Join me, Angelic Gibson, on a spiritual journey exploring 'victory' in our lives. This episode reveals insights for the upcoming year through prayerful reflections, leading to a year of VICTORY!
In this context, victory is more than a word; it's a journey needing discernment, action, and unwavering faith. I'll share sacred steps aligned with God's guidance, drawing wisdom from Isaiah 55:11 and actions for success. Emphasizing deep spiritual roots, this episode highlights staying connected to God for triumphs.
Gain insights on enriching your walk through disciplines like prayer, mindful media consumption, and the power of words. I'll provide blessings and resources for your spiritual growth in 2024. Join our social media community, where biblical teachings continue to nourish souls, and let's walk in faith toward a year of fulfilled promises and spiritual enrichment.
Join me, Angelic Gibson, on a spiritual journey exploring 'victory' in our lives. This episode reveals insights for the upcoming year through prayerful reflections, leading to a year of VICTORY!
In this context, victory is more than a word; it's a journey needing discernment, action, and unwavering faith. I'll share sacred steps aligned with God's guidance, drawing wisdom from Isaiah 55:11 and actions for success. Emphasizing deep spiritual roots, this episode highlights staying connected to God for triumphs.
Gain insights on enriching your walk through disciplines like prayer, mindful media consumption, and the power of words. I'll provide blessings and resources for your spiritual growth in 2024. Join our social media community, where biblical teachings continue to nourish souls, and let's walk in faith toward a year of fulfilled promises and spiritual enrichment.
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Grow where God reveals our way. I'm Anjali Gibson, your host, and I can't wait to explore the vast riches of God's Word with you. So don't forget to subscribe and stay tuned for upcoming episodes packed with biblical teachings, inspirational stories and a fresh perspective on the world around us. Now let's get started on this beautiful journey. May God bless you abundantly. Welcome back to the Grow podcast, where God reveals our way. I am so excited to be with you today.
Speaker 1:Here we are in January, kicking off the new year for 2024. And I think that this year has so much promise in it. I've been in prayer about this new year since October seems so long ago, but, yes, I've been praying on what would the Lord have all of us be focused on for this coming year, both corporately in the body and then individually with him, and he has just spoken so much into my heart on the promise of this year. I don't know about you, but 2023 certainly had its fair share of circumstances to celebrate and also circumstances to grieve. So it was a year of mixed emotions, mixed experiences, and it certainly produced a lot of growth in my relationship with the Lord, and it's one of those years that I am glad December 31 has came and gone and I'm so happy to be in January. My word for 2023 was thrive, and I was so excited about it. I mean, who doesn't want to thrive? And the key definition of thrive is to be blessed and prosperous, to flourish despite your circumstances. And I had the Valley of despites last year, and so not that I don't appreciate and take joy in the valleys that God will take us and lead us through. I certainly want to see myself and my loved ones, all of us, be climbing a mountain together, not kind of hanging out in the valley for too long. So here we are, 2024.
Speaker 1:And what is my word? Well, this has been again been praying on what God would do for this year since October, and I really feel like I have a lot of clarity in and around it, and the word that he gave me that I cannot shake is victory, and that is all about winning, and, as I have been studying that word, it's to find success, it's to beat the enemy, praise the Lord. It is to just win and to be victorious, and what he really highlighted to me is that he is the victor. We find victory because he is victory and it gets to the next piece of it which he has spoken to me get back to the basics. And this is not just in my personal life, it's just all avenues of life. It is, you know, in my role in the marketplace. It's to inspect what we expect and make sure that we have a really solid foundation in the basics of what it is we're there to do. And making sure everything's shored up so we can accelerate the things that need acceleration. And in my personal life with the Lord, back to the basics means making sure that I am rooted in the vine. Him, he is the vine and that's what it's all about for me. So if we are truly on the solid foundation back to the basics, standing firm on the firm foundation of Christ, we will have victory in all facets of life. So I am super, super stoked about 2024.
