The last enemy Jesus overcame was death itself, illustrated powerfully in John 11 and 12, just before Jesus predicts His own death on the Cross. This doesn’t mean that we don’t feel the realities of death in our lives and world, but it does mean that death does not have the final say. And this is the authority Jesus has been equipping us with amid the process of our past/current season.
Seeds of Promise
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” (John 12:24)
Many of us have been given very special seeds of promise by the Lord. We have prepared them, protected them, nurtured them, seen hope in them, and therefore we have sown them into the ground with faith.
At the same time, many of us are in a trying, waiting season – what we know should be “due season” and yet we don’t see a sprout as we believe we should by now. It seems and feels like our seed – our promise – has died. We have put it in the ground just as the Lord directed, in the place He directed, with all the faith we have left in our tanks, and yet, our seed has died.
This is a painful, but God-ordered process. For if our seed doesn’t die in the ground – seemingly alone – it will be incapable of multiplying to the extent it was created for. Our promise often has to die to truly live.
This doesn’t make this part of the process easy, but it does make it life-giving. It makes me think of Mary and Martha when their brother Lazarus had died. Both women ran to Jesus exclaiming the same words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21,32).
I think a lot of us can feel like saying these same words over the promises God has given us that we know are not supposed to return void (Isaiah 55). To Martha, Jesus responded to her statement by teaching her about being the Resurrection and the Life. To Mary, He wept with her. And He does both of those with us now. He reminds us through Passover and Easter that He has conquered the death we fear, and He weeps with us as we ache through this part of the process.
HOWEVER, Jesus goes on, commanding them with authority to “Take away the stone” that was protecting Lazarus’ death, and continues with this timely reminder: “…Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40).
Due Season
I believe we are in “due season.” This is a time to celebrate the fertile ground the Lord has led us into. If you feel like your promise is dying in the ground, then take hope, I have good news for you – only believe, and you will see the glory of God! Your seed is in its natural process for this due season and is literally dying so that it can give life to you and many, many more. Your seed or promise is overcoming death so it can give life, and give it more abundantly with you and Jesus (John 10:10).
Through this process we are learning Christ’s authority over death so that we can speak life to the withered, hurting and dying all across the earth, with a new weightiness – an authority that death must answer to. You are learning, with Jesus, to overcome death and walk in a greater authority of more abundant life.
The Almond Tree
Jeremiah 1:4-10 has always been a close passage to my life and our calling, and I have spent lots of time praying it and declaring it for a generation across the earth. I usually focus mostly on verses 4-10, however, these past few years, Holy Spirit has continued to strongly highlight verses 11-12, which are well known in their own right.
“Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a branch of an almond tree.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.'” (Jeremiah 1:11-12)
Last year, before moving to our new home base, we bought a few young trees as a prophetic representation of what we were believing God for. One of those trees was an almond tree that we named, of course, Jeremiah. Soon after planting, God moved us to a location that was colder, with longer winters, and at a higher altitude. It was a property that did not have the kind of yard or land which we had originally planted the trees in. Still, my wife carefully transplanted our trees and brought them with us.
Unfortunately, we were almost certain that our almond tree, Jeremiah, had died in the winter in the entryway of our very old, cold building. But this spring, we got a surprise. This almond tree – once thought dead – was the first to begin to show signs of new life and buds, and then quickly it started to bloom. It led the way for our other trees and has been a picture of what we believe God is bringing to life in this “due season.” We believe God is ready to perform His word and breathe life into the seeds of promise that we thought were dead.
The almond tree branch was one of three items stored inside the Ark of the Covenant, along with the stone tablet and manna. There is such revelation in those three items and the season I believe the Lord has us in. The stone tablets represent “the word” God has given us in our journey forward with Him – it’s the promise we hold onto. The manna represents how God has provided for us in the desert, faithfully bringing manna in new and different ways, always to sustain us and His word over our lives. But now, I believe, is the time of the almond branch. It is the time that He is ready to perform His word.
We couldn’t have fully walked into or been prepared to steward this due season of His word if we had not learned to pick up the authority that comes with overcoming death. It was the last battle Jesus faced, and the greatest victory! He wants us to not just taste it, but to walk in every bit of the authority of that victory. He’s not just giving us a promise, but an authority that will multiply here on Earth as it is in Heaven.
May you and your seed experience such new, abundant life in this due season!
Joey LeTourneau
Heavenly Hope Ministries
Email: joey.letourneau@gmail.com
Website: www.culturepurple.com
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