Today, December 23, 2014, almost nine years later, I am sitting in my attic room, still coughing from a cold, sharing and praying with my friend Beth, about God wanting to use this painting for the 2015 calendar. This being God's kairos time to show us deeper revelations through this painting, which is that "all creations have been groaning as in childbirth"..."and the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed." (Rom. 8: 22,19) Even the beloved Christmas song, "Joy to the World" carries the words, " Joy to the world the Lord is come, let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven, and heaven and nature sing," which reveals to us that in this coming year, the year of fight, God's people are to use the weapon of praise to fight with.
I Samuel 2:1, Hannah's prayer, says, "My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance." Luke 1:47, 48, Mary says, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant." All across the world, many saints are persevering in prayer, waiting for deliverance from sicknesses, broken hearts, difficult circumstances and oppressions of long duration. This painting has been given to show us that the way to fight is to rejoice in the Lord. Jesus came to the earth to bring joy.
There is a depth in the word rejoicing. In another beloved Christmas song, "O Holy Night" we sing, "Long lay the world in sin and error pining 'Til he appeared and the soul felt its worth." That is why we can rejoice, because through Jesus our soul now feels its worth. Those words say everything. The enemy and the world and even our own thoughts tell us we are worthless, hopeless, cast out ones, failures, victims, guilty, abandoned. But those are lies. God says we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus; we are the beloved; we are the victorious ones. (Romans 8:28-39) Everything is in Christ. Not by (our) might, nor by (our) power, but by His Spirit. All He needs from us is that we stand in faith, we sing praises, we persevere in prayer, we abide in Him. He does everything else. We have to know who we are in Christ to fight. Knowing who are is our weapon. We are to use our mouth to declare who we are. The sound of our declaration is powerful. We are in tune with the word of God. We do not doubt. We take authority in Jesus' name. We speak and sing who God is in a situation, with praises on our lips.
From January of 2013 to December of 2014, prayers had gone up to the Throne Room for my cousin's son Matthew and his wife Grace, who were held in Qatar by the court for the death of their daughter Gloria, accused of murder which the court later changed to child trafficking. First it was the relatives and the churches they belong to who were praying, but by the end of this year countless people in churches and outside of churches all around the world were praying for their release. The prayers started out to be mixed with anger, anxiety, fear, but as time went by, we know the Holy Spirit has been training His bride to learn to pray with praise and rest. All the way to the end no one had the assurance that the court could ever change their sentence and release them; except in our prayers we knew God would come through, when or how we did not know. In early December, the last judge reversed the verdict of the other judges and set them free.
We who prayed persevering prayer for M & G, we are the modern bride of Christ standing before the Pacific Ocean, singing at the top of our lungs, with all nature singing with us, praising God and rejoicing in Who He is for Matthew and Grace, and for all of us. That He is able "to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!" (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Additional note from Jean - In the last two days, when a "fearful"(or so it seemed) situation of long duration loomed in my sight again, I wanted to run to the attic room to kneel in supplication before the Lord, but the Holy Spirit immediately corrected me, saying, "No! No! You are to lift your arms up high in praise to God, and do keep your head held up high, like the young woman in the 2015 calendar-word. Her posture is the stance the bride of Christ must have for the year 2015." (January 1st, 2015) The timing of the day in the painting is sunset over the Pacific Ocean, or sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. Take your pick.
note: I recommended a little book, Prison to Praise, by Merlin Carothers. "Prison" meaning prison of circumstances. www.merlincarothers.com
