THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18,19

So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,

The crawling locust,

The consuming locust,

And the chewing locust,

My great army which I sent amongst you.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,

And praise the name of the LORD your God,

Who has dealt wondrously with you;

And My people shall never be put to shame. Joel 2:25,26

While many people in the world are living in fear and despair, and confusion, and a sense of hopelessness with all the bad stuff that has been happening over the past two years, those who have their full trust and confidence in the Living God, and are fully committed to the Lord Jesus Christ, as both Saviour and Lord - have a sense that God is about to do something in the nations that will see multitudes turn from darkness to light, despair to hope, fear to faith, and see a harvest of souls for Jesus in the multiplied millions. Not only will there be salvations from the penalty and power of sin, but this will be a perhaps hitherto not seen outpouring of God's healing, delivering, miracle-working grace and power, enveloped in His great love for people.

Truly, I believe for the fully committed child of God, we can confidently decree that, for this year of 2022: THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

That is not to deny the reality that, for Christians, persecution is a reality, and will increase, or that there will not be any trials of our faith. But, we can boldly proclaim with the apostle Paul that "through Him [Jesus], we are more than conquerors." and

 we can stand on His Word that "no weapon formed against us shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against us in judgment, the LORD will condemn." Isaiah 54:17

This truly is a time when we need to draw close to God, knowing that as we do, He will draw close to us. As the psalmist tells us clearly in Psalm 91:1 

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

 shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge 

and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust."

Almost three years ago now, a number of significant confirmations were given to us by the Lord concerning the Lord's decree that: The Best Is Yet To Come. Within nine days, the following things spoke to us concerning this reality:

1.    I reconnected with an old friend in New Zealand through Facebook. I had had no contact with Bruce for over thirty years. He and I boarded with a young couple in Christchurch in the early eighties for several years, while I was working for Radio Rhema.  Bruce related to me that he had been through a period of eleven years of severe debilitating health issues from age thirty seven, followed by a period of several years seeing their only daughter taken from them through a terminal illness. Yet, through all these severe trials, Bruce and his wife have remained faithful to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and to trust Him, even though they have unanswered questions as to why God has allowed them to face such severe tests.

At the time, I wrote back to Bruce with a desire to encourage him in the Lord, saying: It might sound like a cliche, but I want to believe for you, as for us, that your best days are ahead. In reply, he answered that he agreed that "The Best Is Yet To Come," if not totally here on earth, then definitely in heaven as I am totally convinced that just one second in heaven will be far greater than all our earthly years.

He also shared a link to a song he had written and recorded while singing at church called "The Best Is Yet To Come."

About ten days after Bruce sent me the song, for a period of twenty four to thirty six hours, this song, or at least the chorus to this song kept going around in my head. Some of the lyrics are:

"The best is yet to come,

Yes, the best is yet to come!

The rain will fall again, heal you inside.

Has the flower bloomed into many colours

Or has the blossom come and suddenly gone?

Oh, the best is yet to come,

The best is yet to come.

Living waters will flow again

Out from your heart,

Oh, the best is yet to come!"

At that time, the Lord confirmed the truth of this song to us as an encouragement then, and I believe again for this year of 2022 that the best is yet to come. To use a colloquial expression, I believe the Lord is saying for us, for our family, and for our church family, as we position ourselves for blessing and breakthrough - 'You ain't seen nothing yet!'

Over a nine day period, we received five further confirmations of the Lord's decree that: The Best is Yet To Come!

1.    One Saturday, while Bruce's song was "playing in my head," I was scrolling through my News Feed on Facebook and suddenly saw a post with a picture of a big cinema screen with the words boldly emblazoned: "BUT WAIT - The Lord says 'THE BEST IS YET TO COME"'

2.    That same day, in the evening as I was getting ready to go for my shower, Tessa called out to me that she had just turned the radio on - tuned to Vision Christian Radio, the Australian Christian Radio network. The song playing was "The Best Is Yet To Come," by a man named Matty Mullins.

3.    Several days later, we listened to my hour-long program on Tasman FM, a community radio station in South East Tasmania, which I pre-record at home. After listening, I drove to the service station not far from our place. When I got back in the car, I turned on the car radio to Tasman FM to see what the lady announcer was playing. She forward announced the next three songs she was about to play. The second song in the set she announced as "The Best Is Yet To Come," by Michael Buble. I could not believe what I was hearing. Of all the thousands of songs she could have chosen to play, she chose to play that song at that time.

4. A few days later, we received in the mail our quarterly copy of "Creation" magazine, produced by Creation Ministries International. While flicking through the magazine to get an overview of the articles contained therein, when I got to page 42, I gasped at seeing the title of the article: "The Best Is Yet To Come."

We feel really excited about our future, knowing that God is going before us and there is a sense of wonder at what the Lord is preparing us for in this next season of our lives. 

Another word I have heard from the Lord from time to time is: "Position Yourself!"

Part of that positioning for us was to move to a new church home, after being in our previous church for almost seven years. This was not done in any sense of us being disgruntled or being offended by anyone in our previous church home, but with a clear sense of leading by the Holy Spirit to Living Waters Christian Centre in Campania, a small church family at present, with a huge vision to reach the lost, and the nations for Jesus Christ. We truly believe that as far as we are concerned, "we have come to the kingdom for such a time as this." 

God is speaking to His people today in various ways so that we will align with His will and purposes for us individually and as the body of Christ, the Church. He is speaking through His Word, through prophets, and other God-ordained ministries, through visions and dreams, through signs and wonders, through symbolism within the parameters of His Word etc.

I have been greatly blessed in recent times by the online ministry of Aussie Revivalists, Ben and Jodie Hughes who lead "Pour It Out Ministries," and are now based in Phoenix, Arizona. They have written several greatly inspiring books which I would encourage anyone to get a hold of to bless you and set you on fire for Jesus. Ben's book "When God Breaks In" and Jodie's book "The King's Decree" can be bought online through their website pouritout.org as a package deal, and the exciting news is that Jodie's new book "The King's Prophetic Voice" will be released through their ministry on 22/2/22 or 2/22/22, depending on which side of the Pacific you are on. We are looking forward to receiving and reading this new release.

GOD BLESS!