In the month of January, there is an invitation to choose quiet, anchored trust in the midst of storms and valleys. If you find yourself in difficulty or uncertainty in this season, make a conscious choice to submit all of it to God and watch Him make your paths straight. Right now is a special season in which it is important to champion and support those around you. Ask Jesus who it is that He wants you to champion. Do you have a relationship or season from your past that didn’t end well? We believe that God is giving special opportunities right now to make some of these situations right again. God is calling us back to the joy of childlikeness, and as we make an effort to combat distraction, He is increasing our focus on what truly matters.
QUIET TRUST
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3.5-6 NKJV
If the storms of life begin to arise in your life this month, be intentional to anchor yourself to God’s unwavering faithfulness. Make a purposeful decision to choose not to partner with chaos and uncertainty, but instead, be deliberate in putting your trust in God. Ask Him to show you His perspective that is based in His truth. Bill Johnson says, “Bold faith stands on the shoulders of quiet trust.” Notice if you are following a pattern internally exaggerating the size of your problems, and therefore are being tempted to believe that your anxiety is logical and your fear is justified. In his quote, Johnson goes on to say, “There are measures of His presence that you can only find in the valley of the shadow of death.” If you find yourself in a dark valley this month, you may wonder why God would allow you to be there. In those moments, allow Jesus to declare over you that He is confident in the work that He has done in you.
This month, there is a sweet invitation from God to be still in His presence, to quiet ourselves in the midst of our circumstances, to rest after the madness of the holidays, and to re-calibrate our trust in the One who has us in the palm of His hand. Ask God to show you what quiet trust looks like for this season of your life. In what ways are you struggling to trust Him? In what areas of your life are you trying to do things by yourself (without submitting to His ways)? How is your faith being strengthened in this time? What valley are you going through that God wants you to trust Him to navigate? Submit your ways to Him, and He will make your paths straight.
THE CALL TO CHAMPION
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up”
1 Thessolonians 5.11
Right now is a special time in which we need to rise up to champion others. Who are you called to champion (advocate for, support, encourage, or protect)? Ask God to show you. We, His children, have been chosen and set apart by Him, and that means that He chose us before we were mature. He chose us in the midst of our processes. He chose us before the foundation of the world. It was God who first spoke things into being in creation, and it is God who still calls things that are not as though they are (Romans 4.17). As imitators of God, we are called to believe in others before they believe in themselves. We are made to call out the gold in others, even before we see the fruit of it in their lives. Sometimes this can be uncomfortable - choosing to love, encourage, and believe in someone, even in the midst of his or her messes. We are called to stand in faith for who God created them to be, even in the middle of their journey of identity. Consider yourself a gold-miner for the individuals God highlights around you. This is how lives are changed. This is how hearts are changed. This is how people are changed. It is time to be bold and speak up, showing your support for those who are in need of your encouragement and hope.
This month, God is charging His people to declare the truth of His mind and His heart for others, to strengthen and build up the body of Christ. Ask God who it is time for you to champion. Call out their identity of who they were created to be, even prophetically, so that the truth is spoken. Nothing happens in the kingdom before it is first spoken. Use your words powerfully to call those around you into the truth of who God created them to be.
TURNING BACK THE CLOCK
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Ecclesiastes 3.11 NIV
I saw a picture of a clock whose hands were turning backwards. I believe that right now we are being given an opportunity to redeem, reconcile, or do-over situations in our pasts that didn’t end well. Perhaps God has been bringing a situation up in your spirit for some time, either with a longing for it to have ended differently or simply by calling that person to mind. Most of these situations will be relationships, jobs, or connections in ministry that ended abruptly, unexpectedly, or badly. Both parties left the encounter wounded and/or angry. Now God is showing you that you have the skills, maturity, and experience to do it differently. You may be presented with an opportunity or it may be laid on your heart to move forward of your own accord. In some situations you were the one wronged, and for others they may have been the one that chose to leave. Either way, hearts are now open to receive your apology and are aligned to make things right again. Get prepared to have the conversation by forgiving them for any remaining offense or grudge you’ve been carrying. This opportunity may surprise you and show up suddenly!
