Tue 4 Jan 2011
This Can Be A Year Of Visitation From God
Posted by Helen Calder under Breakthrough, Prophetic Word
[10] Comments
Over the last couple of weeks I have been praying about a word of encouragement for my readers.
As I have done so, I have been continually drawn back to the words:
‘Year Of Visitation.’
At first, I hesitated. The words, ‘Year of Visitation’ were already familiar to me.
You see, this past year so many extraordinary things had taken place for The Hunk and me, that as the year was drawing to a close, I dubbed 2010, ‘Year Of Visitation.’
To be honest, this was a bit scary. How do you follow up a year like we have had? I found myself being lured back into an ‘orphan mindset.’ [1] I was being tempted to fear that in 2011 the Presence and work of God in our lives would wane.
Thankfully, as I have prayed for you, the Spirit has also lovingly addressed and corrected my own thinking.
Divine visitation should not be the exception; instead, it should be our expectation as we approach the New Year.
You and I can have a ‘Year Of Visitation’ in 2011 and beyond. The key lies in understanding what that means, and positioning for it in faith.
Visitation from God is a Biblical Concept
When God visits, supernatural breakthroughs occur. Prophetic words are fulfilled, seasons are shifted and new things are brought to birth [2]. Jesus gets the glory.
So—what does it mean, Biblically, to have a season of visitation from God? And how can we position ourselves for it?
Following are 6 of the times that the Bible tells us God visited His people.
As you read these accounts, there may be one or two that particularly resonate with you. If that happens, allow the Spirit of God to ignite faith in your heart, that His Word will be fulfilled in your life in the coming year.
1. Fulfilment of Prophecy & Removal of Barrenness
‘And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken.’ (Gen 21:1) [3]
A visitation of God broke the long season of barrenness in Sarah’s life, resulting in fulfilment of prophecy and the birth of Isaac, whose name meant ‘laughter.’
2. Recognising God Has Seen our Pain and Come to Act on Behalf of His People
‘When they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.’ Ex 4:31
A visitation of God broke the long season of Israel’s bondage in Egypt. They realised God had not left them alone in their suffering, but was intimately concerned for them. His power was about to be revealed.
3. Divine Help And Provision
‘ Then [Naomi] arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by giving them bread.’ (Ruth 1:6)
A visitation of God broke a long season of famine in Bethlehem, Judah.
The rumour of God’s goodness reached Naomi, who was estranged and widowed in the country of Moab. God’s visitation impacted her personally as her inheritance and family line was restored.
4. Restoration of Inheritance and Homecoming
‘For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.’ (Jer 29:10)
A visitation of God broke the long season of Judah’s exile, and they returned to Jerusalem at His appointed time.
5. The Ultimate Visitation—Jesus
“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people…the Dayspring from on high has visited us” (Luke 1:68,78)
In the New Testament, Zacharias understood that the ultimate visitation of God to His people was fulfilled in the birth of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
6. Outpourings of the Holy Spirit
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…” (Acts 3:19)
From the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and throughout church history, we understand visitations of the Holy Spirit to be times of outpouring, bringing refreshing and empowering to God’s people.
3 Ways To Position For Divine Visitation
When God moves on our behalf, or in the lives of others around us, it is not because we deserve it—it is on the basis of Jesus’ shed blood, and the Father’s favour and mercy.
We cannot earn His visitation—however, we can position ourselves to enter into what the Father wants to do.
As you will see, the key to 2011 being a ‘Year Of Visitation’ lies in our relationship with God.
1. Understand God’s Timing
The primary key to experiencing Divine visitation lies in understanding the timing of God for our lives.
In each of the above situations in scripture, it was God’s time to act. For example:
- Sarah’s pregnancy with Isaac
- The four hundred years in Egypt come to its conclusion
- The seventy years in Babylon completed
- The birth of Jesus
You may know that there are two Greek words for time in the New Testament: The first is ‘chronos.’ This refers to ‘clock time’ or ‘calendar time.’ It is the word used for general time. [4]
The second Greek word for time is ‘kairos.’ Kairos means ‘due time, a fixed time, a season, or an OPPORTUNE time.’
A pregnancy is a great example of the two types of time. Approximately 9 months of ‘chronos’ time pass. But the moment comes when it is time to give birth. That moment is ‘kairos’—the due time.
