It's Time to Get Out of the Box

Earlier this year, the Holy Spirit whispered this phrase to me early one morning: "A box is My Church's favorite place to be."

He explained right away - that the religious Church keeps Him in a box with their doctrine. But, it wasn't until now that He brought it back up and elaborated on it.

As I've mentioned in the recent posts and prophetic words He's had me release, there is a strong religious spirit in the Church right now that many aren't even aware of. I know when I personally thought of "religious" churches, I thought of those "other" people that were obviously stuck in rituals and traditions and did not have a relationship with Jesus. But, like I mentioned in the "following Jesus" post, the possibly even bigger problem is those churches that genuinely can't SEE the hold that the religious spirit has on them. The ones that don't even realize they've put God in a box.

At this very moment, the Lord has me in the middle of a miracle. A "sign" or "wonder." A demonstration of His power and sovereignty - something that makes no sense in the natural, to our human reasoning (I don't feel led to share it at the moment, but will later if/when He prompts me to). But, what I hadn't realized until He showed it to me this morning - was how much I was struggling with receiving it.

I keep checking and double-checking. I keep doubting and thinking I must be "seeing" wrong. I keep wondering when the "other shoe is going to drop." But, He had to stop me and show me what was going on - we (me included) have gotten SO far away from expecting His miraculous ways, that when it doesn't make sense to our human reasoning, we can't receive it. We are open to Him blessing us, but we're still trying to control the "how" and keep it within our realm of understanding - even when it comes to Him.

We expect (or deep down, "want") Him to move in ways we're familiar with. Things we've seen Him do before or heard about from other people. Things that make "sense" to us. But, what I hadn't even realized myself til this morning, was that when we do that, we do exactly what He said - put Him "in a box."

Which is the exact OPPOSITE of miracles, signs and wonders. By their very definition, those things defy explanation. They make zero sense in the natural. There is NO way those couple fish and loaves "should've" fed thousands of people. There is NO way the water "should've" turned into wine. There's NO way Lazarus "should've" come back to life. But, they all happened. Because God doesn't operate within our realm of understanding. And even though that was the whole point of the Holy Spirit raising Jesus the way He did, most of the Church has sort of "forgotten" that. Whether they realize it or not.

Sure, we talk about it in sermons and we sing about it in songs. But, think about it REALLY. Even when you're praying and "believing" God for something... you're probably still "looking" for the answer in ways that make sense. For instance, the example I've shared before where I was out of gas and had no money and the Holy Spirit told me to get on the highway and drive anyway. I truly was expecting Him to provide - BUT I thought He'd provide by giving me money for gas. Heck, I was even willing to believe He'd make my gas stretch (cuz He had done that before). But, no. He said, I'm gonna one up you, and He just made my car drive supernaturally with NO GAS WHATSOEVER - because He can.

Or when I took my "miracle" trip to Tulsa... I expected Him to bless me by again, providing the provision I needed for a flight and hotel. But instead, He supernaturally met me on the way and provided everything in ways I could have never expected or predicted!

When we try to keep God "in a box," we will miss exactly what He's about - power, miracles, wonder. And moving forward, that is NOT gonna work anymore! We are meant to walk in even GREATER miracles, signs and wonders than Jesus did (John 14:12). But, if we struggle to even really believe the things that Jesus did... lay hands on people and heal them, miraculously stretch provision for thousands of people, calm acts of nature, raise people from the dead... how are we possibly ever going to be able to do more?

I know this was a personal heart check for me and I believe it is for His whole Church. It's time we all check our hearts and our level of belief. That's the sneaky thing about the religious spirit - it's not just in the obvious places where you'd expect. It has tried to infiltrate the entire Church to take away her power and lull her to sleep (like my zombie dream). And some of it is so subtle, we haven't even realized it's happened.

Yet, there are many people who consider themselves to be "believers" who don't even really believe in the power of God anymore - not deep down in their heart of hearts. And that's what God's been exposing through all of the "shaking" that's going on right now.

His Church cannot operate in the power and authority that she's supposed to if she doesn't even believe in it herself. The ONLY way for the Church to move forward into everything she's called to be for this time (and the watching world) is to REMEMBER the power of God. To take off every single restraint, reasoning, rationale, rule, process, procedure, expectation and explanation that we have come up with as man.

EVERY. ONE.

If you were alive at the time Jesus was walking the earth, would you have been able to expect Him to multiply the fishes and loaves? Would you have been able to predict Him turning the water into wine? Would you have ever guessed that Jesus wasn't just going to heal Lazarus, but bring him back from the dead? NO, NO and NO.

So, we CAN'T start putting Him in a box now. There are still parts of God that we haven't even seen yet. He is sovereign and in control of every single person, place, and thing in this universe. Which means, He can do whatever He wants with whatever He wants. And we need to get "comfortable" with that real fast!

God is doing a new thing. He is making roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Is. 43:19) - REALLY think about those things for a minute. They are both things that make NO sense. Things that "shouldn't" even exist or happen according to human reasoning. But, that's exactly what He's doing. Things that don't make "sense."

It's time for the Body of Christ to come out of the flesh and all the ways we've come up with to "contain" God. It's time to remember that the Holy Spirit cannot and will not be contained. It's time to get out of God's way and let Him do everything He wants to do in and through us.

It's time to get out of the box!