Dog Days of Summer

Today finds me, unfortunately, pounding down the track into the home stretch of summer 2017. I won’t be trite and say ‘where did the year go…?’ but I know it’s what we’re all thinking. Time just steams along, but it seems to evanesce especially quickly from April to September. You have to hold each day and savor it slowly, like the taste of a perfectly ripe peach. Let the sweet, sticky juice drip down your fingers.

The year is more than half over, but it occurs to me that the back end of August is the perfect moment to consider its promises once again. There’s something about lethargic stillness of these last dog days that makes them prime for reflection. Actually, it’s the calm before the storm. The shift of September is much like the New Year; it constitutes a definite marker of beginning. All the school terms crank up to full speed, and the entire tempo of life changes, even if you don’t have school-aged children or attend university. We’re all sucked into the vortex which only seems to increase in speed as it culminates into Christmas.

Every New Year, I ask the Lord for a prophetic word to set my sights towards a pristine, new season. The year brims with expectation, and I want to be in the groove of what the Lord has planned for it. Many Christians do this, or research what more famous prophetic voices are putting out there. It gives us hope and direction. Some of the words are a little two-edged: you’ve got to take the difficult with the good. Time reveals their mixed character and fulfillment. I’ve already shared in a previous blog that the Lord told me it was going to be a year for the Bezelels (master craftsmen and builders) to have a field-day. Something of their training has come to fulfillment and manifestation. Creativity is abounding, especially of the anointed variety. I’ve seen this unfold for me personally in the creation and launch of my webpage, and my ongoing writing. I can still feel that intense creative flow, and I’ve jumped right in. It’s a year to build, even amidst the rubble heaps of old institutions going down.

There were several other powerful words I’m rejoicing over. Psalm 84:11 was electric. ‘No good thing does He withhold from them that walk uprightly’. I sense a loosing of excellent, choice portions that have been restrained from the life of believers. They were withheld because it was a season of discipline and training. Once finished, the graciousness and goodness of the Lord will pour out on them in an unprecedented way. There will be spiritual ‘fatness’ and satisfaction as we actively witness the providence of God (Psalms 63:5-7, Ps 36:8, Ps 65:11). We will stand and look at things we have waited a long time for (Isaiah 33:20).

More pointedly, it will also be the year we see the ‘governors and tutors’ and others in authority that have been so much a part of our training removed from the equation. This is the year we cut out the middlemen. Major hindrances and stumbling blocks will dissolve harmlessly out of the path of the God-chasers. The ‘full time’ of the son and heir has come (Gal 4:1-3). We’re going to be able to outrun chariots and make up for lost time. 2017 a year of huge advancements and promotions; you will be able to see in the natural realm the true expertise of experienced, veteran, war-honed warriors and spiritual generals. Their battle has not been for naught. Their victories, triumphs, trophies and spoil will be in evidence. Those who have learned how to maneuver with authority on the high places of the Spirit will easily be able to do so in the earth. It’s a banner year (Ps 20:5) and the standard-bearers for the King will be seen. Major ground is going to be taken back by the Kingdom of God, despite the growing lawlessness, despair and chaos.

Just thinking and speaking of these things again reinvigorates me. I’m refocusing on all the potential the Lord has spoken over 2017 and calling it down from heaven, over my family and myself. I don’t want to neglect a single breakthrough Jesus ordained for me. They are all singular and precious. What has He given to you specifically? Do you know? Did you ask? Don’t miss a thing – It’s all wonderfully aligned and available for you. There are blessings and benefits.

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans for good, and not for evil; to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

I cannot remember a summer as temperate and lovely as this one has been. Really exceptional. Here in mid-August, all is still is green and thriving. But as optimal as it is in the natural, I want to make sure I’m tapping in to all the spiritual potentialities of the season. Here in the dog days of summer, it’s time to stop, refocus and re-gear. 2017 is not over yet, and I’m determined to wring out of it every single promise, provision, potentiality and then some. I plan to enjoy all the ripe, ready fruit of it. Join me?