A very happy new year to you! We are in exciting days, my friend, and this year, the Lord has even more exciting and beautiful days ahead for you and me. For those of you who have been hearing me preach for some years, you’ll know that I always seek the Lord for a theme of the year for my church and those who follow my ministry.
Every time we look at the theme of the year, we see God giving us something to focus on and to let us be aware of what He is going to do in our lives. This is so that when it happens during the year, we know the Lord has spoken to us. And this gives us the assurance that we are on the right path.
God says His thoughts toward us are thoughts of good. His plans are for good and not for evil. The enemy is just the opposite. He wants us to see doom and gloom happening to us in our future. But our Lord’s heart is always to give us a great vision and hope for our future (Jer. 29:11)!
So what does the Lord have for you and me this year? Friend, the Lord has shown me that 2022 is going to be . . .
I received the theme for 2022 in a dream. It was so clear. In my dream, the Lord said, “This will be the year of rest and acceleration.” The next thing I knew, I saw myself standing on a moving travelator in an airport. All around the travelator, I saw people rushing about, dragging their heavy luggage, and looking stressed and anxious. Many of them were running. Some were sprinting. And they were all out of breath!
I looked at them, and I felt compassion for them. All the while, I was calm. I was restful on the travelator. It wasn’t that I wasn’t headed anywhere or that I didn’t have bags to carry. I looked beside me and saw that I had two heavy bags. But they were resting on the travelator, being carried effortlessly along with me. So even though I was resting, I was moving faster than the people around me were. I was making progress without stress and anxiety! Then I woke up, and I realized it was the clearest dream of the vision of the year that the Lord has ever given me—the year of rest and acceleration.
It sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Rest and acceleration have opposite meanings. When you are resting, how can you be accelerating? And when you are accelerating, how can you be resting?
But God’s ways are not the ways of the world, and we are told in Scripture not to be conformed with this world (Rom. 12:2). The world says, “If you don’t look out for number one, if you don’t rush, if you don’t get to the first place, others will get there before you. You’ve got to do it fast, make money fast, or the opportunity will pass.” And the world will tell you, “You need to help yourself or nothing is going to happen, let alone happen quickly.” But the Lord has a better way for us. He doesn’t want us to rush, push, and get all stressed out with little or no results to show for it. He doesn’t want us to worry about what we need to do and how we need to do it quickly all by ourselves.
God knows best, and He is saying when you enter His rest this year, things are going to accelerate for you. Things that will ordinarily take months or years to accomplish, the Lord will manifest them swiftly for you.
Has your doctor told you that you’ll need months of treatment before you see improvement in your condition? Or maybe the industry experts are saying it will take years before your new business starts to rake in profits. Perhaps you’ve been praying for years for restoration in your relationship with your teenager. Friend, as you enter the Lord’s rest this year, He will accelerate things for you, and your breakthrough shall quickly manifest.
In the dream I had, the Lord also said to me that all this rest and acceleration has everything to do with Him restoring the tabernacle of David. You may be thinking, What has restoring David’s tabernacle got to do with rest and acceleration? Look with me at the Old Testament prophecy given by Amos:
The Lord is talking here about restoring the tabernacle of David, which is a picture of the church under the new covenant of grace, as we shall see. And it is in this season of the Lord raising David’s tabernacle and closing up its breaches that we shall see days where “the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed.” If you understand the growing cycle of crops in Israel, you’ll see what a beautiful and vivid picture of acceleration and abundance the Lord is giving us here.
Normally, the plowman, who tills the ground in preparation to sow seed, doesn’t meet, let alone overtake, the reaper who collects the harvest because the times of plowing and reaping are months apart. Similarly for the treader of grapes and sower of seeds. Yet the prophet is describing this unheard-of situation. Imagine: Before the reaper can finish harvesting, the plowman is there! It’s an image of such rapid growth and such a great harvest that seed-time and harvest are but one.
Wouldn’t you say verse 13 is beautiful Bible imagery of acceleration and abundant harvest? Now let me give you The Message translation, which really brings out the spirit of verse 13:
Isn’t that just amazing?
