I hear the Lord saying to Advance with Shalom in 2023. We often think Shalom as “peaceful with a warm fuzzy feeling”. It almost sounds contradicting to put the word “advance”, which give us a sense of aggression with the word “Shalom”.
When you greet someone in Israel or say goodbye, you would say “Shalom”. You are literally saying, “May you be full of well-being” or, “may health and prosperity be upon you.”
Importance of daily blessing
The Jews understand the importance of daily blessing. Shalom is spoken every day. It is a blessing for coming and going, at all times and in all situations.
The Apostle Paul in Thessalonians, as a Jewish Rabbi concluded his 2 letters saying “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at ALL TIMES and in EVERY WAY (2 Thess 3:16)
The anointing of Shalom
Shalom is an anointing that our God wants to pour upon us this year. Let’s take a look at how Shalom will helps us advance in 2023?
While we might see peace as looking for a break from life’s turmoil; a biblical peace addresses our hearts. It is all about the state of our heart. You might break away from busyness and hardship of life, but if your heart and mind are not in Shalom, stress will still linger over you.
Peace does not mean absence of war
In the days of Aaron & Moses, the priestly blessing declared : The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace. (Numbers 6:23-26)
The Israelites were in a time of preparation to conquer the promised land. There were many battles waiting for them to fight. They were getting themselves ready to war. \Some said the Israelites were slaves for 400 years, while some say 200 years. Whatever it is, it was very, very long. Their mind sets needed to shift, and be prepared as CONQUERORS. They fight to win – a sure win.
This “Shalom” that God wants the Priest to bless his people with is not just an outward peace, it is the inner peace that drives out whatever want to war with them from outside.
God was referring to an inner peace and completeness brought on by sharing in His countenance and His protection.
They needed to hear this blessing over them repeatedly. Until, they get it into their hearts and believe that God is with them. If God is for us, who & what can be against us?
That was the blessing that Israel needed! And we need this shalom that brings us inner peace and a sense of completeness. Whether the world is shaking, whether inflation is happening, whether the news and media are bombarding us with news and trends that are threatening our nation, if we have this Shalom of God inside of us, we do not need to go without and worrying about tomorrow.
This year ADVANCE WITH SHALOM!
The enemy wants to paralyse us from moving forward with fear. But God is saying over us “Let me lift up my countenance over you”. When the Lord lifts His countenance on you, he is looking upon you with approval and favour. His protection is with you.
We will not lack!
Our internal force must overcome the external force (Graham Cooke).
What does he means? The power of peace that you and I carry inside of us, can push away the outside pressure of fear, anxieties and chaos. So, the faster we get back into the peace of God, the faster we can overcome what the devil is trying to throw at us.
1 Peter 5:7 TPT “Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and LEAVE THEM THERE, for he always tenderly cares for you.”
And Peter went on to tell us to be alert for the devil always prowls around like a roaring lion looking for its prey to devour. A roaring lion makes loud noises, but that is all that this lion can do. He is looking for someone to turn their head towards his direction, so he can attack. Fear attracts fear. He is the spirit of fear, because he knows his end is in the lake of fire forever. He is fearful, and he wants to project that fear on to us. When you turn your head to the roar he is sending out, he knows he has your attention. Give him no place, but turn back to the Shalom of Jesus.
End of last year, I was troubled by what someone said to me. Even though I knew they were not true, those accusative words were playing on my mind and keeping me awake. My mind was full of the situation and what that person said about me UNTIL I got back into focussing on Jesus and his peace. Slowly, I drifted off to sleep in His presence.
We are children of the Light. We are the children of great Peace.
When Peace dominates our heart and governs our thinking, we can destroy all unhelpful speculations. We can Break off dejection.
Shalom is a person; not just a word or method. Jesus, is the Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.”
The Hebrew word for “Prince” is “Sar” which means “One who wars, one who governs, one who rules and one who roars” This Prince is the Commander!
This prince is not silent! He is not weak! This prince is not soft! He is not passive. This Commander, this Prince is here to TAKE OVER!
This Lion of Judah ROARS louder than the devil. When he roars, he paralyses his enemy!
Anything that does not contribute to our total well-being, our Prince of Peace, the Sar Shalom will crush. He will bull doze them down! He will run them over! He will destroy them! He will push them over! He will kick them out, silence anything that does not work for our well-being!
