As we walk into the second month of this year, I want to continue with some words that I believe will give stability and strength to our hearts as we see signs of end-time prophecy fulfilled.
It is urgent for the body of Christ to know and understand the intervals and periods we are living in, and requires attention, focus, and alertness. This is a time of acceleration and application.
The Lord spoke to me in November 2021. He said, “My people need to be corralled. For there is a great scattering that has taken place due to persecution. (Acts 8:1) Not a corral of control, but a gathering for protection and comfort. Safety’s sake. A gathering where My word can be heard and conflict can be silenced by the Holy Spirit. There is an importance in knowing times and seasons. Actions, responses, and attention to that which your hand is given to, set to, is of most importance. The church must learn to be responsive believers and not reactive Christians.”
With this understanding, I want to give you three phrases that I believe give insight into what we will see and experience in 2022 and beyond. The Lord said, “There will be a continuation of A Great Divide, A Great Exchange, and A Great Reward of Restore.”
The first phrase is A Great Divide. Psalms 2:2-3 (TPT) reads, “Look at how the power brokers of the world rise up to hold their summit [i.e., United Nations] as the rulers scheme and confer together against Yahweh and his Anointed King, saying: ‘Let’s come together and break away from the Creator. Once and for all let’s cast off these controlling chains of God and his Christ!’” This is the persecution and defiance of the church as representatives of God and His plan of reconciliation. It is the war of humanism that is at hand. It is the resisting and denying of the divine nature of God and those ignorantly believing that one can be like God apart from Him. There is a deception that man in and of himself can solve the failing economic issues, social injustices, and political agenda problems. That man can innovate and extend the quality and longevity of his life. (More thoughts on this from our website under the blog section entitled The Silent Pandemic.) To summarize, there will be a great divide of faith vs fear, light vs darkness, and good vs evil. The line will be drawn, and many will have to choose, as we see Joel 3:14 played out. It reads, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”
The second phrase is A Great Exchange! We find this in Isaiah 61:2-3, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for the mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
And then verse seven, “Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.” I want to list these for you so you may focus on what is yours!
- Comfort for mourners.
- Beauty for ashes.
- Oil of joy for sorrow.
- The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
- Double honor in place of shame.
- Rejoicing in your portion instead of confusion.
- You will have double and everlasting joy!
Let me encourage you to take these and declare them over yourself and your family. Remember that the day of vengeance of our God is God avenging His people of covenant. It is exemplified in the story of David and Goliath in I Samuel 17:26, 45-46. God is unwilling to allow you to be depleted or destroyed by the enemy. Exchange the enemy’s lies for God’s truth in all things!
The third phrase is A Great Reward of Restore! 2022 is a Shmita year, the seventh year in a seven-year cycle. It is the year of Jubilee. It is known as God’s year to act in Luke 4:19 which says, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” In other words, it is God’s year to restore, reclaim, reinstate previous rights of ownership and to release all those who are bound. We are living in a time and season of such ramifications to leave believers in awe of God’s goodness. He will never leave nor forsake His own!
Hebrews 11:6 reads, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Intimacy is the word for us currently. To seek, crave and require as a necessity God’s face which in turn opens to us the secret place of the Almighty where we experience deliverance, protection and from a far distance see the reward of the wicked. All that is yours is placed in a region that is untouchable by the enemy. We must submit to God and resist the enemy at every turn but in doing so we will see fulfillment.
I want to end with this verse from Joel 2:25-27 which reads, “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.” Each type of locust found in verse 25 eats a different part of the plant. One eats the leaves, the other the stem, another the roots and the last eats the microscopic remains leaving nothing of the plant behind. We are living in such a time, but God is promising us that He will restore to us that which no longer exists. God wants to restore that which was lost back to a place that is better than what was had in the beginning. God is the lifter of your head where shame is dissolved in the presence of the accuser. (Psalms 3:3)