Will Your New Day Dawn?

Your New Day is Dawning…the glory of the Lord shines brightly on you!-Isaiah 60:1(CEV)As God’s people intrinsically wired to perceive and know the times and seasons, I think we can agree that the time is truly at hand for a new day to dawn in the church, a day of supernatural manifested boldness, victory, deliverance, strength, power, beauty, influence, healing, wealth, love, and compassion. The body of Christ will radiate the fullness of its brilliance on earth as He is in heaven. Catching the vaguest glimpses of the first rays of light we stand hopeful with anticipation that the darkness will be swallowed up at its rising. But, can we really experience the fullness of this breakthrough of glory that is promised? Do we have a part in the promise? Do we believe the promise? If we do, then what is required of us?It was a day to be forever remembered. On the shores of the Red Sea stood the seed of Abraham, millions of them. The prophecy given to Abraham was unfolding, that after 400 years a supernatural deliverance from their Egyptian oppressors would occur and they would emerge strong and healthy carrying great possessions as they departed. Here they stood on the precipice of a long awaited promise fulfilled and yet, there was something that was required of them. The command from the Lord through His humble servant Moses was, “Go Forward”! With the Red Sea before them and hordes of Pharaoh’s chariots at their backs, they had to make a choice, would they move?I have come to a prophetic realization, if you will, that for the promised dawning of a new day to manifest for us some hard choices are going to have to be made. All of us, those in the pulpit and in the pew, must exhibit an undeterred willingness to "Go Forward” and fully understand the reality that when we do- things can never be as they were before! For it is at this very place, our inability to grasp the loss of yesterday that our journey forward into our promised land is most violently hindered.You see, we say we want to move with God and advance His Kingdom with a fresh blow of the Spirit's wind at our back. We say we want to experience all God has for us but we lack the essential prerequisite to the fulfillment of our desire- we want change on our terms, not His. Church history reveals His terms - once we move things can never be as they were BEFORE! This is a truth we can not ignore.When Israel arrived on the other side of the Red Sea they rejoiced as they witnessed the destruction of all that had oppressed them for generations. They even had a dance party! We all know, however, their rejoicing was short lived. As they journeyed forward into new territory, the stark realities of the unknown began to erode their confidence that God and Moses, for that matter, knew what they were doing. It looked more like they were crawling into Canaan than dancing into it! They began to yearn for the way things used to be. Does this sound familiar? How we love to dance and stomp on the head of the enemy, but when it comes to that “go forward “ and do what God says stuff our enthusiasm wanes. This is the thing about obeying God and moving with the Holy Spirit - God’s terms are that we move in faith, trusting He knows what is best and has our ultimate good in mind. Honestly, for most of us, those terms are often too much of a threat to the security and familiarity of what we are comfortable with. Instead of trusting, we worry about what things will be like on the other side, because secretly we are unbelieving believers who harbor a deep seated fear of the unknown. We convince ourselves it is better to manage the devil we know. Who will leave the church if I do that? What will others think if I appoint him head of that department. Lord, why are you calling me to that city? How can I give that amount? Prophesy to her? I can’t tell that person what I really think the Lord is saying? Pray for the whole service? What will the people think of that? Worship with a song not on the list? Oh, we have never done that? Go to that church? Invite that speaker? Preach that message? Take that job?Sadly, we are trapped by our own fear of what change may bring so we end up stuck in the mud with the wheels of our "Christian" chariots going nowhere. I am writing to you today to tell you that our “that” is the key to the dawning of our new day! If we can have the courage to watch the sun set on our yesterday, and endure the proceeding dark hours of the unknown, we will most assuredly, individually and corporately experience the glory of THIS DAY He has made for US! A new day filled with the possibilities in the heart of a loving eternal God who has created us for such a time as this!There was another day that will be remembered forever. The disciples had seen Jesus ascend into the heavens in breathtaking glory. He had told them to go wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come, but would not that be dangerous? Will the Holy Spirit really come, they wondered? How will we know? What will it look like? Will others believe us? Maybe we should just go back to our fishing business at least there we know what to expect. Like their forefathers at the Red Sea they wondered and worried, but they chose to “Go Forward” to Jerusalem and wait.Acts Chapter 2 tells the story, “And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all assembled together…”. It was the synergy of God’s command to go and wait and their obedience to do what God required of them that dramatically impacted their generation and those to come. God chose the day and they chose to fully obey with the realization that things were never going to be the same as they were before. This was a good and necessary thing, for Jesus said it would be. Peter would stand up and say, “This is THAT!” We did that thing Jesus said to do and now THIS is what we get to experience! Let your new day dawn! Let us obey in our day! His Spirit is beckoning us now to "Go Forward" so that truly things will never be the same! I do not know about you, but I am ready for that reality! Fear Not, beautiful saints of God! Don’t miss your THIS because you were too afraid to do that! Today, I pray that your movement forward will be marked by a manifestation of every good and perfect gift from the Father’s heart. That your pathway forward will be paved with the brightest glory that can be know this side of heaven! Our day in history awaits us!