Speaker 1:I hope this episode of grow will infuse some inspiration into your heart for all the good things that the Lord is going to be unfolding this year. This year is also connected to the year of the door. I'm not gonna get into all the details of it, but if you look up this year, we are in Hebrew year 5784, and specifically, you index off of the four, which would be a Dalit D-A-L-E-T in Hebrew, and that means a door, and we know that Jesus is the door, he is the pathway of life, and he says that any door he opens, no man can shut, and the doors he shuts, no man can open, and so this is a year that we can ask and the doors will be opened unto us. Now that also means that our hearts are aligned to the Lord, we're standing righteous before him and his will is impressed upon our hearts. So, when we ask, the doors open because our hearts and his will are perfectly aligned and there's this acceleration towards his victory, and so it's just a really, really cool place to be.
Speaker 1:I know that I have been in a season where I've received promises from the Lord really over the last decade that I have been watching, expectantly, waiting for these promises to be fulfilled, and, specifically, there was a tremendous amount of promise pressed upon my heart in the year 2018. And I really feel well. I know the Lord told me that he would be fulfilling all those promises this year. So this is a year of God just really showing up, fulfilling his promises for his victory, all for his glory and I'm just so excited about it. Who doesn't want to be a part of God's plans? It's so exciting, so, to kick off this year victory, I'm so excited to share that we are gonna be welcoming our fourth grandchild in March.
Speaker 1:His name is going to be Noah, and what I love about that we're in this year of the Lord, of fulfilling promises, and that is one of the first places in the Bible where we actually get to see the promise of the Lord on the people. Where the floodwater starts to rescind, he puts the rainbow. The flood goes away after the earth is flooded. Noah's there. I hope we all know the story because I'm butchering it right now. But Noah's ark flood comes, everyone's wiped out except for those people who are on the ark. But at the end of the flooding, when all the waters rescind, there is a promise that the Lord says he's never gonna flood the earth again and it's sealed with the rainbow, and so the rainbow represents the sealing, the promise of God. That's where the rainbow first came from.
Speaker 1:So with that here we are, starting off Q1, you know, first three months of the year with welcoming a brand new baby boy and his name is sealed with the promise of Noah. So you know, I like to say you can't make this stuff up. God is so good, you can't make this stuff up. And that's kind of how we're kicking off our year. So at the end of this month, in January, I get to host the little baby shower for little baby Noah and his mommy and daddy, and it's just gonna be a phenomenal way just to celebrate and just know that we're walking in victory this year.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I stand firm on knowing, you know, when we hear from the Lord, how do we know that we're actually hearing from God and we're not just making this stuff up in the world is that he always seals his promises with scripture. So that is when I know, like, if something is really stirring in my heart and then it's sealed with scripture, I know it's from the Lord. And he says in Isaiah 55, 11, my word that goes out of my mouth, it will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish the desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. So these promises of the Lord, when they're sealed with scripture, it's going to accomplish the desire and achieve the purpose for which the Lord sent it. So we should be waiting expectantly for the promises of the Lord to be fulfilled. So so, so good. So how are we going to walk in victory this year? How am I going to be walking in victory this year?
Speaker 1:I always like to start with what do I need to start doing, what do I need to stop doing and what do I need to continue to do? And I do this every year. I really evaluate all aspects of my life and I determine what needs to start, stop and continue, and it pays dividends, because, I've said this before, time is the only thing we all have the same amount of. So the way that we lead our time and leverage our time is going to set us apart, and it's important for us to take inventory on how we're spending our time. We take inventory on how we spend our money through budgeting processes, tracking expenses, making sure we're within. You know the means, that which God has provided. The same thing is true with our time. We're going to be held accountable for how we leverage the time that God's given us, and so I could go through right now how I have planned out every aspect of my life, but I won't, because I'm a pretty big planner and I might bore you, but you know, thematically, what I do is I say what are the big rocks that I want to get done professionally?
