Page 120 - Evidence of Things Unseen

all the kings who preceded him because of his wife Jezebel, reigned 22 years and God cut
him off. Furthermore, the Scriptures record the following about these other wicked kings:

II Kings 8:26-27
Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year
in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri king
of Israel. He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of
Yahweh, like the house of Ahab had done, because he was a son-in-law of the house
of Ahab.

II Kings 21:19-23
Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years
in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of
Jotbah. He did evil in the sight of Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had done. For he
walked in all the way that his father had walked, and served the idols that his father
had served and worshiped them. So he forsook Yawheh, the God of his fathers, and
did not walk in the way of Yahweh. The servants of Amon conspired against him and
killed the king in his own house.

The number 22 has a correlation to wicked kings. As saints we are a nation of kings
and priests, and there are among the saints those who are also wicked, for they have allowed
the flesh to rule in their lives and have not dealt with it as they ought to. The number 22
speaks of cutting off this wickedness from our lives, even as my 22" mower was used to cut
the grass that surrounded my new home on County Road 22. Another astounding
confirmation of the symbolism of this number came at this time when a sister in Christ who
sends out a daily Scripture, was led by the Spirit to send forth the following:

Ephesians 4:22
Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self]
which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts
and desires that spring from delusion...
Amplified Bible

During this period of time in Middle Georgia, we were running a rain surplus of more
than 10 inches for the year. Much of this surplus occurred during the two months we were
living at the house I am writing about. This made the grass grow tremendously fast, and it
was all I could do to keep it mowed with my little push mower. About every other day I was
out mowing grass for a couple hours, and, even doing this, it at times got taller than was
desirable.
God often foreshadows spiritual realities with natural symbols, and the pattern is “first
the natural, then the spiritual.” My grass cutting in the natural, preceded a flesh cutting in
my life. Whereas I thought I was ready for God to use me in this special ministry toward
others, I learned that I still had more flesh to be removed from my own life. One enemy that
had been allowed to grow up in my life without proper pruning was fear. Some of these
fears had kept me bound and had hindered me from walking in perfect freedom before God,
as was demonstrated in the matter with our dogs. God wanted to set me free from this fear,
and He used our time in this home to do just that.