2014

 

Rev Martin Vanderpuye 

 

Entering into this 2014 is important only in one sense, that for men it helps us to be able to break our tasks into quantifiable terms and be able to look unto another year. But the Lord is the same yesterday, the same today and the same tomorrow and for ever.

 

As we gather, I want to cause all of us to focus our minds on the LORD. There may be things that the LORD wants to say, it does not change who HE is, HE is the same God. There may be things that you will be expecting that the LORD will bring you into in the coming year, it does not change who HE is, HE is the same. If your expectation of HIM is the same, today as it was yesterday and the same tomorrow, that God will manifest HIMSELF unto you more and more.

 

As we enter 2014, I will want to urge us to pick each of the things that come across and pray ourselves into the coming year and position ourselves aright so that we can take hold and match forward.

 

Luke 13:1-9 says

Luk 13:1  There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Luk 13:2  And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? Luk 13:3  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luk 13:4  Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? Luk 13:5  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luk 13:6  He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Luk 13:7  Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? Luk 13:8  And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: Luk 13:9  And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.

 

As we enter 2014, I will be speaking about the same thing hinged on the above Scripture that the LORD has laid on my heart. These verses are talking about something that you and I are familiar with.  It says that the man was expecting to have fruits on this tree that for three years he came and found no fruits. Year after year he came and found nothing and out of exasperation, he decided to cut it down but he had a dresser or gardener who had a voice; who was one who not only take instructions but one who also thought through things.

 

So the gardener decided to speak for this tree. He spoke and said that ‘let the tree alone, give me the responsibility and I will dig around it, I will manure it and I will water it’. This presupposes that the tree over the years might not have had good manure, good water and might not have had space to grow properly so the man is suggesting to the owner to give him chance to do that and it if it did not bear fruits he may cut it down.

 

The gardener was expecting that within that time, the tree will bear fruit. So he says unto him  “let it alone this year also”.

 

2013 is a year that is running off. There may be many things that you may have encountered over the year; there may be things that might have happened to you over the year, but 2014 is another year also. In 2013 many might not have achieved the many things that they looked forward to; many might not have lived to see even this day, but 2014 is a year that we want to say with one voice that “let it alone this year also” .

 

Why? Because we are expecting that there will be advancement; we are expecting that there will be abundant Grace for 2014;  we are expecting that them that have found their feet on marshy ground will be able to have solid ground to stand upon so “let it alone this year also” .

 

We are expecting that them that are crawling and not been able the walk the way that they ought to walk,  we are expecting that this year also let them alone because they will be able to walk this time round. So Every expectation is that this coming year it will go well.

 

The gardener had the heart and says to the man “let it alone this year also”.  For many of us if we had stood in 2012 with that kind of heart and with that kind of mind that 2013 also the LORD should preserve our lives, we would have been living.

 

In Psalm 115, the Psalmist says that the heavens is the Lord’s and the earth is His footstool, then he says that the earth, the Lord gave unto the children of men. As we enter into 2014, I want to register something important on your mind and that is whatever happens on this phase of the earth depends on men. Whatsoever happens in your home, whatsoever happens in your life, whatsoever happens near you depends on men.

 

So the Lord looks for a man and and as we enter into 2014, He is looking for a kind of gardener like that who will be able to have a voice and say ‘this year we are entering also give me that chance’. This year into which we are entering, give us that chance.

 

When the gardener speaks like that and say this year also it means he has other years in mind. He has been thinking of the three years that he has been given the chance and the years that have passed and nothing has changed but he is asking for this year also.

 

Why? Because this year he says ‘I will have the opportunity to dig around it; I have the opportunity to manure it, I have the opportunity to pour water on it and it may bear fruit and if it doesn’t so be it’. But he has one year into which he is putting everything and expecting that he will get the result.

 

Somebody must have the expectation that I am entering into 2014 taking my place to do what I ought to do; to get the results that God says He has freely given unto me on Calvary Street. 

 

When you look at a tree that is probably not growing and the gardener says I will dig around it, it means the ground round it is hard, if you pour water on it nothing happens and it does not get to the roots. So he says give me another year, I will break the earth and make room for the water to stay.

 

Beloved, you ought to be in a position where the blessings and abundance of God He pours can stay in your life and benefit you and see that fullness of God manifesting in you life.  But there are so many of us who come into a meeting or go into a gathering or receive a prophecy or see something or the other but amounts to nothing. Word after word; prophecy after prophecy; vision after vision; prayer after prayer it amounts to nothing because the ground around you has become carlos.

