In the weeks leading upto this season, I have had the Lord connect to me at precisely 00:00 in the night. This encounter was initiated each night for three consecutive days in a row as I was in worship. I prayed for revelation, friends; and the Lord finally took me to the Cinderella story on the third night.
Awe struck at the King of glory speaking through not just the pages of Scripture, but even a fairy tale; I couldn’t possibly have kept this secret to myself. So here I am, spilling the beans.
What are You saying, Lord?
I found myself seeking Him. Obviously, I was both amused and curious.
The Lord soon after started showing me different aspects of the Cinderella story through Heaven’s perspective. And what has really been etched out in me as a result is the stunning revelation that the Church has crossed over into ‘The Cinderella Hour.’
The midnight hour.
What do I mean?
Let me give this a fair shot, friends.
The Transition and Transformation
Going over the Cinderella story, I realised that it was precisely at the midnight hour -the stroke of midnight – that she was compelled to leave behind the pretense and the facade of the counterfeit reality where she had morphed from the cinders’ girl that she really was into a beautiful princess to appear attractive to the Prince at the city ball. It was a reality that was fake because it was not her true reality.
Evaluating the sense of purification and refinement that the Church as the family of God has been going through, I knew the Lord had me onto something.
We dig. We discover.
So as I dove into the revelation that the Lord was leading me into, what dawned on me was the truth of our own journey of growth and metamorphosis in the seasons past.
What we have had to navigate our way through in the past 18 months or so has been anything but a cake walk. On the contrary, it has felt more like a steep incline, with dangers and toils strategically placed for us on every nook and cranny.
We have all as a result, found ourselves seeking and discovering God for ourselves. The sense of the pre-eminence of Christ in all things has escalated, and anything that would stand in the way has been torn down.
What sought to threaten us has time and time again, been thwarted by the intervening hand of God, and we have through it all, continued to see Him work all things together for our good and His great glory.
In a time where the sense of isolation has been pervasive, we have managed to find our sense of completion, wholeness and security in Christ only – our true home, our firm anchor and our safe refuge.
False constructs of identity imposed upon us by society, culture and the world have been demolished, thereby setting us free to enter into our truest identity as children of God.
Consequently, we have found ourselves transformed into the knowledge of what it really means to be sons and daughters of the King of glory. We have been compelled to trust Him at a whole new level, and He has not disappointed us.
Hope never will – Christ in us, the Hope of glory.
I write all this to say that what I believe the Lord is lovingly revealing is – us.
Yes.
The Revealing
I believe what God is doing is revealing His sons and daughters who having been through hell, fire and storm; have been found not only ‘still standing,’ but successfully having emerged as the ‘shining ones,’ taking on the likeness of their Father more and more, with each passing challenge.
Forgiveness, trust, surrender, humility, wisdom and love have all been tempered and forged into us and we have now hit ‘The Cinderella Hour.’
‘The Cinderella Hour’ is when we begin to truly behold and become the Lion and the Lamb. We know what the battle really is, and we fight accordingly. The Word of God informs us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Our family, friends, co-workers and siblings are notour enemy. The Enemy is our enemy, and therefore we are fighting for our brethren, not against them.
If anything at all, our loved ones are our mission.
The Mission
Our mission is to reach, to love and serve, and to impact our world with the passion of Christ and the love of God. And as Children of God being made into the likeness of His image, this revelation beckons yet another question.
How did the Lord love and serve when He walked the earth in the Person of Jesus?
Like I said earlier – we dig, we discover.
Digging deeper with a shovel in hand, I unearthed some beautiful truth about how He did it. Led into the passage of Scripture where Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, I was deeply touched by the tenderness of the Lord’s compassion and the source of his motivation.
“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”
(John 13:3-5)
A revelation about the Truth of his identity as the Son of God whose Father had put all things under his power, and that he was returning to the realm of glory to be seated at the right hand of God, provoked but one response from Jesus –
He bent down to wash His disciples’ feet.
He washed them all, despite the knowledge that one would betray Him (Judas) and yet another would deny Him (Peter). He went the distance to show them the full extent of His love for them, and did not consider washing their feet too menial or lowly a task. Rather, I believe that Jesus saw it as His mission – to love and serve all whom He was sent to, and therefore, lead with the heart of a servant-king.
As the Sovereign King, He came as the Servant-King.
Pastor Bill Johnson says something that resonates very deeply with the sentiment hidden within this revelation,
“True significance in Christ is never tarnished by servanthood. Rather, it is revealed through servanthood.”
And somewhere I learn the same from Cinderella.
Diving into her story brought forth much gold, friends.
The Reward of the Faithful
Cinderella truly personifies a heart of servanthood during her stay with her evil step mother and step sisters. She remained submitted to the call of God on her life with a pure heart and a clean conscience.
As a result, Cinderella’s humility + obedience + endurance was richly rewarded by God who not only delivered her post the Cinderella hour, causing the Prince from the city ball to find her, locate her and marry her; but also exalted her to a position where Cinderella, on the other side of forgiveness, was instrumental in finding suitable grooms and partners for her step-sisters.
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
(Matthew 23:12)
There is so much revelation here, friends. But one thing that really stood out to me was this:
The destiny of Cinderella was never thwarted because of seasons of hardship in her life. The opposite is true rather. For in the hands of God, her persecution only served as a platform for her promotion.
In fact, what the enemy meant to disqualify her became the very thing that God used to not only qualify her, but also promote her and enable her to enjoy the fruition of a hope-filled future.
How much more is that true for us then?
Reflecting back on the past 18 months and simultaneously preparing our hearts for what the Lord will do next is an interesting intersection indeed.
Though we may have been through more than we thought we even had the capacity to endure, we made it. God has brought us safely through. We are still standing and going farther with the Lord than we had originally aspired for. That’s Good News!
We have not come this far for nothing. Some of the greatest moves of God, I believe, are right out ahead of us. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and we who are the Light of the world cannot be hidden – we must be revealed.
And this is where the story gets good.
For the unveiling of Jesus Christ will never be complete without the revealing of His Sons & Daughters. It’s what it means to be the family of God and the household of God. It’s what speaks to our legitimacy as His children. It’s what happens when both, the Bridegroom and the Bride are partnering and preparing together.
Clothed in the glory-garments of righteousness and fully immersed in the consciousness of our truest identity as Sons & Daughters of the King of glory with Heaven as our home, I believe, we have been positioned to be released into the earth to effectively love and serve those that we have been called to.
For such a time as this.
P.S:
I have been writing for nearly 2 years now friends, and this has been the first Prophetic Word that the Lord has given me to share. It is not only a personal revelation for me this season and beyond, but I do believe that it carries some very weighty revelations and truths for all of us as the Body of Christ. I do hope and pray that the Holy Spirit will give you insight as you journey on and not only light up your path, but also light up your world.
For you are the Light of the world and a city on a hill cannot be hidden.
We must be revealed.
Selah.
🕛👑
SoulandSubstance27 