Have you ever felt like someone is following you? Well, sometimes I don’t feel like it’s a someone, but a series of somethings–numbers. Right now it’s the number 111, but at times it has been 1222, 1010, 555, or many others. This began for me almost fifteen years ago, and it started with the number 1222. At that time, if I looked at a clock sometime around noon or midnight it was going to say 12:22. I would be driving in traffic and find myself driving behind license plates with the conspicuous number 1222 written in the license, or even at times a combination of the letter B and 2 (B correlates with the 2nd letter of the alphabet—I have observed corresponding combinations with letters that match the number scheme that is happening at that time) which might look like 1BB2 or 122B or similar. This happened for months before I finally discovered what it meant—12/22 is my now-wife’s birthday (we were not married or even dating at the time) and the prophetic confirmation that a steady stream of the same number combination “coincidentally” showing up all around me served as a powerful prophetic confirmation in a period in my life when I badly needed it. God in His wisdom knew this in advance and provided for me before I entered the season where I needed it.
Numerology has lots of different explanations for the significance of numbers and many different Christian groups have their own beliefs about what numbers are supposed to mean from a prophetic or symbolic perspective. While any kind of number-meaning-guide can be helpful, I find they often fall short of a clear meaning. I find that most interpretations offer some helpful suggestions, but they can miss the mark as well if someone doesn’t understand that numbers are a means that God uses to talk to us. Sometimes it will be a scripture verse God is pointing to, and other times there is another meaning
For me, it depends. Before we moved to Portland, Oregon back in 2009, for months I would see 11:11 on clocks, license plates, etc. I looked up every single bible verse with four 1’s in it, and landed on Deuteronomy 11:11 which says, “The land you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.” I began to declare this every time I would see those numbers, not having a clue what it meant.. I think we might have lived in Portland for a full year before I realized I had moved to a land of mountains and valleys that did nothing if not drink rain from heaven six months out of every year.
There is a principle related to the prophetic and hearing God’s voice that is found in a conversation God had with Aaron and Miriam. Actually, the Lord was rebuking them for speaking out against Moses and his leadership, but the information provided in the rebuke is interesting. Numbers 12:6-8 says, “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord.” God literally descended in a pillar of cloud and told two of Israel’s leaders that He speaks to prophets in riddles, visions, and dreams, but with Moses He speaks face to face. What this says to me is that riddles are one of the ways God will speak to any of us, and having to piece together the meaning of a repeating number sequence seems pretty riddle-ish to me.
While I can never guarantee any specific meaning to any number or number sequence, I have learned a few things over the years. First, each situation is different. What a number sequence meant one time doesn’t necessarily mean it will have the same interpretation another time. And while the meaning can vary from one instance to another, often they will go in “flights” of numbers—where a number will repeat for a few weeks or even months (the longest I have had was sixteen months) and will have the same meaning the entire time. Yet, when there is a break in the numbers appearing or the sequence shifts, it usually means that God is saying something new. Second, you have to search out the meaning. Sometimes it is as simple as a well-known Bible verse like Jeremiah 33:3 which says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Other times it takes hunting, literally combing the Bible for scripture verses and discerning which fits the meaning. On other occasions, like with my wife’s birthday, it isn’t a scripture passage at all and the number has another meaning entirely.
While what the numbers mean and what God is saying to us may vary from situation to situation, one thing is certain: God uses numbers as one of the many ways He speaks to us, and the more we become attuned to the methods He uses, the more readily and easily we will recognize both when God is speaking and what He is saying to us. If you want to read a little more about God speaking to us through number patterns, or other ways God communicates with us, check out an anthology I am featured in called “God Speaks: Perspectives on Hearing God’s Voice” by Praying Medic, myself, Northwest Prophetic, Melody Paasch, Seneca Schurbon (who coauthored Broken to Whole with me) and others!
