Excellence, Aggression and Fullness in 2007 -- Prophetic Mandates for the Coming Year
On the Hebraic calendar, we have just completed the high holy days of the year – the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the Feast of Tabernacles (Succot). On the Lord’s timetable, we have just moved into a new calendar year, and this is a season when many prophetic people receive downloads from Heaven about the coming year. In this week’s message, we would like to share some of the prophetic insights the Lord has been giving us for the coming year, so that we can best plan to accommodate the Kingdom’s advance through our own lives. It is important that the people of God have vision, for as we know, “Where there is no vision, the people perish …” (Prov. 29:18).
This is considered the Hebraic year 5767, and on the Roman calendar (which the Lord in His infinite wisdom knew the world would one day observe!) we are moving into 2007. Clearly, this is a year of “sevens,” which in Biblical typology represent completion, perfection and fullness. We believe that the fullness of God’s Kingdom and the fullness of the gospel of that Kingdom is about to begin shining through a remnant church like never before this year. We believe that a revelation of partnership with His sevenfold Spirit (Rev. 1, 4, 5; Isa. 11:2) is about to begin to revolutionize the church. The church is a lampstand meant to burn with the fullness of His sevenfold presence – not just a little flicker here and there! For those who have positioned themselves, it will be “on Earth as it is in Heaven in 2007.”
A Year of Completion and Perfection
Things that the Lord began to do in 2006 will be completed in 2007. Some of you may remember a prophetic word I gave last year, saying that the Lord was making “natural” preparations in 2006 for a “spiritual” explosion He would release in 2007. We will talk about this explosion more below. The Lord will complete a number of things in individual lives, ministries and callings which began years ago, and people will feel the transition into the new beginnings that are coming in 2008 (“eight” being the number of new beginnings). Ecclesiastes 7:8 tells us that, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning.” For many, this will be a year to finish hard. At the end of a race, that is the time to sprint. Time to “go the distance” and complete the race you have been running with flying colors.
Go the Distance! (A Lesson from Rocky)
Although we have been in ministry a number of years, I was born in 1976, making me only 30 years old – the year of age in which Jesus began His earthly ministry. In 1976, the best picture of the year award went to “Rocky,” who was also 30 years old in the film. Over the last week, it has been surreal to catch the prophetic symbolism in this film, which the Lord has been prompting us to watch (and its sequels!). I told my wife that I am pursuing the “Rocky anointing” this year! There is something about the nameless, faceless underdogs emerging on the scene this year who are going to be able to “go the distance” and finish the big fight like Rocky did in 1976. It is no coincidence that yet another Rocky film is scheduled for release before the end of the year (still Hebrew year 5767), in which the fighter comes out of retirement for one last bout. This is a year in which the green sprouts and old timers will emerge together. The cross-pollination of the generations is about to unleash havoc on the enemy’s camp.
For those of you who remember the flick, Rocky was not an exceptional fighter in that first film. I don’t even think he knew how to hold up his gloves to deflect a punch. But one thing he had was endurance. He knew how to take a punch and keep going. He had stamina and a willingness to persevere. Catch the second half of the verse we mentioned above, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.” For those who have been patiently enduring trials, this will be a year of relief and completion. Pride makes many false starts, but patience will test our faith so that it comes forth as gold.
Clash of the Sword
This is a year of warfare, and many prophetic people have noted that it is the year of “the clash of the sword.” This is true, in that this will be a year of aggression: “… the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt. 11:12). But the warfare we will face this year is GOOD!
All warfare is to our advantage this year, because it is offensive warfare. Pray that God will let the sun stand still in the sky another hour, as he did for Joshua, so that we will have more time to wipe out and route the enemy this year. All advances against the enemy this year are “above and beyond” the usual take. They are exponentially more strategic than the minor battles won over the past six years of your life. The things you press in for, and the ground you take in this next short season, will affect you dramatically for the next five years to come.
Determine to push the enemy as far back as you can possibly go this year. Eat honey to strengthen you and to enlighten your eyes like Jonathan! The honey of His presence will strengthen you for the battle.
Guess what? The Lord has a few tricks up His sleeve for this year. In Rocky II, the champ was a southpaw. But instead of fighting with his left hand as usual, he had to awkwardly retrain himself to fight strong with his right glove. Many of us have been forced by circumstance into a trial/desert season, where we learned by necessity to strengthen and even rely on muscles we don’t normally use. In the same way that Rocky fought with his right hand throughout the match, many of us have been battling with spiritual muscles that needed necessary strengthening, but they were not primary to our calling. In the last round of the match, surprise! Rocky whips out the left hand that had been hiding the whole time and starts cracking heads.
