A Season of Comprehensive Victory

If you've ever really gone after something that you desired deeply, you know the mental, emotional and financial toll the pursuit can take on you, especially when you don't arrive at your 'destination' within the time-frame of your expectations. 
 

This process of a 'dream pursuit' can be an exhaustive journey and can leave you in a depleted condition at certain seasons.  I call this dynamic 'the process of being in an exhaustive journey'.  One of the great frustrations of being in the process of an exhaustive journey is the totality of the toll it can take on your resources.

I wrote about this dynamic last week and I want to develop this concept further, shifting your focus in a direction that I believe will encourage you on an intuitive level and empower you to experience a recovery of your expectation level.

'You've been in the process of an exhaustive journey but you're positioned on the brink of a comprehensive victory'
 

Last week I wrote about Israel's pursuit of the Moabites in 2 Kings 3 and they're subsequent lack of water.  Today I want to shift your focus toward something dynamic that Elisha spoke concerning Israel's immediate future while they faced a serious empowerment deficit.

In 2 Kings 3:19 he told Israel that they would utterly destroy Moab's defensed cities and their most important, prosperous cities.  He also revealed that they would absolutely destroy Moab's ability to come back against them any time soon.  They were literally going to annihilate Moab's ability to continue defying them.  The absolute rout of Moab by Israel's army speaks of a Season of Comprehensive Victory.

Moab reflects some 'Destiny-Defying' dynamics that rise up to block your entrance into a bigger, better season!

Elisha's word to Israel was that God was releasing them into a season of comprehensive victory over Moab, their 'defying enemy'. 

Moab had historically been a defying enemy of Israel, dating back to when Israel was positioned to cross over into the Promised Land.  At the very season when they were stepping into their destiny, Moab rose up to defy them (see Numbers 23:7).

Elisha declared that though Israel's army was positioned in a place where they lacked the empowerment they needed to move forward (they were without water for their army and animals) God was going to release a dimension of empowerment to them that would birth a season of comprehensive victory.

  You're going to 'Recover your Victory Pattern'

A 'victory pattern' is the track record of achievement, accomplishment and success that you possess from previous seasons.  It speaks to your having achieved goals, overcome obstacles, defeated enemies and attained some desired outcomes.  A victory pattern simply means that you have historical evidence of achieving victories and creating successes in spite of your failures, limitations, obstacles and yet-to-be realized dreams.

Each of us has a victory pattern.  These are the definitive accomplishments, breakthroughs and successes that God has given us at some point.

Though each of us has a victory pattern in our lives there are some seasons where we seem to 'lose it' and we seem to be incapable of duplicating the successes of previous seasons.  In that place we discover that old victories are insufficient to change present realities.  We then struggle to recover our victory pattern due a defying lack of empowerment.

We all walk through that season where it seems like we've lost our victory pattern and we struggle to get it back.  Indeed, this is exactly where Israel was because they used to dominate Moab, yet they were having to pursue the very enemy they used to have authority and victory over.  Can you relate?
 

'Have you been in a season where it seems like you're incapable of winning?' 

By 'incapable of winning' I'm talking about your having seemingly lost the ability to create desired outcomes, overcome obstacles and enemies, reach goals, achieve successes and attain victories over the defying dynamics that are blocking your progress and resisting your dreams. 

If so, you need to know that 'where you are' is not forever.  Every season must change.  You will recover your victory pattern.

Elisha's word to the king of Israel was that the resources God was releasing would empower them to 'recover their victory pattern'.  Moab would not be able to stand before them and Israel would achieve a comprehensive victory.  They were about to move in a dimension of Divine unstoppability!

Perhaps you're in an exhausted state right now, not knowing how you're going to get through it or where your breakthrough is coming from.  I'm writing to encourage you that your exhaustive journey is merely the setup to a season of comprehensive victory.

As God begins moving again in your situation, and believe me He is going to move for you, you'll discover new resources where you've been experiencing some serious, defying deficits.   

Divine reinforcements are being released in your direction

Change and empowerment are coming to every level of your life.  You're going to drink from the waters of recovery and you'll be empowered to step into a season of comprehensive victory.

These Divine resources that fill up where you've been 'empty' will serve to re-energize, reinvigorate and refocus you in the right direction.  Indeed, you're recovering the relentless focus that you've had in previous seasons.  You're emerging from your exhaustive journey in a posture of Divine empowerment and being released to a season of achieving some comprehensive victories.  In the process you're going to recover your sense of confidence and identity and you're going to discover new dimensions of a brand new you!
 

