“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul …” (Psalm 23:1-3)

If you were to stop at Forks Road East United Church in Wainfleet, Ontario, Canada any time between 7 tonight and 7 tomorrow morning, you will be treated to a rather unusual sight.

You will see a few people seated, one per pew, with their heads bowed down and their eyes closed.

You will see a few more stretched out on the pews.

Most of them will likely be lying on the carpet, inside a sleeping bag or on blankets and air mattresses.

Many of them will be awake, a few will be sleeping, some of them “sound-ly”, if you catch my drift!

You will also hear music playing—a blend of vocal and instrumental tracks, most of which will not sound familiar.

What in God’s name are these people doing in church during this 12-hour stretch?

They are SOAKING in God’s Presence.

Are you familiar with Soaking?

Soaking is a spiritual discipline in which you experience God by simply staying still in His Presence.

In Psalm 46:10 we are encouraged to “Be still and know that I am God.”

The word translated “know” comes from the Hebrew “yada”, which refers to a knowing that comes by experience, even the intimacy of a sexual experience.

In other words, God tells us in His word that those who take the time to be still in His Presence will experience Him in a personal, intimate way that is not possible by any means.

We can know about God by reading about Him.

We can learn more about Him through someone else’s teaching.

But there is no substitute for knowing Him through experience.

It is very similar to the human relationship of marriage. Take mine, for example.

You can know a lot about me by simply googling my name.

You can find out details of my life by talking to those who are close to me.

But no one can know me the way Sulojana, my wife of nearly 30 years, knows me.

There is a generally accepted truth in life that you become like the people with whom you spend most of your time.

This is how children become like their parents…hello?

In a similar way, the more we hang around our heavenly Father, the more we become like Him.

Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Granted, you don’t need to spend 12 hours in a row on the weekend in a church building for this to happen.

This is a special event we call a Soakathon…held two or three times a year.

But you can soak anywhere you are able to do so, at any time that works for you.

It is best if you can set aside a segment of time every day and make this part of your daily life.

Since you are already online, why don’t you give it a try right now?

Just go to http://soaking.net/streaming-music-players/, click on the Play Button on one of the players, lie down, close your eyes and just soak in the Presence of God.

Start with a reasonable length of time, say 15 minutes. Increase it by 5 minutes a day over the next few days.

You will be amazed how you experience God personally and intimately.

Please share your experiences with us right below this post.

Today we conclude the revelations the Lord has been releasing to me regarding 2013. To recap:

During this year (more than ever before), we will find ourselves repeatedly using the words “HOW ODD OF GOD” to describe:

• How He breaks through seemingly impossible situations when we hear His voice and carry out his marching orders as David did in 2 Samuel 5:17-25.
• His choice of seemingly “weak” and “foolish” people to accomplish great things, as Paul indicated in I Corinthians 1:27.
• How he uses the most unlikely “ungodly” leaders to bless Jews and Christians, as He did with his “shepherd”, the Persian king Cyrus in Isaiah 44 & 45.

As I started sharing these revelations with others in our sphere of influence, on more than one occasion, someone responded by saying that “Odd” should really be spelled “Awed!”

Of course, to say “How Awed of God” does not make sense grammatically. Hence today’s post: “HOW AWED BY GOD.”

One of the passages the Lord gave me to amplify this revelation is Luke 5:1-11. Please take a couple of minutes and read it now before you proceed further.

Did you notice how Simon Peter and the other fishermen responded to the huge haul of fish?

“He fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.” (v. 8, 9)

With AWE.

Professional fishermen can’t even catch a break while fishing all night long. Acting reluctantly on a non-fisherman’s advice they bag a net-breaking catch!

Go figure.

No, don’t.

Just admit that you were awed by the odd ways of God!

Fishing is a metaphor that Jesus uses for evangelism, as in “I will make you fishers of people.” (v. 10)

We have come to use the word “evangelism” almost exclusively for sharing the gospel in words with those who have not yet heard the Good News.

We are trained to convince the prospective convert of his/her sinfulness, normally using a Scripture passage such as Romans 3:23—“For all  have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

Yet, there is a very different form of evangelism happening in this very passage.

What convicts Peter of his sinfulness is not a catchy phrase or a convincing speech, but a catch of fish that leaves him awestruck!

