This perspective and framework of hope faith and love were recently posted by a Father in the faith who I know and respect as carrying the Spirit of God in both wisdom,power. He travels to Australia quite a bit and has been doing a work down there, hence some of the mentions of that country but I see that the perspectives are worthy of examination. That stated, I wanted to summarize what I seem to be hearing from multiple people around the blogosphere. There is a clear consensus that 2015 will be a different sort of year from what the last seven years have been. If you like using the analogy of Pharoahs seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, you have the general idea. However, it seems that we have been through the seven lean years first. Note: some have even pointed back to two earlier seven year periods, but Im omitting that discussion in an attempt to keep this manageable in length. So, the expectation is that 2015 will be a year of release, improvement, blessing. In the natural, the economy seems to be reflecting this, although not uniformly. Nevertheless, if the natural speaks of the invisible in any sense, then perhaps the improvement in economic conditions reflects what is about to happen spiritually. Of course, few things are ever 100% good or 100% bad, so the consensus also seems to be that to get to this place of blessing and prosperity (and Im using both terms deliberately -- blessing for spiritual increase and prosperity for material increase) will require contending for them. They wont just fall into our laps. Following are some sample quotations from various people that illustrate the summary Ive written above: GET READY IN 2015 BROKEN FORGOTTEN DREAMS AND DESIRES ARE BEING RESTORED Get ready, brace yourself because dreams, and desires that have been shattered, broken, and even forgotten are going to be restored and healed in the blink of an eye this year. 2015 – 2022: The Next Seven Years You Will Breathe Again: Winds of Worship, Wealth, Wisdom, and Wonder Double for your trouble: This is one of His personal prophetic words for you in 2015. Look to Isaiah 61:7 as inspiration: Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess DOUBLE... (emphasis mine). The play on words is this: 2015 will be the year He sends Winds of W (worship, wisdom, wealth, and wonder) because He wants to double you (W). There has been a 14-year assignment against your hope, and this year you are going to break through into radical, crazy hope. Even as Jacob worked 14 years for Rachel, and even as Joseph was processed until his 14th year after receiving his prophetic dreams – so too will you the persevering ones now step into a similar place of breakthrough. This does not mean a life of no challenges – but it does mean a life of greatly satisfying fruitfulness. You will strive less and accomplish more. Less effort will bring about more fruit. Simple obedience will trump leveraging capabilities. You will learn to rest, to worship, and to love – and then repeat that cycle. I can just tell you this...[2015] is going to be an incredible time of shifting, fulfillment, victory and turnaround for us all! 15 is a biblical number tied to celebration and rest after a victory or harvest. The Feasts of Tabernacles, Unleavened Bread and Purim all happen on the fifteenth day of the month. It is the Hebraic calendar year 5775 which is a double portion number....a double portion of grace and favor to see fulfillment, completion and finishing! One of the main scriptures for this turn around year of double portion deliverance and victory is found in Esther 9. We know of the decree of death and destruction released by Haman against the Jews authorizing the people of the land to kill them and take their possessions on the 13th day of the 12th month of Adar. But Esther wrote a new decree, in the king’s name and sealed it with the king’s ring, that the Jews had a right to defend themselves and kill those who were trying to kill them. This carried over into the 14th day when they finished destroying those against them. On the 15th day they had a feast, a celebration of joy, that God had delivered them from their oppressors. This is that day! It was a time of turn around! The turn started in the 13th year, continued through 2014 and we will see great fulfillment in 2015! Some need to write a new decree over your life for the upcoming season of time. God is mobilizing angels to see the things we decree come to pass! I heard the Lord say that this would be a Year of Divine Reversals. As a matter of fact, in Esther 9:1 when it speaks of the decree of Haman it says of that day “that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, though it was turned to the contrary that the Jews had rule over them that hated them.” I was surprised to find that the word “turned” in this verse is the Hebrew word haphak is the Strong’s number 2015!! It means to overturn, to change, to overthrow, to turn around, to transform, to be reversed! This will be a year of Divine Reversal! As a matter of fact, I heard the Lord say this would be a Boomerang Year! As we know, a boomerang gets thrown out and then returns to the one that threw it. God is going to cause every curse and every assignment from hell to be turned right back upon the head of our spiritual enemy! By faith, if you are struggling with something that needs to be overcome, then 2015 is your year of victory, if you simply believe, this is your year of Victory in Jesus! By faith, whatever you are involved in, by applying the truth, and obedient faith; you will be victorious in those things. Also, I feel the Lord is saying that we must not take into 2015 any sense of delays, defeats, fears or resentments - because we have entered into a new era. Not just a change of season, but the old era has passed, and a new era has begun. Shake off any thing that does not serve you and the Lord, and go into