I have been deeply stirred for this next year 2018!
Over and over, as I have prayed I hear in my spirit, that it is time for the bride of Christ to come alive! Come alive? What does that mean?
Let me explain. This last year, Karen and I have watched God do supernatural things in the remnant vision. We saw the launch of the new book, Rebuilding the Altar, the growth of the iAmRemnant Movement (22 locations), the birth of the altar movement and the moving of our home and ministry to Ft. Worth, Texas. Yet, this has also been a trying year in some areas. It has been a year of fighting for breakthrough and revival.
This year, we experienced attacks from Satan like never before. At one point this year the Lord visited Karen and told her to trust him during this season. We held on to those words from the Lord. We have heard the same things from many leaders and many of you, that this was a tough year. I don’t know about you, but we are ready for 2018! As I began to study the number “18” I was astonished to find out what the number “18” means in the Hebrew! In fact, the #18 is very sacred in the Jewish culture. The Hebrew word for “life” is ח (chai), which has a numerical value of 18. That’s right, it means life. As I began to pray over 2018, God told me to tell you that it is time to live again! Isaiah 43:18-19 declares, “Do not remember the former things nor consider the things of old. See, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not be aware of it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isa. 43:18-19).
It is time to let the past go. God is going to do something new. I believe God is going to restore families, ministries, churches and callings in 2018. I also believe that what has seemed hard to accomplish in the past will seem simple this next year.
As you prepare to go into 2018 I want to challenge you to do seven things:
1. Take time to hide away with the Lord. Give God priority in your busyness of life and watch as He draws near to you (James 4:8). God desires to commune with you! He is life. John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
2. Establish a bold prayer life. Seek wisdom from the Lord. Start each day with Jesus and end each night with praise. “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will find good” (Prov. 19:8).
3. Start over. Ask God to restore lost promises in your life that have been lost, buried or forgotten. I believe that this is the year where “old things have passed away. Look, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). “He who follows after righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor” (Prov. 21:21).
4. Let it go. Clean out yesterday’s hurts, disappointments and pain. It is time to forgive. “As in water face answers to face, so the heart of man to man” (Prov. 27:19).
5. Change your language. Declare in your life that the old is gone and behold God is doing a new thing. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Prov. 18:21).
6. Grab a pen and paper. Write down areas you are believing God to restore. Post those prayer requests somewhere in your home. “And the Lord answered me: Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it delays, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay” (Hab. 2:2-3).
7. Be a giver! It rebukes the devour. When you sow seeds, it produces a harvest. I have also always believed that you must sow where you want to go! “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6).
See an error in this article?
To contact us or to submit an article
