Joey LeTourneau: Drawbridges Opening: A Unique Kingdom Invitation and Advancement

I was in a prayer time recently, asking God about a potential open door that looked to be guarded. While seeking to gain His perspective, I was taken aback by a vision of a drawbridge that was being lowered for me. As I inquired about such, I heard Him clearly whisper to my heart, "Man may guard the doors, but it's the favor of the King that opens the drawbridge."
A drawbridge is an invitation into the special favor on our lives for this season, the unique identity we are called to live out for this time. Drawbridges portray a clear focus on kingdom, and no king invites you in lightly without a special appointment.

Advancement vs. Placement

We are often looking for doors of advancement, but the drawbridge is an even bigger entrance for the purpose of your own special placement. I believe this is a matter of authority. We are often seeking the Lord for how to move forward, and from our perspective that usually requires an open door. While we may be watching for such advancement, God is welcoming us into the greatest access of all to walk in the authority of our unique and specific Kingdom placement. (Photo courtesy: Travels With Nathaniel/Linda Orlomoski/Hawthorne Hotel)
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. John 15:7
Advancement often requires striving, but true Kingdom placement is about identity and creates advancement through far fewer steps or strides. It is about knowing, appreciating, and accepting the special "niche" He has created us for and living this out toward the world.

Kingdom Alignment

But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the Body just as He pleased. 1 Corinthians 12:18
Think of a battery in an electronic device. You can put a brand new, full, top-of-the-line battery into the hatch, but if it is not aligned in its own specified way, the light or power will not be generated. This usually only requires the slightest adjustment and leads to a natural and steady flow of light and/or power. It is about alignment and knowing our own special grace for this time.
Who has He made you to be for this season in the world? How is He calling you to join Him? Such alignment always begins with our intimacy with Him and surrender to Him.
The animal kingdom demonstrates this wonderfully. On a recent trip to the zoo I couldn't help but take in the beauty of how "difference" is so wildly scattered for such strategic and even life-altering reasons. As you watch the animals or read the descriptive placards, you are reminded that they are created vastly different on purpose. They are placed in habitats or regions that are unique to their place in the animal kingdom. When an animal is taken out of its special habitat there is so much more necessary work just to help them function and survive. To the contrary, when an animal is living freely in its unique identity and natural alignment, it flourishes and causes other surrounding species to do the same.

Uncommon Unity

We often think of unity as an end that we pursue. It is commonly seen as a state of existence where everyone compromises to come into alignment. But unity in the Spirit is different. Unity in the Spirit is a seemingly misaligned alignment held together by the One who celebrates our diversity and created us to come together – not in spite of but because of our differences. Such unity is uncommon and marked by intimacy, identity, and difference. As we align with Him, He will align us in His ways with one another.
...And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil. Isaiah 10:27
Many of us are battling difficulties that seem to keep hanging on. But it is the anointing that breaks every yoke. When we step into our unique, different anointing there is an alignment, a special kind of uncommon unity with Christ, that releases the fullness of favor we already have, breaks off the yokes we've been carrying, and invites us in to the joys we've been waiting for.

Jesus' Final Prayer

That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:21
Drawbridges are opening, calling us away from the few doors we may all be crowding into, inviting us into a Kingdom alignment that will bring ultimate glory to God. You have been specially appointed by the King to walk in a new grace for this time. Will you leave the doors of the past to accept His special invitation?
Ground will not just be taken in the world by how we move forward, but exponentially so through how we move into and through intimate and diverse alignment. There is a power in this kind of different oneness that Jesus prayed for in John 17 that will cause the world to believe as we each release ourselves to live out His image of us rather than the one we ourselves have been chasing.
The sooner we understand such vital placement for ourselves, the more freely we can bless and empower others to live out their own – even, and especially, when it is different than us! Do you know your grace for this time? Are you struggling to accept it? Just say yes, and watch how the light comes on!
Joey LeTourneau
M.A.R.K. 10:14 Family/Heavenly Hope Ministries
Email: joey.letourneau@gmail.com