Promotion time is here! It began on August 1st, and it will continue until August 15th. August is the eighth month on the Gregorian calendar, and the number eight means new beginnings. On the Hebrew calendar, this period covers the last week of Av and the first week of Elul, the last month of year 5781. It is also the beginning of the rebuilding time in the Season of Teshuvah, or repentance, which culminates at Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, for the Jewish people, which is the Highest Holy Day of the year, starting on sundown Sept. 15. The month of Av, during the Three Weeks of Sorrow, from June 27 through July 18, many of you were crushed and pulverized in your hearts and bodies. This is just like the temple of the Lord destroyed in history by the Romans and King Nebuchadnezzar. If you felt crushed and pulverized in your body, which is the temple of the Lord, you are now coming out into your time of promotion, and God is cleansing your temple and rebuilding it in the month of Elul, so you can carry double glory at Rosh Hashanah on sundown Sept. 6 , the new Hebrew year of 5782.
You went through testing and trials and walked through the Three Weeks of Sorrow. This was all a time of transition. Transition can be hard, especially when your identity is rocked, and you question who you are and who God is. But this reaction to transition is normal. Many heroes of the faith experienced the same at one point, even after they had seen great signs or miracles.
There was a man named Gideon who found himself in this very situation. Judges 6:11-12 says, “Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak tree in Ophrah belonging to Joash the Abiezrite. Gideon his son was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.'”
The Lord sent an angel to Gideon even though his identity at the moment was not one of power and might. Gideon was feeling depressed. The Israelites were under oppression. Then God came, even though Gideon was questioning the Lord after all the amazing things He had done, and here was His angel sitting under a tree! In God’s love and mercy, He sent the message through an angel to call Gideon a “mighty man of valor.” God gave Him a new identity.
Maybe you feel oppressed today. You’re questioning the trials and testing; you’re asking the Lord, “Where are the miracles?” Be encouraged. God is going to build a new foundation in you! A new temple of God is emerging where glory will be present.
When God came to Gideon, He specifically spoke about how Gideon’s identity had to change. He had to stop identifying with loss, tragedy and oppression and begin to see himself as the mighty man of valor he was called to be! If he was going to come out in victory, he was going to have to renew his mind and thoughts to align with God’s declaration.
The same is true for you. Now is the time of change! If you’re going to transition into God’s strategies of promotion, you have to start seeing yourself as God sees you. Your identity is in Him and Him alone! You’ve got to start seeing things as God sees them. He is rebuilding you now for double glory.
Remember when the angel called Gideon a “mighty man of valor?” The word “valor” in Hebrew is the word khalil, and it means the glory of the Lord, the wealth and resources of God. The angel was saying to Gideon, “Hey, mighty man of valor. Hey, man with great resources who carries the Lord’s glory.” Praise the Lord!
If you’re feeling like you aren’t carrying the glory of the Lord right now, all you have to do is allow your identity to begin to shift and transition for this promotion time. You are going to carry more of the glory of the Lord when you find yourself in Him! Your new identity in Christ as a person of valor in Him is your new foundation for your temple for the new Hebrew year!
I’m telling you right now that on Sept. 6, when the calendar turns over on Rosh Hashanah, the brand-new Hebrew year of 5782, you’re going to walk in double glory! There is going to be a double explosion coming. Prepare yourself. {eoa}
Dr. Candice Smithyman is an international prophetic revivalist and healing minister who is founding pastor (retired) of Freedom Destiny Church with her husband, Adam, and vice president of Dream Mentors International. She is also host of the Glory Road television broadcast shown on a variety of networks and also hosts Your Path to Destiny on It’s Supernatural Network. She has appeared on Sid Roth’s Its Supernatural among other shows and is the author of Releasing Heaven: Creating a Supernatural Environment through Heavenly Encounters and Angels of Fire: The Ministry of Angels in the End Time Revival among other books and publications. Learn more at candicesmithyman.com.
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Stephen Strang 
Charisma Media Staff 
Charisma Staff 
