Oceans in the Desert

By Kathi Pelton

As I woke up this morning and began to wait upon the Lord it was like an audible song began to play in the atmosphere around me (although no music was actually playing). I immediately recognized the words to the song, “All Who Are Thirsty”— here are the words that I was hearing,

All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of His mercy
As deep cries out to deep (we sing)
Come Lord Jesus come

As these words flowed like a stream of refreshing water through my soul I clicked on Facebook and the first post to show was from a precious prophetic friend who wrote a post about rest and concluded with this scripture,

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”” Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ ‭

Throughout the time of quarantine and even through the past weeks of great unrest in our nation I have felt constant strength and grace to run the race and press into all that the Lord was asking and doing. I have had a tremendous grace upon my life throughout this ever-changing season. But about two weeks ago a weariness began to hit my soul. Because we live in the Washington DC region I wondered if it was just the spiritual atmosphere from so much continuous warfare over our nation or if it was something personal? Either way— I was weary!

I decided to press and stand against the weariness and yet the more the more weary I became. It was as if burdens too heavy to carry would come upon me and they would weary me even more. Then I watched it hitting others around me…such a deep, heavy weariness!

Then, last night we had some new friends over to our home and during our time together our gentleman guest began to minister to our daughter regarding the subject of weariness. He told her a story about surfing and learning to rest after the long, hard paddle out to where the waves are good. He said that he had to learn to rest after the exhausting paddle because if he tried to catch a wave while weary from the trek to deeper waters then the wave would end up taking him under. But— when he’d take the time to rest— when it was time to catch the wave he would be able to ride it all the way back to shore with ease. As he spoke these words a vibrant double rainbow appeared over our home and remained for a long time. As I looked upon this rainbow and thought about the rest he was speaking of, I heard the Lord say,

“I promise not to overwhelm you or flood you with that which will take you under. Rest in me and ride the waves of mercy to my shores of grace and victory.”

Many of you have had a long journey of “swimming and paddling hard!” Your strength is depleted and you need to take time to rest. You are now positioned to catch the wave that will take you higher and further then you have ever known but first you must rest. You are being invited into Matthew 11,

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

He will take the burdens that are too heavy for you to carry and he will teach you to rest and to come to him where his gentleness will comfort and soothe your weary and storm tossed soul. It is there that you will receive the light yoke that will allow you to ride the wave of mercy that you are about to catch.

The battle belongs to the Lord! Yes, you have a part in the battle but if you do not stop to rest (and release the heavy burdens) then you will be taken under by the wave that is coming. Rest will enable you to ride it and not be swallowed by the force of it. The wave will either take you higher or take you under but the key is resting in Him and allowing heavy burdens to be removed from your shoulders. This wave is to bring His people higher while drowning the enemy who does not know how to rest.

If you are thirsty, weak and weary then rest at His table— eat the riches of all that He has set before you and be strengthened. Let His wisdom and thoughts become yours.

““Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David. See how I used him to display my power among the peoples. I made him a leader among the nations. You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey, because I, the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.”” Isaiah‬ ‭55:1-5‬

Isaiah 55 then goes on to say this,

““My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah‬ ‭55:8-9‬ ‭

Often we think that when the battle is raging we must jump in with all of our strength to defeat the great enemy before us. But we must remember that God’s ways are not our ways and there are times that the greatest weapon in the fight before us are the weapon of rest and trust, dependency and stillness, hope and faith.

During this time don’t forget how God used Gideon’s army! God reduced their numbers so low that it appeared to be a sure defeat against such a vast and mighty enemy. Then God had them put torches in jars and carry ram’s horns (trumpets) as their only weapons as they descended upon the enemy’s camp while it was still dark. Then they broke the clay jars to reveal their torches of light and blew they the ram’s horns. The enemy was so surprised that they turned on themselves in the chaos and Gideon’s army watched as they were defeated by their own hand.

“It was just after midnight, after the changing of the guard, when Gideon and the 100 men with him reached the edge of the Midianite camp. Suddenly, they blew the rams’ horns and broke their clay jars. Then all three groups blew their horns and broke their jars. They held the blazing torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, and they all shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Each man stood at his position around the camp and watched as all the Midianites rushed around in a panic, shouting as they ran to escape. When the 300 Israelites blew their rams’ horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords. Those who were not killed fled to places as far away as Beth-shittah near Zererah and to the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.” Judges‬ ‭7:19-22‬ ‭

Three hundred men who obeyed God’s ways with weapons of light and sound defeated a vast army that processed weapons that could have defeated an army of thousands. The battle and the wisdom belongs to the Lord! His ways are higher.

So…rest, wait, eat, drink and listen. Let go of the burden as you look upon an enemy that is too big for you. God reduced Gideon’s army from thousands to a few hundred so that no man could boast that it was by their power or strength that defeated the enemy army…but by God alone!

“This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty Zechariah 4:6

A great wave of mercy is approaching and it will bury the but you must rest so that you can ride the wave and not be taken under by it. His ways are not our ways and His weapons are not the weapons of man. You may feel that your light is in a jar (hidden) and your sound is not being heard at this time— but the time is coming where the jars will break and the sound of the shofars are blown! Rest and wait— the time of deliverance is coming. A wave of mercy is coming that will defeat the enemy that has come against God’s people!

“Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of His mercy
As deep cries out to deep
Come Lord Jesus come”

———————————

Thank you to all of my readers who have been praying for me and supporting our ministry during 2020. We pray for you daily and declare blessings of multiplication and peace over you and your household.

If you would like to sow a financial gift into our ministry– go to: https://www.inscribeministries.com/