How to Overcome This Spiritual Plateau
Throughout the recent summer months
I began a new Holy Spirit led journey to physical health through fasting,
healthy eating, and exercise. I must
confess that I have begun a similar journey many times over the years only to
return to old negative habits by ceasing to eat healthy and ceasing to exercise
after a season of positive changes. This
time I went into the journey determined to find a way to not only maintain for
a season, regardless of how “long” the season, but to really develop and
MAINTAIN a healthy life style. Being
faithful throughout the “fast” or set apart time has not been my issue. Rather, maintaining those healthy habits for
the long haul has been my greatest challenge.
I am a fourth grade school
teacher. So, the closer I got to the
beginning of the school year, I began to “brace myself” or prepare myself
mentally, knowing that truly maintaining a healthy lifestyle during the hectic
months of the school year is one of the primary challenges I must overcome to
fulfill my health goals. So, I have
pressed my way to the gym and continued to make healthy eating choices in spite
of the tiredness, fatigue, and limited time constraints that accompany the
beginning of every new school year.
Although I have not been losing a tremendous amount of weight quickly
throughout these past months of changing my life style, I had been steadily
losing weight and seeing other desired changes.
Of course, when we see a progression towards reaching specific goals, we
experience motivation to press forward.
Yet, naturally when we fail to see this progression we often feel a loss
of motivation. As a result, I became
discouraged for a couple of weeks when I had hit a plateau. So, I pressed harder in my exercising and I
maintained a strict diet. I started
researching how to most effectively progress towards my goals. Yet, in spite of all my efforts I remained at
a plateau. I thought to myself, “I’ve
got to see some sort of results or I’m going to quit. Without results, I will begin to reason,
‘what’s the point of working so hard and sacrificing the time and
energy?’” I thank God that I have not
quit, but have maintained healthy eating and exercising in spite of this
plateau. I have also just begun to see
the progression again. After all, we
MUST be PERSISTENT even in the midst of plateaus.
The physical aspects of our life
journey are pictures of the spiritual aspects of our life journey, as
well. In fact, there really are no
separations between the two. The “dichotomies”
of our lives are merely based on perception, not reality. This is a truth that Holy Spirit has been
ministering to me over the years.
The
Dream
Have you hit a spiritual plateau? Holy
Spirit ministered to me again through a dream. As usual, the details and
"interpretation" of each detail was not the focus. Rather, the
overall message, revelation, and point that may not even be seen through the
specific details were the focus. It is what He was SAYING or REVEALING as I
came out of the dream that was the focus. How to overcome the spiritual plateau
and move FORWARD and UPWARD to greater spiritual endeavors of BECOMING in and
through Him was the primary message of the dream. There were many details in the dream that I
do not remember. In one part of the
dream I was preparing to minister in spoken word at a community event. So, I began writing out the titles of all the
spoken words that I minister to determine which ones I had already ministered
in this setting. I was trying to find a
spoken word that I had not already ministered thinking that it would be
repetitive and less effective if I only repeated spoken words that I had
already ministered. In the end, I had
already ministered ALL of the spoken words on my list. So, I began to wonder if God would give me a
new one or if I would just minister particular ones that were “best suited”
based on the message of the lyrics. This
part of the dream was actually very realistic to a process I go through frequently
as Holy Spirit leads me to minister spoken word in various venues. Then the scene of the dream changed to a
conference setting where I was preparing to minister spoken word. I began to rehearse the spoken word in the
presence of a few people who were organizing the gathering. Suddenly, police officers barged into room in
a state of emergency. I was alarmed
wondering if I had done something illegal or the reason for their
presence. This led to the final scene of
the dream where I was an attendee in the conference listening to a woman who was
speaking about the Hebraic perspective of a topic that I do not remember. I raised my hand and spoke to confirm what
the speaker was saying based on my studies of the “Jewish sages” perspective of
the topic. The speaker pointed out a man
in the back, who I did not see or even attempt to see. The speaker was referring to a meeting where
she observed the man actively engaged in his area of expertise. Then two times she pointed to me and stated,
“You are good, but he is awesome.” Then
the third time she pointed to me and stated, “You are good, but he is….”
leaving out the final word, meaning words cannot describe his level of
expertise. I replied, “To God be the
glory for all things.” By this, I meant
that I have no feeling of need to compare or compete or even attempt to be like
the man. I was comfortable knowing that
the man’s expertise far exceeded my own.
