ARTICLES

Great In 2008 With His Magistrate

by Mari Anne Andersen

A Happy New Year to each of you, dear family and friends.

Once again, Father God's faithfulness has given us a word for this new coming year. I believe our Father wants us to meditate and ponder, plunging into the depth of this word. I would like for you to take a little cruise with me as we open up our hearts to see, hear, and understand what this means, "Great in 2008 with His Magistrate." I would like to challenge each of you to take your own plunge into this word so you can make it very personal for you and your family. Ask the Holy Spirit to take you on a cruise, basking in the beauty and quietness of the scenery, the majestic landscape of greatness, the wind of the atmosphere that invigorates you to soar up into the heavens and dwell in His Presence. Let's get ready to put on some "Son-screen" so we can bask in His Light of truth, power, and intense heat.

Great - what does this word mean? Immense, enormous, vast, notable, abundance, force, infinity, intensity, power, strength, glory, grandeur, heroism, nobility, prominence, importance, and distinction

Some scriptures of greatness that stand out for me are:

Matthew 18:4
Whoever will humble himself therefore, and becomes (trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving) as this little child, is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 22:37-38
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment.

Matthew 23:11
He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Luke 9:48
For he who is least and lowliest among you all, he is the one who is truly great.

I believe that as we continue to grow in mature love, we continue to walk in our destiny as children of the Most High God. Mature love is taking the above scriptures and being comfortable, relaxed, and at home with them like a pair of worn slippers that have your signature print. It's humbling ourselves, being childlike, trusting, forgiving, serving, and giving - believing God with our whole heart. In that there is greatness because the voice of the Holy Spirit resides within the recesses of our heart. In our hearts' homes a feast is laid to dine in His Presence. As it consumes our fears, hurts, and losses, we are able to soak in His greatness of truth and promises. We are able to rest our hearts as we hear the melodies of His love that He is singing over us, taking our rags and bringing us royal garments and treasures from His endless storehouse. Knowing our greatness and value as His son or daughter, we snuggle up right next to our Daddy and He holds us, capturing our attention. We can see our King, our Champion, our Father coming and supping with us. As children we need to believe - believe and believe - to retrieve the places in Him and His kingdom. We are waltzing with our Creator in the divine dance of our destiny. His greatness will be displayed in and over us as we open the eyes of our hearts to see and believe Him, as children believe the very best of love and hope - Isaiah 46:10 - "He declares the end from the beginning," and that is to give us hope for our future. It is for us to do good works, walking in the paths that He prepared ahead of time, living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live. It's from His rich treasury that we are strengthened and reinforced with mighty power by the Holy Spirit. Our destiny is to deeply come to know practically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually, financially and physically the love of Christ. This is not mere knowledge but an experience of the richest measure of His Divine Presence, being filled and flooded with God Himself. Our destiny of Greatness is to know His greatness of love and to share it.

Happy and Blessed New Year - and remember, "Great in 2008 With His Magistrate!"