Be Alert! Be Ready! Advance! Increase!
Be Alert!
In 2023 you will need to be awake and alert to the voice of the Lord. It is a time for increase and advancement. Doors of opportunity will be opening but the adversaries will attempt to hold you back. But as you spend time with the Lord daily in prayer and in the word, you will be equipped with God’s wisdom and discernment to navigate easily into those opportunities.
“Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him…” 1 Peter 5:8,9
“Be on the alert at all times, praying…” Luke 12:35
“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” Ephesians 6:18
Be Ready!
This year will be a year of victory, but the victories come from winning battles. Be dressed in readiness. Be dressed to win. Clothe yourselves in the armor of God. Spend time in worship to God and in the Word so you can know God’s will and decree His truth. Increase your authority in the spirit by living in righteousness. Walk in love. Avoid the traps of getting offended. Our battle is not flesh and blood. We battle principalities and powers of darkness. Our weapons of praise, the Word, righteousness and love are powerful for pulling down the darkness and opposition around us.
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8
“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 NLT
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:4
Advance!
2023 is a year of moving forward, of advancing into all God has for you – all He has called and purposed for you to be and to do; all the things He has promised for you!
It’s time for you to get clear about where you are headed and take steps to move forward and advance in your personal growth, your goals, assignments, calling and purpose. Don’t hold back – now is the time to grow and advance into all you are called to be and to do and to possess. Just as Joshua was appointed to lead Israel into what God had promised them so God is calling you into your calling and promises. (Read Chapter 1 of Joshua to encourage yourself in all God has for you!)
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
Increase!
I heard the Lord say, “You have seen how I replenish, now you will see how I increase.”
For the last two years God has encouraged us to sow Genesis 26:12 giving. In Genesis 26 God called Isaac to sow into the land the Lord had promised to him and his generations. But it didn’t look like a good place to sow. There was a famine in the land. There were drought conditions. He planned to go to Egypt where there was better opportunity. But he followed God’s encouragement to sow into the land, even in a time of drought and in verse12 it says, “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.”
That is an amazing blessing to see that in a time of famine and drought reaping in the same year! And we have testimony after testimony of how God has blessed in both financial and other ways after partners have sowed into the Genesis 26:12 promise; how bank accounts and food have miraculously replenished and blessings have increased!
But now the Lord says He has more!
Not only will we see the blessing of the replenishment but we are advancing into Genesis 26:13. “The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous.” (NKJV) or “and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy” NASB
Just as Isaac saw that the Lord blessed and prospered him when he sowed, so we will also receive as we sow, the increase of prosperity, wealth and blessings of Genesis 26:13in 2023 and beyond!
I love both the words “prosperous” and “wealthy” because they speak so much more than just about money and material things, such as prospering in health (3Jn 1:2) and wealth of wisdom (Prov 3:15-17). The word translated “prosperous” or “wealthy” in Genesis 26:13 means: to grow, to become greater and includes: to advance, become rich, increase, highly valued, educated, magnified. It includes riches and material wealth but it also means to prosper in influence, value, personal growth, and to become a greater person than you were before.
Can you see yourself becoming greater in your health and strength, in loving others, advancing in your career, becoming great in wisdom and wealth and influence and fruitfulness?
In 2023, expect to increase in every area of your life!
Contributor: Jane Watrich
