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Seven Times
It’s good to be back. It seems like it has been a super long week already and it’s only Wednesday. We had the opportunity to go to Albuquerque this weekend and minister in music over there and I believe God used us in a powerful way. Thanks goes out to all my Albuquerque people: Classic, DT, Dre, Siobhan, VO Albuquerque, Kyle, Jesse, my family and everyone else that helped out there. Love you all and can’t wait to go visit again.
This past Saturday was 7/7/07 and I believe that it was a significant day. I got an email from a friend and she was talking about how this date marks the turning point in the church and in the body of Christ. God is about to set things off. We are halfway through this year now and I really believe that God is only getting started. We’ve all had many battles this year, some victorious, others defeats, but God is getting ready to pour out His blessings upon all His people.
The number seven has many spiritual meanings. It is God’s number and it signifies completion and perfection. This month is “Jubilee” month at our church and it is a time of celebration. God has done so much and brought us out of so many things. My pastor preached about how you can’t have victories without battles and I sure have been through many battles this year.
Great things tend to happen when you think about the number seven in the Bible. Joshua and the children of Israel marched around the city of Jericho for seven straight days and then seven times on the seventh day and the walls came tumbling down (Joshua 6). In 2 Kings Chapter 4, Elisha resurrected a child by stretching himself out upon the child. The child then sneezed “seven times” and opened his eyes. After creating the heavens and the earth God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2). Elisha told Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan and he would be cured of leprosy (2 Kings 5).
And I can go on and on mentioning specific scriptures in the Bible, but I do believe it is significant that the day 7/7/07 just passed us. I believe that we are closer today than ever before to Christ’s return. He is beginning to prepare His bride for His arrival. Our God is on the move.
Jubilee is a time of restoration. God is going to bring back to you what the enemy once stole. I believe that families will be brought back together. Backsliders are going to come back home. Broken hearts will be mended. The lost will be found again. The sick will be healed. Whatever you are struggling with right now will be overcome. God is going to resurrect ministries that were once abandoned. He is going to fulfill that promise He gave to you a long time ago.
Today is the day of salvation. Today you can start anew. Maybe you feel like you have failed God and don’t feel worthy of going back to Him or being used by Him ever again. I’ve felt that way many times in my life, too. The story of Peter in the Bible gives us hope though. He was one of Jesus’ closest disciples. He walked with Jesus. He talked with Jesus. He was there with Jesus when He healed the sick and gave sight to the blind. But yet, Peter still denied Christ when Jesus was being taken away to be crucified.
Peter was so hurt with himself for denying Jesus that it took him awhile to get over it. Even after Jesus resurrected, Peter still struggled with the fact that He denied his Lord. He should have been out preaching that Jesus had risen from the dead, but instead he found himself going back to what He did before He met Jesus, fishing (John 21).
Jesus always meets us where we are at, though. Maybe you failed God and have gone back to what you did before you met Jesus. You may be struggling with guilt and shame and think God can never use you again, but I have good news. Jesus still loves you. Later on in John 21, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loved Him. Peter still did love Jesus with all His heart. Jesus then told him to “Feed my sheep” or in other words, “get back to doing what I called you to do. I forgive you, now let go of your past and start moving forward in the calling that I placed in your life.”
Proverbs 24:16 says “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.”
Jesus loves you no matter what. This is the year that God is going to do miraculous things in your life. You may have fallen. You may have been defeated. You may be down and out. But God is about to start turning things around for you. He’s going to give you victory. He’s going to restore to you everything that once was lost. He’s going to use you in a powerful way to win souls for His kingdom. I pray that today is the day that God begins to restore, repair, fix and mend everything that is broken in you life and from this day forward you will be that new creation in Christ Jesus.
w/muchluv,
geno
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