God has been saving His best wine for last, and although we are sprinting this last year of a seven-year cycle, we are about to get our “last wind” coming out of nowhere. Strengths and talents you forgot about years ago are about to re-emerge from God’s fallow ground cycle of the seasons, and you are about to rise up with strength upon strength to pound the enemy into oblivion. This is important: Do not stop fighting when you get your own personal breakthrough this year! You have ability this year to route the enemy from the lives of your friends, family, workplace, city and region! Many will be at peace with some level of moderate personal success this year, but the real dread champions who are emerging will fight for their brothers and sisters, going above and beyond the call of duty this year, because they see that the enemy is retreating! Like the warrior tribe of Gad, the true champions of this year will cross the Jordan and fight for their brothers, even though they have acquired their own land. Interestingly, Jacob prophesied over Gad saying, “Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels” (Gen. 49:19). There are many Rockies, many Gads, who have been taking punches, but with the endurance of bulldogs, they are not letting go, and they will continue to pursue their enemy until he is annihilated.
Warfare by Rest
This is also a “Sabbath rest” year – a seventh day season. Out of the place of rest, “The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). This is not to say we are to become complacent this year! We will war against apathy, but we will operate in true rest. This is a paradox, because though we are slugging out the last rounds in the natural, we will be tapping into a spiritual quickening – an ability that supersedes our own strength this year.
This year, the Lord will be setting many people free of performance orientation: fear-based striving for acceptance. As we cease our striving, we will be laying down many time-wasters that were preoccupying us from the presence of the Lord.
Guard your time. Stay in prayer and you can work less this year. Voices will try to crowd out what the Lord is doing and keep you preoccupied with time wasters. Stay focused on the Lord, and He will release an overcoming spirit. Our primary mode of warfare is to stay in His Glory presence!
Spirit of Excellence Being Released
Even as this is a year of perfection and completion, this is also a year of coming into God’s excellence. A fresh wind of excellence is about to blow over a number of ministries, Christian businesses and even families. The Lord will be washing away the “rag-tag,” piecemeal mode that has marked many works. Yes, God’s perfect beauty looks like death on a cross – and God is not looking for glitz – but this is a year of resurrection power. There is a crisp, polished thing God is about to do with many people that will not be phony or pretentious. The brilliance of His splendor is about to shine through His people. It is one thing to be content when things are sloppy and disorganized (and as we mentioned before, we do not want to become anal and performance oriented). However, the Lord is about to spit-shine some of his battle-scuffed warriors and there is a new gleam about to come upon them. The pig-pen cloud of poverty and “settling for less” is about to be exchanged for a brilliant cloud of Glory!
Year of Spiritual Explosion
The Lord laid some natural tracks and worked on natural relationships over the past year which will be foundational for attaining the new spiritual heights to which he is taking us this year. There will be explosive releases of the glory of God and creative signs, wonders and miracles which will become widespread in the body of Christ. The level of the supernatural being exhibited in some of the most cutting edge ministries today is about to become commonplace for the average believer.
There is going to be an absolute skyrocket into the realms of visitation, dreams and prophetic revelation for the hungry and thirsty this year.
The supernatural is about to get “messy” this year. Out of control. God is releasing the wildfire. It cannot be contained by religious structure – even charismatic religious structure. A lot of “charismatic” religious devils are about to be exposed this year as “good ministry” gets edged out by God’s best ministry. Old wineskins are going to be stretched this year. Some will snap altogether.
Stay in the Glory!
As simple as it may sound, the best advice for this year is to stay saturated in the Glory of God. The Lord showed us a yellow helmet with safety glasses. He said that those who dwell under the covering of his Glory this year will have protection for their mind and eyes. Conversely, there will be an increased level of insanity and spiritual blindness in the world around us, which should not be surprising.
This is a year to stop taking the mainstream media seriously. For too long, the church has tried to argue with a pseudo-scientific, secular media, as if it were engaged with an equal, intellectual counterpart. For the most part, this has been a distraction, and has caused the church to lose focus and run in a thousand different man-pleasing directions. The enemy is going to notch up the hysteria in the media to another level this year, because he wants to distract us. Unplug. The humanistic reasoning of the media and the degrading concept of relativistic “fairness” it portrays (always assuming that two sides of an argument are always equal and opposite, and never acknowledging ultimate right and wrong/good and evil in a situation) will continue to subtly water down the morality of a nation that does not let its true conscience become awakened and stirred to righteousness. If we stay consumed on the secular media, we will be drawn into fighting on the enemy’s turf.
Instead of tuning into the madness, take advantage of the clear Heavens this year, and tune into that. Stay in the Secret Place; be presence-focused and not purpose-driven this year. Allow the Lord to protect your mind this year, and allow your mind to stay renewed with the word to protect it from the lies of the enemy. Satan’s number one tactic this year will be a release of an assault of lies to bring defeat, paranoia and insecurity. He will try to infiltrate relationships by causing suspicion, mistrust and other issues. However, as we stay in the glory, the Lord will not only protect our own minds, but give us authority to set others free. The truth will set us free this year!