Speaker 1:So for my career, what do I need to get done? What do I want to do for myself? What are the personal goals and objectives that I have for myself when it comes to my spiritual health, my mental health, my physical health just me as an individual, spiritual health. And then what about my family? What are the goals that I have for my family? Same thing with my spouse, and then in the community, my friends and then community. So I have big rocks in each of those aspects of life and I set yearly objectives and I break them down into quarterly plans and then I track, week over week am I going to hit those goals or not? And nine times out of 10, I'm getting done everything that I need to get done. But I couldn't get done what I needed to get done and reach my goals if I wasn't that disciplined. So that's a whole nother topic. If you want me to do an episode on how I approach time leadership, happy to do so. Direct message me on Instagram and I can do an episode on that.
Speaker 1:But for today, what I really want to focus in on is what am I going to do to achieve victory in 2024 with my relationship with God? And that's where it all begins and it ends is with my relationship with God. And so victory, first and foremost, is to see him victorious. It means that he is my foundation and that I am staying rooted and connecting to the vine. It says in John 15, five I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I and you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. It's a pretty profound statement. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. And so if we are half connected to the vine, that means we're producing half the fruit. And so, truly for me to be victorious this year, my heart's desire is that I, I am fully connected to him and that I stay, I remain. It says if you remain in me. And so my heart is to remain in him, because apart from him I can do nothing. And what I absolutely love about that it's not up to me to do the remaining. He pursues us first, so then we can pursue him back and to grow in him. That is so profound. So just a few verses. You know.
Speaker 1:Further, in John 15, starting at verse 16, it says this you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that whatever you ask in my name, the Father will give you. And so it goes back to this notion that here we are, we're in the year of Dalit, the door where the doors that the Lord opens no man can shut. And if we ask for the door to be opened, it will be given to us. And it says it right here in John 15,. John 15, verse 16, he chose us ahead of time to be connected to his vine, him, and he appointed us that we can go bear the fruit, that whatever we ask in his name, the Father in heaven will give it to us. That is just an incredible promise right there. And it's further cemented in in Matthew, seven verse seven ask and it will be given to you. Seek, you will find, knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks, finds, and the one who knocks, the door will be opened. And I just want to put an exclamation point the door will be opened. So here we are again. It's like the third or the fourth time I'm saying it. This is the year of the door. The door will be opened. So if our hearts are aligned to God, we are connected to the vine. That means our will and our desire is directly aligned with his, and this is the year of divine acceleration to victory. It's a yes and an amen, it's walk through the door, and so that's what we're gonna do we're gonna walk, we're gonna ask, we're gonna seek, we're gonna find and we're gonna knock and those doors are gonna be opening.
Speaker 1:So you know, when I think about the personal inventory that I needed to do on how I'm spending my time, what do I need to start, stop and continue? There's a few things that really are just rising to the top for me, and the first thing I'm gonna start with is, again I said, back to the basics, because the basics actually create the firm foundation. But I've taken an inventory of my prayer life and you know, just being very honest, sometimes you know I can be a little robotic. I have the list. I'm praying for my family, praying for my friends, I'm praying for all the needs and burdens that I have in my heart, and that's how I start and sometimes when we approach the Lord, at least for me, I get it backwards. I start with everything that I need or want and I might just end it with that. That's my prayer life. But there's a bigger part of prayer that I am just leaning in with the Lord on to be more intentional on, and it really starts with worship.
Speaker 1:When I approach God Almighty in prayer, do I have a heart posture of worship? Do I love Him? Do I start with that frame of mind of who he is and what I love about Him? And you know, if we really study the life of David, david was one of the greatest national leaders of history. He was also a mighty warrior, he was on the battlefield constantly and he was the man known after chasing God's heart. And so he had this huge posture of heart of just loving and chasing the Lord. And that's the kind of heart I want. I wanna be a David chasing after God's heart. I wanna be Mary with the anointing oil, just washing Jesus' feet with the oil, the expensive oil, with my hair Like, just imagine just being at His feet. That is what I am committed to doing, refreshing that approach in my own prayer life towards the Lord and just starting with the position of worship. And there is a simple framework out there that I was taught a very long time ago and it's just so easy to look at today. But it's an acrostic that really just makes the approach to prayer.
