FOR THOSE IN A GRASSROOTS SEASON…

Hey pioneers, when we think about the term “grassroots,” we think about it as new beginnings, when things are not yet seen, when what God is birthing in you is in secret, in hiddenness, underground, in the waiting, in the wilderness, and all of those things are true, but there is another part of this process.

In the past year, many have felt a growing increase of discontent with so many things we used to do and see as normal.

Many have been sensing that the Lord is doing something that feels so organic and different from what we've noticed or valued before in the Church.

And even God has many of us in this season where we're doing something that feels very small and insignificant, yet we know that the Lord wants us to continue to plough that ground, even if it's not public, even if it's not visible, even if it's not a microwave dinner or an overnight blooming.

He's told us to devote our time and energy to what feels against the grain, abnormal, and unusual; yet we feel His Spirit all over it.

But the other part of grassroots that many people don't talk about, or maybe they just don't understand, is that grassroots really is that place where, before you begin to see fruit in the things that are coming from your hands, God is doing it in you first.

He's doing it in your home. He's doing it in your marriage. He's doing it in every area of your life - FIRST.

And I want you to think of grassroots less as a movement for a moment, and more as the new sprouts from your own life.

You see, right now, many people have come out of seasons where they have had long shoots of growth. They've been growing fruit, but they've also been through battles. You've also been through warfare. You've been through so many situations and circumstances that were painful.

And so this personal grassroots moment is that God's been delivering us by mowing our lawn.

I remember when I was a 12-year-old kid and my responsibility was to mow the lawn every two weeks, and the first time I mowed the lawn, I wanted it to look really pretty, so I mowed it at a level that was quite even.

But I noticed that because I didn't put the blades low enough, I had to do it again the next week because it was starting to look unruly.

So I soon wised up, and began to lower the blades all the way down to the ground. And it didn't look as neat. It didn't look as nice because in some areas it was hitting dirt. But I noticed that it would last the two weeks I needed it to.

And we don't often think about this part of grassroots, that it's God mowing us down to the ground. It's where He is cutting everything back in our lives. And it doesn't feel like a good thing, but it's bringing deliverance and healing to us. It's Him leveling things down to the ground in our lives so that new sprouts can come.

Right now, we have a rosebush in our garden that we cut back. We knew we were meant to, because it was just growing all over the place.

Within two months, the rosebush that we trimmed back to nothing began to sprout more roses than it did before.

This is a pruning season for so many of us who are pioneering, and we need to surrender to that process.

It's also a season where it feels like in that grassroots period, God is stripping us down to the dirt.

He's making us aware of areas of our own lives that are weak, not strong.

He's been going after areas of insecurity in our minds, and our hearts. He’s going after fears, going after worries, going after areas of insecurity that plagued us for so long.

This is the process that God has us in right now to get us ready for what He is about to bring into bloom.

And I do believe it's by the grace and mercy of God that He doesn't allow the things that we're doing to grow faster than we are able to handle on a personal level in our own lives.

We need to be aware that the greater capacity we have to surrender personally will determine the greater the fruit that we'll see in the things that God does in us publicly as we're building for Him.

And I know so many people right now who are like, I don't even care about building publicly. I don't care about grassroots. I don't want to do anything.

That's actually not always a bad place to be, because if you're not worried about that, that's one less distraction, so that God can just focus on delivering you, healing you, and getting you ready and set up for what's to come.

And if you're at that place right now, it's almost like, well, what God is doing in my life feels like He's decimating everything.

He's getting you ready for what's to come. And you need to realize that this moment is holy.

And I understand the enemy also wars against you in this season. There's been a torrential battle, warfare that's come against the minds of God's pioneers.

I don't want you to believe that is the Lord. I don't want you to think that He sent that. No, but He's using this moment to uncover the enemy's plans and to heal you of what's been plaguing you for so long.

This is where the Lord highlights areas that have been robbing you and stealing from you for a really long time, so that what you plant and what you build and what you do for Him will not be robbed in the days to come, and it will last the distance and last the test of time.

This is where God brings everything back to its pure original state, so that you aren't going to grow tares in the long run, you're going to grow the harvest that He has for you.

So as we end this week, I just want to pray for you. I want to pray that there would be a grace to surrender to this process that the Lord has you in. I pray that there'd be a grace to lean into this, because it is a deep work. It is a very painful process, even coming to terms with some of the things that we've allowed and we've endured.

It's where the Lord is even highlighting to us alignments in areas in our lives that we've been stuck in the wrong contracts. Soul ties to people, places, and seasons that we shouldn't be.

It's where the Lord really brings to light things we shouldn't be involved in, things we shouldn't be doing, even part of a message and our missions that no longer carry the anointing that we have.

But it's also a moment that God is resetting you and recalibrating you, and He's bringing you back to the peace and the joy that you're meant to have to do this for Him.

And if you've lost your peace and your joy and you are struggling to surrender to this process, I want you to pray with me right now:

Holy Spirit, help me surrender to this process. Help me be the first fruits of what you are going to do in my life in the days to come. Reset my foundations. Let me be the grassroots movement that you've called me to be in my own personal life with you. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Renew a right spirit within me.

I repent for fighting against this when I know that I need to adjust and come under and step into this fresh new thing You're doing in my life. And Lord, help me be okay with the small beginnings. Help me be okay with being underground. Help me be okay with doing what is unusual or not done, because I know that Your Spirit is on me and the fruits will show one day, and other people will get to eat of the fruits of this moment of obedience in my life, in Jesus' name. Amen.

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” - Zechariah 4:10