This morning I was hiking in the hills above my home like I do each week. I have hiked these trails for the past 8 years and come away from these times refreshed. Normally, I am a very observant person. Maybe this is because 30 years ago I was a police officer and you stayed alive as a cop by knowing what is taking place around you in your environment. This morning I realized that I was not seeing everything.

As I hiked across a familiar bridge I paused and looked out at a seasonal stream that flows this time of year when the rains come. 150 years ago this stream bed was filled with prospectors seeking their fortune in the Oregon Gold Rush.

I like the sound of moving water – it refreshes and restores me, so I paused longer than normal and just listened. As I looked out I saw another stream about 25 feet away. I took another look and realized that I had never seen this stream before. The flowing water had now made it visible. During the majority of the year this other stream is dry and hidden by brush. These two streams were now merging together 25 feet from me. How could I have not seen this one sometime in the last 8 years? The only reason I could come up with was that I wasn’t present on that bridge when the rains came.

As I crossed the bridge and made my way up the trail, I paused to catch my breath and looked back down at the two converging streams and asked, “Lord, is there something in this you want me to see?”

The Lord began to download into my heart what 2011 will bring for some of us. Streams of His presence will be revealed that have been previously hidden from our sight. These streams were not seen because the flow of His presence had not yet been released into those areas. God is about to bring a flow of His presence that will make known new assignments and new direction. Where we would never expect to see God moving we will see Him at work before our eyes.

The prophet Isaiah wrote:

“Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.” Isaiah 35: 5-6

God is preparing many of us to flow along new stream-beds that will supernaturally appear in our personal deserts. These new courses have been hidden in the past. We have literally walked by them as we went about our daily lives. When the flow starts we will see His plans emerge and many will begin to move into their destiny in Christ along stream beds they have not seen before this moment. What will this mean?

The Hidden will be Revealed –

In those areas of your life and ministry that are habitual and predictable, and where you are expecting more of the same, God plans to reveal hidden stream beds that will be filled with His presence to take you to something new. Joy will return. Hope will be renewed.

The Flow of His Presence is about to Increase –

As the rains in the natural saturate the forests and produce the seasonal run-off that makes a dry stream bed rise, God is about to increase the flow of His presence and show you where to invest your life for this next season. Your greatest investment for a Kingdom return will be in the flow of what God is about to do.

God wants us to experience the refreshment and restoration that comes when we move in the power and pleasure of His River. Like Isaiah said, blind eyes will open, lame people will walk and mute tongues will shout for joy and the water of His presence will flow into your personal desert.