2012: The Year of God's Favor

   

        
A leap year is a year in which an extra day is added to the calendar in order to synchronize it with the natural seasons. It is a shift that moves our measurement of time into harmony with the cosmos.

In Scripture there are two kinds of time. One, kronos, is linear and measured on the calendar in days, hours, and years. The other, kairos, speaks of seasons. It is a quality of time—God’s opportune moment that is outside of our linear framework. It is the time God refers to as His “set time.” Psalm 102:3 says, “You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come.” Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son” (NIV). Kairos is the opening through which the arrow of God’s favor flies from heaven to earth and makes a shift.

This year is your spiritual leap year. God is about to shift your calendar, your circumstances, and your personal history into synch with His season of favor! This is a prophetic picture for us individually, and it is a picture of what God wants to do for His Church corporately. Don’t look at the natural circumstances or the date on your “calendar.” We are going to leap into favor in 2012.

Psalm 18:28-29, “For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.” When God’s favor comes, the impossible becomes possible. Things we can’t do in our own strength, God gives us the power to accomplish. Doors that have been shut open supernaturally. Enemies that have opposed us, scatter, and their plans for harm launch us into greater blessing. This year will be full of challenges, but we are going to see God’s people jump over every wall, and advance against every troop. As we make the LEAP, God’s power will come to bring us into clarity, prosperity, victory, and destiny. This is God’s year to act!

Part 1: Leap into Recovery

This is your kairos time to LEAP into recovery of stolen inheritance, spiritual justice, and material increase. Jacob's flocks multiply to recover all that Laban cheated him out of after God gives him a dream and showed him how to get wealth: “And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you’” (Gen. 31:12). A supernatural strategy and the favor of God gave Jacob his kairos opening to advance from servitude to prosperity and liberty.

At the same time, God dealt with Jacob's character as he had reaped something of what he had previously sown in getting Isaac's blessing, traditionally reserved for the elder brother. Not only did God prosper Jacob, He changed his identity from thief to inheritor, which had been God's intention from the beginning. After that God identified Himself as "the God of Jacob." He ordained the new man to be the father of the lineage that would forever become known by his new name, the nation of Israel. Isra-El literally means, to contend with God. Jacob's transformation is confirmed by his unrelenting faith displayed in his struggle with the Son of God, preincarnate, at the Jabbok crossing. Jacob displayed how greatly he valued the blessing and thus his nature as an heir fit to steward it.

Additionally, we see the character of Christ in him as he approaches Esau in humility. He carries an attitude of laying down his life toward his brother, thus reconciling him to himself and giving payment to seal the deal. It is therefore no surprise Song of Songs recalls that event as depicting the one that captures the affection of the king as bride. Jacob began his hero's journey in darkness, the Shulamite recognizes her own shortcomings for receiving highest favor but goes on to capture the Bridegroom’s heart. Just so, Jacob becomes the highly favored one.

Jacob’s story is a story of exile and return, a story similar to all of ours. There are days when we can all identify with Jacob the trickster, with Jacob the struggler, with Jacob the thief; grasping for things, striving for things, doing the very thing we don’t want to do. But our divine Advocate is also mercifully the divine Adversary of every shadow or kind of turning that would try to rob us, trick us, or cheat us out of our full inheritance. His favor is surrounding us like a shield.

ACTION:

“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” (Gen. 28:17).

This is your kairos moment. The gate of heaven is open for the shift from your natural abilities to God’s supernatural season of favor, blessing, and promised inheritance. He is bringing His people into their inheritance. Declare the year of God’s favor today. Declare His supernatural wisdom, strategies, and grace to prosper, increase, and return to you all the enemy has stolen. Declare your leap into favor.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you for Your Presence. Let Your Presence come as I LEAP into your super-abundant blessings for me, my family, my church, and nation. I thank you that this is the set time for return of the lands, possessions, and inheritance that have been stolen. I declare the set time of favor for my children, and grandchildren, that they would walk in the destiny You have for them. I pray for Your year of favor over America. Pour out Your Spirit that the heritage of godly foundations, blessing, liberty, and prosperity would once again define this land and people. Thank You Father for Your divine favor and justice in this coming year. Amen.

Soaking: The Key to Intimacy with God

Pursuing Intimacy with God is one of the Key Principles 

Draw Near

Intimacy with God begins when we radically pursue Him with our whole heart. King David wrote, "When You said, 'Seek My face,' my heart said to You, 'Your face, O Lord, I shall seek'" (Psalm 27:8). God invites us in James 4:8 to "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."

God is saying to us, "Seek My face! Draw near!" Our hearts are crying out, "YES!" but our flesh is screaming "NO!" The sad part is our flesh usually wins.

