I usually don’t do “word of the Lord for the year” at the start of each year, not because I don’t believe in it but because a lot of the times these words can just be fortune-cookie prophecies that are “one size fits all”, and I don’t believe that God speaks the same thing to everyone all the time. This year, the Lord spoke to me at the very start of the year and gave me a word. A couple of days later (two days ago), a prophet in America released a word that contained pretty much exactly what I saw but coming from a different angle. So I believe this is a word for the Global Ecclesia, the whole Body of Messiah.

On the 2nd of January, the Lord spoke to me that “2022 is going to be 2020, part II.” The Holy Spirit said, “It is going to be ‘2020 too’, but I have intended this year to be a year of second chances. Particularly where the Body of Christ has failed in 2020, the lessons you learned you’ll get to exercise them again. What you haven’t learned I will emphasise again until you do learn.”

What this means is that 2022 in many ways will be a repeat of 2020. The enemy is going to try to replicate many things that happened in 2020, but the Lord has intended them to be second chances. He said, “2020 was a year of crisis but also a year of opportunity. It was a time for God’s people to rise and take the Promised Land.” – If you listened to my podcast last year, we talked about how when Moses sending out the 12 spies after receiving the Torah from the Lord it was actually time to take the Promised Land. God had never intended Israel to stay in the desert for 40 years and for a whole generation to pass away. Beginning the Book of Numbers it was time to take the land, which is a “land flowing with milk and honey” but also where there is warfare. We talked about how we often have a romanticised vision of the Promised Land that it’s “all going be just wonderful.” We’ve been promised an unprecedented outpouring of God’s Spirit, an unprecedented revival that was prophesied for many years by so many, and 2020 was the time to take the Land – but we forgot that the Promised Land involves warfare, taking down of giants. So out of the 12 spies, 10 of them came back with a bad report; but Joshua and Caleb said, “Yes there are giants, but we can take them.” The Lord was calling the nation of Israel to rise in courage to take the Promised Land – it was time. But Israel believed in the bad report and began to complain, saying, “Maybe we should just go back to Egypt.” Throughout this pandemic what were most people doing? Complaining.

If you follow me on social media you might remember that at the end of 2019 I released a prophecy saying Boris Johnson would win the December General Election to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union, but it would be followed by a “Jezebelic onslaught” characterized by “fear, isolation, exhaustion and hopelessness”; and as a result, Boris Johnson would be in hiding for a season, pick a successor to replace him and resign. Everything except the last two details have been fulfilled so far, but Covid was this “Jezebelic onslaught.” In the article I said that fear would be a major battle in this onslaught and that it would come from the Media, and that we must reject every narrative that induces fear in our hearts and declare God’s promises of revival over this nation and the nations. Many people got excited over the fact that somebody met the Prime Minister and prophesied over him, but they forgot what the word actually said: the onslaught and the requirement to reject fear. Most churches believed in the bad report. We shrunk back in fear, and went into hiding – just like Elijah. But in 2022, which is 2020 part II, the Lord will emphasize these things again.

It’s sad to see that after lockdown, many churches just went back to business as usual. I was sharing this word last night with a prophetic forum we have in the North East of Scotland. The response was that sadly, many churches did not learn. In the uk at least, but I think this is true in many other countries. We have not learned all the lessons we ought to learn and just went back to business as usual – speaking of going back to Egypt! But the Lord will emphasize these things again, and it’s going to be a year of second chances.

The enemy is going to try to bring fear over us again, and fear is going to cause us to feel powerless. And powerlessness that is not surrendered yields to control. We must watch out and not yield to that in our hearts.

In this next season, it’s extremely important to discern and know the difference between our own feeling and the feeling that the enemy is putting on us, and learn how to stir up the gift within us. Don’t think for a moment that you’re not going to be susceptible to it. You don’t feel this way right now, but when that spirit is here, it’s going to be a different story. Which is why it is so important to discern what is of us, and what is of the enemy. If you can discern what is of the enemy, then that’s a powerful tool because then, you know how to pray.

Fear leads to control, and the spirit of control is going to go up a notch in this next season. In many places, there will be restrictions put in place in the name of fighting international and domestic terrorism. The media will spin stories to make many incidents that aren’t terrorism to appear like terrorism, and to create this narrative of fear. Where the spirit of fear has gotten us last time through Covid but we now realise that we’ve been duped by this spirit, the enemy will try to dupe us again through the threat of terrorism. We must reject every spirit and also know that the Media lies. Somebody else in the forum last night shared that the Media – some call it the “Fake News Media” is the false prophet of our day. We must, must reject their narrative.

How to Stir Up the Gift Within Us

“For this reason I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity (or spirit of fear), but of power and love and self-control.” – 2 Timothy 1:6 

How can we stir up the gift within us? Many of us have this idea of “shaking ourselves up.” There is an aspect of that, as Samson did it. But how do we do it?

Key 1: Faith

The verse begins with “For this reason…” – For what reason? We need to look at the verse before, where Paul speaks to Timothy: “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you…” (v.5) So it begins with sincere faith. We first choose to believe that God has put His gifts within us, and has given us everything we need to overcome. So the first key is faith.

