New Year message

Proverb 14:34: “Righteousness exalts a nation that sin is a reproach to any people.” Again, turn to Hebrew 1:8: “That the sun he says, your throne of God is forever and ever. A sceptre of righteousness is the centre of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated law, lawlessness. Therefore, God, You are God and has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.”

As we step into the New Year, 2023, we have every reason to give thanks to God for His faithfulness and mercy that has carried us through the past year. We praise God for all the battles that He has fought on our behalf. We thank Him for healing and deliverance, for provision and protection.

In spite of all the challenges that surrounded us, God helped us o overcome; glory be to Him, in the name of Jesus. We rejoiced during the crossover night and some of us have made their New Year resolutions and have made up their minds on things they need to achieve for this year. But let it be clear that while horses are prepared for war, victory only comes from the Lord. The year 2023 will also come with its own challenges and for whatever it may bring, let us set our hearts to honour God because this is a new season, which God has made to visit us with His blessings and also to help us overcome our problems.

It is a brand-new start/year given to us, and for us to go through it our eyes must be on the Lord. Just as God spoke through Joshua to the people of Israel when He brought them out of Egypt and about to take them into the land of promise. God said in Joshua 3:3-5: “He is about to do a wonderful thing, great and mighty thing, but first they must sanctified themselves set themselves apart unto Him.” My prayer is that, this year, we shall follow the presence of God. We shall follow the Lord, His Word, His instruction, and his directives. We shall hear Him and obey His commandments and instructions. He will lead us into what He has prepared for us. That promise of God for you and me will surely come to pass in the name of Jesus. However, it will take watchfulness and obedience for us to be able to follow what God has prepared us for. He knows and will lead the way.

When God leads the way, the river will see us and be divided into two. We shall walk on the dry land; he will help us. When God goes ahead of us, the walls of Jericho will fall before us. They will fall flat because God is ahead of us.

Therefore, the year 2023 shall be to us, the year of divine exaltation. When we talk of exaltation; it means to honour, to hold in high esteem, to raise or promote rank, to rise in status or to be elevated. Exaltation is the act of rising high, the state of being elevated, the refinement of a body or increasing of virtue, principle and property. Exaltation has to do with promotion, being magnified, and experiencing the help of God that brings prosperity and increases continually. And I know when we talk of exaltation, everybody will key into it because we all want to be lifted. That, as we may know, every promise of God goes with a condition. And whenever God sees anything that is in line with His promise, His Word, His purpose, and more importantly his nature and character; He will identify with such a personal situation.

Therefore, when we talk of the year 2023 being the year of divine exaltation, we link it to Proverbs 14:34, which says: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach.”

God will not bless sin, sin is a reproach, and God will not bless wickedness. It is abominable before God and the things that God abhors; we need to run away from them. Exaltation is only meant for God. It is God alone that ought to be exalted and His glory, He will not share with any man. He will not give His honour to any idol. And because exaltation is due to God alone; honour, glory, excellence belong to Him alone.

Whenever God intervenes in any human situation, He changes the narratives. He brings deliverance. He gives us a reason to rejoice in victory, not because of our smartness, but because of His goodness and mercy, because of His heart, because of what He has done, giving us victory. Therefore 2023 shall be for us an acceptable year of the Lord, the year of God’s own visitation and jubilee, the year of God’s unique intervention that will bring a turnaround in the lives of individuals, families and our nation. Whether we like it or not, 2023 will bring about a turnaround: things will not continue to be as they have always been because God is promising us something good and as He has spoken through Prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 61: 2-4; it will be a time of God’s consolation and comfort.

For those that mourn in Zion, He will turn around their ashes, He will turn around their grief, He will turn around their mourning, even when we think that we are downtrodden and can do nothing. God says He will raise for Himself a people who will be the people of righteousness, after His own nature and with whom He will bring back the views of many generations. I believe God is going to intervene in our situation in Nigeria, because exaltation belongs to Him alone.

