Saturday morning after milking I went to take care of the nursing cows and their babies. Some challenges our family has been facing on the farm were weighing heavily on us that morning, but I recognized the oppressive evil spirit that sought to enslave me (us) to fear and discouragement. There is great power in our minds to either agree or refute the apparent power of spirits like these. As I rode my bicycle down the road on the way to the pasture I suddenly realized the battle going on for my mind, and I said "no!" I'm going to sing and praise Jesus! So I did, starting to sing of my love and need for Him. Then I started thinking again about a friend's vision of an unbelievably huge angel standing guard on our farm. I voiced the words "HUGE ANGEL!" a couple times, and then suddenly I found myself saying over and over again, "Blow the trumpet in Zion!!" Now, I figured that was in the bible somewhere, but that's not the kind of phrase that I would just conjure up from my own mind randomly, so I was pretty sure the Lord was inviting me to discover and be a part of something. When I got back to the barn I looked up and found that this phrase, "Blow the trumpet in Zion", occurs twice in the book of Joel 2. Verses 1 and 15.
Verse 1 says, "Blow a trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the day of the LORD is coming;
Surely it is near..."
Verse 15 says, "Blow a trumpet in Zion,
Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly..."
The whole chapter is very powerful, so I encourage you to read the verses before, between, and after as well! When I told Mom and Dad about what had just happened, Dad told me that as he was coming down the road to milk that morning, Jason and Kathy were leaving for the market, and Kathy told him she'd awakened early that morning and to read Zechariah 9:11-17. He read it to me. Again, there is much to unpack in the whole passage, but this was verse 14:
Then the LORD will appear over them,
"And His arrow will go forth like lightning;
And the Lord GOD will blow the trumpet,
And will march in the storm winds of the south."
Since then, I've been reading other verses which speak of blowing the trumpet. There were different types of occasions which warranted it, such as war, anointing a king, warning of coming judgment, announcing the feasts...the Hebrew word used in Joel 2:1 for "sound an alarm" is ru-ah, spelled resh vav ayin. Not only is it used to mean sounding the battle cry or sounding the alarm, but also as a shout of joy, triumph, or jubilation! There is so much joy in the presence of God, but since all our righteousness is as filthy rags, His manifest presence leaves us undone...He's out to kill every false identity within us so that we can return to and live out of our original design! It's a wonderful and terrible thing to fall into the hand of the Living God, and the stripping away of our fleshly nature may seem a painful process, but it is so worth it. It's really hard to kill a dead man (or woman). I believe the more dead we are to the sin nature, the more invincible we can become against the powers of darkness. Not that he won't try, but if I know who and Whose I am, nothing can touch me without the permission of the Great I AM. "He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him..."
This morning I followed a link for a call to prayer in and for our nation by Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz for 7 days starting today. The first thing I read was this:
Blow the trumpet…sound the alarm…for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand-- Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God… ~Joel 2:1, 13
Do I think God is speaking? You can bet your bottom dollar on that! Join us in praying this week, and fasting for 7 hours of your choosing next Monday the 7th. Seven is an important number to God. The Hebrew number/letter, zayin, means "involvement with God, sustenance, and Sabbath." Let us involve ourselves in what moves His heart, watch Him sustain us, and find our Sabbath rest in Him. Amen.
http://www.annegrahamlotz.com/events/urgent-call-to-prayer/
