PROPHETIC WORDS

A TIME OF AWAKENING

by Jill Smith

This prophetic word was given at the NZ Council of Prophets gathering and Behold Conference in Christchurch, March 2024.

1. God is awakening us to a far richer, more beautiful revelation of His love and goodness, awakening our senses, as if to a lovely fragrance in the air that infuses our clothes, skin, and hair, transforming how we smell in the world.

In December 2023 I had a stunning encounter with the Lord as I sat outside, taking a break on a very busy day, working towards a pressured deadline. It was a beautiful day, and as I paused I suddenly became aware of the birds singing, and the beauty of the natural environment. As it hit me, I was bathed in, and infused by, the loveliness of God’s presence, and it took my breath away. I felt the Lord’s nearness, peace, comfort, and encouragement, and rest poured all over me and within me. Then He spoke in such a lovingly, reassuring way, telling me that He really is “restoring the years that the locusts have eaten”.

Everywhere the enemy has come to rob, kill, and destroy. God has intervened to turn it all around, and is not simply restoring the status quo, but bringing a significant upgrade that will change everything. He is even bringing to fruition unrealised potential, previously shut down by the warfare and interference of the enemy, in the face of the accusation that it’s far too late. He is healing hearts with a revelation of love that will not only transform our own lives, but also will overflow into relationships with others, because we will see people as He does. Churches and ministries that embrace this encounter with God’s love and restoration will “smell” different in the world, and become a healing reservoir in the middle of communities to help, heal, refresh, and restore many.

This was a beautiful glimpse of amazing rest, refreshing, goodness, and love. I felt wave after wave of His love, peace and joy washing over me and through me. His GOODNESS was overwhelmingly lovely. Beautiful. Powerful. Bigger than big. His abundance, limitless. His incredible loving generosity and grace beyond what we can imagine or really grasp – far, far, far beyond our imaginative capacity. There’s no rationing or restriction. No need for anxiety or competition. There’s more than enough for all. God is not holding out on us. His love and grace are not in short supply. There is always far, far, more than we could ever want or need. Whether we realise it, feel it, or not, we are constantly living and moving and having our being inside the active, abundant, limitless, goodness and grace of God.

For the last couple of months, the old song by Paul Young: “Love is in the air” keeps on coming to mind. It’s almost like the Lord keeps singing it to me and getting me to join in, and when I do, I’m lifted and shifted into this beautiful encounter again.

“Let love be your highest goal” (1 Cor.14:1).

“Love IS the most excellent way” (1 Cor, 13).

2. Steward the Gift

This is a phrase that kept popping into my thoughts recently, but when I finally paused and focussed, I realised that He wasn’t talking about spiritual gifts or natural talents. Rather, He was drawing my attention to consider the greatest gift, the mystery revealed: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” There’s a healthy re-ordering of focus and priority to come regarding the proper order and relationship between the greatest gift, and spiritual gifts. Both are excellent, but the greatest gift, Christ in you, is the most excellent and the source from which all spiritual gifts flow.

“Living within you is the Christ who floods you with the expectation of glory! The mystery of Christ embedded within us, becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory for his people, and God wants everyone to know it! Christ is the message!” (Col.1:27 TPT).

3. There’s a Shift of Focus – to Choose the Better Part

“Martha, Martha”, the Lord answered, “You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:41).

It is time to shift out of the stress, rush, pressure, and performance of Martha into the unhurried, intimate, rest of Mary. Many have been anxious about many things, but simply receive a beautiful change of pace and posture. There’s a change of focus and flow in life, but also in ministry spaces, worship environments, and church life – a move from Martha to Mary mode, from performance mode to presence mode.

“One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze of the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Psa 27:4).

He says, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psa 46:10).

4. The peacemakers are arising – they will reap a harvest of righteousness, manifesting God’s dream for the world with the wisdom of Heaven

Seek the wisdom from above (James 3).

