2016 – YEAR OF GREATER GLORY
As we approached the end of 2015 and started to look over the horizon into 2016… The Lord impressed by his Spirit what we are to expect in 2016….He had earlier declared 2015 as our year of Restoration and we did witness Restoration on different fronts…However 2016 is declared as our year of GREATER GLORY. In simple terms what does the word Greater Glory mean?
GREATER
The word Greater implies:
– Better, larger, higher, exceeding, over and above, beyond, more than.
It generally suggests something of better quality or higher in ranking….
– For there to be a greater, there must have been a great.
– For there to be a better, there must have a good.
So whatever good you have experienced so far, there is better version reserved in 2016 for you.
There is usually good, better and best. There is a higher level of grace, favour, mercy, anointing, blessings reserved and waiting for you in 2016. If you didn’t have a job, there is time for a good one. If you already had a good one, there is need for a better one. If you already had a better one, It’s time for the best. Anything in your life right now, 2016 promises an opportunity for a higher level, a higher quality, over and beyond.
– Folks in the United States like bigger burger, bigger trucks, bigger houses, bigger roads, everything bigger. God wants you to expect something big in 2016…
Proverbs 4:18 KJV
[18] But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Get ready for something better, higher, more wonderful and more pleasant.
GLORY
What about Glory? The word Glory in the Hebrew is Kabod. It is translated as the weight of a thing. In simple explanation it refers to the substance or intrinsic quality that makes something of special value….(Essentially what makes something unusual) Kabod is the signature of a thing… There are certain qualities that comes with a Mercedes Benz or an Audi or BMW. There is the emblem or logo…. The interiors is meant to make a particular statement. Certain level of luxury comes by default. There is the streamlining of the body and also the engine efficiency. Glory is that peculiar quality that makes something or someone special.
In relation to God, his glory is his:
– Splendour, beauty, aura, grace, physical presence.
– What makes him God goes simultaneously with what makes him glorious
– His essence as God is glorious.
LATTER HOUSE GLORY
So Jehovah by his Spirit has declared that whatever glory you have experienced in the past, 2016 will be better.
Haggai 2:9 KJV
[9] The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.
WHAT ARE WE TO EXPECT IN A YEAR OF GREATER GLORY:
1. PERFECTION / CONSOLIDATION:
– Consolidation is for God to finish what he started.
Consolidation can also mean complete restoration
Mark 8:22-25 KJV
[22] And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. [23] And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. [24] And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. [25] After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
Atimes God starts a restoration or healing. But that restoration may not be instantaneous. It may be gradual. When the enemy has destroyed a lot of things God may choose to gradually restore rather than go for an instantaneous restoration. The story of the blind man at Bethsaida, the healing wasn’t complete the first time. He was initially seeing men as trees. He needed a second touch for complete restoration. Expect completion to the work of restoration God started in your life.
Hebrews 13:21 KJV
[21] Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Philippians 1:6 KJV
[6] Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
The Lord has started some work in certain lives in 2015. But this is not yet finished. 2016 is a year when Jehovah will consolidate and tidy up on the good work he started in your life. Notice the phrase that was used in bible text: ‘Being confident of this very thing’So you approach the year with confidence that God will surprise you and change your story.
2. MERCY:
Expect to receive mercy.
Exodus 33:19 KJV
[19] And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
Deuteronomy 5:10 KJV
[10] And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
Psalm 102:13 KJV
[13] Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
One day of mercy is greater than 1000 days of labour.
3. POSSESSION OF LONGSTANDING INHERITANCE
Jerusalem had been given to the tribe of Benjamin since the time of Joshua. But they couldn’t take full possession.
Joshua 13:1 KJV
[1] Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.
Joshua 18:28 KJV
[28] And Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kirjath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.
Joshua 15:63 KJV
[63] As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day.
