2016 - The Year of Abundance!

 This is a partial word written by Jonny Enlow... It's so good !

We're entering another phenomenal year of unprecedented Kingdom advancement. Many markers tell us that 2016 is a very special year. It's a Leap Year, a Presidential Election year for America, and a most unique Year of Jubilee. 2016 also comes at the beginning of what is forecast to be the biggest El Nino weather phenomenon ever. Furthermore, this is all taking place in an era of renaissance in the knowledge of God and in the age of the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).

A Prophetic Review of 2015
Obviously it's become clear that the doomsday scenarios predicted for the United States during the months of September through December haven't taken place. The economy didn't collapse. We weren't hit by a catastrophic meteorite. There weren't any destructive earthquakes or tsunamis. The rapture didn't occur. We aren't under martial law. ISIS didn't bring our country to its knees and neither Russia nor China invaded.

Instead, an estimated 100 million people became followers of Jesus Christ, including perhaps up to a half-million Muslims, though this comes from sources that can't be quoted. The number of Holy Spirit-filled Believers (700 million) reached almost one in ten on the planet, which is the highest ever. The extreme poverty rate in the world dropped to its lowest ever, abortions dropped to almost one-half the rate they were in 1990. Divorce rates continued their recent substantial drop. Teen pregnancies decreased to their lowest rate since 1940, when statistics were first recorded. Many incorrectly perceived the signs of the historic blood moons, the upcoming jubilee season, and the warmest year ever recorded for the planet. What they thought portended to disaster, instead, spoke of an acceleration of the advancing Kingdom of God.

God's Kingdom On the World Stage
While many fretted and announced the advancement of satan's kingdom, the reality is that our Father's Kingdom showed up on the world's stages in unprecedented ways. Allow me to give you some real-life examples.In Hollywood, faith-themed movies made over 300 million dollars. In fact, a whole stream of faith-based movies are on their way. Perhaps even more significant than that, is the fact that billions of box office dollars in 2015 came from hit movies that promoted the Kingdom values of courage, redemption, honor, forgiveness, integrity, and love. It's become common on the various singing/dancing reality shows for Christians to be celebrated for their excellence and anointing.

Jordan Smith was the winner of The Voice through his amazing performances of "Mary Did You Know?" and "Great is Thy Faithfulness." Jennifer Phillips from The X Factor UK brought the judges and crowd to their feet when she sang Mary Mary's worship song "Shackles." The anointing is truly being showcased on the biggest platforms of the world and you can see it visibly affect the judges and the audience. We've watched Justin Bieber awaken to his call as he recently expressed in a Rolling Stone interview that he just wants to be like Jesus. His latest album, "Purpose," is full of references to God and Justin's desire to connect a generation to Him. It's becoming cool in Hollywood to go to Bible Studies and to have a pastor. The whole entertainment industry is in the midst of an extreme makeover and it's creating unprecedented opportunities for the King's kids who know their assignment to bring glory to His name.

A great example of this is Tyler Perry, a Christian who's an excellent movie producer and businessman, and has become a key player and heavyweight in the industry in recent years. A brand new complex, heavily advanced by Chick-fil-A owners, called Pinewood Studios in southern Atlanta, has suddenly become the place to film movies. It's now known as Atlanta's 6 billion dollar film industry – and it's Believers who are making the big difference.

The shift in the last three years alone has been monumental and it's all just getting started. We're headed to a time when it will be more of the exception when an award or a prize doesn't go to an open follower of Jesus Christ. Papa's show time has just begun!

We can see the same trend in the major sports' platforms as well. Derek Henry of Alabama, winner of the Heisman Trophy, spoke boldly in his acceptance speech of his love for God and how he prays to Him every day. Dabo Sweeney, coach of the undefeated #1 Clemson team, began his comments after the big Orange Bowl win by thanking God for His goodness and stated his desire to give Him glory. Boxing champion, Manny Pacquiao, is also very overt in his love for God.

Recent surprise UFC world championship winner, Holly Holm, was referred to as "the preacher's daughter." PGA Tour, 22 year-old sensation, and player of the year Jordan Spieth is a Believer. NBA MVP, Stephen Curry, is an avowed Believer, as are many of his NBA Champion Golden State Warriors teammates. 24 of the starting 32 quarterbacks in the NFL, including Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, Aaron Rogers, and Peyton Manning are followers of Jesus. World best soccer team, Barcelona, has the 2015 breakout star Neymar, who is an open follower of Jesus.

I could go on and on, but the point is, while many have been obsessing with the giants in the land, it was a breakout year on the world stages for sons and daughters of the Most High. It's already at an unprecedented level and this will continue to be the prevailing trend.

The Shift Towards Grace-Consciousness and Hope
Furthermore, a huge shift is taking place within Christianity itself that many are worried about, but it's a good thing. This shift is away from sin-awareness and fear towards grace-consciousness and hope. Those who tend to be more sin-focused may be tempted to panic over this trend, but be assured that this a good and necessary one. What you focus on you make room for. We've been highlighting sin for centuries and reaped accordingly. We're now seeing a shift and movement to let grace rule and we're going to see the fruit of grace like never before.

There are major voices such as Joseph Prince, Andrew Wommack, and more recently Creflo Dollar preaching an emphasis on the power grace. They may or may not have every i dotted and every t crossed perfectly, but on the other hand, that's the idea of grace. It's about His work versus our work and it's about inside-out dynamics, rather than outside-in. To the degree that we remain in an outside-in mentality, we are essentially stuck in an Old Testament paradigm, which undermines the work of Jesus on the Cross.

External pressures cannot produce inner transformation – and transformation is the goal. Individuals who have been transformed by grace can then transform their world, expanding the same inside-out dynamics. God desires that we engage Him with our hearts and then allow Him to change our external behavior as an overflow of His love and acceptance. When we don't understand that about Him, then we represent His heart incorrectly and attempt to legislate hearts and behavior through laws and imposition rather than simply represent His heart of love and solutions.

As a last example of God's advancing Kingdom in 2015, we have several prominent and impacting voices of hope. Joel Osteen isn't just "an inch deep and a mile wide," as some say, but is clearly carrying a huge anointing on his life and message. In fact, I saw that God has assignedthe largest angel of hope on the planet to him.The sin-focused crowd generally blasts him, while millions of unbelievers are watching him in over 100 nations and are receiving a much better perspective of God than our old "turn-or-burn" voices of days past. Joel's message of hope has him nicknamed as The Smiling Preacher, with New York Times Best Selling books to his credit. He and TD Jakes carry the titles of America's most influential pastors. TD is also an important voice of hope in a hope-starved world. To these names we could add Bill Johnson, as he champions a good God who's in a good mood and desires to pour His power and healing to us and through us.

The Kingdom of God will forcefully advance in 2016, but we will have a difficult time recognizing that if we don't realize that it was already forcefully advancing in 2015. As we transition into a new year, it's imperative to look back and identify some of these breakthroughs we experienced. If you can't properly perceive Him at work in the past, then you may have a vision defect that needs to be healed before you can correctly see Him moving forward. The good news is that God is actively working in our midst to teach us how to see and perceive Him and His heart correctly.