2015

NEW YEAR PROPHECIES

- Dr. Ezekiah Francis

 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel.

(Ex.1:12)

My heartfelt greetings to you from the Lord who crowns your years with favor and goodness. We will meditate on one of the powerful promises of the Bible for this year. I want to clarify one thing right at the beginning. Your Savior came to this world to make every promise and every blessing of the Bible a reality in every day of your life. Seated at the right Hand of His Father, He is continuously saying yes and amen to every promise His Father made to you. Taking one promise exclusively for a year is not enough but it is a good tradition to claim one Rhema promise without neglecting other promises.

This year the Church will greatly multiply and grow, but with more afflictions. The more we are afflicted, the more we will multiply. This is God’s permanent blessing for His Church. The Church can never diminish because of trials. The God of the Universe has become one with you. Who can afflict Him within you? He made you His iron pillar and bronze wall., If anyone hits it, who would be the sufferer? Cheer up! You have enormous strength and the power of God to overcome all the devil’s power and to increase. Nothing can harm you in any way. Hallelujah!!

Many trials and temptations will arise against you, but still you will greatly multiply. It will be a narrow path, but altogether a miracle path. Do you remember how the Israelites went through the narrow path of the Red Sea when the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left (Ex.14:22)? It appeared to be a terrible path but it was a wonder way. The hand of the God protected them from the pursuers. This miracle escape will be your experience.

Year of Purification

God will not only show His mighty power and love, but also His strictness to His people. It is a fact that where sin abounds grace abounds much more, but that doesn’t mean that God ignores or condones sin or fleshly defilement. He is desperately desiring to fill us with His glory, honor and praise. He sanctifies us through His Word, His ministers and His Spirit to make us perfect, without spot or wrinkle. Another means He uses is to allow trials, persecutions and pressures.

…Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ(1.Pe.1:5-7).

I believe we need to ponder these scriptures often in these days. The Church will face persecutions in the coming days. Christ, the Head of the Church, Himself said, “in the world you will have tribulations” (Jn.16:33). Paul, the apostle of suffering, emphatically said “we must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God” (Ac.14:22). These scriptures will be reality to us. It is time for us to ‘arm’ ourselves with the mind to suffer (1.Pe.4:1,2). Trials and temptations come to us not to destroy but to decorate us, not to consume but to construct us. When you are distressed by various trials, rejoice. Learn to see your problems through God’s eyes.

Paul, the one who suffered more than anyone, calls his sufferings ‘light affliction’, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2.Co.4:16-18). When you see your afflictions through eternal eyes they are truly light and momentarily afflictions. This heavenly outlook will fill your heart and mind with joy inexpressible. You will rejoice and be exceedingly glad when you are persecuted and when false accusations and cases are heaped against you. Such a joy is supernatural (Mt.5:10-12).

When the Apostles were beaten and severely threatened not even to mention the name of Jesus, they rejoiced greatly for the privilege to suffer shame for His name and accelerated their ministry: daily preaching, house to house preaching, unceasing preaching (Ac.5:40-42)! Wow!

Your faith is purified when the troubles come from within and without and make your faith like pure gold. Your faith is much more precious than gold. When gold is tested by fire it doesn’t lose its nature, color, weight or quality even a bit. Fire burns only the foreign material and defilements and makes the gold much purer. Your precious faith will bring much praise, honor and glory as it is purified by various trials. Such a faith overcomes the world, subdues kingdoms, quenches the violence of fire, stops the mouths of lions and makes us strong (1.Jn.5:4; Heb.11:33-34). Hallelujah!

Year of Expansion

God expects our visions to be expanded in the days to come. He is desperate for His children to have big dreams, big visions and big adventures. Your God is great. The visions He gives are great like Him. His Spirit is desperately trying to give you bigger visions and to fulfill them. God will forcefully push you out of your small and narrow circles into His greater and mighty visions. If you don’t spare you will expand greatly this year (Isa.54:2,3).

God took His servant Moses to the top of Mount Pisgah and showed him all the lands of His promise. He took him for a tour in the Spirit to show him such a vast land. Unfortunately, Moses could not enter the promised land. Yes, people under the Old Covenant could only see the promise from far off and embrace it by faith (De.34:1-4).

As a New Covenant believer, you are a child of Abraham and became an heir of his blessings (Gal.3:7-9). You became a partaker of Abraham’s covenantal blessing. When Lot separated from him, God asked him to lift his eyes and look from his place towards north, south, east, and west and to walk through the length and width of the land. God promised to give Abraham and his descendants all the lands that he could see and walk through. The measure of your vision determines your expansion. Some people are aspirers but never achievers. That is why God asked Abraham to rise up and walk from where he was. We must put our dream into action.

Your expansion, anointed ministry and future blessings are in your hands. You are the one who must enlarge your tent. It is you who must stretch your curtains. It is you who must lengthen your cords. You can also stop your growth and increase. God’s thoughts about you are far higher than your thoughts. God said, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His thoughts than your thoughts (Isa.55:8, 9). When you get His look, you will see heavenly visions and possess this world with His power and authority. The Holy Spirit in you will not imprison you within the gates of Jerusalem (Ac.1:8).

