Surprised by Joy – Paul L. Cox

We were at the Niagara-on-the-Lake conference, less than one-half hour from the powerful Canadian Niagara Falls, when the Lord surprised us by releasing a being called Joy and invited us to walk through a new gate into His power and joy. I kept thinking of a verse about joy, and finally found it in Isaiah 55:12, “For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

A lady then shared a dream from the night before about the number 55. Many people were in an elevator that only went up to the 55th floor when a second elevator manifested that went up another 12-13 floors. Fewer people were willing to take the second elevator to a higher level where there were ancient buildings and an older man with a bulldozer who was going to remove the old structures. Many people wanted to stay in the old buildings, but the man began bulldozing them over the edge of a cliff. One married man was disturbed because his wife was not willing to move into the new levels. It was clear that the Lord was removing the old ways to prepare for a new move of God, and some would not be willing to follow Him.

Next, the couple that provided housing for me in Niagara-on-the Lake shared that I was staying in an apartment on Highway 55, which was located in a 55-acre development.

I then recalled an experience from a few days earlier when I was on my way to my daughter’s house in Las Vegas. As I approached the California/Nevada border, I passed by the largest solar power plant in the world where, interestingly enough, my son-in-law, Brad, is employed. I had just crossed over the border when it suddenly felt like someone or something had hit my car three times on the driver’s side. I looked to see who’d hit me but there was nothing there. Had I just experienced an earthquake? I looked at the clock and it was 5:05pm. There it was again, 55, and I remembered a dream from many years before.

I was on a train going way out into the Nevada desert, to nowhere; and I had to get back to Delta, a city that was on the border of California and Nevada. I realized that I could not travel back because there was a canyon on the right side of the train, and no matter what I did I could not cross over it. At the first stop I found myself at a beautiful hotel surrounded by beautiful scenery, but the train wasn’t going back so I was stuck, and despite the beauty of my surroundings I was frustrated because I could not get back to Delta. I noticed while the train was stopped at the hotel that it was filled with lots of baggage, which I believe represents all the issues each of us carry from our past. The next stop was a very bleak, run-down trailer park. The scene spoke of poverty; so far out into the desert that it was literally “nowhere,” and I wondered how I was ever going to get back to Delta. Later, pondering the dream, I was told that one definition of Delta is a “change in position.” It is also a word that describes an electrical power system.

Has something dramatic happened in the spiritual world? Are we moving into a new season of dramatic change, of astonishing power and great joy? Isaiah 55 is a celebration of people coming to know the Lord, great favor for those who follow the Him, the fulfillment of God’s Word, and tremendous joy. Have we finally arrived at the place and time of a great change in human history?