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How Will You Live?

Susan Shultz

Updated: Feb 22, 2023



("God's Mission Protocol" Series 2, Post 12)


I have made over 40 videos so far this year, but if I had to choose only one message for you to watch or read, it would be “Bride Has Made Herself Ready.” This was the first prophetic message from the Lord this year that started off “His Unfolding Message.” It was a powerful message that I have often felt needed constant revisiting. I thought about this video/blog post today because God’s words to me in church were similar. He must have thought that we needed a revisiting as well.


I have had a hard couple of days. One of the things that has made them hard is another death of a good friend. This woman meant a lot to me, and I will miss her dearly. With her on my mind and realizing that it was September 11th on my way to church, the anniversary of so many other deaths, God had once again set the stage to speak. In church, God spoke. He said:


I love you, Susan. Write these words down:


Death comes to everyone in My timing. I know that this is hard, for it is a very real and physical experience. Most do not get to die in their preferred way or timing, but during such times, even though it seems that things are out of My control, I never lose control. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, happens under My supreme control. Death, pain, sickness, these are part of this world. In this world you will have trouble. These things befall all My children. They even befell My Son BUT remember why He came. He came so that such things could be defeated and bound to this world and this life. Victory. The true victory of the cross is that death was and is continuously defeated. Life is short My people and death will come for all of you, but remember the cross, remember eternity. Keep your eyes on the prize - living forever in My presence as My Kings and Queens, My Royal Priesthood, for ALL time. ALL time. ALL time. Think upon those words - ALL TIME. Forever.


At this point, I overheard the worship song and hear is what I heard being sung, “How I long to breathe the air of Heaven where pain is gone and mercy fills the streets. To look up on the One who bled to save me and walk with Him for all eternity.”


My people death is not final. It is but the starting off point towards eternity, to true life unlike you have ever known. As you grieve the loss of loved ones, remember this. Remember that those who die in service to Me, truly live. They live more than you, for they no longer struggle with loneliness, pain, grief, sorrow of any kind, not to mention their true reality and purpose has finally come upon them. Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice and remember this truth. Keep this eternal perspective. I know it is hard to breathe in this reality during times of great loss, but it is reality, nonetheless. Allow My Spirit to fill you with this truth. Let it wash over you. Stop. Breathe. Reflect on truth. I am Truth and I am in complete control - ALWAYS and in EVERYTHING, even loss, even grief.


Arise My people. Arise and shine. Shine Christ’s light for the world to see, for the greatest grief of all, the greatest loss, will be for those who never knew Me. Therefore, make My Son known. Testify to the Risen Savior. Because He lives, you live. Because He lives, those who have died in Me now truly live for the first time. The lost upon this earth grows more numerous every day therefore get to work. Proclaim truth. Experience true life within My Spirit and then make these experiences known. Your stories will bring life for your stories will proclaim the power of Christ. You are My Ambassadors. You are the Light. Stop hiding your light under a bushel and shine. Shine Jesus. Shine Him bright for He is not done saving the lost, but this side of the cross, He chooses to do so THROUGH you. You are now Christ’s hands, feet, and voice. Therefore arise. Arise and shine. Be the Light. I choose to use you, you who are still alive, for a time such as this. You are My children. You are co-heirs with Christ. Therefore, get to work. Testify. Testify. Testify. Never stop. Don’t hold back. Shout it out. Experience Me and then make these experiences known. I am the Word. I am your stories and therefore your stories have power, the power to defeat Satan and to save the lost. They need you. They need you like never before. They need Christ in you. Don’t keep Him hidden. Don’t hide His light. Instead shine. Shine bright. Reflect Christ in all you do. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! This is why you are here. This is why you, yes you, are still alive. Those still living have work to do, great work to do. Arise. Wake from your slumber and get to work My people, My Bride, for the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. I am coming. I am coming soon. Will I find you hard at work in the field? Consider this your wake-up call. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. For death will befall you all, but the real question is how will you live? How will you use your time while still alive? Live. Live. Live My people. Live. Wake up and live. Wake up and shine. WAKE UP AND TESTIFY. I go before you, therefore whom shall you fear? Amen and amen.


At the end of worship, my pastor stood up and was inspired to talk about the writer of one of the worship songs, about how he had gotten a diagnosis for his son. He then quoted Psalms 23:4a which says, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” He then began to talk about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how in response to the fiery furnace that in Daniel 3:16-18 they gave the king a win-win scenario. They proclaimed that God would save them, but that if not, they would still stand for Him. It is clear that even in death, they knew they had victory.


Two sermon points that my pastor gave today really stood out to me. The first one was that “God’s plan is always in play – always.” As God said today, and had often said to me, He is in everything, EVERYTHING. He never loses control. We may not understand why He chooses to work the way He works but that is not up to us. As God says through Isaiah 55: 8-9, “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”


My pastor then read Jeremiah 29:11, stating that it is a popular verse that many of us probably have on a plaque in our homes somewhere. It says, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” But then he read the verse before 11. Verse 10 says, “This is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.’” Seventy years? Most of them that heard God’s prophecy that better days were ahead knew they would never see them in their lifetime. My pastor then said, “God works outside out life, our lifespan, for His plan is bigger than us.”

My pastor’s next point that stuck out to me was “Don’t just go to church . . . be the church.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” Another verse that was read was one that God used in my life recently. It was a good reminder of God’s “Four Freeing Steps Towards Obedience.” 1 Samuel 15:22 says, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” Within God’s prophetic word two weeks ago, He reminded me that all He really calls His children to do, in order to be obedient, is to pray, sit at His feet and soak in His Word, testify, and believe. These are steps that have brought freedom to this overthinker, control-freak. This is all God requires of me, and all of us. For, my life, your life, is not our own. We were bought with a price. And we are co-heirs, co-laborers with Christ, after all.

God is at work. He has a plan. No matter how long it has taken or will continue to take, whether 70 more years or beyond, it doesn’t matter. Our purpose, our calling, as co-laborers and co-heirs with Christ for a time such as this, is what God is addressing.


It is very clear that Satan and his workers, his co-laborers, are on the loose and hard at work. So, what are we, as Christ’s co-laborers, doing for Him? We are His team. Well, more than that. We are His family, His brothers and sisters. Well, even more than that. WE ARE HIS BRIDE! So, Bride of Christ, it is still time to get ourselves ready. It is time for the Bride to make herself ready. It is time to wake up and get to work. For, if we are still alive, for whatever season or length or time, we have work to do. Wherever we fall within the history of God’s plan, that is our portion of the “wall,” like Nehemiah’s wall. What are we going to do with the section of time that God has given to us specifically. We need to be good stewards. We need to be obedient. And we need to wake up.


After church, I had lunch with my mom. She talked about the mother of a friend that also died the same day as my friend. I listened in as my mom felt led to tell me the events surrounding this woman’s death, and as I listened, I knew God was speaking. This woman who was in later years, knew she was dying, and as such, still being coherent, she was able to choose to be surrounded by, and talk with, every family member she had, down to her youngest grandchild. After this, they all sang songs until she died. Wow! Wouldn’t we all love to have a death like that? I know I would. But that isn’t the case for most, and probably won’t be the case for a lot of us. But no matter what happens, we have to choose to remember that God is in COMPLETE control and has a reason for it. And as the song sang out in my car on the way to lunch, let us know that everything that happens to us in this life, even persecution or death, be for God’s glory. For, as God said, it isn’t about how we die or that we die that truly matters, what matters most is how we LIVE! It is how we use the time that has been given to us. Let us be good stewards Bride of Christ, for a time such as this.




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