I hear a question from the Lord to His people resounding in the spirit,
“Who are you running after?”.
THE COMPASS OF THE LORD
I sense the Lord is releasing His compass over the hearts of His people in this season. Firstly, to reveal to them the alignment of their direction, (the positioning of their heart and the direction in which they are running), and secondly, if they are found to be off course, to extend an invitation to return to TRUE NORTH.
TRUE NORTH
Metaphorically TRUE NORTH is a navigational focal point that enables one to travel on the right path no matter where the destination may be. Whether or not our destination is north, south east or west, if we “know” our TRUE NORTH, we are well able to arrive and “HIT” our destination smoothly and without confusing, frustrating, time wasting detours.
Obviously we all aren’t called to travel in the same direction, for the harvest field is vast and wide and spans a great multitude of fields. Some are called to arts, media, law, government, education, business, social justice, ministry, missions, and some are called to great wealth to finance the kingdom etc etc, however we all need TRUE NORTH in order to keep and maintain our correct navigation on our set God given course.
I feel the Lord is saying many are running towards their destination, or shall we call it “destiny”, which is commendable and pleasing to the Lord, but what I am sensing from the Lord is that though many may be running toward their destiny or destination, they are losing “TRUE NORTH” along the way, which subsequently results in course deflection off the plotted route. Any navigator will know that it only takes an initial deflection of a couple of degrees off your plotted route for you to inevitably find yourself vastly off course.
Hence why I “hear” the Lord is calling His people back to TRUE NORTH.
What is TRUE NORTH you may ask?
TRUE NORTH is keeping the position of one’s heart to RUN AFTER HIM.
TRUE NORTH is what Paul described in Phillipians 3 as the journey of the High Calling to KNOW HIM! To be true pursuers of His heart and His WAYS.
David was a man once described of the Lord as a man after His own Heart (1 SAM 13:14). If you read His psalms David always asked the Lord for Him to show him His paths and His ways.
PURSUERS OVER PERFECTION.
The Lord desires ones who will pursue Him rather than ones who are perfect.
David was a PURUSER of the Lord, a man who desired to do things God’s way. As we know David wasn’t perfect, He made many mistakes, but perfection never qualifies you for making your destination. It is not ones who demonstrate PERFECTION but rather PURITY that Jesus himself said would “SEE GOD” (MATT 5:8).
What does “see” God mean?
To “see” according to Strong’s concordance can interpret as : to gaze with eyes wide open or to appear, or show one’s self ~ (“show up”- my emphasis). Therefore, those who are pure in heart are ones who pursue His will and His ways with purity of motive, they are the ones who are aligned with TRUE NORTH and will “see” God. They will see and gaze with eyes wide open as the Lord performs His promises and “shows up” in their lives as only He can.
Abraham “saw God”. He saw the fulfilment of the promise in Izaak. I am very sure, He stood and “gazed with eyes wide open” as He saw 90 year old Sarah’s belly grow with the promise inside her womb. I’m sure He stood and “gazed with eyes wide open” as Izaak the seed of the promise of God to Abraham came forth and was born, as he “appeared and showed up in the flesh”, and no longer just remained a spoken promise but a natural reality of whom God said of him, “he would be a great nation as the stars in the heavens and sand on the seas shore”. But Abraham, even though He wasn’t perfect and made mistakes he pursued God and remained faithful and obedient even to the point of being willing to offer His own son.
Abraham pursued God, He followed God, where He said to go He did and left everything behind. Abraham knew His TRUE NORTH and in turn arrived at His destination. Along the way He forgot TRUE NORTH and pursued the destination outside of the compass. He thought for a moment that He could arrive at His destination of what God had promised in His own natural reasoning and ability. The outcome was strife, grief, contention, jealousy and a sibling rivalry that continues to this very day. When we deviate from TRUE NORTH and pursue our destination in our own ability we end up in the fruit of the wisdom of the flesh which Romans 8 explains as death, decay and corruption.
NAGIVATION COURSE CHECK
The compass of the Lord that is being released over His people’s hearts in this season is acting like a navigation course check. It in actual fact exposes heart motives. Not for the purpose to condemn but for the purpose to reveal the course deflect in order for His people to embrace the invitation to repent from trying to fulfill and arrive at their destiny outside of the compass of the Lord and surrender to plotted map of the Lord.
