A couple years ago, I heard the Lord say to tell the people of God that we have entered a time of “Divine Reversals” when He would begin to turn things around for His people—health, hearts, finances, prodigals, families, ministries, businesses and even nations. I believe we are living fully in that season now. Things that have seemed impossible before are now being made possible because we are in a unique moment of divine intervention and grace. God has heard the cry of His people to “Turn It Around!”
When God initially spoke this to me, it was the beginning of the year 2015 and I was studying in the book of Esther. Esther is a picture of the Church, the followers of Christ, who are interceding for nations and generations today. We all know this is the story of when Esther, a Jewish young woman living in captivity in Persia, was made queen.
Shortly after this time, it was discovered that an evil, wicked man named Haman had written a decree against God’s people of death and destruction—to wipe them off the face of the earth and to take all their property. Mordecai asked Esther to go before the king to get a reversal of this death decree.
Today there is great hostility against Believers and the cause of Christ in the earth today, and it seems to be growing worse. The antichrist spirit would love to see wickedness and injustice prevail and the voice of righteousness and truth silenced. We are living in the day where they call good evil and call evil good. The king in this story was named Ahasuerus whose name means, “I will keep you poor and silent.” This is the strategy of the enemy against the Church today.
“This is an Esther moment! The Church cannot be silent.”
In today’s media and culture, prayer and faith are mocked in an attempt to silence and intimidate the voice of God’s people and to rob us of a place of influence to shape culture in a righteous way. But God has a plan! The pendulum is swinging and the enemy is overplaying his hand. The curse is getting ready to be turned to a blessing for us (Deut. 23:5).
Spending Favor
A few months ago, I heard the Lord say to someone I was ministering to, “I have given you favor, now I am going to teach you to spend My favor.” Wow! What a powerful concept! Spending our favor!
When Esther approached the throne, the king stretched out his scepter of favor to her and asked her what she wanted. We can see this as the Church approaching the throne of the Lord requesting favor. In addition, when we have favor with God, we can ask Him for that to manifest for us in having favor with man. One of the definitions I like that describes what it means to have favor is the concept of divine attractiveness.
People will be drawn to you supernaturally, want to be around you, and want to know what you think. They will want to promote you and show you good will. They will want to give you opportunity and position because of what is on your life.
I believe this is a picture of the people of God approaching the thrones of influence in this world system and receiving amazing favor to bring change. We need to learn to receive that favor, that divine attractiveness, and then spend it to advance God’s Kingdom and to open doors that would otherwise remain closed.
“So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. And the king said to her, ‘What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you—up to half the kingdom!'” (Esther 5:2-3 NKJV)
So Esther asked the king to come to a banquet with Haman. She was getting positioned for the “Big Ask”. So the king responded and came to her banquet where Esther served him. We need to learn to serve those in position in the world systems and show them the heart of Christ. Serving produces favor! As a result of her serving him the king asked again:
“‘What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!’
Then Esther answered and said, ‘My petition and request is this: If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request then…'” (Esther 5:7-8a NKJV)
Esther was saying, “If I really have favor with you, king, then here is how I want to spend it!” We need to understand that there is a difference between HAVING favor and SPENDING favor. You can have money and not spend it. You can also have favor and not spend it, or not spend it wisely. It is time for the people of God to recognize that we have been given amazing favor through our relationship with Christ. In the New Testament, the word grace and favor come from the same Greek word, charis. So when Hebrews 4 says to boldly come before God’s throne of grace, it is for far more than just forgiveness of our sins.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16 NKJV)
It is a throne of favor (charis—grace, graciousness, joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, goodwill, benefit, loving kindness, gifts, rewards, strength and increase) which we can come before boldly (parrhesia—with free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness and assurance) to lay hold of mercy (eleos—kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them) and to help in a time of need.
That time is now! We need God’s help in our nation. We need God’s help in our families. We need God’s help to do the work of the Kingdom and to see a mighty harvest of souls. But we also need favor with man, open doors of opportunity, influence and a voice to shift culture.
Write a New Decree
In this process, God began to set Haman up to have his wickedness exposed in an undeniable way so that the only option would be for the king to destroy him. This exposure was part of the reversal. Watch for this to happen more and more as God uncovers corruption, wickedness and schemes devised in darkness. But even though Haman was taken out, his decree of destruction remained. This was not about just destroying an opponent, a person or circumstance, but rather cutting off the entire effect of the things that were set in motion by the decrees of darkness that continued to give legal ground for the perpetuation of a curse.