Exaltation is also God’s nature. He transcends all and, indeed, He is sovereign over our lives and circumstances; no matter what we have been through or whatever may be the challenges ahead of us, as we step into the New Year, God’s word to us is that it will be the year in which He will manifest whom He is.

When we talk of exaltation, exaltation goes with power; in fact, Paul prayed for the Christians in Ephesians 1:19-21 saying: “Look that his desire is that we may know the exceeding greatness of God’s power towards us who believe and according to the walking of his mighty power, which he walked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated him on the right hand of the Father, in the heavenly places, far above principalities and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in that quiches to come, and all things are put under Jesus Christ.”

So, He is exalted far above principalities and powers, far above every situation and dominion. As we move into the New Year, our eyes shall be on Him who stands upon the throne, the Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords, and the King of kings, to Him belongs all exhortation and from Him, our own exaltation and deliverance shall come. Our deliverance will not come from any man or system, but from the Lord, our God.

When we talk of exaltation, the third thing that we need to understand also is that righteousness is the basis of God’s exaltation. God does not bless, no matter how smart you may be in cutting corners, as far as God is concerned, the end does not justify the means, especially if the means to the end is faulty and corrupt. The end will not be blessed by God, it may be praised by men, it may be sustained by human laws, but as far as God is concerned, it counts for nothing. Therefore, there are things that we need to note because righteousness is the basis of God’s exaltation. We need to understand that righteousness has to do with the right standing with God.

It means having faith in this living God, obedience to His word, His instructions, fellowship and walk with God and our readiness to honour Him and follow what He is guiding us to do.

Before God begins to do anything in anyone’s life, He will first of all deal with the problem that will bring reproach because Proverbs 14:34; says: “Sin is a reproach every human being, and indeed, the systems of the world and the problems that we have faced in this nation, in our families, and in our lives.”

We need to put our trust in God because man may promise you heaven and earth and at the end of the day will disappoint you, but God is ever faithful; He is ever true.

No man can satisfy God except with His help. As God says, all our righteousness and even our good walks may be as filthy rags before Him. God desires that we believe, have faith, and trust in Him, especially in what He has done for us in reconciling us back to ourselves. He has dealt with the power of sin and Satan. He has forgiven us and shown us mercy through His Son, Jesus Christ and we are acceptable to Him by faith in Jesus Christ. We can only please God and be attracted to Him; in fact, attracting God’s attention is only by trusting and depending on Jesus Christ, who is God’s wisdom and God’s righteousness for us. He is, indeed, our sanctification.

Jesus was crucified. Let us look up to him. He is exalted into the heavens, seated on the right hand of the Father, ruling over all situations and circumstances, and He is coming back again. It will be wonderful as we step into the year 2023, to set our hearts to walk with God, in obedience, desiring above all that we may please and seek Him day-by-day. He will sanctify our lives and make us acceptable before His Son, Jesus Christ. Whenever God finds faith, love, righteousness, integrity and purity, holiness, He manifests Himself and that is what we see In Proverbs11: 3-8.

We have always been encouraged to trust God, as the hymn writer says, but when you want to do that, you may find out that the world and the system around you will militate against you, fight you, but never give up.

Righteousness exalts; sin brings reproach. This year, may God help us so that we will walk with Him. And if we are to walk with God, there are things we need to note. Some things must be subdued in our lives. First of all, is the human authority and spiritual influences, which may lead to pride and pomposity.

The world would always want to show off as we have seen in Daniel 4:25. God is the only One that has the authority and power to exalt and to bring down. And, as we can see, when King Nebuchadnezzar thought he has already acquired everything and achieved great goal by building Babylon for himself, he lifted his heart in pride and dishonoured God. God said because he has done that he will eat grass for seven seasons. And, indeed, that happened. God is to be exalted in all situations even in our political manoeuvres and the details that confront us, as we move towards the 2023 elections and the new government that is coming in. We have to trust the Lord so that no human authority or spiritual influence will abort God’s purpose for this nation. Therefore, let every other thing be subjected to the authority and power of the Living God because this is the year of divine exaltation.

