A Feast of His Word: Open Your Mouth and Be Filled

Oh this is good. God is so, so good!

What happened at church Sunday kind of illustrates this word. While Merinda was prophesying and declaring God's word about Him coming in the midst of his temple, and the water rising (my paraphrase/memory of it), right then the Lord quickened my Spirit that we should lift our eyes to heaven, above the fray, and see that He is coming to His church in a glorious way. Asking for confirmation, I opened my bible to the very verse about Jesus going into the temple on the last, great day of the feast (tabernacles that is).

"In the last day, that great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said out of his belly shall flow rivers of Living Water." John 7:37-39

It really lit up in my spirit as I sensed Jesus crying out again, if anyone is thirsty, let Him come and drink!! It's like His longing for us to come and eat and drink is so strong and full of tender love, as well as divine passion.

So, this morning I went to the park to walk and pray, and just a few moments after I sat down, the Lord began to speak to me about the feast of tabernacles again, and this is what I heard..

"Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfied not? hearken diligently unto Me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fastness."

I had been reading Revelation 14 where it says that the righteous had no lie or guile in their mouths. Then I thought of my dream again when the lady playing the piano looked at me with a smile (as she was playing) and said, "The feast of tabernacles is coming, open your mouth wide for the feast." It is an outpouring of the word of the Lord, quick, alive, powerful and transformative. That is the feast that He wants us to open our mouths for in this very hour.

If we will listen to Him diligently, the water of His living word is about to be poured out in the midst of His temple in a way that has never been known before! There is a wine of His Spirit that has been marked this time in history. At Pentecost, everyone preached and prophesied. When He pours out His Spirit-it sets our tongues ablaze with His glorious truth! Wow, I got that deeper in my sprit as I wrote it.

Don't Waste It

As I was making some fresh juice and contemplating this glorious word, I absentmindedly forgot to put the pitcher under the spout, and the fresh apple juice spilled all over my counter. So too, if we are simply too distracted, running here and there listening to this sermon and that podcast, or various others benign distractions, however good, we can spill some of what God has to give us. As these rains come down to water us, new life, fruit and all manner of divine goodness will spring forth within us! (Is 55)

If we fail to hear the Lord's conviction and fail to forsake our ways, our thoughts, and our human desires, we will miss it (Isaiah 58). But if we "hearken diligently" to the word of the Lord, we will mount up with wings as Eagles. We open our mouths for His feast by diligent hearing of His word. I keep hearing "It's time to soar" on the wings of His Holy Spirit.

No man can do this. No amount of religious activity and fervor and self-effort can do this, for it is the very hand of the Lord that is sculpting us into His image. Yes, we must hunger and thirst for that image to come forth, insisting that all that does not look like Christ be cut away from us, but we are the pot, and He is the Master Potter-not us.

Zach 4:6 says that the Holy Temple will be built, not by man, but by the might and power of the Spirit of God-all because of grace. Zach 4 is an amazing chapter.

Esther and The Course of Wine:

So, get ready and open your mouth wide for the feast. He is pouring forth the wine of His word and spirit just as the King poured out a blessing over Esther at her feast. It was "in the course of wine" that the King offered her the kingdom. This outpouring is in the midst of Satan's greatest attacks against the church. In fact, God instructed Esther to invite the enemy to the table! It's a test. God means it for good, but the enemy means it for evil. Satan is counting on us getting into the flesh, for when we are hated or fearful, we are most in danger of rising up in our flesh. And the temptations will sound very good, reasonable, and even righteous-but they are not of God. Esther submitted herself to God's plan and ways, and as a result, she and her people won a great victory over the enemy because of it.

The bottle is uncorked; the wine is being served. "Whosoever will" may come to this table set out in incomprehensible love and care. It's the new wine, for the bride to become intoxicated with divine love, the very love of the Father, for her Bridegroom, the very same love that motivated Jesus to lay his life down for us. Wow. The wine will flow forth through our lips-and make the dead to speak! (Songs)

What I was seeing in my heart is that it's going to flow in our lives, and in our church, as never before in the proclamation of the word of God. It's going to flow through our mouths. It's like the Lord is laying the feast out with great anticipation. This partaking of the feast demands an understanding that His thoughts are ways above ours, and His desires are much higher than our desires and ways common to man (Read Is 55 and 58). As we recognize this and humbly submit to Him, repenting of our natural, human ways, He is feeding us with His Living Word in a way that is very, very unprecedented. Things that we have prayed for over decades will be poured out, for He is greatly moved by our prayers and spiritual hunger.

It's the Lord's feast. So, get ready! I pray that the Lord will grant us power in the inner man to open our mouths wide to receive the feast that He Himself has prepared for us. Lord, we thank you so much for your generosity. You are so good to give us the kingdom, for we are not deserving of it at all. But in your lovingkindness and eternal mercies, you long to lavish us with your kingdom. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Amen

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