This is the first message of 2023. First of all, I am thankful for the break. I needed it. I was able to rest, get refreshed, and spend some time with God. I pray you enjoyed the break as well.
We just crossed over into another year. The passing of a calendar year presents us with an opportunity to reflect on the progress (or lack thereof) we have made in our lives. It also gives us a chance to rededicate ourselves to seeking God’s will and living according to His plan for our lives. The start of a new year can be a time to set new goals and make positive changes that will help us to grow closer to God and to fulfill His purpose.
As we enter this new year, this is a time to pray, seek God, hear His voice, and align our decisions and actions with what we hear in the Spirit. My church goes on a 21-day fast at the beginning of each year. Our fast started yesterday and today is Day 2. I am looking forward to hearing from God concerning 2023, and I have already received several things, some of which I will share with you.
Isabella and I always bring in the new year in church, in prayer, seeking God, with our hearts OPEN to hear His voice for the new season. On New Year’s Eve, while I was in worship, on my knees, seeking God’s face (note: it’s easier to hear God when you seek His face (who He is) and not His hands (what He can do for you)), God spoke to me about Today’s Word for the month of January. He told me to start the year with a series on the miracles of Jesus. So starting tomorrow, we will look at every miracle Jesus performed while he was on earth. I am excited about this series. For today, I will share a few thoughts about where I am with the new year.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. 2022 was a difficult year for many, but we are in a new season.
I know 2022 was a difficult year for many. Isabella and I faced many challenges last year. Most people will never know when we are facing something because we have always made it a practice not to glorify challenges. But we face challenges like everyone else. Thankfully, we overcame some significant challenges and obstacles by the grace of God.
I believe the challenges of 2022, and really the last two or three years, have stripped some people of their joy. It’s like people have “lost a step” in the spirit. But now, in this season, the Word I received on NYE from my spiritual parents (Tony and Cynthia Brazelton) was that this season will be a season of refreshing and restoring. I will do a great deal of teaching on this throughout the year.
In this season, we will be refreshed, restored, and revived. We will go back and experience the level of joy, excitement, fire, and fervor that we once had. I believe people will get their zeal, passion, and joy back in this season! I am excited about 2023, and I pray you are as well!
2. This will be a season of refreshing and restoring.
This is the scripture my Pastors shared on NYE, and it is one you will hear me expand on throughout the year.
(Psalm 126:4 TPT)
Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.
— We have to get back to a place where we believe God for the supernatural.
— We have to get back to a place where our hearts are set on God for all things!
— I remember when I had to believe God for just about everything. But today, many of us are so comfortable that we don’t pray, believe God, or seek His face as often as we should.
— I’ve heard it said that miracles are not as commonplace in the United States as in other places because “desperation is the breeding ground of miracles,” and many people in the U.S. are too comfortable to be desperate. Listen, desperate or not, this is a time for us to go back and believe God for the supernatural. Like the text says, “Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory!“
— Many of us remember a time when we needed God for just about everything. But now, many of us rely more on our bank account than our prayer room. I believe God is calling us back to a time when we spent more time with Him. This will be a season when those who hear the call, will spend more time in God’s presence, we will be more aware of His leading, and we will be very discerning concerning what to do and how to do it in 2023.
— The text says, “May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.” I believe we are going back to a time and place when we believed God, when we opened our hearts to walk with Him daily, with a level of faith and confidence in Him, powered by His grace, that we believed we could do anything. Because God can do anything, and He lives in us!
— God is going to make those dry places wet again. God is going to fill our hearts again. We will walk with the level of excitement and fire we once had.
— May every dry place in your heart be “drenched again” in this season!
3. There is a reason God wants me to teach about miracles.
— As we go through the miracles of Jesus, I want you to open up your heart to the supernatural again.
— I want you to believe in a God who can heal cancer.
— I want you to believe in a God who can cause deaf ears to open.
— I want you to believe in a God who can cause the blind to see and the lame to walk!
— I want you to believe in a God who can deliver people from the spirit of suicide, who can bring wayward children back home, who can restore broken marriages, and who can heal broken hearts.
— I want you to believe again. I want you to lift up your heart and get excited. I want you to open up your heart to God’s love, His grace, and also His power. I want you to believe in a God who can do all things.
— The Bible says, “all things are possible to him that believes” (Mark 9:23). You and I are believers! Let us believe again in 2023. Let us live in such a way that all things are possible for us.
— As we go through each miracle Jesus performed, I believe your faith will be ignited to believe in God who can do ANYTHING!
— This is a season where we will see the invisible and believe the impossible. This is a season where the supernatural will be natural to us. This is a season where the power of God will be manifested in our lives on a continual basis.
— This is a season of restoration and restitution. This is a season of joy and power. This is a season for us to see the hand of God move like we have not seen in a long time. I am excited about what God is going to do in 2023. I hope you share in my excitement!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for Your love and grace!
I believe this is a season of refreshing and restoring!
In this season, I will be refreshed in my spirit. I will spend time with You, and the Holy Spirit will renew, refresh, restore and revive me on the inside. This inner revival will lead to an outward manifestation of Your glory, in and through my life, to such a degree that everyone around me will acknowledge Your hand on me!
I also declare that this is a season of restoration and restitution for me. Whatever I lost, in my heart and in my life, in 2022 will be restored to a greater degree. I get my joy back in this season. You, Father, will restore me to the former glory and then take me to another level. YOu will also cause the enemy to have to pay restitution for every attack he brought against me. It would have been better for satan to have never attacked me or my family. This is our season. This is our time!
I believe You, Father, for the supernatural. There is nothing You can’t do, and I believe the supernatural will be natural to me in 2023. You open my eyes to see the invisible. You open my heart to believe the impossible. You manifest Your best in my life in this season! GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
