First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Isabella and I pray you had a great Christmas and New Year’s celebration. We have now crossed over into 2017 and we are looking forward to experiencing a supernatural year.
In January we customarily spend a few weeks fasting and praying, seeking guidance for the new year. Today we begin our fast. We are looking forward to hearing from God concerning 2017. But He has already spoken some things and that is what I am led to share with you this morning.
As I was driving to the New Year’s Eve worship service, the Lord began to speak to me about 2015, 2016 and 2017. It was back in 2012 that God began to teach me about His grace and I have been teaching/preaching on grace ever since. But in 2015 the emphasis on grace hit a fever-pitch. The Word the Lord gave me for 2015 was that it would be a year of “Great Grace”. That word was confirmed by men and women of God all around the Body of Christ. People were preaching and teaching about God’s amazing, abundant and overflowing grace all around the world. God was revealing to us things He wanted to give us; things He wanted to do in and through us; things He wanted to perform in our lives. None of what He revealed had anything to do with our goodness or our performance. It was based solely on God’s grace. However, while you don’t have to perform to receive God’s best, God often does require us to be in position to receive.
On December 31st the Lord began to speak to me about being in position and how many of us were out of position. 2016 was about getting in position. The best way I can describe what God revealed to me is that our past and our future were out of alignment. God then began to tell me that He helped us get back in alignment in “a moment” of time. That was a key phrase. God said that the course correction came in “a moment”. I immediately thought that the moment God was referring to was December 31st. I thought God was going to use shift us into position to receive His best. But God explained to me that 2016 was the “moment”. The entire year was simply “a moment” of time to God.
I took a few minutes to process what God was saying. God was telling me that to Him, 2016 (the entire year) was as “a moment” in time. And in that moment, God helped us to SHIFT back into position. Now it makes sense why the word the Lord gave me for 2016 was “Refined Focus”. At my church the word the Lord gave my Pastors for 2016 was, “Reset, Reboot and Renew”. As I processed that, the Lord told me that He reset us in 2016, as if it were a simply moment in time to Him, so we could now receive what He wants to do in our lives in 2017. The word the Lord has given me for 2017 is that this year would be a year of Supernatural Manifestation. I will be teaching on this all year.
So what does this mean to you today? A few quick things.
- God operates outside of the limits of time. While we live in time, He speaks to us from the position of eternity. This is why Moses (Psalm 90:4) and Peter (2 Peter 3:8) explained to us that 1,000 years is as one day to God. If 1,000 years to us is like one day to God, then one of our years is simply a moment to Him.
- While we often get consumed with the day-to-day challenges we experience, God has the benefit of knowing everything that has and ever will happen. So when He speaks to us, He does so from a position of eternity. When God tells you something is going to happen NOW, His eternal NOW may not actually happen in your life for years. You must have the faith to receive it NOW and then live in faith until it manifests in the earth.
- God revealed many things to us in 2015, the year of Great Grace. However, He could not release what He wanted to give us until we got in position to receive. 2016 was our year to get in position. God does not require you to perform for His blessings, but He does require you to be in position to receive.
- 2016 was a difficult year for many people. But it was a necessary year. After experiencing and enduring 2016, you are now in position to receive in 2017.
- Once God reset us in the moment He revealed to me (2016), He said that our past and our future are now aligned. He can now RELEASE us into the future He planned for us.
This is enough for today. I will stop here and continue tomorrow.
*** Get ready for 2017 to be a year of Supernatural Manifestation!
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for giving me the grace to experience, endure and overcome 2016. I thank You for the course-correction. I believe I am now in position to receive all You want to do in, with and through me. I give myself over to You completely. All that I am and all that I am not is Yours. Use me to make a mark in 2017 that will not easily be erased. 2017 shall be a year of supernatural manifestation for me. 2017 shall be the best year of my life! I declare this by faith! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
