This week I have had a strong impression to start focusing on three ‘zones’ in regard to prayer and strategic advance:

1. Local (Individual/the Church)  
2. Regional (Detroit/Michigan)
3. National

As we participate rightly with God’s divine plan, we will find ourselves recalibrated with Him locally, regionally and nationally.

There is a large scale move of God in process now, and it in many ways mirrors the Exodus from Egypt.  If we can prophetically peer into that story, we will discover some key lessons and strategies.

I also believe there is a financial message in the midst of this story that will help all of us advance as we understand the schemes of the enemy. (2 Cor 2:11)

This story must launch from the same place it launched in the life of Moses—the burning bush. The cry for prophetic messengers to humbly yet boldly declare the potentially offensive, extremely costly and problematic designs of God must come now.  There is a burning bush in Michigan and in our nation—but is there anybody there with their shoes removed ready to receive that message?

Exodus 3:4-5 (ESV) ⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

God is calling, is anybody responding?  I actually believe the answer is at least a limited ‘yes’, but I wonder if any of us realize the severity of the call.  We must receive the call from a position of holiness and humility and we must then boldly relay the call to the opposing system that’s keeping a nation in bondage.

Moses did just that.  I believe we are also at an initial phase of the mission to break from from a worldly system. 

Note what happened immediately after the prophetic word was declared by Moses to Pharaoh:

Exodus 5:1-3 (ESV) ¹ Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” ² But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” ³ Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

Of course, Moses’ mandate was met with immediate resistance.  However, this resistance to the prophetic wasn’t simply in the form of a dispute between two leaders.  The prophetic message, as delivered through the prophetic messenger, caused problems for the whole ‘church’.

The call was to move from an Egyptian system into the wilderness of encounter with God. 

Exodus 5:4-5 (ESV) ⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” ⁵ And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!”

I believe we are most certainly in a season of transition—from a tiring focus of necessary but unfulfilling production into a miraculous season of supernatural rest and life.

Sarah Palin declared last week in Grand Rapids  at the launch of her national “Going Rogue” book tour that something miraculous is coming to the economic structure in Michigan—and I believe this is surely the case.

However, we in Michigan may very well be in the midst of this next part of the Exodus story:

Exodus 5:6-8 (ESV) ⁶ The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, ⁷ “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’

The enemy is reacting with anger right now in this early prophetic season.  While the church is being called into a new chapter, we have not yet made it there.  We’re still in the old system.  Reformation has not come yet.  The bricks of old, the provision of old has not yet faded away.  People need to make bricks, need to produce, need to pay the same bills, etc. However, I believe the enemy has removed the straw. 

At a time when people are losing jobs, losing their homes, a time when stress is high and the ability to produce is significantly more difficult than it was just a couple of years ago, we must know that the prophetic message will get the job done—if we don’t relent.

Exodus 5:10-13 (ESV) ¹⁰ So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. ¹¹ Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’ ” ¹² So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³ The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.”

The only way to break out of this bondage is to rely on God’s supernatural methods and his decrees. The coming new system’s principles must be applied now, as we are breaking out of the current system.

Are we prepared for the greatest of battles?  The church itself will turn on prophetic voices, prophetic strategists.  Change will bring significant discomfort and struggle, and most will strike back in anger and accusation.  Will we still contend for freedom?

Exodus 5:20-21 (ESV) ²⁰ They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; ²¹ and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

We will also have opportunity to question ourselves, as Moses did:

Exodus 5:22-23 (ESV) ²² Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? ²³ For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

I’ve often said that the enemy, who is the accuser, loves it when he convinces children of God to embrace his methods, his giftings, his anointings. He wants us to become accusers, and not just accusers of the brethren, but accusers of God Himself.  Moses fell for this in the midst of extreme rebellion and pressure from his own people, and threats from Pharaoh.

Exodus 6:7-9 (ESV) ⁷ I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ” ⁹ Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

We see in the above passage that God has a plan, and it’s a big one.  However, the extreme process will be difficult and many will turn away.

But, the end of this story is extreme.  God wanted it all, without compromise—and he got what he wanted.  And the people ultimately realized that they didn’t need straw to make their bricks—because they didn’t need the bricks at all.  The old has passed away and the new season was upon them.

They dropped the bricks and picked up the riches of Egypt and moved out into the pursuit of their destiny.

In the beginning I shared a three-fold focus:

1. On a small scale, we must individually and as local churches prepare for and lead the way in that spirit of Moses.  We must run to the battle with fire from a bush in our mouths.
2. Then, we must have a regional understanding—for us, Michigan is our next immediate focus.  We must shout to the state the plans of Heaven, and let that prophetic message penetrate the darkness. 
3. Then, ultimately, we must prepare for a national movement.  The Israelites were a nation, that was stepping into their ultimate destiny that hasn’t even fully played out yet.

Again, I feel we are in the place where the message has begun to be proclaimed, the plan of God has been released.  The enemy has been enraged and straw has been removed.  It’s more difficult to produce in our families, in our city, state and nation.

However, a new system is coming where bricks of old will be dropped and the plunder of Egypt will be picked up.

Proverbs 13:22 (ESV) A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.