("God's Unfolding Message" Series 1, Post 10)
*Once again God references previous messages to me from years ago. These titles are in parenthesis and in bold letters. “A New Spring” comes from “Bridegroom in the Clouds: Book Two – Bridge Stories” and “It’s Time to Glow” and “Go Against the Flow” come from a recent blogs/videos within "God's Unfolding Message." Please go back and hear these messages if you haven't already done so. Thank you.
3-13-22
The previous evening while I was in the shower, I started envisioning my dad’s leather rendition of Jesus as a Good Shepherd. This vision would not leave my mind, so much so that I didn’t question that somehow God was setting the stage to speak to me once again during church the following day. What came to my mind as I envisioned my dad’s artwork was something I’m shocked I never noticed before, that this picture of Christ, or the Word, is actually upon flesh, for it is on leather. With this God brought to my mind a conversation I overheard about a week ago, one in which I heard my brother talk about how he had recently learned through studying the words at the beginning of the Gospel of John that the original Gospels were actually put on animal skins, or flesh, giving new meaning to the Word actually becoming flesh. Of course, the important Word becoming flesh was God becoming man, but what great symbolism God placed all throughout the Bible and this is just another example.
When I researched this a little further, I learned that the earliest biblical texts were written on scrolls made from papyrus (a plant-based paper), or parchment (animal skins). The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word “Biblia” which means books. This is a more accurate description of what the Bible is - a collection of mini books. It wasn’t until the second or third century C.E. that scribes took these papyrus or parchment pieces and stitched them together into a codex which looks more like our modern print books.
Wow. How easily we forget that the Bible is made up of a compilation of different books, literally the testimonies of a variety of different people who saw God, experienced God, or were commanded by God to write down His exact words or revelations. These “books” were then literally stitched together (or sown together) to form one book that we call the Word of God. The symbolism is so clear to me now. God has always used His people to write His story, to make the Word became flesh. God uses people, period.
God used my dad’s leatherwork, something that has been right before my eyes this whole time, to speak about how this revelation has been before all of us the whole time, but how easily we forget this or fail to take notice. We fail to take notice of this very important, actual literal biblical truth: God uses and speaks through people. Although He is the Word, The Testimony, His word comes through us, comes through our flesh, always has. Even Christ didn’t write down His own story, His disciples did, or other onlookers. Even the book of Revelation which is primarily God’s direct words, didn’t come to us in the form of some magical book that just appeared, it came through the person of John. Let us not forget what makes our religion so unique and different from others, then those that claim that God divinely brought a magical book into existence, one that was already written and simply found, or one that was written through just one hand-picked person. Ours didn’t come about that way. Ours came about because God inspired His creation to do the job. He used multiple people, and I might add, all very different people: male, female, young and old. We have always served a God who wants us to be co-heirs and co-laborers with Him. We have always served a God who wants us to have a hand in building our eternal home because He knows how much more fulfilling it will be for us because He loves us. Christ came to make disciples and after doing so, He told them to go and make other disciples. He didn’t just come to conquer the world and then say that it was all over. They wanted Him to do this. In the midst of a world of chaos, one that was being ruled by the Roman empire, Christ came on a donkey not a valiant steed. He didn’t come to save people from the tyranny of the world, He came to point people to the Kingdom of God that still laid before them. God has not changed. He is still trying to point people to His Kingdom that is at hand. He still desires that we look past the tyranny of this world, and instead to focus on Him and His mission that He still desires us to have a hand in building, His Kingdom.
Christ is going to come back on that valiant steed and when He does, this time He will say that it is over. At that point He will take us to that Kingdom that along with Him as His co-heirs and co-laborers we fought and labored for. What a glorious day. But what God is pointing out, is that we are in the times between Jude and Revelation and even though our stories are not written down like those whose stories of God made up the Bible, ours still need to be written. It’s our turn. We are still the Word made flesh and it is time that we testify just like they did. If God was done writing His story, then why are we still here? Does He value Christ’s work through our lives less than He did through their lives long ago? No!
