The following was recorded live in our Every Day Incredible Ladies Facebook group.

Good evening, ladies!

I’m going to start by reading a verse, then I want to share some thoughts with you guys like always.

The verse someone go with tonight is from 2 Corinthians 5:17 and it says,  Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

We’ll be coming back to that verse, but I wanted to share that as we begin.

If you are subscribed to the mailing list, you may have seen the Wednesday Wellness email from last week, and it’s about “my one word.” The idea of that if you’ve not seen that before is that instead of actually choosing a New Year’s resolution, you’re choosing one word to be your theme for the year.

I’ve done this for the past several years and I’ve really found it valuable. I think the first year I did it was when we were expecting the twins and we knew that Carys wasn’t going to be able to stay with us. I chose the word “joy” that year because I knew it was to have to be a very conscious effort to seek joy in Christ because I knew it was gonna be a very difficult year. Since then, I’ve had words like, “anticipate,”  “restoration,” and then last year, I chose the word “warrior” because I was really studying and working on being more of a prayer warrior. That was something that I realized was very important to me and I needed to learn more about. It was a very important one for me.

This coming year, I’m not really sure what my word is yet, but I’m getting there. I’m praying about it and looking for what that word is for this coming year’s theme. With that said, I want to ask you to be thinking and praying about what your one word may be and just share in the group with us so we can all be inspired by everyone else’s words too, and also so we can put that in writing and be able to focus on what our theme for the year is going to be.

So as we go into the year, I have a very serious question that I want to discuss tonight, but before I share what that question is I just want to share with you some thoughts I had after a message I was listening to recently. The message was actually about the demon-possessed man who lived among the tombs, that Jesus restored by casting out Legion (the spirits who said, “We are many,” so they were known as “Legion.”

In Mark, chapter 5 we read, “2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.”

I’m going to pause there, and of course the story goes on to talk about how Jesus spoke and the demons had to flee, and that’s the amazing part of the story, but the message had me thinking quite a bit about the tombs that we have in our lives that have the potential to cause us to live in misery and give the spiritual enemy a foothold to torment us like what happened with him.

I have no idea who all will be listening to this message, but I know that the odds are that someone listening is struggling with a tomb that represents some past pain. Some examples of that may be the death of a loved one, or it could be some other type of loss. It could be maybe a job loss that left you questioning your identity, or the loss for a relationship, a very painful separation… it could’ve been a betrayal or a failure… only you know if there’s something in your own story that keeps pulling you back from time to time to live among the tombs.

As we’re going into a new year, I just want to remind you that if you are in Christ, you are a new creation.

Again, that’s the verse that we shared in the beginning of this video, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and it says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!”

Just as a reminder, you were not created to live among the tombs, and living among the tombs can have devastating spiritual consequences. This week’s breath prayer is twofold, and this is a definitely one of the more serious prayers that we’ve shared here, but the first part of the prayer is,  “Heavenly Father, please reveal to me any tombs in my life.” Whatever the Holy Spirit reveals to you, it’s time to make it right before you’re going into this fresh new year. If you’re holding on to any unforgiveness, any bitterness, resentment,  or anything that goes against how God has instructed us to live- it’s not worth your peace. It’s not worth your salvation. It’s not worth it, so it’s time to let go of those things and stop living among the tombs. 

The second part of this week’s prayer is, “Father, I declare that I am a new creation and I no longer live among the tombs.” When you’re tempted to fall back into unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment or anything else that is going to weaken your spiritual armor and rob you of your blessings in Christ, make a conscious choice to not live among the tombs. Once again, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!” So my prayer for you for this upcoming year is that you find yourself as a new creation in Christ and if there are any tombs you’ve been struggling with and that have been pulling you back in and opening footholds for the enemy to torment, now is the time to let it go. Now is the time to ask God for healing for those things so you can move along and not live among the tombs because it’s no match for Jesus. Whatever it was that happened is no match for Jesus and you can have healing from that, so those the prayers that I encourage you to pray: first, ask God to reveal to you any tombs that you’ve been living among, anything that’s been there that needs to be resolved and then 2. declare that you’re no longer living among the tombs because you are a new creation.

I wish each of you a very happy new year! I’m excited to see what’s coming up in the new year, I’m excited to hear from you all what your goals are, what your one words are, and I wish you a wonderful, wonderful week as you celebrate the new year holiday. Good night!

Do you want to learn more about becoming a prayer warrior? Check out the free 7 Day Incredible Prayer Challenge!