I expect to become increasingly wealthy in the coming year because I am determined to increase my investment in the rule of God, whose stock is only going up. I already have a growing treasure that is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away. This investment has proven so profitable that in 2012 I want to put more of my time and energy and money where moth and rust do not corrode and where thieves can not break in and steal. I expect to be victorious in the coming year because I am affirming my allegiance to the church against which the gates of hell can not prevail. I expect to be happier in the coming year, because I am determining to make it my delight to see Jesus receive the reward of his suffering.

If you have been born again, you have become a citizen of Zion, the city of God which comes down from heaven. You live in a city which can not be shaken by the pretensions and foolishness of men, a city that isn't dependent on well-functioning civil government or a flourishing national economy. You live in a city whose king laughs when the presidents and prime ministers and kings of the earth stand against him and against his word. He laughs and then he breaks them with a rod of iron.

Things are improving for all those who love the Lord because of the increase of his government and of his peace there shall be no end. The next twelve months are bright for those who are wholehearted for Jesus, because he is ruling securely at his Father's right hand while the Father progressively, day after day, continues to bring all things into subjection to him.

We are currently seated with Christ Jesus in heavenly places. We have already been adopted as his younger siblings and made joint heirs with him. We have already been made rich by him who became poor for us. Something grand is happening, and the one who began this work in us is able and determined to bring it to completion.

It's going to be a good year!

Scriptures referenced in this post include the following: 1 Peter 1:4, Matt. 6:19-20; 16:18, Isaiah 53:11, Psalm 2:1-9, Isaiah 9:7, 1 Cor. 15:25-28, Eph. 1:20; 2:6, Gal. 4:17, Rom. 8:17, 2 Cor. 8:9, Philippians 1:6

Augustine of Hippo was a pastor and teacher who lived in what is now Algeria in North Africa from AD 354 to 430. Here is what he wrote about the mystery of the Incarnation.

and who was made one of all things;

the Son of the Mother without a father;

the Word made flesh at a fitting time;

made under the sun;

hallowing a day of today from the womb of the Mother;

coming forth from the latter;

sprung under the heaven out of the earth;

in His wisdom a babe without utterance;