Dear Friends,
We are praying this letter will encourage you as you step into a New Year of God's promises.
This past year has held trials for many, but in this New Year, we encourage you to Lean into the Heeling.
The other day as I (Joel) was praying, God gave me a vision of sailboats in a bay. Some were leaning full sail into the wind and flying across the water while others had their sails untied and some had their sails completely down and weren't moving at all. The ones who weren't moving were angry that there wasn't any wind in their sails. God gave me the interpretation of the vision. "This is a picture of what is happening in my church," He said, "Many people are saying that they don't hear my voice, that I speak to others but do not speak to them. But the same wind of my voice that is moving the others is passing right past their boat because they have untied or taken down their sails."
After this, God led me to research sailing terminology. The first definition God brought me to was the definition of the word "heeling".
The way the word heeling was defined confirmed in my spirit that this was a word from God for His church in 2021.
Heeling: This is the term for when a sailboat leans over in the water, pushed by the wind. There’s nothing else like the thrill of heeling over as your sails fill and your speed picks up!
Keel: The keel is a long, heavy fin on the bottom of the boat that sticks down into the water. It provides stability and is the reason why modern sailboats are nearly impossible to capsize. (definitions found online)
Heeling is the place of SURRENDER.
You don't have control, you must lean into the wind and trust the Keel: the foundation of Jesus Christ in your life.
You move the fastest when you surrender!
God's plans for His church, the advancement of His Kingdom, is going to happen QUICKLY in this New Year.
Church and Family of Christ, His Winds are coming! Be prepared to surrender control.
Did you take your sails down because it got rough? Did you say “I can’t hold the helm anymore, I need better control”. Did you think He would let the boat roll over and watch you drown? God says “I’m still here, I will not let the storm crush you." Will you say to him “I will stay the course though the storms come I will remain faithful and steadfast." Will you anchor in him, will you trust him through the storm? Why fear? Think of a time he has not been faithful to you; think of a time he has let you down? Think of a time He didn’t cover your sins with His blood. When has he told you “no, I’m done with your failures."
He loves to work through broken and mended vessels. Psalms 103:10 says "He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve." Why did he choose Paul? Why not pick someone that didn’t take all the wrong turns? Why not pick someone who would be better accepted by man and the church? God chooses who he chooses, He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, He is the Maker of heaven and earth, He chooses who He can be seen through. There is nothing you can do to disqualify yourself from the calling of God. God just sees who he created you to be and nothing else. He chose you and your calling before you were born. He chooses those He bought, His grace allows our surrender and His choosing us is all we need.
Do you think Paul’s idea of how to grow the early church was prison? Do you think it deterred him? No. You know why?
He was already in prison to the calling. He was already fully surrendered.
He had already given up his abilities for God's call. He realized it didn’t take what he brought to the table; it took surrender. None of your abilities are bad nor useless, but you need to rely on God to choose what he uses. We get worn out in using our abilities for him. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Lean over in the Heeling and trust the wind will not overcome the keel! It’s a feeling of no control and no fear. This is where Paul was. He knew he was not in control and did not fear. He knew his job was to surrender and obey in love, and that was all.
It's time to tie our sails back up. To Learn to hear His voice. To Learn to lean in trust into His wind and let go of our own control.
Is there anything that you can do in 2021 that’s greater than what God has destined for His kingdom through you?!
He is the captain! Surrender is the greatest!
“The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By Gods help, I aim to be that man.”
- Dwight Moody
People tell me “Joel, that must have been so hard to move to a village with no power and no water and live with small children.” You know what I tell them? The hardest time was the 2009 to 2019 when I knew what we were called to but didn’t know how to get there. We tried everything in our power, but only surrender to his timing and calling will do it. We get anxious in the waiting. God was loading up our keel, he was mending our sails, he was teaching the right knots to tie, how to jibe.
God doesn’t need what you think you are the best at. What did Paul bring from his former life? He said I come bringing Christ only.
He didn’t come with fancy speech, being from Tarsus and having his education, he could have. Don’t over think this. We have to walk things out daily, but walking in surrender is freeing. People around you at work will see it and wonder, “what is it that allows you to not be shaken?” And you respond “I’ve already been knocked down!!!!! It is He that is alive in me." You can’t knock Christ down. There is an old saying “be careful what you say to someone with nothing, its almost like having it all!”. Philippians 1:21 says, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."
If you realize that you have already lost it for the Kingdom then you can live freely like Paul taught!
Living surrendered allows you to look different. You will be seen differently! Revelations 13:10b "Here is the call for the patient endurance and the faithfulness of the saints which will be seen in the response of God’s people to difficult times."
Lastly, Love is the glue that holds it together.
It’s the knots holding the sails. You can have the greatest mast and sails and keel if the knots come untied; you go nowhere. Love holds it all together.
How did Joseph feel all those years in the waiting? He had the vision from the beginning, but he had to learn surrender.
We try to give what we want to get God what He wants, but all he wants is surrender. We try so hard to give God what we want to give him, our best efforts, to get God what He wants. It doesn’t work. He wants surrender, He wants it all. He’s a jealous God, He wants our whole heart, our ambitions, our dreams, our hopes, our wants, all our desires. Will you give it all to him and say what Jesus said in tears of blood “Not my will, but yours”, “even if this cup seems too much for me, I will drink it”
The greatest thing you can do this year is surrender to His will.
It sounds simple, but it’s hard. It was hard for Jesus. "He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." (Matthew 26:42)
Jesus had to keep praying it so that He could let it happen and if Jesus had to continue to pray it, how much more should we be crying out “not I but YOU, not my will but your will, not my kingdom but your kingdom! God, it's hard, but your will be done! God, it's hard but I surrender."
Don’t make plans in 2021 on how to be a better Christian, make plans on how to better surrender!
Realize that it’s not your ability that gets His will accomplished, its your surrender. It took me going all the way to Africa and bringing all my best abilities to learn that I can’t do it. All the things I’ve been working on, all the things I’ve been carrying, couldn’t get it done. God is not looking for us to get good at something or to gain a certain income or to accomplish a certain level. He is looking for us to be who he already pre-destined us to be.
He never saw Peter the fisherman. He always saw Peter the rock! He didn’t ask Peter to go figure out how to be the rock and then he will be used. He just said "Come and follow me." Surrender. Can we come? Can we follow Him and stop trying to be something in man's eyes first? Can we just come, unready, unaccomplished, unqualified, and fully surrendered?
Don’t look to those around you, look to him. Don’t look at the other sailboats on the water. In First Corinthians, Paul shares this principle over and over. Is Christ divided? We have the same Jesus in each of us.
How could you covet having better access to the one you have all access to? It's the SAME WIND that moves us all!
If it’s the same Jesus, then what do we lack? What we lack is understanding of the big plan. We lack control. We fearwhat we can’t control. When we use our abilities, we have control. When God does it, it's beyond us and bigger than us and it grows His kingdom not our kingdom.
It's time we lean over in the Heeling and trust the wind will not overcome the keel.
Galatians 2:19-21 in The Message says this about surrender: "What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily."
2021 lays before us full of all access to Christ! Let's SURRENDER and see Him move His mighty Wind in a Great Revival!
Leaning in the Heeling,
Joel Dicharry
Commission Mankind
www.commissionmankind.com