the new era, as a new creation in Christ. I could go on, but you get the idea. Now, these are all very encouraging words, and in that sense, they meet the test of edification as it pertains to prophecy laid out by Paul in I Cor. 14. What remains to be seen, since we are only standing on the first day of the year, is whether the next 364 days (and six more years beyond that) bring us the kind of blessing described in these passages. I certainly hope that these are correct, and it appears that we have a role to play in determining whether they come to pass, but whether they come to pass in the absolute sense will be something that we must simply wait to see. There is no way (that I know of) to know for certain at this point, other than by faith. This is an appropriate juncture to discuss the necessity of both faith and hope in the Christian life. Paul of course famously said that these three abide: faith, hope and love, but the greatest is love. However, that isnt to say that faith and hope arent critically important. Faith is substance; it is confidence that something will happen based on spiritual reality and it is much more than just crossing our fingers in hope. In fact, even that last sentence downgrades hope in a way that it is inappropriate. One cannot manufacture faith. It arises from spiritual reality that is tangible and real, and once perceived, it shifts something in the human soul. Faith brings spiritual reality into physical tangibility. Romans 4:16-17 says that faith calls into being things that do not exist. For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. Hope on the other hand, is more akin to confident expectation. Hope (n.): the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; a person or thing in which expectations are centered. Hope lacks the substantive component of faith, while still having the power to ignite works of God. Some in this group will remember the dictum, Expectation is the combustible fuel of faith. Well, hope is that expectation, so dont downgrade hope as some kind of lesser spiritual reality. It is a different reality, but it is based on a knowledge of Him in whom we hope. Hope also has a teleological component that looks to the future with confidence rather than with dread or ennui. Here is what Paul says about hope and its linkage to faith in Romans 4:18-22 (the very passage that follows Romans 4:16-17), In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE. Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarahs womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform [because he know who his God was]. Therefore IT WAS ALSO [that is the key word here] CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.… In other words, Abrahams faith was catalyzed by his hope in God. Faith doesnt find its fullest expression without hope. They are like two interlocking parts, or perhaps like enzymes and coenzymes for those with biologically-inclined minds. With this understanding, I hope that these words about 2015 are correct. I am confident in the God whom these several prophets serve, and plenty of prophets are prophesying in this manner. So, either they will all be right, or they will all be wrong. There isnt much middle ground here. However, even if they should prove wrong, we can still hope in God because hope does not disappoint us even if our faith was misplaced. This is because our hope is in God, who does not fail us. Most of the readers of this group will also know that I have shared widely a word given to me in 2011 about 2014 and Gods moving in Australia. That word showed a series of pinpricks of light around the perimeter of Australia. Those points of light grew and became flames that merged into one ribbon or ring of fire around the country. The map had 2014 superimposed on it. I understood that to mean that the ribbon or ring of fire would form by the end of 2014, but it is possible that I would have more properly interpreted it to mean that the pinpricks would be ignited by 2014 and would merge thereafter (i.e., 2015 and beyond). I dont want to make the mistake that so many have made when prophecies failed to come to pass of spiritualizing or reinterpreting the word in order to appear not to have missed it. The simple truth is that while Australia is waking up, it would be a stretch to say that the country is presently in a continent-wide revival. However, things are happening, and they seem to be increasing, albeit on a timeline that differs from what I initially supposed. So, my assessment of the ribbon or ring of fire is that while it isnt happening yet, I can personally attest that the pinpricks around the perimeter of the country are in place. I know because I have traveled to many of those places, and I have seen Gods movement and the stirring in the hearts of his people. Of this, I am an eyewitness, and these pinpricks are burning steadily with various degrees of brightness. Moreover, the Lord has sent and continues to send his best to the country to accelerate this phenomenon. So, I hope that 2015 will be the year when the pinpricks become that ribbon or ring of fire. I plan to return to Australia five and possibly six times in 2015 seeking to be part of spreading that fire around with the objective that the pinpricks will become a ribbon or ring of fire. I have faith that God wants that to happen, and I hope that it happens in 2015. More broadly, I anticipate (hope) that 2015 will be a year of great blessing and increase for all of the readers of this group. May the Lord meet our faith and our hope and surprise us all with his goodness in our personal lives and ministries. Happy New Year! PS - I would welcome perspectives on the move of God over Australia from our readers who live there or who have traveled there recently.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 20:24:41 +0000
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