In the month of November, God is inviting us to re-cultivate spiritual hunger afresh and come back to our first love, Jesus. He is filling up those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. He is rewriting our mistakes and turning every situation for good. He is showing us that He is outside of time and He is redeeming time. And He is exposing every area where we have placed something above Him. If you feel like you’ve missed it, are too late, or have already messed up too much, then you need to know that God isn’t finished with you yet. In fact, He’s only beginning.
Spiritual Hunger is a Position of the Heart
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Matthew 5:6
If you’ve been walking with God for any length of time, you might have noticed that you don’t feel the same passion and fire you once did in your spiritual life. You might feel a sense of dullness, boredom, or indifference towards the Lord. Just as friendships and marriages require consistent cultivation and intentionality in order to maintain intimacy, so does our relationship with the Lord.
Right now, God is breathing life into the dull and dead places within us. He is reviving spiritual hunger in His people and stirring hearts afresh to seek Him00. However, spiritual hunger is both a choice and a gift from God. It’s not a feeling, but something that must be cultivated. I, Katelyn, used to never eat breakfast because I wasn’t hungry. But when I learned that I could boost my metabolism and lower my stress hormones (yes please!) by eating breakfast, I started eating breakfast before I drank my coffee. I kept this up even when I didn’t “feel” hungry and soon, my appetite changed. I now crave a nourishing breakfast first thing in the morning because I chose to do something I didn’t feel like doing.
In the same way, when we pursue intimacy with God even when we don’t feel like it, we will soon crave His Presence. We will develop an appetite for the things of God. I, Anne, have spent many years praying for and teaching people how to be filled with spiritual hunger. In order to cultivate spiritual hunger in your life, surround yourself with people who are pursuing God, pray and ask for renewed passion, and make space to seek the Lord intentionally. What you cultivate will grow and when you cultivate God’s Presence, your desire for His Presence will increase.
God Can Rewrite Our History
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose
Romans 8:28
Months ago, my husband and I, Anne, were going on an afternoon date to the movies. We got all ready to go, had our tickets, and showed up at the theater–only to realize our tickets were for the following week. We laughed when we realized, but they let us use our tickets for that same day. Even though this example is small, I thought of how often God covers my mistakes–even my big ones. He’s not limited by my mistakes or imperfections.
Years ago, I, Katelyn, quit an unhealthy job when I lived in LA. This decision caused almost everything in my life to fall apart. Because of this, I moved out of LA and felt like I had failed and was abandoning what God had called me to do–after all, God was the one who brought me to LA. I lived with a lot of shame for about a year, however, God used this decision to profoundly shift the course of my life (in a good way!). He isn’t limited by what I call “failure.” He used this decision to get me to acting school–a dream that I’d had for over ten years and probably wouldn’t have considered while still living in LA. God turned my mistakes into good because that’s the kind of God He is.
Of course, the choices you make are important. And your choices have consequences, both good and bad. However, we often put undue pressure on ourselves to make perfect choices. You’re not too important to mess up your destiny and call on your life when you have said “yes” to Jesus. God is so good at turning situations for good, He is sometimes blamed for bad things happening. However, He’s actually just really good at redeeming mistakes and turning them to good.
Right now, God is redeeming the broken, messy, shameful parts of your story and turning them to good. He is redeeming even the most painful situations and experiences. He is turning situations into gold in your life. If you feel like you’ve made irreparable mistakes, ask God to come redeem your story. It’s not too late. He is turning even the most painful situations to good, if you’ll let Him. Allow Him to transform your story
Smash the Clock
I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.
Joel 2:25
Years ago, I, Anne, felt like I was running out of time and wasn’t sure if God was going to bring certain things to pass in my life. I received a prophetic word where someone told me to “smash the clock.” The clock no longer got to dictate what God could or couldn’t do in my life and I no longer had to hold him to my timeline, but I could trust His. This word gave me so much permission to let go of the pressure and timeline I had created and allowed me to trust Him.