'It's time for your defying deficits and dynamics to succumb to your success season'

The very things you've lost on your exhaustive journey are being restored to you.  Your victory pattern (accomplishment, achievement and successes) is recovering and you're entering a new season of effectiveness.  You will move forward from this season into an unprecedented level of achievement as old enemies become your new victories. 

Your crisis is the context of a miraculous comeback and you're recovering your victory pattern!

The Power of a Prophetic Perspective

I'm sure you've learned by now that the walk of faith is no ordinary trip.  If you're anything like me, there are just some seasons where you wish there wasn't so much excitement!

While I don't know 'where' you are at this season, I do know that we all experience similar seasons at one point or another.  That said, I want to share some things with you today that the Lord has been opening up to me regarding a prophetic paradigm for many at this season.

While many have been in an extreme season of challenge, difficulty and lack, I write today to release the truth that God's got a plan to attack your lack with His abundance and to turn your season around.

The Power of a Prophetic Perspective

Have you ever sensed that you were close to a significant breakthrough only to find yourself stuck in a situation that sought to defy your exit from an old season?

2 Kings chapter 3 gives us a biblical scenario for this dynamic and is a paradigm of truth that reveals keys of deliverance that will shift you out of your breakthrough-defying limitations.

The Word says that when King Ahab died, the nation of Moab rebelled against Israel's authority.  During Ahab's reign, Moab had been subject to Israel's authority and supported Ahab financially as a tax base.  During the transition from Ahab's administration to his son Jehoram's reign, the king of Moab perceived an opportunity to defy Israel's authority. 

Moab's rebellion represents ' an enemy's attack against your financial resources, your revenue streams and your supply lines'.
 
Transition Invites Enemy Activity
When you're transitioning from one season to another your enemy will perceive you as vulnerable and will attempt to defy your authority.  You will also discover that when you're in a transition there'll be an attack against your 'resources, revenue streams and supply lines'.

Moab's rebellion speaks of an authority-defying dynamic where an enemy you've had victory over rises against you in a time of transition in order to defy you and hit you with loss.

Get the symbolism here. 

In times of transition your enemy will perceive you as weak, vulnerable, inadequate and incapable.  While you're dealing with the dynamics of the things that are shifting on you, your enemy will seek an advantage against you. 

The Word tells us that the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom formed an alliance to overthrow the Moabite rebellion and began a 'Pursuit Cycle'.

As the kings pursued Moab, the 9th verse says '...they turned in a circle and went seven day's journey...'.

The phrase 'turned in a circle of seven day's journey' reflect something deeper than just the route they took to fight Moab.   

Emerging from a lengthy 'Pursuit Cycle'

In the Word, the number 'seven' always reflects that a cycle is being completed.  Simply stated, 'seven' represents 'completion'; that something is coming to an end and that something new is about to begin.

That this strategic positioning occurred at the end of their seven day journey reflects that they were in a Divine shift, that they were emerging from their 'pursuit cycle' and that God was birthing a new season of victory and recovery.

If you look at a map you'll see that Moab was due east of Israel, across the Jordan river.  Conventional wisdom suggests they should have taken the direct route to Moab.  Instead, the strategy of that season positioned them in a longer journey, south of Judah into the desert south of the Dead Sea, then east and back north.  In other words, it took longer than it could have to get where they were going!

My point here is that many have been in a 'Pursuit Cycle' only to discover that the closer they 'sense' they are to getting to their intended outcomes, the farther away their intended outcomes seem to be.

I write today to those of you who feel frustrated, as though your breakthrough is just beyond your reach and your pursuit cycle has not turned out like you planned.  In fact, you're wondering why He's taking you the long way to get to the place, state and condition of your recovery.

Indeed, many of you feel as though it's taking a lot longer than it should to get where you are going!

You may feel like your breakthrough's been delayed but I write to tell you that you are indeed emerging out of your pursuit cycle and long-awaited victories are directly in front of you.

An Emergency at the Brink of a Divine Emergence

To further complicate their situation, the Word says that when they got to the end of their seven days' journey they had no water.  As they were emerging from their pursuit cycle and were closer than they'd ever been to achieving their intended outcome, they were confronted by a significant complication:  they were an army with no water.
Are you in the place where your journey has exhausted your resources and depleted your ability to make war?

It's essential for you to see the paradigm their story reveals.  On the brink of victory they lacked the basic levels of empowerment they needed to win their war.

Have you discovered that there are certain seasons when you know you're on the brink but you're battling a lack of empowerment?  How do you handle it when you know you serve the 'God of more than enough' but in the real-time dynamics of your life you're wrestling with 'not enough'?

The key to breaking through is to recognize that prophetic solutions, not present conditions are what shape your outcomes!

