Encouraging Words from God in Times of Need
These words came in a course of over a year. It seemed that when times were so tough and I literally felt like I couldn’t go on God came through with an encouraging word to help to keep me strong. He did this for me time and time again. I would fall, He would pick me up. I would fall and He would pick me up again. Sometimes someone would bring a Scripture at exactly the right time or email me or ring with an encouraging word. Although I felt God wasn’t helping me, He was. He was working in the background holding me up and keeping me on the path to wholeness. I am hoping that if you are in a place that I was in that these words will bring you some comfort and understanding. They were my lifeline and kept me going and it is my desire that it will do the same for you.
Laying Down - In October 2016 I become so unwell I told the Lord that I could no longer do Ministry sessions with my current team for Him. It was just too hard. A year earlier I had been given a word that it was time to lay this down but I had been given no confirmation. In fact every time I prayed and asked I kept hearing the word ‘continue’ which would just pop into my head. Being obedient to ‘who’ I thought was God telling me to continue I kept going until I could no longer. The day I broke and asked God why He had abandoned me and not healed me so I could continue with Ministry I heard the words “I never left you nor abandoned you, I had to break you for My glory.”
Then He spoke these words to me:- “Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. In this laying down there will be a raising up. It is time to lay down the Team Ministry. Do not worry about the clients for I have made provision for them. I am calling you out. It is time to teach. I will open doors for you. Resurrection – Things have to die in order to be raised in Glory. It is time to lay down Christian Connection Team Ministry Sessions. On your website all you need to write is this : - IMPORTANT NOTICE: THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO SESSIONS DUE TO THE LORD ASKING US TO LAY DOWN TEAM SESSIONS IN ORDER TO DO A NEW THING. It is time to lay it down in order for Me to do a new thing.” I then asked “Can you confirm this Lord? Are you able to continue in your current state?” “No Lord”. “Then that is your confirmation. I will raise you up. I will raise up the Ministry again when the time is right. For now I want to concentrate on you and Me. The team needs to continue to intercede for you, Mark, the family and Christian Connection. Do not worry for the people as they have all they need from your website. The last thing you were doing was Ministry in your own strength. I was not holding you up in sessions anymore although I was still working with you and the team – you were continuing on in your own strength – that is why it has been so hard and you needed coping mechanisms. I gave you a word at the beginning of the year that you were to lay down the team Ministry. You were unsure of the voice so continued in what you believed was the will of God. The enemy wanted to break you in order for you to leave Me. I knew that you would never leave Me so I let him do it for I needed you broken. Only those who have truly died can be resurrected. There are many areas in which My children need to die. The last thing for you to let go of is the Team Ministry. This Ministry is your baby and this will be hard for you. (He also showed me that the Ministry had become an idol and there was an element of pride in me in regard to the Ministry. There was also the belief of ‘Without us how are the clients on the list going to be helped’? At the end of the day it isn’t about us it is about God doing it and He can help those in need in so many ways we cannot even begin to comprehend) Trust Me to take the Ministry to where it needs to go. Laying down the Ministry is the right thing to do.”
God is Your Lifeline - I was obedient to God and indeed did as He asked. Letting go off the team and the clients who were on the waiting list was very difficult. After I had made the decision and many months had past instead of getting better I became worse. I became very disillusioned and felt like I had lost all hope. I even started believing that God had finished with me and I was no longer needed in His Kingdom. In this place when I really felt ‘done’ He came through with a word which spoke so strongly to me that it enabled me to again find the strength to hope again. He revealed to me in this time that the main thing He needed from me during this time of suffering was that I never left Him. He needed to test me to see if He could trust me. I knew that I had not been doing much in the way of seeking Him so I repented to Him for not being strong enough and not declaring enough and not worshipping enough and His exact words to me were: “No longer I that liveth but He that liveth in me. Fear is the enemies’ greatest weapon against you. What is it that I want from you? What do you need to do to receive resurrection life? DIE! The old you needs to be broken. It isn’t about the declarations (although doing this builds faith) and your works, it is about the ability to cling to Me when there is nothing left. I am your life line. I am your hope. It is about not letting Me go. It is about belief in Jesus Christ. If you say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing it can open you up to the enemy and give the enemy a legal right to attack you but it doesn’t devoid My power or My grace. My Grace overpowers all. I am here to teach you about My grace. I chose you because I knew you couldn’t do it. Your weaknesses are My strengths. I am not always looking for strong able bodied people (although these qualities I can use) the people I utilise and use more greatly are the ones who cannot do it themselves. I bring them to the end of themselves. They have greater testimonies of My love, My power and My Grace. What do I want you to do? Cling to Me like never before. Don’t let Me go and I will come through for you.”
