Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
I hope you fathers had a great Father’s Day. Bonnie and I were blessed to share at our home church yesterday. We did a team message on the present season of leaves for healing the nations. It is time to stir our expectancy for what God is doing and going to do. I am continuing the topic of leaves again today.
If you do an internet search on the spiritual symbolism of leaves you will find the leaf is meant to symbolize the individual believer within a community. In the same way that a tree is filled with many leaves to create a full display of life, each leaf contributes to that display because of its own unique testimony. That testimony of life happens because each leaf on the tree turns towards the light of the sun. In that process, the leaf also produces oxygen for the air of the world. The leaf of the tree is also a testimony of the season of the year. In the spring the leaf testifies of new birth, new expectations, and a willingness to open up in new ways. In the summer the leaf displays the confidence of life and the fullness of life as it takes on its full identity as a leaf. In the fall the leaf goes into the majesty of color, testifying of a full season of life fulfilled. In the winter the leaf willingly falls to the ground, testifying of a season of rest that also provides nutrients for the seasons to come. We are in a spiritual season of leaves. I believe that the present season of leaves is a prelude for the fruit that is to come in a greater way. This is not a time for great corporate expressions of the body of Christ, but we are in a season of for each of us as believers to find a greater connection to the Light of Christ in us. As we find that Light, we will affect the world in the same way that a leaf brings oxygen to the atmosphere. We will bring a fresh life of the Spirit of God to the world around us. This is a season of personal connection to God that brings about personal testimonies of God working in our lives for the sake of the world around us.
Leaves are the testimony of a new beginning. They indicate new life, a new thing, and a new season. A great example of this is found in the story of Noah. After the flood, Noah sent out a dove from the ark. The dove returned to him with a fresh leaf in its mouth, an indication that the waters were receding, and that new life had begun.
Genesis 8:10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
The leaf in the mouth of the dove was not an immediate confirmation of a changed world. It was a confirmation of a changing world towards life. I belief we are in a season like that. Something new is happening, but we must each embrace the new life that the Holy Spirit brings before we can enter the fullness of the new thing that God is doing. God is giving us a season of leaves for the healing of the nations! If the leaves of the tree are a testimony of healing to the nations, what can we expect to see in the healing?
Malachi 4:2 But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.
As leaves turn towards the light, we must also turn towards the Light of Christ. He is our true righteousness and as we turn towards Him, we will see Him arise with healing in His wings. Wings are a biblical symbolism of witness. They are a testimony of heavenly things sent to us by the Spirit of God as a witness to the world. It is the healing of God in our lives that brings about the true prosperity of life. Health to each of us is also health to our world. That prosperity is a prosperity of peace – a union with God in the Spirit. That prosperity is also a testimony of truth that frees us from every pretense and lie to who God is and to who we are.
Jeremiah 33:6 Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.
God’s peace and truth are what reveal God’s healing in our lives. If we have experienced God’s peace, we become people of peace for the sake of others. If we have experienced God’s truth, we have found the freedom that comes from truth. That is when we look for truth that brings freedom to others.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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