Roaring Like a Lion
“And they will walk after the Lord, He will roar like a lion; Indeed He will roar...” Hosea 11:10
Back in February 1988, the Lord spoke something to my heart that appears to have growing significance for this upcoming year of 2025. It was a bitter cold, wet, rainy day. I was driving on one of the busy streets in south Tulsa, not thinking about anything in particular other than what a dreary day it was when the Lord spoke to my heart, “On My agenda is to restore the Christian Church in America to the way My church moved in My power in the book of Acts.”
Since that time there was a significant revivals in the mid 1990's through approximately 2000. Although there were various revivals during that time period throughout The United States and Canada, the two more prominent revivals were in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Pensacola, Florida. The revival that happened in Toronto had impact on the church I was one of the pastors at. I went to the Toronto Airport Christian Church in 1996 and 1998. It was definitely a legitimate outpouring of God's Holy Spirit. I don't say things like that lightly.
After around 2000, though, nothing much seemed to happen by way of revival. A few years back, however, God began to speak to my heart about revival. He began to stir in my heart about how His Church moved in the book of Acts again. The Lord spoke to my heart that this next revival, outpouring, whatever name you want to tag it with, would make Pentecost, the first and second Great Awakenings in America, the Welch Revival, Azuza Street, revivals of the late 1940's into the 1950's, the Jesus Revolution revival of the late 1960's, the Charismatic revival of the 1970's and the the 1990 revivals combined would look like a mere backyard July 4th celebration in comparison. Not that those previous revivals had no significance, they all most certainly did. However, all of them combined will not come close to the significance of what is about to happen. Additionally there have been many more ministers, known and unknown speaking of a third Great Awakening in our nation that is going to be historic beyond measure. There will be a historic world wide revival as well.
A few days ago while I was spending time in prayer, the Lord put on my heart to look up 2025 in my Strong's Concordance to see what it means. I received the impression that it had to do with what the Lord is going to be doing in 2025.
The Strongs Concordance number 2025 for the Greek New Testament is the word epichrio. It means to smear over anything. It is part of another Greek word, chrio which means to anoint. With the prefix epi it actually means to over-anoint. It is also used to mean as enduing Christians with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In light of this we have to take into consideration some things which will tell us what God has in-store for His people, the Church/the body of Christ.
In the Gospel of Luke 4:18-19, Jesus read from the Prophet Isaiah, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Of course, Jesus was smeared all over by the Holy Spirit. Whether called the Christ or the Messiah, He is Jesus the Anointed One. He is Jesus smeared all over with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has smeared Him all over with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, consider this. When Jesus prayed to Father God on the way to the garden of Gethsemane, He said, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou has sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.” John 17:20-23
Keep in mind, that Jesus, the Anointed One, is speaking of us being in Him, and the Father, and Him and the Father being in us. Of course the Holy Spirit is in us, as Jesus mentions in John chapters 14, 15 and 16.
Also consider, Colossians 1:27 which says, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you the hope of glory.”
Let us look at another Scripture and then put what the Lord is speaking all together.
Revelation 5:5, “...and one of the elders said to me, 'Stop weeping; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.'”
What does all of this have to do with 2025 and roaring like a lion? I'm glad you asked.
As mentioned earlier, 2025 in the New Testament Greek is epichrio which means to smear over anything. It is part of another Greek word, chrio which means to anoint, and it is used as enduing Christians with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Epi combined with chrio essentially means to over-anoint. We have also shown that Jesus Christ the Anointed One dwells in us, and us in Him as well as Father God and Holy Spirit. This means that we, as the body of Christ are smeared all over with the anointing. All that Jesus had available to Him to do as He did on earth resides within us as well.
Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.” John 14:12
Scripture shows us that the Lord is likened unto a lion that roars (Hosea 11:10) and that Jesus is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah in Revelation 5:5. Since this is so, we have the Spirit of the Lord, dwelling in us that roars like a lion. Put all of this together and I believe what the Lord is getting at, is that the Lord, Jesus the Anointed One who is in us, is desiring to move through us in a manner by which the anointing within us will be released in greater measure. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is going to roar through His people. When a lion roars, it gets the attention of who or whatever is around. This will bring revival in 2025 to the Church and our nation to a greater level of effectiveness.