Restoration in the Media
Media, communications and a number of broadcasting avenues will recover the airwaves for harvest this year. There is a struggle over the second heaven this year. It is important to note that right now, the church is still just taking back the airwaves in terms of being “relevant” to the people. For too long, Christian radio and television has been so religious, it has driven off listeners and viewers. There are intentional, focused demonic assignments launched just to make this happen. But this is a season of bringing quality, creativity and cultural relevance back to programming and media outlets.
But beyond mere relevance and creativity, which is a prerequisite to reaching the lost over the airwaves, the Lord is about to start sprinkling the media with demonstrations of his power this year. Not just broadcasts of minor healings and hype, but wild, creative miracles, signs and wonders in real time. God’s “reality TV” is about to bring Kingdom demonstration right from the streets into the living rooms of viewers, and it will be some of the most controversial broadcasting on the air.
The Lord wants to release the mother lode in terms of power evangelism, but he must first prepare a people who are willing to weather the criticism, fraud charges and outright persecution that comes along with operating in His power – persecution both from within and without the church.
Fresh Breaker Anointing Being Released
A fresh breaker anointing is being released this year, as this is a year of offensive assault on the enemy’s camp. Don’t be surprised when hell comes to the bargaining table this year. Because this is a year of tremendous breakthrough, the enemy will try to forge a truce – don’t make peace with the enemy! Like Jehu, our attitude toward Jezebel must be, “What do you have to do with peace?”
A number of prophetic voices have received Isaiah 41: 15-20 for this year: “You will be a new, threshing instrument with many sharp teeth. You will tear your enemies apart, making chaff of mountains. You will toss them into the air, and the wind will blow them all away; a whirlwind will scatter them. Then you will rejoice in the Lord.”
As the Breaker is released, know that revival will start this year in many obscure places.
Year of Wealth
This is an important subject for the coming year, and a number of our associates have confirmed what the Lord is saying about Kingdom finances: There is an immediate season open right now in the spirit for financial breakthrough. It is something we will need to contend for, because the next few weeks or months could set the course for years to come in terms of finance and provision. We feel that the Lord is saying He is going to send “finances with wealth” this year. There is a difference. One speaks of basic monetary substance, but wealth is something more. Allow the Lord to give you a “cushion” this year. This is a year in which the poverty mentality has to go altogether from our thinking. It is not a little holy pet demon we need to be stroking, just in case God intended us to be beggars after all. Poverty wants to crush you, and we cannot befriend the devourer.
Somewhere along the line, we thought that a lifestyle of faith meant scraping by, and that God would miraculously supply the can of beans on our doorstep, just when the kids were about to die of starvation. Always saving you just in the nick of time. The check coming in the mail in the 11th hour, just seconds before the bills are due. Of course, God does that stuff, and it’s brilliant. But God wants us to already be trusting Him so much that we don’t need those 11th hour fixes to teach us a faith lesson anymore. Adam never had to wait just in the nick of time for a grape to fall from the Tree of Life to keep him alive in the 11th hour. No, Adam was blessed and lived in abundance. And that is God’s intention for His creation.
There are seasons of learning to walk by faith, where we make mistakes and scrape by. Then there are seasons of just doing it – walking by the faith we have learned – where we can maintain. We get by in a state of “just trusting.”
But there is an altogether higher level. There are seasons of excellence, perfection and overflow: where we stretch in even further into the truth of God’s loving abundance, goodness and desire to bless us. It is here that we step into wealth and learn to be a blessing on the earth.
God does not want us hoarding for self gain, however, He does want us to fill our storehouses so that we might be generous givers. God is looking for a people to whom He can entrust Kingdom wealth (not just finances, but also Kingdom power, authority and miraculous abilities), so that we have enough to splash over onto others. The “just getting by” mentality has to go this year. There is a half-truth that tells us “God’s never too late or too early; He’s just right on time.” That sounds good and religious, but it’s not scriptural. The truth is, God likes to splash His favor on us too early, right on time, and after the fact! He’s the God of before, during and later! The Was and Is and Is To Come! He wants to make you the head and not the tail, and He wants you to ride on the heights of the land.
If we nod our heads to the idea of getting a full storehouse, expecting to suddenly become generous when it brims over, chances are that it will never happen. If we can’t be generous in our lack, we are fooling ourselves to think it will happen in our abundance. Remember, He wants to bless you this year, but moreover, He wants you to be a blessing.
