James Ritala commented on May 27, 2012 5:19 PM on the post Are you a palm tree, cedar or both? which was posted on a different platform. He wrote:
“Thanks bro for your insight. Can you also do me a favor if you have time. I posted a question sometime ago, concerning the practice of the prophetic word for a year or month. I just wanted someone to provide scriptural evidence of how the churches started the idea of declaring a year as a year of the word for example. I could not attach the link to my discussion but if you go through my profile you may be able to see the full discussion. Up to now no one has managed to answer the question.”
Today’s post is an answer to Brother James and whoever has had this question in their heads. I agree with you that it’s very important to base all doctrines on the word I have written about this importance in my posted titled, Grow up into Christ: ‘My pastor said’ versus ‘the Scriptures say’ To answer this question, i have to first differentiate between church doctrines and church traditions.
DOCTRINES vis-a-vis TRADITIONS
There is a difference between doctrine and practices or traditions of Christianity. The first cannot be altered under any circumstance, even with the passage of time but the latter may be subject to change depending on prevailing conditions across the passage of time. All Christian doctrines are summarized by the writer of the book of Hebrews in Heb 6:1-2 starting from the doctrine of Christ (Christology) to that of eternal judgement. These cannot be altered but lets take a look at traditions/practices.
2Th 2:15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions and instructions which you were taught by us, whether by our word of mouth or by letter.
1Co 11:2 I appreciate and commend you because you always remember me in everything and keep firm possession of the traditions (the substance of my instructions), just as I have [verbally] passed them on to you.
There are good traditions we have inherited from servants of God who have gone before us but then there are also some that we have inherited that are not good and actually affect the effectiveness of the word of God in our lives. Jesus highlighted one such bad tradition in the following scripture.
Mat 15:6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
How do we know if any tradition is beneficial or not? The answer is by its fruit. If we have any tradition that does not produce the fruit of the spirit and life (zoe), then its not beneficial and we should do away with it. Such traditions such as the one Jesus was talking about hamper the power of God’s word in our lives. I have written about such traditions in my post titled Getting kicked out of church for sexual sin and Our traditions & God’s commands.
Now some may still be confused as to what a tradition is. An example is the way church is organized today. Neither Jesus nor his disciples ever built physical church buildings or gave commands to do so. They did not have regular Sunday services where Sunday school was held. They did not have pulpits or ushers going round with collection bowls. They just went from house to house breaking bread and sometimes teaching in schools or the temple courtyard. They did not build baptismal pools. Rather they used rivers. Where did all these practices including choir and pastoral gowns come from then? The answer is they are church traditions passed on from generation to generation. Many of the practices actually come from the Roman Catholic Church and other European Church Traditions. Some of us today use wedding rings and gowns and have Best men, Brides maids and flower girls. These are all traditions we have inherited mainly from Europe. These are not doctrines. They are traditions which may not necessarily be negative because they do not contradict scripture or inhibit the fruit of the spirit. Some of them are good administrative tools and hence they are useful. They help us carry out church in an orderly manner. We can choose to become innovative and creative and come up with better godly traditions but that’s for another discussion. Let’s get to where the practice of giving a word a the beginning of the year came from.
GIVING A PROPHECY OR WORD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR
I believe the practice of giving a Word at the beginning of every year is also a tradition but not a doctrine. It is a tradition based partly on the scriptures. To understand what I am about to explain, you must comprehend two things. First, what is the head of a year? Second, how does God bless?
Psa 65:11 You crown the year with Your bounty and goodness, and the tracks of Your [chariot wheels] drip with fatness.
The Jewish new year is called Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש
השנה), and it means literally “head of the year”.A crown is put on a headso the head of a year is the part of the year that God crowns. The head of the year is the beginning of the year or the New Year date Dec 31/Jan 1.
Most of us use the Gregorian calendar which begins in January. The Jews, Chinese, and other people have different calendars and different days as the head/beginning of their year. But for us it’s mostly Dec 31/Jan 1 because of the Gregorian calendar.
Now Papa God promises to crown our year with his bounty, goodness, fatness etc. But the question is how does God release this blessing or any of His blessings? Let us go to the very first record we have of God blessing people:
Gen 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God saidunto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Gen 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Gen 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Blessing is released through words. God blesses through speaking. His words are the container of the blessing which causes positive manifestation. So at the head of every year, churches have developed the tradition of hearing what God saidto crown the year and repeating these words of blessing to God’s people. God’s words are spirit and they are life (Jn 6:63 ) and contain the power of accomplishment within them. All that is required from the hearer is to believe and act upon the word like Mary the mother of Jesus.
I hope this is a good enough explanation for this tradition. Let me add just one more thing.
Exo 12:2-3 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. (3) Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
This occurred after Israel had come out of Egypt through the exodus. God declared to them that that month was the beginning of their year. And at the beginning of their year, God gave Moses Words or instructions for His people. SO scripture does contain precedence for God giving His Word at the head of the year to bless His people. God bless you.
