Your Time in Exile is a Set Up for Promotion
by John Meyer
Identity Network
There is no doubt that many people are going through tremendous difficulty, trial and excruciating processing. In fact, the last decade has been more than difficult for many of Gods children than all of the previous years combined. Over the last ten years I have heard stories of adversity that would make the hair on the back of your neck curl. I can relate with the stories of many of these wonderful people, and feel for them deeply. The challenges my wife and I have faced have been more mentally than physically, nevertheless they are real and they are not without purpose.
Although there is so much bad news coming at us 100 mph, I am a firm believer that there is so much more in the way of good news that we either don't hear about or we may not be seeing as good news. In other words, we all have spiritual lenses that we look through every single moment of the day and depending on what we are seeing, will determine the outcome of what we truly believe. We can listen to the bad news of the world and let it take us out or we can challenge that bad news and let it forge us in the fire by turning something adverse into something good.
Growing Pains
Our insight will certainly determine our eyesight as it pertains to our training and development in Christ. Many times we think that just because we have said yes to Jesus that everything is going to change overnight and we won't have to experience further difficulty in life. While on certain levels this may be true, other levels it is not. Ever heard of growing pains? The decision to look at the "pain" in the growing in a positive manner can make all the difference in the world.
The Apostle John had an interesting journey and a rather optimistic take on his processing through the adverse conditions he found himself in while living as an exile on the Island of Patmos.
Rev. 1:9-11 (Living Bible) It is I, your brother John, a fellow sufferer for the Lord's sake, who am writing this letter to you. I, too, have shared the patience Jesus gives, and we shall share his Kingdom!
I was on the island of Patmos, exiled there for preaching the Word of God and for telling what I knew about Jesus Christ. 10 It was the Lord's Day and I was worshiping, when suddenly I heard a loud voice behind me, a voice that sounded like a trumpet blast, 11 saying, "I am A and Z, the First and Last!" And then I heard him say, "Write down everything you see, and send your letter to the seven churches in Turkey:[f] to the church in Ephesus, the one in Smyrna, and those in Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."
How many of us make the decision to patiently worship in the midst of persecution, pain and exile? I don't know about you, but if we are honest, sometimes it can be the hardest thing we will ever do while clinging on to dear life in the midst of a storm. Everything within us wants to either run or shutdown in the middle of a battle; especially if that battle has been raging for a decade or more.
Fighting the Good Fight
But there is something interesting and powerful about the way John carries himself in the middle of his storm. We don't see him complaining about his plight so much as he is revelating about his fight. He is fighting the good fight of faith right in the middle of adversity. He understands something about the nature of his Father, because he had been down this road before, only in smaller doses. He was living in a time of immense persecution, and he knew it well because it ultimately wound up landing him on Patmos. John discovered something supernatural in the middle of his processing. He was beginning to have a deeper understanding of what faith and patience could do in the center of loneliness, pain and trial. He was found worshipping his God, regardless of what happened to him and where he found himself.
Sometimes we don't believe or we just can't see the plan in the midst of our own time of exile, where we feel like we are all alone and abandoned. The pain can be so great sometimes that we just can't seem to find anything good or purposeful in our circumstance.
The name Patmos actually means "My killing." The island where John was living was also a sterile island where living plants couldn't be found, as the conditions of the soil were not conducive for vegetation to grow. So in other words, this place of exile is supposed to kill something off and sterilize the way one has been thinking. John had been processed and developed enough in his own walk to understand and embrace the "killing off" of his own way of thinking. He knew that the only way to survive and thrive in that place was to go high in worship and adoration.
Notice that when John went into worship a few important things took place.
Rev. 1:10-11 It was the Lord's Day (Rest) and I was worshiping, when suddenly I heard a loud voice behind me, a voice that sounded like a trumpet blast, 11 saying, "I am A and Z, the First and Last!" And then I heard him say, "Write down everything you see, and send your letter to the seven churches in Turkey: to the church in Ephesus, the one in Smyrna, and those in Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."
John worshipped, then had a SUDDEN encounter with a loud voice telling him to write a message for the churches. He got lost worshipping his Love in the middle of his exile, and because of the relationship he was caught up and heard a familiar voice giving him another commission.
Encounters and Suddenlies
You see, for many of us it has felt like we were going to die in the place of "My Killing," and we may not have understood that it is to be a time of intimacy between us and our Father, as well as a place of development. It's a time of getting lost in His Presence and it's also the time where we begin to here his voice loudly commissioning us to go.
"The journey has definitely been long and the training brutal for many of God's people, but it's important to understand that although it may feel like an Island called Patmos, there is an encounter awaiting us and one that will launch us even deeper into our life's work."
Moses, David, Elijah, Joseph and many others understood the power of processing as well, in their own places of exile. It wasn't as if they were worshipping as a transaction hoping to get out of their pain. No, I believe they had such intimacy with their King that it caused them to go into another dimension to hear from Him and experience His touch. In doing so, the power of relationship began to release the freedom and call of either a life's calling or another assignment in The Kingdom. They were actually receiving promotions in the Spirit.
"Where adversity and exile are present, presence and promotion are known and released."
I believe I heard strongly in my spirit "Many of my children have gone through the pain of adversity's training and I am about ready to perform a suddenly and set them in places they have not even dreamed of."
This is not the time to check out my friends. This is the time to worship and fall in love again. I know you want out of the fiery furnace, but your Father has need of you in the secret place so He can give you a revelation and commission that far exceeds the pain of the processing.
May encounters and suddenlies be yours.
John Meyer
The Flight Center
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