FAM chat this past Friday night was very interesting and I have no doubt several of the topics that came up will be used in future SOF posts, as well as this one. Even though we had fewer members participating than usual, it was quite interesting and surprising to discover how many related having a similar experience, in that they were being awakened in the wee hours of the morning, during which time most felt led to pray for their spouses. And then the next day, one of our new members posted an amazing message sharing what the Lord revealed to her about it; which follows, along with some of the responses from other members. Then one of the other amazing things was how the next morning, Charles Stanley’s TV broadcast message was like a perfect post script to what Thursa had shared, and added even deeper meaning, because the Bible verse reference Dr. Stanley used was Matthew 11:28-29, which says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. What awesome messages these are from both Thursa and Dr. Stanley. So I really appreciate Thursa’s permission to share what she wrote here, and the other ladies’ permission to always share what they write. I have no doubt this will be a very encouraging message for many men and women who have been standing for the restoration of their marriages for some time, and most especially for those who have also been getting Holy wake-up calls in the wee hours of the morning! So just remember that Jesus is in the boat with us and that He’s ALWAYS there to carry the weight of His yoke when we let him; when we surrender and do things HIS way! And NEVER forget the awesome promise and assurance we have in Isaiah 46:11, which says From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do. When God says it, it is as good as done! So we’re just waiting for the perfect time, according to HIS plan, when it will be manifested in the earthly realm, and Jesus is right here with us while we keep the fourth watch just before our miracles are manifested, so receive and believe that and be blessed and encouraged!

Last night in the chat a few people mentioned how they were waking up every night/morning for the last week or so. This baffled me, as I too have been going through the exact same thing. And for the last couple of days, especially last night, I wondered why I was so restless. I initially thought it was because I was being prompted to pray for my husband, especially since what I needed to say would just flow through me and keep me up until it was time to get up anyway. But this was different than before; I wasn’t anxiously praying for me and my relationship with my husband; I was praying for my husband and his walk with God; that God would allure him and speak to him in the wilderness. Well, God is Awesome! I prayed, saying “I know there has to be more; what is it?” And I woke up again early this morning thinking about it, so I prayed about it. Then I looked in the Help Section of my Bible for “sleep”, and found nothing. Then I checked “rest” and there were many passages about Moses and Joshua and how God had allowed them to rest in their peace on obtaining their promised land, but now He called them to help their brothers. At first I didn’t get it, because I was thinking “God, I have peace, but I have not received my land back yet, so you can’t be talking about me or the others in the fellowship.” Then, He reminded me about the time frame everyone is talking about; that it’s all around the same time; and something I learned in our Women In The Word study Wednesday night, where we are studying Mark. The passage He reminded me of is when Jesus walked on the water in Mark 6:45-52:

45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.
46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land.
48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them,
49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out,
50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed,
52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

We had just discussed the fourth watch in class. Since Mark was speaking to the Romans, it was based on their time table and their fourth watch is between the hours of 3am – 6am. WOW, that is the same time period we are all dealing with. SO, God was speaking to me, but I still didn’t put it all together. I logged in to initially begin typing this message, but it just wasn’t coming together. So being VERY tired, I prayed that God would speak to me while I lay down for just “a bit”. And He certainly spoke to me; He knocked me out and I had the best sleep in a looooonnnnggg time in the last three hours. I can’t believe I slept in that late (9:30am), because it put me way behind on my day. But that is my timing; not God’s. Then God began showing me the relevance of it all, and now here I am typing and sharing. It means something to me so I hope it means something to the other members who are having the same wonderful wake up I am during the fourth watch.

The above message speaks about the fact that the disciples were afraid, because they thought Jesus was a ghost. My bible has a note stating that Jewish superstition thought that a ghost seen in the night meant disaster was on its way. And at one point last night, I think someone mentioned that they thought it was the devil’s attempt to make them tired. But here Jesus tells them “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” I believe God is saying that Jesus is coming RIGHT TO US; right into our boat with us; kneeling down beside us and praying with us, just as He came along side and was with the disciples. He sees us struggling with our oars and is calming our storms and giving us that time to know He is RIGHT BESIDE US, so we too understand the miracles He is performing and might not be seeing.

I personally have had two miraculous signs showing me that God is with me, which I recognized; but for some reason I was afraid to publicly acknowledge them. Last Sunday, we heard about Jesus and His unfailing love for us, and there was a small gold tone cross up on the alter. All of the sudden the reflection of a heart showed up near the bottom of it, and my heart dropped when I saw it. How neat was it that someone orchestrated that. Then I heard “Lay your heart, your one flesh married heart at the cross and TRUST ME.” I sort of looked around and moved side to side. As I moved, the heart reflection would disappear. The reflection was only seen from my seat!!!!!!! My heart dropped again and I heard those same words..; the Holy Spirit speaking to me. Ok, I must do that for sure, and I did; and I still am – DAILY. But I secretly wondered if I was crazy. And as it started to rain on the way home the other day, I saw clouds on my right and sun on my left and thought “man, would it be cool if I saw the glimpse of a rainbow to know God really promised what I heard Sunday.” I gazed around looking for it, but saw nothing; not even a glimpse. Then about five miles down the road, I came to my turn and turned toward the clouds and WHOA!!! Suddenly, I saw the most complete and brightest rainbow I have ever, ever seen!!!!!!! It was soooo sudden and soooo beautiful!!! I immediately started crying and praising God. And my daughter was going on and on in the back seat, because she too was amazed. And I said “THAT is our promise from God, KK!” The rainbow left as quick as it came. It was just awesome. But I don’t know that I totally understood the significance of the two things I witnessed, which is the exact same thing that happened with the disciples. They saw it, but didn’t fully understand the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000. So Jesus came and was right beside them; just like He is doing with all of us in the fourth watch. It kind of makes you WANT to wake up during that time each and every day now, eh?!

