The 123 season

Psalm 123 Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the Lord our God, Until He has mercy on us. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scorn of those who are at ease, With the contempt of the proud. It’s a 123 season. Many times, I have seen this number combination on a clock, billboard, or license plate. Every time I see it there is an excitement as if something fresh was about to begin. For me 123 is the essence of Get Ready, Get Set, and Go. This word from the Lord to me comes with an expectation that something new is about to begin - like a new door is going to open or a new feeling in my life is about to emerge. It is a springtime number or a new beginnings number. Many of us have been prophesying for a long time that there is coming a revival to the nations that will be unprecedented. The Prophet Bob Jones died in the 1970’s and had an encounter with heaven before the Lord sent him back to his body. While he was in heaven, the Lord told him that He was sending Bob back to the earth so he could help prepare the generation that He would use to bring in the ONE BILLION SOUL HARVEST. It seems that the Christian voice is the minority voice in North America, so to prophesy reformation and revival in the face of the Antichrist spirit of our time can be draining, (especially since many of us have been doing so for more than 20 years). There are times when I stand and a spirit of prophesy comes upon me and I begin to declare that REFORMATION IS COMING. If I am to be honest with you, (and I know no other way) sometimes I feel conflicted doing this. This prophecy, which I declare and form by faith, over the dry bones of modern man, doesn’t seem to be coming to pass. I feel like a motorcyclist who is using the kick start but it doesn’t seem to be working. But God has convinced me that he is real. He has convinced me that he can do anything he says that he is going to do. When God speaks what he says will come to pass. Even though we may grow frustrated we just have to continue to wait upon the master’s hand. Psalm 123 (written above) is very interesting to me. It seems to be about the merging of anticipation and waiting. The servant may have to wait a long time but the master is the master. The servant’s function is to serve. He/she has no choice but to wait. That is their job; and just because the servant is waiting, doesn’t mean the master will move any more quickly. The master moves when he wishes. We must be there when he wishes us to serve. It is in the waiting, that we truly become servants. The servant must serve when the master is present and when he isn’t present. The promise is that because we are servants, we will always have something precious to do for the King. However, the servant that grows weary and leaves his/her post, isn’t a good servant, because sometimes service is more about waiting than anything else. We are not the masters of our own fate or the captain of our own destinies. This function in our lives belongs to the King. He is gracious and loving, and brings us into fullness, but we must wait for our times and seasons. The generation that we live in will not be passed by. Yet we, who are born to intercede and declare, must continue to do so until we see the harvest. I want to be found faithful like Anna, the prophetess. Luke 2:36-38 “Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Virgins were often married at about 15 or 16 years of age in Ancient Israel. Some say that they were betrothed (or promised in marriage) as early as 12 years of age, although they would wait longer to consummate the marriage. If Anna was married at 16, she would have been a widow by 23. For over 60 years, she potentially fasted and prayed for the coming of the Messiah. The Lord impressed upon her that she would actually see his coming. She did not give up, although one wonders if she ever waivered in her longing. The infant child in her arms was the consummation of Anna’s longing. She held him in her oldest years. She only held the promise. She most likely did not see him become a man. She did not likely see him on the cross or his resurrection. She beheld the promise and believed in heart. There is something about the word of the Lord in our heart that keeps us from wavering in the waiting. When we have heard his voice, it convinces us of the truth of that which is spoken. And so, even while we wait for the consummation of the promise, we do so because he convinces us that what he said would happen. When God speaks, what he says is done in his mind. God has all of time in his hands. There is no wrestling within the mind of God with what is in the beginning and what is in the end. When he says that it will come to pass, it is like he is saying “IT HAS COME TO PASS.” His gaze just stretches a little further along than our own. Perhaps you have heard him speak a promise. Maybe you have even heard that revival is coming to the nations. I declare that in the waiting, you shall be refreshed. He will speak again. You will be found faithful in the temple when he appears. You are stronger than you think. Keep going, keep pursuing, keep the faith. ​Blessings, Darren