This is what the Lord wants to quicken His faithful with this year: “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deut. 8:18). We have not realized the significance of what God wants to do in this arena enough. We must be striking the ground hard with the arrows right now, and not let this window of opportunity pass us by. This is a time to press in, and have intercessors honing in on this subject over the next few weeks.
Obviously, we must know that the true wealth of the Kingdom is wisdom and virtue. And when we seek wealth as an end in itself, we have opened ourselves to the love of money, which is a root of much evil. But there is always warfare over financial assets, as it consumes a large part of our time, toil and lives. And we must learn to press in to access and manage money without becoming consumed by materialism. When we cease to love and serve money, money becomes a servant.
A few keys to accessing wealth are these:
1- Good stewardship;
2- Giving generously (There is a great favor coming onto mercy ministries this year, especially onto those who sow directly into the poor);
3- The fear of the Lord (“… Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever” Psalm 112: 1-3);
4- The love of wisdom over the love of money (“I {Wisdom} love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me. Riches and honor are with me; enduring riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver” Prov. 8:17-19).
Through a wild chain of events, the Lord showed some of our associates in Wales that huge stockpiles of wealth, literally millions upon millions that have been secretly hoarded by nonbelievers, are about to start pouring into the church. These are literally “mountains of wealth” that some will begin to bore into this year. Proverbs 13:22 states that, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.” The point of this prophetic teaching is not to motivate you by greed, but to enable us to be both open to God’s wealth that is coming, and to be able to enjoy what He gives in a righteous manner.
We must store up wealth for future generations. In this, I am talking primarily about spiritual wealth. There is a passionate, fiery love for Christ that supersedes any material wealth man could offer: “Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised” (Song 8:7).
A New Refreshing for Europe
In the Spirit, I saw a European-style shower get notched up to the number eight on the nozzle. There will be a cleansing and an increase of new beginnings and outpouring for Europe this year. Ministries based in Europe, or with established European relationships will see an increase in the outpourings of God this year.
Flame is Fanning in Asia/Southeast Asia
There are open windows of opportunity for major harvest in India this year. While India is ripe, there is a risk of it closing within a few years, apart from strategic intercession. A number of Muslim countries will become increasingly open to the gospel this year like never before. The Lord will be dealing with Iran this year on a number of fronts, but strongholds are going to crack there largely through the native Christian population beginning to intercede from within the nation.
A number of nations will open for large evangelism campaigns that were previously closed. Revival fires will continue to swell to major proportions in Indonesia and Malaysia. The percentage of Christians in Indonesia has increased dramatically in the last several years. The revival there will continue to escalate. All of Indonesia will be taken for the Lord. Southeast Asia will become one of the next major revival hubs for the entire Asian continent. There is potential for the next “Azusa-level” outpouring to spill out from Malaysia.
Pulling out of Ruts
In the Spirit, the Lord showed me a “come along,” one of the rope winches used to pull a vehicle or large object out of a rut or place where it has become stuck. This year, the Lord is pulling us out of a lot of old cycles. Ministries that have been in a holding pattern will have the opportunity to break out this year. It may come gradually – seemingly just inching forward. But the difference is that there will not be the “one step forward two steps back” pattern you have experienced. This is monumental. Also in 2007, for those ministries who become associated or affiliated in relationship with apostolic networks (not politically per se, but relationally in some manner), there will be a multiplied increase to pull you out of the ruts of spiritual isolation and captivity.
Season of Repentance
The Lord showed us that literally this is the “hour of repentance” for a number of individuals, but moreover, for entire large ministries. There is strategic timing from God as He is offering special grace to move out of old habit patterns. There will be a heavy focus on the need for purity this year. Our friend Matt Sorger recently posted a similar word on Yom Kippur for 2007, noting, “In this season of awakening, we will see two parallel streams – holiness and power. God is taking all the mixture out, so we can handle the pure power of the Holy Spirit. We don't always know what is in our hearts. If there is something that must be purged, God will purge it. This is a time and a season where we need to humble ourselves, and let God search and cleanse our hearts.”
Expect more dross to be purged from large ministries. The purest silver is the silver refined seven times.
It is Worth the Mess
Though this may sound a bit crass, the Lord showed me a large shovel used for following elephants around in the circus tent. These elephants represented power ministry that will draw the people, and they will continually leave behind messes.
Proverbs 14:4 tells us that the stall is clean when there is no ox, but if we want the power of the ox for harvest, there will be messes to clean up. The Lord also spoke to us regarding the “circus” atmosphere of revival. There will be no need to hype what God is doing in this season. The testimonies of real-life miracles, signs and wonders are going to be so phenomenal that many will accuse the people of God of sheer make-believe. Dead raisings, spontaneous generation of matter (feathers, gold, gems, money, etc.), creative miracles like instant weight loss, freedom from paralysis, regrowth of hair and other wild demonstrations of power will invoke mockery from the unbelieving (even the “Christian” unbelieving), because they will simply be too phenomenal to swallow at times.
