Remnant

Take your eyes off the circumstances and have them firmly fixed on the Lord.

Recently I went through surgery and as soon as I woke up I continued my conversation with the Lord and enquired “What next Lord?”. The Lord firmly corrected me and told me it was the wrong question; it is “What now?” that’s the important issue. I then realised if we look for ‘what next’ we miss the importance of ‘what now’.

So, my next question was “What now, Lord?”. The answer was ‘Rest’. Still not having learned the lesson, I asked ‘how long?’. The answer I received was for six months (not six weeks recovery time as I initially thought).
When I returned home I prayed and asked the Lord to show me what I had to learn from all this. The big lesson is to have the Lord in the centre of everything; even in this Coronavirus crisis or, more correctly, especially in this crisis. Take your eyes off the circumstances and have them firmly fixed on the Lord.

In Numbers 9:15-23 we are told the children of Israel were to have their eyes firmly fixed on the cloud covering the tabernacle during the day and the pillar of fire at night. If the cloud lifted they packed up and moved on as the Lord led. They constantly had to keep their eyes on the Lord.
The ‘resting’ also perplexed me – this enforced rest – isolation is also God’s good provision for us. It is not a leisurely rest, but a time of preparation. The Lord has stripped everything away from us – for many of us we are alone at home. To a great extent all our ‘doing’/ministries have had to cease as we rest (abide) not on our own, but in the Lord.

Years ago I felt I had a word from the Lord that a remnant had to remain. So I obediently remained and became increasingly more upset and dissatisfied at the church at the time. Then two wonderfully mature men in the Lord explained to me that the remnant doesn’t have to stay. This totally released me and recently I came to Isaiah 10:20-21: (NIV)
 In that day the remnant of Israel,
    the survivors of Jacob,
will no longer rely on him
    who struck them down
but will truly rely on the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob
    will return to the Mighty God.

From this passage I realised that the remnant would be kept as they remained, not in a particular location, but remained (abided) in God. This was all in line with John 15 where we learned to abide in the Lord. Also, a remnant would return and my prayer is for all those who have backslidden – that they would repent and return. Also, for those questioning for the first time, that they would….
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7: 7-8, NIV).

Then I saw we are in effect in an armoury where we are being fitted and prepared to use the total armour of God, (Ephesians 6: 10-18) the shield of faith growing stronger with each passing day. It was explained to me how in a line of soldiers one soldier’s shield protected the soldier beside him as he was being protected by the one on his other side, leaving his right arm free to use the double-edged sword – which is the Word of God.

So, dear friends, please use this ‘rest time’ wisely to prepare ourselves to get correctly fitted up with our own personal armour, to feel able then to go out, fully rested and prepared to go out in the Lord together to do God’s bidding and show His glory, His power and His will.
In His mercy, the Lord has taken us out of our comfort zone, but instead of asking us to step out into the coming battle, He is giving us this time of preparation, so abide, rest and keep your eyes fixed on God in the ‘now’.

Author: Linda Allitt 

May God bless and enrich your life

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