God always desires to bring people closer to Himself, to fill us with His Spirit, to act on our behalf.
But we also need to see as Jesus did, what the Father is doing ‘now.’ (John 5:19)
Jesus always walked in the kairos time of God—and we can too.
Here are some arenas you might like to seek God for His kairos timing both now and throughout the coming year.
Ask, “Father, what are You doing in these areas?”
- A fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit
- An area of your life that needs breakthrough
- Family members and relationships
- Non-Christians that are around your life
- A shift of season
Prayer journaling is a great way to communicate with Him and record His response. [5]
2. Pray in the Season of Visitation
‘You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.’ (Jer 29:13)
When God spoke these words to Judah, He was saying, in effect, ‘When the kairos time comes for Me to deliver you, you will seek Me—and I will answer and deliver you.’ (see Jer 29:10-14)
The prophet Zechariah put this well when he said,
‘Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain.’ Zech 10:1
The prophet was saying, when it’s God’s kairos time, pray!
When we pray, we acknowledge that we cannot fulfil God’s plan through our own efforts. We need His help.
When that prayer is answered, Jesus gets the credit for what takes place.
3. Participate With God Through Acts of Obedience
When we have prayed, it is time look for ways to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. We want to participate with God in His work.
If God asks us to do something specific, an act of obedience can bring a powerful breakthrough.
Goliath was killed by the word of the Lord AND by a stone from David’s sling (1 Samuel 17). God provided food for a widow and her son, but first, she had to give away the last of what she had to Elijah (1 Kings 17:7-16).
Sometimes, however, it is not about doing anything except simply receiving—equally an act of obedience.
There are times to contend, and there are also times to just open our hands and say, ‘Thank you Lord.’
For we are His sons and daughters, and what we receive from Him, we receive by inheritance.
Through our relationship with God, we can experience the ongoing visitation of God in our lives—to move from visitation to habitation.
This is the desire of my heart. Is it yours?
Do you have any thoughts or experiences to share on this topic? I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment in the space below. If the comments box is not visible, click on this link and scroll down.
Notes and Related Posts:
[1] An orphan mindset is ‘Fatherless thinking.’ I share about this in the following post:
Breaking Free From An Orphan Mindset
[2] Our friend Steve McCracken from David McCracken Ministries has said: “The two phrases I am feeling for 2011 are a year of achievement and a
year of new things. I believe it is to be a year of firsts.”
[3] These scriptures are all quoted in the New King James Version (NKJV)
[4] VINE, M.A. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. 1985. Virginia: MacDonald.
An example of ‘chronos’ is in Matt 2:7. ‘Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time (chronos) the star had appeared.’
An example of ‘kairos’ is in Gal 6:9. ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time (kairos) we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ (See also 2 Cor 6:1-2)
[5] For an explanation and examples of prayer journaling, see the following post:
Activate Your Prophetic Gift Through Prayer Journaling
See also:
Prophetic Insight: Look Out, The Rain Is Coming!
© Helen Calder 2011 Enliven Publishing
http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/
Now on team with David McCracken Ministries
10 Responses to “ This Can Be A Year Of Visitation From God ”
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Honey, this is so good to read. This has caused me to seek God afresh for 2011 that this year would be very significant for me and for us. How so very exciting that God does “Visit” His people….today!!!!!!
Wow….what an adventure!!!
Yes, and for us personally I am blessed that our Father would take a word that I had used in retrospect (visitation) and use it to focus me forward and bring a whole lot more revelation in the process! (love His sense of humour
)
Re: Discerning whether a prophecy is from God. I have been reading some of your articles and they are full of great info thankyou! I have been developing my prophetic gift for a few years now and it has been a challenging path I can tell you but also very exciting. At the end of the day whether someone believes what I say is from God is not my problem, I am called to speak and that is my duty to do so. The Bible states that ALL prophecy should be excepted but then tested, does it come true is the pertinent question. For this we usually have to wait and not judge immediately. In scripture false prophets were always eventually found out and their credit went out the window. However, Jonah did prophesy the destruction of Nineveh and it didn’t happen! Why, because the people repented. These days we wouldn’t know whether someone has repented or not because we don’t have cities that unite in repentance only groups or individuals. My point is this, if we were all as close to God as He wants us to be there would be no Prophets because we would be all hearing the VOICE of God for ourselves, then we wouldn’t have to worry whether it was from Him or not. Christians are basically lazy that’s why the prophetic Ministry was created, so, they have to submit to prophetic words and put up with the fact that they cannot judge straight away but they need to seek God for the ultimate truth.
