The Question of 2021

It was New Year’s Eve 2019 and I didn’t want to stay up till midnight...but I couldn’t sleep. So the girl who happily goes to bed at 8 pm stayed up until 12:01 after all. And what did I do? Pray, of course. What did I pray for? Clear vision, of course. I had been hearing so many people saying, “2020 vision! Yes Lord!” as they looked forward to the new year. So, that night as I lay in bed I prayed for the Lord to bring clear vision to His Church (as a whole), and the individuals in it. And that’s how I prayed in the new year.
Well, the Lord has done it people! Little did we know, as we were nestled in the soft feathers of our comfort zones praying to the Lord this prayer which we had no understanding for, that it would be painful when He ripped the scales away from our eyes. Praise the Lord that He loves His children enough to chasten us!
He gave us a clear vision of the state of our hearts. Revealing to us things that need to change in our lives, our hearts, and in the way we do things. And He is still working, people! He is still pruning, purging, cutting away the excess flesh! He is cleaning His house just like in Mark 11:15-17. He is reminding us we must be disciples actively not just mentally, totally not just partially. There is no compromise. Count the cost and realize that you can’t afford not to pay it.

Since we mentioned Mark 11:15-17 I will bring us to something specific the Lord has been giving us clear vision for.
When Jesus goes into the temple and turns over the tables and chairs because His house has become a den of thieves, what does He say His house is supposed to be? A house of prayer for all nations! This is one of the things the Lord has been speaking to us about. So we are learning how to be a house of prayer. We know this is so important in reaching the nations, and in reaching the Kurds! If Jesus says it’s important then it IS important, and it better be important to us!
John Bunyan once said, “you can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”
So Jesus is cleaning His house and giving us clear vision to see the den we have become, and the purpose we are meant to fulfill.

When Jesus was in Gethsemane and He asked the disciples to stay awake, they fell asleep. Judas was the only one who stayed awake, and it wasn’t to watch and pray with Jesus, it was to conspire against Him.
Nobody noticed Judas leave. Nobody noticed what the enemy was doing. Because nobody was awake. Nobody was watching and praying.
Jesus woke them up the first time He found them sleeping, but after that they were on their own until the moment when the enemy was at hand. And when the enemy came, every one of them forsook Jesus!
I believe the Lord woke some people up in 2020. Will they stay awake in 2021?
One thing I know, the enemy is not sleeping.

This blog may seem like a bunch of bunny trails to you. New Year’s Eve, 2020 vision, pruning, cleaning house, turning over tables, prayer, nations, falling asleep. But it’s really all to get at one question.

What are you going to do with the clear vision God has given you?
This is the question of 2021.

​Love, Esther