Tears of gratitude flow as I reflect on the past year. Lord in spite of me, You have brought me to levels of my destiny that I have always dreamed of, yet I know this is still only the beginning. I know there is so much more in store, so much for me to do, so much work yet to be done in me.
Thank You Lord for preserving me with Your grace and mercy that I might live to see this day. I’m so thankful to know that no matter what happened in my past, I still have a bright future and even today shines brightly because of Your Love in my life.
Today, I come before You asking for a fresh start to a new year. I repent of any fleshly desires, doubts and fears. Lord cleanse me and dress me in Your Holiness as I rededicate my life to You. I want my days to be increasingly marked by my love, obedience and service for You. More importantly, I give my life to You to use as You please. You have done so much for me, the very least I can give You is myself.
In the coming year, “let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, Oh Lord my Strength and My Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14 NKJV). For “one thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Psalm 27:4 NIV
Dear Lord, I cannot do anything else but offer you my deepest heartfelt praise right now. You are so awesome! Your guidance and provision is so complete, so thorough, so perfect!
Every time I place my trust in You, You never let me down. You orchestrate my life so that it always works out in my favor. I need not fear disappointment or failure as long I stay close to You.
Thank You for what You are doing in my family. Generational curses and bondage are defeated in Jesus’ Name!
Patterns of abandonment, lack, depression and divorce now cease. You have written a new legacy for us! Our story now includes everlasting love, support, happiness and success! Thank You for being faithful to complete these works in each one of us Lord God.
You have given our hearts a new song to sing. You are the reason we dance, clap, lift our hands and our voices and say Hallelujah! We give You the Highest Praise for there is None like You!
Psalm 30 (New King James Version)
1 I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me.
3 O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.[a]
4 Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.[b]
5 For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.
6 Now in my prosperity I said,
“I shall never be moved.”
7 LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;
You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
8 I cried out to You, O LORD;
And to the LORD I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my blood,
When I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?
10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me;
LORD, be my helper!”
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
I can’t help but shake my head sometimes in wonder that I am even still alive. Left to my own devices I would probably be long gone or certainly in a far worse condition than I am in.
As an emotional human being I have made hasty decisions, foolish plans and have been purely reckless at times. I have taken life for granted and gambled with my health and well-being. In my younger days it seems my actions came from a place of self-hatred or just plain indifference to the value of life.
Now that I am a little older and wiser, I see life for the gift that it is. I thank God every day for allowing me to see the sun, for breathing His life into me once again and for giving me the ability to simply enjoy myself.
Thinking this way causes me to be grateful for what I have rather than wishful for what I think I don’t have. Whatever it is, I don’t need it. My God has supplied all of my needs according to His riches and glory. His grace is truly sufficient for me. Without it, I don’t know where I would be or how I would survive.
Thank You Lord for Your Love, Your Mercy and Your Divine Protection that keeps us even in spite of ourselves.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (New International Version)
9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Dear Lord, I don’t think I can ever thank You enough for simply being there. You are so faithful and consistent! There are times when I feel like no one understands me but then I can’t help but smile because I know You understand. All the frustration fades away as I rest in Your Arms knowing that You see my heart. You know the pain that resides there, You know the areas that need healing. When I give those hurt feelings over to You, they begin to heal with just one touch of Your Hand.
During the times that I feel there is no energy left to do the things I need to do, You gently encourage me to keep going. You show me better ways to get things done. You send the answers and the resources sometimes before I can even ask.
You bring stability to my life because You never change. You are Holiness and Perfection so therefore You will never do me wrong. Your plans for me are good, Your thoughts toward me are peaceful, Your banner over me is Love. There is none like You Lord, so I place all of my faith and trust in You. There is no place I would rather be than in You.
Deuteronomy 32:3-4 (New International Version)
3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.
Excuse me, I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Victory. I have been through the fire and I have been through the flood. I have been abused, scorned, ridiculed and neglected. I have been foolish, careless and just plain wrong. I have been so miserable that I wondered why I was even here.
But I stand before you today a new person. Sometimes I almost forget who I used to be because everything is so different now. God came in and performed a wonder in my life. My joy runs deep, my peace is sustained and I am full of hope for tomorrow.
Life is so miserable without hope. But Christ in us IS the hope of glory. Because I can see where He brought me from, I know that He is not finished with me yet. My struggles of today will not be my struggles tomorrow for I am being changed from glory to glory.