Hi there, Adrienne. Thank you for stopping by the blog and taking time to leave your thoughts.
I’m glad you have found the articles helpful.
I do agree with you that Christians need to hear God’s voice for themselves and not rely on prophetic ministry, which happens too much these days.
However there are at least four Biblical reasons for prophetic ministry in the New Testament:
1. To edify and build the church (1 Cor 14:4, 12)
2. To encourage, strengthen and comfort people (1 Cor 14:3)
3. To equip and empower Christians to maturity—and I believe this means helping them learn to hear God for themselves. (Eph 4:11-13)
4. So that unbelievers are confronted with the reality of God (1 Cor 14:24-25)
Advancing from my previous comment about Prophecy. I also believe we shouldn’t place Prophecy in a neat little box with a red ribbon tied around it with rules a regulations, this makes it far too limiting and stiffled. God can say anything He wants to when He feels like it, to anyone at any time. God has a reputation for saying and doing things that are seemingly outside the Word of God and unnatural to His character as we see Him to be. Remember we have the Word of God , the Scriptures but above this we have His voice, we have the letter and we have the more superior utterances of God Himself, God the Father. He may have finished creating but He certainly hasn’t stopped talking. To me, I am a walking prophecy, that when I reveral the messages Father has given to me to share, they always come true, why, because I spoke them with faith and obedience and God is not in the business of ruining that. Always remember, some things are sealed until End Times.
Thanks again, Adrienne.
I love your thought that we shouldn’t place prophecy in a ‘neat little box.’ It is good to talk about Biblical principles, though.
Like you, I believe that God will often surprise us. However, I do not believe that prophecy is superior to scripture, people who believe that are on very dangerous ground indeed, open themselves to deception.
All prophecy should be weighed up against scripture… not just one isolated verse but the whole counsel of scripture.
Again adding to Prophecy talk. Recently Dr Owuor from Kenya visited our country of Australia in QLD. He came with warning of disaster which he has been doing also in other countries and proved his Ministry calling. He said “Do not attempt to Prophesy upon what I have said”. That is a pretty harsh word to give, however, that does not mean that he is the only prophet in the world to give Words of knowledge to Australia, we also have local prophets who can help outwork the repentance and turning to God that is required through our own Ministries to the Church. For example, I am called to equip the Saints into their unique calling through lessons, encouragement and testimonies of encounters with the Living God. My take is this, Prophets don’t necessarily bring fresh revelation, they bring reminders more than anything often with timing factors when things may happen causing people to rethink their status with God. The Prophetic Ministry has been dealt a heavy blow the past 3 decades with so many rising to the fact that they have the gift and so many Pastors shutting it down as well, to their detriment usually from what I have witnessed. Let them speak! If they are false then let them fall of by their own swords, that is the Word of God as far as I can see from Scriptures.
Thanks Adrienne, for my full answer on the words about warnings including the one you mention above, check out my posts
http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2011/02/10/how-do-you-weigh-up-what-the-prophets-are-saying-pt-1/
http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2011/02/15/how-do-you-weigh-up-what-the-prophets-are-saying-pt-2/
… as to your thoughts about pastors, I know that sadly, many people with prophetic gifts have been hurt in church life. I have experienced this myself and written about the lessons I learned in my book, Prophetic People in a Changing Church.
http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/e-books/prophetic-people-e-book/
This hurt may result in sweeping statements like you have made above about pastors ‘shutting down’ the prophetic gift. I have met many pastors, and all of whom have a great deal of love for prophetic ministry and desire to release the gift in their churches.
However, it certainly is the role of a church leader to protect his or her congregation. This means bringing protocols and guidelines to prophetic ministry that help make the church a safe place for people, and also a safe place for people to grow in their prophetic gifts–I am totally in agreement with this kind of care and believe that there is a Biblical basis for it, too (1 Cor 12, 14, Eph 4)