Press in

Happy New Year, sis!

Please join me to give all glory to God for keeping us through 2016. Bumps and all, we made it and we’re still standing simply by His grace, mercies and favor. So many passed on just as the year turned sis, so I hope your ‘Halleluyah’ is as loud as mine as we bless the Lord for 2017. God is faithful, sis. In His infinite mercies, He has seen fit to keep you and I in health and strength; and He has held true to His promise to fulfill the number of our days. Our being here is not for lack of the devil having tried otherwise sis, I can assure you. It is simply of the Lord’s mercies that we were not consumed. Thank You Jesus!   

I had said to my son earlier today that it’s amazing just how quickly January is already well on its way. His response was, ‘Actually the entire year is already over, mum’. I listened with a half-smile on my face as he spoke to the fact that 2016 had quite simply raced by and he could see this year progressing along with the same velocity. I smiled because I understood that the discussion about 2017 and how fast it is moving along also holds an underlying significance for my son. He turns 21 in a few months you see, officially then coming into his own as a full legal adult. What I didn’t say to him, but which I thought to myself as he spoke, is that of a truth, 2017 is a year when many of us will have to ‘come into our own’ - spiritually speaking, if we are to experience the full measure of the things God has purposed for us in this season of our lives. Spiritually speaking, the Lord has laid it on my heart that 2017 will indeed be a significant year for those who will seek Him in spirit and in truth on a higher level. It is a year when only the spiritual adults will thrive, while those who still insist on operating on the level of ‘milk’ will struggle.

Speaking of significance, it is on my heart to ask you to do two things today, sis. First, can you take a look at your 2016 and ask yourself what the most significant things, situations, relationships, etc that marked the year for you were?  What were your key learning’s and take-away’s sis? And more than anything else, as you reflect, can you reflect on how God presented Himself through each of those significant markers? Even if you didn’t see or feel Him when you were going ‘through’ any of the things you count as your 2016 markers, are you now able to see and acknowledge that He was with you in every situation? Even if you still can’t figure why you had to go through some of the challenges you faced in 2016, can you trust that He is still doing something in you and that He will also help you to discern, at the appropriate times, what He needed you to learn or birth through every one of those experiences?

The second thing I would like you to do is to take some time to ask yourself how you want to walk with God in 2017. Will it be same old, same old? Or would you rather come up higher in Him? Methinks the world we are in is breaking down at an alarming pace, sis. Those who will thrive in the truest sense of the word as God defines it, will be those who press in…those who understand that it is only from Him that we can receive the downloads for how best to transact, thrive and abide in this season. Determine for yourself what needs to change about your spiritual walk in 2017 sis, and as you do, determine also the specific things you want the Lord to help you do in order to see the fullness of the manifestation of the changes you desire.  

I ended 2016 on a very devastating note, and came into 2017 numbed by the enormity of challenges I found myself facing. And I can tell you sis, that for the first few days of this year, it took everything in me to keep my head up. But this is then also the beauty of having a deep personal relationship with God, and of knowing who you are in Christ. I did and have been doing the one thing I know of a certainty to do, sis. I pressed in, and as I did the Lord spoke to me and calmed my spirit. This is why I am pressing on, and why I know I will make it.

Among other things, He cautioned me not to take my eyes of Him for a minute this year. The Lord said to me that ‘surrendered’ is the state of heart that will keep me in His victory in 2017; that this is not a year where I should try to do battle by myself and that I would not win if I do. He admonished me not to forget that He is my ability always, and especially in this season. He reminded me that His Holy Spirit is more than available to me, and that I must not do anything without consulting with Him first. And He said that I must walk in a spiritual high – in a place of spiritual elevation in 2017. He is still committed to speaking to me on the go, but it is only if my spirit is attuned to His voice that I will constantly hear Him with clarity.

It is on the strength of the understanding that my current struggles all count for something greater for His glory, that I can stare at my storms and still declare that 2017 will be a phenomenal year for me, no matter what. His word is that all things work together for my good, and this I know well. But I also know I have work to do. I have more spiritual meat to eat. I have more spiritual ‘coming into my own’ to do, so that I will see the manifestation of my confession.

Sis, I don’t know how your year has kicked off, but whether it started on a high or a low note is irrelevant. Can you please allow your spirit receive the same counsel the Lord laid on my heart and purpose to do life with Him at a deeper level in 2017? Sis, your spirit needs to be surrendered so you can attain the spiritual elevation God desires for us to ensure we thrive in this year. Can you please take some time to press in? As you press in, can you take your focus off your wants, and rather ask God to show you what He wants from you? Can you ask Him to give you spiritual eyes to see His express purpose for your life in this season, and ask Him to show you how best you can deliver new levels of glory to Him in 2017? Press in sis! Press in and don’t stop. The Lord gave a word in December that He is looking for mobile worshippers – those who will continuously carry His presence and deliver glory to Him on the go. This is my heart’s cry for this year, and indeed the rest of my life. Can you make it yours too?

The Lord will help us sis. He is daily helping me and He will daily help you. As we seek His face and commit to doing His will, we will indeed see His Kingdom come in our lives, and we will experience the fullness of the rich lives He has called us to live on this earth. And so shall it be, in Jesus name, amen.

Be blessed sis….. for you surely are!