It’s going to get messy. No mess, no power. But God is not too concerned about mess.
This is considered the Hebraic year 5767, and on the Roman calendar (which the Lord in His infinite wisdom knew the world would one day observe!) we are moving into 2007. Clearly, this is a year of “sevens,” which in Biblical typology represent completion, perfection and fullness. We believe that the fullness of God’s Kingdom and the fullness of the gospel of that Kingdom is about to begin shining through a remnant church like never before this year. We believe that a revelation of partnership with His sevenfold Spirit (Rev. 1, 4, 5; Isa. 11:2) is about to begin to revolutionize the church. The church is a lampstand meant to burn with the fullness of His sevenfold presence – not just a little flicker here and there! For those who have positioned themselves, it will be “on Earth as it is in Heaven in 2007.”
A Year of Completion and Perfection
Things that the Lord began to do in 2006 will be completed in 2007. Some of you may remember a prophetic word I gave last year, saying that the Lord was making “natural” preparations in 2006 for a “spiritual” explosion He would release in 2007. We will talk about this explosion more below. The Lord will complete a number of things in individual lives, ministries and callings which began years ago, and people will feel the transition into the new beginnings that are coming in 2008 (“eight” being the number of new beginnings). Ecclesiastes 7:8 tells us that, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning.” For many, this will be a year to finish hard. At the end of a race, that is the time to sprint. Time to “go the distance” and complete the race you have been running with flying colors.
Go the Distance! (A Lesson from Rocky)
Although we have been in ministry a number of years, I was born in 1976, making me only 30 years old – the year of age in which Jesus began His earthly ministry. In 1976, the best picture of the year award went to “Rocky,” who was also 30 years old in the film. Over the last week, it has been surreal to catch the prophetic symbolism in this film, which the Lord has been prompting us to watch (and its sequels!). I told my wife that I am pursuing the “Rocky anointing” this year! There is something about the nameless, faceless underdogs emerging on the scene this year who are going to be able to “go the distance” and finish the big fight like Rocky did in 1976. It is no coincidence that yet another Rocky film is scheduled for release before the end of the year (still Hebrew year 5767), in which the fighter comes out of retirement for one last bout. This is a year in which the green sprouts and old timers will emerge together. The cross-pollination of the generations is about to unleash havoc on the enemy’s camp.
For those of you who remember the flick, Rocky was not an exceptional fighter in that first film. I don’t even think he knew how to hold up his gloves to deflect a punch. But one thing he had was endurance. He knew how to take a punch and keep going. He had stamina and a willingness to persevere. Catch the second half of the verse we mentioned above, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.” For those who have been patiently enduring trials, this will be a year of relief and completion. Pride makes many false starts, but patience will test our faith so that it comes forth as gold.
Clash of the Sword
This is a year of warfare, and many prophetic people have noted that it is the year of “the clash of the sword.” This is true, in that this will be a year of aggression: “… the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt. 11:12). But the warfare we will face this year is GOOD!
All warfare is to our advantage this year, because it is offensive warfare. Pray that God will let the sun stand still in the sky another hour, as he did for Joshua, so that we will have more time to wipe out and route the enemy this year. All advances against the enemy this year are “above and beyond” the usual take. They are exponentially more strategic than the minor battles won over the past six years of your life. The things you press in for, and the ground you take in this next short season, will affect you dramatically for the next five years to come.
Determine to push the enemy as far back as you can possibly go this year. Eat honey to strengthen you and to enlighten your eyes like Jonathan! The honey of His presence will strengthen you for the battle.
Guess what? The Lord has a few tricks up His sleeve for this year. In Rocky II, the champ was a southpaw. But instead of fighting with his left hand as usual, he had to awkwardly retrain himself to fight strong with his right glove. Many of us have been forced by circumstance into a trial/desert season, where we learned by necessity to strengthen and even rely on muscles we don’t normally use. In the same way that Rocky fought with his right hand throughout the match, many of us have been battling with spiritual muscles that needed necessary strengthening, but they were not primary to our calling. In the last round of the match, surprise! Rocky whips out the left hand that had been hiding the whole time and starts cracking heads.
