Don’t overlook the “AND”!

Last night during the church service, after a particularly wonderful hour of prayer, our teacher began to share that there had been a song in her heart all week, “Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus.”, referring to the gift of prophesy…that God will put a word in our heart to encourage us. Then a few moments later, there was a word of prophesy that came forth and part of that prophecy was “I am God and I sit in the heavens and laugh......there is a time to laugh.” There was much said in between and even afterward but the moment I heard those words, God spoke to my heart, “Don’t overlook the “AND”. Immediately, I was turning the pages of my bible to Ecclesiastes 3 and what I read, took on a whole new meaning.

First let me begin with...
From the beginning of this year, God has been speaking from Isaiah 9:6 & 7. This was the very scripture that came to me when Melissa shared that she had been hearing that song. And God said, “Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus. The government shall be upon His shoulders and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace and of this government, there shall be no end. Yes, lean upon the everlasting arms, lean upon His shoulders now. Lean upon this government... it is everlasting.”

And then He spoke to me concerning Ecclesiastes 3. He said, “There shall be simultaneous happenings. There will be occurrences in the world and simultaneously, in My church another occurrence. You see, to everything there is a season and this world has entered into a new season but there are times to every purpose under heaven and My church shall begin to bring those forth. You see, there is a time to be born AND a time to die. A time to plant AND a time to pluck up that which has been planted. A time to kill AND a time to heal. A time to break down AND a time to build up. A time to weep AND a time to laugh. A time to mourn AND a time to dance. A time to cast away stones AND a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace AND a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get AND a time to lose. A time to keep AND a time to cast away. A time to rend AND a time to sew. A time to keep silence AND a time to speak. A time to love AND a time to hate. A time of war AND a time of peace.

I hope that I can convey what this means to me because it has brought an overwhelming comfort to me. We are in this world but not of it and you see, there was a prophesy that Kim Clement brought forth the night before the elections (you can read this if you like...go to http://www.kimclement.com/) and he said that we are to have an "occupational view point." That we should have a vision to occupy this earth from a kingdom standpoint. God's kingdom come & His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. And God spoke to my heart that He is raising up "occupational therapists". Those who will "enable or encourage participation in such (KINGDOM) activities despite impairments or limitations (OF THIS WORLD)"

And this is how I see Ecclesiastes 3....from an occupational standpoint. In the midst of the dying....there will be birthing into the Kingdom! In the midst of the killing....there will be healing! In the midst of the breaking down....there will be building up! In the midst of the weeping...there will be laughter. In the midst of the mourning...there will be dancing! In the midst of the casting away stones....there will be a gathering of stones together! And while the world is embracing who knows what....there will be a refraining from embracing! And while there may be a time to keep silent...according to man's judgement, there will be a people who will speak! In the midst of the hatred....a people who ARE love! In the midst of the war....a people of peace!

I know I missed a few simply because I am seeing only in part...even in what I have just mentioned above, I am certain but HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD? I am thankful for His word!