place?
“The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1).
Transition to any position comes in phases.
Rarely does someone start at the first step and immediately get promoted to the final phase…and those that do don’t last. Why? Because they have not been tempered. They have not weathered the storms of experience that provide staying power.
It is the storms of experience that teach us how to endure, how to walk through and how to get to the other side. Storms are not to be feared. They are to strengthen us on how to hold on and battle through. The storms you have endured until now, that you thought you could not survive, have tempered you and strengthened you for your next place.
God is a God of transitions. We see that from the very beginning and in the transitions were provision.
“So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold” Genesis 13:1.
As the Israelites exited Egypt there was provision.
“The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians” (Genesis 12:36).
When Joseph was instructed to leave Bethlehem, God had already provided for the transition through the gifts the wise men had given. There was already provision for the transition.
“When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him” (Matthew 2:13).
We see His provision over and over in the Word of God. His Word never changes. If He provided then, He will provide in transition now.
What to do in the place of transition:
- Do not fear.
- Do not turn back.
- Do not stop. Press in and hold on.
- Do not settle for less.
- Do not lose courage by listening to others who would cause you to take your eyes off Him.
- Don’t be afraid of the giants. Because you are well able to overcome them.
You are in a place of process and it hasn’t been comfortable. It has been hard and dry and you have questioned if you are on the right road because you can’t yet see the end and the bridge is swaying back and forth, violently at times.
Don’t stop. Take hold. Take the mantle He has given you, strike the waters and begin to cross. He said He there is provision even in the journey as you transition and cross to the other side.
Thank you. This was needed confirmation for me. No matter what it might look like, sound like, feel like, God is working a good new plan.
Timely – I’m watching the Shepherd leading His sheep to new pastures in this season. Many transitions, many moves. Thanks for this encouragement Karen and thank-you Abba for the confirmation to keep looking to You as we continue stepping forward in this transitional season. Thank-you too Father for the ‘provision in transition.’
God bless you Karen
Blessings to you as well!
I just read this blog today, April 4, two days after a desperately needed family intervention in the life of my single parent daughter went as horrifically wrong as it possibly could have gone. The stakes are as high as life and death itself. Several lives are involved. All Saturday I was on that wildly swinging bridge – halfway across, just as terrifying to go forward as to turn and go back. What kept me from giving up in the spirit was that I had Divine promises I was clinging to – powerful promises given to me over the last 20 years for my daughter. I brought those before the throne of grace and still am, presenting them to my Father, the merciful judge, through my advocate Jesus, crying out that he will do as he has said, that his word will not return to him void. I needed to read this blog today to give me the courage to move forward, believing God for the victory to manifest on earth just as it is in heaven. May the Bride of Christ worldwide hear his voice assuring her he is coming – that she is not abandoned and that great joy is just ahead!
Hi Carol, I’m so glad that these words were a help to you in the storm against your daughter and family. It is particularly hard, as parents, to watch our kids walk through hard things and injustices. But I will encourage you with what you already know, it is in the hard times that they can grow strong to weather the even harder storms ahead. We take hold and pray WITH them for victory, but we let the Lord work His plan and purpose in them. I pray for you and your daughter that in this season, your roots will grow down deep so that your branches can extend high. Blessings!
Dear Karen, thank you for that word. Very timely and encouraging. God bless you. Holly
Thanks for reading! Blessings!