God has been saving His best wine for last, and although we are sprinting this last year of a seven-year cycle, we are about to get our “last wind” coming out of nowhere. Strengths and talents you forgot about years ago are about to re-emerge from God’s fallow ground cycle of the seasons, and you are about to rise up with strength upon strength to pound the enemy into oblivion. This is important: Do not stop fighting when you get your own personal breakthrough this year! You have ability this year to route the enemy from the lives of your friends, family, workplace, city and region! Many will be at peace with some level of moderate personal success this year, but the real dread champions who are emerging will fight for their brothers and sisters, going above and beyond the call of duty this year, because they see that the enemy is retreating! Like the warrior tribe of Gad, the true champions of this year will cross the Jordan and fight for their brothers, even though they have acquired their own land. Interestingly, Jacob prophesied over Gad saying, “Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels” (Gen. 49:19). There are many Rockies, many Gads, who have been taking punches, but with the endurance of bulldogs, they are not letting go, and they will continue to pursue their enemy until he is annihilated.
Warfare by Rest
This is also a “Sabbath rest” year – a seventh day season. Out of the place of rest, “The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). This is not to say we are to become complacent this year! We will war against apathy, but we will operate in true rest. This is a paradox, because though we are slugging out the last rounds in the natural, we will be tapping into a spiritual quickening – an ability that supersedes our own strength this year.
This year, the Lord will be setting many people free of performance orientation: fear-based striving for acceptance. As we cease our striving, we will be laying down many time-wasters that were preoccupying us from the presence of the Lord.
Guard your time. Stay in prayer and you can work less this year. Voices will try to crowd out what the Lord is doing and keep you preoccupied with time wasters. Stay focused on the Lord, and He will release an overcoming spirit. Our primary mode of warfare is to stay in His Glory presence!
Spirit of Excellence Being Released
Even as this is a year of perfection and completion, this is also a year of coming into God’s excellence. A fresh wind of excellence is about to blow over a number of ministries, Christian businesses and even families. The Lord will be washing away the “rag-tag,” piecemeal mode that has marked many works. Yes, God’s perfect beauty looks like death on a cross – and God is not looking for glitz – but this is a year of resurrection power. There is a crisp, polished thing God is about to do with many people that will not be phony or pretentious. The brilliance of His splendor is about to shine through His people. It is one thing to be content when things are sloppy and disorganized (and as we mentioned before, we do not want to become anal and performance oriented). However, the Lord is about to spit-shine some of his battle-scuffed warriors and there is a new gleam about to come upon them. The pig-pen cloud of poverty and “settling for less” is about to be exchanged for a brilliant cloud of Glory!
Year of Spiritual Explosion
The Lord laid some natural tracks and worked on natural relationships over the past year which will be foundational for attaining the new spiritual heights to which he is taking us this year. There will be explosive releases of the glory of God and creative signs, wonders and miracles which will become widespread in the body of Christ. The level of the supernatural being exhibited in some of the most cutting edge ministries today is about to become commonplace for the average believer.
There is going to be an absolute skyrocket into the realms of visitation, dreams and prophetic revelation for the hungry and thirsty this year.
The supernatural is about to get “messy” this year. Out of control. God is releasing the wildfire. It cannot be contained by religious structure – even charismatic religious structure. A lot of “charismatic” religious devils are about to be exposed this year as “good ministry” gets edged out by God’s best ministry. Old wineskins are going to be stretched this year. Some will snap altogether.
Stay in the Glory!
As simple as it may sound, the best advice for this year is to stay saturated in the Glory of God. The Lord showed us a yellow helmet with safety glasses. He said that those who dwell under the covering of his Glory this year will have protection for their mind and eyes. Conversely, there will be an increased level of insanity and spiritual blindness in the world around us, which should not be surprising.
This is a year to stop taking the mainstream media seriously. For too long, the church has tried to argue with a pseudo-scientific, secular media, as if it were engaged with an equal, intellectual counterpart. For the most part, this has been a distraction, and has caused the church to lose focus and run in a thousand different man-pleasing directions. The enemy is going to notch up the hysteria in the media to another level this year, because he wants to distract us. Unplug. The humanistic reasoning of the media and the degrading concept of relativistic “fairness” it portrays (always assuming that two sides of an argument are always equal and opposite, and never acknowledging ultimate right and wrong/good and evil in a situation) will continue to subtly water down the morality of a nation that does not let its true conscience become awakened and stirred to righteousness. If we stay consumed on the secular media, we will be drawn into fighting on the enemy’s turf.
Instead of tuning into the madness, take advantage of the clear Heavens this year, and tune into that. Stay in the Secret Place; be presence-focused and not purpose-driven this year. Allow the Lord to protect your mind this year, and allow your mind to stay renewed with the word to protect it from the lies of the enemy. Satan’s number one tactic this year will be a release of an assault of lies to bring defeat, paranoia and insecurity. He will try to infiltrate relationships by causing suspicion, mistrust and other issues. However, as we stay in the glory, the Lord will not only protect our own minds, but give us authority to set others free. The truth will set us free this year!
