Word For 2021
3/25/21
As I reflect on 2020 and look forward to the year ahead the Lord has put a word on my heart to share. As I have been in prayer and fasting I felt the Lord lead me to Exodus 24 and Exodus 32 in regards to the year 2021. As I read both passages the Lord spoke that the scriptures represent two different people. Exodus 24 is titled “The Covenant Confirmed” and the Lord highlighted verse 7 to be the main focus. This is where the people have been brought out of Egypt and God is asking them to make a covenant that they will obey him. At this point Moses is ascending to the mountains for 40 days to receive the Ten Commandments. Then in Exodus 32 the section is titled “The Golden Calf”. In this passage specifically verses 7-8 it is a time skip to when Moses’s comes back down from the mountain. He was actually informed by God to return from the mountain because the people had created a golden calf to be their new God in his absence.
These two passages give a stark comparison. In Exodus 24:7 they were making a covenant to God to obey and worship him 24/7. However just a few chapters later in Exodus 32 they are already making a covenant with a new god that they had created. I believe God chose these passages together to show a picture of what we have seen in the past year. He wanted to display that it is always a constant choice to obey God or place other things higher in our lives above God. We have seen opportunities for corruption and opportunities to remain steadfast. Opportunities to stand up and do the right things or to turn a blind eye.
Depending on our choice I believe there is a lot of room for redemption. I felt the Lord speaking the word redemption over the year 2021. Redemption is something that doesn’t just happen but it requires active participants. It is our choice if we decide to turn away from our selfish ambitions, humble ourselves and join him and accept his redemption. I believe that God’s greatest desire is for us to return to him. He wants us to be in communion with him and he desires to break down every wall that tries to create division between him and us and us and each other. 2021 has the potential to be a huge year for redemption. I also felt the redemption in business and finances as well. (Redemption Song-Bob Marley)
Luke 1:68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
Isaiah 11:11 “In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.”
Lastly, there was a pattern I noticed in both Exodus 24 and Exodus 32. Before Moses made the covenant with the people he first had to make a sacrifice. Similarly, before Aaron and the people made a covenant to the golden calf and submitted their lives to the idol they first had to make a sacrifice. I find it interesting that both of these sacrifices (one to God exodus 24:6 and one to the Calf exodus 32:6) both happen in verse 6. The theme and the point I see in both of these passages is 1. We have a choice and 2. It will always require a sacrifice. We will always sacrifice something; sometimes it’s our morals when we choose the wrong thing. Or sometimes it is our desires when we submit to God. We think if we are choosing what we want or what our flesh wants we won’t have to give anything up, but there is always a cost.
In 2020 I heard the word HOLDING PATTERN. Due to the pandemic so much of life was put on hold. This word may have looked differently for each person individually. For some it was a refreshing pause or a restoring Selah. For others it was a delay, a bind or a halt that caused loss and toil. In 2020 time seemed to pause or stop all together as everything was cancelled for the year. In 2021 I saw time start ticking again. Except I didn’t just see time pick up where it left off in the pause in 2020, instead I saw it skip ahead. Even though we felt time stop in 2020, time kept moving. I felt in 2021 that rather than feeling like life has resumed it will actually feel like time has skipped ahead or sped up. I saw a lot of things happening in a short amount of time and I heard the words “making up for lost time” or a “time skip”
As I was in prayer over the year ahead, I heard God say two things. The first thing he said was that 2021 was going to be a year of building and buildings. I felt this meant building in many different capacities. The first meaning being, the building of dreams and the second being, the possession and building of physical buildings. I felt like the Lord was giving favor over occupying physical land and properties. In a lot of ways 2020 felt like a wrecking ball that plowed and leveled so many things to the ground. What it really revealed was a new foundation. I believe God is now asking us to build on this new foundation that he revealed in the year prior. In the Hebrew language there is something called a gematria and that is an alphanumeric code of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase based on its letters. A single word can yield multiple values depending on the cipher used.
The Hebrew letters connecting to the year 5781 using the gematria are Heh, Yod, Vav, Pey and Aleph. https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/whats-in-a-number-5781/
Pulling from the Hebrew year 5781 (2021) the word Heh meaning look, reveal, breath, window, eternity. I felt the Lord highlighting the word reveal in connection or building on top of the year 2020. In 2020 many things were revealed and exposed. I felt the year 2021 is a response to that revealing. The Lord has highlighted Exodus 24 and 32 and I believe we have a choice to remain in what was or join the Lord in his work to be transformed into what he is and what is becoming. We can choose to be in obedience with God or to turn inwardly and choose ourselves and our idols.
One of these words that really stuck out to me in reference to the word God gave me for building and buildings was the word Yod which means work, throw, and hand. I believe God is really asking us to use what is in our hands to work and build what he is calling. Another word that makes up the 5781 year of 2021 is Vav, which means add, secure, hook, peg and nail. God is adding to our numbers this year he is multiplying us so we must build for this harvest. Using nails and securing the infrastructure of the visions the Lord has given us. Finally, last year the Lord had brought the Chinese lunar year to my attention in correspondence to world events and time markers. This year as the Lunar New year passed I noticed a similarity with the Hebrew year 5781.
In the Lunar New Year every year has an animal that represents that year. For 2021 the animal is the ox. In the number 5781 which is the year 2021 the letter aleph means strong, power, leader and OX. I don’t find it coincidence that both new years have the ox in common. Oxen are used for plowing, for transport (pulling carts, hauling wagons and even riding), for threshing grain by trampling. The Lord highlighted the word plowing to me. There is a laying down and a refining of being leveled or trampled. Which leads to my next word, partnerships. Oxen are usually yoked in pairs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ox
The second word God gave me for the year 2021 was partnerships. He said, “this year I am creating divine partnerships to advance my kingdom more efficiently and in time. I felt this word over many different areas but specifically businesses and kingdom entrepreneurship. A combination of the number 5781 with their letter makes the word eshatef meaning to share or partner up. I pray that as we renew our covenant with the Lord this year, welcome divine partnerships and build that we would see his glory shown more powerfully than ever before in the year 2021.
Image: https://www.valueresearchonline.com/stories/24603/how-to-build-a-portfolio/