As we go into the new year I thought I’d share with you a revelation I received during my quiet time with the Lord a few mornings ago.

I wanted God to show me what 2017 would bring. While, 2016 was a good year, there are some things on my “prayer list” still left unchecked. I wanted him to show me which ones I could expect in 2017. Sometimes, God will give me the revelation I ask for, other times he will just ask me to walk by faith. However on this morning, he began to show me some things which I will share with you.

 

Some of you are praying for love:

A love that sees you at your worst but still loves you without condition or limit. A love that encourages you, builds you up, affirms you and celebrates you. A love that is completely in sync with the essence of who you are, it harmonizes with your rhythm and rocks to your beat.

My sister, in 2017 that love can be yours. And so I see you submitting to the love of God so he can love you just like that. I see you presenting your body to him wholly and completely as a living sacrifice. I see you so satisfied with the love of God moving through your entire being that you no longer give time nor space to men who desire to touch your body without knowing how to touch your soul through prayer. I see you creating a sacred space inside of you, where only God can dwell, leaving no room for toxic love, lustful relationships or any form of love that doesn’t embrace the totality of who God says you are.

I see you falling crazy in love with your heavenly Father. So much so you can’t go a minute without talking to him. You not only set aside dedicated prayer times, but you talk to him continuously in your heart. In that sacred space inside of you, you sing to him, you celebrate him. You listen for him. You are one with him. And your prayer life will become such that conversations with people only interrupt the last thing you said to him… so much so that when you stop talking to people you go right back to your conversation with him in your heart.

Some of you are desiring prosperity in this season. You’ve been surviving but it has been difficult. You want to do that thing you know God has called you to do and you are sure it will prosper.

And so, for you, I see you fervently studying his word. You meditate on it daily until it becomes a part of your thoughts your speech and your actions. Then you will develop wisdom, the kind of wisdom that watches over you and guards your choices and your actions. (Proverbs 8)

I see you learning his voice and knowing it – Waiting for his word before you make any decisions or accept any offers.

By now you will be so aligned with his will for you, that you are firmly established in the path he has laid out for you. Never turning aside to the right or the left but staying still where he has planted you, regardless of the season you are in.

In so doing you have become like a tree, planted by the rivers of water. You will bear fruit in your season and your leaves will not wither. Whatever you do, it will now prosper. (Psalm 1:3.)

For some of you it is emotional. You feel so lost. So out of touch. So depressed.

But now as you develop a relationship with God you will come to know yourself and know who you are in him. You will understand your worth. You will know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made and there is a space on this earth you are created to fill. That there is intentional, intelligent, genius design behind your birth. (Psalm 139).

I see you understanding your power as a woman of God. Knowing your body is a temple. Knowing they way God created men they tend to desire you with their eyes and so you value the responsibility of covering yourself. Yes sis, he should be mature enough to not look or lust, but it is your body and so it is up to you to protect/cover it. You wouldn’t leave your money or valuables laying around in the open for anyone to take it with the logic that people should control themselves. No, you would hide and guard it because the loss isn’t worth the risk. Well so it should be with your body because it is the temple of God – wherein he dwells.

I deleted my social media accounts (and created new ones) because prior to 2013 that was all I did – set thirst traps with sexually suggestive pictures. I wouldn’t have admitted it at the time. I would have told you that this is not the 1950’s. That I am liberated and free to do as I please and dress how I want because I like my body and men need to control themselves. That was the lie I believed. But as women of God we ought to dispense of the excuses, cut it out, and cover up. We are worth more than a lustful glance, more than a compliment laced with nothing but sexual innuendos.

So In 2017, you will set our eyes on God and he will be your reward and who you become will attract everything else you need to prosper in the kingdom. See, in my quiet time with the Lord what he really gave me was a principle that is sure to work if we apply it. We need not be concerned about the specifics of the fruit, if we are properly rooted in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. If our roots are firm, the fruit is sure.

Matthew 6:33 tells us that if we seek the kingdom of God all other things will be added onto us. Well that is because for the children of God that is where the “things” we desire exist and so to get to them we must become kingdom minded and walk in our identity as children of the kingdom.

BUT those things will never come to us if we seek God to get the things. These things only come to us because we are sincerely seeking our Father and we long to walk in relationship with him and do his work.

And yes you WILL reap.

You will reap a fruitful harvest of right living full of peace, joy, love and contentment. The light and love you have to give everyone who comes in contact with you will be returned to you, multiplied.

The light, love and wisdom you now possess, you will pass onto your children. Now, you are able to empower them to live purposeful lives in the Lord, to break generational curses and leave behind a godly legacy. 

This is true wisdom. This is true wealth.

And there are some of you who have already been doing all this. And you are still asking God, when? Will 2017 finally be your year?

You have been faithful in well doing. You have been obedient whether you understood what he was doing or not. You obeyed his instructions even when your flesh railed against you and you wanted to do anything but what God required of you.  You stood faithful in your tests and you laid down your desires and died to yourself so he could reshape and renew you. With no reward or harvest in sight, you have persevered.

And the word of the Lord to you is from Galatians 6:9:

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. (NLT)”

See, times and seasons are appointed by God and he can be trusted to keep his word. So keep on living for him and do not give up, you will be richly rewarded because God is not unjust to forget your labor.

My sisters, this is it. If there is any formula to prosperity or to obtaining anything in the kingdom of God this is it: Matthew 6:33. Don’t fall for any other quick fixes: “name it and claim it” or “God is gonna do it at midnight” or “sow a seed of such and such to receive a breakthrough”.  These people are false prophets and God will judge them.

I fell for the  prophetic “this is your season oki doke” a few times until I realized there are no short cuts in the kingdom. God is not going to suddenly do anything in your life if you have not done your part. Biblically, all “suddenly” really  is, is a culmination of an extended period of praying, waiting and seeking God. So, if you weren’t sowing the right seeds in 2016, God isn’t about to do a thing in 2017 except wait for you to stop straddling the fence so he can mature you.

But I believe 2017 will indeed be our year. It will be the year we live for Jesus and apply the word of God to our daily lives and then we can be sure to receive the rewards, this year and every other year to come.

Selah.