The Year Ahead

At the end of each year, I wait before the Lord to get a sense of the year to come and this is what I believe He showed me: “I am God and there is none like me” (Psalm 20:6). Isaiah 46:10 declares: “The end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all My pleasure.”

God will not be mocked. His plans will prevail and when we align ourselves with those plans we will see the greatest manifestation of the Lord’s power and presence in our land, more that we have ever asked or even imagined. The year 2005 was a year of alignment in all areas. Personally and corporately, among His people, He has been stripping us of our filthy rags and preparing new garments for us. For many it has been a hard year because they have had to let go of things that had become dear to them: ministries, pleasures and even friends. It has been like the preparation for a voyage in space and the careful checking and double checking of the vessel that every system is ‘go.’ The preparation that astronauts go through to make them fit for the arduous journey ahead, not only physically but mentally, is what the Lord has been doing with His people. The year ahead requires a dedicated focus with no extraneous things to distract or hinder us.

We are in a transition time with new mantles and new directions, but all these things have been planted in our spirits and when we step into them, we will realize it is what the Lord has been preparing us for. Many times in the refining and aligning process, it is hard to see because of the dross around us, but this year we will step out of that ‘cloud’ and our vision will become clear. It seemed like last year when I was constantly being disciplined and seeing all those things in my life that didn’t please the Lord, (does anyone relate?!) but this was a honing and refining of our gifts so that we will have the maximum impact for His kingdom. Many will step into a new level of revelation and mysteries will be revealed to those who have spent time in the furnace of His refining presence.

It will be a year when we need to know how to dwell in the secret place and how to rest in His presence even in the midst of warfare. If we keep our eyes on what is happening in the world, we will lose our peace, God is our focus and from the shelter of his wings, we will see the destruction (Ps. 91); but in that peace we will be effective to minister His love and hope to the lost and the hurting. Supernatural provision will be a witness of His love to those who have lost everything. “As in the days of Noah” – the ark of His presence is the place of safety and peace – just as the ark was a place of safety and preservation in the midst of judgement and cleansing of the earth, so is His presence in these days to come. We need to live out of spirits and not our souls or our flesh. I believe that one of the distractions of the enemy this next year will be attacks upon our emotions, digging into old wounds, to get us into self-pity and focusing on what might have been and how we were unjustly treated etc. We need to be healed and move on, close the door to past hurts and walk in forgiveness – there is power in forgiving another for even the smallest slight. Dying to self and being alive to Christ is a necessity for the times we are living in. Our very survival may depend upon it.

Roman 6:11 Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; in Him I have shared His crucifixion; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

When I was in England, the fire alarm in the hotel went off in the middle of the night, and even though we had a sense it was a false alarm, we still evacuated. It did cross our mind that it might be a ruse for someone to plunder the rooms while everyone was outside.

That is how the enemy distracts us – he sets off false alarms and while we are paying attention or setting our focus in that direction, he plunders and steals. We need clear, strong discernment to know where the Lord wants us and to recognize the distractions of the enemy. I believe that is part of the cloud clearing, when we have submitted to the refining of God we will see and hear clearer. It is close to His heart, in the secret place, that we hear His will and purpose and in the purity and holiness of his presence the plans and schemes of the enemy are easier to discern. 2 Corinthians 1:10 AMP For its is He who rescued and saved us from such a perilous death, and He will still rescue and save us; in and on Him we have set our hope that He will again deliver us from danger and destruction and draw us to Himself. Keys are very significant this year, I believe we have been in possession of them for a long time (hanging on a ring on our belts) but have not known how to use them. As I was praying, I saw a bank vault with safety deposit boxes and the Lord had already turned His key and we needed to insert ours and what has been hidden and locked away will be opened. Inside the box were sealed scrolls, and I felt that it was time for these to be opened and digested. We have an inheritance in the Lord and it is time to start claiming those things that are ours through Christ. Keys represent authority and power – opening and closing – locking and unlocking. I believe this is a year when we will come to a greater understanding of the scripture from Matthew 16:19: “And I will give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven to you. And whatever you may bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in Heaven, and whatever you may loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in Heaven.

More than ever, we need to take our authority in Christ and open the locks and set the captives free from belief and bondage. This is the year when we will see that power in us do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine when we set our faith to believe. Thing BIG!

Jane Jones
National Prayer Coordinator

Jane Jones is an elder at St Peter's Okotoks, Alberta and the National Prayer Coordinator of ARM.

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This page was posted on June 23, 2006.