The Word Of The Lord For This Season Is “Strategy”

God is still at work and His word for this season is “strategy”. And at last, I’m getting excited about the year ahead!

Sometime over the Christmas holiday period, I realised that I was missing something.

Despite continued lockdown and the generally depressing tales on BBC News, I actually had a good Christmas. I spent quality time with my family. We enjoyed good food and playing games together. In short, we had fun.

But I knew something was missing. I felt good physically and mentally, but I felt distant from God and I couldn’t work out why spiritually, I was feeling so flat.

So I began to ask God what was the matter. I figure that the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves, so you can’t go wrong with going straight to him.

And, as he always does, he “came up with the goods”!

Reconnecting With God, Reconnecting With Myself

You may, or may not, have noticed a lack of new content recently. The last post I published wasn’t so long ago (5th February). However, I wrote it before Christmas, so you won’t have seen my creative slump in the aftermath of the holidays.

Thankfully, God’s been reconnecting me with him and with my own motivations. And he’s brought me back to a number of things he has spoken before.

I find myself going back through my life plan every day as he reminds me of what he has planted in me over the past few years (that reminds me of the importance of keeping a prophetic prayer journal).

As a result, I’m finally getting excited about what he’s going to do this year. Only a couple of months late, but better late than never!

Reconnect With Sabbath And Add A Dash Of Strategy

Two main threads have come out of all this praying and pondering. One is a state of being and the other is a plan of action.

And these two threads are represented in two words:

Sabbath Revisited

Firstly, Father reminded me about the word he gave me last Summer: Sabbath rest.

Back then, I was reading Exodus and when I wrote about it, I said that I noticed:

• The number of times sabbath is mentioned: 12 times in Exodus alone.
• The sheer force God puts behind the words “you shall not do any work”.

Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that we rest because he rests. I also thought I understood something about taking the spirit of sabbath into each and every workday.

Sabbath Revisited Leads Into Strategy

It turns out that I hadn’t quite got the hang of this one because it’s the very thing Father is bringing me back to now.

You know how sometimes the Lord teaches you things and then takes you back full circle to those same things? Well, that’s me right now, with Sabbath Rest.

I’m learning all over again how to rest in his presence and I think I’m taking that more to heart each day.

I’m praying for more of his presence and more often. Many times, I’m just having a coffee and a chat with him. I’m learning to pray less for yet another list of “stuff” (although I still do that) and simply enjoy being with Him.

And I’ve been learning to plan things out a lot more. Not just for the next couple of weeks, but trying to look ahead to the next month, the next quarter.

And that brings me nicely onto the next word, the one I believe is key for this season: strategy.

Strategy: The Word Of The Lord For This Season

So, the key word for this season is “strategy” and it’s not just for me.

Many companies and organisations have detailed strategies written down. Maybe you do too, or at least, have them sitting somewhere in the back of your mind.

But in these current times, you may feel constrained by circumstances. And while you may be looking forward to a not-too-far away future where we have something approaching “normal”, there’s one elephant in the room:

Ok, that’s two questions, but you get the idea.

I kind of touched on this previously when I talked about things like how to make space for prophecy in your church meetings.

But this time, I’m prompted to dig a little deeper.

You know how sometimes you need to take a step back and take a really good look at things? Like taking the time to grab hold of the big picture, visionary stuff? Or perhaps how you organise yourself in the tiny details?

Well, that’s what He’s been leading me into. Perhaps God will for you too?

Strategy and timing

As is so often the case, timing plays a big part in the kingdom of God. I think it’s no accident that I’m doing this at a time when many churches are working out how to get back to meeting again.

In the post-Covid world, worship and gatherings of any sort are going to look a lot different. And as we’re rapidly discovering, the secrets are in the details.

For me, those details even include my “To Do” system!

I’ve always been a tech geek, from notes in Evernote (affiliate link) through to reams of task lists in Things 3.

Along the way, I recently discovered the PARA method of organisation and the Bullet Journal.

I’m still experimenting with both of them, but such details are already transforming my productivity - and my sense of vision. (Plus Bullet Journal gets shortened by many people to “BuJo”, so I keep thinking I’m a ninja!)

Strategy and tactics

Jokes aside, the most important thing about these productivity practices is that they don’t involve loads of time or verbosity. It’s all about bare bones. it’s about:

I don’t have space here to bore you with all the details, but I’m finding it enlightening. GTD (“Getting Things Done”) gurus would make obscure references to “mind like water”.

For my part, I’m getting more space in my head: space to think, space to reflect and ultimately, more space to pray. And time in God’s presence is never wasted. Particularly when you’re connecting more spirit to spirit.

Where next?

If you kept with me this far, you may be wondering what next?

I’ve got 3 main things coming your way:

1. Soon, I’ll be starting a new article series on the different ways God speaks today. This will reprise some of a previous post on the subject, but I hope to go into a lot more detail.
2. Easter is already on the horizon and approaching fast. I’m looking to do something with the 4 Steps Prophecy School during that time. I’m not quite sure how that will look yet, so keep an eye out.
3. God told me to “Blog Your Book”, so some of the articles I’m writing will be sneak peeks inside… I’m quite excited about it because my next book is something I’ve mulled over for the last few years! (P.S. You can find my previous, short but sweet, offering here)

Changes Afoot

Finally, some changes are already in progress!

One of those is a revamped prophecy “category page”. And this is where you can help me out (if you don’t mind).

For those in the know, WordPress contains category pages. Category pages just list out blog posts in each, you guessed it, category.

They’re usually dull and boring, but I just completed a complete makeover of one of them. And I turned it into something much better:

• It’s now a full-on hub page where anyone who wants to learn about prophecy can find the most important (and useful) content on the site.

If you’d like to help out, here’s what you can do: