2012 is a year for making declarations. Twelve is the number of administration. When you administer something, you declare your intentions before you take action.
Yesterday, I had a great illustration of how God wants to move with us into 2012. Annemarie and I took 2 year old Samuel for a walk on a trail in Mukilteo. This trail starts on a broad flat area and follows a creek down the ravine towards Puget Sound. It is a nearly six-food wide swath of foot path cut through the thick Northwest forests and covered with a dense layer of fallen leaves. At the top of the trail, a sign warns walkers to use the trail at their own risk because it can be quite slippery after a rainfall.
Now trains mesmerize Samuel. He loves Thomas the train. What’s more, he talks about tunnels and gates all the time! Yesterday was no different. He chose to walk along the side of the trail, in the ditch, (one of his favorite words). Every time a branch or a fern would extend over his chosen pathway, he would say, “Memaw, open the gate.” I would come alongside and pull back the offending branch or fern. All the way to the bottom of the ravine, he requested my assistance in opening gates. All the way back up to the top, it was “Memaw, open the gate.”
I kept noticing how he walked right up to sword ferns and would say, “Open the gate.” By the end of the walk he had started opening his own gates and moving the offending swords out of his way.
This morning as I looked at Isaiah 45, I saw a picture of what Samuel was demonstrating yesterday. Even this little boy, who has been prayed over and claimed as a spokesman for his generation, is speaking prophetically.
In Isaiah 45 God speaks to Cyrus calling him “anointed.” He says that he will take Cyrus’ right hand. I did that, too, yesterday, taking Samuel’s little hand as we walked through muddy bottomlands and around potentially treacherous areas.
God promised to take Cyrus’ hand to subdue nations through him and strip kings before him. Why? –“To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut.” In verse two there is more talk of breaking down gates!
Why? Verse three explains—so that God can give Cyrus “treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places. Dr. Dan Hammer shared that in the original language this means that the ancient trade routes would be discovered and opened. Why? So that Cyrus and the rest of the world will know that God is God!
As you continue to read this chapter you will find declaration after declaration. In verse 21, the command is given “Declare what it to be, present it—let them take counsel together.”
If it’s going to be, it’s up to me—to declare it!
So you tell me what’s ahead for 2012? Are you going to just take what comes or are you going to get a picture of how things are in heaven and begin to declare them in the earth realm?
Marlee Huber ~ Advocating for Your Flourishing Life!