 

Zechariah says ‘break up your fallow grounds, sow unto yourself in mercy’. Beloved, break up that fallow ground, break up that fallow ground that has become around you as a hard ground. Sometimes Church, it may just be familiarity with your situation.

 

Someone decide as we enter 2014 and say I will not be familiar anymore. Get to that point and begin to decide that, that which God says He has given unto you is yours and you have to take it.

 

David was telling what he has been able to do to Saul in 1 Samuel 17:18. Israel was getting ready to go to war and they were looking for a man to be able to defend them and there was nobody. So David comes up and says that ‘God who has been with me will take me into this battle’. What is David saying? He says God has been with me, I have seen things and I know that HE will be with me in this coming battle as well. And then he went on and gave his CV unto Saul and said that your servant was attending to the flock of his father and a lion came and picked one of the lambs and he went after the lion, fought with it, tore open his paws and removed the lamb out of its mouth and killed it.

 

David was determined not to let the lion take the lamb away. David told Saul his CV was made up of fights. Another day it was not a lion but a bear that has shown up and caught one of the lambs. Again he went after it and fought with it and rescued the lamb.

 

Beloved that is the kind of thing this gardener is doing for this tree and telling the owner “this year also let it alone”. Sometimes there are all kinds of things -  the lion or the bear might be some terminal disease that has laid hold on you and somebody should say ‘this year also…’

 

Let us not just come into 2014 with some excitement and expect things to go the same way as usual - NO, NO, NO.

 

Beloved what will you have changed in 2014? Let us Pray:

 

When you take your eyes back into 2013 maybe there might be things that has remained like that; no moving forward and no advancement and all that:

 

• Receive help from the LORD and break up the fallow ground around you.

 

• That everything that have become familiar around you; that everything that has made you stagnant and made you remain in that same place Receive Help from the LORD and break up that fallow ground.

 

• That no blessing of the LORD is bringing advancement to your life, receive help and break the fallow ground.

 

• Jesus says that ‘I AM THE VINE AND MY FATHER IS THE DRESSER OF THE VINE’. God Himself is the Dresser this year and May the LORD dig around your life that everything that has made the ground hard around you; everything that has limited your family and yourself and put you in that same place year after year that you have remained in that same place and not seen the advancement the LORD has spoken about you and your family, Receive that quickening of the LORD that the LORD God is the One that breaks the ground. HE IS DRESSER OF THE VINE.

 

• Receive the quickening; receive the stirring of the LORD; receive the watering of the King of Heaven.

 

• Refuse to be limited and remain the same this year also. Let it not be a year that you will not see advancement; let it not be a year that you will not break out and bear fruit; let it not be a year that you will not see fullness of grace; let it not be a year that you will not see the abundance that the LORD promised; let it not be a year that you will not move forward; let it not be a year that you will not see a lifting up; let it not be a year that you will not see the hand of God; let it be a year also that the LORD has spared you to be able to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

 

I have a message of the LORD unto you in 2014 that ‘if you break up your fallow grounds, if you will be able to change your situation, if you will be able to turn around your life, the LORD’s blessing over you will be seen by all”.

 

Beloved, the LORD cannot do anything in your life when you remain where you are. Everything that God does in you life is done by Faith. Let your faith make you go forward; let your faith receive of the LORD a breaking and a watering of the fallow ground.

 

Beloved, David said to Saul, a lion came for the lamb and I went after it, I was not afraid of it – this year some one should be determined that you will go after that bear and after that lion. REDEEM that which God has spoken concerning you for the year 2014. Draw it unto yourself this year.

 

In 2014 the fullness of the LORD will be visited upon us.

 

Let us take hold of destinies for 2014 that the year 2014, the lion and the bear will not lay hold on any one of us. We take hold of the year that this year also we are delivered out of the hands of the enemy. Lives be preserved.

 

The gardener stood and said ‘let it alone’ and by that word we speak over lives – cancers, diabetes, high blood pressures, kidney infections; liver diseases, all manner of sicknesses and diseases, that has stretched forth its paws and laid hold on the lambs of the Most High God, by the STRENGTH of the Almighty, this year we go after the lion and the bear and rescue our brethren and lives of people out of debilitating diseases; out of the stronghold of poverty and sicknesses. We say let them live this year also.

 

Do you believe that you have overcome the enemy? Scripture says they love not their lives unto death, that is how they overcame the enemy. They overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb and by their words of their testimony and they love not their lives unto death.

 

There was every possibility that Goliath could have killed David or the bear could had ripped David apart but he loved not his life unto death that he so cared about that lamb that he will not let the bear take it away – that is the ATTIDUDE  to have in 2014. Be determined in your heart that this year also there will be preservation.

 

That you have wrestled with God and received all that HE has prepared for you.

