A month of increasing LIGHT
By Christy Johnston
I recently saw a clear vision of Jesus. In a part of the vision, He showed me a picture of the sun beginning to peak over a mountainous horizon with brilliant rays of light chasing away the shadows of a dark night. I believe we are in this moment. I believe that the earth has shifted into this Kairos moment of the Light of the SON bursting forth over the horizon and breaking through into the dawning of a bright new day. I felt to study the Hebrew months for the Month of May and found that we are already in the month of Iyar, or as it is also known, Ziv, which means “glow” or “blossom”, “radiance” and “light”. The word Ziv is quite possibly related to the word “Zuv” meaning, “to flow or gush forth.” I believe this is prophetic of His RADIANT light blossoming, beginning to glow and flow, gushing forth over the earth, chasing away the darkness. Iyar falls between the months of “redemption”, Nisan, and the month of “revelation”, Sivan, which also falls in May.
BITTER WATERS MADE SWEET
If we dig a little deeper, we find that the month of Iyar or Ziv was the month that the Israelites had ventured safely out of Egypt and found themselves in the dry desert, thirsty, tired, and weary. The story reads in Exodus 15:22-25; Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
I find it interesting that the Bible tells us that immediately following the ordeal of the Exodus, the Israelites were led into a wilderness called, “Shur”. Shur means, a “wall” or “line of fortresses.” The past few months have felt like a wilderness of sorts, where it seemed as though we have been hit with ‘wall’ after ‘wall’ or, a line of fortresses. Thankfully though, the Israelites did not stay stuck in Shur, and neither shall we. The Israelites pressed forward. They then made their way to “Marah” or, ‘well of bitterness.’ In many ways, this virus has been a ‘well of bitterness’, but God has a divine solution in mind. With the Israelites, He used a log, or a tree thrown into the waters to make the bitter water, sweet. This is a beautiful prophetic picture of the Cross, that causes bitter waters to be made sweet. While it has been a time of testing, the world over, I believe that as we continue to press into Jesus, His Cross will be fully seen in this moment of revealing. I see the Father casting the finished work of the cross into the bitter waters of this virus that will release a fresh, sweet-tasting new water. I believe this sweet tasting water represents the new wine, and it is going to gush forth in this hour. I see MANY of the lost within the world will come to the waters and drink and be satisfied. We will altogether taste and SEE the Son.
BURST FORTH INTO SONG
The story continues in Exodus 15.
“ There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”
Exodus 15:26
The Father's direction to the Israelites at this moment was first, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God…” Interestingly, the Hebrew word used for “listen” here is, “shama” and it means to, ‘diligently discern, give heed to, keep on listening,’ and then, it also means to, ‘proclaim, make a loud sound and be heard.’ I believe the Father's direction for us right now is this two-fold strategy of listening closely to Him, making ourselves available to ‘be still’ with Him, and listening intently to what He has to say. Then, we are to give voice to the revelations He has spoken, making a loud sound with what He has said. It is a two-fold release of His voice, through intimacy. It’s amazing that at the end of May, we move into the Hebrew month of Sivan, which is ‘revelation.’ Sivan speaks of the month that the Israelites camped together, ‘as one person, with one heart’ which I believe is pointing to the Body of Christ camping together ‘as one person, with one heart’ around the feet of Jesus. It was in this place of one-heartedness, that God revealed the first covenant. It was revealing revelation.
I believe the next few weeks are significant for us all. I want to encourage you with this direction, as we wait for the release of ‘restrictions’, to continue in setting time apart to sit at the feet of Jesus in the secret place. I felt the Lord was highlighting to me, that fresh revelation is upon us. Find yourself in the secret place over the coming weeks, look upon His beautiful face, and listen. Listen for what He says. There is a key that you will find in this stillness, and it’s going to be a sound. Once you hear that sound, release the sound. Release the sound in prayer, release what He shows you – speak forth the answers you hear Him speak. Sing the new song of the new day
A TIME OF HEALING.
In this month of light increasing, I believe that many of God’s children will experience DEEP healing of the heart. Hearts that have been weighed down and heavy from past traumas, hearts that have been suffering in pain, will experience the light-breaking healing of the Son. This has indeed been and continues to be, a divine time of refining. Don’t resist the refining, press into His beautiful face. The Father is bringing the dross to the surface in this hour, but be encouraged, He refines and prunes those He loves.
– Ephesians 5:1
But everything exposed by the light becomes visible--and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
In the first part of my vision with Jesus, I was lost in a face-to-face gaze with Him, when suddenly, He kind of broke out of this intense gaze with me and started singing, “here comes the sun….” the old song from the Beetles. As odd as that may sound, I have to say, it kind of shocked me, and I couldn’t help but laugh because I had been in this deep moment of worship with Him when out of nowhere, He broke out in song and was doing this funny little shuffle dance – singing a song from the Beetles no less. There was a playfulness about Him at this moment and He looked at me with a big smile that lit up His entire face and said, “it is the dawning of a new day.” I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but some Facebook friends informed me that this song has been used in multiple hospitals around the world when COVID-19 patients are being discharged and given the all-clear from the disease. Amazingly, that song was birthed during the time of the ‘Jesus-people’ movement in the ’70s. Could it be, that Jesus used this specific song to point to two things: we are about to be discharged from this disease, and we are in the birthing stages of a second, mightier, EXPANSIVE movement of Jesus all across the earth. I believe so.
Just as God did with the Israelites, He is doing with us. He promised them that He would bring healing to their waters and to every disease. His Healing waters are beginning to flow and gush forth. His Spirit is bursting forth through and out of the sons and daughters, YOU, His children. What will start with a trickle, will burst into drought-breaking flood-waters. A new day is breaking through over you. You carry the sweetness of His Spirit, the delightful loveliness of His person, though you have been through the testing, you have come out refined, purified, and set apart. You are releasing the waters of His Spirit into the earth through the sounds you have heard in the secret place.
Allow this verse to settle deep in your spirit:
Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Psalm 19:4-6
Here comes the sun, the gentle warmth of the Son is kissing our faces this month and lighting our way forward.
