THE FUNERAL SONG IS COMING TO AN END…

Have you ever felt like the story of Ziklag was like a whole chapter of your life? Or maybe the story of Job, maybe not to that degree, but you just felt like you went through a very long season where it seemed like everything fell to the ground and died?

And you didn’t mean for it to happen, but somewhere along the way, you lost your ability to believe that anything good was ever bound to happen again. Without realizing it, and not intentionally, you suddenly felt detached from the Father's goodness.

When you had that realization, you knew something wasn’t right theoretically, but your circumstances had been preaching at you for so long with negativity, hang-ups, and breakdowns instead of breakthroughs that you didn’t know how to escape that mindset.

I know what that feels like, and I believe that right now, so many people are experiencing this where there is such a deep level of grief, pain, and loss. It’s the place where you realize your soul feels sick, and your mind feels numb or cloudy, just going through the motions. Yet at the same time, something is stirring deep in your spirit, and it just doesn't make sense.

Just a few nights ago at our local team night, I began to prophesy that the funeral song is coming to an end, and we are about to sing the wedding song, and I could feel the Holy Spirit descend powerfully in the room on that statement.

In Matthew 11:16-17, Jesus said, “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance, we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.”

He was speaking into the culture of the time, where people had become so disconnected from Him that nothing would move them. It’s where we get so desensitized by the things of life that we are disconnected from Him.

Pain does that. Grief does that. Long funeral seasons do that, and so many right now have been through a season where it feels like all we’ve known is loss.

But I feel like the Lord is declaring over us right now, in this place of deep sickness of heart and hope deferred, “Get ready for the wedding song. Get ready for the flute to play, because it’s about to shift.”

But how will we accept it if we are hardened to it?

Then I heard the Lord say: “It is time to detox hope-deferred and bad news and rediscover the good, good Gospel again, and know Me as a good, good Father again.”

Man, that goes deep…

Even as I’m writing these words, in my own life and experience from this past season, I can feel the depth of this and even the pain of it. It’s confronting to think about when you’ve been through so much, falling apart inside you and around you, right?

Maybe like me, the Lord has been confronting these areas in you, because the Gospel is meant to be good news, and it is good news! The finished work of the cross is the greatest news, the greatest joy, and the greatest privilege we could ever have.

But somewhere along the way, many of us, as pioneers and forerunners for God, have been lied to by the enemy and led into a different narrative, an opposite story that is not the one God wants us to live in this life.

It’s not that we’re trying to sugarcoat this walk or pretend it’s all roses. We know there will be persecution, shaking, trials, and warfare, and many of us are experiencing those things right now, but even with affliction, even with the trials, even with the warfare, we are meant to be anchored in the good news that flows from the finished work of the cross.

I believe God is confronting this in a major way right now, in all of us and even the Church at large. Why? Because these lies have been a cancer decaying the Church’s view of God and the future we have. We have become cynical and live wounded like those who have no HOPE!

Is that you? I have been like that too. God show us yout GOODNESS!!!

I believe He is reintroducing Himself as a Father to many who have been disconnected from His heart for a long time.

I remember a season like this in my own life, and I remember crying out and saying, “Lord, I pour out to so many people, and they experience massive transformation and change. But in this season, I want to be honest - I don’t know where You are. I don’t know where You’ve been. I can’t see a trace of Your goodness in my life. All I see is loss, misery, and death.”

If that’s you as we start this week, I want to speak good news over you. I want to speak life, health, wholeness, healing, and deliverance over you.

First, I want you to renounce the bad news.

Maybe over the last few years, all you’ve had are bad reports. All you’ve heard is constant crisis after crisis - waking up to fires, things falling apart, slander, backlash.

There are people reading this right now who have experienced betrayal from friends and those close to them that has been incredibly deep. You’ve been witch-hunted. You’ve experienced constant chatter from the body of Christ and people around you, assailing you on every side. It has been like poison deep in your soul.

And the Lord is saying right now, “I am going to draw that poison out of you. I am going to make you whole.”

There are people reading this whose finances have been robbed, and you are in a situation where it feels like, if God doesn’t come through, everything will fall apart.

Maybe it’s your health. Maybe it’s your children, your marriage, your calling, or your destiny. Everything feels like it’s falling apart, and it’s so hard to believe there could be good news around the corner.

It’s hard to believe there could be anything other than what you’ve experienced over the last few years: robbery, defeat, and more bad news. But let God shift that right now.

Many have lost faith in the prophetic, and I understand why. But right now we need the true word of the Lord, the word that pulls us out of the mess. I want to release what I believe is the heart of the Father, because the true prophetic is the heart of the Father.

It is time to step back into the reality of the good news and the Gospel again. It is time to step out of false gospels, false versions of the kingdom, and false versions of Jesus that many have been following. It is time to come back to the good news.

This is why compromise has been running rampant in the Church. When we lose touch with the Father, we lose our identity, our worth, and our value. We begin to try to get what we need through other avenues, what can only be found in God alone, and it leads us into sin. It leads us into creating Ishmaels, opening doors, and making messes.

There are people reading this right now who have made many messes, who feel like there are Ishmaels everywhere around them that they created.

If that is you, I want you to know this: the Lord wants to redeem and turn those around, too. He wants to reignite the legacy in your life where you feel like you brought ruin to your family. He has redemption planned for you.

Proverbs 13:12 says: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

So let me prophesy over you, over your circumstances, your mind, your heart, your soul, your destiny, your voice, your calling, your family, and your finances…

Turn now, in Jesus’ mighty name. Turn now, in the name of Jesus!

I am prophesying over this week that it will turn for you. It will shift for you. It will flip around for you. Hope deferred, we curse you, leave now in the name of Jesus. Leave now!

The Lord said we would recover all, and I prophesy that we are entering a season of recovery. The Church is in that place right now. It has lost itself in many ways, and the Lord is restoring and rebuilding the true Church, and that includes you.

Step back into who you are. Break ties with every lie you’ve come into agreement with over the last few years.

Even as you’re reading this, begin to write down every lie you’ve believed. Write them on a piece of paper. Then take communion and tear that paper up and say, “God, I renounce these lies.”

Then take another piece of paper and write down the truth. Say, “God, this is the truth I am holding onto this week.” Begin to find Scriptures that support that truth. Declare them. Prophesy them. Speak them back into existence until you believe them again.

Now, lastly, put your hand on your heart and say, “FATHER SHOW ME YOU ARE GOOD. SHOW ME YOUR GOODNESS AND YOUR GOOD NEWS IN MY LIFE SO I CAN BE A FOUNTAIN OF HOPE TO A BROKEN WORLD IN JESUS’ NAME!”

Your Job days are over.  The funeral song is coming to an end NOW in Jesus’ name.