Expect this scenario to be repeated over and over again in 2013, like never before.

“If all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, ‘God is truly here among you.’”

The apostle Paul’s words in I Corinthians 14:24-25 have been fulfilled literally thousands of times as I have ministered on teams led by our friend Heather Curnew. We set up booths at holistic fairs and university campuses with the simple sign: “Free Spiritual Readings & Healing Prayer Offered Here.” You should see the line-ups!

As the Holy Spirit delivers a destiny word straight from the Father’s heart through our mouths into their hearts, they have no choice but to fall on their knees as Peter did!

As Jesus ministers healing and they notice an immediate change in their physical condition or sense a deep peace descending upon them, non-Christians are awestruck!

Such encounters are not limited to holistic fairs or university campuses, you know 🙂 You can co-labour with Holy Spirit wherever you may find yourself.

How would you like to be one of the “All” in I Corinthians 14:24?

All you need to do is exactly what we saw David do in the very first post of this series. Learn how to hear God’s voice and act in obedience.

When you do, 2013 will be a year when you will say “How Odd of God” over and over again, because you and others to whom you minister will be AWED BY GOD.

Amen?

For the past two days you have read revelations on God’s plans to break through seemingly impossible situations in ways that would make us exclaim: “How Odd Of God to (fill in the blanks)…….” in this New Year 2013.

Those whom God picks to be instruments of breakthrough will arouse amazement among onlookers for sure. Even those who are chosen for these accomplishments would not have considered themselves prime candidates for the assignment. “How odd of God to choose…….”

In a way this should not be surprising at all, especially when we read passages such as Isaiah 55:8-9: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

The Lord highlighted another way in which we will see Him use certain people to accomplish his purposes, once again evoking responses that include the words: “How Odd Of God!”

Here are the two passages of Scripture He gave me to illustrate this truth.

“He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose” (Isaiah 44:28).

If you were to read these words from the mouth of God, you would never suspect that the one who is being talked about is the Persian king Cyrus, would you?

In the next chapter, God says such “odd” things to Cyrus as: “For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name. I name you, though you do not know me…I equip you, though you do not know me…”

That would be the equivalent of God calling the present ruler of Persia (Iran), one Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, His shepherd.

Yet God did indeed use Cyrus to bring the people of Israel back to their homeland from exile in Babylon.

“How odd of God to use Cyrus!” they would’ve exclaimed in wonder.

Similarly, in the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), it is the hated half-breed Samaritan who comes to the rescue of the Jewish man who is beaten and left for dead.

I strongly sense the Lord saying that in 2013, we will see Him do such unprecedented works that inspire awe in our eyes.

God will use leaders on the world stage who are known (and sworn) enemies of His people (Jews & Christians) to come to their aid, rescue them and restore their fortunes.

I don’t believe it is by accident that the Lord brought Cyrus to mind. Do not be surprised if God uses militant Muslim leaders to be unintentional instruments of blessing to the “infidels.”

I am also being led to declare that in your family situations, in your workplace and in your local community those who expressed opposition and inflicted persecution upon followers of Jesus will turn out to be their unsavoury saviours.

Yes, in 2013 there will be many opportunities for us to exclaim in disbelief: “How odd of God to use …….”

Do you receive this revelation?

In yesterday’s post, I shared that the words “How Odd Of God” were dropped into my spirit as I sought the Lord for revelations of what we could expect in 2013.

The very first time I ever heard these words was in an Old Testament lecture at Queen’s Theological College when Dr. Haldor Parker remarked: “How odd of God to choose the Jews!”

That quote has been attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and Mark Twain among others.

No matter who strung the words together, one thing is certain. They echo what Moses tells the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 7:7-8: “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers…”

In the King James Translation of the Bible, the Jews are referred to as a “peculiar” people (Deuteronomy 14:2) and treasure (Exodus 19:5, Psalm 135:4).

The same adjective is applied to Christians in I Peter 2:9 and Titus 2:14.

“Peculiar” in the KJV does not mean “odd” the way we use the word today; it denotes someone who is a special possession, chosen “that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (I Peter 2:9)

Of course, in practice, the Jews and the Christians refused to conform to the culture that surrounded them and were indeed perceived as being “weird” or “odd.”

