THE MORNING AFTER THE FOXES

This has been a “target on your back” season for so many, yet few are talking about it, know how to endure it, or even survive it.

Maybe they are silent due to shame, fear of what other people will think, or they are so enwrapped in failure and self-criticism. Refusing to let their guard down and let other people come in and lift their arms up. But I want to address it because it’s an area in which so many in the body of Christ need encouragement right now.

“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom." - Song of Solomon 2:15

How do you stand back on your feet after a “foxes' season? Meaning, how do you get back up and keep going about life, doing what God's called you to do, after you have endured a season that the enemy has devoured everything in your life?

Maybe you have lost everything, and your vineyard's been completely torn to shreds and left in ruins. And you're left broken, wondering how did this happen? How did I let this in? And you're just completely debilitated in shame. The stench of failure is just lingering around you, to the point you can barely get up in the morning.

“What's the point, God?” Or maybe you're looking around, and your garden looks like there’s big bites taken out of it in every part of your life, out of your marriage, out of your health, your ministry, your calling, your voice, and finances, and you just don't know how you got there.

Then the questions come, “Did I hear the voice of the Lord right? Did I follow Him properly? What happened?”

Have you been in this valley of deep introspection for years now, as God has untangled you from so many areas, discovering the Trojan horses the enemy had sent into your life?

The enemy had been sabotaging you in places that were beyond your ability to see. So sneakily, he'd planted IEDs that would explode in specific moments, that would cause your life to go into deep deconstruction.

And a part of you feels stupid, conned, tricked, and naive. Another part of you feels abandoned, unprotected, and you just don't know how to move on from this point.

Clearly, it's the enemy. Clearly, he was coming after you in a season of obedience. You said yes, you followed the voice of the Lord. Yet the destruction just doesn't make sense.

“How come I was robbed in so many places? How come I was targeted to this degree?”

Yes, you had a target on your back because of the voice you carry. Because of the legacy that you said yes to.

I saw a word from Kim Clement a few days ago, where he said that when God gives you a promise or a prophetic word, the enemy will fight you for it. Will you endure the pushback and see it through?

That’s what the enemy has been after…your vineyard. The budding fruit you can’t even see yet. He wants your intimacy with God. Your spark. Your peace. Your ferocity.

Now I know personally the deep anguish and grief that comes with enduring this level of warfare and opposition, and it reveals the weak areas of your wall and life. But here’s the tragedy. So many GIVE UP HERE…

I know the foxes have come, and I know you feel shell-shocked, overwhelmed by the number of areas that need to be fixed and cleaned up. The Ishmaels. Surrounded by the relational situations that you've had to deal with. The debris and mess and chaos you're still sweeping up every single day feels like more than you can handle.

Yet I hear the Lord saying to you, “Watch as I SET
FIRE TO THE TAILS OF THE FOXES!”

“Watch as I restore you. Watch as I stand you to your feet, dust off the years of REPROACH!”

Biblically, Reproach means shame, failure, loss, and dishonor. Just like when the Israelites came into the promised land, God “rolled back” the reproach of Egypt.

This is powerful because God is doing this now. He has been SURFACING the sources and roots of these assignments so He can PLUCK THEM OUT!

It may not seem like it yet, but God’s delivering power is at work to use what came against you to fortify you for the days ahead.

I hear these scriptures over you:

“The Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you." - Deuteronomy 30:3

"Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them." - Psalms 126:4-6

And I heard the Lord saying, “Yes, the enemy has been coming like a lion in this season to devour. (1 Peter 5:8) But just as you've been so focused on everything that you’ve been robbed of, I want you now to shift your focus onto My restoring, redemptive power. Get your eyes back on Me in this!”

“So now shake off the defeat. You have to wake up every single day and oppose the failure that's trying to linger around. For just as Job had to put his eyes back onto Me, and I restored him, so I will restore you.”

"Did I not lead you? Do you trust in My long game? Do you trust in My hand? Even when things don't make sense. Even when things are harder for you than it seems it is for other people?”

“Get your eyes off the mess. Get your eyes off the debris. Get your eyes off the problem, and get your eyes onto Me,” says the Lord. “Come into My presence and allow Me to refresh you. But you have to shake off that spirit of defeat.”

Repent if you need to. Forgive the people who have come against you. Job repented for his assumptions about God, and then he prayed for his friends as the Lord instructed. Afterward, God restored him and gave him a double portion. This is so important because it's what UNLOCKED God's miracle-working power. REPENT. FORGIVE. RELEASE, LET GO!

“Then Job replied to the Lord: ‘I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” - Job 42:1-6

“The Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before." Job 42:10

It starts here: Shake it off, in Jesus' name.