Mature Lovers

I recently landed in Israel on a very important mandate. I visit Israel often and have always felt a deep love and connection for the land whenever I have come. When I arrived this time, however, I didn’t feel the instantaneous love and connection that I am used to. If anything, I felt a bit disconnected. I had been very excited about going, yet when I arrived there was a noticeable feeling of emptiness. I know the person of the Holy Spirit well enough to know that this meant I needed to wait on Him to help me understand what I felt. I pursued Him, and a few hours later, at 9pm that night, I felt Him tell me to go to the Wailing Wall.

I made my way there in a taxi, with a woman driver who was friendly enough. I will say more about her later. The plan was for her to take me to the Wall, wait for me, and then bring me back. I didn’t know how long I was going to be, but she agreed to be there when I was finished.

I arrived at the Wall, and normally when I visit, I go close to it to pray. This time, I instead found a strategic place where I could sit and inquire of the Lord about why He had directed me there. As I did this, and closed my eyes to pray, I felt somehow as though I was inside a womb. It was a completely different and amazing kind of experience for me and hard to explain. I opened my eyes for a moment, and I could see almost all of the women that had come to the Wall to pray. I imprinted their faces in my spirit and continued praying. It felt somehow as though I’d been invited to join with them in their collective intercession as the women of the nation. I was actually a part of their praying, not there to judge or form an opinion on anything taking place there, but rather to be a vinedresser with them and among them, to help and to beautify them. I was reminded of the Scripture in Isaiah 61:5:

It was as though God had allowed me access to something profound that he was doing in Israel, and when I pressed in, I found myself in deep, groaning prayer, connecting with God in a way that I had not connected with Him in the longest time. I felt as though a portal had been opened through which I could access such deep prayer, gain insight in the Spirit as to what I should pray, and give of myself in intercession. The temptation to petition God for my own needs and desires was great, but I knew I was in a strategic moment in history and the focus had to be on why I was in that place at that time.

My prayer language started to shift, and I prayed in a language I had not prayed in before. I saw the nation of Israel opening its portals and gates for vinedressers, plowmen and watchmen from all the regions of the world to come in and dress the land.

I realised through this experience that if we are prepared to move beyond our familiar ways of connecting with the nations, and beyond the old patterns of emotion, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us afresh, He will guide us to places where new portals are opened and a deeper, more mature love for His plans and His people are formed.

I opened my eyes again and the Wall looked like it was being lit by a million floodlights. I received the Scripture in Proverbs 25:2 which says: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

In my searching out the meaning of the feeling I had when I first landed, God had allowed me to see something that was first concealed, and the depth and glory of the plans He has for the nation at this time and what He is doing to bring them to pass.

My attention was then drawn to the time, and I headed back to the taxi. My driver was not there. I asked the people who had been outside if they had seen her and they had not. I waited for around 40 minutes for her to return and eventually had to take another taxi. When she later called asking for full payment, she went ahead and lied by saying that she had been there all along, despite what the witnesses had said and what I could prove. I blessed her nonetheless. Later, she came back to apologise.

I asked the Lord about all of this. I felt that He was saying that those that are called to meet with Him at this time must be careful of the vehicles that carry them to the place of encounter, as they may come with demands or conditions that undermine the encounter itself, which is the most important part of all. God moves according to His own timings, rather than those of the people we have journeyed with, and we must not be quick to rush away from the place of meeting with God. People may make demands on us without understanding His plans or what it’s taken for Him to get us there. If their vehicle is their source of income and they are not really trusting God for their provision, they may push you into working according to their timings and agendas, rather than them waiting with you in agreement for His presence to come. If you continue in these sorts of alignments, you will find yourself bound by them. Many people have missed times of visitation because of such distractions. We need to align with vehicles that are led by the Spirit, and make our journeys with those who understand what God is doing, who will stand and pray in agreement with us and help us to be in the right places for our encounters to happen. The Scripture says that “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God” (Romans 8:14), and it is these ones that we should seek to journey with.