Be encouraged today that the Lord will fight your battles and bring you through victoriously. I see God’s hand in the lives of so many people. What has He done for you? How many times has your life been threatened but you are still here? Against what odds are you still breathing today? There is a reason why you are still here. Even if it seems the whole world is against you, God is on your side and yes, He still has a plan for you.
Believe Him for your victory and give Him the glory for the things He has already done!
Romans 8:28 (Amplified Bible)
28We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.
Romans 8:36-40 (Amplified Bible)
36Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter.
37Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.
38For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,
39Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Lord this morning and every morning I just have to stop and give You praise. Thank You for being Ever-Present in the time of need! There is not a day, hour or minute where I have to wonder where You are because You are always here.
Just as You promised, You never leave me or forsake me. Your grace and Your mercy follows me. Your Righteousness upholds me, Your Faithfulness sustains me, Your Love completes me. I am so well taken care of, but it doesn’t stop there. I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging bread and Lord you certainly provide for me and mine.
In seasons of “lack”, You made up the difference Lord. You supernaturally cared for us when we could not care for ourselves. You have not withheld any good thing from us. You fill our days with joy and laughter and our nights with comfort and security. You correct us so that we can be more like You and You lovingly guide us to the Truth so that we might be free.
My heart is singing, “Great is thy Faithfulness, Oh Lord, Great is thy Faithfulness!!”
Lamentations 3:22-23 (New International Version)
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for His compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Each one of us has a unique purpose and calling on our life, however all of mankind also shares a common destiny: we were created to worship and glorify the Lord in the earth. There are times when it can be difficult for anyone to walk out their purpose and destiny so I am offering you this encouragement today. Don’t allow anything or anyone to steal your purpose!
If there is ever any doubt that you can fulfill the calling on your life to worship God, remember that you were made for this! God is so sure that you can do it, that He said if you won’t then He will get the rocks to cry out! How ridiculous would that be?
You were created with a voice to sing His praise and speak of His goodness, hands to lift in adoration, knees to bow in reverence and feet to carry your thankfulness with you wherever you go.
You are so divinely appointed to worship that if you don’t do it, you feel an emptiness, a longing inside that just gnaws away at you sometimes. In those moments you wonder about your existence, you wonder why you are even here and you feel so unfulfilled. You feel that way because your heart longs to worship its Creator! There is an empty space inside of you that only He can fill; your heart grows sick when it is separated from Him!
Step into your destiny today; be fulfilled and worship Him! Thank Him for simply waking you up this morning! Thank Him for providing for your needs and your desires. Worship Him because He is God.
Psalm 150 (New International Version)
1 Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD.
Lord I come before you now with a heart full of thanksgiving. Because of You I know what is to be Loved. I know peace and joy because of Your presence in my life. You are my joy.You are my hope. My trust is firmly anchored in You Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer.
Your love is sweet and Your voice is music to my ears. I love to sing your praise and speak of your goodness Lord! Where would I be without Your Love? I would not be here to talk about how You set me free from heartache and pain. I would not be here to testify about the beautiful friends and family you have blessed me with. I would not be here to share your Love and compassion with anyone else if you had not rescued me from the hell I was in.
No matter how uncertain it seems, I will praise you continually. I will keep my eyes on you instead of the situation because I know You have it under control. I can praise You because it is already done! You deserve the highest praise Jesus. I will bless Your name forever for You are Holy, You are Perfect, You are Love.
Psalm 34:1-3 (New King James Version)
1 I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
Lord, today I just have to take the time to Thank You. Even as I try to speak the words, I get choked up with tears because You are so unbelievably good! You never cease to amaze me with your Love. Your Love feels like a crown upon my head, precious jewels adorning my body and golden sandals on my feet. You make me feel weightless, as if I am being carried through life in your unchanging Hand.
Sometimes I wonder if You eagerly await my response to one of your many blessings, like a Heavenly surprise. You take pleasure in blowing me away, don’t You? Because You do! Do You compete with Yourself to see how much You can make me smile? Every time I think I just can’t be any happier, You drop something on me that leaves me breathless.
I Love You. A million times singing I Love You would not be enough. I am so thankful, so thankful for everything You have done for me. None of it do I deserve, yet somehow You shower Your Love upon me freely. Thank You, Precious Father. There is none like You and I worship You with all of my being.
Psalm 103:1 (New King James Version)
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