Friend, this year, the Lord wants to give you such an abundant harvest that before you can reap it all, it’s time for plowing and sowing seed! Good things will happen so fast to you that your head will swim! I want you to hold in your heart this faith picture of good things taking place so swiftly for you in 2022. Whether it’s restoration of broken relationships in your family life, complete healing for a disease or a condition you’ve been suffering, a breakthrough in your career, or deliverance from an addiction you can’t seem to break free of, expect the Lord to accelerate and manifest your breakthrough this year!
Notice also that we will see blessings like wine pouring off the hills. This prophecy also appears in Joel 3:18 KJV:
Friend, mountains dripping with sweet wine is a picture of abundance. Imagine vineyard terraces all over the mountains, and harvests so plentiful it seems as if the mountains are dripping sweet wine! Generally, grapes grown on terraces on steep slopes yield better quality wine than those grown on flat ground.¹ This speaks of abundance in both quantity and quality. And for the hills to flow with milk, it would mean the cattle have so much food that they are able to keep producing milk—another picture of abundance!
And that’s not all. Wine in the Bible typifies joy. I believe that as we flow with what the Lord has for us this year, there will be so much joy, it will swallow up for us all the sighs and groans of the last few years!
Did you know new wine in the Bible also speaks of the power of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18, Acts 2:4, 15)? This year, I believe we will walk in the power of the Spirit in a tangible way. Let’s not just desire to see the fruits of the Spirit, let’s also earnestly covet the best gifts, as the apostle Paul tells us (1 Cor. 12:31 KJV). Let’s ask God for the gifts of healings to manifest more and more this year so we can minister to those around us who are sick. Let’s covet the word of wisdom where the Spirit helps us to see what we need to know about the future. And let’s covet the word of knowledge, so that we’re not at a loss to understand the problems our loved ones and people who come to us are facing, and we’re able to see the Lord’s answers for them. The Lord wants us to have these gifts to be a blessing, so this year, let’s believe we will flow in these gifts in an accelerated fashion!
The Lord is not restoring the elaborate tabernacle of Moses or even the magnificent temple of Solomon or Herod but the tabernacle of David. As I said earlier, David’s tabernacle is all about the church that He’s building in these days. When we learn what the Lord is referring to, we will also see what is to be our priority—so we can flow with Him to experience His rest as well as an unprecedented acceleration of the blessings and breakthroughs He has for us this year.
But before we take a closer look at David’s tabernacle, let me just quickly address the belief that this prophecy about the tabernacle of David is speaking of events that will only take place in the millennial rule of Christ on earth. Let me show you from the Word that Amos 9:11–13 isn’t speaking of a future time. It’s a prophecy that had begun to be fulfilled with the existence of the early church in the book of Acts and is most relevant for us, the church in the last days.
If you read about the meeting of the Jerusalem council in the book of Acts, you’ll see that the fulfillment of Amos’s prophecy began with the salvation of Gentiles. Back then, there were those in the early church who argued that the Gentiles who were getting saved needed to keep the law of Moses. On hearing this, Peter rose up and humbly entreated them all to see what the Lord had done for the Gentiles and to follow their example of being saved by grace, not by keeping the law (Acts 15:8–11). Now, listen to what apostle James said toward the end of the council meeting:
James quoted the prophecy of Amos, showing us that its fulfillment began with God saving the Gentiles. James was essentially telling the elders of the early church, “Guys, us seeing the Gentiles getting saved just by grace is Amos’s prophecy coming to pass, the one where God says, ‘Behold, I’ll rebuild the tabernacle of David so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord.’” So in quoting the prophet Amos, James was confirming that the new covenant of grace is a fulfillment of this prophecy.
Today Gentiles are still being saved. We are still in the church age, still under the new covenant of grace. The Lord is still actively rebuilding the tabernacle of David and repairing its breaches, and I believe that as we are living in the end times, this restoration of broken areas is coming to its culmination. We know we are in the last days because there have been many signs that our redemption draws near, including the worldwide COVID-19 plague (Luke 21:10–11, 25–28).
