2012: Revive, Repair, Rebuild and Flourish

At the beginning of each year, I take time to seek the Lord for direction and a scripture that will describe and launch us into the next year and season. I began seeking the Lord in October around Yom Kippur about the new season that He is unfolding before the body of Christ. The scripture that He gave me as a strategic and intercessory template is Ezra 9:8-9.

Ezra 9:8-9: And now for a little while grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage. For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

Forming the Heart of David By David Townsend

Many places in scripture we see that during a time of great need, a man or woman of God appears to deliver a Word from the Lord and/or bring deliverance, seemingly out of nowhere. Their origins and/or training for the task are a mystery, and their sudden appearing like the signature of the God that sent them. John the Baptist, Gideon, many of the prophets—at first glance they all just seem to appear with no warning and immediately start doing what needs to be done. Many times, it only seems that way to the people of their time, other times they just appear in scripture, and we get no direct back-story. There is literally no word in the bible about Elijah before he appears before King Ahab and declares a drought. Moses disappeared in disgrace after murdering a man, only to re-emerge suddenly after 40 years with the boldness to confront Pharaoh to his face, and with the authority to work powerful signs of deliverance. And probably the most surprising of all, a 14-year old runt/shepherd boy named David, on an errand for his dad, ends up taking down a giant, leading the Israelite army to victory, and eventually, becoming king. Not only that, when he is finally king, he sets up kingdom that God said will never end.