Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “Let’s Prepare for the New Year in This Way.” God has given each of us year 2017 as a gift. Our lives will change depending on how we use this gift. Just as there is a saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” The beginning is important in all things. No matter what we do, we have to have a good start to succeed. As we celebrate the first Sunday of the New Year, what kind of attitude should we have? Now it’s time to put your hand on your heart and think of your mind. First, let’s start with new thoughts this year. We must put down our negative thoughts and have absolutely positive thoughts. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Our thoughts are the wellspring of life. In our life our thoughts are habitual and at the first day of this New Year, we must change our thinking habit. Horace Mann, an American education reformer, said, “Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.” If we think with faith and positivity every day, we will never be swayed in any circumstance and live a secure life instead. A habit has enormous power to it. Our thinking habit should be disciplined. If we let it go, it will drift into negativity and evil will occupy it. Genesis 6:5 says, “The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Our thoughts are only evil all the time. If we leave the whole world as it is, we may think that it will become much better, but this is wrong! If we leave our thoughts to go their own way, every evil thing will take possession of them. It is because our fallen thoughts are always evil and negative. Genesis 6:5 says, “ The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Therefore, our thoughts need strict discipline. Carl Hilty once said, “A day will be accomplished as much as you think when you get up in the morning.” According to how you think every day, a day will be different, a month will be changed, and your whole life will be totally changed. Psalm 34:10 says, “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.” God is a good God. God will pour out every good thing on those who seek this good God. What will happen if we fill our thoughts with His thinking? How about filling our thoughts with God’s thoughts instead of worldly thoughts? The best way to discipline our thinking is to fill our thoughts with those thoughts of our good God. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This is God’s thoughts toward us. He wants to give us hope and a future. If we have hope and a future, we have everything already. Above all, God desires to give us hope and a future. Therefore, we as His children must have the same kind of thinking as God’s. Please don’t ever think, “Now I am done!” but rather think, “God gives me hope and a future.” If we commit our life to Jesus’ redemptive grace of the cross of Calvary, we can have peace of mind. Whosoever seeks the grace of forgiveness and righteousness under the cross of Jesus will be accepted no matter man or woman, old or young, rich or poor, or high or low. We must pray, “God, please forgive my sins and transgressions and wash them all.” Then the Lord Jesus who shed His blood on the cross will nod His head. The Lord will forgive whether we have half faith or whole faith. One of the criminals who hung beside Jesus on the cross turned his face to Him and said, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." As he believed and recognized that Jesus is the Son of God, he could say, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom." Then what did Jesus say? Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." The Lord didn’t ignore one dying robber’s faith confession, but promised to take him to the paradise. Therefore, we can receive forgiveness and righteousness under the cross of Calvary of Jesus. Romans 3:23-24 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Holiness and the fullness of the Holy Spirit also come from the cross. God’s grace and blessings overflow through the cross. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” It is through the cross that we become righteous and sanctified by faith. Furthermore, those thoughts of healing and health flow through the cross. 1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” When we look at the cross of Jesus and memorize these Words of God, healing and health will overflow in our hearts. Galatians 3:13-14 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” When we go under the cross of Jesus we can fill our hearts and minds with the thoughts of being delivered from curses and poverty. we must move forward looking at the cross. In our life road, there are many obstacles to prevent us from moving forward. Therefore, we should not be entangled in our difficult circumstances but keep looking at the cross. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” We should have specific dreams and visions in our hearts and walk toward a goal with a burning desire to live a successful life. Like Joseph, we must have a dream and boast about it with boldness. Genesis 37:6-7 says, “He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it." He did not hide his dream but declared it to his brothers. Those who cherish a dream in their hearts will become a treasure. Last year one young mother came to me to receive prayer with the laying on of hands because her new born baby had a serious problem in its ear. After prayer she took her baby to the hospital for another checkup and found that even though its hearing wasn’t perfectly normal yet it had improved compared to before. She thanked God for this and fasted for a half day and attended the early morning prayer meeting for 40 days. After the forty days early morning prayer meeting, God gave her a dream. She prayed for her baby during those forty days, but God gave her quite a different dream to prepare for a