Time To Change Our Clothes, by Jill McClendon

Date Posted: September 12, 2007

Recently during a conference in Denver, CO, I had a vision during one of the worship services. People were raising their hands while worshiping, and as they did, I saw hands come down from heaven. The hands looked the way I imagine the Father’s hands to appear. As some of the people had their arms raised they began to resemble little children. The Father’s hands came to these people, now turned little children, and I watched as He began to pull their clothes off over their heads. It reminded me of when our boys were toddlers and I would help them get their clothes off before giving them a bath. I asked the Lord to explain to me what I was seeing and He said, “It is time to change your clothes.”

Since returning home, I’ve thought often about what I saw and heard in Denver. I feel like the Lord showed me that this is indeed a season of transition for many people. (Many of us have recognized this season of transition.) But I still wondered what changing our clothes had to do with anything. The Lord gave me a greater understanding through an experience I had today.

While praying this morning I had another vision that related to the first. In this vision, I watched Zechariah 3 play out as the Lord spoke to me.

Zechariah 3 (Revised Standard Version):

3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?" 3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel." 5 And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments; and the angel of the LORD was standing by.

6 And the angel of the LORD enjoined Joshua, 7 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men of good omen: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. 9 For behold, upon the stone, which I have set before Joshua, upon a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree."

As I watched this scene play out in the vision I saw a few other things that helped me understand what was going on, as it relates to us now.

In Verse 1 the accuser is playing an active role during the very first scene. I feel like this first scene is where many of us have been recently. We have heard constant accusations, even if they’ve only been in our own minds, and they’ve brought guilt, shame, condemnation and depression. The mental battle alone has worn many of us out and caused us to feel hopeless.

Verse 2 tells us that our Father has rebuked the accuser. We must receive this revelation in our hearts, and not just in our minds, in order to rid ourselves of the voice that tells us that we will never succeed or measure up to what God expects of us. Joshua heard, with his own ears, the voice of the Lord rebuke Satan for him. God is giving us this same level of revelation right now – to know, and believe, who we really are in Christ. He wants us to hear only His voice and what He speaks about us. This revelation breaks off the performance mentality and fear of failure that many of us carry, and have carried, over the course of our lives.

In verse 4, the filthy rags that Joshua was clothed in represent sin, but I also believe they represent Joshua’s own human attempt and effort to please God, as is the case in Isaiah 64: 6: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (New International Version).

There is a real grace available right now to break the ‘pressure to perform’ off of many of our lives, if we will just receive it.

Verse 5 speaks of a new turban being placed on Joshua’s head. As this was happening in the vision I saw a brain being rewired. The areas of the brain that had once been fine-tuned to hear the accuser’s opinions and accusations were now being rewired to accept only God’s thoughts. I saw what looked like tiny lightning bolts that had been going in one direction begin to turn and go in the opposite direction.

God deeply desires to place His thoughts toward us in the areas of our minds that have been occupied by the accuser’s thoughts, or even by our own opinions of ourselves, in order to set us free. He truly wants us to walk in having the mind of the Lord.

An opportunity is being offered in verses 6 – 8. It is here that the transition from being a servant to becoming a son occurs:

6 And the angel of the LORD enjoined Joshua, 7 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men of good omen: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch (Zech. 3:6-8 RSV).

The transition that happens here is about obedience, but also about authority. In the vision I realized that if one truly desires to enter into his or her rightful place with the Lord, a decision must be made to ‘go for it.’ One must determine to “walk in [His] ways and keep [His] charge” for transformation to occur. I watched this take place.

In my vision I watched as a man decided to completely surrender himself to the Lord. When he did he instantly looked different, he even carried himself differently. The Holy Spirit whispered to me, “This is what happens when one enters into sonship.” There was no immediate change in his outward physical appearance, but the makeover was entirely apparent in the spirit realm for all to see. A garment of humility appeared as a cloak over him. This new mantle had tremendous power coming from it. The power was love.

The scene now changed in the vision. I watched the newly transformed man begin to walk the earth doing the things he normally does during the day. But this time when he ran into opposition to what the Lord had directed him to do, he immediately appeared in that heavenly place where the vision originally occurred. I saw him pass through some sort of entrance to get there. The entrance was similar to that of the x-ray devices we pass through in airports during security checks. This entrance was different though because instead of detecting weapons or metal, it was measuring faith. There was a meter at the entrance to the courts that actually measured an individual’s faith. I was shocked by what I was witnessing. The Holy Spirit once again whispered to me, “This is the reason that most people do not enter into their full destiny. It is not because they have not been given authority; it is because they do not believe that they possess what God has already given them. Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” I watched as the man made it through the entrance to ask Father for what he needed to complete the task at hand. His Heavenly Father immediately dispatched angels, provision, and everything else he needed to do His will.

As I watched the rest of the chapter unfold in the vision, I saw the single stone with seven facets. (Zechariah 3:9) I could see that each facet represented one of the seven spirits of God found in Isaiah 11:2. As I looked closer at the stone I also realized that the stone was ‘the cornerstone’ as in Isaiah 7: 16: “So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed’” (New International Version).

The deeper I looked into the stone, the more I saw. I saw Jesus on the cross. I saw Him resurrected. I also saw some type of Hebrew writing that I could not understand. The closer I looked, the more dimensions that were revealed. It was like a movie playing on many levels all at one time that had no end. Then it hit me – the stone was the life of Christ! The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. That is the reason that no matter how deeply I looked there was always more, on different levels.

I asked the Holy Spirit what we (I) needed to do to receive this new mantle and to enter into this revelation that Joshua the priest entered into. He said, “Raise your arms.” I knew he wanted to change my garments. I raised my hands and I was back to my original vision in Colorado.

Raising our hands in worship not only represents us expressing our adoration of our King; it also symbolizes humility and vulnerability as well. For me, raising my hands further represents giving up my control, and asking my Father to do for me what I cannot do for myself. It’s all about love and trust. This is why I saw the worshipers at the conference as little children. Little children TRUST. My boys trusted me to take their dirty play clothes off when they were little so I could help them get cleaned up and ready for bed. They had faith that I would give them new, clean clothes. God is asking us to trust Him, to have faith to walk in what has already been given. He’s asking us to receive His thoughts toward us. And He’s asking us to raise our arms so we can move from a servant mentality into a true realization of our sonship in Him.

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