In a similar vein, I, Katelyn, wanted to go back to school at 21 and 24 and 26. And I ended up at acting school at 31, after I’d officially told God “I’m done trying.” But God’s time isn’t our time. And every time I told the Lord, “I’m too old to pursue this now,” God reminded me that His timing was better than mine. Time and time again, I heard this phrase in my spirit, “I’m not in a hurry.” I even bought a lemon tree as a prophetic act–because fruit trees take multiple years before they start producing fruit. It’s okay if I’m growing and cultivating something that takes years to produce as well.
God’s timeline isn’t our timeline. So discard what everyone else’s expectations about where you need to be, what you need to have accomplished, or what milestone you need to have met. If you’re not where you want to be yet, let go of the pressure and expectations and pick up God’s expectations for you. The more and more I connect to the heart of God, the more peace I feel at not rushing. God is not in a hurry. Rush and anxiety are not from Him. Sometimes, He communicates with urgency but it’s different from stress and anxiety and fear. So come back to His heart for you and allow Him to replace your timeline with His. His timing is good and for the best. Repent for the ways you’ve partnered with anxiety and ask Him for His timing and how best to steward the moment you’re in. He will release His strategies to you. Pray for the divine timing of the Lord to manifest in your life today.
False Idols
You shall have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:3
The word “idol” conjures up images from another time or an adventure movie. Idols, in our modern day context, feel silly or ancient–like something that simply isn’t real. In a culture where we don’t have physical gods we worship and bow down to, it can be easy to think that we obviously don’t have any idols.
But an idol is anything we put before God, anyone whose voice we value more than the Lord’s, or anything we expect to save us. In fact, an idol is anything in which we put our hope for the future. An idol can be a pastor, a career, a presidential candidate, an academic or creative pursuit, or any area where your hope and security lies. Our hope and security lies in the Lord above all. It’s incredibly easy to position many things above the voice of the Lord. In this season, God is inviting us to lay aside anything that has had dominion over our hearts and minds. Is it people’s opinions? Is it a 401K? Is it the dream that you have to have? Is it who will get elected as president? If your hope is dependent on certain external outcomes, it’s possible there’s an idol in your life.
Now–please understand, God gives us dreams and visions for our lives. God wants to provide for us abundantly. God cares about how we steward our lives and we are to pray for the leaders of our countries. However, our hope never lies in our dreams coming to pass or which leaders are elected. Rather, our hope is in the Lord. In this season, God is inviting His people to examine our hearts and determine if we’ve placed anything above Him. He is revealing areas where we have put our hope in something besides Him. There is grace for fresh surrender, to lay our idols on the altar, and once again, set God on the throne of our hearts. Pursue His heart above all and let go of what you think you “need” in order to be satisfied or okay. Allow Him to show you that He is the one who fulfills the desires of your heart and He takes care of you. And ultimately, He is the one in which our hope, our trust, and our future lies. So come back to trust and surrender, for He alone is our God and He alone is our Savior.
At The Crowning Jewels, it's our desire and our mission to bring encouragement, to build others up, and to bring comfort to people’s lives (1 Corinthians 14.3). Each month, our founder, Anne Jackson, and our main writer, Katelyn Alexander ask the Lord what He’s doing in the coming month and for any words of encouragement He might have for His people. We believe that prophetic words need to be encouraging and edifying. Moreover, with a corporate prophetic word, not all words are applicable to all people. 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.
As always, the prophetic is a free gift from heaven and will always be something we freely share. As a prophetic business, it’s our mission to bring encouragement and edification to people through the free gift of prophecy, with our product being jewelry.
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 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 hello@thecrowningjewels.com.
Declarations
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Blog written by Anne E. Jackson and Katelyn Alexander
Each month we design limited edition pieces of jewelry, only available for that month, handmade with words and charms that reflect the monthly prophetic word. If this word resonates with you and you'd like to wear a reminder of its truths, click the pieces below to shop!
