Have you ever been called by God to do something you were terrified to do?  I can think of a few instances in my life where that's happened.  As scary as it seemed at the time though, it was all for God's glory!  I'm writing this today because I think there's an important message that God wants to share.  I'll start by sharing the encounter that I had and the different passages of scripture Holy Spirit led me to in helping me to understand..  Hopefully you will be able to see and hear what it is God is trying to say, it is my sincerest hope that the Spirit of revelation will rest upon you as you read and perhaps answer some questions.

Less than a week ago, I was in a prayer meeting at my church.  We do something called harp and bowl prayer, its a combination of worship and prayer mixed together.  If you've never been to a harp and bowl prayer meeting, all I can say is that you're missing out.  It was about three-quarters of the way through when all of a sudden I was hit in the stomach by the Holy Spirit and couldn't move.  I've had encounters before with the Lord where He has touched me and I haven't wanted to move, but this was different.  I could not move.  I tried to pick my legs up off the ground one at a time and couldn't.  I looked around with my eyes to see if it was affecting anyone else and it wasn't, it was only me.  All of a sudden my hand started trembling. Then it trembled a little more and more until it was downright shaking.  I stared in disbelief as I watched my hand, unable to control the shaking.  It was terrifying.  I was completely overtaken by the power of God and my strength literally left my body.  Again I will say, it was terrifying.  All the while this was going on, there was someone outside the church walls burning grass or something but it brought into the church sanctuary the aroma of incense.  Strange, I thought, but was much more concerned about what was happening to my body.  All of a sudden, I had the  urge to push as if I were having a labor contraction.  I was crying as I told my husband later that night how real it felt.

Immediately following the service, the Lord gave me Isaiah 6:4  And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.  Hence the shaking and the smoke!  I went on to read the whole chapter of Isaiah six only to find out that Isaiah was being commissioned to go and prophesy doom to all those who oppose God!  Pretty heavy stuff, yes?  I wasn't sure that that's what God was trying to tell me but I wasn't' sure that He wasn't?  What I do know is for the next five days I was a complete wreck! 

The day of the encounter, I was in prayer when I received a vision.  I was standing on the edge of a vast wide sea.  Crystal clear water all the way through.  The sand was black and felt like pearls beneath my feet.  I could see a city in the distance that was the New Jerusalem.  I had been praying that the Lord would take me out into the depths of the riches and the wisdom of the knowledge of God and I heard Him say to me, "Come."  I stepped into the beautiful clear water and it felt wonderful around my ankles.  I went out a little farther and began to feel the freedom of this water as it hit my knees.  The next thing I knew, I was up to my neck in the water when suddenly, I panicked.  I reached my arms up to the Lord and He stretched His arm out to me as He stood on the water.  He pulled me up and set me on the water with Him which had turned into the sea of glass. It was there that He asked me to dance for Him.  Fear began to rise in my heart at this request and I simply said, "I can't, I don't know how."  I cried in His arms and asked Him to keep me there.


Over the next few days, I experienced much anxiety as I realized there was much more to the Lord's request than simply dancing.  He began to unfold in my heart other things that were changing that would require more sacrifice on my behalf.  He took me to the story in Mark 10 about the rich young ruler. 

Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler

¹⁷ Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
¹⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”^[c]
20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
²¹ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
²² But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.


He spoke to me about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God and how that richness comes in many forms.  The next day He took me out to a lake and used the beautiful and the dull vacation houses to illustrated the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ³ The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴ The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵ The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

⁶ “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
⁷ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
⁹ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
¹⁰ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
¹¹ “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
¹² “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
¹³ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

My husband was mocked that day, publicly, for having a row boat but I tell you, the wind was in our favor!

Today, I've come to the place of full surrender.  I have God's blessing and I'm moving on with whatever He has prepared for me.  I read back through Isaiah chapters 6-8, which were the ones highlighted all throughout the week, and caught something.  This is where the message is, I believe.  In Isaiah chapter 8 verse 8 (the number eight symbolizes new beginnings) it says this in regard to the unbelievers living in Judah

He will pass through Judah, He will overflow and pass over, He will reach up to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.

When I read that, I remembered the vision and being up to my neck in water.  This passage is talking about the unbelievers being overtaken by the king of Assyria!  How glad am I that I reached out to the Lord.  I believe that when He set me on the sea of glass, that is before His throne, He was giving me the commission to do the impossible, giving you and me the commission to do the impossible.  He said to me the other day as I read that, before I understood what it was all about, He said, "  The fear of God preserves me from the disquieting fear of man."  I didn't even know what that meant, I had to look up the word disquieting, it means to cause anxiety!  The fear of the Lord that fell on me the other night when I couldn't move was an act of preservation.  What happened as a result was that great anxiety came over me.  The very thing the Lord was trying to preserve me from!  But why? How? Because I had doubt and unbelief that I couldn't do what the Lord was asking.  I now believe in faith that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.








The Lord is commissioning His people right now for the very task of speaking His word forth in boldness and with power for His purpose and He's preserving His people against the fear of man in the process!  If He is calling you to the impossible right now, say yes!  He will give you grace!  He wants all your heart.  He wants you to go deeper into the things of Him and forsake the things and ways of this world.  Just like He told the rich young ruler, you must deny yourself and take up your cross to be like Me.  Jesus is looking for people that will be ready in the night with their lamps full of oil who know the sound of His voice.  Knowing the Lord intimately requires sacrifice.  How selfish and stubborn I felt when the thought of Jesus dying for my sins came to mind after I told Him I couldn't do what He was asking.  That is my selfish flesh talking! When the Lord asks you to do something, remember, He died for you and me!  Whatever it may be that He's calling you to, say yes, He will make it so worth it!  You will never want again.  Jesus said that whoever ate of Him would eat the bread of life.  The bread of life!  You can't buy that at Safeway!  The Lord is good and His promises are true.  He died on the cross for your sins and rose from the grave so that you too could have eternal life with Him.  He's getting ready to do something big and you don't want to be left out.  Consider the passage in Isaiah chapter 8 

⁵ The Lord also spoke to me again, saying:

⁶ “Inasmuch as these people refused
The waters of Shiloah that flow softly,
And rejoice in Rezin and in Remaliah’s son;
⁷ Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them
The waters of the River,^[b] strong and mighty—
The king of Assyria and all his glory;
He will go up over all his channels
And go over all his banks.
⁸ He will pass through Judah,
He will overflow and pass over,
He will reach up to the neck;
And the stretching out of his wings
Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.^[c]

⁹ “Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces!
Give ear, all you from far countries.
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces;
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.
¹⁰ Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
Speak the word, but it will not stand,
For God is with us.”^[d]

Fear God, Heed His Word

¹¹ For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:

¹² “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’
Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy,
Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.
¹³ The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow;
Let Him be your fear,
And let Him be your dread.
¹⁴ He will be as a sanctuary,
But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense
To both the houses of Israel,
As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
¹⁵ And many among them shall stumble;
They shall fall and be broken,
Be snared and taken.”

¹⁶ Bind up the testimony,
Seal the law among my disciples.
¹⁷ And I will wait on the Lord,
Who hides His face from the house of Jacob;
And I will hope in Him.
¹⁸ Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me!
We are for signs and wonders in Israel
From the Lord of hosts,
Who dwells in Mount Zion.

 
Don't be one who gets over taken by the deep waters, stretch your arms out to Him and ask Him to save you.  If you are afraid consider Psalm 111 which says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."