Wouldn’t you say that the global pandemic represented a major breach—a complete break from normalcy—for everyone over the last two years? We saw people unable to move about freely and unable to go to church with all the restrictions, disruptions, and lockdowns. We saw the enemy trying his best to stop the spread of the gospel of Christ. But we also saw our Lord Jesus—the Lord of Time and Space—giving our church and many others the wisdom and technology to reach out to more people to get even more souls saved than ever before! And I believe we are going to see a landslide of souls this year—of mankind seeking the Lord, as Amos prophesied. If you’ve been praying for or feeling heartbreak over a loved one who isn’t saved, take heart. I’m believing with you to see these loved ones getting saved faster than you can imagine!
Friend, the Lord is moving and repairing breaches in His church (that’s you and me) this year. In your own life, if there are breaches—in your health, in your relationships with your children, or in your marriage—believe and expect the Lord to repair those breaches in an accelerated way this year. And know this: When the Lord repairs, when He restores, it’s always greater in quantity and/or quality. For example, if your marriage has turned bland like plain water, expect the Lord to turn it into intoxicating wine like how He turned water into the best wine at the wedding in Cana. And He wants to accelerate this blessing for you!
As the Lord showed me in my dream, it is when we are at rest that we will experience acceleration in the restoration and blessings the Lord has for us this year. The Lord told me, “When you rest well, you will work well and accelerate well.”
This is why we are studying the tabernacle of David—because everything about it points to our Lord Jesus, and the more you see Jesus and His finished work, the more you enter His rest.
Beloved, the Lord’s heart is for you to walk in His rest every day of this year. Maybe you’re exhausted because you’ve been trying so hard to hold your marriage together, to be a better parent, or to see good success in your job or ministry. Stop striving, my friend. Our Lord Jesus doesn’t want you heavy-laden and burdened with anxiety, sicknesses, or pains. He wants you to catch a fresh revelation of His love and finished work so that you would come boldly to Him and find real rest. Listen to His invitation to you:
The Lord did not say, “Come to a formula or technique.” No, He said, “Come unto ME.” When you come to Him, He Himself—literally His very person—will rest you. That is what the original Greek actually says. So come to Him, in whom is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Allow Him to gently guide you and lead you in His ways of grace which will not be burdensome. Watch Him provide the strength, the wisdom, and the protection you need. And when it is the Lord Almighty energizing you, working in you and through you, you will find true rest and experience an effortless acceleration to your breakthrough! It all starts by seeing Him afresh and valuing His very presence.
I hope you’re excited now to take a closer look at the tabernacle of David. There are exciting things the Lord wants to show us here about the secrets to rest and acceleration, beginning with how the tabernacle of David even came to be, what its unique features were, and how it ended up on Mount Zion. Are you ready?
It all started because David had an intense desire to bring the ark of the Lord back into the midst of God’s people in Jerusalem. Why? Because the ark of the covenant was where the presence of God dwelt in Old Testament times. In David’s time, the ark had been in Kirjath Jearim for twenty years, while the people were worshiping God in Gibeon in the tabernacle of Moses, which was void of the ark. Instead of leaving the ark neglected at Kirjath Jearim as Saul, the king before him had, David made it his priority when he became king to bring the ark to the capital, Jerusalem. In Psalm 132, David said:
David would not rest until he found a permanent resting place for the ark amongst God’s people. Why? Because David treasured the presence of the Lord. David was a person who deeply valued intimacy with the Lord. You’ll find him writing in the psalms how he loved to be under the wings of the cherubim of the ark, abiding “under the shadow of the Almighty,” covered with “His feathers,” and taking refuge “under His wings” (Ps. 91:1–4). He longed to “dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Ps. 23:6).
And for this, the Lord called him “a man after My own heart.” In fact, Scripture tells us that for valuing the ark and wanting to bring it to Jerusalem, God not only loved David but had a special liking for this man. Once, after David ascended the throne, he gathered his leaders, musicians, and mighty men together, and told them:
I love that! We all know God loves each one of us. But when we value the presence of His Son as David valued the ark, we warm His heart in a special way. And I want to be that person, don’t you?
I believe God wants us to see something about the way David valued the ark of the covenant, and that is to value and seek the presence of our Lord Jesus above all things this year.
