New Wine for New Wineskins January 2015

2015 – A Year Of Great Change
I believe the word we have received for 2015 is that it is to be “A Year of Great Change”.

In recent years it has sometimes been difficult to distinguish between the church and the world, between believers and non-believers.  It would appear that there is often very little difference in the way both groups live and experience life.

This is not how it is meant to be and so the witness of the church is seriously negated and the light we are designed to be in the world is virtually extinguished.

Someone even came up with the term “practical atheist” to describe those who claim to believe in God but who continue to live like he doesn’t exist.

One pastor said, “I’m sick and tired of the fact that people can attend church for ten to twenty years and never change….we believe in Jesus enough to get us out of hell but not actually enough to change the way we live and that’s a problem in the church…”

Sadly, there are many of us who, as pastors, leaders, and church members would have to agree with his evaluation.

However, back in September I received the word for 2015 as being a year of great change.  As I meditated on this I began to see this as referring to a degree of change in believer’s lives that would restore the “wow” factor as people recognise that such dramatic change could only have resulted through supernatural transformation.

I believe 2015 is going to be a year when our Father is going to be glorified as much fruit appears in the lives of his children, and as the testimony of the church once again pierces the darkness.

Romans 12: 2

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed (metamorphosised) by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Our mind is where our thoughts originate and as we have heard many times, our thoughts are the root of the fruit that appears in our lives as our thoughts become our words, our words become our actions, our actions become our habits, our habits become our character, and our character ultimately determines our destiny.

Scripture is clear that we will become what we think.  That is why our Father invites us to exchange our low (earthbound) thoughts for his high thoughts so that we will abandon our low ways and embrace his high ways.

1 John 4: 17

…as He is, so are we in this world.

If we are going to be like him we are going to have to think like he thinks.

Jeremiah 29: 11

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

If these are the thoughts that he thinks about us then why should we think any differently?  There is not a trace of negativity in these words that are the expression of our Father’s thoughts toward us, and so we should never be afraid of or disdainful of the power of positive thinking.

After all, at the Cross Jesus turned every negative into a positive.

2 Corinthians 5: 17 (Amplified Bible)

17 Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

Ephesians 4: 22 – 24 (Amplified Bible)

22 Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterised your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;
23 And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude],
24 And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.

It is time to embrace the great change that results in the experiencing of our Father’s perfect will for our lives.

And so, at the beginning of 2015 we need to repent (change our minds, resulting in a change of thoughts, words, actions, habits, character, destiny).

A simple decision can be the gateway to transformation that causes people to barely recognise us as the people we were previously.

When I began to meditate on the word for this year the Lord reminded me of the man in John 9 who had been blind from birth. Jesus restored his sight by spitting on the ground, mixing his saliva with the dirt and anointing the man’s eyes.  He then told the man to go and wash in the pool called Siloam which we are told is translated “Sent”.  The man chooses to obey Jesus and comes back seeing.

The blind man who has his sight restored by Jesus has his life so transformed that he is virtually unrecognisable to the people of his community as they question whether it is really him or not.  He has to solve their conundrum by saying, “I am he…”  He has no problem embracing and identifying with the great change he has experienced. In fact what he actually said is, “I am….”  It would appear that he already has a measure of revelation of the truth of “as he is so am I…”

Not everyone is happy with the change in the man’s life but nobody can deny it.  Even his parents are afraid to acknowledge the source of the change in case they are put out of the religious status quo.

Religious tradition can be such a stumbling block to the “wow” factor as it is difficult to embrace anything “new” as coming from God.  And yet the word of God is clear that his mercies are new every morning and that there is no end of ways in which he manifests his love and compassion.

I believe that the reason that there has been a period of time where there has been little outward change in the lives of believers is because change has often only been associated with what people were expected to stop doing when they were born again.  There have been times when this attitude amounted to nothing more than legalism.

When people began to reject what they perceived as legalistic pressure they failed to realise that there were lifestyle changes that were actually the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives.  The problem was that the things that were valid to stop were supposed to be the gateway to the start of a new lifestyle that was way more exciting and produced a “wow” that caused the world to recognise that only Almighty God could bring about such supernatural transformation – such great change!

Unfortunately, virtually all of the emphasis was on stop and there was from very little to none on start.  Hebrews 6 calls the complete transition, “repentance from dead works and faith towards God”.  When we begin to exercise faith towards God we start to live like Jesus lived – thinking the same thoughts and doing the same works.

There is obviously a lot more to this but just as a basic introduction to 2015 – A Year of Great Change – it is essential that we raise our thinking, that we allow our thoughts to come up and be aligned with our Father’s thoughts.  We must take our place with Jesus at the Father’s right hand where we will see as he sees and so we will say as he says.  We are here to ensure that heaven manifests in the earth and that the Father’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

To go back to the man who has his sight restored in John 9, I believe there is a reason that we are told the translation of the word Siloam.  “Sent” is related to commission.  Jesus said that as the Father had sent him he is sending us.  Man was originally created in the image of God from the dust of the earth in order to have dominion in the earth and to ensure that the Father’s will was done on earth as it is in heaven.  God breathed his life into man’s nostrils and he became a living being.  God then sent man into the garden he had prepared and told him to tend and guard and keep it and to be fruitful and multiply.

