I was in worship recently when I heard the Lord say, “The years of ‘arise and build’ are upon us!” Then I began to see all these different tools laid out in front of me – hundreds of them. There were many different variations of building tools, inspection tools, surveying tools, groundbreaking tools, and everything that could be used to begin to build and construct what God is leading us into.
Picking Up the Tools That Were Hidden
I suddenly felt that this is a moment where the Lord was calling us to pick up something that we haven’t picked up before, or that we had dropped in a season long ago. I also felt, for many of us, that this is a season of having to lay down old tools and pick up the new tools that God has given us. Many people are being shifted into new roles. It is actually the Lord shifting us into different offices, different capacities, new anointings and new mantles.
I felt a strong sense that people are needing to pick up old things; that the enemy has snatched many tools from the hands of God’s people in this season, where he has locked them up in padlocks and thrown away the keys; that there are enemy tactics to stop the releasing of these tools. I felt this was significant for those who have stepped into an upgrade in their anointing and mantle. In that upgrade, the enemy has warred against them with so much hope deferred, so much loss and so much hardship that they have actually dropped their mantles and their tools. But this will be a season where the Lord unlocks what the enemy has been keeping behind closed doors, revealing what has been there all along. It’s finally time to step into it!
New Synergy and Alignments
This has been a season of the uncomfortable, as the tools and mantles we used to operate in no longer serve us well anymore, and God has been revealing the new roles we are stepping into. This has been a time of discerning and learning to step into those new offices and mantles that God has given us. This has resulted in a season of having to navigate difficult terrain – especially in relationships and alignments which have changed – so that you can step into these roles more effectively, without having to continue to walk in an old role that others have expected you to walk in.
This will be a season of having to follow the Lord when others don’t understand why you are stepping out of something you’ve operated in and into something new; but you have to follow the Lord and let go of the fear of man and those false expectations that have been on you. This will be a season of breaking soul ties and severing old strings and tethers that have been keeping you locked into something that you no longer carry the anointing for or the ability to operate in.
It will be a season where God will lead you to other builders whose tools and vision better align with yours. He is doing this quickly and swiftly, and getting His builders in place. This is a season of knowing who your people are and where you need to be aligned, because your tools are only as good as the company that you keep. (Photo via Piqsels)
The Pursuit of Fresh Oil: How to Discern What, Where and When God Wants You to Build
You need to know what God wants you to build this year. You need to know what God wants you to put your hand to, for there will be an arising of many false projects – many false things that the Lord does not want you to step into. You’ll need to discern whether or not it is “building” you’re called to build, asking, “Is this what God has placed in my heart, or is this someone else’s vision that I do not have a role or a place in any longer?” The Lord will need you to discern and ask for His clarity in all you do this season.
I hear people asking, “How do I know and how do I discern?” And I hear the Lord saying, “You’ll know this season, if you are carrying the oil. Just like an engine works on fresh oil, just like an instrument only works when it is freshly oiled, and a wineskin can only be used properly when it is supple and freshly oiled, you need the fresh oil, so that in this season you’ll know how to discern what is right from wrong, what to say yes or no to, or what tool I have for you to use – if you are oiled. You must devote this season to prayer and to My presence if you want to know what I am saying. This will be a season when you need to collect oil like a wise virgin. And when you do, you will know exactly which tool to pick up; you will know which company to build with; and you’ll know what you are building, and what is ahead for you.
“It is a season where it feels counterproductive, but I need you to step into My rest and My refreshing. Allow Me to guide you and lead you. Allow Me to cut off the fat. Allow Me to break the ground beneath you. Allow Me to open the doors for this season. The enemy has marked this season with false launches and fake promises. That’s right! This is a season that if you get antsy and allow anxiety to lead you, you’ll break down doors and enter into things that are before your time and actually cause what I’ve planned for you to work against you.
“This would be a season where if you bust down those doors before their time or in your own timing, in your own way; or if you hustle and move outside of My timing, My strength, My ability and My anointing, you’ll break into something that I’ve not ordained for you, and you will enter into a season of hope deferred that I’ve not planned for you. It will be like another prison.