Did you know that valuing the presence of Jesus is a sign of wisdom? After Solomon, David’s son, received divine wisdom in a dream, he sought to worship the Lord—at the tabernacle of David, where the ark of the covenant was. Before this, Solomon had worshiped the Lord at Gibeon, where all the religious practices were held but where the ark was missing. Today, to want to be occupied with the person of Jesus Christ is still a sign of wisdom because in Him is abundant life, protection for us and our families, healing, and provision for every need!
As you study David’s tabernacle, you’ll see it was essentially a tent housing only one piece of furniture. While it may not have been elaborate like Moses’s tabernacle, it had the most important feature that made all the difference—the ark of the Lord or the ark of the covenant.
If you have been following my ministry, you would know I’ve preached many sermons on how the ark typifies our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know why? It’s because God told me years ago, “Every answer you need is in a revelation of Jesus.”
And, friend, God meant for the ark to be the clearest expression or revelation of the person, glory, and beauty of His beloved Son, Jesus, and His finished work. When God gave instructions for how to build the ark of the covenant, His heart was full of His Son. While God gave the law to show man that they are sinners, He gave the ark to show them their Savior. And this year, He wants us to keep growing in our revelation of Jesus and His finished work (2 Pet. 1:2). This is how rest and acceleration will come.
Look with me now at the materials and elements of the ark of the covenant and see afresh the person and finished work of our Lord Jesus:
‣ The golden pot of manna represented the people’s rejection of God’s provision.
‣ Aaron’s rod that budded with almond flowers represented the people’s rejection of God’s appointed leadership.
‣ The Ten Commandments represented the people’s rejection of God’s standard of holiness.
God covered these tokens of man’s rebellion with the mercy seat sprinkled with blood so that His holy eyes would see only the atoning blood (reminding Him of His Son’s sacrifice) instead of the people’s sins, and He could send His people blessings instead of punishment.
Looking at the illustration above, do you see how the mercy seat—grace—is higher than the law? This is why the Bible says we fall from grace and make Christ of no effect to ourselves when we try to keep the law in order to earn our salvation or blessings (Gal. 5:4).
Let’s not, like the people of Beth Shemesh (1 Sam. 6:13–19), push aside the mercy seat and try to bring out the law or focus on your, as well as others’, sins. Instead, let’s press in for a fresh appreciation of how Jesus is our mercy seat today. Let’s press in for a fresh revelation of His blood that forgives and has paid for all our blessings. Then we will find His Spirit of grace leading us to live the Christ-glorifying life He has called us to (2 Cor. 3:18)!
The ark in the tabernacle of David is not just a picture of Jesus Christ, it is also a picture of Him being in the center place of the church and in our personal lives. God wants His Son to be central—not the means to an end.
My friend, in our church and in our lives this year, let’s make sure we have the ark of the Lord—His person and His presence at the center of it all. Without Him being central and without His shed blood and finished work being exalted or preached, we won’t see lives transformed. In all that we do, let’s value the person and presence of our Lord Jesus and let’s exalt His finished work, and not our own works. Let’s always give Him the preeminence.
This year, the Lord wants us to put Him in the center and see Him in the midst in our family life, marriages, and parenting. Husbands, we are to love our wives “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Eph. 5:25). And wives are to submit to their husbands “as to the Lord” (Eph. 5:22). Not submit in the servile way that the world understands submission to be, but as to the Lord, seeing Him taking care of you, protecting you, and giving you favor and godly influence.
As parents, let’s realize that our most important priority is not for our precious children to be the best at school, sports, or the creative arts, but for them to know the Lord and His love for them in a wholly personal way. This is what really imparts wisdom, strength, resilience, peace, and good success to them. If you’re struggling in your relationship with your children right now, begin to see Him in the midst of your parenting—loving you, resting you, and leading you with His peace and wisdom to best raise your children at every stage.
Beloved, when you give Jesus center place, you don’t need to worry about how to live a godly life or how to change your behavior. These things become easy because they are a by-product of fixing your eyes on Jesus and growing in your revelation of Him.
So let me ask you: what is at the center of your heart right now?
