tent peg

Did you know that lightning doesn't only strike from the sky to earth, but also horizontally, within the clouds? Essentially, this paints a prophetic picture of those who dwell in heavenly places triggering revelation in one another, as they also participate together in releasing light and power from the heavenly realm into the earthly arena. We all see in part and we each need the parts that others are seeing to get a comprehensive understanding of what God is saying at any particular moment. One of these sideways lightning strikes happened recently when a friend of mine was reading my Book of Endtime Fire after reading part 4 of the Fire-Lighters, and she has given me permission to share what she was shown. I just love how the Holy Spirit is causing chain-reaction revelation flashes amongst the remnant.

In chapter 5 of the Book of End-time Fire, I share the following:

The Hebrew word for fire is 'esh', written אש aleph shin. Aleph is the first or chief letter of the alphabet, representing the leader or head. Shin is also used to represent the name of God, so we see that the word for fire itself represents our leader, the only true God, who is a consuming fire.

The Hebrew word for man or husband is 'iysh', pronounced 'eesh'. Your heavenly husband, your Iysh, will make you into a flame of fire, an esh. Iysh is written aleph vav shin, so the only thing needed to change a 'man' to a 'flame of fire' is the removal of the vav. Vav denotes the connection of earth and heaven. Once you become a flame of fire, a messenger of fire, you are no longer earthly minded. You dwell fully in heavenly places.

The letter vav is removed in the transition from being a man of the earth to becoming a flame of fire. The pictograph of Vav looks like a tent peg. What the Lord showed my friend is that we have to pull up our tent pegs in order to become a flame of fire. Do you remember I shared how Judah led the people of God whenever there was a move of location in the wilderness? The tribe of Judah were the first ones to pull up their tent pegs. They had to be ready to leave before all the others and so the dismantling of their tents had to be accomplished first. The pulling up of tent pegs illustrates the disconnection from the place where one has been planted and living. When a tent peg was pulled up, it meant that the place where that tent had been grounded would not be seen again. A permanent farewell to that venue occurred; a severing of ties. Lot's wife obviously had emotional tent pegs in Sodom, as she was unable to resist looking back when fleeing judgment. Unfortunately those 'tent pegs' cost her her life.

When a person hammers in tent pegs, he does so in order to signify that he is settling in that location and that he is ensuring that any storms will not remove his tent and belongings from him. He is investing in that location. When God spoke to Abram in Ur of the Chaldees and told him to leave his people and his father's house, He was basically telling him to pull up his tent pegs and move out of that location permanently. He became a man led by the Spirit of God; a son of God rather than a son of man. And interestingly, God told him to depart from 3 things - his country, his kindred and his father's house.

To leave one's country is a difficult thing. It means leaving the culture you were born into and becoming a stranger in a strange land. Refugees never have rights in a country where they don't hold citizenship. So leaving your country means giving up rights and culture and familiar surroundings. It means leaving your friends and your home. It means scaling down hugely concerning your material possessions.  Have you ever looked at the many things you own and decided which you would struggle to leave behind? When war strikes unexpectedly, many people are forced to flee their homes with only the clothes on their backs. It is very traumatic, but they have no other choice if they desire to stay alive. Abraham, however, had a choice. He could obey God or choose to stay with the familiar. The fact that he obeyed is a testament to the depth of His trust in the Voice of the One leading him, even though he could see no evidence of his destination.

Are we in a place of total trust in God's leading, even if we have to pull up our tent pegs and step out, without knowing where we are going to end up? This kind of instruction brings to the surface every hidden terror lurking in the recesses of our psyche. In these end times which we are headed into, we need to identify, process and let go of any vestiges of fear of the unknown. Everything that can be shaken will definitely be shaken and so our full weights must be resting upon the lap of our capable Father in Heaven, if we intend to not only survive, but fulfill our endtime callings. We must be planted with our feet firmly upon the heavenly mount Zion, because our names are registered as citizens of Heaven. Earthly location is secondary.

Secondly, Abraham was asked to leave his kindred or his family. Our natural families are where we find our identity from our earliest days. They are the people who generally are always there for us; the ones who give us a sense of belonging and unconditional acceptance. For some of us, we find this not only in our natural families but in our church families. Would we be able to leave these groups of people if the Spirit of God led us to step out and follow on a new journey? Away from everybody familiar, with only the Holy Spirit as our close friend? We like to think we would obey instantly, but in all honesty, it's really hard to say goodbye to an established emotional support system. Are we tied to people who would hold us back from following the Spirit's leading? Rebekah's uncle wanted her to remain with them another 10 days before journeying to meet her groom, but she said, "I will go" (Gen 24:58), as she was fully invested in her future and prepared to say farewell to her home and family. You cannot be fully surrendered to God's purposes and tied to man at the same time.

The third thing Abram was called to leave was his father's house. This is connected to sonship and receiving your inheritance. When Abram climbed on his camel and rode away, he left behind all his earthly inheritance; all claim to guaranteed earthly wealth according to his bloodline. His elder brother had died and Abram was due a double portion, but he chose the wealth of a relationship with God above houses and lands. Later on, God blessed him abundantly and he became very wealthy, but he had no knowledge that this lay ahead for him when he chose to obey the Father's voice.