This month, God is presenting people with opportunities to rectify a relationship or a situation that didn’t end well. Humility will be key as you make the effort to restore what was lost. Going low will disarm the other party and allow true vulnerability and accountability to be present. Own your part in the process and God will meet you in that place. By choosing to be obedient and honor God in this process, you may have an opportunity to repair and restore the relationship to be better than it was before. For some, this will be a necessary part of the process so that your heart can heal and move on, and for others this will be the rekindling of the relationship to a more glorious version than it was before.
LIKE A CHILD
“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Luke 18.17 NIV
God is calling us to remember how we were as children. As we grow and encounter life, most of us lose some of what it meant to be young, free, and without responsibility. Take some time this month to look at the children around you and watch how full of wonder, joy, play, and creativity they are. They are often content, accepting, curious, positioned to learn, and tirelessly forgiving. God is calling us to return to the purity of this way of being. To become childlike you have to let go of something. You have to let go of your dignity and be willing to get silly, let loose, and have fun.
Just like when we experience something we love or something that’s truly refreshing to us, like the ocean or a mountaintop, we can have moments when we feel truly carefree, trusting, and like things are going to work out. The opposite of this mountaintop experience is walking around uptight, high-strung, overly dignified, judgemental, harsh, and unkind. In order to experience the freedom and joy of the blissful moment, we must let go of feeling in control and like we have it all figured out. This month, allow God to call you to return to the purity of childlikeness.
COMBATING DISTRACTION
“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3.14 NIV
We live in a marvelous time with so much available within the palms of our hands, but at an unprecedented rate we are becoming distracted and unfocused. Our phones have made connection easier, and our lives easier, in so many ways, but the information that is available to us so readily has also caused us to lose focus and intention. This level of distraction is a ploy of the enemy to compromise us. When we are divided we aren’t effective and powerful. Just like in a battle, the enemy sends in decoys in order to distract and disempower us. Our inability to focus for long periods of time without interruption has eaten away at our effectiveness. We must be vigilant in our fight to maintain our position and advance.
This month, God is revealing the areas of distraction that have crept in insidiously under the radar that we may not have even recognized before. He is increasing our focus when we choose to combat our distraction. Perhaps you are on your phone at meals and not engaging with the one in front of you, or maybe you’re constantly checking your phone (out of habit) while you’re doing other things. If you do not know how or if you’re distracted, ask God to show you if your focus is split and what you can do about it. Try setting limits for yourself to be away from technology or your phone. Let those that may try to reach you know of your intention and your plan. Try taking increasingly longer times away from your phone, working up to a weekend.
At The Crowning Jewels our desire and our mission is to bring encouragement, to build others up and to bring comfort to people’s lives (1 Corinthians 14.3). As a team each month we ask the Lord what He’s doing in the coming month and for any words of encouragement he might have for people as a loving God. We realize that with a corporate prophetic word not allwords are applicable to all people. If it’s prophetic it also needs to be encouraging and edifying. If our words bless you, please take hold of them and apply them in your own life. If it’s not specific to you, please pass it on to someone else who might be blessed. We do not sell prophecies; prophecy is a free gift from heaven. As a prophetic business, our mission is to bring encouragement and edification to people; our product is simply jewelry.
DECLARATIONS
We at The Crowning Jewels believe in the absolute, transformational power of declarations. We know that truth comes by hearing (Romans 10.17), and speaking truth is an active way for us to renew our minds (Romans 12.2). We also believe that in speaking forth these declarations, you will change your life. We invite you to partner with what God is doing and say these declarations for the remainder of the month. We would love to hear what God does! Please email us your testimony at tellyourstory@thecrowningjewels.com.
January's Declarations
- I choose quiet trust in the midst of storms.
- By championing others, I highlight the gold God has placed inside them.
- I have the opportunity to restore what once was lost.
- When I choose childlikeness, I choose freedom.
- God is increasing my focus as I combat distraction.
Each month we design two limited edition pieces of jewelry, only available for that month, handmade with words and charms that reflect the monthly prophetic word. If December's word resonates with you and you'd like to wear a reminder of its truths, click the necklaces below to shop!
Shop limited edition Monthly Prophetic piece here
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With prophetic insight from Bethany Hess.
Blog written by Anne E. Ballard