Thus you could make a case that they simply reflected the God they served, who would be worthy of being labelled as they were…a “peculiar” God, an “odd” God.

The apostle Paul reminds the young Christians in Corinth: “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong…” (I Corinthians 1:27)

In other words, God delights to choose those who would not win People’s Choice Awards or even Critic’s Choice Awards in order to confound the wisdom of the world.

God chooses a young shepherd boy David to slay a giant who intimidated every adult male in Israel.

In Judges 4, we see how God chooses an unknown homemaker named Jael to kill Sisera, a task that well-known warriors of the day could not accomplish.

God chooses a shy young woman named Esther to foil the plot of a cunning Haman to eliminate the Jewish race in a way that can elicit only one response: “How odd of God!”

When Jesus came to earth, once again we see how odd of God it was to use the curse of death on a cross to bestow the blessing of eternal life to all who believe. Wow!

How odd of God indeed!

I am sensing that in the year 2013 we will see demonstrations of the oddity of God in the people He chooses to lift up before the entire world.

The Lord’s been speaking to me particularly about two American teenagers—one from Southern California who moves incredibly in the prophetic anointing and another from North Carolina whose words are confirmed with signs, wonders and miracles following—whose ministries will elicit the response: “How odd of God to choose….”

I’ve also been hearing about a formerly lesbian Canadian homemaker being used by God to set the captives free in amazing ways that defy all odds and will lead many in the church to exclaim: “How odd of God to choose…”

By the way, do you realize that you are also part of this elite “peculiar” group that is chosen to “turn the world upside down?” (Acts 17:6).

Could you be one to whom the rest of your community points their finger while mouthing the words: “How odd of God to choose (insert your first name)!”

Why not, eh?

“For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, to accomplish his work, his peculiar work, to perform his task, his strange task.” (Isaiah 28:21)

As I sought the Lord in the days leading up to 2013 about what we could expect in the New Year, I kept hearing the words: “How Odd Of God” in my spirit.

When I pressed in for the significance of these words for 2013, I sensed the Holy Spirit say that it will be a year when we will find ourselves using them in sentences such as:

• How odd of God to bless me so much!
• How odd of God to use me in such an incredible way!
• How odd of God to entrust me with so great a responsibility!
• How odd of God to use …………… to bring about such a transformation!

Get the idea?

As I always do when I receive any revelation, I searched Scripture to see where God’s works/actions are labelled “odd.” No translation uses the exact word “odd” to describe them. The closest is this verse from Isaiah 28:21 that uses the word “peculiar.”

A word study of the Hebrew words translated “peculiar” and “strange” produced a series of adjectives such as:

• Unprecedented
• Unheard of
• Extraordinary

In the context of Isaiah 28, they refer to the fact that God was going to visit judgment upon the people of Israel rather than the nations. Since this ran contrary to the way God was known to act in the past, it was clearly worthy of the “odd” label!

I was intrigued by the references in verse 21 to what God did at Mount Perazim and in the Valley of Gibeon. Both refer to key victories won by King David against the Philistines recorded in 2 Samuel 5:17-25.

In the first war, He confronted them head-on and defeated them.  Then he said: “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. (v. 20)

Baal-Perazim means: “Lord of the breakthrough.”

The next time, the Lord told him to attack from the rear when he heard the sound of marching from the mulberry trees. The result? David defeated them from Gibeon to Gezer.

In both instances it was God who was credited with the victory, even though it was David and his army that did the attacking. “The Lord has broken through.” (v. 20). “God has attacked in front of you to defeat the Philistine army.” (v. 24)

What is common to both victories at Perazim and Gibeon is how David paid attention to the voice of God and obeyed His orders.

I sensed the Lord saying that when we listen to Him for our marching orders and then act in obedience, we too can expect Him to “break through” for us with victories that are “unprecedented, unheard of and extraordinary.”

Over the next few days, I will share with you more revelations on specific ways in which we will experience His “strange” and “peculiar” ways.

Today, though, I simply want to pronounce a blessing upon you:

May 2013 be filled with many moments when you will find yourself exclaiming in awe: “How Odd of God to (you fill in the blanks!)”

Amen.