Wait For The Mantle

Tags

Acts 1, Acts 2, Elijah, Elisha, Mantle, Rest, Trust, Waiting

When other people are getting book deals and you’ve written books with no deal; when others are out preaching, worship leading, doing missions or whatever it is you want to be doing and you are called to stay home and wait, it is not hard to realize how that slight shift from contentment to discontentment can take place. But, there is a still small voice that comes in and says, wait for the mantle. In the story of the Acts 1, upper room, 500 people started in the upper room together, but only 120 were there waiting when the mantle came. That means 380 people left the upper room because they were tired of waiting. Wait for the mantle.

The wait has felt long, some have prophesied, no more delay; others have said we are long overdue; but the still small voice of God says, wait for the mantle. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “My intentions are not always yours, and I do not go about things as you do. My thoughts and My ways are above and beyond you, just as heaven is far from your reach here on earth”. Wait for the mantle.

What is the mantle we are waiting for? The Lord showed me yesterday, that the mantle is something He is going to put on us, it is not coming from within us, it is coming upon us. He said it is like the garment of praise that is spoken about in Isaiah 61:3 or the mantle that Elijah threw on Elisha in 1 Kings 19:19; He went on to tell me that we are going to be clothed in power like in Acts 1:8 and Luke 24:49. It is literally going to be a mantle that comes upon us like the robe the father put on his son in Luke 15:22. This mantle is going to be put on us, like Joseph’s coat of many colors in Genesis 37:3 and when people see it they are going to see God not us; which will prompt them to ask who is your God, we will not have to tell them they need Jesus. Wait for the mantle.

Then today, as I sat down to write this blog, I Google’d mantle and this is the first definition that popped up, “a loose sleeveless cloak or shawl, worn especially by women”. My jaw dropped, I did not expect to read this, but it completely confirms what the prophets are saying, that God is going to do a mighty work with women, ladies, wait for the mantle, men watch for the mantle, we are about to experience a move of God like none in our generation. Men and women will be wearing a mantle that is so God, people will not want to know your name, they will want to know His name. Wait for the mantle.

In the lyrics of the song Take Courage by Kristi DeMarco remember,

Slow down, take time
Breath in, he said
He’d reveal what’s to come
The thoughts in his mind
Always higher than mine
He’ll reveal all to come

Take courage, my heart
Stay steadfast, my soul
He’s in the waiting
He’s in the waiting
Hold on to your hope
As your triumph unfold
He’s never-failing
He’s never-failing

Sing praise, my soul
Find strength in joy
Let his words lead you on
Do not forget his great faithfulness
He’ll finish all he’s begun

And you who hold the stars
Who call them each by name
Will surely keep your promise to me
That I will rise in your victory

Young Visions…Old Dreams

Tags

Acts 2, dreams, Immaturity, maturity, Visions

Acts 2:17 “In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.”

Acts 2 is a very popular chapter in the Bible for a variety of reasons, the main one being the fulfillment of this prophesy from Joel being fulfilled in their day and age. Believers all over the world look back to Acts 2 for inspiration about what life could and should be like for us as believers today. Many have echoed the same thoughts on these verses, to the point that many see this verse and tune out, due to hearing it quoted so often, yet without any fresh revelation about. I know for I have done the same thing. But God…

One of my favorite things about God is that everything He speaks is fresh, He does not serve day old bread, rather He invites us in Matthew 6 to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…” Bread in scripture has been referred to as the word of God, Jesus Himself even said, I am the bread of life in John 6. So, we can receive daily bread, a fresh word from the Lord, if we have ears to hear, a heart that wants to understand, and a willingness to learn something new. This morning as I was listening to Danny Silk preach about dreaming big dreams at Bethel Church in Redding, CA, the Lord served me some fresh bread through this verse.

The Bible says in Acts 2:17 that young men will see visions. Young can refer to immature, undeveloped, still learning, and unbridled. Young men see visions when the spirit is poured out, because “Where there is no revelation (vision), people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction” (Proverbs 29:18). When God pours out His spirit young or immature people see a vision that will restrain them or teach them to say no to ungodliness. One of the marks of immaturity is the inability to control oneself and the so when they get a vision or who they are called to be; who God is; what their destiny looks like, it bridles their passions. Vision is like the banks of a river that take all of the power of that river and directs it, so its power is a blessing to those that experience it.

As one that has a BA in Youth Ministry, I wish I had understood this revelation many years ago, for it would have given me a biblical precedence for why I did what I did in the way I trained the teenagers under my care. Vision keeps youth focused; vision gives them a reason to say no to pleasure, peer pressure and people who could be problematic. The Lord releases vision to the young or immature, for they need a reason to stay the course.

On the other side of the same coin, the Lord pours out His spirit so the old, the mature, the advanced in years can dream dreams. The older we get the less risks we take; the slower we are to change; the more comfortable we get and the less uncomfortable we want to be. The old need to dream dreams so they can stay alive, so they can stay active, so they can stay awake. Dreams propel you, dreams invite you into adventure, dreams call you out of complacency, dreams keep us connected to the vision God gave us when we were young.

This is one of the many reasons why we need an outpouring of the spirit, for we need the young to have visions and the old to dream dreams!