We are to actively SEEK heavenly wisdom at every step. Seeking is deliberate, attentive, intention, a focus shift towards the mind and heart of God. There is an urgent need to partner with God’s governmental Spirit of peace, rather than the spirit of chaos and enmity at work in the world. The church will walk in the government of heaven on earth more fully as we align our hearts and minds with the peace of God that passes understanding, manifesting the wisdom of heaven, the indwelling government of peace possible through “Christ in you”. The harvest awaits our embrace of His peace-making wisdom.

“Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness” (James 3:18).

5. Seers are being reintegrated in the Body to reawaken us to the reality, beauty, and immanence of the spiritual realm, and to reintegrate the spiritual and material worlds (in our minds)

Walking in the love and wisdom of heaven will make way for this. They will help reconnect the split between spiritual and material realms that exists in the minds of many believers in the western world – to reawaken an integrated supernatural, biblical perspective and experience of life. Indigenous prophets and believers will be significant in this restoration move, and our welcoming of renewal in the Spirit of love and the wisdom of heaven, will open our hearts and minds in a greater, more honouring, way to the gifts they bring to the Body.

6. There’s an uplift that is pure grace, bringing a release of refreshed, effective prophetic intercession / intercessors

Many intercessors have been wearied by warfare and hope deferred, but there’s a beautiful lift available in the Spirit that will bring fresh perspective, revelation, and effectiveness. I saw many being lifted-up ‘on eagle’s wings’ above the earth, above the territories where they are called to partner with heaven, and as they simply noticed and spoke out what they saw God doing, His word was released like arrows that hit the target. I saw these arrows striking very ancient looking chains and padlocks in some territories. As they hit the target the chains simply dissolved, releasing regions from long-standing demonic assignments.

“...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary they will walk and not be faint” (Isa 40:31).

7. There’s a shift in the wind

I saw a beautiful sailing boat, quite large but sleek, designed for speed and distance and for the open seas. It was languishing in calm seas, sails drooping, barely moving, but then suddenly there was a shift in the wind; it really picked up, and it also changed direction. Immediately I felt a rush of exhilaration, joy, and relief, as the boat sprang to life. The crew instantly sprang into action, taking their places, getting on with the job they were trained for, resetting the sails, and tacking about. Suddenly the sails filled with wind, billowed out, changed shape, stretched taught, and the boat lifted in the water, and took off at speed. It looked stunning as it cut effortlessly through the increasingly choppy seas, gathering speed just as its designer had intended. It was poetry in motion as the wind, the crew, the sails, the boat, and even the sea, worked together with such momentum and wind-in-your-face delight.

There’s application here for individuals, families, churches, communities, maybe even nations. If you’ve felt becalmed, languishing, wallowing in the sea of life, there’s a shift in the wind. The Spirit is changing direction and picking up speed, just like the wind in the vision. Be encouraged, but also be alert; there’s a response needed, a change of attitude and posture. Take appropriate action, like the sailors leaping to life, trimming the sails, realigning the gear, so the boat can tack and catch the wind. It’s time for all-hands-on-deck, knowing our place, our task, and working together as one. But remember, too, that the boat doesn’t generate its own momentum and power, the wind does that. The crew simply makes the necessary adjustments, positioning the boat to do what it was originally designed to do, in a picture of beauty and grace.

There’s a long-awaited shift in the Spirit, bringing a lift in our spirits, and even the inspiration and grace to notice and respond, to find our place, do our part, and be carried forward beautifully and purposefully, just as we were designed to do.

PRAYER POINTS

Pray for receptivity and responsiveness to the shifts, gifts, grace, and wisdom being released from heaven at this time:

• A fresh baptism of love

• Fuller revelation of the significance and reality of “Christ in us.”

• A shift from performance to presence, Martha to Mary.

• Alignment with the wisdom of heaven to be peacemakers in the world.

• Openness, awareness, and responsiveness to the spiritual realm, to welcome the gifts that the seers are, and the revelation they bring to the Body.

• Refreshing, fresh equipping, and release of prophetic intercessors into their God-given assignments.

• For sensitivity as individuals, churches, communities, and nations, to respond to the shifts in Spirit, to reset the sails, to be properly positioned, and to work together for fresh direction and momentum in God’s purpose.

BIO