When other people are getting book deals and you’ve written books with no deal; when others are out preaching, worship leading, doing missions or whatever it is you want to be doing and you are called to stay home and wait, it is not hard to realize how that slight shift from contentment to discontentment can take place. But, there is a still small voice that comes in and says, wait for the mantle. In the story of the Acts 1, upper room, 500 people started in the upper room together, but only 120 were there waiting when the mantle came. That means 380 people left the upper room because they were tired of waiting. Wait for the mantle.
The wait has felt long, some have prophesied, no more delay; others have said we are long overdue; but the still small voice of God says, wait for the mantle. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “My intentions are not always yours, and I do not go about things as you do. My thoughts and My ways are above and beyond you, just as heaven is far from your reach here on earth”. Wait for the mantle.
What is the mantle we are waiting for? The Lord showed me yesterday, that the mantle is something He is going to put on us, it is not coming from within us, it is coming upon us. He said it is like the garment of praise that is spoken about in Isaiah 61:3 or the mantle that Elijah threw on Elisha in 1 Kings 19:19; He went on to tell me that we are going to be clothed in power like in Acts 1:8 and Luke 24:49. It is literally going to be a mantle that comes upon us like the robe the father put on his son in Luke 15:22. This mantle is going to be put on us, like Joseph’s coat of many colors in Genesis 37:3 and when people see it they are going to see God not us; which will prompt them to ask who is your God, we will not have to tell them they need Jesus. Wait for the mantle.
Then today, as I sat down to write this blog, I Google’d mantle and this is the first definition that popped up, “a loose sleeveless cloak or shawl, worn especially by women”. My jaw dropped, I did not expect to read this, but it completely confirms what the prophets are saying, that God is going to do a mighty work with women, ladies, wait for the mantle, men watch for the mantle, we are about to experience a move of God like none in our generation. Men and women will be wearing a mantle that is so God, people will not want to know your name, they will want to know His name. Wait for the mantle.
In the lyrics of the song Take Courage by Kristi DeMarco remember,
Slow down, take time
Breath in, he said
He’d reveal what’s to come
The thoughts in his mind
Always higher than mine
He’ll reveal all to come
Take courage, my heart
Stay steadfast, my soul
He’s in the waiting
He’s in the waiting
Hold on to your hope
As your triumph unfold
He’s never-failing
He’s never-failing
Sing praise, my soul
Find strength in joy
Let his words lead you on
Do not forget his great faithfulness
He’ll finish all he’s begun
And you who hold the stars
Who call them each by name
Will surely keep your promise to me
That I will rise in your victory
Lisa Great 