As the year draws to a close, we want to take
a look at “HOW YOU CAN START WELL AND FINISH STRONG IN THE NEW YEAR!”
In Psalm 11:3 the Bible says, “If the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”
For you to start the year well and finish strong you need to lay a solid
foundation of preparation. Many people start the year with a lot of noise and
feasting. If you start with feasting you’ll end with fasting because you’ll
come to dryness both spiritually and physically. Many start with village
meetings, family meetings, but no meeting with the Lord God that brought you
into the New Year for a definite purpose.
Beloved, to start the year well is to begin with God, the One that knows
the end from the beginning; the One in whom all things consist; the Fountain of
life, the Alpha and the Omega.
To begin with the Lord is to wait on the Lord. To wait on the Lord is to
fast, pray and study His Word, thereby seeking His will ([face) for the
New Year.
In Proverbs 8:17 God said, “I love those who love Me, and those
who seek Me early (diligently) will find Me.”
If you must make a difference in the coming year, you must lay a solid
foundation. To lay a solid foundation you ought to:
1. Begin the year with waiting on the Lord: The man that kneels
before God can face any situation in life. Prayerful preparation is required
for powerful manifestations. It is the prayers of today that will give you the
victories of tomorrow. Your hopes, vision, dreams, aspirations cannot be
realized without prophetic prayers. Prayer and fasting will release your
spiritual antennae and sharpen your spiritual sensitivity. Fasting and prayer
place demand on God to help you in all that you set your hands unto do through
out the year. Prayer and fasting will draw down on you the anointing you need
for breakthrough in 2017.
The eagle is a good example. It is a large, carnivorous bird of the
falcon family noted for its strength, keen eyesight, and graceful flight. The
secret of the eagle as a powerful bird is personal retreat.
In Isaiah 40:29-31 the Scriptures say, “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He
increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young
men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be
weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
The eagle as a wise bird takes time to prepare for the new season [new
phase of life]. It locates the right rock where to retreat so as to avoid
distractions during such times of preparation. It stores the right quantity of
food to carry it through the period of preparation.
Many people claim to be eagle Christians but fail to learn from the
eagle. The eagle as a bird does not carry the past over to the new season. But
many Christians start the year with many carry-overs like unforgiveness, drunkenness,
immorality, lack of commitment to God, non-payment of vows (Num. 23:21-23),
prayerlessness, laziness, coming late to church, Sunday-Sunday Christians etc.
Listen beloved, it is your private preparation that determines your
public manifestation. If you truly want to manifest divine increase and
overflowing abundance in all areas of your life in the New Year, you must do
what the eagle does. You must realize that isolation is the birthplace of
manifestation. Moses was not prepared in the palace but in the wilderness.
After adequate preparation, the eagle is able to soar high when trouble
comes to hinder it from achieving God’s plan and purpose for its life. That is
why they that do like the eagle mount up with wings of the Holy Ghost when
situations arise to hinder them from possessing their possessions.
In Isaiah 59:19 the Scriptures say, “….When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit
of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”
Friend, when you have waited on the Lord, nothing can stop you from
achieving God’s plan and purpose for your life because not only has your
strength been renewed, but you will soar high like the eagle where no devil can
affect you. When you wait on the Lord you’ll run and not be weary, and you’ll
walk and not faint.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14 the Scriptures say, “If My people who are
called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their
sin and heal their land.”
Listen beloved, if you:
1. Humble yourself (humble your soul with fasting – Ps. 35:13);
2. Pray (commune with God in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy
Spirit);
3. Seek the face (will) of the Lord, and
4. Turn from your wicked ways,
God will hear you from heaven, and forgive your sins and grant you BREAKTHROUGHS
in all your endeavours in the New Year.
Waiting on the Lord will sharpen your spiritual ears
to hear and recognize the voice of the LORD. When you sit down with the LORD, you’ll be able to
hear from Him concerning His plan and purpose for your life for the New Year.
In Deuteronomy 8:18 the Scriptures say, "And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He
who gives you power to get wealth...”
You have to wait on the LORD to give you the idea (revelation) of
what you will do and prosperity will pursue and overtake to you.
A journey without direction leads to nowhere. Where there is no
direction, deception and eventually destruction are inevitable.
Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision (revelation), the
people perish…”
Vision will deliver you from destruction. Vision will ensure that you
are focused. Vision will keep you on track. Vision will help you to prioritize
so you can strategize. Vision will grant you stability. Where there is no goal
people behave like goats. But where the vision is intact, definite impact is
made manifest.
2. Stay in the Word of God. Actualizing God’s plan and purpose
for your life in the New Year requires that you possess an unshakable faith in
God. Faith in God is faith in His Word. To possess such faith you must stay in
the Word.
In Romans 10:17 God said, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God.”
In Joshua 1:8 God gave Joshua a recipe. “This book of the law
shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and
night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein:
for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good
success.”
Psalm 85:8 says, “I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for He
will speak peace unto His people, and to His saints…”
Psalm 1:1-3 says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the
counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the
seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His
law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by
the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his
leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
Do you want to experience the promised BREAKTHROUGH in the coming year?
