We are at the beginning of a new year by the Gregorian calendar, which is used most widely in the world. The year 2018 lies before us, to human eyes an almost blank page despite the predictions and prophecies that some have claimed to stamp on it.  I am not a prophet, but I am a believer in God, seeking to be a doer rather than just a hearer and reader of His words in the Bible. Mark 11:22-25 records some of these instructive words.

• And Yeshua answered, saying to them, “Have faith in God!  Amen, I tell you, if someone says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but trusts that what he says is happening, so shall it be for him. For this reason I say to you, whatever you pray and ask, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your transgressions.” (TLV)

Yeshua prefaced his mountain-moving promise with the prerequisite, “Have faith in God!” Then, in the same breath as giving the promise, He forewarned us against a faith-buster: doubt. (Forewarned is fore-armed.) Finally He sealed the promise with the reminder of another prerequisite, forgiveness toward others who have wronged you. Essentially the same powerful promise is repeated with other prerequisites at Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6 (mustard seed faith), John 15:7 (‘abiding’ in Yeshua), John 14:13, 15:16 and 16:23 (asking in Yeshua’s Name), 1 John 5:14 and Colossians 3:17 (asking only what God’s will approves and doing everything – even our declarations of faith – in Yeshua’s Name).

Another instructive word that I want to act on today is found at Job 22:28, but for context I will quote verses 23-30 (TLV with NKJV and KJV inserts at verse 28). The passage begins with the all-important “If”, presenting what follows as conditional.

• If you return to Shaddai, you will be restored; if you remove iniquity far from your tent and throw your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir to the rocks in the wadis, then Shaddai will be your gold and your precious silver.  Surely then Shaddai will be your delight and you will lift up your face to God. You will pray to Him and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. 28. What you decide will be done (NKJV- “you will also declare [KJV-‘decree’] a thing, and it will be established for you”) and light will shine on your ways. When people are brought low, and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the downcast. He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered by the cleanness of your hands.

Due to the disagreement between translations, I refrain from quoting Isaiah 45:11, the King James Version of which some believers cite as God’s invitation for us to ‘command’ Him to do things for us. Instead, I am putting my trust in His words cited above and following those guidelines to confidently make the following declarations of faith for 2018.  The contents of these declarations are definitely according to His will. Secondly, I have met the prerequisites above by the grace of God and the enabling of His Spirit. Thirdly, I am legitimately acting in the Name of Yeshua.

On the basis of all that, I declare in Yeshua’s Name that in 2018 we in the Body of Messiah will experience the following. We will experience a refocusing of our attention on God, on His word and on worshiping Him in the beauty of holiness. We will see pastors and preachers returning to scripture-based teaching. We will see luke-warmness being kicked out into the cold. We will see worship leaders deliberately redirecting the limelight to Him who is the only One worthy of adoration and the only One to Whom adulation is due. We will see the awe of God coming back into evidence – the Body once more adorning itself with holiness, and the world awakening to a fear of the LORD. We will see Godly boldness increase in the public arena, and Godly leaders will lead in this. We will see more of the LORD’s hand openly protecting and rescuing His people – so openly that the worldly media will not succeed in quashing that news. We will see the Holy Spirit welcomed back into the life of congregations where He has been held at arm’s length, and we will see Him stir up the gifts and bring forth the fruit with which He desires to bless us and make us a blessing. We will once more begin to see in our midst the signs, wonders and life-changing miracles that set Almighty God apart from every other ‘power’! We will see more backslidden believers returning to the LORD’s congregations and more carnal believers seeking Holy Ghost consecration. I declare in Yeshua’s Name that even outside the Body of Messiah, 2018 will be a year when the glory and power of the God of the Bible becomes evident to more and more of the world’s population!

Father, You know I have already forgiven everyone who has sinned against me personally. Now I am standing as an intercessor on behalf of Your Body. In that place I am pleading the blood of Yeshua for the forgiveness of the sins committed within the Body that are related to the declarations of change which I have made above. Father, You also know that as a beneficiary of John 20:22-23 I have forgiven everyone whose actions have damaged congregations in my experience. So in the Name of Yeshua HaMashiach (‘Jesus’ the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ) I say, let all these changes become evident in 2018, for Your honour and glory. Amen.