When Your Back's Against the Wall
With the coming of Rosh Hashanah we have passed from the Hebrew year 5777 to the Hebrew year 5778. It is time to ask what God has in store for you next? What is this new season that you have entered into and what can you expect from it? This is a time to reflect on what has been and to seek out what is to come. It is more than a new year, it is a trigger to launch you into a new phase of your destiny and release a new portion of your anointing.
Many referred to the Hebrew year 5777 as the year of the Ruling Sword. This imagery comes predominantly from the final number, 7, in the Hebrew year. Keep in mind that in the Hebrew alphabet, numbers are directly represented by letters and the number 7 is represented by the letter zayin. Zayin represents and somewhat has the appearance of a crowned sword, thus the idea that 5777 was a year to fight for your inheritance and step into the authority you carry as a child of God. As we have shifted to the Hebrew year 5778, it is considered by many to be the year of the Open Door. This imagery also comes predominantly from the final number, 8, in the Hebrew year. Eight is represented by the Hebrew letter chet. Chet in modern Hebrew represents and has the general appearance of a doorway.
As I prayed about this "new" year, the Lord began to speak to me about where the church is and where she is going. Many of you have fought hard for your inheritance during the past year (and even longer). You have felt as though your feet have been plunging deep into the mud of life and you have struggled to muster the strength to pull them free from its grip and move forward. It is exciting for you to hear the that the fight (Zayin, 7, Ruling Sword) is over and the open door (Chet, 8, Open Door) is before you. In response to this, I simply hear the Lord saying, "As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good." 1 Thessalonians 3:13 Truly the battle has been long and hard and it is drawing to a conclusion as we enter into the open door, but do not loose heart in what you see before you.
In the ancient, pictographic Hebrew alphabet, the chet looked quite different. Instead of appearing as a image of the Open Door it was considered the symbolism of a tent wall. Consider this imagery, for many of you have fought hard only to find yourself having not reached your inheritance, but only coming to what seems to be a dead end where you path is blocked by the "tent wall". Do not loose heart. Things are not as they seem to your natural mind. Instead, this is a time and season to view things with your spiritual eyes and enter into the Presence of the Lord through the supernatural opportunities He has placed before you. Remember that when the high priest spent a great deal of time preparing in the Outer Court of the Tabernacle only to enter the Inner Court and find his way blocked by a tremendous veil (or tent wall) that separated him from the Holy of Holies. It was not his labor to prepare himself nor his battle to overcome the obstacles he had faced that allowed him to enter into the Most Holy Place, but rather it was the invitation of the Father and the supernatural means that He provided that made the way. As he passed through the veil to enter the Holy of Holies, the very wall that had hindered him became the doorway that ushered him in. Last year you took up the sword, but this year you are moving into place to behold the veil. What others see as a barrier, you can see as a doorway.
This is a year that may hold more challenges, but they are not the obstacles that they seem. The very walls you face are the doors to His presence that you have been seeking. Do not be discouraged and do not grow weary, but rather press forward and press into His presence. This is a year to seek His face (Psalm 27:8) and when you seek Him, He will be found (Isaiah 55:6, Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 7:7). Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding - Proverbs 3:5. What your eyes see and what your ears hear and what your mind perceives may deceive you and push you toward a state of despair but remember that God does not see things the way you do and His ways are higher than yours (Isaiah 55:8), so that what you perceive as a wall, God has actually set before you as a door.
As I continued to pray into the coming year, the Lord drew me to the Strong's Concordance Hebrew Word 5778. The word found at that reference point is actually a Hebrew name - Owphay (or Ephai as translated in the KJV), the Netophathite whose sons were among those who returned to Israel after their deportation to Babylon. Both Ezra adn Nehemiah report that a group of men from Netophah (sons of Owphay/Ephai) returned from exile with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:22, Nehemiah 7:26). The Lord is continuing to speak to you about the coming year out of the two potential meanings of this name. Strong's indicates that the name means "birdlike", while Browns-Driver-Briggs indicates that it means "gloomy". You have a choice this year in how you perceive what is before you - is it a wall or a doorway - and in how your respond to it - will you rise up like the eagle you were created to be or will you grow weary from the warfare and descend into the state of gloom and doom that the enemy seeks to entrap you with?
You have fought for your destiny - now it is time to enter in and take possession of it!
To view the video of the release of this word at the King's Way Sunday service on September 24, as posted by The Elijah List click here or watch below:
