This week…
A glorious new year to you and yours!
Below is a prophetic wrap-up of 2016 with a word for the year ahead.
2016 – The Year of God’s Gentleness
This past year brought a fresh stream of revelation to the Body of Christ and the world regarding the character and nature of God. Though subtle at times, this revelation came as a mighty seed that over the next few years will blossom into a great oak tree in the hearts of humanity.
The primary aspect of God’s nature that is being highlighted right now is His gentleness . . . We are purposefully using this word instead of “goodness” only because the word “goodness” can be overused and become too general in our minds. God’s goodness is certainly one of the main revelations of the hour — but we want to narrow it down and clarify it around His gentle and humble heart.
And this is so needed! The church and the world live in so much fear, primarily because they lack the knowledge of God’s gentle heart and His humble love towards mankind! (If you want to discover the heart of God for the world, look no further than the cross of Christ, where God Himself forgave those who were killing Him).
In a time of great fear, God has been speaking sweet, soft words of comfort to His children. It’s a message He wants the whole world to hear. He doesn’t want people to run from Him in fear like Adam and Eve. He wants them to come to Him so they can find rest and the light and easy yoke of Christ!We’ll first look at some of the ways that the revelation of God’s gentleness began to surge through 2016. Then we’ll talk briefly about the implications for 2017 and beyond . . .
Hollywood Parables
Earlier this year we reported on two Disney releases — “BFG” and “Pete’s Dragon.” Both are beautiful stories showing an orphaned child drawing near to an outwardly intimidating and yet inwardly sweet and protective being. Such is the revelation of the hour, as the gentle Father-heart of God is drawing the orphans of the world to Himself (whether literal orphans, or those who are just orphans in their thinking).
Prophetic Ministry
The purpose of the prophetic gift is to encourage, exhort, and comfort. It is a gift from the gentle heart of Jesus to the world. This is a gift that the Body of Christ has been recovering for a few decades now, but it seems that the gift is coming into a new maturity in this season. This is because it is now being focused around God’s heart in the context of relationship.
Shawn Bolz is a modern day voice for a healthy understanding of the prophetic. This year, at a large gathering in California called Asuza Now, Shawn dropped incredibly accurate words of knowledge and released an amazing book called “Translating God.” What seems to set Shawn apart is that he not only walks in the prophetic, but also in the revelation of God’s love and gentleness. This is essential, especially for the prophetic church that so easily falls into fear in spite of Papa’s perfect love.
The Scriptures
The Holy Spirit is continuing to enlighten the eyes of people to read His Word and properly divide it around the cross of Christ. A grace-infused lens of reading the Bible will become more and more accesible in the days ahead.
One bright light in this arena is the Passion Translation, which continues to explode across the globe. This year, lead translator Dr. Brian Simmons released the translation of 1 Corinthians, which contains the renowned “love chapter” that highlights the true nature of God (He is ultimately the One who is patient, kind, not rude, gentle, etc.). Brian also carries an intimate message about the humble heart of God.
Hip-Hop & Culture
This year, Chicago-based Chance the Rapper blew up in the music industry, singing and rapping soft-spoken praises to God. Chance’s influential music went from Saturday Night Live to the White House. In his songs, he carries the gentleness of God and manifests kindness and love through hip-hop.
Chance also won MTV’s “Artist of the Year.” The article on his win begins with this statement: “In a year of cynicism, he was our greatest optimist.” Chance closed up the year by performing again on SNL where he and another rapper tangibly and obviously gave praise to Jesus and rapped about how the love of God filled the emptiness within them. He also had a choir singing to Jesus and said to them on stage, “I love when you say His name on network TV!“
Worship Music & Book Releases
Bethel Church and Bethel Music also continued to grow in influence this past year. Bethel Music even had an iTunes charting album. The song “Pieces” was a beautiful exploration into the loving heart of God that had people across the world discovering His goodness. Bill Johnson, senior leader of Bethel, released a powerful book on the goodness of God as well, which parallels this whole message of God’s unveiling nature.
On a related note, Brad Jersak also released a book on the nature of God called “A More Christlike God.” This book takes the implications of God’s goodness to a whole other level.
2017 . . . A New Hope
And all of that is just the tip of the iceberg. But there’s a whole mountain underneath these waters and it’s promising to sink every titanic lie of fear and shame. And, ultimately, it’s releasing a new hope into the world.
At the end of this year, the prequel to the 1977 space epic “Star Wars: A New Hope” was released. The movie – Rogue One – gives the background story for how Princess Leia was given plans for the Death Star (which led to this destructive weapon’s great defeat). It is very sad to report that Carrie Fisher, the woman who played Princess Leia, suddenly passed away at the age of 60, only a few weeks into the film’s release.
We won’t spoil the new film here. Suffice it to say, there is a huge message of hope even through much difficulty and death (cinematically and now, unfortunately, literally)… Leia is the one in the next movie who carried a message for the Empire to be destroyed.
This coming year, expect the message of God’s gentleness to be carried to the next generation, releasing a harvest of harvesters to take down the “empire” of fear and religion and restore the “Republic” of grace, gladness, and union. The old order and old wineskins are passing away and a new hope is now being released, centered around the revelation of God’s unfathomable goodness!
See you next year!!