What an incredible year 2023 was! I can’t believe we’re already speaking of that epic year in the past tense! Wow! God has been so Faithful.

Whatever happened in the year 2023, you’re here now… that’s the conclusion of the whole matter. Whatever happened was not strong enough to harm you, hurt you, or halt you. Everything worked together for your good. Here you are, reading this… in the brand new year 2024! What an absolute privilege! You made it!

But hey, go easy on the resolutions and simply give thanks. Glorify Jesus for bringing you this far in life. Who would have thought that the little child born some three-odd decades ago would have made it this far. Like how? Here you are, healthy, sound, in your right mind, learning at His feet. What a good God!

You know, many resolutions come from a place of regret. Regrets from the mistakes made in the previous year(s). And I think this is one of the reasons they hardly work, because it lacks the susbtance of Grace. Zerubbabel rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem on the strength of Grace, not power or might. The idea most people have of resolution is such that you take stock of all the repeated cycles of negative patterns in previous years and from a distasteful feeling of dissatisfaction, you decide to stop something that has once stopped you.

Great as that may seem, the decision is often rooted in past errors and the feeling of condemnation. Yes, I know you’re not proud of everything that happened in the year 2023 or before. I know you could have done better, and I know you still have a lot to work on. But rather than projecting the negativities of the past years into the present, how about you catch a new vision for the year? Where you’re not trying to undo last year but simply recreating a new path into the future.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. — Genesis 1:1–3 KJV

You know, God in the beginning made the heaven and the earth but something happened to the earth He created. Something really destructive caused it to be without form and void. But see how God refuses to acknowledge the magnitude of the dysfunction when He got to verse 2. He simply went into reconstruction mode. Too many of us would have tried to explain why it got destroyed in the first place, so that we don’t look so bad:

Oh I’m not that sorry a creator, the enemy was just a little too much to handle; if not because I hadn’t sent an army of cherubims to guard the earth, lucipher would have had no way into this world; I made the earth destructible, so I can create it again… I knew what I was doing! Hehe

God paid no attention to trying to rationalise the supposed failure of the first earth, He simply created again. He spoke again! He decreed again! And it was established… all over again! He went about creating again with that supreme aura of Invincibility.

In the year 2024, you can create again, love again, sing again, teach again, plan again, execute again, and become all over again… all that The Father has declared over you. The creative power is still potent in your life. Stop crying over what was not done in previous years or what was not done well enough; you can create with strong acuity in vision and a stellar understanding of the times. You can push that button again!

I see you rising this new year. I see you becoming all the Father has written concerning you. I see you leaping over walls and going through troops like there’s nothing to them. This year, your bow abides and abounds in strength. Your hands are taught to fight and your fingers to war! No evil is capable of befalling you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. The love in your heart will cause you to excel above all your fellows. You carry the Anointing of The One with the excellent Name, you are made to be so much better. The Spirit of the Lord is upon you and you release the Fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus Christ everywhere you go. You can never be forsaken, because you’re the seed of a mighty God.

Go at it again this new year, with no weight of regret or condemnation. Thrive, under the mighty hands of the Almighty.

Have a beautiful year ahead.

God bless your heart.

Pastor Dami Oguntunde