But David decided to go after Jerusalem and drive out the Jebusites. That which everybody else avoided, David decided to break. Everybody else thought it wasn’t possible because the Jebusites had lived there since the time of Joshua. But David brought an end to that history
2 Samuel 5:6-10 AMP
And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, You shall not enter here, for the blind and the lame will prevent you; they thought, David cannot come in here. Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the City of David. David said on that day, Whoever smites the Jebusites, let him get up through the water shaft and smite the lame and the blind who are detested by David’s soul. So they say, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. So David dwelt in the stronghold and called it the City of David. And he built round about from the Millo and inward. David became greater and greater, for the Lord God of hosts was with him.
For someone reading this, you will be breaking an evil trend or pattern which has been longstanding in your life and family this year IJN.
4. GREATER WORKS
Expect Greater works due to spiritual empowerment. Expect to pray for the sick and they recover. Expect to minister deliverance and breakthrough with results. Expect to pray and receive answers.
Expect a new unction, expect to be catapulted to the next level spiritually. Expect the double portion anointing. Elisha asked for a double portion when Elijah was to depart. It seemed a difficult thing but he got it. Dare to believe God this year not for cookies but a higher level of spiritual grace
John 14:12 KJV
[12] Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
5. REPROACH TO BE ROLLED AWAY
Sometimes believers are prosperous in an aspect of life but deficient in another. The individual appears prosperous. Everything on the outside looks great, however there is a major challenge or a ‘but’ that the person is battling. Atimes, the family life works but the finances is in shambles. Other times the finances is blessed but there is health challenge. Some others have everything but there is no baby.
2 Kings 5:1 KJV
[1] Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.
Namaan had a ‘but’ – It was leprosy…..
The day the children of Israel entered the promised land, The Lord made a pronouncement:
This day have I rolled away from you the reproach of Egypt. The name of the place was called Gilgal. – Joshua 5: 9
The Hebrew word Gilgal means a wheel or circle, or something that rolls. The name Gilgal appears in so many places in the scriptures. It was where the children of Israel camped before they entered the promised land. It signifies the transition between the old and the new, the past and the future. It was the base camp of the children of Israel before they entered into the promised land. Certain things are significant about Gilgal:
– It was a place of circumcision. God does not want you entering the new year with thesame old attitude. God wants a change of heart as we start on this new journey. Can you imagine a very old engine inside a new car. The body of the car mar be shinning and look great but it will eventually breakdown because the engine is old. 2016 for many is meant to be a new beginning and a new start. But thesame old heart and attitude will eventually bring thesame result if not changed. Spiritually we may need a change of heart, career wise we may need a change of heart, in different aspects of our lives there may be the need for a change.
As the children of Israel prepared to enter the promise land, God told Joshua to circumcise all the males again because all the old men had died in the wilderness within the 40years. However the new males born in the wilderness had not been circumcised. God did not want them entering the promised land uncircumcised. So everybody got circumcised at Gilgal. Physical circumcision is usually painful and it’s’ normally done when a male child is very young usually by the 8th day after birth. So you can imagine adults being circumcised. Those adults would have been completely useless for like 1 week minimum. They won’t be able to move or urinate without pains. Circumcision represents being useless in your own strength. This is the moral. God wants you to rely on him in 2016 and not rely on your own power to cut corners. You can make normal day to day plans. Great! But you must still go back to him and rely on him and ask for his own plans for you for the year and what he wants you to do
– It is the place of rolling away reproach: This means it was a place of change. Reproach stands for a negative stigma. God brought an end to a long lasting reproach of over 40 years.
But how will all these be?
NOT BY MIGHT NOT BY POWER
Zechariah 4:6-9 KJV
[6] Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. [7] Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying , Grace, grace unto it. [8] Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, [9] The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.
So in 2016, shift your eyes from every disappointment of the past, It’s a new day, God is set to do something bigger, greater, larger, better, more than, far beyond, exceeding, abundantly, above you can ask or think….. If you believe, you will see the glory of God – (John 11: 40)
