With the first of the year, our church will begin our yearly fast. 21 days of eating like Daniel. Actually, it’s something I anticipate with relish. We’re all in one accord. We’re dying to the flesh. We’re awakening our spirit man. We’re losing weight. Lol Maybe not that last one. I never have lost any weight, maybe because I enjoy the veggies too much. But the thing that excites me the most is Revelation Knowledge. I fast with the expectancy that God wants to speak to me and reveal the anointed path for the coming year, to make course corrections I’ve previously overlooked, and well, just to show me Who He Is. And He never fails to show up.
As we look forward to a new year, there are some rumblings in my spirit. I’m not one to “take stock” of the previous year. I just keep living. But this year marked some incredible moments for me and those I love. Was it all peaches and cream? NO. Quite a bit of it was walking through the valley of the shadow of death and wrapping my belt of truth around me as tightly as it would go. I remember one day in particular as I sat in my fave restaurant with two of my closest friends, Angel and Ashlee. (Amy couldn’t come. They’re my Triple-A friends.) Anyway, I sobbed with my hands over my face IN A RESTAURANT because I’d come as far as I could go on my own. And like true spiritual friends, once they comforted me, they kicked me in the butt and reminded me of Truth. For a moment, I had gotten my eyes off the prize, come into agreement with the devil, and floundered in an ocean of misery. But I surrounded myself with believers who could help me rightly divide the word of truth. They gave me a word in season, and I bounced back. In fact, I became stronger, even zealous for victory. Was that my only moment of sorrow? No, there were more. Some situations, we still haven’t seen the other side of, but I’m learning an invaluable lesson, cast your care. Don’t examine it or try to rationalize it, just DUMP it at the Cross. Worship Him. For the first time in my life, I can say that in every moment of attack, I have set my face like flint, my backbone like steel, and turned in to the fight.
What brought about such a year of victory for me in the face of several harrowing experiences? I worshiped when I felt like dying. I chose to change my outlook and see through the lens of God’s perspective. Our personal condition is not truth. It’s transitory, changing from day-to-day. God’s perspective never changes. His truth is eternal. His purpose for me was written into my DNA. How did I accomplish this amazing feat of spiritual awakening? Much of it was supernatural. I asked, God answered. But I did lay some groundwork that I’d like to share with you.
I’ve posted about the seminar that Jeremy Caris is teaching on how to interpret dreams and visions. Change every plan you have to be there. This is why. At the beginning of 2015, I heard God tell me, New Year, New You, and by “hear” I mean I heard it in the spirit. If you don’t know how to “hear” from God, come to my class.
This is from a previous sermon- “On the first Saturday of January, Jeremy Caris started coming here (Life Church) to speak on prophecy and hearing from God. It was a couple of days before we were supposed to start our church-wide 21-day fast, so I had fasting on my mind. I was excited because God’s done remarkable miracles for our family when we fast. I got the most incredible word from Jeremy that the next 40 days would be this wonderful time with God and I would be changed when it was over, like coming out of a cave to find a new landscape. That certainly went along with what I’d heard from God myself- New Year, New You. Immediately, (while he was prophesying to me), I thought 40 days, that’s a fast. Instead of doing the fast for 21 days with the church, Gene and I extended for 40 days. The first day was this amazing, encouraging day on a mountain top. I was contacted by a couple of people who’d recently begun following my author page. Then, it was as if all hell broke loose. The situations I’d been praying about got worse. When this continued over several days, I realized that what I’d envisioned, this 40 days of floating on a cloud wrapped in God’s presence, wasn’t what He meant when He said He was going to be with me. I had a choice to make. I could be disappointed and give up because God didn’t meet my expectations, or I could choose to live in expectancy that God was doing something. I chose to believe that He was doing something. The first thing He told me was what He meant by that word from Jeremy- He was with me. It was a season of grace for me to go through some things that I’d break free from. That he would literally shelter me in the storm and give me grace to go through. I am all about avoidance, so going through definitely requires grace. New Year, New You.”
Let’s examine my year for the New:
I preached in my home church, Life Church, for the first time and several times since then. Now, it’s like walking up there and taking a drink of water. Easy. I think I could do it with my eyes closed, except I couldn’t see my notes, and you all know how I LOVE MY NOTES. Haha It’s just one of those supernatural things God has done for me…because I yielded.
I started a women’s Bible study, Prophetic Blessings, which is all about learning to hear from God so we can grow in the prophetic and DO THE STUFF.
I spoke at other women’s Bible Studies.
I attended a conference where they expected me to sit on a stage and answer questions about the Bible, just winging it. Talk about daunting. But I did it, and He whispered answers in my ear while He patted me on the back to keep me calm…because I yielded.
I attended two other conferences where the leaders would randomly call me to the stage to prophesy over the congregation. Winging it again. He showed up.
I got involved with people. You may think that sounds strange, but as Amy’s daughter would say, “I’m really more of a dog person than a people person.” This year, God changed all that…because I yielded.
Gene and I prayed about a situation in our lives that we wanted changed. We fasted together. And we had the SAME DREAM on the SAME NIGHT. Try and tell me fasting and prayer don’t work and that God doesn’t listen. Hah!
There are more things, but I think you get the jist of it. God said, New Year, New You. I said Yes. He showed up in ways beyond my expectations, because I yielded. Because I worshiped Him. Because I recognize that He is my all-in-all, no matter the landscape around me.
What am I trying to tell you? Worship. Live in expectancy. Get out of the boat. Walk on Water. Lay a spiritual groundwork for-
New Year, New You.