But God is actually always with us; not just during the fourth watch. So why are we losing our rest and what relation is that to the land and the Israelites? Well… Deuteronomy 4:20 says But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you are now. I was initially confused about “rest”, because the notes in my bible say it is used for the peace that the Israelites had when they received their land as God had promised. Well, I don’t have my land! But WAIT…according to this scripture, it says that I am “now”! God did take me out of the “iron-smelting furnace” and He gave me GREAT peace in knowing that He WILL give me “His inheritance”…MY LAND…My restored marriage. Praise God!!! Joshua 1:13 says “Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: ‘The Lord your God is giving you rest and has granted you this land.'” God has spoken it already! I am merely waiting with Him to receive it, and I have peace and faith in that. So I am already at peace!!! Deuteronomy 3:20 then says “until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord your God is giving them, across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.” I believe God is bringing brothers and sisters into each of our lives that truly need peace. In my case, I know my husband is in the wilderness right now and God is speaking to him and alluring him back to God. So God is asking me to continue praying, and in the fourth watch, Jesus is there with me, praying too. That’s just one more sign to me that my Savior stands with me and God’s word WILL BE FULFILLED!!! And all this is to show me that He is working; He is God; He WILL do as He promises if I just keep praying, have faith and persevere!!!

Lastly, in Hebrews 4 it speaks about the Sabbath-rest after completion. After God’s work is done, and our work, we too will be experiencing a day when all is complete and we will look and marvel at all the blessings God poured out on us during this trial, and all the glory God has in it!!! Philippians 1:6…“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Have a wonderfully God blessed weekend!!!

Response by Linda Wattu on April 14th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
WOW is right, Thursa! I absolutely LOVE it when God uses scripture from different parts of the Bible to explain and confirm what He is trying to tell us! And one thought that came to my spirit right away is how it is always darkest just before the dawn, so the fourth watch also means that the dawn is breaking soon! That sure sounds like a “breakthrough” to me! Yeah, now I bet no one will mind those wake up calls so much any more! And those of us who aren’t experiencing them just might wish we were! Thank you SO much for sharing this with us…and you KNOW I want to post it in my SOF post. I know it will be very encouraging and enlightening to a LOT of people! Now I’m going to go see just who it was who said they were waking up in the wee hours of the morning!

Response by Linda Wattu on April 15th, 2007 at 7:18 am
Thursa, it looks like God added a wonderful Post Script to your message in the form of this very timely message, Letting God Handle Your Burdens, from Charles Stanley this morning! What an awesome reminder that God will give us rest even in the midst of our circumstances! Not only is He beside us, He’s holding up the yoke! And even though Dr. Stanley didn’t address it, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that right after Jesus told us to LEARN from Him, He reminded us that HE is gentle and humble! I had forgotten that Jesus himself told us that about his nature, which takes on very significant meaning when we remember that our goal (God’s goal for us) is to be transformed through the renewing of our minds into the image of Christ!
And here’s a link to Dr. Stanley’s sermon outline.

Response by Alex on April 15th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Thursa, your revelation spoke directly to my heart. I am grateful to you for sharing it. Last night I kept waking up and it was frustrating to me at first but like Linda said, now I’m looking forward to it! Be blessed, because God is speaking to you and through you in wonderful ways. Thank you. Hugs, Alex

Response by Janet in Maryland on April 15th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Thursa, I can only say hallelujah!! I have been experiencing my fourth watch wake up calls for sometime. I actually welcomed them as I saw it as a chance to pray one more time. Your post has certainly put an even deeper meaning to what I will call God sent communications moments. Thank you so very much for this revelation. As for your miraculous signs, how awesome could that really be! God is so good to us. Whenever we get a little anxious it is so awesome how He just sends something to show us that He is true to his promise that He will be with us always, that He will never leave us or forsake us. God is with you my dear, you have only to believe and I know you do. God bless. Love Janet

Response by Diane on April 16th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Yes, Thursa, it is great to read those scriptures and to see how God spoke to you. I do see those wake up calls as being from God and Him wanting to talk with me. I have had Him wake me up everyday at the same time but lately it has become earlier. So I will remember this post tonight when it happens and be thankful. God is so faithful and we just need to trust and believe. It is awesome to see how God uses what one or more of us are going through and how when we share, it speaks to so many. Bless you. Diane

Posted Monday, April 16th, 2007 at 5:59 pm in Seeds Of Faith.