HOLINESS and ELUL
The Lord has been speaking to me, like many others, about holiness coming to the Church. I have been sensing from Holy Spirit – and watching with my own eyes – that the Lord is moving on the hearts of His Bride to begin to let things just “drop off” in the current season. People are beginning to feel a nudge to separate themselves from anything that is not beneficial to their intimacy with Abba. It has not been a legalistic or highly “religious” decision for those who have chosen this road; it has actually been a divine agreement with Heaven to walk in greater degrees of being fully alive and awake in the Spirit. This is a holiness that is not to appease an angry God or make Him approve of us, but a separation into hearing the Father’s voice at full volume.
HAPPY ELUL
I was in Melbourne the first weekend of September, and my bedroom had one whole wall of windows that overlooked a beautiful meadow with lush, green grass and mountains in the background. It was such an incredibly breathtaking view, which of course I had to post on social media. Someone replied to the photo with the phrase “Happy Elul,” which made my Spirit leap. I took some time to dig into what this Elul actually means since I know so little about the Hebraic calendar, and what I found was remarkably prophetic. I am in no way claiming to be a scholar on these things and my heart is not to dishonor or disrespect the depths of what this means for the Jewish people, but the very little bits that I read up on sparked something in my Spirit for the Church during this time of Elul.
Elul runs from mid-August to mid-September, and is the last season before the Jewish New Year begins. It is a time of great reflection and repentance, and letting go. The word “Elul” is actually a Hebrew acronym for “I am my Beloved’s and He is mine,” and represents an intense love and intimacy that comes between God and His people during this time.
THE KING IS IN THE FIELD
Jewish culture also refers to the month of Elul as “the King is in the field.” In ancient days, when Kings wanted to come into a city in their kingdom, they wouldn’t just invade the city with grandeur. They would find a lovely field or meadow just outside the city, and they would grant permission for their people to approach them. A grain field was usually the location of choice, since it represented growth. It was man’s initiative to approach. The Kings would greet their people, “smile” on them, and give them the pleasure of actually receiving him into the city themselves. Where the time of Yom Kippur represents a king in a palace in all of his majesty, Elul represents a king in a field with his people, fully accessible.
Looking at this from our New Covenant perspective, we know that we already have full access to our King and we can meet with Him in our own meadows and fields anytime we want (Hebrews 4:16; 10:22-23)! He truly is our Beloved and we are His (Song 6:3). Hosea 2:16 says that “In that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘Ishi’ (my Husband) and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal’ (my master).”
THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD
The Lord led me to Matthew 13:44, which tells the parable of a man who found a treasure in a field. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”
Many have sold everything for Jesus. I saw a vision of the laid down lovers of Jesus across the globe, and things were dropping off of them as they remembered their first love. Many are going back to a time where they remember when they found the treasure in the field, and they are compelled again to sell everything just to catch more of the Father’s heartbeat. As if they are returning to their first love (Revelation 2:4), these sons and daughters are sacrificing to push in deeper to hear what their “King in the Field” wants to speak over them.
ENTERING 5780
Toward the end of September, we enter the year 5780, which is the year of “pey” or the year of “the mouth.” I have been careful to not read much on what Prophetic voices are saying for the year 5780 so that I can hear for myself what Abba wants to say, and I have yet to hear clearly a word for the New Year 5780. I have, however, heard His heartbeat during this time of Elul, and it is beautiful indeed! I believe that Elul is setting us up for something powerful in the year 5780 – something unlike we have ever seen.
GOD’S HEARTBEAT DURING ELUL
While studying Elul, I heard the Spirit of God say that these last few weeks of September are a time of preparation for the New Year 5780. I heard Him say that we – as sons and daughters, prophets and intercessors – must pursue this kind of holiness. This is an invitation to meet with our King in the field! This is an invitation into greater levels of intimacy with the Father in our own meadows (Secret Place). He is fully accessible and just waiting to smile on us.
I felt the Lord say that as the year 5780 is the year of the mouth, it is a time that His people will be called and commissioned to use their mouths wisely. I believe that God wants to begin using His people like never before to be “clear-minded and self-controlled…[to] pray…” and “to speak the very oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:7, 11). He is inviting us to hear His heartbeat fully so as to use our words (HIS words) to pull down strongholds and carry breaker anointings. He wants to destroy territorial spirits through our mouths, as well as spirits of addiction and injustice. He wants the Name of JESUS shouted from the mountaintops, as His heart is that none should perish but all would come to repentance and know Him (2 Peter 3:9).
Even as I type this, I tremble under the fear of God over these coming months. There is such an enormous, weighty glory coming on the words spoken by God’s people. As we lay aside all distractions and meet with our King in the field, we will hear what He hears, speak the language of Heaven and see what He sees. I am reminded of Jeremiah 1:9-12: “ Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF MEETING THE KING IN THE FIELD
In order to speak and see the things of the Lord, we must be “clear-minded and self-controlled so that [we] can pray” (1 Peter 4:7). We cannot afford to speak or hear anything that has influence which is not from the Father’s heart. To use our mouths well in the year 5780, we MUST “sell everything” – add and subtract distractions and hinderances in our lives – and meet with the King in the field for longer periods, even if we have to fight for it. We need an aggressive resolve that will avoid anything that is not directly tuned-in to what the Father wants to speak! I heard Him say, let the Caleb’s arise! The men and women who report the truth aligned with Heaven’s promises and not those who judge and speak by the giants that they see (Numbers 13).
Prophets and those who teach and speak: We must pursue holiness at all costs during this season. During Elul, as we meet regularly and intentionally with the King in the field, let us stay deeply rooted in His Word. Let us continue to reflect and repent where necessary. Let us dig deep to be able to speak the very oracles of God (1 Peter 4:11). May there not be one worldly distraction that keeps us from being able to fully engage with the Spirit of God and tune-into His heartbeat. This is an invitation, not a religious act. The pushback may appear great at first, but the reward and the victory is SO MUCH GREATER. “We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Hebrews 10:39).
CLARITY FOR 2020
If you are one who has already had distraction, habits and things just fall off you, be encouraged! Dig dip into His Presence. This is an invitation to hear the voice of the Lord so much clearer. I heard someone recently say that He is giving us 20/20 vision for 2020, and I believe that this season of Elul is a Holy God setup for the kind of clarity the Father is calling us to operate in. Do not take it lightly! There is so much He wants to share with His loved ones. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Keep watch over what you put in your heart, and you will start to see Him in His transforming glory!