Perhaps you are embarking on a new career and the sheer demand of it all is taking center place in your heart. Please understand there is nothing wrong at all with being diligent and responsible—our work is part of our divine responsibilities this side of heaven. But even as we work and serve our bosses, we work as unto the Lord, knowing that it is from Him that we receive our reward (Col. 3:22, 24). God wants our eyes to be on Jesus, giving Him center place, even as we go about our work because when our eyes are on Him, blessings flow.
And friend, the Lord wants to bless us in all things—not just in our careers but also when it comes to provision, healing, family well-being, and relationships. When you value the Lord and seek what He seeks and follow after Him, you will find that His paths are paths of peace and rest (Luke 1:79 NLT, Ps. 23:1–3), paths that also drip with abundance for you and your family (Ps. 65:11)!
Let me show you one more thing about the tabernacle of David to see something the Lord is doing that He wants us to take advantage of this year.
Unlike Moses’s tabernacle, David’s tabernacle did not have a thick veil separating man from the presence of God. David and the Israelites could come freely to the Lord’s presence at the ark to worship and praise Him with music and dancing. There were no religious hoops to jump through, no gates to pass through, no washings to observe. But there was plenty of joyful praise and worship with various musical instruments right before the ark of the Lord. The Lord is restoring this all over the world today—you see praise and worship popping up everywhere.
That’s why David’s tabernacle speaks of the church today under the new covenant of grace. The veil separating man from a holy God has been torn in two because of the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus (Matt. 27:50–51). The Bible tells us, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:19–22).
Friend, the more you come to the Lord this year, the more that disease dies, the more that depression dissipates, the more that addiction falls away. It’s a new and living way where you receive His resurrection life, His unsurpassed wisdom, His robust peace, His abundant provision, and His God-kind of results.
If there’s barrenness or a breach in the area of your health, my friend, don’t delay a moment longer. Draw near to the Lord with a heart assured of His love for you, assured that the blood has been shed for your forgiveness, and come boldly to His presence to receive a fresh impartation of His life and strength and renewal of youth. And this is what the Communion is about.
When you come to His presence and partake of the bread, remembering and thanking Him for His body broken that yours might be whole; when you partake of the cup, thanking Him for all the benefits of His shed blood, His healing and life are released into your body and mind. Healing for every kind of breach and every kind of supply you need is imparted to you.
So I want to encourage you to come boldly, freely, and frequently to the Lord for your every need this year. Remember: there is no veil, no judgment—only a new and living way where His grace, healing, and provision superabound for you. And every time you come, you’ll receive a fresh and new impartation of health in every area, so that before you know it, you are walking in a newness of life you’ve never had before—in your body, mind, and emotions!
Let’s look at one last thing about the tabernacle of David. We know it rested on Mount Zion. Psalm 132:13–14 tells us:
You may be wondering why the Lord chose Mount Zion as His “resting place forever.” That’s because Mount Zion speaks of the new covenant of grace that we as the church are now under because of Jesus’ finished work. The Holy Spirit was poured out on Mount Zion on the day of Pentecost, and it resulted in the church being born with 3,000 souls saved. In contrast, when the law was given on Mount Sinai, 3,000 people died at the foot of the mountain. This goes to show that the letter (the law) kills, but the Spirit (grace) gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).
Friend, God has moved from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion. He has desired and chosen Mount Zion. We are no longer on Mount Sinai under the law, but we are on Mount Zion under grace. The author of Hebrews tells us, “For you have not come to the mountain [Sinai] that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest . . . but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” (Heb. 12:18, 22–23).
Do you know that when Psalm 132:13 tells us, “For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it,” the word desired in Hebrew (avah) has the meaning of “intense craving”?²
It’s on Mount Zion—under grace—that you will find the power to overcome sin and walk in the supply you need to lead a life for His glory (Rom. 6:14).
I’ve preached before that law and grace can be understood simply as this: the law demands, but grace supplies, and we see this captured in Psalm 132:15–16, which says this of Mount Zion:
Friend, the story of the tabernacle of David begins and ends with rest. And it is on Mount Zion, not Mount Sinai, that you will find rest from the heavy burden of the law, rest from anxiety and stress, and rest that will bring forth abundant provision, salvation and deliverance, angelic help even, and joy unspeakable! So stay on Mount Zion—don’t depend on your own self-efforts to secure your blessings but be firmly established in His unmerited favor alone—and you will experience His unshakable rest and provision this year!
