2008 will be marked by many new doors of blessing and opportunities to increase God’s Kingdom. The number eight means God giving man the ability to transcend limits of physical existence, teachers arising with fresh spiritual insights in the scriptures, new birth or new beginnings being established in our lives and an abounding in God’s “joyous” strength, not that of the flesh.

Genesis 1:1-4 states that “In the beginning God created”, He spoke our world and the universe into existence through the creative force of light he...held within His being. He took the formless and void things of darkness and transformed them with His words into light and life. We can gain valuable insights for creating our new beginnings from this verse. God spoke and a creative force was released that enabled Him to see the world He created. Thus, the words we speak will frame or create “open gates” to the world and circumstances that daily surround us.

Job 22:21-22 further tell us how to bring prosperity into our lives. “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you. Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.”

This will be the year to decree things into existence and watch God establish them. Job 22:27-29, “You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways. When they cast you down, and you say, 'Exaltation will come!' Then He will save the humble person.”

The bible says, “Decree a thing and it will be established for you!” This works for both positive decrees of life and negative decrees of death. The words of our mouth create life and death. In the book of Esther chapter 3: The wicked Hamon issued a written death decree that was sent out to all the proveniences against the people of God. This decree caused the Jews to fear for their lives but through prayer and fasting the declared curse of death that was decreed was reversed. His words established his own death and the death of his household as they swung from the end of the gallows he constructed. Hamon’s evil decrees of hate, murder, jealousy, control, and fear, were causeless. Esther and Mordecai answered with a righteous decree of deliverance, a new strategy of hope released faith, and love, backed by a unified militant response.

All of us have Hamon’s in our lives who currently have the ear of the king. They are willing to invest their money, time and efforts to see us destroyed, killed, and annihilated so they can plunder our goods. They sit with the king in their drunkenness while we are bewildered at their evil decrees against us.

Mordecai came to Esther at the Gates of the palace and told her, “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

Queen Esther, Mordecai, and the King issued another decree that allowed the people of God to defend themselves against their enemies. Esther 8:3-9:1 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman, which he had devised against the Jews. King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows. (Proverbs13:22 says, the wealth of the wicked will be transferred to the righteous).

Now write another decree in the king's name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king's signet ring. The king's edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble (come into unity) and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies.(No weapon formed against you shall prosper!) The new decree enabled the Jews to be ready to avenge themselves on their enemies. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews seized them. Psalms 111:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.”

In these ‘new beginnings’ we are going to learn how to properly discern by the Spirit and apply the living Word which is sharp, powerful, and able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Word of God is going to be extremely important to fashion the building blocks of our new year. John 1:1-2 declares, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He (Jesus) was with God in the beginning.” Since God is light and love, love is the message we will begin and end with. 1 John 3:11, “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” God is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. New beginnings often mean there is a starting over that needs to take place. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a “new creation”.

This year as the Kingdom responds to our enemies in God’s love we will experience a creative spirit releasing new ideas, products, strategies, insights, and revelation. This creative spirit is going to revive hope in us so we will, once again, begin to have great expectations to receive the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalms says, “Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence. I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living”. The power that is resident in a blessing is much greater than the power of a curse. This is why the Bible tells us to bless those who curse you and despitefully use and persecute you.

When Rebekah was leaving her family in Genesis 24:60 to begin a new life, in a new land, with a new husband, her family blessed her with increase and ability for her children to possess the gates of her enemies. We must cut our enemies off from us so they do not follow us through the new gates into the promises of our future. New large Doors and Gates will be opened to those who are able to respond in love and forgiveness. Deuteronomy 11:18-21, “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds (love the Lord your God). Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”

There are doors open in heaven awaiting us to complete the preparation process that is necessary to enter in. Rev.3, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." What voices are our ears tuned to hear? (God’s voice is not the voice of the accuser of the brethren, or the pointing of the finger, malicious, slanderous talk, evil speaking, judgmental, or critical). If your ears are tuned to hear these voices you will not hear the knock on the door or what the Spirit of God has to say to his bride. You will be trapped in the old patterns of death and destruction. Pray Psalms 119:35-37, “Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.”

Use your breath to create life and decree God’s love.