For Christians with a prophetic bent, the end of one year and the beginning of another always seems to be a time when we especially seek a fresh word from the Lord. This is what the Lord spoke to me for 2008:
1.) Souls — Always an uppermost concern with Jesus, He wants the salvation of souls to become a major focus for us as well. It’s part of knowing and understanding Father’s heart. The Church has been focused on many good things, but if we do not make the lost a major focus, we are out of sync with His heartbeat.
2.) Persistence —
Proverbs 24:10 — If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.
Luke 18:1 — Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.
a.) 2008 will require tenacious pounding on heaven’s door for answered prayer and fulfillment of prophecy in our lives.
b.) It’s not necessarily going to be easy. Pressing in will be required as it was before, but our tenacity will receive results.
Luke 11:9, 10 — … Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.
c.) The cry that goes up day and night will be heard.
d.) Adversity and the persistence that overcomes it together temper the weapons of our warfare to make them strong. (2 Corinthians 10:4)
3.) Humility and the fear of the Lord will be more crucial than ever before.
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Out of the Fire 
Excuse me for being so bold as to say…that I find it sad that the phrase “knowing and understanding our Father’s heart” and “fear of the Lord” are written in the same post.
Obviously, with this “fearing of the Lord”, there is no knowing or understanding of the Heart of our Father.
This is not what Christ spoke of.
Sincerely,
Sue Ann Edwards
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What is meant by “fear of the Lord” is not that we cringe or cower before our loving Father. “Fear of the Lord,” as meant in the Bible, refers to extreme honor, awe, and reverence of Who He is, and how great He is.
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I like what the LORD spoke to you and I took it whole heartedly and I see how the fear of the LORD, understanding and knowledge are on same post in Proverbs 2
Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,
3 and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Getachew Tadesse
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^ In reply to the first post. I answer according to what I believe and have gathered through my journey with God. I consider myself to be a true Christian only 2 months ago, but have been a Christian in name for 10 years. Therefore, if I have been misunderstood, kindly let me know. 🙂
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Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom, therefore with wisdom and discernment, you will hear God’s voice more effectively, and thus bringing you closer to understanding His Will, as well as know him better (knowing the heart of God – heart and spirit are the same, thus it’s really knowing the spirit of God more). For Fearing the Lord is the first step to the relationship, I sincerely believe it’s knowing your place, before Him.
God is the Almighty. He has dominion over angels, he basically created everything, earth, heaven, cattle, land… People who do not fear Him are people who do not place Him in their regard (ie. not believing that He is the creator of all or remain unconvinced, or doubting, or believing that He is God, but not their God), or are ignorant of who he is. He introduces himself as YHWH; ‘I Am who I Am.’ Therefore you cannot know God if you do not know who he is. Faith is a fruit of the body, and by acting upon it, one can tell a true christian by their actions, that is following the Will of God regardless, or being Christ-like, walking in His ways. I believe, in that context, there is no contradiction to “knowing and understanding our Father’s heart” and “fear of the Lord” because when you know your position before Him, that is when you realise that without God, you can accomplish nothing, therefore doing what Jesus calls it ‘deny yourself and pick up your cross’ to follow Him.
Because only until you place your focus on Him, and not on self, then you are able to appreciate God, what he has done for you, who He is, and also know his Heart.
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^ In addition to that, I would testify that His Heart is a heart of Love that is selfless, Peace that is unshakeable, Joy that is within, Wisdom beyond your human self, Patience that causes you to hear and be slow to anger, humility, and much more that will also manifest in you, as you know God more. 😀
Have a blessed 2008! For myself, the spirit in me tells me that this will be a year of even more converts, which may be the same as what he told you, but as for the persistence part, it’s more for self, for strong believers who are spreading the gospel of truth, that Spiritual warfare will continue. Now to think of it, perhaps the Holy Spirit told me that, but I felt stronger about the ‘converts’ part though. It does sound like the vision He gave you, doesn’t it?
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