Some Hindrances to Entering the New Season of Restoration By Mike McClung

Oftentimes, it is ungodly soul-ties with something or someone that prevent us from advancing. The Israelites were so “tied” to Egypt, they would not enter into God’s full promises. Ungodly relationships form one of the worst hindrances to fully entering God’s purpose for our lives. If we want to fully serve the Lord, we need to stay single. Why? 1 Corinthians 7 encourages the single life, unless we find that one person who is totally devoted to what God has called us to be and to do. We will be judged for what God has purposed and planned for us at the judgment seat of Christ. By marrying out of loneliness, sexual frustration, etc, we have chosen to disobey the Bible. Once we are married, God says that marriage covenant takes precedence over all others. If we are married to someone who is not called to our purpose, we will probably end up never fulfilling it! (We will still have to give an account before God for the gifting, calling and graces.)

What Are We Waiting On? By Mike McClung

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be moved. (Psalm 62:5-6)

Waiting on the Lord is one of the hardest things for the flesh to embrace. One of the biggest obstacles to moving into the new season, and moving into greater glory and harvest, is impatience. Impatience caused Moses to be set on the backside of the desert for forty years as the Lord dealt with his life and character. Impatience caused King Saul to presumptively take matters into his own hands when it seemed Samuel was delayed in his arrival to bless the troops before battle (1 Sam. 10), thus causing a hardening of his heart in pride and ultimately losing the kingdom. Impatience by the newly saved Saul of Tarsus caused unnecessary turmoil and problems for the still infant church in Jerusalem, causing the senior leaders to send him back home to Tarsus for the discipline of silence and solitude (Acts 9:27-31). Part of the Lord’s refining process to prepare us to enter into the fullness of His presence and purposes is learning to wait on the Lord. There’s nothing more irritating and deadly to the fallen nature, but conversely reviving to the Spirit of God within us, than waiting on God. Waiting on the Lord is part of the sifting process where the precious (His presence within the believer) is separated from the worthless (that which is under the dominion of the world, the flesh and the enemy). This has always been a necessary stage in the sanctification/training process in a believer’s life before moving forward into the fullness of the Lord’s purposes.