Compassion - The thing with trials is that they seem to keep going and going. It was well over six months since I laid down the Ministry and things were no better for me health wise. I had become so bad that I rarely left the house. God had promised healing to me and over the last six years my health had got worse and worse. I was also entering into menopause and to be honest I think this was the catalyst to my poor health due to the fluctuating hormones. I always had an anxiety disorder where my nervous system would hyper react to any stress by releasing too much cortisol and adrenaline but what I was experiencing now was beyond anything I had ever experienced. The anxiety had developed into panic disorder. I spent many days alone in my bedroom. My body was stuck in flight or fight. For a whole year non-stop I hadn’t experienced any peace. Due to the high levels of cortisol and adrenaline my muscles in my whole body also started to go into spasm, cramps and twitching. I was constantly in pain and I felt like I was one hundred years old yet I had just turned 46. I found sleep very hard and when I eventually fell asleep I would wake all night long with adrenaline surges with burning and night sweats. I sought many doctors and tried different medicines and even natural remedies but nothing seemed to help. Due to the fact that I wasn’t ministering anymore I wasn’t hearing from God very often. This in itself was incredibly hard, especially as I felt I needed Him more. Whilst ministering to others the voice of God is prevalent and you feel connected to Him even when it is to receive information for others. Weeks and sometimes even months went by before I sensed His presence or heard His voice. During one such dry spell I was crying, feeling miserable and seeking Him when He spoke to me and explained why I was going through such a rough time.
Word - “I have not forgotten or forsaken you. I have listened to everything you have asked and said. I am a Father of Miracles. There is a miracle in store for you. Was not meeting me a miracle – the day you were filled with My Holy Spirit? There is another miracle to come. This miracle is a supernatural encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ – face to face where He will give you His heart. In return you will give Him yours. You will see the exchange take place. You will physically witness it. What am I looking for? Those who are willing to continue to do the will of God regardless of the setbacks. You are strong, you have tenacity and you have spunk! I love you with an everlasting love. If I sometimes don’t answer you it isn’t because I am displeased with you – I am watching and waiting to see how you react. Will you stay or will you go? Will you continue to seek, or will you stop? Will you worship or will you not? I look for all these things. These things show Me whether you are serious or not. Do you really want to do the will of God or do you want to do the will of self? At the end of your menopause transition you will have an empathy (true knowledge) of other’s suffering that very few have. This empathy will be what moves and releases the power of God. When Jesus had empathy He healed them. That power that Jesus carried is also in you. Your empathy/compassion will release the power of God within you. That is how Grace operates – through love, compassion and mercy. The greatest healing evangelists are those who have gone through great suffering. COMPASSION which is love for another moves the hand of God. God is moved by your cries. Most healings are when the sheep cry out to the Shepherd. If that power is in you then it will be released by your compassion. Faith - what about faith? The Bible says you need faith. Did Jesus heal by faith or compassion? Jesus healed those who had faith but He also healed through compassion. He was moved and healed them.