When Elijah called Elisha to follow him as an understudy, Elisha basically asked if he could say goodbye to his parents first, but Elijah answered him roughly (! Kings 19:20). Elisha had a choice - to run with the calling of God presented to him or to remain with his earthly family. He chose to slaughter his oxen, using the plow as fuel for the fire, gave all the meat to those standing watching and ran after Elijah. In other words, he burned all his bridges and threw his full weight into his future and the plan of God for his life. When the Spirit of Elijah comes your way and wants to throw a mantle over you, what will you choose to do?

Tent-dwelling is never very comfortable, but when the cloud stays still long enough, we humans are prone to nesting; to carving out little comfort zones for ourselves. We arrange the furniture of our lives just so and without realizing it, begin to put down roots. We don't like feeling adrift in this world. We all like firm foundations beneath our feet. Full surrender is an easy thing to speak about, but it is a painful process to enter fully into the place where all the tent pegs in our heart are pulled up. Beloved, we cannot be settlers and flames of fire at the same time. It is time to let go. We need to work through the issues in our hearts which keep us 'nailed down' or fixed in one place, be it geographical, emotional or spiritual. When the cloud moves, we have to be ready to go; we cannot still be sitting on our deck chairs viewing our vegetable gardens, so to speak. So perhaps there are soul ties that need dealing with; perhaps there are loose ends that need tying off. Maybe there are places in our heart which are not fully surrendered; places where we like to maintain a bit of control because of fear.

The Word says that perfect love drives out fear. In other words, a less than full revelation of the perfection or completeness of God's love and commitment to you will leave room for fear to camp out in your heart. Ask for a fresh revelation of the length and breadth and height and depth of the love of God as Paul prayed in Ephesians:

Eph 3:18  that you may be given strength to grasp, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and depth and height, Eph 3:19  and to know the surpassing knowledge and love of Christ, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. 

 

The more this revelation of His love saturates your being, the less earthly circumstance changes will move you - and the easier it will be to let go and follow the Spirit's leading unreservedly and completely in the days ahead. One of my favorite passages of scripture is the following in the Amplified Bible:

Heb 13:5  ...for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] Heb 13:6  So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?

With this kind of promise from the Creator of the universe, what is there to fear? We are held. Firmly. Continuously. Faithfully.

Paul reminds us that we are aliens and strangers in this world (1Pet 2:11). That means our true citizenship is in Heaven. If we really believe this, then a call to leave our earthly home and/or country is only a step closer to our heavenly one.  We must all come to the place of fully finding our home in Christ, not just in theory or theology but in experience. In Him, we live and move and have our being. That is three stages of growth described right there! We are progressively sinking deeper into trust and experience of having our being in Him. He is the One with eyes like a flame of fire. He is the Man with fire from the waist down and He is going to be releasing messengers who are flames of fire. But first, Judah must pull up their tent pegs, let go of old places of dwelling, familiar surroundings, comfort and earthly security. They must lead the way in surrender and trust-filled steps away from the known.

Jael had an opportunity when the head of the enemy army appeared in her tent, but it involved pulling up her own tent peg first. And time was of the essence. Without hesitating, she did something brave and bold. She plunged the tent peg right into the temple of the enemy leader and turned the battle in favor of God's people (Judges 4:21). A tent peg doesn't seem like a very large thing but if pulled up at the right time, it becomes an instrument of judgment executed by a fiery messenger upon principalities and powers. Do not underestimate the effect in the spiritual realm of the pulling up of your tent peg!

Just as a log is taken out of the wood basket, leaving the other logs behind, in order to be set on fire by the flames in the hearth, so too there is a need to surrender fully to the hand of the Fire-Maker in order to be immersed in the flames and to experience them burning in the core of your being. The security of the wood basket amongst the other dry logs is just that - a dry, cold place on the sidelines. Are you ready to be moved in some measure to the burning heart of what God is doing? Maybe the Lord requires you to move geographically, or socially, or a combination of both. I know He definitely wants to move you to a new spiritual location; a new place of having your being fully in Him. Are you ready? Are your tent pegs pulled up? The tent pegs of the heart have to be pulled out before any outward movement can occur. Being led by the Spirit happens best when you have no strings attached to the earthly.

Remember the leader of the tribe of Judah in the wilderness was called Amminadab, meaning 'those who offer themselves willingly'. The tribe of Judah from which God brought forth His Firstborn was arrayed in the beauty of holiness, aware and alert, their ears pricked for the sound of those silver trumpets signaling the time had come to lead the people of God forward. And those of Zebulun and Issachar had understanding of the times and stepped out confidently behind them as the cloud began to move. This 3-fold company were the trail-blazers, the vanguard marching with their banners ahead of the rest of God's people... and the advantage of this was that the first to pull up tent pegs are also the first to place their feet in new territory in the Spirit. They were the closest to the cloud and the pillar of fire. Men of the earth were behind them but the whole horizon of their forward vision was taken up by the presence of God. What an atmosphere to march into!

(Pt 6 to follow)