December Watchword: "Keep in Step with the Spirit"

For the last two years, every time I prayed about 2017, I saw it light up with shining rays of pure gold. I believe 2017 will be "the golden year," a remarkable time when we will see the kingdom advancement we have been longing for and praying about for a long time.   This is the year to build and establish the kingdom of heaven on earth in a new way, but also to build and establish new things you've been praying into for many years.

1. Financial Breakthrough
I saw the storehouses of heaven opening with endless provision in 2017.  However, we must understand the purpose of this provision.  The coming resources will enable us to build the "latter house" that will hold the greater glory (see Haggai 2).  As the glory rises, the nations shake, and the harvest unfolds, we will need new buildings, new media, new resources for discipleship, and much more.  Of course, when the harvest reaches its full number, the church will not be able to contain it.  This is why many will also have grace and provision to acquire new properties this year, including large swaths of rural land for stewarding youth revivals and "Christian woodstocks," where the sounds of heaven will be released in the decades of harvest to come.  Based on the promises of Malachi 3:10, I believe the provision that is coming will be "more than we can hold," but it is only being released to those whose hearts long to build "a resting place for the Lord" (see Psalm 132:13-18).  Those who have this desire will be able to properly steward and multiply what they are given.  Those who don't have this desire will find provision slipping through their fingers and being lost like grains of dust in the wind.  This is why it is important to get our hearts right before God now, before this time of provision opens up.  A good way to prepare for the coming provision is to write down what you need, why you need it, and then present it to the Lord in prayer.

2.  The Returning Glory
In addition to the outpouring of financial provision, there is a much greater outpouring of God's glory coming, which I believe will begin in March of 2017.  This word was confirmed by others, but I am repeating it because I believe it is something we should be praying into.  As I discuss later in this post, I do not believe our experience with the glory will be a one-time event, but a continual flow of "rising water levels," like the tide coming in.

3.  Reformation Leaders Rising in a Time of Shaking
I believe the great shaking and reformation we are seeing in civil government will increase as the economy is also shaken this year.   However, this shaking in the government and the economy is now going to be mirrored by a much greater shaking and reformation in the government and finances of the church.  A new generation of prophets and apostles is rising to build the latter house and to properly steward the "greater glory" it will carry (see Haggai 2, Ephesians 2:20).  This includes new ministry models and new theological blueprints to help us understand the next move of God by grounding it in the scriptures.  The coming financial shaking will also break old wineskins: Churches and ministries who cannot adapt and form new models of ministry will have great difficulty.  However, the reformation leaders who are rising will have unprecedented grace to weather every storm because their core desire is to build a resting place for the Lord (see Psalm 132, Zechariah 4:6-10). 

4.  Stair Steps and Rising Water Levels
As I have prayed into 2017, I have continued to see rising stairs with increasing light, beginning in December of 2016.  This points to an important concept:  If He was to give us all of the glory He wants to reveal next year at one time, it would destroy us. If God was to give us all of the financial provision we need at once, much of it would be lost.   Because of His mercy, He is going to reveal His glory in stages like rising water levels, so that the level of Holiness and Christ-likeness in our lives advances in spurts throughout the year.  The returning glory is not coming as a one-time event, but like a rising tide that lifts everyone into His presence to receive corporate revelation.  These are things I have already released in The Restoration of All Things, a prophetic parable the Lord gave me about the next move of the Spirit.

5.  Keep in Step with the Spirit
If you skip a step when you're climbing a staircase, you risk falling down the stairs.  In order to navigate the stairs properly, you have to take every step before you in sequence.  Likewise, we must learn to "keep in step with the Spirit" throughout this next year (Galatians 5:25).  The way we do this is by allowing our lives to be led by the Spirit all the time.  This is why Paul wrote: "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25).   The Lord wants to direct every step in our lives, so that everything we experience will prepare us to carry more of His glory.  Another parable for understanding this year is found in Ezekiel 47, where the river of God gradually rises in depth from ankle deep to knee-deep to chest deep to over our heads.  God wants to bring us deeper into His glory, but He is going to lead us deeper in stages so that we can properly steward the new truths He is imparting without drowning or losing the things He wants to restore.

Unlike others in the Body, I have not been called to weigh in on politics very often.  However, I saw Donald Trump facing a crisis this year of a similar magnitude to the events of 9-11.  I don't waste time trying to convince people that Trump will govern well.  The Lord told me, "If he governs well, his good governance will vindicate him."  This time before his inauguration is a critical window for us to be praying for his presidency, asking the Father to give him wisdom and understanding so that he truly will govern well (I don't take this word for granted, but consider it to be a call to prayer!)

We must learn to "keep in step with the Spirit" throughout this next year. The way we do this is by allowing our lives to be led by the Spirit all the time.