When Jesus used clay to anoint the man’s eyes he was prophetically restoring and recommissioning mankind with a new perspective and ability to see as God sees, and to say as God says.

Initially, all Jesus‘ disciples were interested in was who had sinned and caused the man’s blindness.  That is as far as earthbound religion can see.  It comes in low and tries to push people even lower.  But Jesus came in from above to lift people up.  He tells his disciples that who sinned is not an issue because man is here to have the works of God revealed in him.  The works that have the “wow” factor.

This man comes back from the pool Siloam not only with his physical sight restored but with a brand new prophetic perspective and a “seer” anointing that causes him to speak with heavenly wisdom that confounds those who want to ensnare him in religious low-living.

The Hebrew year that corresponds with 2015 is the year 5775 which began in late September on Rosh Hashanah (literally, “the head of the year”).

Apparently, all Hebrew numbers also have an alphabet letter and a pictograph drawing which have prophetic meanings.

The years within the 5700’s relate to the meaning “May it be the year of.”  The last two numbers of the 5700’s represent the decade and the year.  The decade of the 5770’s are the Hebrew letter “Ayin” which means “to see”.  In our calendar, 2010 – 2019 is the decade of the “Ayin” years and is about seeing visions, restoring sight and renewing perspective.

In these days the Lord is giving dreams, visions, insights, revelations and bringing adjustment to people’s mindsets and perspectives so that they line up with Him, and to help ensure that our thoughts are aligned with his thoughts and our ways are aligned with his ways.  This has been a major theme in everything that the Lord has been showing me over the past few years.

The number corresponding to this year, the number 5 is the Hebrew letter “Heh”.  The letter “Heh” means “to behold (see) as through a window”.  “Heh” is also connected with the word “breath” because the pictograph is of a man with his arms raised and praising God.

Psalm 150: 6

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!
The letter “Heh” also appears twice in the covenant name of God translated “LORD” – “YHWH”.  Yod – Heh – Vav – Heh (remember Hebrew is read from right to left) carries with it the meaning of “He breathes so I breathe” or – think about this – “He sees so I see”.  Because he lives we live, we see as he sees, and as he is so are we in this world.

Are things becoming clearer?

When Catriona and I were in Israel in early September we were hosted by our friends Dan and Dale Rosborough (Tent of David Canada & Israel).  The day we arrived Dan picked us up at the airport in the early hours of the morning and on the drive north to the Galilee he began to share about the year 5775 and what the Lord had been showing him for the coming year.

He pointed out that 5775 is a palindrome (reads the same backwards and forwards).  As he continued to share under the anointing some of the things that the Lord had been showing him, it started to ignite the anointing in me and I started to see and hear things myself related to what the Lord was saying regarding this year.  I instantly heard the palindromic word “Abba” and as I continued to meditate on this over the following few days as we were having our first amazing experience of Israel I began to see and hear that this year would be a time of renewed awe – of “wow” –  another palindrome – in the presence of “Abba”.

Dan had shared how the Lord had made the palindromic word “level” significant to him through a dream.  I believe that one major thing we are going to see in 2015 / 5775 is a new level of awe – of “wow” – in the presence of Abba as we witness great change in the lives and the experience of people as they encounter God’s glory.

I had a look around online today to see what others were hearing prophetically from the Lord for 2015.  Everyone says things slightly differently but everything I found dovetails with each other, including much of what I have just shared.

There are many encouraging words but as we transition from 2014 – A Year Of Greater Glory – to 2015 – A Year Of Great Change, I would like to share just one with you.  It is from Jerry Savelle and is in the form of a poem.  He received this word on October 18th, 2014.

\o/   \o/   \o/   \o/   \o/   \o/   \o/

2015 will be known as the year of visitations, manifestations and demonstrations.

Experiencing the greater glory is still My plan,
And you’ll see The Great I Am shall visit your land.
Manifestations of My Spirit as never before,
And demonstrations of My power from shore to shore.
Supernatural provision and greater breakthroughs, too,
Yes, this is My plan and My will for you.
The powers of darkness will no longer stand,
For I will show them the strength of My right hand.

I’ll have My way and all shall see
No power is greater nor equal to Me.
My people will rise up and take their place,
And no enemy will stop them from finishing their race.

Yes, 2015 you’ll surely see,
Will be a year that will go down in history.
So, lift up your hands and boldly decree,
“Something great is about to happen to me!”

\o/   \o/   \o/   \o/   \o/   \o/   \o/

WOW!

People get ready!  Change the way you think and it will result in supernatural transformation!

It’s time to stop thinking “sinner” and to have our mind renewed to righteousness.  As he is so are we in this world!  WOW!

It’s time to stop thinking “sick” and to have our mind renewed to healing and wholeness.  As he is so are we in this world!  WOW!

It’s time to stop thinking “underdog” and “failure” and to have our mind renewed to overcomer and victorious.  As he is so are we in this world!  WOW!

It’s time to stop thinking “poor” and to have our mind renewed to prosperity.  As he is so are we in this world!  WOW!

That will do for a start but there is so much more!

2015 – A Year Of Great Change!

WOW!