Why do we need faith then? Without faith you would never believe. Faith comes by hearing and by hearing the word of God. Has this word from God given you faith to believe again? Yes – because it has now given you an understanding of why you have suffered so. At your hands and because of your compassion many will be healed through My power within you. Your Ministry will be a Ministry of compassion. As soon as you feel/perceive the pain of another the power of God within you will be released to heal them. Do you understand now? I am not a cruel God who likes you to suffer. I see the big picture and the end result. This is what I have been working in you. Empathy for another is the greatest gift I can give you. However Jesus paid the ultimate price so you don’t have to. Your Ministry will be based on compassion. There are many Ministries that are based and activated on different things. Some Ministries are based on faith, others compassion and yet others on helps – just simply being there for one another. Each Ministry I create and develop are created through your weaknesses and strengths. I work with each individual based on who they are and how they operate. What works for one does not necessarily work for another. One who has great faith may not have compassion. One who has great compassion may sometimes walk in weakness of faith. When you are faithless I am still faithful. Many splits and disagreements within the Christian Church are because I choose to do things differently with different people. People try and impose what works for them on another. They do this to help but sometimes it can be detrimental as one size does not fit all. People need to understand they are called to different things. Compassion and empathy are what I have chosen as the foundation for the Christian Connection Ministry. Suffering is not My will for any of My children but sometimes to suffer with Christ is needed to be glorified in Him. The Christian walk is not for the faint hearted or the weak. Many will fall. Only through the Grace of God and the testimony of another who has been through great trials can these who have fallen be pulled back to life again. You My daughter are one I have chosen to bring back to life those who are dead and who have fallen and are struggling. You will give them hope again. Through your testimony they will believe again. Your suffering you have walked in will not be in vain.”
Broken for Christ – I know that many today have been suffering and are awaiting God’s divine healing, freedom and blessings. I received this word for myself on 7/6/2017 but I believe it applies to many. I hope it blesses you and brings comfort and peace and an excited expectation that God is about to move.
In a lot of my writings I talk about the second infilling. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:23, NKJV). I believe there are three major rebirths within your Christian walk. The first is when you are born again and the Holy Spirit enters your human spirit.
The second is when your soul is born again and the Holy Spirit rests upon you in a greater measure. I call this the second infilling. This is depicted in the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on the Apostles with tongues of fire on their heads. They then walked in the same power and anointing as Jesus did. Before this they had already received the first infilling of the Holy Spirit when Jesus was resurrected and was about to go to the Father. (John 20:21-22). In the second infilling the Holy Spirit will also rest upon us and we too will walk in the same power and anointing that Jesus did. Signs and wonders will be with us as we preach the Gospel. This is also depicted by Jesus because when He was born He was already filled with the Holy Spirit but it was after He was water baptised that the Spirit rested upon Him in a greater measure and His Ministry begun. After this infilling the Apostles then laid hands and imparted the baptism of the Holy Spirit to others.
The water baptism I was shown by God represents the washing of the water of the word – the refining process and sanctification of the soul we need to walk through. The fire baptism is also part of the sanctification process and represents a greater refining as we die to self.
The third new birth of course is the return of Jesus when we are caught up with Him and receive our new resurrected Heavenly physical bodies – hence the renewal of spirit, soul and physical body. We are a three part being and have to undergo a three part process of being sanctified until we are truly reborn into the likeness of Christ and walking fully in His Glory.
Word - “To follow Jesus there is a cost. For many are called but few are chosen – what does that mean? Chosen for His Glory. You are chosen to carry His Glory. You asked me what you have to do to receive this – Be willing. I once asked you to be a living sacrifice for Me – you agreed not fully knowing the cost. The cost of loss compared to the cost of gain needs to be outweighed. A measure for a measure. You lose ‘you’ and gain Christ. There is no greater cost than this. You are saddened and you have lost your fire. You have lost your passion and you have lost your zeal. The cost was great. Are you still willing to serve Me?” I answered God with a resounding absolute ‘yes’ of course I was still willing to serve Him. I then told Him I was disappointed in myself as I believed I had failed Him as I hadn’t been worshipping enough, reading the word enough and seeking Him enough because of how I was feeling. “In this time of laying down I told you to rest. Rest means ‘not doing’. I did not expect you to be doing anything – I asked you to rest. Worshipping Me is for you – it is for your benefit as it empowers you. Pretty soon your rest is over. Your rest is where you cease from all your works. I will launch you into My Kingdom but this time you will be strong and anointed by Me. Your rest is over but My rest is not. Before you can enter My rest you must first enter your rest. This is where you cannot do it anymore and have no choice but to rest. Entering into My rest is where you have ceased from all your works and I put My power upon you.