civil service exam. She studied hard for a year and finally passed the 7th civil servant exam. When we pray God will open a way for our future. He gives us a dream when we pray. With that dream if we try harder, something amazing will happen to us. This young mother meditated on Psalm 103:3-5 and prayed to and gave thanks to God every day. “who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.” When we meditate on the Word of God and pray with it, God will give us a new dream and a great change will come to our life through faith and mouth confession. You should look at your dream and give thanks to God Psalm 103:3-5 says the same thing, “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.” You should not discard the things of last year into a wastebasket. First of all, we ought to give thanks to God for His grace throughout the previous year. God enabled us to make it during the last year so we must express our gratitude and welcome the New Year. Above all, take absolute positivity and push all those negative complaints out of our hearts and minds. We must be determined to do this! When Moses sent twelve scouts to explore Canaan, they came back and gave Moses this account, “We can’t go up there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes! If we try to enter there, we all will become captives!” As the Israelites heard this story and began to cry out against Moses and threatened to kill him, Joshua and Caleb rose up and cried out, “No, it is the land of promise God has prepared for us! We will swallow up those people who live there! We can conquer the land!” However, the Israelites took stones and tried to kill both of them. Why were their reports different from each other even though they saw the same thing at the same time? Ten of them compared themselves with those giants so they could not help but be in despair. However, Joshua and Caleb focused on God and came back and reported while comparing those giants with God so they could boldly declare, “Nothing is impossible if God will give it to us. We will swallow them up! Why don’t we go up there and enjoy what God has prepared for us?” We should first look at God and then see our life through God’s perspective and not vice versa! When we look up to Jesus there is nothing impossible for Him. “It will be done as you believe!” There is nothing impossible as long as we believe in Jesus. Numbers 13:32-33 says, “And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, ‘The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.’ " What notorious people they were! They just wandered around lamenting themselves as grasshoppers. Numbers 14:6-8 says, “Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.” When twelve scouts came back after exploring the land of Canaan, they saw the same things but their reports were quite different! It is because they had different perspectives from each other. Ten of them saw themselves only so they had to confess, “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” On the contrary, Joshua and Caleb focused on the God who was with them so they could say, “We will swallow them up!” Therefore, our perspective is very important. You know, Jesus was hung on the cross of Calvary. When you look at the cross, what do you see? When you focus on the cross, your iniquities will be gone. Your disease will be gone, too. Your curses will disappear. Your death will be gone. Therefore, you can enjoy prosperity spiritually, materially, and physically and have life to the full with overflowing grace and the blessings of God. Without the cross, we have to be enslaved to our sins and transgressions. When we look at our disease, we will be enslaved to disease and sickness. We will also be enslaved to poverty and curses and go to hell after death. There is nothing but despair in this world. When we look at ourselves only we will end up with despair. However, when we look up to God who is with us, we can live a life with a dream and a hope. We must use our creative mouth confession to confess correctly. In the beginning the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1:2 says, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” When you study the fourth dimensional spirituality, you will find that all material things were formless and empty and darkness was over the surface of the deep and that the Spirit of God was hovering over it. It is because the Spirit of God belongs to the higher dimension. The fourth dimensional Spirit is hovering over the third dimensional world. His hovering and then God’s Word bring a great creation! When our spirit is born again, the Spirit of God will hover over it. He begins to hover over our life through our prayer. Therefore, as we hover with the Holy Spirit, a miracle will happen as what is impossible become possible and what does not exist will exist. It is because you hover with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is with us through our thoughts, dreams and visions, faith, and faith confession. Today as you study the Bible or listen to sermons, the Holy Spirit will say to you, “What do you think now? Whatever you think try to think spiritually. The worldly people cannot work with me as they are so ignorant of spiritual things. But you have received eternal life already so why don’t you talk with me?” If we say amen to this, the Holy Spirit will be very pleased and work miracles as He makes things that are not as they were and wonderful things will happen! Genesis 1:6-7 says, “And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.’ So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so.” In Christianity we believe in the salvation of the cross of Jesus and confess it with our mouths and receive the grace of regeneration. With the help of the fourth dimensional Holy Spirit we will be changed every day and our faith will improve dramatically!