For the Lord would say, “In this year of joyful increase, not only do I want to increase your joy, but I also want to increase your finances. I want to increase your health, the many days of health. I want to increase your faith. I want to increase your levels of encouragement for others.”
The Lord wants to do so many new things. Now, I want to give you this admonition because, whenever God gives a word like that, Satan immediately tries to steal your joy. If you’re not careful, he’ll send words and thoughts into you that you’ll assimilate as your own: “Well, God doesn’t love me. I’m not gonna be the one who has the joyful increase. I’m not gonna be the one who gets blessed by God this year.”
Well, if you agree with the words of the accuser, even though they sound like the voice in your own head, then you will not be able to obtain what you need to receive this year because, without faith, it’s impossible to please God.
So, regardless of what you may feel like, I just want to say to you, God is going to increase you. God is going to bless you. And you know, I’ve been putting this into practice in my life. Just this morning, as I’m in a time of fasting and I was feeling a little bit down with it, I said to my emotions, “No, no, no! You can’t go that way. You can’t think those thoughts because this is the year God is increasing you. And this is the year God is blessing you.”
I want to say to all of you around the world, be encouraged. I want to say to you, don’t live a mundane, depressed life. Live a life where you are saying every day, “I’m going to increase. I’m going to increase the kingdom of God.”
You see, as you increase because you’re a child of God and you’re part of the church, the ecclesia, God is going to take you to a new place. Believe it. Believe spiritually that you’re going to grow in the Lord as you have never grown, that you’re going to grow in the fruit of the Holy Spirit. You’re going to grow in the fruit of joy and patience and all these other things, that you’re going to become more mature in the Lord, that you’re not going to go down, you’re going to go up. And you may need to say that to yourself.
Encourage yourself in the Lord. Remember, the Bible tells us that David, when he had lost everything—his family, his possessions—and he was going through such a difficult time, he encouraged himself in the Lord. And so, what is that? That’s a model to say, “We can do that too.”
Father, I just pray for Your people. I pray for Your children, that right now this word will encourage them. I pray for you, and I want to say, shake off the dust of the old. Just shake the dust off your feet of the things that happened to you in 2018 or 2017 or ’16 or all the years past. I want you to go in this year free of rejection, free of abandonment, free of depression, free of confusion. God desires to set you free, and the truth sets you free in every way. The enemy cannot rule and reign in your life. The enemy cannot rule and reign and cause you to go down and be defeated, because this is the year of going up and increase. God bless you. Love you much. You’re a winner! {eoa}
Cindy Jacobs is an author, speaker, and teacher with a heart for discipling nations in the areas of prayer and prophetic gifts. She and Mike—her husband—co-founded Generals International in 1985.
This article originally appeared at generals.org.
