The Lord is about to move among His people in new and unconventional ways. He is doing a “new thing” and ending “old things” (past seasons—namely barren wildernesses and dry desert seasons). As we stand on the cusp of the closing of this season, the Lord’s exhortation to us is found in this passage of Scripture:
“Do not remember the former things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isa. 43:18-19).
Making a Way in the Wilderness and Rivers in the Desert
Part of the new thing is making a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The Lord is speaking into wilderness and desert seasons. When the Lord says that He will “make a way in the wilderness,” He means He is giving navigational points to a season that seemed vast and never ending. There is now clear direction, fresh vision, new instruction, new assignments and promotion.
Many of you are now coming out of your wilderness season and God is birthing new things in your life. They will be new and will require you to not look at the “former” things.
In the wilderness, the children of Israel were only allowed to live with enough manna for the day. Sometimes when we go through wilderness seasons, we are literally existing one day to the next. Our vision is cut short. We can be barren in dreaming and hoping and in vision. This isn’t always a bad thing.
In the wilderness seasons, we experience a stripping of our own ability so that when the wilderness is over, we are able to possess and inherit by His Spirit. We have learned to lean on our beloved. The striving has ended, our pursuits have been emptied out and we are unrecognizable. We do not look the same coming out as we did entering into the wilderness, hence the Scripture in Song of Songs 8:5 (AMP): “Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved?”
The question “Who is this?” is asked because she is now unrecognizable. When God is doing something new, there is a temptation to look back, because new is new. It’s new to you. It’s not been used; it’s not been recycled; it’s brand new. This challenges our comfort zones and our limited space of operation. There is a temptation to define the new by the past, but the Lord’s instruction to us is to remember not the former things. Don’t look back.
A Downpour of Promise
Another thing that is new is rivers being made to flow in the desert. The Hebrew root word for “desert” (yasham) means “to be desolate” and “to lie waste.” When rivers flow, life springs forth. To have rivers flow in the desert, they don’t just appear. No, you need a downpour, flooding rains, to come and create rivers to flow in a desert place. A desert is a desert because there isn’t much rain or water. So for water to come to a desert, that is not the norm.
The rain is coming and, in Scripture, rain refers to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. When the river comes to your desert, do you put your toe in and say, “Hmm, what is the temperature of the water? Oh, I just washed my hair yesterday. Oh, I don’t want to get my clothes wet, I’ll look silly. What will people think of me?” No, you jump into that thing…headfirst, with no hesitation.
When God begins to pour out His Spirit, those who are still remembering the former things and not recognizing the new because it may not fit their current paradigm—they try to control it. And because they can’t control it, they then attack and criticize it. Don’t be deterred if you receive criticism for the new thing God is birthing.
God Is About to Perform Against the Norm
Get ready for God to begin to perform against the norm. God is about to disrupt your norm. If the desert has been your norm and you try and look back and remember it, it will hinder you from recognizing the “new thing.” If your norm has been sickness and disease, God is saying today, “FORGET IT! It can’t be part of your norm anymore, because I am doing a new thing. Where My river flows, healing can come.”
It doesn’t matter if it hasn’t worked in the past. It doesn’t matter if you have been prayed for 100 times and nothing has happened. Forget it; remember it no more because it will hinder your new thing! There is a new thing springing forth. It’s called the river of God invading your barren place. It’s called vision and purpose in your wilderness, where you have been living day to day. It’s called healing, deliverance, debt cancellation and prodigal children coming home.
Forget the norm because God is about to perform against the norm. {eoa}
For the rest of this article, please visit elijahlist.com.
Motivated by an intense love for the body of Christ, Anita Alexander’s passion and compassion is to see the church forsake religion and tradition, awaken to the Father’s love, and arise and walk in the overcoming identity as sons and daughters of the kingdom. Anita and her husband, Dr. Sasha Alexander, travel nationally and internationally, ministering in revival fire that brings resurrection life, healing and awakening to the body of Christ. Together, their passion is to impart, raise up and release a generation of sons and daughters who manifest the glorious victory of the finished work of the cross. They are co-founders and senior ministers of Revival Flame Ministries, Golden City Church and Kingdom Academy School of the Spirit Ministry Training School in Gold Coast, Australia.
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