In this new year, resolve to come out of your narrow vision. Capture God’s new visions and step into new territories. Walk through the length and width of another land, another state, another people group, another nation, another vision, etc. This is God’s time to build up local churches even in remote places. God’s churches will spring up in hopeless places. Of course, oppositions will rise up from all directions, yet it cannot stop churches rising in every nook and corner of our land. God commands you to expand your vision.

Year of Protection

We will witness miraculous protection of God’s people this year which will confuse and irritate God’s enemies. They will be disheartened to see that all their efforts to block the growth and protection of God’s people could not succeed. Once the king of Syria came against Israel in war and targeted some places. The prophet Elisha revealed the enemies’ strategy and rescued Israel many times. The king of Syria was greatly troubled by this and sent a troop of his soldiers to surround Elisha.

Yes, enemies will rise up against God’s people in fury. The kings of the earth and the officers will take counsel together and plot against the people of God. In times like this, hearing God’s voice becomes inevitable. In this crisis hour, hearing God’s voice is not optional anymore. It will determine life or death in our lives. Do you remember how God spoke to Joseph and rescued the infant Jesus on the day Herod plotted to kill the baby? It was the voice of God that saved the life of our Savior. Such cruelty will be repeated in our times, too. The need for hearing God is of utmost importance in these days.

In Elisha’s incident, his servant saw the encampment and was troubled. But the Spirit-filled man Elisha was unperturbed as he saw they that were with them were more than those who were with the enemies. He saw the angelic host all around him.

When we look at the world through natural eyes it would melt our hearts in the coming days. But those who stay full of the Spirit, conversing with heaven, will know the enemies’ strategies and protect themselves and others. I feel the Body of Christ must learn the art of listening God’s voice as never before. Heed the counsels of your spiritual leaders. That would be the only security and safety for you in this dark hour.

Perilous time for the world

Paul, the apostle, gives us the prophetic warning, saying that in the last days perilous times will come (2.Ti.3:1). We will see dense darkness engulf this earth. We will see the cruelty of cunning murderers like in Herod’s time. He killed all the male children of Bethlehem and all its districts. The prophecy of Jeremiah, who said, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more” (Mt.2:18) will be repeated in our times, too. There would be massacre and great mourning. The world will see the cruelty of the human heart. The economy of this world will fall though it appears to be growing.

The national leaders would break their heads in confusion. Innocent children and people will be victimising for no reason. The safest place would be a remote possibility. Accidents and bomb blasts will increase. Terrorism will spread fast like mushrooms.

Tares will grow with good seed (Mt.13:24-30). The Bible standard and faith will be ignored and heavily despised. People will throng to the brightness of God’s people when darkness covers the earth (Isa.60:1-3).

Heaven rules

That heaven rules the earth is indisputable fact. When the nations rage and the kings and rulers of the earth take a stand against the Lord, the One who sits in the heavens will laugh at them. He will break them with the rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel. We will see the fulfilment of Psalms 2 in a measure. Daniel’s vision of the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands will come and break in pieces the kingdoms of this world. God will shake all things that can be shaken (Da.2:43, 44; Heb.12:26-29).

There will be much shaking in the earth. God will confuse the language of His enemies as He did in the Bible battles. Though apparently, the enemies stayed together, they will be divided among themselves. As iron doesn’t not mix with clay, they will not adhere to one another. The rift among the enemies will increase though they put a united face publicly. God will put a check on His enemies when they try to rise against Him with cruelty. Natural calamities will abound in many places. This is the time you must see God as bigger than all the surrounding enemies. Don’t be intimidated by the appearance of Goliath but be bold like David.

Time of young generation

The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few - this is true even today (Mt.9:37). God will raise up the younger generation and send them to His harvest field, fully equipped. God will raise up young leaders with special skill and wisdom to lead the younger people. Many talented young people will willingly offer their talents to build God’s Kingdom. God will unite likeminded people with the same vision around the globe. As the enemies gather together against the Lord’s Anointed, God will gather His people and unite their hearts. God will bless His people with lands and huge buildings. This is the year where God will give a few more chances for those who lost their opportunities, callings and anointing. As God called Jonah a second time, He will call His backslidden people one more time and use them mightily as never before. There will be a sudden and rapid growth in the areas you waited for long without any fruit.

Your part

Tune to the voice of God and learn the art of spiritual warfare. Exercise yourself in your believers’ authority and in the power of signs and wonders. Be thankful and remember from where God has lifted you up. Walk intimately with your God as Moses knew God face to face. In spite of all our Bible knowledge and busy service for God, losing the first love is dangerous. God expects His children to run to His lap and enjoy His presence, not to see Him as a distant God with a long stick in His hands to punish. Lean on the bosom of your Beloved like John the apostle and listen to His gentle whisperings. God is desperately seeking His intimate lovers. Serve Him with trembling. Trembling not because of fear of God’s punishments but because you love Him so much and don’t want to hurt Him in any way. Happy, anointed, glorious new year to you!