IN THE NEXT 30 DAYS EXCHANGE THE MUZZLE FOR THE WAR-CRY
A Word by Nate Johnston
At the beginning of the week I heard the Lord say “The muzzle has to be exchanged for the war-cry!” and I felt it was both an Issachar instruction – prophetic action for a specific time, and a strategy of breakthrough for the next 30 days.
A WINDOW OF STRATEGIC DELIVERANCE
Why 30 days? In 30 days is the Jewish celebration of Rosh Hashanah- the head of the new year of 5780. 5779 was very much the transition, the cleaning, purifying, the PREPARATION, as well as the exit and closure to not just a time, but an era, and right now we are in a crossing over. It’s a “Kairos” moment of time or window of opportunity to partner intentionally with God to see the end of and fully sever the assignments that warred at us in this transitional season. It’s an hour of strategic deliverance and God is coming after every area of your life that the enemy has tried to roadblock you and prevent you from moving forward.
THE COUNTER-MOVE TO THE NEW MOVE
Out of all the assignments against God’s people in this season there has been one specific agenda that has been sent to counteract the move of God’s spirit ordained to be released by His sons and daughters into the earth. This is the assignment to SILENCE and MUZZLE us in a time our voices need to be heard more than ever before!
I believe that the year 5780 is the year of the prophetic decree and the new era of the church rising up in her authority to shake and disciple nations and usher Gods kingdom into the earth. It’s a new governmental epoch. The number 80 is the numerical meaning of the Hebrew letter “Pey” which symbolically is the picture of a mouth, prophetically representing prayer, prophesy, and the decree, as well as breath and creativity. Additionally, it carries the implication of deliverance and movement and for us represents the “coming out of the bondage” season many are right now experiencing.
THE MUZZLE MUST GO!
But this spiritual agenda has done far more than just muzzle and silence. I have seen it’s effect even on churches and whole movements where the fear of man has crept in to censor the church from rising up and being a voice. I have experienced prophetic environments that have been cultivated for decades suddenly disempowering the weighty prophetic decree to keep things “contemporary”. I have seen this controlling agenda come disguised as wisdom and remove the power of God. This has only created spaces VOID of inspiration and creativity, little revelation, and people who aren’t able to distinguish or hear the voice of God.
I have also seen people who have been unknowingly under this agenda who have faced some of the most horrific onslaught against their minds. Many have been experiencing extreme levels of mental warfare in the last few years to the point where they have even been taken out with mental illness and mental breakdown. Others have felt like they were bordering on the edge of complete breakdown after years of demonic torment and oppression. The constant assault after assault, wave after wave of mental warfare have come to this place now where people are struggling to mentally process the change of seasons and continue partnering with faith.
This demonic agenda at its very core seeks to MUTE you and MANAGE you. When you are managed by it you feel frustrated and powerless like a puppet on a string. It leads you into wrong co-dependant relationships that only perpetuate the dysfunction- normally people affected and inflicted by the same agenda. This spirit wants to distract and scatter your life to the point that you not only stagnate in the natural but spiritually you dry up and wither. This agenda wants to CONFINE and blind, squash and bully you, and scare you into submission just so you survive. The end result is a people bitten over and over and poisoned to the prospect of being used by God or being a voice simply because the price is just too high.
Elijah faced this same spiritual agenda when he confronted the worship of other Gods and sought to restore the fallen altar in 1 Kings 18. Yes I’m talking about the Jezebel spirit. In the New Testament this same agenda arose to silence John the Baptist (note the prophetic calling) which resulted in him being beheaded. But I kept hearing the Lord say “THE MUZZLE MUST GO!” and I believe even right now people are going to start feeling the swift deliverance upon their lives and be able to recognize that something has shifted majorly for them. Speak to it right now. Command that assignment to end, and for every last trace of it in your life to go too. The weariness. The lethargy. The sickness and mental fatigue. The trauma and pain. The poisoned purpose. The fear and foreboding. Every last bit is right now being exposed. It’s roots. It’s influences. The ways it has weaseled its way into your life. God is turning the lights on and its FREEDOM time in JESUS name! “At that time your mouth will be opened; you will speak with him and will no longer be silent. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 24:27
THE WAR HAS BEEN ON YOUR VOICE, YOUR PEN, & YOUR SONG
As I started writing down what the Lord was saying over this, I saw a vision of people suddenly get up and shout, sing, dance, and write. It was as if this muzzle was not just over the mouths of Gods people but in every expression that HE SPEAKS through – in us! There has been a war on creativity in this season because it will be the time that kingdom creativity from the throne is needed the most. You may have felt an unshakeable FRUSTRATION in this season. Like things just didn’t connect. Ideas didn’t come together. Words didn’t form. There was an unusual disconnect or it was a WAR for clarity where in the past it was easy. Get ready to unleash the power of your pen as you feel the fresh inspiration that comes. Get ready to let those new songs flow through you, and those messages, words, and revelation suddenly burst out of you!
THE WAR-CRY & THE SOUND OF TESTIMONY
When I heard God say “war-cry” I saw an image of someone raising up a trumpet sound as if a battle was won, not as if they were headed into the beginning of battle. It reminded me of Jericho and the trumpet blast in victory. As your un-muzzled voice is heard it is going to unleash such a deliverance anointing and sound of freedom that will set captives free. This is your war-cry. It’s the sound of your testimony! This is the strategy of heaven – lift your voice and speak about what God has done in your life, past breakthroughs and miracles, shake off the heavy weights, rebuke the assignment that has muzzled you and authoritatively TAKE BACK your voice!
This is going to be a season of seeing your words come forth with POWER that will create and re-create, dismantle darkness and mantle lives, build kingdom and destroy hell’s fortresses. So, join me in the next 30 days as we intentionally focus on this Kairos moment of deliverance, breakthrough, and releasing our new sound into the earth.
“They conquered him completely through the blood of the Lamb and the powerful word of his testimony.[h] They triumphed because they did not love and cling to their own lives, even when faced with death” Revelation 12:11“Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us” Isaiah 8:9-10
Nate & Christy Johnston
Click Here To Connect With Nate & Christy Johnston
www.nateandchristy.co