Jesus became a curse for us, so we don’t have to live under a curse. He was the master of divine reversal. All He did demonstrated God’s power to turn death to life, sickness to health, lack to blessing, etc. We have been given the power to act as intercessors, those called to get in the way of the enemy’s plan. We need to decree our freedom and our blessing and extend that freedom to others by reversing the curses of darkness.
When Esther approached the king again to have the decree of Haman revoked the king responded:
“You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, as you please, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring no one can revoke.” (Esther 8:8 NKJV)
“I have given you favor, now I am going to teach you to spend My favor.”
We need to write a new decree! The enemy has declared things over our personal lives, over the Church today and over our nations. He is filling the airwaves in the spirit realm and in the natural realm with decrees of fear, death, defeat, destruction and intimidation. Mordecai shook Esther out of her initial fear by saying, “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).
This is an Esther moment! The Church cannot be silent. We must make a decree in prayer. Write it down. Let it be your confession. We must decree God’s Word in truth knowing the penetrating power of truth can make others free. We must change our language to speak what God is declaring. We must allow our prophetic words to be in our mouths as decrees. Say what God says!
We may need to write letters, make phone calls or even go to court to get a reversal. When in the public spotlight, we must have the wisdom of Esther and Mordecai before the kings and rulers of this world system to speak words that will turn the curse to a blessing and spend our favor to turn hearts.
Job 22:28 says, “You shall decree a thing and it shall be established for you, so light will shine upon your way.” In this time of great darkness in the earth, the people of God need to flood the atmosphere with decrees that bring life and light which will drive out death and darkness.
What decree did Esther and Mordecai write? They wrote a decree authorizing God’s people to fight back! They declared that anyone who assaulted them would then forfeit both their life and property. I know this doesn’t seem to go along with Jesus’ admonition to turn the other cheek.
This is not about fighting and destroying people. It is about rulers of darkness that must be overthrown. It’s about unjust, antichrist systems (antichrist means against Christ) that must turn around. We can have no mercy on the spirits of darkness. We are not helpless or hopeless. We can always fight back by employing our spiritual weapons to see triumph. We are entering times of great victories and triumphs but we must partner with the Lord to see the turn around.
“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” (2 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV)
Divine Reversals
We see this reversal for the Jews fully manifested in Esther chapter 9. It begins by saying: “On the day the enemies of the Jews hoped to overpower them the opposite (reverse) occurred and instead the Jews overpowered those who hated them” (Esther 9:1).
At the moment of crisis, God turned everything around for His people! We are living in a similar time of Divine Reversals! God wants to turn things around for us! An entire nation was saved in that day! God wants to turn nations around in this tipping point moment. It looks like we may be headed for disaster, but as God turned it around then He will turn it around again!
Interestingly, when I first began studying this word reverse from Esther 9:1 in 2015, I found the Hebrew word haphak, which means to reverse, to turn around, to overthrow, to transform. I was surprised to find that this Hebrew word was the Strong’s Concordance number 2015! The next two Strong’s words also mean turn around. 2016 means to turn, but also has a connotation of turning through chaos, confusion and contention. We have certainly seen a lot of that in the media and in the earth today.
The Strong’s word for 2017 is hephek, which also means to turn around, but this word also means to upset (like a sports team beating a stronger opponent), and it means to turn upside down. As I thought about this I thought, “Wow! This world is already upside down!” But then I recognized that in Acts 17:6, the early disciples were called “those who turned the world upside down”. So when we face situations that are upside down, we have the power to turn them right side up! Divine Reversal! (By the way, the Strong’s number for 2018 means to overthrow!)
In Esther 9, it goes on to describe a holiday celebrated by the Jews: The Feast of Purim. It is also called the Holiday of Reversals, for it was the time when sorrow was turned to joy and mourning was turned to a holiday! The decree of death and destruction was turned instead to blessing, promotion and new authority in the land. It was a time when the plans of the enemy boomeranged back on his own head (see Esther 9:25 in the Message). Jesus came and defeated the decree of death over our lives to bring ultimate turn around so that we can live in perpetual Divine Reversal.
So hear the challenge of the Lord! Spend your favor! Write a new decree! Receive Divine Reversals! Come into agreement for your family, your ministry and your nation! It is time!
What Divine Reversal are you spending favor and believing for?
Jane Hamon
Vision Church @ Christian International
Email: click here
Website: www.visionchurchci.org
Elijah List Publications
528 Ellsworth St. SW
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 866-354-5245 (Toll-Free USA) or 541-926-3250