His ruling, his shalom, his government over us will know no end! He is not a quiet prince. He is a warring prince! He is our fighting prince!
Romans 16:20 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” I used to think that “will soon” is referring to the future. One day, but not now. I did not quite like to quote “will soon”. But a check on the Greek meaning of this word “soon”, I discovered it was referring to “speedily, quickly”. It is quickly, speedily God of peace will crush Satan under our feet.
The word crush is
suntribo soon-tree’-bo: to crush completely, i.e. to shatter – break (in pieces), broken to shivers
God give us peace so that whatever assigned against us by Satan will be shattered, destroyed, overpowered, broken beyond repair, rendered it powerless. Our God is not peaceful with our enemy.
When our God does something, He is thorough. He does not do half, half, wishy washy. Maybe sometimes, maybe not at another time. You can trust him to finish what he has started for you.
THIS YEAR JESUS WANTS TO ARISE AS OUR SHALOM
Jesus is saying this year, He wants to rise up and fight for us with His shalom. Will we allow him to do that?
Read Romans 16:20 (TPT) out loud:-
“And the God of peace will swiftly pound Satan to a pulp under your feet! And the wonderful favor of our Lord Jesus will surround you.” To “pound Satan to a pulp” is to repeatedly hit him until he is smashed! Wow, I love this!
The word picture of the Hebrew word for “Shalom” means
“Peace comes when you destroy the power of chaos.”
This now take a new meaning and that is God will crush chaos, confusion, stress, fear, when it comes to your family, your health, your finances, your children, your marriage and your calling.
We need to allow God to arise within us and put everything under His feet and our feet. WE MUST ADVANCE WITH SHALOM!
Peace is not passive. Peace is a warring weapon against Satan.
When fear or stress comes, you must walk in the opposite spirit and that is the Shalom of God. This is spiritual warfare 101.
Partner with Peace. Advance with Shalom!
God is looking for us to partner and to agree with Him that he alone is our Prince of peace who crushes chaos under our feet.
The only way to advance is with Shalom. This year 2023, we are called by God to advance. He is redeeming the lost time. But you might still have challenges and hear of worldwide challenges. Determine my brothers and sisters to daily focus on the Prince of Peace. Focus on Jesus. Let Him become great and strong inside of you.
Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts you.”
Perfect peace is “Shalom Shalom”. You can’t get any better than perfect peace.
Say it out loud with me over yourself.
DECLARE
“God, you will keep me in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because I trust you.”
Shalom of God gives me strength. It silences fear and restlessness. Shalom brings me divine health. Shalom paves the way for my rest. When my heart is trusting God, focussing on who he is, my soul will be in perfect peace. Like Jesus, I can sleep through the storms around.
What does peace looks like? Serenity. Calmness. Quietness, clarity, confidence, positivity. Everything that is fighting for attention will become still.
Remember this peace, this shalom that God gives us is on the INSIDE of us. We can feel serenity, calmness, quietness, clarity, confidence and positivity in our heart and mind.
Peace re enforces us inwardly
Peace helps us to become aware of God’s presence which re enforces us inwardly. That is why Jesus says “Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.” He must be greater in us. We worship Jesus. We exalt him in our mind, our feelings, our soul – that is true worship. We concentrate on His supremacy & his excellency. No one might hear our worship but our worship must not be on what the devil and other people are doing. Our worship must return to the rightful place – the Prince of Peace. What are we focussing on? Who is worthy of our time and energy? ONLY JESUS!
Do you trust Jesus?
Recently the Holy Spirit met me in a dream and gave me a revelation that He is our Territory Spirit. He is very powerful and he wants to come into our home, our lives to help us, but we must invite him to come in. Then he will come through the door, cross over the threshold and take over. There are territories for us to conquer, but firstly we must invite the Holy Spirit to be the Territorial Spirit over us. He guards and expands His territory.
We have to do it with the Lord. ADVANCE WITH SHALOM THIS YEAR!
Closing
Take one minute to do this. DO THIS IN OUR MIND, OUR HEART. WE ARE PRACTICING ON HOW TO FOCUS ON JESUS, THE PRINCE OF PEACE. Close your eyes, push out everything that is fighting for our attention now.
1) Pour out all your anxieties and everything and everyone who troubles you onto Jesus. You don’t need to be shy. Give it all to him.
2) Invite The Sar Shalom to come into your life. Imagine yourself stepping into the shalom of Jesus. Let God works on your imagination.
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