Speaker 1:I would call it in the right priority order and it is acts A-C-T-S. So if you've heard of it and you've practiced it, I'm sure you love it. But to me it's always good just to go back to the basics and dust things off and do what's needed to get your heart right before the Lord. So A-C-T-S, the A stands for adoration. What do you adore about God? And I love that word. Adore it's just to hold Him in high esteem and just to look delightfully over Him, just to revere Him and love. So what do you adore about Him? And if we start truly with just who he is, the Creator of all being I mean it's just even hard to put into human words and we really just set our hearts upon who he is, wow, it's easy to adore Him.
Speaker 1:And then, once we express adoration, we move into the sea, which is confession. You know, I said I always put my request before the Lord. Typically I quickly follow it with. Well, in order for these requests to be fulfilled, lord, you probably need to forgive me for these a hundred things, and that's kind of how the brain works. It's what do I need. And then, oh gosh, to get what I need or want, what do I need to confess? But really it's starting from a place of worship, adoration, moving into a heart of confession. Because if we truly look at ourselves and examine ourselves against the beauty of the Lord and the love of the Lord, it's really easy to see how we pale in comparison to just the majesty of the Father. So we confess our sins. And it's not just enough to confess, we have to really repent. What are those things that maybe we just need to truly lay before the Lord and turn away from? To repent means to turn away. We're not gonna do them anymore. So it's not just an apology, it's an apology with action. That means to turn away.
Speaker 1:And then we move to the T in the acrostic, which is Thanksgiving. What are we thankful for? I mean, the blessings abound. I'm thankful for my grandchildren, my husband, my career, the friends that I have just there's so much to be thankful for and just really honoring God because he blesses us to be a blessing to others. So what are we thankful for? And then supplications what are the burdens on our heart? What is the burdens? And just the requests and the desires and just really laying them before. And then we walk by faith, not by sight. So everything that we have laid before the Lord, we leave that conversation with God with faith and knowing that he's going to move the mountains on our behalf, that before we even asked, he said yes and amen because he loves us, not because he has to, but because he loves us.
Speaker 1:So this, this framework of acts, I have already started and will continue to do, just reintroducing it into my daily devotional time with the Lord. And so what does it look like for worship? What I've been doing is looking up the lyrics to some of my favorite songs. You know, just go to Google, put in your favorite song, worship song, and I've been studying the words of the lyrics and I'm choosing songs that really speak of adoring him and calling out how valuable he is. So, for example, one of my favorite songs is more precious than silver, and if you just look at the lyrics of that song, it's so beautiful and I just fix my heart on those lyrics and it really gets my heart in a position of worship. And then I can move through the rest of the acrostic. So that's just a good thing to do.
Speaker 1:And we see the demonstration of the acrostic in the Lord's Prayer. It starts off our Father in Heaven. Hallowed be your name. Right there, jesus is just worshiping the Father. Your kingdom, come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is just all about aligning our hearts to who he is. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. We can see this spirit of adoration, thanksgiving for the bread, the supplication for the bread. We can see, you know, the proactiveness approach to sin. You know, turn us away from the evil one. It's all there, and this is Jesus teaching us how to pray. So I say all that to say. I encourage you to take up this spiritual discipline, if it's not already incorporated in your life, to get yourself rooted in the vine to see victory in 2024.
Speaker 1:What else will I be doing? I'm going to stop social media. I've been doing the you know, the wandering scroll, if you will, and I took a break in Q4, really in Thanksgiving, I think Thanksgiving, through Christmas, pulled back quite a bit from it and then went right back into it at the start of the year. So I've consciously made a decision nope, I am going to continue to limit social media and TV. I don't really watch a lot of TV, but I don't want to turn to TV as a replacement for social media. So just be very aware of how am I spending my idle time and is it adding value to my life or not? And if not, then what do I need to replace it with? And I typically have replaced it with doing reading, because I love to read. I'm going to continue to study his word and walk by it because, as I said, we walk by faith, not by sight, and so read the word, walk by it. So I'm going to start the prayer Acrostic of Acts. I'm going to stop the social media, slash TV, and I'm going to continue to study his word. That is going to sharpen and strengthen my mind and my heart for spiritual growth.
