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by Lt. Colonel Mervyn Morelock (R) –
As we pause at the end of 1998 and prepare for a new year, we need to reflect on how our lives have been changed by God this past year and seek to know God’s will for our lives in this new year.
Many have moved to a new city and a new home. And the year has been busy meeting new people, learning a new job or appointment, and making the adjustment to a new life.
For some it has been welcoming a new baby or a new spouse into our lives. And for some it has been a year of loss. Loss of a loved one, loss of a job, loss of a mate, loss of our youth, and the painful adjustments that all losses require.
And for some it has been a wonderful year since we found the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and have discovered the meaning of mountain-moving prayer.
The Romans named the month of January after a god with a two-faced image. One face looking backward at the old year, the other looking forward to the new year. His name was Janus, and it is from his name that we get our name for the first month of the year.
New Year’s is a time for reflection and for anticipation and planning.
Our family has had many changes this past year, too. We’ve traveled the territory for the Lord as Territorial Evangelists, and then retirement came, a new house, a new city, and a new ministry as chaplains at the Phoenix ARC.
We are so pleased to continue to serve as the coordinators for the territorial “Keeping in Touch – Call to Prayer” ministry. Nearly 2100 people have signed up to be Prayer Partners and 485 men and women have accepted the challenge to be Prayer Leaders at every corps and institution in the territory. Prayer Partners who live in 13 other countries and several states outside of the Western territory are a part of the Call to Prayer ministry.
God has been doing a wonderful work in answering prayer this past year! We’ve read and reported on many of the thrilling praise reports on the pages of New Frontier.
As Janus has one face looking back, so the other faces forward. As we face 1999 and the new millennium, we can have confidence that God will never leave us nor forsake us, and that “the best is yet to come!”
God continues to hear and answer prayer. God is not dead nor deaf. Our God is alive! Though the future may sometimes seem unsure, our God reassures us of his love and power. Revival does not require crusades, evangelists, or a theme; it begins with us. God wants our hearts to be on fire for him. We need to have re-kindled in us a desire to bring the lost to Jesus Christ.
God has been answering prayer in a mighty way this past year and we look forward with faith and confidence to the future, unafraid. Let 1999 be the year that every Salvationist and friend in the territory take hold of the promises of God and call on him for spirit-filled revival throughout the territory.
Praise Reports and Prayer Points will continue to be shared on the pages of New Frontier, and we are planning to create a telephone Call to Prayer “hot line” for more immediate and urgent prayer needs to be shared throughout the territory.
“But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” Jude 1:20-21 NIV
This will be the last Focus article I will be writing and I wish to thank the many who have been so kind in writing or telling me in person that they have received some benefit from the articles. It has been a special privilege to share these thoughts with you! The New Frontier staff have been so helpful and encouraging during these last two and a half years.
May you be blessed as you respond to God’s Call to Prayer in this new year!