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8-04-00

This word is submitted by Harriette Osborn (hiskidz2@juno.com)

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Expect the Unexpected

My Children, my Bride,

Stop looking for the obvious and begin to expect the unexpected. I have been calling you for some time to put away the old and prepare for the new. Did you think I have asked that of you only to give you more of the old? No. I am doing a new thing in the earth today.

Did King Nebuchadnezzer expect Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to walk out of the fiery furnace without even the smell of smoke on them? No. Did King Darius expect Daniel to survive the night in the den of lions without even a wound? No. Did my people expect the waters of the flooding Jordan River to pile up in a heap so that they could cross over to the Promised Land? No. Had the generation before them expected to cross the Red Sea on dry ground? No. Did anyone expect the sun and moon to stand still as it did by Joshua's request? No.

Do you not see, can you not comprehend that I am God and nothing is unexpected for me. I am about to do a new thing on the earth - something you do not expect - but I have planned it from of old. Will you be a part of it?

Will you lay down everything you hold so dearly and come to me with open hands to be equipped to do your part? Will you rid your heart of all desires, all habits, all relationships - all that you have allowed to stand before your relationship with me? I tell you, they are idols & must be laid - no, thrown - down.

Will you this day step over the fear of the unknown, over the idols you've thrown down, over the past and its securities and come before me and declare, "Lord, have your way with me - use me as you will."

If you are shackled to the past you cannot move forward. If you have your heart set on your own way you cannot see mine.

I am doing a new thing. I am rearranging my army. I may ask you to change places with another. Do not look at my reordering of the ranks as promotions or as demotions. I am simply putting each warrior in the place of greatest effectiveness. Rejoice that the positioning is by my hand and is in my plan.

No one expected a mere boy armed only with a slingshot and five stones to kill Goliath and open the way for the defeat of the Philistines, but it was I who arranged the ranks that day.

I am calling together my army today and requiring of you that you cleanse yourselves of all unholiness and of all that would distract you and to incline your ear to the voice of your Captain.

Respectfully submitted,
Harriette Osborn