I believe the driver apologised in the end because the hotel I was staying at challenged her in order to preserve its own reputation and legacy. Through this the Lord highlighted to me that we need not to be afraid of being isolated or stranded in these kinds of situations, because He will always raise up people to protect us and be shields for us so that we can operate from a place of rest.

I later felt led to go to The Garden Tomb. Just as when I first landed, I didn’t feel the feeling that I was used to feeling when I arrived there. I again knew that the Lord was asking me to search out the matter with Him, and I sat down to reflect and to pray. I desired the heart of the Father more than anything else in that moment, and pursued Him for it. I felt led to walk to a certain spot and when I stood there it felt like a portal had opened for me to reconnect with the land. It felt like I was standing on a mountain with the Cross at its summit, and I saw nations flowing towards the mountain with their swords and spears beaten into pruning hooks as described in Isaiah 2. As I spoke with Abba, I felt God showing me the nation being beautified by many men and women who at first didn’t know how to connect with it but would find a way in the days ahead. The connection that God is placing into the heart of His people for the places of their callings in this season is a mature love and commitment and not about simply emotions or sensations. He is placing an anointing and authority on those who will search out His matters and not their own agendas. Many will be stirred up with a revitalised passion for the places to which they are called and will relocate to help prune and dress the lands to which they are called and to be shields. Let me explain.

Even since the pandemic, there have been big shifts in the way that many nations think and operate, and there are big vacuums to be filled. Unprecedented secular activities and distortions of society are taking place that only believers will be able to address. Some of these things need the partnership of people from many nations, and the skills and resources of foreigners that God will send. The breakthrough is in the coming together of the nations. I saw many gathering to repair the breaches of previous generations and open the door for a great movement to take place. As I stood praying, I saw a true United Nations being built in the Body of Christ, and the harvest was immense. As it says in Isaiah 60:5: “The abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you”

And in Isaiah 35:1: “The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose”.

Even in places where it seems that everything has dried up, God will bring life and fruitfulness, as the skills, strengths and anointings of the nations are brought together. God will provide the resources and ideas needed for the rebuilding of the nations. Many hands will be needed for the work, but what starts in one place will also flow over into others to bring about a global harvest.

I later drove to Shiloh, the original place of God’s glory to pray. As I prayed there, it again felt as though my tongue was completely changed, and that for whatever reason, Israel had given me a new gift and a new passion for her. And while I was still there, an Israeli woman gave me three precious necklaces as gifts. I was grateful for the physical gifts I received, but saw that most importantly they were signs of the spiritual gifts that God is releasing as we search out His glory. There really is a call to the Body of Christ to go deeper into its love for the nations and for God’s global mandates in this incredible season of breakthrough.

As I travelled to the different places I was called to, I was in the company of many people who truly are world changers. All of them have had to deal with difficulties, and even today, some are in difficult environments where resources and even life itself cannot be taken for granted. Nonetheless, God has shown clearly through the lives of people such as these that when someone is truly led of the Spirit, they can go into any environment and bring about His will and purposes. Jesus spoke about building His Church in the very place where it would be opposed by the gates of Hell and birthed it amid one of the most dominant political empires in history. That empire has fallen, but His Church still stands. He also said that we shall do greater works as those who believe in Him.

This means that in the coming days and seasons we should believe God for the transformation of the nations and the building of the Church, regardless of what we see taking place on the world stage spiritually or politically. There are truly incredible days ahead. A major key to all this is for the Body of Christ to partner with God to host His anointing and to raise up a true standard that the nations can flock to. It says in Song of Solomon 1:3:

The fragrance of the ointments in this verse represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit poured out on the lives of the Church. When this fragrance is on His Church, the name of the Lord will be like an ointment poured on the nations, and the nations will come to the Church as it is described in Isaiah 2. 1-4

The virgins are the new believers that will come into the Church at this time, and also the incredibly pure and consecrated believers whose gifts need a pure and holy environment to be released into. As the Church aligns to God’s standards in this season, we will see truly amazing people and gifts released into the Body for the harvest to come.

So, let’s move beyond the old emotions and sentimentalities, and onto to a mature love. We will see the nations shift!

Adored

Rev Betty King