I feel the Lord is saying embrace and invite the compass of the Lord to be released over your heart and align your direction with TRUE NORTH. Ask yourself the question, “what am I pursuing?”, “what am I running after?”. “Am I running after revenge, control, position, recognition, power, wealth, increase, favour, status, acceptance? etc etc etc….. Am I filled with ambition, anxiety, depression, frustration, impatience, bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, jealousy and the List goes on and on…. or am I truly running TRUE NORTH after His heart, what pleases Him, to seek to know Him more and more and more and more.
TRUE SEEKERS~PURITY OF MOTIVE
The word says in Matthew 6 when we seek the kingdom first all of those other things are added besides. In actual fact Jesus defined those things as what the heathen seeks after. So in other words, He was clearly noting it’s actually a worldly way, not the way of His people.
The Lord is calling His people to do things His way. To be pursuers of the Kingdom which is righteous, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. In other word’s righteousness = doing things God’s way in purity of heart and having the right motive, then peace and joy are a direct result from that.
I know many Christians that on the outside look successful but are filled with debilitating insecurity and anxiety. I know many Christians that on the outside pride themselves on their “successful acheivements” (whether wealth or recognition or fame), but are control freaks, sow discord among the brethren and are embitted with competitive jealousy and rivalry. They are in essence void of the “peace and joy” that flow from the pursuit of the Kingdom.
When we give birth to the promise by the arm of the flesh like Abraham did with Ishmael, we are void of peace and joy.
TRUE NORTH IS INTIMACY
TRUE NORTH is intimacy and when intimacy is pursued we give birth to destiny enveloped in peace and joy that only the Kingdom offers and the world cannot take away.
I’ve said this many times in this season but I will say it once again. The Lord is aligning His people’s heart in this hour making them ready for what is to come.
And so I repeat the question of the Lord to His people?
Who are you running after?
Are we running after our own ambitious pursuits masked under the banner of “my calling” or are we simply running after Him, to Know Him, to obey Him like Abraham not knowing the full end from the beginning but being in pursuit of His heart our true destination to be a friend of God.
Oh to be known as a friend of God!! That is my pursuit!! He is my famous one, He is my celebrity, He is the most influential person IN THE UNIVERSE and I have a direct line to HIM!!!! OH how privileged I am!!!
My friends, if HE be our pursuit, who we do or don’t know is not an issue. We would not be seeking to climb any ladder or click or club or circle. This pursuit doesn’t stand the test of time and it certainly doesn’t cause you to arrive at your destination. I’ve seen many pursue “connections with famous people” as if that is a ticket to destiny. I personally know pastors who have been “connected” and “friends” of the who’s who of the charismatic zoo, but have still not been able to attain to the fulfilment of potential God has put inside of them and have bowed out of ministry. I say this not to judge those who have become casualties of ministry as one in ministry I know how truly tough it is and I personally only stand by His Grace, as many times more than I can number I have wanted to run for the hills, but I say this to simply say, it is not who you know here on this earth that will get you to your destiny, but WHO you know in HEAVEN that will cause offer you the endurance and strength in all seasons and ability to arrive at the desired place of hearing announced in your ears “Well done though good and faithful servant, enter into the rest”.
A GREAT SNARE TO THOSE CALLED TO RUN WITH THE MANDATES OF HEAVEN.
I heard the Lord say to my spirit a few days ago, “The greatest snare in these coming days will be the need for fame, recognition, approval, acceptance and praise of man”. This pursuit amongst others will prove to be a great chasm of destruction and deception in the body of Christ. If this is a foundational pursuit in the hearts of God’s people it will abort kingdom assignments that have potential to change nations in a day. Embrace the wilderness seasons where the Lord is may be preparing you in this hour, know that it is causing your roots to go down deep in your desire for His approval alone.
Receive the compass in this hour, allow the Lord to reconfigure your navigated course and return to TRUE NORTH!
When we are running TRUE NORTH, THE CONFESSION OF OUR MOUTH IS :
HE IS TRULY MY PORTION….. ALL MY DAYS, I WILL RELENTLESSY RUN AFTER HIM!
