Several weeks ago, I heard the Lord say, “Know the times and seasons you are in.” I quickly responded, “What time and season are we in?” I then heard the Lord say, “A window of unprecedented grace.” I then heard, “This will be a sign for you, this year you will reap as you sow. Next year, you will continue to reap from the same harvest….” I knew the Lord was using an Old Testament scripture to help me understand the time and the seasons.
With the help of Google, I quickly found the scripture the Lord was referencing in 2 Kings 19:29-31.
“Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the LORD will perform this.”
I never really understood verse 29 until I read some commentaries on this scripture. The Assyrian army had been attacking Judah and food was scarce. Any harvest that materialized was quickly taken by the Assyrians. God was telling the Israelites through the prophet Isaiah that in spite of the siege, they would be sowing and reaping that year. However, the real miracle, or the sign, would come in the following year.
To understand the significance of the sign, you have to understand that the following year was a sabbatical year (Heb: shmita). This was a year in which the Israelites were not allowed to sow or reap. They were to let the land lay fallow (Ex 23:10-11, Lev 25:1-5). Whatever did spring up during the Sabbath year was to be food for the aliens, poor, and animals. God was telling the Israelites that in the following year, although they wouldn’t sow, He would send a crop so big, they would be eating of it themselves. After all, He is the Lord who reaps where He doesn’t sow (Matt 25:26). He is not limited to the laws of sowing and reaping.
The Lord is saying that this is a time and season of unprecedented grace when we will reap, even in places that we did not sow. The Lord told me that this is the time to ask and ask big. But when you ask, you must ask in faith, with nothing doubting.
What is it that you lost your faith for? What is it that you prayed over for so many years, but due to not seeing the answer, you gave up hope and stopped believing for it? Let this word reactivate your faith and believe again as if this was the first time you started praying over it.
Two days after I received this word from the Lord, I was on a prayer call with other intercessors. During the call, the Lord put this scripture from 2 Kings 19 on the heart of one of the intercessors. I knew in my spirit that this was not a coincidence, but the Lord confirming the word He had given me two days earlier.
A window of opportunity suggests a beginning and an end. The Lord didn’t tell me when the window opened or when it will end, so I won’t speculate on that. But the Lord did tell me that we have entered a season with a window of unprecedented grace, and I don’t want to miss out on it. Keep believing. Don’t allow doubt and unbelief to rob you of your blessings. This is the time and season for unprecedented grace. Go for it!