How will this happen? It has to start with us as believers becoming more intimate with the Lord at a level like never before. It means spending time with Him in a manner by which we know Him more, not know more about Him.
When a man and a woman are drawn together in a love relationship that results in marriage, they spend as much time together as possible. It's not a relationship in which they know more about one another. It may start out that way, but then the relationship grows from knowing about each other to the point of knowing each other. The Bible is not for us to know about God/Jesus/Holy Spirit. It's for us to know God/Jesus/Holy Spirit. That is how Jesus defined eternal or everlasting life.
“And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent.” John 17:3
The word know in that verse is a Greek word ginosko which means to get to know through effort and experience. It's not to know about, it's to know the person. The only way to know a person is in a relationship that you have experiences with. Any relationship worth having also takes effort, an effort to understand, an effort to love no matter what.
True love is to die for. That is why in marriage vows, the last phrase is, “Till death do us part.” Jesus epitomized that. He desires from us no less than that. Believe me, I'm just as challenged by writing this as you are reading it. To get to that requires itimacy on greater level with Him than we ever may have had before.
In John 3:30, John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The way we become over anointed is for us to have the mind/attitude that John the Baptist had. The word increase means to become greater. The word decrease means to be made less or inferior: in dignity. We must allow Jesus the Christ to over anoint us by allowing Him to become greater in us, while we allow ourselves to be made less or inferior, in or with dignity. The more we know Him, the more we will love Him. The more we love Him, the more we will serve Him out of “want to” not out of “have to” or out of duty. I do things for my wife because I want to, not because I have to out of duty.
It is important that we realize that in Revelation 3:20, that Jesus is speaking to the Christian Church, not lost sinners when He said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with Me.”
Jesus is knocking at the door of our hearts. It's no enough just to hear His voice as He knocks. We need to open the door and let Him in. This isn't about simple salvation. This is about intimate relationship with Him. To dine with people in the culture of the time was an intimate setting. People reclined, relaxed and opened their hearts one to another. They developed relationship that grew to the level of knowing each other, not just knowing about each other.
To know each other, people make the time to spend with each other. We all probably know and realize that we need to make more time with the Lord, but for many of us (myself included) although well intentioned to make time with the Lord a priority, we wind up getting caught up with the busyness of life. The truth is there are things that may be important, but should they be a priority over spending time in His Word and in His Presence, on a personal level as well as a corporate level.
“Now it came to pass, as they went, that He entered into a certain vilage: and a woman named Martha received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus feet, and heard His word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to Him and said, 'Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?' Bid her therefore that she help me.' And Jesus answered and said unto her, 'Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.'”
Most of us are like Martha. We are careful and troubled about many things. Mary, on the other hand, sat at Jesus feet. However, Mary did not just sit at Jesus feet. Mary heard His word. Mary did not just hear what Jesus said. She did not just hear His voice. The word heard means to attend to, to consider what is or has been said.
Martha, to her credit apparently took heed to what Jesus said. After Jesus had risen her brother Lazarus from the dead, she, Lazarus, Mary and Jesus had dinner together. John 12:2 says, “There they made Him supper; and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him.”
Martha served, but she was not careful, cumbered, or trouble with many things. We as the body of Christ need to allow the Holy Spirit work in our hearts for us to sit at Jesus feet, so we can hear His word and then know what to do as we serve Him. As we priortize our intimate time with Him, we will hear what He has to say, we will grow more in love with Him, become over-anointed and knowing our part in the upcoming, historic outpouring of God's Spirit like never before. As we read in Hosea 11:10 we will walk after the Lord, He will roar like a lion, indeed He will roar.
Like the Newboys song says, “God's not dead, He is surely alive, He's living on the inside, roaring like a lion.” Love and God bless, and Happy New Year, Pastor Paul. Sit at His feet in intimacy and come out roaring like a lion in 2025.