When I got to Church, I noticed a woman there whose husband had died the day before and I couldn’t help but notice that she was engaging with a newborn baby. It truly was a picture of how God brings life out of death and I knew this was what He was showing me. I was glad when I got a chance to give her a hug after which I sat down and began to write as God spoke. He said:
Susan, a new day has come. With death comes new life and a new spring is upon you and all My people (A New Spring). I am a good God. That is what I am. In all things I am good. No other entity can bring life out of the rubble. I am the Creator. I create life and I am about to create new life once again, a revival that will sweep across this earth. It will be seen by all. All My people will see. Not all will accept My chosen methods but those that do will shine like the noonday sun. They will touch everyone around them with the intense glow of Christ. Shine stars shine. A time of intense shining is upon you. Believe. Be still My people. Enter this season at My feet for the true battle belongs to Me. I only ask that you take the step of faith to believe this - that the battle belongs to Me. I am in complete control. I am about to show up within the darkness, both within you and within this world. Hold fast. Stay strong. I will not fail you. I don’t fail - EVER! As you watch the world around you transform into spring, into New Life once again, know that My Spirit goes with it, offering this newness to you as well. I am the God of every New Spring. Seasons come and seasons go, but I NEVER change, ever. I am the same today as I was when I formed the foundations of the earth. Open your eyes to My breath, to My desire to breathe new life within you. Breathe. Stop right now and breathe. Breathe in My Spirit. Breathe Him in deep. He is what I have equipped every believer with. Don’t take Him for granted. Believe that My Spirit is real and ready to fight your battles for you. Utilize Him My people. You have been equipped for every good work because of My Spirit. Use Him! He is there for you. You cannot be in this battle without Him. You do not have to be in the battle without Him. What a precious gift I have given you, My very presence within you but very few of My people truly know how to tap into this mighty gift. It is time. It is time for My Spirit to make ready of people prepared for the Lord, people that will rise up and shine. This world NEEDS Christ’s light. Let the Holy Spirit show you how to bring this glow to this hurting world. Glow, glow, glow, glow My people (It’s Time to Glow). To know what I mean by this, hear My previous message to this woman before you. I have been teaching her to glow, to shine from a deep-seeded internal faith that cannot be easily shaken. All My people will need this internal glow for the season that follows the revival that is coming. Many seasons remain My people, what will you do with them? If you choose to miss out on this new spring, this revival that is coming, you will not be prepared for harder days, and even worse, you will have failed to prepare your children, the next generation. But I command you to prepare them and you do this by first preparing yourself. Sit at My feet. Soak in My Spirit. Let me fill you with newness, with My New Spring. When you do, I will show up for you in ways that will cause you to testify and these stories are what will prepare future generations. They will show your children that I AM GOD. That I AM THE CREATOR. That I AM the God of newness, of new days, and new seasons. Moses led My people to the edge of the promised land but they didn’t immediately go in. Instead, they testified. In patience and persistence, they recounted all that I had done to bring them to that place, to the border of the promised land. My people the new promised land is Heaven and although My people are once again near the brink, I still require the same season of testifying. Great stories have and will continue to arise within your desert, and when they do, DON’T HOLD THEM INSIDE. A great battle still awaited My people within the promised land. Giants awaited them but this season of testifying prepared them for this great battle and the same will be true for you. This great season of testifying is what I’m going to use in order to prepare you for the battle that still lives before you. So many of My people are so afraid to still step into the desert, into the unknown. But this is where My Spirit moves. This is where I show up. I made My home with My people within the desert. I tabernacled with them. I provided for their every need. If I showed up for them, giving them great stories to recount in which to gain strength for the battle before them, well I not do the same for you? The answer is yes, a resounding yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, My people. I am ready to show up for you but steps of faith are still required. Go against the flow. In a world headed back to Egypt, to slavery, go against the flow (Go Again the Flow). Step into the desert and watch Me show up for you, for you and your future generations. I AM THE TESTIMONY. I am the Word made flesh. You are now the face of Christ My children so let Me shine through you. Let Me, THE TESTIMONY, shine through your flesh. Eyes on you, mean eyes on Me, THE TESTIMONY. Let this woman guide you. Her life is a testament to this process which is why I am using her now. She stepped into the desert. I showed up for her in supernatural ways that I am now calling her to testify about, a testimony that I will use to prepare you. Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice My people. Again, I say rejoice.
Susan, I declare that through you I will shine. I will shine through your life, mightily. Susan, I delight in the steps of faith you have taken. I know you question My methods but once again I declare to you that you don’t have the control you think you do. I have and will continue to inspire what you share and when. Susan, with everything you say, it will always be between My children and Me whether they believe.
Susan, stop being so afraid of prophecy. It is a spiritual gift. You as well need to stop, breathe, and invite My Spirit to move through your life. I have plans Susan for your past writings, plans that will soon be revealed but don’t use your past to stunt your future. A new season is greatly upon you for a reason. Cry out Susan! Cry out! I will guide you. Prophesy Susan, prophesy. You have the gift of prophecy Susan, and I declare that it is time to use it. It will only draw people towards your story, not away from it.
Susan, don’t be afraid of prophecy. It has been around far longer than you. It didn’t start with you, nor will it end with you.
After I was done writing and worship was over, my pastor stood up and began to talk about all of the deaths that have taken place this previous week, including that lady’s husband. Then another man stood up to give the announcements but before he did, he addressed the congregation letting us know that he and his girlfriend had broken up and that she had decided to find a “New life at New Spring,” (New Spring being another church in town). As you can imagine, his statement made my spirit perk up and I knew God was using his statement, along with what the pastor had shared to confirm His words to me, that God does intend to bring His people new life within a new spring. With this I began to recall God’s last prophetic word to me and how he talked about His people being ready for new.