The Revelation of the Dream
At this point, I awoke from the dream
and Holy Spirit began to minister to me the point or message revealed through
the dream. In the first part of the
dream, the specific message of each spoken word or choosing which spoken word
to minister was NOT the point. Neither
was the preparation of rehearsing to minister the spoken word in the second
part of the dream the point. It was
through the third part of the dream that Holy Spirit revealed the HEART of the
matter. First, He revealed that just as
I physically hit a spiritual plateau where my health was concerned, so I have
also hit a “spiritual plateau”. Holy
Spirit revealed that identifying the PURPOSE of my ministry, specifically the
PURPOSE of ministering the spoken word is the KEY to overcoming this “spiritual
plateau”. In other words, God has been
infusing me and using me through the ministry of the spoken word, which is good
and acceptable to him. Yet, as the
Apostle Paul explained, I must “… be transformed by the renewing of (my) mind,
that (I) may prove (fulfill or manifest) what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God” (NKJV, Romans 12:2).
I have hit a spiritual plateau and as the expert in the dream
represents, I must CONTINUE on to fulfill the “perfect” or mature Word, Will,
and Way of God by SEEING the PURPOSE of ministry (regardless of the particular
manifestation of it, such as spoken word) as God SEES it. Holy Spirit revealed that the man’s “greater”
portion was found in the manifestation of God’s healing and deliverance through
his ministry. Therefore, he revealed
that the PURPOSE of the ministry of spoken word and ministry in general is not
even found in the specific message of it.
Rather, it is found in the manifestation of God’s healing and
deliverance to those whom God SENDS us to release HIS sound and voice. Yes!
The PURPOSE is found in the PROCESS of TRANSFORMATION that takes place
as a result of God BREATHING or BLOWING through us as His chosen instruments.
Saints of God, the collective Body of
Messiah functions as God’s orchestra in the Earth. We function as an orchestra of various
instruments with various sounds that collectively release the SOUND of Heaven
or the SOUND of God in the Earth. The
PURPOSE of the release of God’s SOUND in the Earth is bring forth transformation,
reconciliation, healing, and deliverance to every soul and even every aspect of
the Earth, in order that we may be “perfectly” aligned to the Word, Will, and
Way of God. This PROCESS is the only
means by which the “Lord’s Prayer” of declaring, “on Earth as it is in Heaven”
will be fulfilled and accomplished.
Therefore, Holy Spirit is saying that theoretically and spiritually
identity is everything! Yet, the
manifestation of identity is ONLY accomplished through God’s ordained
PROCESS. Therefore, process is also
everything. Identity manifests the “who”
and “what” of God’s equation (His Word, Will, and Way). On the other hand, process manifests the
“how” of God’s equation (His Word, Will, and Way).
Therefore, God is calling each and every
one of us to overcome the spiritual plateau that is before us by seeking His
face to SEE our ministry and lives as He SEES them. In the dream I was looking at the back - side
of the cross stitch, focusing of the one thread of choosing which spoken word to
minister on one particular day. As a
result, Holy Spirit used the dream to flip over the cross stitch so I could SEE
what He saw: the “Big Picture” and PURPOSE of it all, which is the
manifestation of the identity of His Word, Will, and Way on Earth as it is in
Heaven; and the manifestation of this is the healing and deliverance of God’s
people. It is the PROCESS of BECOMING
all that He has created, called and ordained us to BE in Him. The daily aspects of our lives are the mere
back – side of God’s working on Earth as it is in Heaven.
I pray for the fullness of the release
of God’s Light and Revelation within and through our eyes, so that we may truly
SEE as He SEES. Ultimately, this is the
entire PURPOSE of our lives and ministries.
Now is the time for us to overcome this spiritual plateau that is before
us, and God’s PROCESS of reconciliation and transformation is the ONLY WAY for
us to overcome. Therefore, let us be
encouraged, and let us “PRESS toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus” (KJV, Philippians 3:14).
© 2015, Christine Lombard, All rights
reserved, Use only with permission
