HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 - SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Happy New Year 2011… What does that mean to you? There is always some expectation of change with the coming of each New Year. That’s the reason we make resolutions about things in our lives we hope to change with a little more focus and effort. But, we still need to always remember the words of Jesus, declaring, “Without me you can do nothing”.

Greetings Beloved, In the Precious Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I’m Rev. John McFarland, and I’m excited to welcome you to our new blog, and invite you to a further experience of Wonderful Counselor’s prophetic outreach ministry and apostolic empowerment, as we enlarge our borders to be able to effectually meet your needs during New Year 2011.

During this coming year, our vision is to help you understand what is involved in entering into a relationship with Christ, that enlarges your own expectation, to eventually hear Him also declare, “You can say what you will have, and it shall be done unto you”. That always amazes me, no matter how often I hear it, and then forget it, probably when I most need it. Then I find myself swimming up stream again, trying to lay hold upon the reality of it in my life. In younger days, along the Kangamangus Highway, below her namesake mountains in New Hampshire, there were waterfalls and rapids where I put this to the test. I had been training to be an Olympic swimmer, but here I was held to a complete standstill by the raw elements. I needed to have something else inside of me that I didn’t already possess; whether focus, knowledge, or fundamental strength. Again those words echoed through my heart and mind, “Without me you can do nothing!” He is the Vine, and we are the branches. We need to remember, there is a Written Word, that leads us to The Living Word, but between these two focal points we find an experience that leads us to understand, “It is the engrafted Word that saves your soul”. What are you willing to allow God to graft into your life in this coming year. That means He needs to first cut something away, making a wound, to allow the life-giving sap to begin to flow. It never hurts to become a little less “sappy” from the outset. Then He places the new graft, which is the branch of the specific fruit and fruitfulness you want to produce in your life, and binds it in the place of your loss; binding it tightly, so you cannot pick at the scab, no matter how much you are itching to see the result. You must patiently endure the process, since “It is by faith and patience we inherit the promises of God”. If you will faithfully follow our blog throughout the upcoming year, I am certain you will receive something new and lasting in your life, not only to benefit you, but also share with others.

Now, approaching the New Year, there are usually pop-prognosticators, whether considered right or wrong, by the reasonableness of their pronouncements to fit the signs of the times. But, somehow, I’ve missed their singsong sound-bytes during this past season, and so I have no idea what the sense and sensibility of their rhymes might be. For those of you unfamiliar with the process, it seems you need to rhyme the number of the year with a one or two word encapsulation of what God intends to do during that upcoming year. Of course, there is a scriptural mandate for understanding the signs of the times, but not for judging the accuracy of any inclination by this limitation as an explanation. Try saying that five times fast. "That, that, that, that, that!" Not as bad as you initially thought? Rev. Jesse Jackson would have been proud of me for the syncopation of my alliteration, "inclination, limitation, explanation"; so you certainly will not forget my point anytime soon, and actually had a momentary fun break in the offing. Now, when studying screenwriting, you learn that the writer is depending on your imagination to supply the “back-story” about the lives of the characters: filling in your own details about their past, and anything else not being said. When we accept the singsong sound-byte, there is nothing necessarily new being ventured by the prophet, or gained by the people, as simply attaching all of our old assumptions, without any real ongoing and developing explanation. Whatever happened to the declaration, “Behold, the Lord is doing something new in the earth!” God is always doing something new, ever moving toward an expected end, and building on a firm foundation. What can we expect from the New Year 2011? I’m not going to give you static self-justifying answers, that will allow you to become lazy, presumptuous, and dependent upon what you think a "buzz-word" might mean to your life, or make it easy for you to submit, without "proving all things", to a pseudo-spiritual collective unconscious, with the emphasis on unconscious. Instead, I’m going to provide you with an optical lens, a looking glass, to help you see the issues in your own life, and understand your way as changes come and go. We always quote “without an open vision the people perish”, but neglect what follows, which I always paraphrase as “if you put one foot in front of the other, doing what you know to do, you will arrive at your intended destination all the same”; although it might be a longer journey. So you should be looking forward to face and understand the New Year 2011 through the following looking glass, as refracted by Biblical Numerology.

Happy New Year 2011… What about the number “eleven”? If ten is the number that references the perfection of divine order, then eleven adds something to it. Only, what it adds, actually subverts and takes away from that perfection, by creating an imbalance. It is an odd number, rather than even, and there is always something left over, or left out, to distract us. So then, if twelve is the number of divine government, then eleven falls short of it. Whether we regard it as being 10+1=11 or 12-1=11, we are faced with a number which is marked by disorder, imperfection, disorganization, and disintegration. When Judas betrayed Christ, we are told the remaining eleven apostles immediately cast lots to replace him and restore their governance, from those 500 other disciples who had also been with them from the beginning, as witnesses to the full testimony of the Divine Incarnation. In New Year 2011, you are going to need a backup plan for people and provisions coming and going in your lives, as you wrestle between the issues of divine order and divine government, since you can maintain order in your lives, businesses, and ministries, without exercising the full powers or receiving the full benefits of your proper government. This is going to be a year of both planned and unexpected transitions for us all. Make sure you maintain the quality and quantity of those replacements, despite any added cost for the moment, so you are not found to fall short inopportunely. Also, looking to prosper and increase, you will be tempted to add one to your ten to make up eleven, just for the increase, not realizing the spiritual disparity. Take your time to be sure the one is the right one, or you will suffer more lack from the one distracting, than you can redeem through a little more self-effort on your own part. For some, there will be a different temptation to cut corners financially by eliminating one from their eleven, hoping to return to the divine order signified by ten, rather than realize the divine government of twelve just might be your next best move. This year, what you already have established in your lives is a more sure way to prosperity; at least in the sense of maintaining continuity, despite any temporary setbacks, or stagnation; as we are all faced with this threat of disorder and divestment. "The adversary of our souls still comes for nothing but to steal, kill, and destroy." Of course, all these things are in a "type and shadow", not referring to the exact numbers in your experience, but to your circumstance and expectation of addition or loss. You will need to allow the Holy Spirit to instruct you in how to use His spiritual "slide-rule" to equate your own unique position and circumstances. So now you have the lens of your new focus for 2011, “study to show yourself approved” for everything else you need; and feel free to contact us, either to reveal or confirm your “open vision”.

When I began my Wonderful Counselor radio program a few years ago, the station manager told me I needed a tag-line for the broadcast: something that explains what the ministry is all about. That night when I was working on the next show, I simply asked the Holy Spirit, “What are we doing here?” He replied…

“I Am Here To Call You Forth Into God’s Kairos Time:

To Confirm And Accelerate Your Heavenly Vision,

To Declare And Reveal Your Windows Of Opportunity;

To Open Doors To Your Future,

Which Can Never Again Be Closed;

And Close Doors To Your Past,

Which Can Never Again Be Opened."

Yea, and Amen.

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