A Very Good Year
“The former things I declared of old; they went out from my mouth, and I announced them; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.”
“You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known.”
Towards the end of 2018, the Lord spoke to me concerning what He had in store for our church and us in 2019. Initially, I heard it faintly. It was not vague; it was clear though faint. The prophetic word is 2019 is going to be a good year for our church and most people in our church. I kept it in my heart and wondered if I should tell the church. I was in a dilemma because the word came to me faintly. Finally, I decided to say it, and I did.
After I had made the declaration, the Lord began to give me more details through a series of dreams in the first week of 2019. I seldom have dreams, but this time God chose to speak to me through dreams. These dreams were clear and vivid.
First, 2019 is going to be a year of revitalisation in the faith of many people. Those who struggle in their faith will be strengthened in their faith. Others who have been walking faithfully with the Lord will be taken into deeper intimacy with Him.
Second, God is going to send a powerful wave of healing anointing on our church. We will experience miraculous healings – physical, emotional and spiritual. People will be set free from stubborn sicknesses that have been plaguing them for a long time. In the light of what God has shown me, I believe that when we pray for the fatally sick in faith, they will be healed. All things are possible with God.
Third, “No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me” (Isaiah 54:17 - NIV). Baseless and false accusations that have been levelled against you will not prevail. The Lord will rise to defend you. You do not need to fret or fight to justify yourself. God will fight on your behalf. He will vindicate you. He will even turn some of your enemies into friends.
After I had made these declarations by faith over the pulpit on the first Sunday of the year, the Lord continues to speak. The words get louder, and the messages get stronger. 2019 will be a year when we are going to experience the fulfilment of the promises of God.
God had spoken clearly to us in the past. We had believed and we continue to believe. We hold on to these promises with hope despite the occasional doubts. Several years have gone by, but nothing has come to pass. There is not the slightest hint that the fulfilment will be soon. But we continue to wait patiently and pray in faith.
Just yesterday, the Lord laid in my heart that when the time of fulfilment has come, He will bring the promises to pass suddenly. It will happen out of the blue. It will come as a total surprise. You will never expect it to happen the way it is going to happen.
God directed me to the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Joseph’s meteoric rise from a prisoner behind bars to become the second most powerful man in ancient Egypt is the stuff of fairy tales and fantasy. His promotion happened suddenly. One moment he was in a dungeon and the next he found himself standing before Pharaoh in the palace.
It seems sudden to us but not to God. God knows the end from the beginning. He was the one who destined Joseph to be the prince of Egypt and the saviour of the Ancient Near East. Years earlier, God had given Joseph two dreams that revealed his future greatness.
In the interim years between the promise and its fulfilment, God took Joseph through a difficult journey of trying episodes and serious afflictions. During this period, which lasted for about fifteen years, God’s promise of greatness seemed to him like a figment of his own imagination. The bible does not give us details concerning how Joseph felt, but along the way, he must have felt terribly discouraged, even despaired. As for his dream, it was as good as dead.
Unknown to Joseph, through his series of misfortunes and trials, God was preparing him for greatness. Godly character is shaped in the anvil of afflictions and moulded in the furnace of fire. The man that God uses must be broken before he can be entrusted with great power and authority.
It is fascinating that God prepared Moses, a prince of Egypt, in the palace to serve in the wilderness while He prepared Joseph in the ‘wilderness’ to serve as a prince in the palace. The ways of God are mysterious. Isaiah said it well when he said that God’s ways are not our ways; His ways are higher (Isaiah 55:8-9).
After the preparation is completed and we become ‘polished arrows,’ God will take us out of His quiver and unveil us as He did with Joseph (Isaiah 49:2). This is when the ‘suddenly’ happens. And we will know that we have not prayed and waited in vain (Isaiah 49:4).
This is how God’s promises are going to come to pass in 2019 – SUDDENLY!
Have a very good year in 2019!
Pastors Leslie & Adeline Chua