I hope that what I have shared so far has blessed you and given you and your family a vision for 2022.
Let me also share with you a testimony that helps to illustrate for you what I’ve been sharing. This testimony comes from a precious sister, Allison*, who resides in Virginia in the United States. I got to read her powerful testimony of accelerated deliverance from bulimia just the night before I preached the theme of the year in my church. Here is the testimony in her own words:
I struggled with bulimia, an eating disorder, for thirty years since the age of twelve. Every meal felt like I had a gun to my throat—there was so much stress and pressure to eat the right way. I would eat and throw up daily. Once in a while, I would even bleed.
I had already been through multiple recovery programs and hospitalizations, and I still had not changed. I would reach out to friends every time I struggled, which felt like a never-ending process. Nothing seemed to be able to help me overcome this eating disorder.
Then, in the last quarter of 2021, I started listening to Pastor Prince’s messages daily for a month, and I knew that the Lord was healing me.
One night in December, I felt desperate and downloaded a message by Pastor Prince titled “Jesus—the End of Your Struggles” and listened to it closely.
That day, I asked the Lord to help me receive what He was saying to me. Praise the Lord, His gospel is so simple and powerful!
As I reflected on the words “as Jesus is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17),” I said to myself that as Jesus is without any eating disorders and is not worried about what to eat or what is in the future, so am I. As Jesus does not hate His body, so neither do I hate my body. I also confessed that I no longer have all these struggles and that Jesus is now my true identity.
I simply prayed and asked God to help me to receive this truth, and I decided to stop all my efforts to try to control or prevent the eating disorder.
The next day, I went about my day and every meal felt like a normal eating experience! I didn’t experience any anxiety while eating and neither was I trying to control or watch what I eat.
Since that day, I have been enjoying complete freedom from the grip of the eating disorder that had me struggling for thirty years!
Wow, what a beautiful testimony of rest and acceleration! For thirty long years, Allison fought a losing battle with bulimia. But after she received a revelation of the Lord, she stopped trying to “eat the right way,” which wasn’t working but piling up stress and pressure, and just rested in the Lord and what she saw of Him in His Word. She prayed a simple prayer and the next day, she was completely set free. Friend, I believe that what our Lord Jesus has done for Allison, He wants to and will do for you this year.
Whatever the challenge you may be facing this year, whatever the breakthrough you wish to possess this year, as Allison discovered, your answer is in a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest wisdom is to know Him. The greatest possession is to have Him. Keep coming to Him and letting Him rest you. He is waiting for you with open arms, His ears inclined to your every cry and groan. When you can’t find words to pray, you can pray in the Spirit, and allow rivers of peace, rest, and healing to wash over you (John 7:37–38). Or you can just come to Him with a song of praise and worship and find His loving presence resting your anxious heart and mind.
You can also come to Him by tuning in to Christ-centered messages that exalt His person and His finished work. And when you’re reading the Word, ask the Holy Spirit to open up the Scriptures to you and show you “things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27), and your heart will be fired up with His love and strength. Be a Mary who prioritized sitting at Jesus’ feet to receive His Word. It’s not that you can’t be busy. But do the one thing needful, and you won’t be troubled by many things but be full of rest (Luke 10:38–42). You’ll also find yourself doing the right thing at the right time.
Beloved, the more you personally encounter Him and enter the Lord’s rest this year, that deep despondency, that lifelong addiction, that chronic illness, or that inability to find a decent job will soon be gone. The more you see our Lord Jesus, our true ark revealed, and the more you draw near to the Lord in intimacy and value His presence and finished work, the more you will be at rest, and the more your life will be transformed. You will see acceleration happen, and you’ll step into a radiant, overcoming life dripping with joy and every good thing from above!
We also encourage you to listen to the message The Year of Rest and Acceleration in full.
* The testimony giver’s name has been changed to protect her privacy.
Notes: