Some of you feel like you've been wrestling with God so long now that you feel like you just can't do it any longer. Your hip hurts, your heart hurts, and it's been a long, long night. Much like Jacob, you are striving and wrestling with God, not wanting to let go until He blesses you. But you're tired and you're weary; you don't know if you can hold on another moment. But rest assured that you will prevail: "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob [deceiver], but Israel [strives with God], for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed" (Genesis 32:18 AMP).
At the end of October 2016, I shared a message about how 2017 was to be a year of extreme sensitivity to the Spirit of God. According to the Jewish calendar, we are in the year 5777. We are still in the decade of the 70s, which is represented by the letter ayin. Ayin, in the Hebrew alphabet, is characterized by a pair of eyes, which give clarity and vision. Recently, Holy Spirit began speaking to me more about this year—5777—being the year of the sword of the Lord. The fact that the number 7 is repeated three times and the crown on the pictograph caught my attention. Biblically speaking, seven represents perfection, maturity, completeness, wholeness. The pictograph in the Hebrew alphabet for zayin also shows a spear or a sword, a weapon, an arrow, or a royal scepter.
As we step into the New Year, it's often good to ask ourselves questions, thereby taking inventory of where we have been and looking forward to where we are heading. A question I like to ask at the head of the year is this: "What is the prophetic indicator in my life for this leg of the race, as I run with endurance?" For me, I received an answer to this question during Rosh Hashanah when I had a vision from the Lord while standing in my kitchen. This experience of "seeing" more clearly into the spiritual realm has led me into a whole new level of the prophetic. As we honor supernatural experiences like this, the great cloud of witnesses cheer us on, encouraging us to continue to fight the good fight, finish the course, and keep the faith.
The Lord has been speaking to me recently about the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the church. As the disciples were gathered together in the upper room, waiting for the promise of the Father, God's Spirit was poured out upon them and released dunamis power in each of their lives. The pouring out of God's Spirit on the day of Pentecost reveals three distinct experiences the disciples had on that day and that we can have, also. First, a violent wind filled the house where the disciples were gathered together. This breath or wind is symbolic of the Spirit of God. Ezekiel 37 tells the story of the prophet's vision of a valley of dry bones that came together when the breath of God entered into them.
While sitting in church recently, I was praying for some friends in Texas who were experiencing flooding. My prayers then went to those who are struggling with the flooding of grief, addictions, and darkness. In the midst of my prayers, however, Holy Spirit suddenly spoke to my heart and said, "Demons need a dry place." I thought, "Well yes, Lord, I know they do in accordance with Your Word. But where are we going with this?" I carried the word in my heart for two or three days until God started to download some truth regarding what He spoke to me earlier that week in church.
As many of you know, I was stricken with Chikungunya virus in May of 2014 while in Haiti, which made walking painful. The doctors told me it could take up to two years for my body to be totally healed. Although I was recovering well, growing stronger every day and praising my Healer, evidently with the two-year anniversary date approaching the Great Physician decided it was time to bring closure to the matter. While I was sitting in my study on February 4, 2016, I experienced a supernatural encounter with the Lord when He suddenly spoke to my spirit and said, "Take up your bed and walk." I felt like lightening from heaven was going through my body, even causing me to scream. The encounter with God lasted for several seconds, and was a powerful, life-changing experience.
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