“The time has come for every prophecy to be fulfilled! … For I am the LORD! If I say it, it will happen. There will be no more delays… I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken! Then the message came to me from the LORD: ‘Son of man, the people of Israel are saying, ‘He’s talking about the distant future. His visions won’t come true for a long, long time.’ Therefore, tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: No more delay! I will now do everything I have threatened. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!” Ezekiel 13:23-28
God is AWESOME, that’s all I can say really. He is awesome. His love for us is awesome. His devotion to us is amazing. His dedication to us is unfailing. God is AWESOME, that’s just all there is to it.
This morning as I was reading today’s Word of the Day I could just feel the presence of the Lord joining me in the room. I could feel Him nudging me as I read and letting me know that although these words were written thousands of years ago, they’re just as appropriate today as they were then, with a little twist of course. These words on that day spelled absolute destruction for the people of God. Today they mean absolute blessing! He is desperate for us, for our attention and devotion. He is a jealous God that desires a steady relationship with us where we give Him more than an hour of our time every week or even every day, but that we would give him every hour of every day. He desires that we would but acknowledge His presence with us throughout the day, in the good times and the bad.
There’s another section in today’s Word of the Day that was particularly exciting. I don’t know about you all, but for years now it has felt as though there was an invisible wall between me and the plans that God has for me (that He’s shown me). And no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t get through the wall. Perhaps like me, you’re a little tired of hitting your head against the wall.
Well, today’s reading was encouraging on that front:
“The wall will soon fall down. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down.” Ezekiel 13:11
He showed me a vision of a large fish tank with a glass divider in the center of the tank like a wall. When the divider is first put into the tank the fish that have been used to being able to swim the entire length of the tank would swim directly into the wall over and over expecting to be able to get through to the other side. Only they couldn’t. They did this time and time again until they finally gave up and simply stayed on their side of the tank. At this point the divider was removed, but it made no difference because the fish had given up attempting to reach the other side of the tank.
Then He showed me a vision of a baby elephant at the circus with a metal clamp on its ankle connected to a chain that was staked into the ground. Since the elephant was a baby it was physically unable to pull the stake up out of the ground and escape its bonds. No matter how hard the baby elephant tried to walk away from the stake, no matter how hard it pulled and strained against its bonds, it could not free itself from them. As the elephant grew its metal clamp grew with it, but it continued to be held to the ground with that simple wooden stake in the ground. No longer a baby, the elephant now possessed the strength to simply walk away from the stake and pulling it clean out of the ground with hardly any effort at all. However while it now possessed the strength it no longer possessed the will to try any longer, it had long since given up in that fight deeming it hopeless.
He said to me, “these are two examples of My people today, yourself included. You’ve been fighting a battle against the enemy. It’s been long, it’s been HARD and I know you’re tired. There have been walls that you’ve been hitting your head against, glass ceilings perhaps. There have been bonds that you have struggled against long and hard. Some of you have even given up the fight. You’ve decided that the wall is never going to move and there’s no way to get through. You’ve decided that the bonds will never shake loose and there’s no point in trying any more. I’m here to tell you today that that is NOT the case!
DO NOT GIVE UP!
The walls are crumbling from your previous attempts and are now to the point that one strong storm will simply blow them away to powder. The bonds that held you fast when you were younger are no match for you now! You have grown, strong and tall and wise. You are fully capable of simply walking away from those stakes if you but choose to.
DO NOT GIVE UP!
You are SO CLOSE, do not stop trying now! The walls are crumbling, can you hear them? The chains are breaking free, can you feel them dropping off? DO NOT GIVE UP! You have done everything you could to stand thus far and I’m proud of you. KEEP STANDING AGAINST THE ENEMY, HE WILL FALL.
DO NOT GIVE UP!
You can do all things through Jesus who gives you strength. All things are possible for him who believes. For nothing is impossible with God!!! I am here. I am with you, every single step of the way My Beloved. You need only to believe and don’t doubt. I am here. I am with you. I am for you and not against you. You can do this. I promise, we’ll get through this TOGETHER.”
*My friends, I can’t thank you enough for your prayers! I can hardly explain the difference in the way I feel today verses the way that I felt a week ago. It’s like night and day! I would not have been able to receive a word like this a week ago, my heart was way too hard. Today however, I believe whole heartedly that it is 100% TRUTH! Whatever you’ve been fighting, whatever you’ve battle you’ve done everything you could to stand against, continue standing firm against them! They’re even more tired of the battle than you are! Keep fighting the good fight, you’re winning!!!!!
Tamar Knochel 