Speaker 1:So how can you take action today, beyond what I've just described through the Acrostic of Acts. Do you have a word, an anchor word? Mine is victory. What is yours? Have you prayed on it?
Speaker 1:We see in Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verses 4 through 9. It says the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts and press them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. So it says take the words that God gives you and make them surround you. They need to be impressed upon your heart. I will write my word on a stone, like you can get them on Amazon white stones. Use a marker, you just write the word. You can keep it in your pocket, you can put it on your desk, but the point is have that word, because words have the power to create life or death. And then, when we are putting words of life around us. It will manifest, it comes true. It's the promise of the Lord. I just read it to you Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 through 9. You can read it yourself.
Speaker 1:Pick one spiritual discipline to bring you closer in your relationship to God. There's so many spiritual disciplines out there. When you really start to study spiritual growth, I'll give you a few. But why do we care about our spiritual growth? Because complacency is deadly to our spirit. So we have to continue to sharpen ourselves. We have to continue to be intentional, to make choices that help us grow with the Lord. I said the Lord pursues us so we can then in return pursue Him, so he can pursue us all day long. But if we don't respond in an action, then the pursuing is not going to bear the fruit that he intends it to bear. So respond to His pursuit to you by picking up a new spiritual discipline.
Speaker 1:Where might you find information on spiritual disciplines? I have a couple books that I'll recommend, just to get started. But one is spiritual practices for soul care. It's by a dear friend of mine, dr Barbara Peacock. You can get it anywhere where books are sold. And then another one it's a classic is the pursuit of God by a AW Towser, and AW Towser actually says in this book when religion has said its last work, there is little that we need other than God. So that means, if we're going through the motions of what it means to check the Christian boxes of religion, we go to church, we're in a life group and, and and we're not actually growing our relationship with God. When all those programs run out, the only thing that the human spirit needs is God Himself, and so this is the challenge for us to grow spiritually. So that would be my encouragement today.
Speaker 1:I also declare victory in 2024 over all of you who are listening. I declare God's blessings over you. It is truly going to be a marvelous year. I just am so expectant for this year as far as grow goes. Don't forget to follow us on social media. Our handle is God reveals our way on Facebook and Instagram and God reveals our WY on Twitter. If you have a subject that you would like to hear more about, you want clarity or something you have a question about God, or maybe you're just going through a life struggle and you'd like to understand God's perspective on it, dm me on Instagram and I'll see if I can't work it into the show and you can DM me on Instagram again at the handle. God reveals our way. So thank you for tuning in today.
Speaker 1:I want to close this with a prayer, and I'm just so excited to be on this journey with grow with you throughout this year. We have a lot of exciting guests that are going to be coming on and sharing their experiences with you and just a lot of inspiration coming from the Lord himself just to encourage you, inspire you on in the faith. So be blessed, and I'm going to close this in prayer. Heavenly Father, we just love and adore you. We thank you that you have just come and showed up in our hearts today. That, lord, you've given us eyes to see where you are working and a heart to join you when you're at.
Speaker 1:Lord, I thank you that this is going to be a true year of victory.
Speaker 1:I declare it over every listener who's tuning in as well and that we can just really rely on the promises that you give that there will be the season where they're fulfilled.
Speaker 1:And, lord, we stand firm and believe that this is the season that we're going to see great fulfillment in our lives and across our land. Lord, we thank you that you have a hedge of protection over every listener who's tuning in as well, and we thank you for the protection around each and every one of us and that you love us. You've called us by name and you say that we are your sons and your daughters. We love you, lord. We give you all glory, all honor and all praise, amen. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Grow where God reveals our way. We hope you found inspiration, wisdom and encouragement as we continue on this faith-filled journey together. We invite you to subscribe to Grow so you never miss an episode. Stay tuned for more biblical teachings, heartfelt testimonies and insights that will nourish your spirit and deepen your relationship with God. We appreciate your support and participation in this podcast. Until next time, may you grow in faith, love and knowledge of His divine plan. May God bless you abundantly.