The other night I had a vision of a lake. The water was calm and there were hundreds of people lining the shore. I saw the Lord there standing with His feet in the water up to His ankles. Everyone was standing back a bit just waiting. I was confused as to why they weren’t rushing over to Jesus. Why they weren’t engaging with Him. Why they were just watching. I was wondering what they were waiting for. I began to walk over to the Lord. I approached Him eagerly with a level of peace that hid my inner excitement. I wasn’t sure what to say so I simply stood there next to Him.
He smiled at me and I felt in my spirit the word “ready?” The next thing I remember it was like I was tossed a thousand miles an hour across the lake. I was skipping like a rock. It was scary, amazing, exciting and confusing all at the same time. I came down and hit the top of the water a few times as if it was a solid sheet of glass. It stung but immediately I was on my way again. This happened about three to four times and finally I rested in the water. Yet unlike a rock that finishes skipping, I didnt sink.
Suddenly I was back where I started on the shore of the lake, with the Lord in the distance. The crowd was still the same, standing back just waiting. I saw another person step forward and from my view I saw what appeared to be a rock in the Lord’s hand. He skipped that rock just like He had skipped me, but this time, the person sank and disappeared under the water.
The crowd began to murmur. I felt so much mockery coming from them toward this person who struggled to keep their head above the water. So much judgement. I heard them saying things like “I knew it”, “I told you so” or “I knew they weren’t qualified” “I knew they would fail”.
The next thing I knew that same person that struggled, made it back to shore and was standing there with me. We both began to walk to Jesus together with an attitude of wanting more. No matter what it was, no matter what would happen, we both trusted the Lord and we both went back for more.
What the Lord put on my heart regarding this vision was the number of people you believe are in this for the same reasons. Once we taste the presence of the Lord, experience deliverance or healing, we want more, and we begin to believe that everyone who had experienced the same things on any level, at any time, would feel the same way. Yet the truth is that they don’t.
Many are on the sidelines, standing in vision of the Lord yet very few will submit and respond with “Send me”. Many know and understand the prompting of the Holy Spirit yet very few will leave the comfort of their flesh to actually give a word, say a prayer, or make any difference in advancing the kingdom. Many want a word from a close friend, but when someone with discernment comes into play, they don’t want prayer. They want to stay on the sidelines with their Christian mask covering their hidden sins.
The truth is, submitting to the Lord and His will for you is a scary thing. There are ups and downs, you will still crash, you will still fail and it will sting just as much as hitting a sheet of glass going a thousand miles an hour. Yet you will rise again, you will learn from those falls. Some will float and some will sink. You will strengthen your discernment in the process, but just like any other muscle you exercise, you must use what the Lord is giving you. Even if it’s scary, even if it makes your flesh uncomfortable, you have to step out. If you don’t, your just another person watching from the sidelines. Waiting for others to fail, when you yourself are too scared to even step up to the plate.
I encourage you to step up, to step out and to follow the Lord. Not as one of thousands, mixing the world with the gospel and calling it grace. As one of 12, of 70, as a disciple wanting more. Our level of obedience as doers of the word and not only hearers is what strengthens our relationship with Christ, our discernment and our walk.
We are to be unstained from the world. We are to stand out, to be set apart. We are disciples, we are sons and daughters of the King. I encourage you to speak to the Lord in prayer and to simply say “Send me!” You’ll be surprised at what happens next. It doesn’t matter how many times you sink, you still walk beside those who keep afloat.
James 1:22-27
English Standard Version
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Isaiah's Commission from the Lord
Isaiah 6:8-13
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing,but do not understand;
keep on seeing,but do not perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump.
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