BROKEN – I have to bring you to the end of yourself where you can no longer continue in your own strength. My strength can then be placed upon you. In this place of your rest I observe you. You never gave up hope and you never gave up on Me. Trust is about coming back to me each and every time, even if for a moment you pull away. Why is it so hard? Why is it so long? So I can get the best out of you. I pull out your strengths and I pull out your weaknesses and then use them both for My glory. Humility – have you been humbled throughout this? The humility of Christ upon you. The mockers, the haters and the ones who don’t believe you are Mine will be put to shame. There is an outpouring of My Spirit about to come to those who are weary and burdened and need My strength. Those who have refused to be humbled by Me and admit their weaknesses will not receive in this outpouring. More refining is needed for them. You must be brought to a place where ‘you’ can no longer continue in order to be raised up, so I can continue in you. Is this cruel? It may appear so but I am not cruel – I have to do what is deemed necessary to fulfil what it is I have promised to do. Unless one is pruned by Me, by My hand they are not My disciples. Only those trained and admonished by Me can be used by Me. In this infilling that is coming some are ready and some are not, yet all will be brought to completion by Me if they choose to continue to follow Me and not turn away. That is all that is needed – I do the refining, I do the changing – you just need to be willing and receive. Receiving from Me means both My love and My chastisement. Blessed are those with a broken spirit and contrite heart for those are the ones I have prepared unto Me.”
Feeling like a failure - At the height of me being unwell there were times I felt a burden to my family. One particular day I was feeling very low when the enemy got into my head and convinced me (using my own thoughts) that my family would do better without me. I wondered whether I should leave my husband and go back and live with my mother so that he could have a new wife – one that could give him all he needed because I was so unwell I wasn’t fulfilling my wifely duties. I felt so guilty and sad for him because he was a good husband and I felt I was a complete failure. Broken and weeping wondering what to do the Lord spoke to me. This is what I heard – “Broken people always believe they are a nuisance, a hindrance to those around them. It further entrenches the belief that they are not good enough. ‘Never been good enough’ – you can’t do this, you can’t do that, and you’re no good! None of these things prevents My love. None of these things prevents My Grace. What is it you have learnt as you keep falling back into the same old patterns and ways? That the flesh cannot ever be good enough. You cannot fulfil the law of God in your own strength no matter how hard you try. These prayers are designed to show you your weakness and vulnerability. Weakness, vulnerability and falling into sin gives the enemy access to you. The problem is the flesh is weak. It is anti-Christ and wants to walk opposite to the Spirit. When I expose weakness you can then hand over to me that weakness so I can exchange it for my strengths. Some things you can change on your own but many things you cannot no matter how hard you try. The whole walk with Me is about becoming more Christ-like. When you accept Me as your Lord and Saviour you are giving me permission to change you. My Father and I love you even in your weakness. We are here to help you become the best ‘you’ that you can be. The more like Me that you are the less access the enemy has to you. The more like Me you become the more anointing My Father entrusts to you. Ambassadors of Christ are trusted to bring the good news of the Kingdom but not only that, they need to be seen as walking and living ‘in’ the Kingdom. Your failings are My gains. The more weakness you have, the more of My strengths you gain and the greater the testimony of My goodness. You weren’t chosen just for your strengths and weaknesses but also for you pliability. Pliability is your ability to allow the Father to do His good works in you. My Father looks for those who are willing to be used by Him for His good works and purposes. Receiving deliverance is good but the real change is when your weaknesses are exchanged for My strengths. This is when the healing takes place. The second infilling is when the weak becomes strong. The baby is about to be born. The baby is your new Ministry and belongs to you and Mark. Soon you will have an encounter with Me that will leave you ‘unstuck’ – all the missing pieces will fall into place and the ‘you’ you know will be no more. A new you! This is not to say that I didn’t love the old you, I just couldn’t use the old you in the same way I will the ‘new you’. Be ready for you are about to be reborn in heart and soul. The curse of devastation and destruction will be broken from you and a new you will ‘abound’ in My power.”
By Tania Francis