Make the Shift
In August of 2022 my brother, Tim Sheets, said there was coming a stronger merger in Christ’s Kingdom between the natural and spiritual realms, the earthly and heavenly. This merging would result in new levels and manifestations of the Kingdom of God. Tim declared:
“A merger is now beginning that will accelerate a new era Pentecost. Power and Kingdom authority will be seen on earth as never before. We have been prophesying this for a long time, and Holy Spirit says, ‘The merger is now occurring. The glory of My presence will now fill prepared territories, regions, and nations.’”
Tim went on to say, “Ekklesias are getting traction in these places. I also heard Holy Spirit say, ‘Surge after surge of the King’s manifest presence will spawn sudden miracles. The enemies of the Kingdom will be disoriented and will fight each other, resulting in freedoms decreed by King Jesus and His Ekklesia. This will be assisted by My angel armies, for I will release My mighty ones to labor with you; My mighty angels are moving into the earth realm.’”
Then he stated, “The glory of God is going to amp up in certain regions and territories in such a way that it will create miracles and breakthroughs. I believe we are moving NOW - not years from now - into a season of suddenlies. Sudden strikes of high-ranking angels, under Holy Spirit’s supervision, fueled by the decrees of a functioning Ekklesia.
“I feel the Ekklesia as a whole is shifting into another gear. Holy Spirit is bringing change, prophetic words are about to come to pass, and powerful angels are being released. Something has shifted, and we are moving into another gear.”
Then, knowing it can be difficult to shift into a new season, Tim used an interesting analogy, saying, “Dutch, you and I are old enough to know how cars with standard transmissions and stick shifts operate. You use a clutch when shifting gears. Sometimes, if the clutch is bad or the gears aren’t perfectly synchronized, the gears grind somewhat as an attempt is made to engage them. I feel this is occurring now in the spiritual realm. We are struggling to shift into this next gear, but will do so.”
While listening to Tim, I recalled a similar experience I had several years ago. While in worship I suddenly heard the sound of gears grinding. This wasn’t something I was hearing literally but inwardly, in the spiritual realm. When I asked Holy Spirit what this meant, He said, “I’m shifting the church into another season.” Exactly as Tim had referenced! The Holy Spirit knew that by using this mechanical analogy, I would immediately understand what He was saying. Due to ignorance, uncertainty, resistance, hesitancy, past paradigms, etc., some in the church were experiencing difficulty in shifting.
Holy Spirit is once again shifting the church into a new season. We have been in a forerunning season of preparation; we are now moving into an awakening that will produce salvation, healing, deliverance, and ultimately great reformation. The healing aspect of this new season is what we are focusing on in tonight’s Healing Summit. Holy Spirit is shifting our mindsets and awakening our faith to the fact that it’s time to shift.
John 5:1-9 tells the story of a paralyzed man healed by Jesus. It was believed by the Jews of the day that an angel periodically stirred the waters of the pool named Bethesda, located at the Sheep Gate, and the first person into the water was healed. At the Pool, Jesus approached a man who had been in a paralyzed condition for 38 years and asked what seemed like a strange question: “Do you truly long to be well?” (John 5:6 TPT). The man’s answer revealed that although he was waiting at the pool, he really had no hope of being healed. “I have no one to help me into the water and someone else always gets there first.”
I believe Jesus asked the paralytic this question to point out that his hope was misplaced. Although he was waiting for the miraculous stirring of the pool, Yahweh - not the pool itself - was the source of the miracle he needed. A couple of feet and only seconds away from his miracle, just moments from total restoration, the man wasn’t able to recognize it. He needed to shift his thinking; his paradigm and his faith were based on the past. But Jesus had come - it was a new season! That which Bethesda symbolized was now being fulfilled.
This symbolism of Bethesda is truly amazing:
Bethesda means “house of lovingkindness or mercy.”
The Sheep Gate (verse 2) next to it (verse 2) was where the lambs - used for the temple sacrifices and picturing Christ, our Passover Lamb - were brought into the Temple.
Five, the number of porticoes around the pool (also verse 2), is the biblical number of grace.
Putting all of this together, the pool of Bethesda and the symbolism associated with it pictures Christ, the Passover lamb, entering our fallen world to give us grace and mercy. He would bring wholeness and health to the “diseased” human race.
This disabled man was staring at THE Lamb Himself, God’s gift of grace, the fulfillment of what everything around him pictured, yet didn’t realize it. An incredible opportunity, his kairos moment, had arrived, but he was trapped in the past. The gears were grinding, but Jesus helped him shift into the new season and a new life.
We must listen carefully to Holy Spirit - “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Revelation 2:7) - in order to recognize the timing for God’s shifts. Reader’s Digest told of the late, great golf instructor, Harvey Penick: In the 1920s, Penick bought a red spiral notebook and began jotting down observations about golf. He never showed the book to anyone other than his son until 1991, when he shared it with a local writer and asked if he thought it was worth publishing. The man read it and told him yes. The writer presented it to Simon and Schuster, then left word with Penick’s wife the next evening that they had agreed to an advance of $90,000!
When the writer told Penick, the golfing expert seemed troubled. Finally, Penick came clean. With all his medical bills, he said, there was no way he could advance Simon & Schuster that much money. The writer had to explain that Penick would be the recipient of the $90,000!
His first golf book, Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book, sold more than a million copies, one of the biggest best-sellers in the history of sports books. His second book And If You Play Golf, You’re My Friend, sold nearly three-quarters of a million.(1)
Whether it be book writing, physical miracles, or the salvation of a loved one, we sometimes live in the waiting stage so long that it becomes difficult to believe in God’s mercy when it is offered. Listen with faith! God is saying it is time to shift.
Accept the offer.
Pray with me:
Father, thank You for moving us from glory to glory, strength to strength, and faith to faith. You are not a stagnant God! And You said there would be no end to the increase of Christ’s Kingdom (Isaiah 9:6-7). We are confident of this, our faith in You is strong.
You have told us that a new merger of Your glory, angelic warriors, and an empowered Ekklesia is coming. We are determined to participate in this. We will shift with You. We ask You for an infusion of strength, revelation, and power enabling us to make this shift us into the new season.
We ask You for the miracles spoken of. We ask for the suddenlies. We ask for strong outpourings of your Spirit to spring up. We ask for an increase of prophetic anointing to discern and hear clearly what You are doing. And we ask that the fruit of this will be the rescue of millions of hearts around the world. Give us the billion soul harvest we have been prophetically hearing of.
We ask that You continue to dismantle evil systems and render ineffective those who oppose You. With the keys of Your kingdom we now bind every attempt to stop this divine shift, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Our decree:
We decree that we will shift into God’s new season of signs, wonders, and worldwide harvest.
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
Watch the Healing Summit livestream at 7PM EST at oasiswired.org.
1. Adapted from: Edward K. Rowell, Fresh Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Christianity Today, 1997), p. 100.