We are instructed in Psalm 46:10 to "Be still, and know that I am God." The wording "be still" literally means to cease from striving. It means to let go and relax, to turn down the volume of the world and listen to the quiet whisper of God.It's getting still and coming into a place of rest. It means "soaking" in His Presence. The result is that you will know He is God.

The word "know" is literally an experiential knowledge of God. It's not being still and knowing about God. It's being still and knowing God experientially. You will experience God. You will know the Presence of God. As we focus our heart, spirit, soul, mind, and body (the whole person) on His manifest Presence, we become oblivious to the natural physical world around us. The key is where your focus is – on the things of God or on things of this world. Bible reading and prayer are not enough. We must take time alone with Him, not asking for anything but more of Him, more of His fullness, more of His Presence in our everyday lives. God releases power through us as we dwell in intimacy with Him. The natural outworking of His Presence is miracles.

How to Soak in God's Presence

How do we "soak"? We soak like a sponge. Put a dry sponge in a bucket of water and slowly the water permeates the sponge. This is the same as soaking in God's Presence. The more we soak, the more we become filled with His Spirit.

I'm often asked, "What do you do in your time of seeking His Presence?" I don't have a set formula. In my life, it varies from time to time, but the basic components are as follows:

First, I go into a private room, lock the door, and get on the floor before the Lord. It doesn't matter whether you sit or lie down. What's most important is the attitude of your heart.

Second, I repent of any sin in my life and I receive God's forgiveness.

Third, I worship the Lord in both my native language (English) and in the language of the Holy Spirit.

Fourth, I do the vital prayer of Romans 6:13 that has transformed my life: "...present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

Fifth, I begin to recall experiences with the Lord (i.e., healings, miracles, provision) where He has manifested Himself in wonderful ways. This creates more of an expectancy and awareness of His Presence as I relive these times. I tell the Lord: "God, I want more of You, more of Your Presence, more of Your fullness in my life. Fill me with more of You." I may repeat this statement many times as I wait on the Lord and focus on Him.Then, I get quiet and that's when I begin to hear His voice. Many times, I begin to have visions and supernatural experiences.

The key here is learning to wait in solitude. I cannot overemphasize the importance of waiting on the Lord until I experience His manifest Presence daily. I don't come out of that private room until I have experienced His Presence.During our soaking times, we position ourselves to receive impressions, nudges, quiet whispers, pictures, angelic visitations, and supernatural revelations. Here is a partial list of what to expect:

– Dreams (Job 33:14-16; Genesis 28:10-16)
– Visions (Daniel 7:1-3,9; Acts 16:9-10)
– Trances (Acts 10:9-17, 11:5)
– Out of body experiences (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)
– Angelic visitations (Luke 1:57,11-17; Acts 12:7-10)
– Being transported in the Spirit (Acts 8:39-40)

Experiencing the true intimate Presence of the living God will radically change your life. People describe His manifest Presence in different ways. To some, it is heat, electricity, or shaking. To others, it is lightness, peace, or weeping.

Experiencing the manifest Presence is not the goal but thegateway to the supernatural realm. It's the beginning. We go into the spirit realm where we can see Him, hear His voice, walk with Him, and be empowered by Him. Isaiah 64:4 says God "acts for the one who waits for Him." The Amplified Bible states, "God...who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who [earnestly] waits for Him." He's waiting on us to wait on Him.

The Cumulative Effect

Sometimes we may feel our soaking time has been unproductive. We ask, "Is it worth it?" because we see no immediate change or benefit. I realized some time ago that there is a cumulative effect that takes place when I spend time in the manifest Presence of the Lord.

From this cumulative effect, God is making a deposit into my innermost being. As I begin to give out, that anointing flows out of the deposit He had been making all along.

We must learn to come quietly into His Presence just wanting more of Him in our lives. We need to "soak in His Presence," extracting more of His fullness into those places where we are barren. The cumulative effect of spending time with the Lord will produce an increased anointing in your life. The release of that anointing will serve as a springboard to a life of miracles.The apostle John offers Believers a mind-boggling statement in1 John 4:17 (NASB): "...as He is, so also are we in this world."

The implication of this verse is clear – Believers should be like Him. That is next to impossible without spending quality time in His manifest Presence. We will never even understand His compassionate nature for a lost and wounded humanity without regular, daily times with Him.

Conclusion

Intimacy with God is the simple means by which we access living in the miraculous. Spending time in His manifest Presence is the discipline we must develop to access all that God has for us. And, the cumulative effect is what happens in our anointing (or gifting) to function in healing or any of the supernatural.

God's timing has come for greater works to be accomplished among His people. Press in for more of God's Presence in your own life!