The second thing we must subdue are the earth and the systems of the world. The systems of the world, according to the Psalmist makes it clear that when God is exalted, above the earth, every other thing will be subjected to Him. The regions of the nations have kings, and the systems or the world cannot abort the purpose of God in our lives, both as individuals, church and a nation. Therefore, in this year, we are to look up to the Lord and trust Him to prove Himself mightily amid His people.

Problems and challenges cannot stop God from being what He wants to do in our lives. Just as the disciples of Jesus Christ came back from a mission in Luke 10 and one of them said: “I say, Lord, at your name, even the evil spirits were subject to us, they obeyed us, they submitted to us and Jesus, looking at them, said, I saw Satan fall like a lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Therefore, people of God, the powers of the enemy, the challenges and problems of our time, that may come our way in this year 2023 can never abort the purpose of God in our lives. The Lord has given us authority and power because this is the year to exalt God, and through Him, we shall also walk in victory. May this be our portion in the name of Jesus Christ. Whenever God is exalted, He intervenes in human conditions, and when God intervenes in human conditions, He changes our story for the better.

Our story must be changed for the better and the purpose of God for us will surely come to pass. As He intervened in the life of the semester, as we see in Psalm 40:1-3, which says: “Out of the miracle in the pit, he cried out, and the Lord heard him and lifted him from the miracle and set his foot upon the rock and gave him a new song;” this year, God will lift His own, and He will give us new songs. Rejoice because the Exalted Lord has intervened in our situation, and he shall surely turn things around for good for us; you will experience divine visitation and divine exaltation. When others are saying, there is a casting doubt, the Lord says that we should declare that there is a lifting up and God shall bless His own.

God has demonstrated this in the lives of many in the scriptures for example God remembered Hannah. “And Hannah went to God in Shiloh. And while others were enjoying food and she was communing with God, she poured out her heart. She made a covenant with God and God lifted her.” God will honour your word in your intercession, petition and request; and the answer to all your needs in the name of Jesus Christ shall come.

God has the power to give life. He has the power to take it and the power to lift one. He can raise a poor man from the dustbin and sit him upon the throne; this is what God is going to do in the lives of many this year in the name of Jesus Christ. It is the year of divine exaltation. Looking at the life of Joseph, you will discover that Joseph was a man whom God gave a wonderful vision, and dream of great things he will do, but his brothers conspired against him, but God lifted him in Egypt. God will turn things around for the better this year for you, your family, and our nation.

There will be a great turnaround because this is the year of divine exaltation. Even when people have intended evil, God will turn things around for His own glory. And as we look to the Lord, to work with Him, with all our heart, in faith, trust in Him for His power and glory. Righteousness exalts a nation; our nation shall be exalted.

The evil that has befallen us in this nation, the suffering that we have been passing through, the wickedness that has been unleashed on people was because of sin, which is bringing reproach upon the land, causing shedding of blood and all sorts of anarchy upon the land. This year shall be a year of divine exaltation, God will remember His own and by that, we shall be delivered from destruction. We shall be guided by the right hand of God, the hand of righteousness. Once we seek God, the righteousness of the Lord shall bring us the favour of God because that is the panacea for corruption. Righteousness is the panacea for hypocrisy and wickedness.

And as we turn to God in our individual lives, in our economic lives, in our governance and other aspects of life, we trust and depend on God to raise righteous seeds; a people that will seek after Him. He will raise leaders that will follow his instructions and have the right disposition towards the people. God will help us and show us mercy. Righteousness will exalt individuals above their fellows. God will also do this for the Church and for our nation. And we shall see the hand of God, intervening. This is the acceptable year of the Lord. Let us set our hearts to walk with Him and it shall be well with you, your family, and the people of God and this nation.

Happy New Year, again …. God bless you.