December 20, 2009
The Winter is Over
In a recent prayer meeting we host every Monday in our office building, I heard these words ringing over and over in my spirit, “the winter is over.” For some time, I have been thinking about a scripture in Acts 3:19-21 that speaks of different spiritual seasons, times of refreshing and times of restoration.
This scripture says that the times of refreshing is preceded by repentance and there has been much repentance in the Body of Christ in the past years. For example, we have seen movements in our nation that have repented for various breaches in our past such as Canada’s rejection of the St. Louis, an ill fated ship of Jewish refugees that were turned back from our shores in the years prior to WWII. Many of us have also experienced times of personal repentance.
The promise that repentance leads to times (plural) of refreshing, but even more important, this leads to times of restoration. I like how Acts 3:21 reads in the Amplified Bible, “the complete restoration of all that has been spoken by the prophets in past ages”. Just like there are times and seasons in the natural, there are times and seasons in the spiritual realm that are important to the progress of the Kingdom of God.
In the natural, winter is a season of dormancy when it appears all life is gone, but it is followed by spring, the season when life bursts into fullness and everything appears new. When I heard the words, “the winter is over”, I was not speaking of the natural season, but a spiritual season.
As I shared this word those at the prayer meeting, each one began to declare scriptures that speak of winter, and there are many. One in Song of Solomon 2:10-14 says, “For lo the winter is past...” and then speaks of new life springing forth in a powerful metaphor. Another scripture that I really liked in Psalm 147:18 says this, “Then He gives the command and it all melts; He breathes on winter - suddenly it’s spring.” These and many others were declared.
I am convinced that our upcoming Unite For Dominion conference in Calgary comes at a crucial time for Canada. As we gather together January 28-30, we will assemble a prophetic company that will declare “The winter is over” and will speak forth the promise of new life about to burst forth. We need people of faith who understand the times and seasons like the sons of Issachar, who will gather with us to declare the new season and the many new things that will be birthed.
There is much more that can be said about this change of spiritual season and we will speak more of it in upcoming blogs. Please begin praying now about coming to the Unite For Dominion conference in Calgary.
