Consumed: Transitioning to a New Era
I will never forget the morning of September 11, 2001. I was at home
with my family when the news came about the terrorist attack in New
York. I watched in horror as the two towers collapsed in slow motion and
immediately I felt a tremendous tearing inside of me. Rarely in one’s
lifetime do we experience the shift from one era to the next; but that
is exactly what was happening that morning. We were leaving another “age
of innocence” and entering into the post 9-11 era of the reality of
terrorism in our everyday lives. And I knew from this moment forward
nothing would ever be the same again.
I believe that right now in the church we are experiencing just such
a major shift. Over the last few days, I have met with a number of
prophetic leaders from across the nation. We spent time praying about
what God is doing now in the earth and also in particular, seeking the
Lord for His purposes for the coming Consumed Gathering. We all agreed
we are entering into a new era; a time different than we have ever seen.
The Shift is On
The first half of 2006 has been a time of intense contending for much of
the church. Many have been experiencing heightened spiritual warfare on
different fronts as the enemy seeks to prevent new beachheads from being
established in his territory. But although the warfare has been fierce,
so has been the perseverance of the church and these next few months
will witness a definable breakthrough and release.
“As it was in the beginning so it shall be in the end” is a
theme for this season – we are in a time of cycles being completed and
new beginnings. God is continuing the process of restoring the church to
its original design (the pattern we see in Acts) so that He might
complete what He began with the Early Church.
Behold the kingdom of God is at hand! This is a cry that is echoing
in the spirit. In this next season we will be given increased revelation
of the kingdom of heaven and of what it means to truly be a citizen of
heaven. “Portals” or doors will be opened in different strategic
locations that will allow us to see new dimensions of the presence of
God. We will see an increase in angelic visitations and the fruit of the
Glory of God will be seen in greater measure.
This new revelation will cause us to see spiritual principles with
increasing clarity – not just through a glass darkly. The Bible will
come alive to us and we will read it with new eyes. And God will begin
to release the new blueprints for His church that will have impact, not
just on the church of Canada, but the nations. God is preparing the
Bride of Christ to be the catalyst for God’s will, through the kingdom
of Jesus, to be established in the earth.
This shift to a kingdom mentality will cause structures of leadership
to change – the old wineskins of top down, autocratic leadership will
radically shift and we will begin to see the King Jesus taking a new
authority. Structures of ministry will morph into much more of a cluster
type. (Isaiah 65:8)
The Majesty and the Terror of the Lord
After the first gathering in Whistler in 1995, Joy Dawson gave this word
to me (David). She was praying about the gatherings and she said,
“Prepare yourself for the glory of the Lord and the terror of the Lord
because they are going side by side”. We see this in Isaiah 2 – where
three times, in verse 10, verse 19 and verse 21 it talks about the
majesty and the terror of the Lord.
We are now as the church globally entering into a time that will be
known in spiritual history as the days of His glorious presence. But
even as great glory comes, it will be accompanied by great calamity and
judgment. We are on the verge of times when all the nations will be
shaken. That is why the journey we have been walking in Canada over the
last 10 years has been so pivotal. We have walked to remove the stones
of offense through repentance and reconciliation to prepare the nation
to welcome the glory of God. And in the days that are coming, there will
be a great protection for every nation which welcomes the Lord into
their midst willingly, before the Lord makes “every knee bow” by the
displays of His awesome splendor.
Since the One Heart Gathering (July 2005) we know a shift has taken place in the mandate of the gatherings. At One
Heart we achieved a level of corporateness as a remnant in the nation
and the Lord said to us “in your corporateness the ark is with you”.
We have crossed the river Jordan and now the Lord is leading us to
possess the gates of our cities, as He directs us. We believe that now
the Lord is saying, no more delays, no more waiting, it is time to rise
up and carry the ark of God. We see in our spirits a huge mobilization
of people groups and of different types of ministries bringing the ark
of His presence to the cities of our nation.
And yet in this season of possessing it is a different kind of
warfare than we have known before. This is the season where our
responsibility is to carry the ark; which we do as we obey His command
to gather so that His presence may rest. But the battle is the Lord. And
we have the privilege of walking with Him to take the land.
A Time of Consecration
As we enter into this new season a call has been going out in the Spirit
for a level of consecration like we have never known before.
The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the
nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our
God.
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come
out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD. But you
will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before
you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.(Isaiah 52:10-12)
Even as God commanded the priests in Joshua to consecrate themselves
before carrying the ark into the Promised Land, the Holy Spirit is
orchestrating a consecration of those who are being commissioned in this
next season to carry the ark and bring back the glory of God. The
shaking and purification is deep, often coming in the form of hard
trials as God goes to our very core to remove the “gray areas” in our
lives to bring us to a new level of pure and sincere devotion to Christ.
Yet in the midst of our pain, we count it all joy! If we are walking
through fiery trials, it means we have found favour in the Lord’s sight
and He is preparing us for the next phase of what He is about to do.
(Hebrews 12:5-11)
Through every test and trial, God is birthing in us the spirit and
song of the overcomers (Revelations 12:11). We will emerge with our
faith tested and refined like silver and gold (I Peter 1:6,7)
Consumed!
Consumed will be one of the catalytic points, in the timings and seasons
of God, where a shift is going to take place, a portal will be opened
and prophetic announcements will be decreed into the nations.
Consumed is a call from the Lord for the consecrated priests from
every nation, who know the Lord is anointing and releasing them to carry
the ark of His presence, to present themselves before the Lord that the
King of Glory may speak to and lead the nations!
The Consumed Gathering will take place in Edmonton, August 24-26,
2006. For more information about the gathering or registration, please
visit www.consumed.ca
