Wear Your Garment of Joy in Battle

 I heard the spirit of the Lord say,

"There are not two garments. Your heart status dictates your garment. As if the wilderness of waiting, battle and training requires torn and battered garments and for some reason your expectation is that you can't trade it for a joy garment until the end."

There is something about battle in the spirit and living peacefully in the natural that feels like double mindedness. It's hard some days to live here in the natural and still be a seer. I long for home. I long for Heaven because the Kingdom of God makes sense to me, body, mind, soul and spirit. I want to challenge that thought process though. I am not of two minds. I can war and I can have joy and it doesn't have to be a wrestling match to do both together. I don't have to change up my gear to be prepped for worship in clean shiny spiritual robes and switch to battle fatigues to do the business of Heaven.

I feel my soul cry out to step up higher. I long for a place that offers a mature garment. I hear the Lord say, "No more waiting, trade two garments for one Amanda! Walk in confidence! No more brokenness! This isolated, comfortless place is not the end  -- It's the beginning!"

Jesus was in the wilderness praying for 40 days and 40 nights BEFORE his ministry began. I've been so awed by the renewed passion to contend in prayer in this change from 2021 to 2022. Contending for the promises of God, but also praying for God to create the space we need to receive his blessings. We want to see the Lord build in all his fullness, and I am often painfully aware of how much still has to be removed in me and torn down in my life to make more space to partner with the Holy Spirit to do the Kingdom work I long to see in my life and in my family. We are still in preparation for our work to begin. We minister from time to time, but our reach feels small and I chaff some days, in the waiting and the emptiness. It feels like long-term fasting.

I'm so grateful for this word and for the 3 promises it holds. That battle garments and joyous victory garments are not separate, but one robe. I have victory because I have joy in the war! 

It may feel like there is not solace in this place of isolation, but I feel the hope of the Lord's decree that this is the beginning!

Third, I can see in my minds eye the open ground, a tract of land waiting like a landing pad for the blessing of the Lord to arrive. I have so many promises from God, how can I not live each day in expectation? He has shown me before... answers drop into my lap at any moment, so long as I live in his timing and not mine!

Do you chaff in the waiting periods? Is there a promise that God has instilled in your heart that hasn't yet come to pass? Be joyful. Contend in joy. You can do both because our God is faithful and just.

Psalms 145:14-16

¹⁴ The LORD upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing. 

Matthew 4:1-11 NKJV

​¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. ³ Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
⁵ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
He shall give His angels charge over you,’
and,
In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
⁷ Jesus said to him, “It is written again, You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ ”
⁸ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
¹¹ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. Matthew 4:1-11