There is a sentiment I am picking up from the Body of Christ that there is a reprieve of sorts – a window of opportunity that has opened – where before the shift comes in a big way, there is opportunity both to get your financial house in order and to prepare to seize the opportunities that lay ahead of us. Both ideas are interrelated as you cannot seize on the new opportunities if you are strapped and burdened by the past.

I heard from an intercessor in Nigeria (Yemi Issachar) who is a watcher of the global economy. This is what God has been showing him… “The recession today I believe is God’s making, to pave great ways and open serious opportunities for His children to follow a narrow path everybody ignores to become the new leaders in the new USA that God is building. This is the year of open doors and God is the one at the centre of all these shakings to propel His own to a new beginning.”

Friends, we need to take some bold steps this year to eradicate debt and position ourselves not only financially but in a host of other ways to step up into the positions of authority God has for us in the marketplace. He will not give it to us if we are unprepared, ill-equipped and unbelieving. We must rise up on the inside to accept the challenge of the Holy Spirit before us, to get trained, get positioned and take territory. Want to catch that train?

“Enter in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be who go in there: Because narrow is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it.” Mt 7:13-14

Last week I shared with you that I believed the Lord spoke to my heart back in November the phrase, Through the Gate in 2008. I kept it hidden in my heart until I heard my pastor share that God had spoken that same phrase to him in December. It has since been confirmed through a host of other witnesses. But what does it mean?

I discovered over the weekend that in Hebrew, the number eight is rendered by the letter CHET, which is depicted in the form of a GATE. The number eight has long been considered to represent new beginnings and going through a gate can certainly represent that. Here is what I want you to prayerfully consider with me… I believe we are all going to pass through a gate in 2008. The question is: which gate? Will it be the narrow gate leading to life or the wide gate leading to destruction?

The wide gate is the popular gate, where the masses walk through giving little thought to the fact they are passing through a gate and onto destruction. The narrow gate requires striving just to get through (Luke 13:24) and many will not be able to. Those who press through the narrow gate will be spared destruction and experience life. Do not take this year for granted my brothers and sisters. Choose your gate wisely.

“Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the armor of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of bronze, and cut asunder the bars of iron: And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.” (Isa 45:1-3)

We stand at the gate looking at 2008 and wondering what it will hold. I believe there are many treasures hidden in darkness waiting for you and me to discover. They are not lying on the path but rather in the hidden places, requiring light and diligence to find. The treasures are not dark in and of themselves, but are hidden in darkness until someone brings them to light. Furthermore, we are not speaking of a single treasure, though that would be blessing enough, but treasures, expressing an incalculable amount, more than can be expended.

Two things I will solemnly tell you this year. The first is that there is great treasure lying undiscovered all around us, hidden in darkness, waiting for the light to come and reveal it. Will you be the light? It could be something like the great diamond find in Canada that rivals Africa. It could be an invention, a cure for cancer, alternative fuels, a software product, a book, a song or a new way of doing an old thing. I promise you this year, they will be found. That is beyond contestation. The question is… Will you be one who finds it?

That brings me to my second solemn point… I believe God wants to entrust those treasures to His children. But we have to be seekers, searching early for wisdom, watching daily at His gates. As we grow in Him and in His wisdom, we can be trusted with the treasures and they will be used to bless the world, not merely fill our bank account. Are you ready this year to receive the treasures of darkness? Then seek Him first and foremost. Pursue Him diligently. You will find along the way the treasures hidden in darkness reserved for such a time as this.