God's Big Dipper

Every morning, I walk with my dog out of our dark bedroom through the kitchen in route to the living room where I spend my morning writing. On my way to the living room, I stop long enough to start the coffee maker and feed the dog. I then turn out the kitchen light and walk in the darkness to a large window next to my writing chair. As I walk, I pray in the Spirit. Once at the window, I place my hands on both sides of the window and look out and up into the night sky. Each morning as I stand at the window, I speak the same words, “This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!” This routine has gone on for years.

Today, as I do each morning, I looked out and up into the night sky to see a familiar image - the Big Dipper. As I paused to take in its beauty it became a real dipper like a huge ladle someone would use to dip into a punchbowl at a pool party. God talks a lot to me through natural imagery. He did it again this morning as I viewed the Big Dipper.

I saw the hand of God take hold of a really large dipper – His Big Dipper. He dipped into His presence and filled His dipper to a capacity beyond our ability to measure. Like the natural Big Dipper is suspended over my city in the night sky, God is holding His dipper over cities and nations ready to pour out the contents of transformation and reformation. He will not pour this supernatural content into tidy little porcelain religious teacups. He will pour out His presence in an over-flowing splash of love.

In the next few days, if the night sky is clear, try to catch a glimpse of the Big Dipper. Use its image to energize your faith. Begin to prophesy over your family, your city, and your nation. Declare an out-pouring of God’s goodness. The coming splash of God’s presence will release sounds similar to a joyful pool party where a bowl of celebratory punch sets the mood for the gathering.

The coming reformation will not be a corrective sound. It will be a sound of celebration as God pours out His presence on stale and lifeless expressions of His Church that no longer have the ability to be a transforming presence in culture. Get ready – it's party time!