I am finally putting keyboard to computer (used to be pen to paper) some of the things that God has been speaking to my spirit in expectation of this year, 2018. For me personally, I am going through a precious cleansing of my heart. It is beautiful. It is deep, and it is pervasive.
This is going to be a year of reconciliation, restoration, and unity. Relationships that were lost will be restored, fathers will turn their hearts to their children, separated spouses will turn back to one another, and friendships that were torn and ripped apart will find their way back towards each other. People whom you haven’t heard from in years will seem to come out of the woodwork because the timing for restoration has arrived. It will also be a season of ministries joining together and people whom you never dreamed you would work with, you will find yourself coming together in unity for God’s glory and kingdom purposes. There are “tattooed giants” whose trials have shaped them with compassion, faith, patience, and wisdom. Nothing they have gone through will be wasted. The past will be a distant memory and old wounds will be washed away by the blood of Jesus whose glorious imprint will make inroads to new opportunities for growth.
A major theme this year comes from Genesis 17:6, when God changed Abram’s name from Abram to Abraham. It reads, “I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.” The “exceedingly fruitful” will come as a deeper quality of the nature and character of Jesus Christ is manifested through us. This is a year to ENJOY and ENGAGE with God like never before. We will fall more in love with Him like lovers in the Song of Solomon. Many say, “Seek His face, not His hand.” The motivation behind this is true, but the good news is that Genesis 25:5-6 says, “And Abraham gave ALL that he had to Isaac. But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines ….” As children of God and joint-heirs of Jesus Christ, we have access to ALL of who God is and what He has prepared for us—His Face, His Hand, His Spirit …. Faith without works is dead. Faith without love is dead; and love without Grace and Truth is impossible.
What a year! What a year! What a year! Both the Jewish year and the Gregorian year end in “8”. The “New” has come, and there will be blessed surprises and refreshing projects that you will not feel alone in as you pursue the Father and follow His Cloud in 2018. It’s a new season; it’s a new day! God’s glory is here to stay, to draw His creation in a brand new way. What a great rejoicing is here today!