Choosing to Trust God in the New Year

What is your Heavenly Father’s will for you in the New Year? A pretty good summary is found in 3 John 1:2: Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

Notice that God doesn’t just want you to prosper in some things—He says all things! That means receiving His blessing and favor on your finances, health, emotions, and relationships. Everything is included.

But in order to activate these amazing blessings in the new year, you must choose to trust God, as Proverbs 3:5 commands: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” Just as He wants to bless all areas of your life, He tells you to trust Him with all your heart.

Sometimes this is difficult. It requires making an important moment-by-moment decision to believe the promises of God rather than depend on our own intelligence and reasoning. In fact, we must trust God even more than we trust our own senses.

While the world teaches that “Seeing is believing,” the Bible says we must “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). It’s when we believe that we see God’s miraculous realm (John 11:40), not the other way around.

He’s Able and Willing

As someone who has personally witnessed supernatural healings on nearly every continent on earth, I’m always amazed when someone raises the question of whether God still heals people and does other miracles today. Whether you need a healing in your body or from the scars of emotional wounds, God wants you to know He is willing and able to heal you. And if you need a financial breakthrough or some other kind of turnaround, you can be confident that God is still in the miracle-working business!

Remember: The same power that touched lives 2,000 years ago is available to you and your loved ones today:

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Will you sometimes face a battle in your health, finances, or family? Of course. At such times, you must understand who you are in Christ and learn to exercise the authority you’ve been given by your Heavenly Father. You need to know that the same Holy Spirit who was operating in the life of Jesus is operating in you (Romans 8:11).

Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), and this means you can have victory over sin, disease, depression, poverty, and every other attack of the enemy.

Trusting Him…Even As You Wait

At times your breakthrough will be delayed because of God’s timing or your need to persevere in faith. You shouldn’t get discouraged if you don’t see an instantaneous miracle every time you pray. Men and women throughout the Bible learned to activate God’s promises through “faith and patience” (Hebrews 6:12).

As you ask God for the miracles you need in 2016, remember the perspective Jesus said you have when you pray: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Since there’s no pain, sin, loneliness, poverty, or sickness in Heaven, we can be confident that God’s perfect will is to set His people free from such things.

I encourage you today to resolve in your heart that you will trust God and believe His promises this year—whether for your healing, your financial breakthrough, or any other blessing you need. Use your spiritual authority over the devil’s work. Keep standing in faith, choosing to believe God to fulfill His Word!