God told us that we need to be still and sit at His feet, to soak in His Spirit and to start living by the power of the Holy Spirit. As you can see, God has even been working on this in my life, encouraging me that I do have the gift of prophecy and that it is time to us it. I didn’t grow up in a church that talked a lot about the Holy Spirit or the gifts given through the Holy Spirit, especially gifts like prophecy, but as God has been reminding me, He has always combined such gifts with His people. My friends Acts 2:17 says, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” I am such a daughter, a daughter of God.
That was a hard statement for me to just make. I want you to know that. The problem I have, is the problem that most of God’s people have, and it is that we believe such things within the Bible but really struggle to believe them for today, in our modern lives. But if we are going to face the battle that lies before us, we must get over this. We must be open to new, even though God truly using His people to be His voice isn’t actual new. We cannot fight the battles ahead of us, those truly against the spiritual forces of wickedness, without our endowed spiritual gifts through the power of the Holy Spirit, whether the gift of prophecy or others. As I have already shared in my previous message, God’s call on my life (even as my initials spelled SEW) revolves around a vision He gave me a long time ago of His Wonderful Web of Wonder. This vision is God’s stars, God’s people, sewn together or woven together, testifying to Jesus. This is the light of Christ that the world needs. If you think about it, this “new” vision God gave me isn’t a new one at all. His challenge to us is the same He gave His past Saints. For just as their stories on flesh were sown together to form the very Word of God we call the Bible, God wants to use our modern age stories to fill the space between Jude and Revelation, for a time such as this.
Of course, once again my pastor’s sermon matched God’s message. My pastor talked about positioning ourselves to hear God’s voice, that it takes three things, to: Stop, Look, and Listen.
Of course, Psalms 46:10 tells us to be still and know that He is God. My pastor also brought up Luke 10:38-42 which is the very famous story about Mary choosing to do what is best over Martha and sitting at the feet of Jesus. This made me think of a past lesson God taught me to which a phrase He instilled then came to my mind once again. It is that “You have to earn the right to be a Martha my first being a Mary.” Only after we are still and sit at the feet of Jesus are we then equipped to go forth through the power of His Holy Spirit to accomplish great tasks.
After we stop, we also must then look. My pastor brought up Habakkuk 2:1 which says, “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” We have to live in expectation. We have to believe that after we stop and wait on the Lord that He will show up and answer us. But like God pointed out, we need to truly be open to His methods or else we may miss out.
Finally, we have to listen. My pastor first brought up 1 Kings 19:11-13 which is the story of God speaking with a still, small, voice. This is an important part of my testimony. I will not go into all the detail here, but it is written down, but this very passage is what God used to show me that I was indeed hearing Him speak to me a long time ago. Next, my pastor brought up Habakkuk 2:2 which says, “Then the Lord replied: write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a Herald may run with it.”
There are indeed moments in the Bible when God’s people heard His straightforward words but again God still had them write them down. For years now I have heard that still, small voice tell me to write, actually hearing “Susan, write these words down.” Am I crazy? Or just a modern representation of God still being God and working through His people. Like God said, whether you believe me or not, is between you and Him. My only job is to be obedient and to invite. I shouldn’t be afraid of my prophecy because as God revealed to me a long time ago, His prophecy to me comes through my testimony. In most cases, He orchestrates the events around me to set the stage, like He did by bringing my dad’s leather work to my mind and the revelation surrounding it, the night before He spoke. Also, like He did through the testimonies of my pastor who brought up all the recent death and the man giving the announcements, taking about new life at New Spring. These are very, and I mean very, small examples, but my testimony is filled with even greater examples of God orchestrating my life in mighty ways to prove His voice. I hope you will be inspired to read it.
My pastor lingered on this verse in Habakkuk 2:2, highlighting the need to write things down saying that the reason is because “When God speaks, He’s bringing life to you.” In other words, He’s creating new life. He went on to say, “If you don’t expect it, you will reject it, dismiss it.” I agree. If you do not believe or live in expectation that God is who He says He is, never changing but also the Creator, capable of new things, always, then you have limited yourself and the power God wants to exude in your life. He even said that many will miss out because they won’t be open to His methods. I have not always been at the place I am now. Believe me, it has been a very long journey, and honestly, I still can’t believe I am bold enough to put myself out there, but I do know that one of the reasons why God uses me or speaks to me, is because I believe Him to do so and I am obedient. When He tells me to write something down, I do and when He tells me to prophesy, I obey. I’m not going to lie and tell you it’s easy for even God’s own words point to the fact that I’ve been struggling with this due to my upbringing but even this points to the fact that I am a testament. God chose me because I represent the people God wants to awaken because I am one of you. Or I was one of you. I struggle with people thinking I’m crazy because I know where your thoughts are coming from, but God has been encouraging me lately of course through the testimonies of those in the Bible. They didn’t wait for people to come to them to gain a sense of validation, instead they encountered Christ and then went forth and testified in boldness, leaving the outcome to the Lord. The word that God greatly brought to my mind as I struggled with this yesterday was the word “Go.” Jesus didn’t say “Stay here and wait for people to come to you.” Instead, He said “Go. God and make disciples.” And even though people eventually were drawn to Jesus and sought Him out, even He initially went out, traveling around from place to place, seeking and finding His lost sheep.