Restoration in the Media
Media, communications and a number of broadcasting avenues will recover the airwaves for harvest this year. There is a struggle over the second heaven this year. It is important to note that right now, the church is still just taking back the airwaves in terms of being “relevant” to the people. For too long, Christian radio and television has been so religious, it has driven off listeners and viewers. There are intentional, focused demonic assignments launched just to make this happen. But this is a season of bringing quality, creativity and cultural relevance back to programming and media outlets.
But beyond mere relevance and creativity, which is a prerequisite to reaching the lost over the airwaves, the Lord is about to start sprinkling the media with demonstrations of his power this year. Not just broadcasts of minor healings and hype, but wild, creative miracles, signs and wonders in real time. God’s “reality TV” is about to bring Kingdom demonstration right from the streets into the living rooms of viewers, and it will be some of the most controversial broadcasting on the air.
The Lord wants to release the mother lode in terms of power evangelism, but he must first prepare a people who are willing to weather the criticism, fraud charges and outright persecution that comes along with operating in His power – persecution both from within and without the church.
Fresh Breaker Anointing Being Released
A fresh breaker anointing is being released this year, as this is a year of offensive assault on the enemy’s camp. Don’t be surprised when hell comes to the bargaining table this year. Because this is a year of tremendous breakthrough, the enemy will try to forge a truce – don’t make peace with the enemy! Like Jehu, our attitude toward Jezebel must be, “What do you have to do with peace?”
A number of prophetic voices have received Isaiah 41: 15-20 for this year: “You will be a new, threshing instrument with many sharp teeth. You will tear your enemies apart, making chaff of mountains. You will toss them into the air, and the wind will blow them all away; a whirlwind will scatter them. Then you will rejoice in the Lord.”
As the Breaker is released, know that revival will start this year in many obscure places.
Year of Wealth
This is an important subject for the coming year, and a number of our associates have confirmed what the Lord is saying about Kingdom finances: There is an immediate season open right now in the spirit for financial breakthrough. It is something we will need to contend for, because the next few weeks or months could set the course for years to come in terms of finance and provision. We feel that the Lord is saying He is going to send “finances with wealth” this year. There is a difference. One speaks of basic monetary substance, but wealth is something more. Allow the Lord to give you a “cushion” this year. This is a year in which the poverty mentality has to go altogether from our thinking. It is not a little holy pet demon we need to be stroking, just in case God intended us to be beggars after all. Poverty wants to crush you, and we cannot befriend the devourer.
Somewhere along the line, we thought that a lifestyle of faith meant scraping by, and that God would miraculously supply the can of beans on our doorstep, just when the kids were about to die of starvation. Always saving you just in the nick of time. The check coming in the mail in the 11th hour, just seconds before the bills are due. Of course, God does that stuff, and it’s brilliant. But God wants us to already be trusting Him so much that we don’t need those 11th hour fixes to teach us a faith lesson anymore. Adam never had to wait just in the nick of time for a grape to fall from the Tree of Life to keep him alive in the 11th hour. No, Adam was blessed and lived in abundance. And that is God’s intention for His creation.
There are seasons of learning to walk by faith, where we make mistakes and scrape by. Then there are seasons of just doing it – walking by the faith we have learned – where we can maintain. We get by in a state of “just trusting.”
But there is an altogether higher level. There are seasons of excellence, perfection and overflow: where we stretch in even further into the truth of God’s loving abundance, goodness and desire to bless us. It is here that we step into wealth and learn to be a blessing on the earth.
God does not want us hoarding for self gain, however, He does want us to fill our storehouses so that we might be generous givers. God is looking for a people to whom He can entrust Kingdom wealth (not just finances, but also Kingdom power, authority and miraculous abilities), so that we have enough to splash over onto others. The “just getting by” mentality has to go this year. There is a half-truth that tells us “God’s never too late or too early; He’s just right on time.” That sounds good and religious, but it’s not scriptural. The truth is, God likes to splash His favor on us too early, right on time, and after the fact! He’s the God of before, during and later! The Was and Is and Is To Come! He wants to make you the head and not the tail, and He wants you to ride on the heights of the land.
If we nod our heads to the idea of getting a full storehouse, expecting to suddenly become generous when it brims over, chances are that it will never happen. If we can’t be generous in our lack, we are fooling ourselves to think it will happen in our abundance. Remember, He wants to bless you this year, but moreover, He wants you to be a blessing.
This is what the Lord wants to quicken His faithful with this year: “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deut. 8:18). We have not realized the significance of what God wants to do in this arena enough. We must be striking the ground hard with the arrows right now, and not let this window of opportunity pass us by. This is a time to press in, and have intercessors honing in on this subject over the next few weeks.
