January 2011

Happy New Year, Everyone!!

We are all very excited about 2011. It’s always a blessing when a new year comes around. Change is in the air. New commitments abound where we promise ourselves, others and God to become a better person. New Year’s resolutions fill lists and help us in framing goals to assist us in becoming who we want to become by the end of the year. It’s truly a wonderful time and a wonderful opportunity that should not be missed. It is as if God Himself has provided an occasion to help us change... and indeed He has! Each year has its own special grace. Each year is created and given for a reason. It is our responsibility to find out exactly what purpose God has intended for each year and then ‘tap into’ the grace to live it out. And God is always faithful to share glimpses of the future to those who truly want to know. Remembering that God’s Word is ‘a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path’ (Ps 119:105). He will always give those glimpses through His Holy Word. How do you get that kind of information? Simple. Jeremiah 33:3 says, ‘Call unto Me and I will answer thee and show unto thee great and mighty things which you didn’t know.’

That’s why we are so excited about this coming year. We feel God is saying that 2011 will be a year of ‘Heaven on Earth’! We believe that this year will be one in which we will enter into the will of God. When I say ‘the will of God’, I really mean the ‘purpose’ of God. See, Joseph was actually ‘in’ the will of God while he was in prison...in the sense that he was proceeding toward his purpose. But when the king called him he went from the prison to the palace in just one day (Ps 105:20). Then he entered into the will of God for his life. He entered into his life’s calling. We believe that we are going to see that this year and that the will of God will be done ‘on Earth as it is in Heaven’. Praise God!

Many people don’t actually believe that Heaven can be enjoyed on the earth. But the Scripture teaches that God has indeed intended that we live a life where the two realms come together through us and that we be a window through which Heaven’s light can shine into a dark world. When the Israelites were headed into the Promised Land, God said that if they would keep the word of God that their lives would be ‘like the days of Heaven upon the Earth’ (Dt 11:21). When we praise the Lord with a sincere heart, He inhabits our praises and brings Heaven’s atmosphere into the moment: Heaven and Earth converge right then and there! But it does require one very important thing: Faith! We must BELIEVE that it can and should happen to us, for us. Remember what happened to the king’s servant in 2 Kings 7:1,2? The city of Samaria was under siege by a Syrian army with conditions so dreadful they were selling bird droppings for food. The man of God prophesied that there would be an abundance of all things by the same time the next morning. This lord, the King’s servant, said, ‘If the Lord were to make windows in Heaven, might this thing be?’ The prophet returned, ‘You will see it with your eyes, but you will not eat thereof.’ You see, God doesn’t have to make windows in Heaven....they already exist! And God can turn everything around from one day to the next! It doesn’t take God long....but you won’t get to enjoy the benefits of it if you are not believing the things that God has promised. We believe that 2011 will bring Heaven to Earth! We believe that a change is in the air and that God is about to do something remarkable. And we can’t wait! We look forward to seeing what God has in store for us all. Hallelujah!

Much love and many Irish blessings,

Kevin, Heather and Family