On the morning of January 1st, 2019, I awoke and looked at my phone to see the time. It was 4:44 am. When I saw this, something quickened in my spirit and I knew I needed to pray and pay attention to what the Lord desired to say.

The number four Biblically represents a demarcation point in creation. On the fourth day the sun, moon, and stars were created, separating day from night and providing light for both. There are also four separate seasons in a year providing a demarcation of changes throughout each year. The fourth commandment is to rest and honor the Sabbath, which is a demarcation in time each week, where we go from active work to focused rest.

This new year (2019) is a demarcation year that signals a time and season, shift or change. It is also a year that God will reveal great light in the day and great light in the night (darkness). His light comes from the place of His perfect love, and perfect love cast out fear. Fear of darkness will be met by the light of His perfect love, and that love will cast our fears that have gripped the hearts of so many.

A Time of Rolling Away the Stone

Immediately upon waking on 1/1/2019 at 4:44, I went to my Bible and opened it. As I did, the Spirit asked me to look down and read the page that I had opened to. These are the first words that I read in 2019:

“Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach (captivity/slavery) of Egypt from you.’ So the place has been called Gilgal to this day. On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.” (Joshua 5:9-12 emphasis mine)

In the Hebrew language, Gilgal means “circle of stones.” We see the “reproach of Egypt” (captivity) rolled away just as the stone was rolled away from the tomb of Jesus when He was resurrected. Light suddenly emerged out of darkness; both the darkness of captivity and the darkness of the tomb. Both events are “demarcation” moments that changed history by rolling away a stone.

Joshua 5:9-12 also speaks of leaving a forty-year time of wilderness living, where the Israelites survived on daily manna for their provision rather than the fruits and harvest of the Promised Land. Suddenly manna was no longer needed and the Israelites enjoyed their first meal from the crops of Canaan. This marked the end of the time of manna, stagnation, and wilderness survival; they were moving into the land of their inheritance.Though there were many enemies occupying their land, as they kept the Lord’s commands and instructions, they would overthrow their enemies in order to possess and occupy their promise.

I truly believe that this is a picture of the time that we have now entered. We have crossed over and are having our hearts circumcised. The time of being idle has come to a close and the reproach of captivity is suddenly rolled away. We are getting our first tastes of the riches of Canaan.

The Old Must Pass Away

The Body of Christ is being asked to walk forward as one people; one family that follows all of the Lord’s commands and instructions. In doing this we will conquer enemies, tear down strongholds, and occupy lands of long-awaited promises.

The rewards and victories ahead are remarkable and yet we must be sober to the truth that the penalty for not following His ways and instructions will be costly. We must walk as one army, as one family, without jostling for position or moving according to the flesh. This is why it is imperative to allow the circumcision of our hearts to take place as we enter this new season.

The old must pass away and we must all ascend the mountain of the Lord together to meet God face-to-face. There, we will receive wisdom and instructions of how to proceed while coming daily into intimacy and nurturing His presence.
“Then he said to Him, ‘If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.’ So the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.'” (Exodus 33:15-17)

As we meet with God and follow His instructions, our enemies will be struck with fear as they see the miracles and victories that the Lord will do through His people.

Scriptures for the Time and Season We Are Entering

I conclude with a number of Scripture verses that the Lord has highlighted to me for this time and season. I encourage you to read them, pray into them, and carry them with you in your heart and mind:

“Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: ‘The days go by and every vision comes to nothing’? Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel.’ Say to them, ‘The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled.'” (Ezekiel 12:22-23)

“I am the LORD your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them…” (Ezekiel 20:19)

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)

“For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do – to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him – then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.” (Deuteronomy 11:22-25)

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:5-9)

Take time to meditate on these verses. His Word is the lamp that lights the way of our paths ahead. Let us hold fast to His written and spoken words as we move forward to possess the land.