Luke tells us that Anna prayed, adored and fasted for 84 years. In that time we have to understand what was going on at the same time.
In this era the Romans invaded. Israel was a province of Persia, and had no king since 587BC. The Romans imposed their kings upon Israel. Herod the Great was the most formidable. He saw Zerrubabel’s Temple lacking the majesty. Lacking a human glory. So he remodelled the Temple. The Bible tells us nothing of this process. It says nothing of any dedication service like what we see in 2 Chronicles 6&7. Nothing of the fire and the glory.
The only time we read of this temple is in the Gospel, Jesus dedicated there and visited when He was 12. Then in later life the Temple turned into a merchant market. Jesus 2 times expels the merchandisers. They had turned worship to a monetary exchange.
Anna was praying in the midst of the slow change to which the good which was started after the Captives returned from Persia and Babylon, became a steady descent to corruption. Yet in the midst of this Anna had a focus; it was the Consolation of Israel. The type of consolation was not the type we humans understand, it comes out of brokenness and being subjugated. It is a spiritual revolution that started in the heavens. The thing that amazes me about Anna is that she had no platform, no worship band, no pulpit, yet she speaks down the ages. It means therefore, we need to reevaluate the current spiritual model of the denominational congregations. Anna did not need the trappings of ministry, or clergy to make a difference. All she needed was the thing God put in her heart, for her to catch what God wanted her to do.
Then there was the noise of stonemasons around her. Still she kept her focus.
How much political and spiritual/politics going on around us now? How much noise is there abroad? Like Anna, instead of trying to make sense of all what was happening around her, Herod could tear down the structure but at least she would still have a foundation to pray from.
What if our churches become a target for the different demographics? Will we lose our faith? Will we lose our sense of purpose?
It is this kind of prayer of focus we need also. It is the kind God responds to. It is also the kind that causes spiritual ripples to run out. Simeon also had the same vision as Anna, and many groups arose with the conviction that God was preparing something big.
We can believe war is on the horizon, the fall of kingdoms but as long as we keep focussed, we may see upheavals but God will keep the roof over our heads. He will keep us with the daily bread. As He kept Anna.
The objective of God was for her in the right hour, the right place, see beyond the small babe to see the King. That is also our task, we are as the 10 virgins waiting for the Bridegroom of Matthew 25 needing the Lamp of the Word, the Oil of the Holy Spirit. If we become accustomed to the ways of God, His moving in our hearts in the preparation we shall not let appearences blind us. We shall see the small as big, the big as small. Many want us to be impressed by a glorious temple by human standards, but God disregarded it, and this gloryless house was exposed on Crucifixion day. A empty shell. That which envisaged Anna, a spiritual revolution was not preached or sung about, but quietly for 84 hours prepared and sought over.
Anna was content to be unseen, unknown and unheard of. That was the price of the task ahead. Sometimes we can be stirred to impress, to be seen, to be heard, but the greatest turning points in the Word is prepared for in the wilderness. John the Baptist preferred to throw off human expectation that he would follow his father into the priesthood. Elijah declares a earth shaking prophetic word is taken to Cherith, the most deepest and unknown place in all of Israel, hidden from all and hidden to all.
Days and days of prayer, days and days of stones being hauled across the floor, cemented into pillars, with this heavy project, God’s focus was not on the building work, but on a old lady praying. Adoring.
I know I would want not to be hauling stones in vain. Being disregarded by the Lord is the worst ever project of life, and to present oneself before the White Throne empty. For God the smallest task is the greatest, the greatest the smallest. The order is inverted.
So praying in these times is praying through upheaval. How many governments have fallen the last few days? Research it. How many people have been imprisoned for the truth? Many. This is upheaval where the Lie is celebrated as truth. Where uncleanness is seen as purity. Focus on what God put in your heart. Don’t let the noise distract you. Focus, because He is coming, and you are carving out His way before Him.
He is coming. How long we pray is determined by Him. Our time is a great investment. We are not working in time, we are sowing into eternity.
Anna is a end time pattern. Its not about travelling nations only, its preparing for His Coming. Are you ready for this task? Or are you on the rat race what is empty ministry based on mammon and pride? Are you willing to be unseen, unheard of? Then you are ready for a great task…welcoming the Lord in whatever form.
Maranatha!!!
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