From the desk of Steve Shultz:
God does NOT forget one thing that you have walked through...not one! AND on top of that...so much good comes out of the trials we have been through. Yes, it's very true.
I believe that in this new year, God wants to encourage His people with such HOPE in Him that that we will literally be in awe of what He is going to do in our lives.
If you need some HOPE...you've got to read this word by our friend Bill Yount in which he shares:
There are many blessed with creative gifts to bring Heaven to Earth but through hope deferred you hung them on the weeping willow. The word "deferred" means: postponed or delayed. It doesn't mean it's not going to happen. It means it's just a matter of time. Take your hope off the weeping willow tree and hope again. Against hope, believe in hope.
Let's be full of HOPE Again in this new year! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List
go here.)
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Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher
The Elijah List & Breaking Christian News
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"The Glass Ceiling of Your Captivity Will Be Shattered!"
by Bill Yount, Hagerstown, MD
I have walked with the Lord for forty years and I have never been so excited about this coming year. I am pessimistic by nature, seeing the glass half-empty, but for this coming year I see the glass overflowing. For 2017, My spirit is jumping up and down.
I believe a rhema word for the coming year is found in David's victory over the Philistines. After defeating the Philistines, David inquired of the Lord in 2 Samuel 5:19, "Should I go up against this enemy like before?" The Lord's plan was different this time.
The Lord said, "You shall compass behind them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. It shall be, when you hear the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall bestir yourself, for then the LORD shall go out before you to strike the army of the Philistines" (2 Samuel 5:23-24).
I can feel the stirring in the mulberry trees, and I know that I know that I know...the move is on.
Stir Yourself Up In Your Captivity
There's a stirring in the mulberry tree and it's time to take our eyes off the weeping willow. These two trees war against each another. When God's people were taken captive in Babylon, the only tree the Psalmist could write
about was a weeping willow.
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down,(right there is where the problem started when we sat down) yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the weeping willows in the midst thereof. There they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us joy, saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" (Psalm 137:1-4.) (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)
Let me tell you how to sing a song in a strange land. Start singing and Heaven will come down and your Babylon will be shaken to pieces.
Fifteen years ago, I stopped singing and playing my guitar when I ministered in churches. The devil robbed me by convincing me that my style didn't fit the present-day type of music and singing in churches. Recently, the Lord broke through to me. "Son, it's not about the style of music – it's the anointing! Pick up your slingshot (guitar) and start killing the Goliaths in people's lives."
By the way, in this crazy world, you will sing again too. Pick up your slingshot and come join me!
I sense the Lord saying to many, "Take your harp down off the weeping willow tree and sing again. Take your dancing shoes off the weeping willow." When was the last time we danced? Or did we ever dance? God wants to cut loose this year. Dancing is a weapon. When you dance in your captivity, Babylon will wonder what you got.
Take Your Harp Off the Weeping Willow
Take your paint brush down off the weeping willow. Through you, God is coming to paint your whole town red with the Blood of Jesus. Pick up your pen and start writing that book you have dreamt about. These gifts and talents are Heaven's therapy. I write better in crisis. It's therapy for me.
If you've ever read anything that's touched your life that I have written, it's because there's been pain in my life somewhere. 'Behind every beautiful thing, there's some kind of pain.' -Bob Dylan. Don't let your pain stop you this year. (Photo via Wikipedia)
Why do we read the Psalms when we get discouraged? It's because David tells it like it is in his depression and frustration. But then he takes his harp off the weeping willow and ends up singing about them and making songs out of them. He ends up in praise and worship.
Right after my new book came out this past year, I was hit with depression. I checked with a friend who is a professional writer and he said, "That's normal, you put your life into it. You gave birth to a baby and now it's gone." He said, "The best cure to get over this discouragement is to start another book."
There are many blessed with creative gifts to bring Heaven to Earth but through hope deferred you hung them on the weeping willow. The word "deferred" means: postponed or delayed. It doesn't mean it's not going to happen. It means it's just a matter of time. Take your hope off the weeping willow tree and hope again. Against hope, believe in hope.
Hope in God and the glass ceiling of your captivity will be shattered. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List
go here.)
Bill Yount
Blowing the Shofar Ministry
Bill Yount has been a member of Bridge of Life in Hagerstown, Maryland, for the past 36 years where he is now an elder and a home missionary. He is currently an advisor at large for Aglow International. Bill faithfully served in prison ministry at Mount Hope for 23 years and now travels full-time, both in the U.S. and internationally, ministering in churches and Aglow circles. "Humility and humor" characterize his ministry as he brings forth a fresh word that is "in season," proclaiming the Word of the Lord!
The shofar (or ram's horn) is often used in his meetings, breaking the powers of darkness over regions, churches, and households. The shofar represents God's breath blowing into the nostrils of His people, reviving them and awakening the lost. Many of God's messages, which Bill ministers prophetically, come out of his everyday life with his family and friends.
