by Steve Ary
At the beginning of the year, the Lord gave me two very simple words for the Body of Christ for the year ahead of us. The first of those words I wrote about in last month’s issue of The VIP, and that word was Rest.
Enter Into His Rest
I explained that this is a Biblical Shemitah year in which we are called to let the land rest from planting, watering, cultivating, and harvesting. I explained that the Shemitah was put into place by God so that the land would not be sucked dry of all of its nutrients, but rather if given the proper rest, in the years of labor it would bear much fruit.
Likewise, it is when God has commanded us to rest, to let our bodies, our minds, our emotions, and our spirits rest. If we are disobedient to His commands, we will pour all of our energy into things which are fruitless. We will find that we are exhausted from the fight, whether external or internal. We will find that by the end of the next several years, much of our labor was for nothing. Wasted time, wasted energy, and wasted focus will rob us of the kingdom fruit we are called to bear… kind of like what many of us have been experiencing over the last two years already – fruitless toil and struggle with the bitter residue of regret (perhaps the fruits of the last ignored Shemitah).
Our focus was pulled away from what God is doing, and placed upon the societal conflicts, issues and agendas that our spiritual enemy would use to divide and distract God’s people. Many, if not all of us, slipped into agreement with worldly influences and influencers throughout the Covid years, we have found ourselves in frustration, agitation, depression, desperation, cynicism, and isolation.
But God is calling us back to that place of rest… not lounging about doing nothing, not sleeping in everyday, or binge watching more of your favorite Netflix shows… but a place of rest that can only be found in His anointing. So long as the Spirit of God is flowing freely through you for the purpose of helping others and all the while expanding His kingdom, even our work is from a place of rest. Even if we pray for people from sunrise to midnight every day as we run into them in public places… even if we stand on the street corner, preaching for sixteen hours a day… even if we teach Intimacy with God classes to people every waking hour… we can enter and dwell in His rest… because in Him is peace… because in Him is joy… and in Him is hope.
He is calling us away from focusing on the chaos around us, and calling us to manifest His glory into the chaos around us. He is calling us into positions of influence within His kingdom, and He will use us in those positions to bring transformation from His kingdom to the Earth on a large scale.
That’s our mission. He is calling us to separate ourselves from the order of the world, to stop conforming to this world, and to position ourselves as the Ambassadors of Heaven He has called us to be… transforming the darkness with His glory, His anointing, His presence, and with His kingdom fruit. Anything that distracts us from the mission is not from God.
And as long as we are fulfilling our mission and His anointing is flowing through us into others, we will be entering into that place of rest… a place where we do not strive with the world, but rather, transform it.
Time for Expectation
The second word the Lord gave me for the year ahead is Expectation. He showed me that we must operate in faith beyond what we are accustomed to practicing, a hope greater than wishing for something you may or may not receive, and a knowing that God is even now answering our prayers that we have yet to see the answers to and even forgotten that we ever prayed them.
He hasn’t forgotten them, and this is the year, if we are obedient, we will see beyond what we have asked of Him come to fulfillment right before our eyes.
New leaders will rise up seemingly out of nowhere. New books will be published. New inventions will be created. New relationships built. New businesses started. Financial abundance will come. Dreams will be fulfilled. Families will be restored. And prodigals will come home… IF we are obedient.
Deuteronomy 28 is a great chapter which reveals conditional promises of God based on the obedience of His people. If we are obedient, we will see His promises manifest for us this year. And He will… like never before, He will. And you will say, “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
God will provide for His ambassadors. You see, in John 17:14, Jesus says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” This means that essentially, this is not our home, that we are just passing through, and that we are aliens on this planet. Alien Superheroes with miraculous power flowing through our veins. We have a mission to accomplish. We belong to Heaven. We represent Heaven… and thus, Heaven must provide for us all the things we need on this Earth to accomplish Heaven’s mission through us.
Now, I know that we have all suffered lack, but I’m telling you, don’t look back at the lack this year. Look forward to provision. Look forward to providence. Look forward to all of your prayers being answered this year because the timing is finally upon us. And don’t just look forward to it, expect it.
What God is showing me is that for those who truly expect Him to answer their prayers this year, He will. But for those who do not expect… well… there are more lessons to be learned.
In fact, a little Biblical research will tell you that expectation is far more than hope mixed with a little excitement, rather it denotes a pictogram, a word picture of someone tying themselves to something afar off and slowly but steadily pulling the rope as they move forward, expecting to receive, obtain or accomplish that object, never untying or cutting that rope due to difficulty or the passing of time, but steadily gaining ground toward that object until it is theirs.
That object for you is God’s promises, your answered prayers, even the fulfillment of prophetic words spoken into your life. And they are yours… this year… but only if you expect them to happen. And why would you expect them to happen this year instead of any other year? Because (whether you believe it or not) God said so, that’s why.
So be obedient. Rest in His anointing. And Expect Him to come through like never before.
Oh, and one more thing – It takes strength and courage to believe and expect something to happen that you’ve never seen before, so be strong and of good courage! Rak Chazak, you faith walkers, Rak Chazak!