During my pastor’s final prayer, he prayed, “Your heart all along has been to tabernacle with us. Help us to stop, look, listen…May we hear Your voice clearer than we’ve ever heard it before.”
My ears perked up when he said “tabernacle with us” for those were actually God’s exact words. He truly has always wanted to tabernacle with His people, then and now, and to use His people, then and now. We, my friends, are actually even more equipped to be used by God because of the Holy Spirit than those that He tabernacled with in the first desert out of Egypt. Open your eyes to this reality, this much needed reality.
My pastor then went on to say something that he has alluded to many times before, something that I truly love about him. He said, “I’m going to live till I die,” highlighting the word live. My pastor is in his 70s but I love his passion and the fire within him to live for Christ until his dying day. He is always pointing out that if we are still alive that it is for a reason, that God still has work for us to do. This is a message that God has also highly woven through my recent testimony. One that is now heavily on my heart because of that, and I know why. The older generation is greatly under deception and being attacked by the enemy and the very reason for his attack is because of God’s words, that future generations need our testimonies.
The day before, I attended a women’s brunch at my church and although I prayed that there would be younger women like me there, God had other plans. I was one of the youngest ones there by far. I was also at first a little discouraged that no other young children showed up to play with my daughter. Because of this they didn’t have something planned for the kids upstairs. But even with this I eventually saw that God had a reason. He wanted my future generation to be seen and to interact with the women that would eventually hear my message for once I realized that no speaker was coming or lesson was planned, God empowered me to speak up and based on my audience, I knew exactly what He wanted me to share. I looked at this room full of women between the age of 60 and 90 and told them that they needed to write their testimonies. I told them about my regret I have of not hearing more of my own grandmother’s testimony based on two main reasons. First, children are egocentric and they don’t know when they’re young how important it will someday be to have these testimonies, which is why the verses God had me share highlighted that this call is mostly directed to adults, who should know better (You can find these verses on my website in the free guides to help you testify). Second, I told them that in defense of my grandmother that this is not a message that has been highly preached within the church today, that she was never told how important it would be for her to get down her testimony. I then gave them some easy options to help them get down their testimony. And I wish I could put into words the look on these ladies faces when they were told that their life has value and that their stories matter. For Satan has done a good job. He has succeeded in this modern age in making the older generation feel useless and outdated especially because of modern technology and social media. But God wants to address this issue and a great example that He has brought to my mind once again goes back to my dad and his leather rendition of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. My dad knew he was dying and had been given three years to live, and he had a choice to make as to how he would spend those three years. Would he spend them watching television and waiting to die or would he spend those years testifying to Jesus through his God-given gifts and talents. Well, my dad chose wisely, and I love how even now, years later, that God has used his testimony to give me more revelation though what He inspired my dad to do. My dad literally made the Word become flesh. Every day I get to look at an image of Jesus on flesh, a piece of art that testifies to Jesus through the hands of my father. You can’t make this stuff up!
I don’t care how old you are, or even if you only have three years left to live. Even Jesus accomplished all He came to earth to do in three years, and it is clear that one of the reasons is to show us what can be accomplished in a short amount of time. My friends, use whatever time you have left to get your story down. Let God use you to make the Word once again become flesh. We are now Christ’s hands and feet and voice and He wants to shine through us. He wants to let the Word of our testimony transform a dark and dying world. Whether you are older and only have three years left to live, or you are younger and think that Christ is coming back very soon, it doesn’t matter. God doesn’t want us to focus on the when, but the what. What, when Christ comes for you, will He find you doing? I hope that He will find you testifying to the Lord Jesus Christ because that is why God created you. You’re very being, your flesh is meant to be a vessel, a temple for the Holy Spirit, for the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the will of your Father in Heaven.
When our Bridegroom does come back, I pray He finds all His Stars sown together, shining the light of Jesus Christ as one through our testimonies. This is a light worthy of the One true King for after all, it will be the very Light of God. We are His Wonderful Web of Wonder! Future generations need us!