January 2, 2023
Starting 2023 Off Right
The word of the Lord going into the New Year is to let go of ALL the baggage you are carrying. Forgive Them All! (Mark 11:25-26) Love is a choice and forgiveness is a choice. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) Choose to forgive those who hurt you or did you wrong and let them go! Don’t hang on to resentment or unforgiveness. Release it! But you say, ‘Judy you don’t know what they did!’ It doesn’t matter what they did, it’s in the past, and you’re not going that way! It’s holding you back and eating away at you. The destroyers and the ones who have opposed you – the betrayers, your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, spouse, and the ones who didn’t stand with you when they could have, and the ones who never spoke up when they should have, FORGIVE them, and let them go so you can have a fresh start, a new beginning!
It takes more strength to be revengeful and angry, and the worse part of it. I believe it does not exonerate the perpetrator and it does not justify their behavior – forgiveness is a gift you give yourself because you chose to let it go so you can be your highest and best self. You are also saying when you forgive it is not stronger than I am. I disconnect from it as a sign I am in control of it, and it is not in control of me in Jesus’ name.
2023 can be the best year of your life, but for that to happen you must forgive and let go. Don’t take it with you in the New Year. You can’t afford to be stuck in pain and become bitter. Bitterness destroys your life and the ones around you. This is not your battle. This battle belongs to the Lord, you won’t even have to lift your little finger, only be still. (Exodus 14:14) God is your vindicator! (Job 19:25, Proverbs 20:22) He will heal your broken heart and restore you in plain sight of the ones who hoped for your destruction. (Psalms 34:18, 23:5, 147:3) Unforgiveness is like carrying around a dead person chained to you, dragging them with you everywhere you go. Dead weight! Eventually, they will rot and the poison will get in your body and kill you too! God knows the pain and suffering you have endured, but to receive His blessings stored up for you, you must completely forgive and let them go.
Make this declaration with me, ‘I will not carry this dead weight (Name whatever your dead weight is) into 2023. I choose to forgive _________ __________ _________ (Put their names in the blanks.) I forgive them and let them go NOW! Close your eyes and see yourself handing them over to Jesus and you let them go. RELEASE! Now take a deep breath. Don’t you feel lighter letting this baggage go?
Say this with me: I declare I am not going to take unforgiveness, anger, or bitterness with me to block my future in 2023. I declare I am free of the past, and whom the Son has set free is free indeed. (John 8:36) Father God thank you for having good plans for me in 2023. I let go of the past in exchange for the future you have for me. You may need to get up every morning and repeat this process until it is so deep in your heart and declare ‘I will not allow them to steal my hope for the future and joy of the Lord.’ I forgive and I am free walking into this new chapter of 2023 with a pen in my hand ready to write the future God has for me. Thank you Father God that I get to choose what my future looks like because you gave me the will to choose your way.
