Pastor Jonathan Miller's Blog

Message for the New Year!

2007 was a year of preparation and completion for New Beginnings Healing Center. Ministries were established and leaders were equipped. As with Nehemiah, we had a group of people with a mind to work, build, and establish. A place of peace and fulfillment had to be prepared for the many that are seeking for a church to call "home". I feel that in '07 that assignment was successfully accomplished.

The number 7 speaks of completion. I know that as a church we entered into that phase of completion this past year. At the end of this phase for Nehemiah, he had to begin setting his sights on populating the city that had been prepared. In Nehemiah 7 he finds a register of names. This list consisted of the families that came with Ezra just a few years before. These freed Jews tried to build and establish themselves as a people, but had no success. The enemy would come and destroy any progress that they made. This continued for 7 years. Then God raised up Nehemiah to build and finish the work. The enemy would no longer be successful in thwarting their efforts. At the beginning of the 8th year, Nehemiah was ready to call the names of those on the register to re-populate the city.

Can you imagine the joy of those who were on the list? For 8 years they fought to be established but had no place to call home. They must have felt forgotten and insignificant. Maybe some even lost hope in that they would ever have a place of establishment and peace. But in the beginning of the 8th year, God put an end to that! I believe that is what He is doing in Orlando in 2008. He is calling the names of those in this region who have felt forgotten and neglected, those who have not had a place of peace and rest. He will populate His city and church with those who are on that list.

2008 will be a year of surplus. One definition for the number eight is: a surplus above the perfect number 7. This year, we will see a surplus above perfection!

2008 is a year to look forward to the future and not back to the past. In Acts 1:10-11, the disciples were looking up into the clouds where they had last seen Jesus. The 2 angels asked them why they were still gazing up toward the heavens. I believe there is great significance in this question. Before Jesus was taken up, He told the disciples that He was sending one after Him. A new dispensation of "Himself" was to be released through the person of the Holy Spirit. Why were they wasting their time looking at what was, when they should have been in the upper room preparing for what was to come. Many in the body of Christ are hung up on the "yesterday" move of the spirit. They constantly dwell on and reminisce of the past. It is time to look toward the future. God is ready to do something beyond what has ever been seen. We cannot waste time looking back. We must prepare to move forward. The best is yet to come!

Hag 2:9, "The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the LORD Almighty. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken!"
NLT