Chodesh Tov, or Good Month!
Welcome to the new Hebrew month of Adar in the year 5783! Adar begins at sunset on 2/21/23 and ends at sunset on 3/22/23. Purim also occurs this month on the 13th of Adar which is 3/6/23 on the Gregorian calendar.
Remember that one of the keys to walking in God’s blessings is to walk with an understanding of God’s calendar. His calendar is designed to help us stay in step with Him as we move through time. Each month is a prophetic season. Therefore, the goal is to live in sync with God’s timing, which enables us to enter into another level of connection with Him.
The letter associated with this month is Kuf. It is the 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a value of 100. Kuf represents a removal of the mask. No more hiding; to laugh in the face of fear. It’s knowing that God given JOY breaks through ALL barriers! An understanding that what was meant for harm, God is turning around for good! When Adar arrives, JOY increases! Rejoice this month! Evil wants you to be stuck in depression and isolation. But God wants you to be joyful! Take off the garment of heaviness and put on the garment of praise! The joy of the Lord is your strength; JOY is a weapon you can use to cast off the enemy! Take authority over your own life; you are no longer a victim!
The tribe that represents Adar is Naphtali. Jacob describes Naphtali as a leaping deer who has been set free. In Israel’s history, Naphtali rebelled against God and turned to idolatry, just like so many of us today. However, King Hezekiah reminded Naphtali in 2 Chronicles 30:9 “If you return to the Lord, the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.” When the remnant of Naphtali turned back to God, they broke the curse, the door of their future opened, and Jesus used Naphtali in a powerful way. Jesus started His ministry in the land of Naphtali. Most of His disciples were from the region of Naphtali. Most of his sermons were preached in Naphtali. Most of His miracles were performed in Naphtali. So this tribe lept forward under the power of Holy Spirit to spread the Gospel throughout the whole earth!
So remember, if you need a reset, or a clean slate, do as the remnant of Naphtali did…….repent and return to God because He is merciful and kind to forgive! He can launch you into a destiny far beyond anything you can imagine!
The constellation linked to the month of Adar is Pisces the fish. Pisces is a symbol of two fishes tied together by the tail. One of them is pointed vertically, the other is horizontal. These two fish are a symbol of the cross. This is the sign that says Heaven will invade Earth through God’s people. Fish often times represent the understanding of multiplication in the Bible. Therefore, this constellation is the prophetic promise that Messiah has a blessed people, and they will be greatly multiplied.
I encourage you to read the book of Esther this month and ask Holy Spirit for fresh revelation regarding your identity in God’s kingdom and your role in being part of the remnant nation that is on the Earth today. Purim, which means to cast lots, celebrates a divine reversal- the deliverance of God’s people in ancient Persia. Without going into too much detail, King Xerxes banished Queen Vashti and chose Esther as his new queen without knowing she was a Jew. Esther was an orphan adopted and raised by her cousin Mordecai. Haman, a descendant of the Amalekites, was a powerful noble in the kingdom of Xerxes. Haman expected everyone to bow down to him but Mordecai refused. This caused Haman to despise not only Mordecai but the entire Jewish race and he wanted to exterminate them all. He obtained the favor and signet ring of King Xerxes, cast lots to determine the date of the genocide, then wrote a decree to all 127 countries in the empire commanding the annihilation of God’s people. Mordecai sent word to Queen Esther, “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 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 4:13-14.
Esther called a 3 day prayer and fast among God’s people to seek strategy from the Lord. “And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” -Esther 4:16.
Mordecai and Esther were the remnant. They boldly stood against demonic principalities, putting God’s agenda above their own lives. Because of this, a new decree was issued allowing Jews to defend themselves, reversing the curse of the decree. Haman and his whole family were hung on his own gallows, and Mordecai received the signet ring of the king along with all of Haman’s possessions and property. God is a god of redemption. You see, 555 years before Esther, King Saul of Israel disobeyed God by not destroying the Amalekites. King Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. Mordecai and Hadassah (Esther) were also from the tribe of Benjamin. Through Mordecai and Esther, God allowed the tribe of Benjamin to prevail over the Amalekites, where Saul failed.
Before the time of Esther, the Israelites who were lead by Moses, had to battle the Amalekites in the wilderness. The spirit of Amalek operates by breaking down and destroying the faith of people and casting doubt. This evil spirit resists and opposes God, seeking to harass and ravage the weak. Amalek represents spiritual blindness and acting arrogantly in the world causing a lack of the fear of God. Therefore, in Exodus 17:15-16, the LORD vowed perpetual warfare against Amalek. During the battle, the tiredness Moses felt was not just in the natural. Moses was feeling the spiritual effect of this demonic principality of Amalek. It was spiritual warfare. Amalek’s strategy is to wear down, tire out, weaken, and pick off the people of God to keep them from the destiny of their Promised Land inheritance. It’s strategy is still the same today: create passivity – to wear down and wear out the people of God until they lose their posture of prayer and faith, causing them to make wrong decisions regarding their destiny and inheritance. But we are not ignorant of the schemes and strategies of the enemy!! This month we come against Amalek and any of its influence, and we say that WE ARE THE REMNANT ARISING! And we know the KINGDOM of GOD is at hand! We will leap with joy, into our promise! We resist weariness, apathy, and passivity. We are the remnant who wears the signet ring of our KING JESUS and we operate from our seat of authority over the ancient principalities in our territories! Purim is all about the hidden hand of God. It lets us know that when we cannot see the hand of God, we have to trust the heart of God. We all have to choose whether we are going to “go before the king” knowing we “were made for such a time as this” and move into our destiny; or live in the shadows of fear believing the lie that we are safe if we stay quiet and out of sight. If we say no to His purpose for our lives, He will find someone who will say yes. If we say yes, then there is alignment with His will, giving us victory, joy, and redemption! -Shalom, Stacey Cain Woodley