As God thinned out Gideon’s army, so He is thinning out His frontline ranks. What seems to be delay upon delay is His fire of purification and separation.
The Lord is saying, ‘I am thinning out the ranks, and that which seems like another delay is the process of elimination at play. What I’m about to release is weighty, and as I thinned out Gideon’s army to bring forth My purposes, so I am thinning out the ranks so that those who are dead to themselves and alive in Me will take hold of the plough to lead the nations into the new.
In this era, I am sharing My glory with My remnant who will usher in My Kingdom upon the earth. My holy and pure ones who are wholly separated unto Me are invited into My cloud and fire to scoop up My glory, releasing it onto the earth. You are standing under My open Heaven, able to demonstrate My miraculous and supernatural, transforming desert places into gardens of Eden.
The thinning of the ranks is producing a tribe of warrior pioneers and forerunners. Ones who know how to lean on Me with all their weight and seek to hear My voice at all times. These are the ones who have found My strength in their weakness and My joy in their time of need. In My fire, I am setting your hearts aflame for Me and one another. Truly the world will know that you are my disciples, by your love for one another.
My hand is shaking the nations, the earth will continue to tremble. Who will rise in faith and who will fall in fear? I am separating My pure ones from those who flee in terror looking for answers and safety outside of My presence. I am the worthy One, I am the Holy One who brings forth the shaking so that the earth and its kingdom will fall and be utterly broken, never to rise again.
There’s a song going forth, it is the sound of My army singing My praises! Over My majesty, they shout from the west! They give glory to My name in the east! From the ends of the earth the nations hear their songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.
These are My enduring ones, who cling to Me in the furnace and the storm. They will rise above the heat without being scorched or burned as they live in the place of My glory. I will be their strength and joy, I will be their song of deliverance. They will run and build in the midst of the shaking, they will glorify Me in the face of opposition. My wind will push them and My hand will promote them. Surely the wicked will fall and be punished, and their kingdom demolished.
Those who have come through the fire will inherit the nations with Me. My Kingdom will come and My Will will be done through those who remain steadfast in Me, in trust, faith and hope.‘
Isaiah 24
Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the Lord has spoken this word.
The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish. The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left. The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled. No more do they drink wine with singing; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
The wasted city is broken down; every house is shut up so that none can enter. There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished. Desolation is left in the city; the gates are battered into ruins. For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.
They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord ; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord , the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.
But I say, “I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me! For the traitors have betrayed, with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.” Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth! He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again. On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth. They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.
