One of the scriptures God has put on my heart concerning this new year is Isaiah 62:10 - "Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations."
God is greatly encouraging us, His people, to pass through the "gates". What are these "gates"? While there are physical gates there are also spiritual gates. Like physical gates, spiritual gates provide or deny us access to new spiritual places and territories. Many gates can only be opened or broken by God (the breaker) and He will do that just to bless His people.
According to author Barbara Yoder (The Breaker Anointing, pg 44)..."The house of God [the Church - His people] is the place where the gate of heaven resides...the Church becomes the place where the gate of heaven will open. When the gate opens, the opening either permits what is on Earth to ascend into heaven, or it allows what is in heaven to descend to Earth. It is through these gates that heaven comes down to Earth. We know from Micah 2:13 that God, [who] is the breaker goes before us and breaks open the way. Something compels God into action to open those gates - [it is] faith coupled with obedience."
God is saying "prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway." God is leading His people by the multitudes to travel on the straight way that leads to His presence. God is also telling us to "remove the stones", to remove anything that gets in our way from coming to God and accessing His presence. Hebrews 12: 1 tells us to: ..."throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
Our wonderful Heavenly Father is calling us to come into His presence to worship with all our hearts and give Him all the glory due to His name. It is in His presence that we are fully actualized, energized, transformed, and empowered to live the life we were destined by Him to live. Also, in His presence is healing, unfathomable blessing, forgiveness, and grace. His presence means power - "incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 1:19-20). This is resurrection power, the most powerful power!
As we spend time in His presence, God will transform us by the power of the Holy Spirit. He will remove yokes and bondages, as well as restore that which the devourer, satan, has stolen (Joel 2:25, Malachi 3:11). He wants to move through His Church dynamically and desires His people to yield to His leading and voice. He's calling for His people to desire nothing more than His heart and who will allow Him to receive all the glory for what He will do. As a result, the Church will "raise a banner for the nations" for all to see and marvel at. His banner is one of victory and triumph. As we raise Him up He gives us the victory in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57).
Are you ready? Are you ready for a new move of God in your life? Are you willing to yield to God in all faithfulness, pass through the gates, travel down the highway into His presence and worship before His throne until you are completely transformed and fully yielded to Him with every fiber of your being? If so, 2011 could turn out to be the most transformational year that you have ever had in your life. It will be full of every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3) and riches in God that are beyond compare. Our destiny awaits and our destination and destiny is God!
