winds_of_change

Coming … Winds of Change, by Randall D. Kittle

A while back on an unusually warm fall afternoon, a strong storm came through northern Illinois where I live. The sky became choked with thick, dark clouds. The wind began to pick up, and before long the driving rain gave way to a downpour. The storm soon spawned a strong tornado that touched down about three miles from our home. The twister tossed cars and buses off the roads and into fields. It flattened some homes and buildings while only damaging others. The large metal towers supporting the high voltage power lines outside our city were twisted by the cyclone as if they were match sticks — causing power to be lost to more than 40,000 people (including our family).

Later, after watching the hopscotched pattern of damage on the news — destroying a home and then lifting up and hopping over a church not even breaking a window, I began to feel the presence of the Lord. I asked Him what He was saying through this sudden storm. He said, “Just as this windstorm came suddenly and powerfully, destroying some things, moving others, and blowing only a gentle breeze upon some, so I am sending My winds of change to the Church. You cannot predict when they will come, but it will be sudden and soon! I am sending My wind to remove what needs to be removed. It will resist what needs to be resisted, and it will release what needs to be released. The coming wind will also refresh what needs to be refreshed.”

With that, I saw a vision of a powerful tornado that pulled up and removed everything in its path. Next, I saw person trying to walk forward on a winter’s day. Even though they leaned forward and strained with all their might, they were unable to move forward because a strong north wind blew a blizzardy blast of resistance. Then, I saw a person standing outdoors,holding a large, hard-cover book. The wind was blowing strongly, but they were keeping the pages from turning by holding each edge of the book with their hands. Finally the wind gusted more strongly and the pages of the book leafed forward to a new chapter. The last thing I saw was a magnificent botanical garden in a greenhouse that had many attractive and exotic plants. Although they were very beautiful, none of the plants’ blossoms had yet bloomed. They were all budded … but remain unopened. Then the door of the greenhouse blew open and a warm breeze drifted across this beautiful garden. As this gentle wind blew across the garden, all of the blossoms bloomed making it a breathtaking sight.

The Lord of heaven and earth is about to release His winds of change. “The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. He … brings out the wind from His storehouses” (Psalm 135:6–7). The Lord is about to release His “winds of change.” As shown in the vision, the coming wind of God will have four different manifestations to accomplish what He desires to achieve in His Church. From the storehouse of His purpose and plans for us, He is releasing His “… stormy wind, fulfilling His word” (Psalm 148:8).

Removing What Needs to be Removed
The Lord said that His winds of change would “remove what needs to be removed.” These are days of preparation, days to purify and refine our lives. It is time to align our lives with God’s will and His ways. We need to be willing to prune our lives of everything that distracts us from walking purely before the Lord. Pruning a tree sometimes seems harsh, but a pruned tree is much more able to withstand gusty winds without suffering damage.

If we will not remove every distraction, obstacle, and obsession, God’s winds of change will come with a blast and tear them out. In the beginning of the vision, I saw a tornado that was uprooting and removing everything in its path. If we fail to heed the Lord’s calling to be the righteous ones He has died to make us, we are foolishly sowing to the wind, and as it says in Hosea 8:7, “They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind.” It is a dangerous thing to hold on to that which God is calling us to let go of. These are days to lift high the white flag of surrender — surrendering our ways to the Lord.

Resisting What Needs to be Resisted
The Lord declared that His winds of change “will resist what needs to be resisted.” There are some in the body of Christ who struggle right now thinking that the enemy is resisting them. Though they have been frustrated in making no headway, they have set their pathway and determined their course and it will not be altered. The only problem is that for many of them God hasn’t set their course, they have! Whenever our plans become hindered or halted, we need to make certain that they are really from the Lord and not of our own design. If we pridefully hold onto our desires and goals when they are not from the Lord, it will not be the enemy resisting them but God! For, as it tells us in 1 Peter 5:5, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Trying to press forward toward something when the Lord is not in it is like walking straight north into a howling blizzard. It is not only fruitless and foolish … it is dangerous. I am one of the most determined people I know. But it is important when you are resolved to do something that you are certain it is what the Lord desires you to do. In these days we need to reexamine what we believe the Lord has called us to, making certain His seal of approval is on our marching orders. It is time to show forth a sign, and the sign the Lord would have us show to Him is a triangular yield-sign — yielding our wills to His desires.

Releasing What Needs to be Released
The Lord also proclaimed that His winds of change would “release what needs to be released.” In the vision, I saw someone holding a book with the pages open in one place while the wind was blowing. Then the wind blew more strongly and the pages flipped forward to a new chapter.

Some of you have been hurt, wounded, slighted, and betrayed by family, friends, or even the church. Since this has happened, your life has been stuck in that place unable to move forward. It seems like no matter how hard you try to move on, you always seem to be stuck in the same place. Some of you have even begun to wonder if it is possible to ever be whole again, ever have dreams again, or ever feel fully alive.

God’s answer to you is “YES!” He is sending His mighty winds of change into your life. No matter how strongly pain or concern might cause you to try to just stay in the same place, God is coming to turn the page in your book of life. Make ready to receive the Lord’s winds of change, for He is coming to make you able to begin a new chapter in your life!

Refreshing What Needs to be Refreshed
The last thing the Lord said was, “The coming wind will also refresh what needs to be refreshed.” The Lord’s wind of change includes a warm, gentle awakening breeze He is sending to blow upon the gardens of our hearts. Like the bride in Song of Songs 4:16, let the cry of our hearts be, “Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out …” Why does the bride long for the wind to blow upon her garden? Because it opens up the blooms, releasing the beauty and fragrance that have been dormant. That is the bride’s desire. That is what she is longing for … for her garden to blossom and attract her beloved. This verse concludes, “Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits.”

All of us should want to have a closer, richer, more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ our great Bridegroom, and the Lord is promising that He will blow the warm breath of His Spirit into our hearts and cause them to bloom. The days of dormancy, the days of delay, are coming to an end. We are approaching a season when the Holy Spirit will cause the gardens of our hearts to blossom and bring forth great beauty and rich fragrances. The intimacy and closeness we will be afforded in the coming days will be like none we have ever experienced. We will truly have a foretaste of what it will be like to dwell richly with the Lord of glory.

Let us rejoice with anticipation at what the Lord is about to unleash with His winds of change. Lord, help us surrender what needs to be surrendered and yield what must be yielded until our hearts are prepared to bring us into a new, fresh, and exciting chapter of our lives — days of intimate relationship with You.