Then stay in the Word. Anyone that hears the voice of God cannot fear the noise
of the devil. Until you hear from God you can’t know which way to go. That
means that if you do anything without hearing from God, you are on your own
because it is not backed by the power of heaven.
The most authentic way God speaks to us is through His Word. When you
hear the voice of God, you are free from the worries and cares of the world. If
you hear the Word of God, you have heard the voice of God. Therefore increase
in your Word level means decrease in your worry level. The Word of God is the
will of God. Stay in the Word and it shall be well with you because everything
God has promised you for the New Year will surely come to pass at the very time
He has appointed.
3. Sow into
the New Year. You must sow in order to reap. This
is about the quickest way to release your faith toward what you desire God to
do for you in the New Year.
Even
if you sow in tears you will reap in joy. Psalm 126:5 says, “They that sow in
tears shall reap in joy.”
“He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Ps. 126:6).
If
there is no evaporation, there will be no rain. And except the cloud is dark
(full, over saturated), rain will not come down. If the sky is not
overstretched, it will not weep. If you keep eating without going to toilet you
will die.
Today
the Dead Sea is dead because it is stagnant. It does not give out anything. It
does not flow into other rivers. It only receives. It is salty. You can’t drink
it. There is no living thing inside it. It is dead because it sows nothing.
The Scriptures declare, “As long as the earth remaineth seed time
and harvest time shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22).
This
is where the covenant begins and it is the pillar of the covenant of prosperity.
Listen folk, whatever you sow that is what you will reap. When Jesus sent Peter
to catch a fish, Peter had to put an attractive bait on the hook before he
could catch the fish from which he got the money to pay their tax (Matt. 17:24-28).
In
another instance, Peter had to sow his boat to be used by Jesus to preach the
Gospel to the poor before he got the fish he needed (Lk. 5:4-7).
If
you drink alcohol, you’ll reap a damaged liver. If you smoke marijuana, you’ll
reap a destroyed brain and lungs. If you sow fornication, you’ll reap both
spiritual and physical death (AIDS).
The
egg cell from your mother is useless without the seed from your father. For you to come to this earth, your father had to give
your mother the seed (male sex cell, the germ of life) required to fertilize
your mother’s egg cell.
No
one should expect a harvest of any type when he has not planted a seed. You
can’t receive if you have not given. As a rule, seed sowing must precede
harvest.
In Luke 6:38 God
commands, “Give and it shall be given unto
you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall men
give unto your bosom. For with the same measure you use it will be measured
unto you again.”
The
New International Version puts it this way, “Give, and it will be given to
you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be
poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to
you."
This
is why the Bible says that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts
20:35). This is because that which you give is multiplied and returned to you
good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.
Notice
that He said, “shall men.” Of course
God is behind it, but He said, “Shall men
give unto your bosom.”
In 2 Corinthians
9:6-7 the Bible says, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will
also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly
or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
We may summarize thus: (1) the person - every man; (2)
the proportion - according as you have purposed - decided; (3) the place of
decision- in your heart; (4) the attitude - not grudgingly, or of necessity;
(5) the principle - for God loves a cheerful giver.
Without money, your vision for 2017 cannot be realized. Anointing
[vision] without money leads to annoyance and frustration.
You need money to realize that vision. When you sow into
the Kingdom a good measure, God will release the finances you need to run your
vision.
Where there is vision there is provision. But this provision comes only when
you have obeyed the necessary principles. Sow into the Kingdom so that you can
reap from the Kingdom.
Sow concerning your business, family, children, career, and against all
the plans of the enemy against you in the New Year.
Sow for open doors and open heavens. The Bible says that a man shall
reap whatsoever he sows. So if you want financial and material increase in the
New Year, you have to sow money and material things into the Kingdom of God.
Each seed sown reproduces after its own kind. A man can never rise above
the level of Hs seed.
Sow into the kingdom of God financial seeds, and God will release divine
increase and overflowing abundance upon your finances, good measure, pressed
down, shaken together, and running over. The running over is the overflow.
In Psalm 50:5 God said, “Gather My saints together unto Me; those
that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
The very seed that provokes God to act speedily on your behalf is
something that you cannot comfortably afford - a sacrificial seed, your widow’s
might.
4. Watch diligently for the coming of the Lord in the air for the
saints. Consider
the following Scriptures:
a)
Revelation 19:7-9;
b)
Matthew 25:1-13;
c)
Ecclesiastes 9:8;
d)
Hebrews 12:14;
e)
Revelation 21:17 &
Galatians 5:19-21;
f)
Revelation 22:7, 22:12
& 22:20.
What kind of foundation are you laying for this New Year? Are you laying
a foundation that is strong enough to carry the building of divine increase and
overflowing abundance or are you laying a foundation that can only carry
failure, sickness and poverty?
Waiting on the Lord, staying in the Word, sowing into the New Year and
watching diligently for the coming of the Lord in the air for the saints will
bring you to the corridors of BREAKTHROUGH which God has promised His people in
2017.
Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!
- Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor, HOG) 31.12.2016
Scripture for the week: “Christ
in you the hope of glory”
(Col. 1:27).
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