Moving Day

Revelation 4:1

“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, (Come up hither), and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”

I am a firm believer that God is calling many of His people to move to a higher place: a higher relationship with Him, a higher ministry for Him, a higher prayer life, a higher revelation of His power in our lives. God is calling us to a higher walk of faith. God is always calling us to a higher place…God is calling us to go from the prophecy to the promise.

Exodus 40:37 - But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up.

Numbers 9:19 - And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not.

Numbers 9:22 - Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed.

I believe that God worked this way to teach the children of Israel how to get from the prophecy to the promise, from the unseen to the reality, or from faith to sight. It was to teach them that on the journey their provision and their guidance and their protection was all dependent upon His presence.

One of the most important lessons it taught them was never get too comfortable. Intentionally God would vary the time that they would stay in a place, to teach them that no matter how comfortable or convenient a place it was, it was not the promise. God did not tell them when He was going to move, He did not send advance notice because he wanted them to stay in a condition of readiness.

One of the greatest battles we fight is that of the familiar. No matter how dry and desolate some places we are in or periods we experience are, if we stay there too long we get used to it, familiar with it, comfortable with it and we stop looking for the Spirit of God to move. Once it becomes comfortable to us, we resist anything that threatens our comfort Zone. But we cannot allow this to happen, we must be ready for the move at all times.

Moving is one of the most interesting things because in the moving process there is something called an ordered chaos. Everything is chaotic, everything is moved out of its place, the familiar routine is replaced by what seems to be confusion and disorder. Nothing is convenient, everything you want seems to be the hardest thing to get to. When you start to move, you begin to realize all the things you have accumulated over the years, all the unnecessary junk, makes moving that much more difficult. Moving becomes a time of shifting and sifting, when you lighten your load. Moving time is when you separate the useful from the useless and the valuable from the worthless. A lot of what you accumulate at one place you don’t need at the next place.

This is a Spiritual truth we learn from moving in the natural: As we move from one level to another there are things that we will leave behind. I don’t know about you but there are some things I am ready to leave behind. I’m ready to leave behind some doubts, fears, discouragements, and disappointments. I’m ready to leave behind some enemies that I’ve been fighting. I’m ready to leave behind some traditions that have no power. I’m ready to leave behind some excess baggage that’s been slowing me down.

Many times moving is difficult because you are leaving the familiar, the comfortable, the normal and you are entering the unknown.

Hebrews 11:8 - By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

God is looking for some people that will follow him into the unknown.

Isaiah 42:16-19 - And I will bring (the blind) by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have (not known): I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’S servant?

Are you ready to move on? Are you ready to let go and let God? Are you ready to go into the unknown? Are you ready to obey even when it doesn’t make sense, to obey when it looks foolish, to obey and go when every natural instinct says stop?

It is said that the African impala can jump 10 feet into the air and cover the distance of 30 feet in a single stride, but this great animal can be imprisoned for the span of its life behind a 3-foot wall, because it will not jump if it can’t see where it’s feet are going to land. It refuses to go into the unknown.

This is what it means in Isaiah when it says to be blind, it means to trust God. To be able to jump when I can’t see where my feet are going to land. To, by faith, move into the unknown.

There are some things that are not going to happen until we make the transition into the unknown, or we could just call it the faith dimension. One of the greatest motivations that I have for moving to the next level is I am more afraid of staying where I am, and missing the moving of God’s presence, than I am of moving into the unknown.

This next level that God is calling you to is going to take a faith step into the unknown.