Obviously, we must know that the true wealth of the Kingdom is wisdom and virtue. And when we seek wealth as an end in itself, we have opened ourselves to the love of money, which is a root of much evil. But there is always warfare over financial assets, as it consumes a large part of our time, toil and lives. And we must learn to press in to access and manage money without becoming consumed by materialism. When we cease to love and serve money, money becomes a servant.
A few keys to accessing wealth are these:
1- Good stewardship;
2- Giving generously (There is a great favor coming onto mercy ministries this year, especially onto those who sow directly into the poor);
3- The fear of the Lord (“… Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever” Psalm 112: 1-3);
4- The love of wisdom over the love of money (“I {Wisdom} love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me. Riches and honor are with me; enduring riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver” Prov. 8:17-19).
Through a wild chain of events, the Lord showed some of our associates in Wales that huge stockpiles of wealth, literally millions upon millions that have been secretly hoarded by nonbelievers, are about to start pouring into the church. These are literally “mountains of wealth” that some will begin to bore into this year. Proverbs 13:22 states that, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.” The point of this prophetic teaching is not to motivate you by greed, but to enable us to be both open to God’s wealth that is coming, and to be able to enjoy what He gives in a righteous manner.
We must store up wealth for future generations. In this, I am talking primarily about spiritual wealth. There is a passionate, fiery love for Christ that supersedes any material wealth man could offer: “Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised” (Song 8:7).
A New Refreshing for Europe
In the Spirit, I saw a European-style shower get notched up to the number eight on the nozzle. There will be a cleansing and an increase of new beginnings and outpouring for Europe this year. Ministries based in Europe, or with established European relationships will see an increase in the outpourings of God this year.
Flame is Fanning in Asia/Southeast Asia
There are open windows of opportunity for major harvest in India this year. While India is ripe, there is a risk of it closing within a few years, apart from strategic intercession. A number of Muslim countries will become increasingly open to the gospel this year like never before. The Lord will be dealing with Iran this year on a number of fronts, but strongholds are going to crack there largely through the native Christian population beginning to intercede from within the nation.
A number of nations will open for large evangelism campaigns that were previously closed. Revival fires will continue to swell to major proportions in Indonesia and Malaysia. The percentage of Christians in Indonesia has increased dramatically in the last several years. The revival there will continue to escalate. All of Indonesia will be taken for the Lord. Southeast Asia will become one of the next major revival hubs for the entire Asian continent. There is potential for the next “Azusa-level” outpouring to spill out from Malaysia.
Pulling out of Ruts
In the Spirit, the Lord showed me a “come along,” one of the rope winches used to pull a vehicle or large object out of a rut or place where it has become stuck. This year, the Lord is pulling us out of a lot of old cycles. Ministries that have been in a holding pattern will have the opportunity to break out this year. It may come gradually – seemingly just inching forward. But the difference is that there will not be the “one step forward two steps back” pattern you have experienced. This is monumental. Also in 2007, for those ministries who become associated or affiliated in relationship with apostolic networks (not politically per se, but relationally in some manner), there will be a multiplied increase to pull you out of the ruts of spiritual isolation and captivity.
Season of Repentance
The Lord showed us that literally this is the “hour of repentance” for a number of individuals, but moreover, for entire large ministries. There is strategic timing from God as He is offering special grace to move out of old habit patterns. There will be a heavy focus on the need for purity this year. Our friend Matt Sorger recently posted a similar word on Yom Kippur for 2007, noting, “In this season of awakening, we will see two parallel streams – holiness and power. God is taking all the mixture out, so we can handle the pure power of the Holy Spirit. We don't always know what is in our hearts. If there is something that must be purged, God will purge it. This is a time and a season where we need to humble ourselves, and let God search and cleanse our hearts.”
Expect more dross to be purged from large ministries. The purest silver is the silver refined seven times.
It is Worth the Mess
Though this may sound a bit crass, the Lord showed me a large shovel used for following elephants around in the circus tent. These elephants represented power ministry that will draw the people, and they will continually leave behind messes.
Proverbs 14:4 tells us that the stall is clean when there is no ox, but if we want the power of the ox for harvest, there will be messes to clean up. The Lord also spoke to us regarding the “circus” atmosphere of revival. There will be no need to hype what God is doing in this season. The testimonies of real-life miracles, signs and wonders are going to be so phenomenal that many will accuse the people of God of sheer make-believe. Dead raisings, spontaneous generation of matter (feathers, gold, gems, money, etc.), creative miracles like instant weight loss, freedom from paralysis, regrowth of hair and other wild demonstrations of power will invoke mockery from the unbelieving (even the “Christian” unbelieving), because they will simply be too phenomenal to swallow at times.
It’s going to get messy. No mess, no power. But God is not too concerned about mess.
posted by John Crowder at 5:58 PM
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