“Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
    Thank him. Worship him.

For God is sheer beauty,
    all-generous in love,
    loyal always and ever.” (Psalm 100:4-5 MSG)

We say, Thank You, Lord, for an amazing 2025.  Your steadfast love and mercy saw us through that we still find ourselves victoriously standing all by Your grace with great shouts of JOYFUL PRAISE!

We say, Thank You, Lord, for this year – 2026.  We are filled and flooded with this LIVING HOPE, having a joyful anticipation of Your goodness and greatness to powerfully manifest in our lives.  This is the living and energetic hope that never disappoints for it is guaranteed by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. Because of this, we are expectant for Your greater plans for us this year, from faith to faith, from strength to strength and from glory to glory. 

“ARISE, SHINE;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.”  (Isaiah 60:1-3)

The Lord our God has always been inviting us to ARISE and come up higher, but this is only made possible and attainable with a renewed mind that takes on His thoughts and ways that are higher. 

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”  (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Apart from our thoughts being in agreement with His, how can we truly walk together (Amos 3:3)?  You see, we have a Perfect God Who is perfect in all His ways, and I believe wisdom calls us to adjust and align our thoughts and ways to His.  

He is the Potter and we are the clay who are formed by His hand (Isaiah 64:8).   With humble and contrite hearts, we submit and surrender ourselves to Him and His Word and stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around us and be inwardly transformed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so we may live a beautiful and satisfying lives (Romans 12:2).

I love what it says in Isaiah 66:2 (ESV), “All these things My hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word.”

This is one of the secrets for us to arise and ascend, to let our roots grow deeper and draw nourishment from His presence and His Word alone, the truth revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, to know Him more and become a partaker of His divine nature.  

To come up higher is to become like Him as He originally created us to be, according to His image and likeness (Genesis 1:16).  You and I are meant to be filled with the knowledge of Him—of who we are in Christ, what we possess in Christ, and what we are empowered and anointed to do through Christ. This knowledge of Him is our foundation, the unshakable truth upon which our lives are established.

You see, a tall building is only as strong as its foundation—it can rise no higher than what it is built upon. In the same way, a tree whose roots reach deep beneath the surface is able to grow tall and stand firm, even in the midst of the fiercest storms.  If we build our lives upon the Rock of Revelation of Who Jesus Christ is Who is the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:18), we are wisely rooted and grounded on the Cornerstone of His life, His thoughts, His ways and His finished work that cannot be shaken and undone.

Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing and only spoke what He heard the Father speaking (John 5:19). The more we know Him by the revelation of His Word, the more we become like Him. The more we know the truth of His Word, the more we think, speak and do His Word.

To come up higher is to live so open to the presence of God and so attentive to His leading that even the smallest thought or intention that we have becomes our very own personal invitation for Him to be involved.  He promised to order our steps – to busy Himself with every detail of our walk.  Why, then, would we not trust Him with all our hearts and acknowledge Him in all our ways?

Let us, therefore, make every effort to draw near Him and learn the unforced rhythm of His grace, to hear His heartbeat allowing nothing to hinder our fellowship with Him nor shatter our faith in Him. 

HAVE AN EXCEEDINGL BLESSED 2026 EVERYONE!!! 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You, for Being the same yesterday, today and forever. You’ve been faithful then and You’ll always be faithful now and in the years to come. How precious is Your steadfast love that we can always run to You and take refuge under the shadow of Your wings, to feast in the abundance of Your house and to drink from the water of the river of Your delight. “Thank You, Jesus, for Your great love. You willingly came as the Word made flesh, dwelling among us to save us and draw us into the higher reality of truth, molding us like clay in the Potter’s merciful and gracious hand to become like You. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for always revealing to us what renewing of our minds according to the Word plays an indispensable part in the transformation of our lives. Amen!