Key 2: Laying On of the Hands

“For this reason I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands…” (v.6) This is the second key: laying on of the hands. When we got born again and received the Holy Spirit, God has put a set of gifts within us, but those gifts are activated through the laying on of hands. Sometimes when these gifts are stifled, we need the Body of the Anointed One to help fan into flames these gifts that God has put in us. We need the Body of Messiah, we cannot afford to be isolated. Covid has shut many churches down and isolated many, but in this next season we cannot shut the churches. We need to gather because we cannot, and I stress, we cannot overcome without the body, the Ecclesia which, biblically, is a physical gathering of the people of God in faith that is a family and an army. We’re going to talk about this in future podcast episodes, but an Ecclesia that is not gathering is not the Ecclesia of God.

You might say, “What about the Global Ecclesia? The Body of Christ is global, right? Are we supposed to all gather in one physical place as the army of God?” – Well, why do you think Jesus is going to catch us up in the air when He returns for the final battle for Jerusalem? When the sky opens up and the saints are gathered from every corner of the earth, what comes after is a literal, military battle to liberate Jerusalem to save the entire nation of Israel. The entire Global Ecclesia is going to be gathered in one place as the Army of God, and Jesus – Yeshua the Greater Joshua is going to lead us in this battle. It’s going to be glorious. So yes, absolutely we will. An ecclesia, army of God by definition is a physical gathering of believers. Matthew 24 is clear that as we approach the end of the age there’s going to be pandemics, wars and rumors of wars, ethnic conflict: nation rising against nations and kingdom against kingdoms. As we approach as we get closer to the Lord’s return, there’s going to be more pandemics, worse pandemics. Where we are now is going to be the least intense it will ever be until the Lord comes. But at the same time, in the same chapter and same context, the Gospel of the Kingdom would go forth. It will be preached to the ends of the earth, and then the end would come. This means that as God’s people, at some point we have to believe and walk in the supernatural protection of the Lord, both for ourselves and for the people we minister to and walk with. If we shrink back now, we’re done! But the Lord is a God of second chances.

Of course, if you feel like the way you’re doing church is not the way the Lord is wanting you to, and you feel like what you’re doing now is not the assignment that the Lord has given you, then by all means shut that down. But the Lord has called an army, and the army gathers. Just know that.

Key 3: Stand on the Testimony of Jesus

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.” – 2 Timothy 1:8

(1) Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. What is the testimony of the Lord? It’s the Spirit of prophecy. (Rev. 19:10) So what the Spirit of God has spoken to you, also stand on it. People might ridicule you for it, but stand on it. Stand with courage. So the third key here is standing on God’s prophetic promises. But above all, stand on the testimony of what Jesus has done, and on what Jesus has promised in the Bible. 2 Timothy 1:7 is a prophetic promise every time we face fear: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (or self control). Declare it, prophesy it, begin to praise God for it. 

Key 4: Embrace the Cross

(2) But join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the Power of God. The fourth key here is embrace the cross. Know that when you first decided to follow Jesus/Yeshua, your life was no longer your own. You have died and rose again with Jesus. It’s only through death comes resurrection power, so after death there is the Power of God.

So these are the four keys: (1) faith; (2) walking with the Body; (3) stand on the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of prophecy, and stand on what the Lord has spoken to you; and (4) embrace the cross for the power of God.

Discern Between “Us” and the Enemy

How do we discern what is of us, and what is of the enemy? Many things we’re going to feel in this next season we think, we will be convinced that it’s our own feeling, and that we need inner healing. Some of you have gone through so many inner healing sessions and courses and nothing seems to work, for others everything just crumpled in this last season. But I want to tell you right now: If you’ve gone through inner healing on a particular issue and you still seem to feel the effect of it, that is not your own feeling. It’s the enemy trying to put that feeling on you to convince you that it’s your own feeling, so that you would come under that spirit and stay under it and never be able to get free.

¹ As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. – Ephesians 2:1-7

Notice that when we were dead in our sins, we followed (1) the ways of this world, and (2) the ways of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. Satan is not omnipresent, his kingdom is consisted of himself and powers and principalities of the air. There is a dynamic connection between our flesh and what is going on in the spirit world around us. When we have crucified our flesh, fully surrendered to Christ, the temptations we experience are reflections of what is going on in the spirit realm around us. If we can recognise that, say, 90% of what we feel are not our own feelings but reflections of the spirit realm around us, then what we feel can be a powerful tool for intercession, as it gives us insight into the enemy’s schemes. (2 Cor. 2:11) And here comes the glorious reality: God has raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Him in heavenly places. Our place of authority is where Jesus is. When we recognise what’s going on in the spirit, we can rise up higher in faith and declare the opposite and declare the promise of God. For some of you, the Lord is going to give you words that are so specific as to what He is going do to shift your neighborhood, your city and your region. He’s going to give you insight on how to pray, and when you pray, and exercise your authority, your authority is going to increase. If you see news on TV that induces fear, then you turn off the TV. They are lying anyway. Get in the Word, as this is the best news we can ever get. This is the narrative that we want. Not the false “fake news narrative”, but God’s narrative. And the word of God is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword and it divides between soul and spirit. Some of you are under things that you don’t even know about because your spirit is not strengthened enough, and you’ve not used the sword to divide between the soul and the spirit. But if you get into the Word, you’ll get to recalibrate yourself.