“The enemy has been planning for you to enter back into a hope-deferred season, but I have said ‘NO’! For those who seek My face, those who seek My presence, and those who seek My oil – they will not enter into that hope-deferred cycle again. They will enter into the season of promise fulfilled and of finding their purpose again after so long.
“For this is a seeding season for those who are waiting – for those who have been going around the mountain waiting…those who’ve been floundering…for those who’ve been prayerfully contending for so long. They are going to enter into their season of arise and build. And they will look and see, and they will taste and see that the Lord is good, for I will lead them to the land that I have promised them,” says the Lord.
Locations and Fine-tuning
“Even watch in this season as I fine-tune your location, and as I fine-tune your vision, for you cannot lock Me into something from last year. For this year, I have led My people on another detour. Why? Because this is a place where there is a fine-tuning of My presence happening. This is the fine-tuning of destinies and callings. And in this season, I’m going to show you where to go, where to be, where to establish, where to arise and where to build, and you will be fulfilled,” says the Lord.
The Armada of the Fivefold
I saw a vision of an armada of ships in the deep seas, all moving together. I said, “Lord, what is this?” Then these words came into my spirit: “This is the armada of the fivefold!”
An armada is a fleet of warships that are designed for invasion, and I believe this image reveals what God is building and establishing right now – companies of warships within the offices of the fivefold that will all sail together in unison. I believe that God is correcting the way we have been building and readjusting the apostolic blueprint right now, which will cause the fivefold to work together more effectively and exclusively in the days to come. (Photo via GetArchive)
God is calling the builders to the forefront right now, but He is refining the hearts of apostolic companies around the world and removing all contaminants that would cause them to walk in old and damaging patterns. This is a season where God is asking the builders to build only what is organic and not manufactured by man. We must let go of all that is created out of our own strength, ambition, or man’s wisdom.
Most importantly, we must connect to the rest of the Body of Christ. Gone are the days of the lonely warships sailing the seas where they can be easily targeted and taken out. We must remove all walls, move together, and be as one!
The Anointing of the Builder Is Here
Recently, in a dream, the Lord showed me a building that was half built. I could hear the sighs of people that had given their lives to this building, yet they had nothing to show for it. What was I seeing? Many have tried to build before it is time or the right season, racing ahead of the Lord, and there have been many casualties from it. There are also many who have built without the Holy Spirit’s unction or anointing to do so.
We’ve been in a season where there has been a major lack of fivefold synergy in the Body of Christ. There have been companies where prophets are missing, so the ship doesn’t move forward (no revelation); or, in like in my dream, where there are many pastors and teachers to shepherd and raise up the Church, but no apostles to build and extend it.
This has created many silos and warring brands, as leaders hold onto the fragments and broken bricks from structures they’ve tried to build but haven’t known how to. Sometimes they look solid for many years, but they just don’t last the test of time. But this is an hour where God is releasing the grace of the builder to the Church so that what He has planned will be built, and built correctly.
Rebuilding the Former Foundations
I believe this word was given to highlight a major role of the apostolic in this hour, to rebuild nations from the ground up and re-establish the covenant of the Lord in the nations. In the next few years we are going to see an apostolic surge in specific areas that have been desolate, as well as the building and establishing of holiness and justice in places where evil has thrived. The tables are turning and the foundations are being relaid!
“Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy articles of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 22:19 NKJV)
Nate Johnston
Everyday Revivalists
Email: everydayrevivalists@gmail.com
Website: nateandchristy.co
Nate Johnston is a prophetic voice and worshiper who has a heart to see sons and daughters unleashed into passionate friendship with God and an effective supernatural lifestyle. Through his ministry school “Everyday Revivalists,” he leads people from the basics of the Gospel through to being sent and released into their mission field, as well as championing and raising up emerging prophetic voices around the world. His burning cry and desire is to see the Body of Christ become a beacon for the lost by raising up a generation that walks in the love and power of God, representing Him well. Nate and his wife Christy have three daughters, Charlotte, Sophie, and Ava and live in Dallas, Texas.