When they discovered their dilemma, panic set in the heart of Israel's king and he envisioned an outcome of defeat.

Jehoshaphat, king of Judah had another idea.  Jehoshaphat knew that a prophetic perspective could shape their outcome differently than the limitation that defied them.  They sought an audience with the prophet Elisha and when told their dilemma, Elisha released a prophetic word that broke through their limited perspective and released a miracle flow of water that was more than what they needed.  Indeed, the prophetic perspective opened up a realm that released the waters of recovery.

Elisha declare that in spite of their lack, the very place where they were limited would become a limitless supply of what they needed.  He told them to 'make the valley full of trenches' because God was going to fill it with water from an unseen resource.  The word 'valley' means 'a place where water had flowed in a previous season'.  It was literally a dried up river bed.

I want you to read that last paragraph again closely, then look at 2 Kings 3:17.  
In other words, you're going to experience a Divine release that restores your flow so that your rut will become a reservoir of Divine empowerment!

Elisha told them that God was giving them a miracle from an Unseen, Uncommon resource.  He qualified that God was going to do something miraculous to break the back of lack but that there would be no 'natural evidence' that they could hear, feel or see to signal that a miracle breakthrough was headed their way. 

I want to release that word into your life today.  God's about to release things in your direction that you didn't see coming.  He's got resources where you see restrictions and His prophetic perspective is shifting the dynamics where you are. 

Don't worry about 'where' and 'how' it's going to happen, just get something in your hand and make room for God to move where you are!
 
'Tell my people that I see that the 'Way things are Where they are is not Enough'.

The Holy Spirit breathed that word into my spirit yesterday and I want to release it into your life today.

He's Filling Your War Treasury 

Because water represents hydration, energy and empowerment, in this context the water is a prophetic paradigm for the believer's War Treasury.  A War Treasury is simply the built up resources  one needs to make war effectively so as to emerge victoriously. 

Without this basic element being Divinely released, their War Treasury was empty.  God's filling it with more than enough speaks prophetically of a Divine resourcing of your war treasury that's going to empower you with everything you need to emerge from your warfare with a comprehensive victory.

I write today to tell you that you're emerging victorious out of your pursuit cycle and the Lord's not going to leave you empty on the brink of victory only to be defied by the lack that's mocked you.

Timing is Everything
The last key we must embrace is the exact time when the water showed up. 

Not only did God release what the prophet had decreed was coming, but we're also told when the water came.

Verse 20 says 'And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom and the country was filled with water'.
Pay attention to the phrase 'in the morning' because with God, timing is everything. 

The Hebrew day began at sundown, not midnight or sunrise.  This is important because God released the 'Waters of Recovery' when they were literally emerging from the darkness of a night season.

I know by the Spirit of God that many of you have been enduring the darkness of night seasons.  You've battled with 'whether or not' you correctly heard from God as your response to His Voice long ago set you in a pursuit cycle.  As you've pursued you've exhausted your resources and now you feel like you've been left empty at the brink. 

To complicate matters, you've descended into a night season where it looks like the darkness owns you.  You carried a word from God that at one time birthed great clarity and vision within you, only to discover that as time has passed you're ability to see clearly has dwindled and disappeared.

The truth is that you've just been cycling through the three phases of a night season.  Every night season has three distinct phases, listed as follows:

• The Time of Declining Light- your ability to see clearly diminishes
• The Time of Dominating Darkness- you're surrounded by darkness
• The Time of Dawning Discovery - you emerge from darkness into newness

Because the biblical day begins at the Time of Declining Light (when the sun sets), we actually begin our 'new day' by entering a period where shadows grow longer and sight grows dimmer.  This creates confusion because we know we've entered a new time yet the shadows grow in our lives until darkness surrounds us.

I don't need to tell you the difficulties of a night season.  What I must remind you however is that the darkness is merely a phase of the night season; that it must succumb to vision's recovery.   Darkness must surrender to newness because it's part of the cycle.

That God released the waters of recovery at the very time they were emerging from the shadows of their night season was prophetically strategic for you and me.

In your night season, what looks to be a 'pathetic condition' gets revealed as a 'prophetic position' when you emerge into your Time of Dawning Discovery. 

You are indeed emerging victorious from your pursuit cycles and your night seasons.  The Lord has ordered your steps and your position at this season is no accident. 

Make no mistake: your dilemma is significant but it is absolutely no match for the God of No Limits! Somewhere in your limitation He's commanded a release of Divine Saturation and things are filling up where you are.

No situation's going to confine you.  No limitation's going to define you.  Your lack is being swallowed up in Divine release and you're going to rout your enemy in this next season.

You're coming out of that!

Stay Connected,
Pastor Howard