‘I LOVE THE LORD! – DO YOU?’

‘ I LOVE THE LORD! DO YOU?’

The Year of Release

The ‘Year of Release’ will now yield abundance as we have entered into a #NewPentecost season. We have entered into a #NewPentecost Spirit-empowerment, restoration, healing and a time of spiritual awakening. The Lord revealed to me in 2015 that a New Pentecost outpouring was coming to the world. I wrote about it in 2015 when I was under a strong prophetic grace to write. The anointing upon me then provoked me to write as I concluded that season with publishing 7 books. I t occurred to me on entering into Pentecost 2020 that another compelling season with the pen had dawned upon me. In Pentecost 2020 I was Spirit-urged to commence a prophetic blog. I was being woken and stirred with extrapolations from my 2015 books during the pandemic. What was unfolding in my postings on that blog page were synopses of aspects of those prophetic 2015 writings. What was written in 2015 was now being unearthed anew in 2020. Every word was fresh, relevant and pertaining to this season’s New Order.

This 2021 #NewPentecost season has now synchronised with heaven’s calendar for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of healing, reconciliation and restoration. Six years on from 2015, I believe this ‘Year of Release’ is the timing of the New Pentecost for miracles, signs and wonders that now begins to unfold before our very eyes. It is more than we deserve as the glory fills our living temples afresh. There will be such unfettered joy, mass healing, unbelievable measures of abundance through restoration of all that has been stolen, denied you, violently taken over the season of loss and demonic provocation. Reconciliation comes to broken relationships where the enemy wreaked havoc in the lives of many. There will be deliverance from every known captivity afflicting the people in our world. Through the pandemic we have seen the evil perpetrated by the enemy. Now it is God’s timing to reveal His power and the potency of the Blood to eradicate the evil and erase the stain of sin from the lives of vulnerable souls. This is a global Spirit-move that will bring fear to the enemies of God. “Let all flesh be silent, God has roused Himself from His holy place” (Zechariah 2:13).

Incident of Injustice

Recently I was out when I came upon a drama unfolding. Many police cars suddenly swooped in blocking the road as the traffic came to a halt. I ventured into the heart of the furore to see what was happening. I caught the tail-end of a schoolboy with his face shoved into the pavement being dragged and forced into a cell in a waiting police van. I heard the cell door slam and caught a glimpse of him crouched on a seat in the tight space. I was moved by the scene as there was much commotion and heated exchanges between members of the public and the police. I enquired what had happened to a group of schoolboys standing around. They were very vocal, saying that their friend had done nothing wrong. One of the group members said, ‘I was the one who hit the security guard’. I keep telling the officers but they just proceeded to take our friend because the security guard said it was him who assaulted him. It transpired that this group of teenagers was calling the police racist because the young boy taken into the cell was the only black boy amongst this groups of schoolboys. What was certain was that they all vouched for this black teenager as being innocent. They also all agreed that the one who owned up was the offender.

I am recalling this incident because as I approached a police officer in defence of the young black student, I was affected by the incident in a way that surprised me. I became very vocal at what seemed an injustice. A righteous indignation swept over me as I eyeballed an officer and told him they could do better than to pin facedown, a young impressionable schoolboy into the pavement. I felt a surge of authority overtake me and I had to contain myself as I was about to raise my hand and shutdown the principalities of injustice in Jesus name. In the noise and commotion I then heard a friend who was engaging with the schoolboys call me to ‘come’. I then moved away from the officers and went to her. I cannot explain the intensity of anointing that came over me leaving me visibly shaken. As I walked away and composed myself I began to ask the Lord some pertinent questions. ‘What is this Lord?’ ’How do I move in this level of anointing?’. It was so forceful. It brought fear and soberness on reflection. It was an indication of the mantle-empowerment but that was perhaps not the time for it to be revealed. I kept saying, ‘Lord teach me how to handle this’. I thought, ‘This is scary Lord’. I declared, ‘I fear you Lord, please help me not to go ahead of your leading but give me wisdom and understanding how to move in this tremendous grace and favour anointing’.

The incident brings me back to past recurring scenes I have had of me moving in a dimension of the anointing in an open street where people are being healed and delivered. The public outpouring of the Spirit is what the everyday people in our world need to experience so that their needs are met as we lift up the Name of Jesus.

Key Scripture – Psalms 116:1-19

Psalms 116 is a poetic compilation of the Sons of Korah. I share what my spirit digested concerning these verses expressing love unto the Lord.

“I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.” (Psalms 116:1, NIV)
There is no one who can take the place of our Lord. He is the only one who will stay beside you in the human challenges until the day is done. He will find you in the dark vast realm of nothingness. Wherever evil has deposited you Jesus will search you out. Keep calling on the name of our Lord as He reach down to comfort and embrace you. Jesus loves His creation and He will move at the impulse of His love when He hears your weak desperate cries for mercy. A faithful God will never forsake His beloved ones.

“Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.” (v 7)
A command to the sin sick tormented soul lost in the throes of life, is to return to your rest. In the presence of a loving Father we have known sweet contentment and blissful rest as a baby upon his mother’s breast. Yet, in a state of mindless oblivion, urged by a reckless impulse we have wandered from that quiet, holy abiding place. There is now torment, fear and anguish as we grope in the dark vacuum of sin. The soul-being is drawn to destruction but an inner voice of moral consciousness pleads and provokes to reconcile with a loving doting Father. Speak to your troubled, torn and restless soul to return to its rightful and restful position, under the covering of the Sabbatical rest, in the Spirit of Jesus.

“For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.” (v 8). How many times we have pursued our self interests to the detriment of our peace that is procured through the grace of our Lord. Lost and forlorn, without comfort and direction the Spirit of Healing has lifted fallen beings out of the pit of destruction. The fuzzy head, incoherent mind-narrative and the exhaustion for deep sleep, kicks in as the spirit of death seeks to call your spirit away. The grave beckons as a seemingly plausible alternative to carry on living this miserable life. The spirit behind suicide and death is a strong and compelling force. In your lowest, weakest state this spirit comes along side you, presenting a plausibly convincing case to end it all. But wait! There is a Spirit of Life. Is name is Jesus! Behold, He is near you in your mind confusion. He sees the heavy heart you are carrying as you oscillate between a life and death decision. The muffled sounds, poured out from a broken spirit are not lost on Him. A gentle hand of help is extended – reciprocate by reaching out in faith and just touch Jesus. Hold on tightly even when your strength seems to ebb away. Listen to the gentle voice of reasoning, a spirit bringing a glimmer of hope, respite and the strength to draw back from the brink of eternal emptiness.

“I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” (Psalms 116:9, BSB)
Whilst I am alive and the breath of life is coursing through my being, I will praise the Lord. I will bless the Lord and all that is within. I thank you Lord that I have learnt at your feet to embrace an appreciation of what it is to understand the spiritual concept of life beyond this earthly realm. This realm of struggles and eking out a life is only a temporary state. Beyond the existential self, the life challenges and inevitable shocks there is a place of eternal rest. Even as we press on in the moment, we can taste of the heavenly joy and experience the eternal state of rest in Jesus. The fullness of the joy and peace to come awaits those who will persevere and linger at the feet of Jesus.

“How can I repay the LORD for all His goodness to me?” (v 12)
I will lift up my heart to El Elohim, the Living One who is worthy of my praise for all that He has done. Worthy is the Lord! It is impossible to repay in kind to God all that He has done for His unfaithful people. We are serial offenders, never deserving of God’s love and blessings. How gracious and merciful are your righteous works towards fallen beings. The Beloved of heaven willingly offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. His selfless act has raised up His creation to sit with Him in heavenly places. I give thanks for His goodness towards me, so underserving as I stand guilty and condemned without the blood covering.

“I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people.” (v 14)
I am now being called to my God-positioned earthly purpose. I have been on a spiritual journey of immense faith to build a platform for a spiritual New Order. So, I fulfil my vows and do what the Spirit urges. The revealing of this end time strategic healing mantle will be according to God’s timing. As we move through this season, approaching the next Sukkot in Rosh Hashanah 5782, what God will do will be before the watching world. Yes, that’s right! The word given to me in 2013 now comes to fruition in this #NEWPENTECOST season. “Thy righteous shall be as light and thy justice as the noonday” (Psalms 37:6)

“I will offer to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.” (v 17)
A sacrifice has been prepared over the 49-days of countdown to Pentecost/Shavuot. In 1 Kings 18, a severe drought had entered its third year when Elijah met with a cohort of King Ahab’s diviners at Mount Carmel. King Ahab was king over the northern kingdom of Israel. He was the most wicked and prolific worshipper of state-led idolatry of Israel’s kings. His incessant love for Baal can be attributed to his evil wife Jezebel. This bond of evil brought the consequences of drought and famine upon the land. Elijah was the only surviving prophet after Jezebel’s reign of terror to obliterate them from the kingdom. The Lord aroused Elijah to meet with Ahab and a challenge was set to remind the people of the Living God. “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” (1 Kings 18:21, BSB).

Needless to say, the false prophets of Baal and Asherah were unsuccessful in arousing their dead gods . It was about the time of the evening oblation, the 9th hour of the day that Elijah the prophet proceeded to build up the broken alter and to prepare his sacrifice unto the Lord. Elijah’s simple prayer of faith to consume the sacrifice was prayed. After ordering the killing of the false prophets he left to go up to Mount Carmel, fell on his knees to worship as he watched and awaited the rains.

GWENDOLYN SMITH. #NEWPENTECOST. 26th March 2021