2008 - The Year Ahead

Christians everywhere need to consecrate the year ahead to the Lord. A re-consecration of lives is important.

I believe that this year will see some big progressions in the Church of Jesus Christ. It is a time to be vigilant and dedicated. It is time for the church to move into a new level of walking in the Spirit and living in the Spirit.

The time for " doing church" is over - it's time to seek the Lord in earnest and when we do, he will come and reign righteousness on us.

Isaiah 52:11 Go now, leave your bonds and slavery. Put Babylon behind you, with everything it represents, for it is unclean to you. You are the LORD’S holy people. Purify yourselves, you who carry home the vessels of the LORD. 12You will not leave in a hurry, running for your lives. For the LORD will go ahead of you, and the God of Israel will protect you from behind.

Security from Yesterday. “… God requires an account of what is past” Ecclesiastes 3:14And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose in this is that people should fear him. 15Whatever exists today and whatever will exist in the future has already existed in the past. For God calls each event back in its turn.
At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.

“Leave your bonds of slavery. Put Babylon behind you, with everything it represents, for it is unclean to you.” This then, is the determination to turn from sin, bondage – as you turn God’s grace becomes “amazing.”

Security for Today. “You will not leave in a hurry … .” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.

Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.

Security for Tomorrow. “… the LORD will go ahead of you … .” This is a gracious revelation—that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.

So, let us come to the altar of consecration. For two reasons:-

1) to Consecrate ourselves here – consecrate = to dedicate, to set apart.
2) To receive His blessing, His Holy Spirit anointing for service.

Like a volunteer soldier – first he steps forward and signs up. Next he is equipped.