 

A life full of sickness and disease is no life at all, a life full of poverty is no life at all, a life full of anxiety is no life at all. That is not what God desires for you; therefore believe in 2014 that you can overcome the devil. Take hold and pray yourself into it.

 

Jesus says ‘Behold I give you power over every power of the devil’. Beloved, you can trample over the devil. In 2014 you triumph over every difficulty, every thing that has been stirred up against you, family, business. Receive the power to triumph over it.

 

Beloved, there is an enemy out there determined that you will not be able to make it but the gardener says ‘let it alone this year also’ and it was heeded to. That is the power of intercession.

 

Beloved, say your life is preserved for 2014 because Jesus has given you the power over the enemy so lay hold of the year 2014 to receive that which God has ordained for you.

 

As a people I urge us that 2014 be not just an ORDINARY YEAR unto you. Let it be a year that you will make progress.

 

In Joshua 3, we see Israel make a journey and found themselves gathered on one side of Jordan which had over flooded its banks and Israel was camped wondering how they will cross over. Joshua sought the face of the LORD and the LORD said ‘today I will begin to magnify you in the eyes of this people, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you”. (The word of LORD came that they should select 12 elders to take 12 stones and the priests carrying the ark when their foot touches the water, the water will recede). Israel has seen the breaking apart of the red sea and those who saw it all died in the wilderness and their children now found themselves with another experience at Jordan River and God was ready to do something with them.

 

The river was serving as a hindrance between Israel and the land of promise. Cross into 2014 with the PRESENCE of the LORD. That the LORD will step with you into 2014, that that which is a hindrance will recede. That which has been a limitation the presence of the LORD shall break it. If it is a decision or counsel taken together against you, the presence of the LORD shall break that concerning you in 2014.

 

In 2013 you might have received so many bad news but enter into 2014 with no burden at all because the presence of the LORD breaks the barrier and sets you free. The presence of the LORD steps with into 2014 and let every limitation recede.

 

Walk confidently, believe that the LORD steps ahead of you into 2014 and breaks every limitation. Believe the LORD for you father, mother, spouse, child.

 

As a ministry the LORD is stepping into 2014 with us. The LORD is preserving lives and causing us to move forward in a measure that we have not moved in three years. The LORD is lifting us and causing us to move forward in HIM.

 

Lay everything that concerns you in 2014 on the Foundation of the LORD Jesus. Establish the counsel of God over your life for the year 2014 on the Foundation of the LORD Jesus.

 

Declare every blessing established on the Foundation of Jesus Christ this year. You will run through the year with it unto the end.

 

• Many will be weary in the year 2014. Many will find themselves give up half way down the road.

 

• The year 2014 is a year that those that you do not regard at all you will find them make great progress. What is going to make the difference is your Faith.

 

• 2014 is a year of  growth, leaping and grace

 

• In 2014 the gathering of the Ministry will be bigger by far because there is going to be growth and leaping and grace in a margin we have not imagined because grace is being poured out.

 

Stand in that place and receive grace for yourself, for your family, etc. receive grace upon grace; grace for your life; grace to be able to move forward; grace to break bounds; grace to visit the higher places that God has ordained for you to be; grace to move forward to receive the goodness of the Most High God.

 

Ezekiel saws great visions. Ezekiel 48:35 says that at the end of the days, God will establish the foundation of a New Jerusalem and build it on 12 Foundations representing the 12 tribes of Israel. The Name of City is “THE LORD IS HERE”. JEHOVAH SHAMMAH.

 

Beloved, I have a word for you. The LORD said to me to tell you ‘I TABERNABCLE WITH MY PEOPLE AND THEY SHALL KNOW NOTHING BUT MY PEACE; THEY KNOW NOTHING BUT MY SWEET PRESENCE; THEY KNOW NOTHING BUT MY GOODNESS’.

 

Beloved we enter into 2014 with the assurance from our God establishing HIMSELF over all things that ‘THE LORD HE IS HERE’.

 

• In 2014 the Hand of the LORD is lifted up mightily that it is the doing of the LORD.

 

The LORD is in your affairs. There is going to be an expansion and a lifting up because HE is here.

 

Let the old fragrance and the old identification be broken over your life. Let the sweet smelling fragrance be over you.

 

• 2014 is the year of multiplication

 

• 2014 is the year of great favour from the Most High God

 

• 2014 is the year of the Solid Rock

 

• 2014 is the year of Joy and gladness of heart

 

• This is the year the LORD will fattened you in the land of the lean.

 

• Theme for 2014: GROW IN GRACE (1Peter 3:18)

 

• 2014 is a year of growth