Feel free to use or adapt these questions for your group discussion or personal reflection!
David [00:00:01]:
You know, as I’ve shared with you before, I always end the year seeking the Lord for a theme to focus on for the coming year. My 2025 focus has been on the power of pressing. And we talked about how to press in to know God and then how to press on to obtain what God has for us. And then we talked about pressing through to overcome the challenges.
David [00:00:51]:
And then we do all of this pressing so we can press out to the world with all that God has for us to share. A couple of months ago, during my morning devotions, I was reading Psalm 65 and the Lord stopped me at verse 11. Psalm 65, verse 11 says this, you crown the year with your goodness and your paths drip with abundance. Wow. As I read this verse over and over several times, I heard the Lord say, this is your 2026 Focus. This is what I want you to bring to the body of Christ in 2026. The Lord said to me, study it, meditate on it, pray over it, teach it. And that is what I’ve been doing, preparing to come and share this with you today.
David [00:01:56]:
Today we will begin to look into this verse and discover God’s word to all of us for 2026. I first thought we would look at this verse for a week or two and then move on to what else God had for us. However, as I’ve studied and meditated and gone deeper into this verse, I’m really not sure how long this may be before God says to move on. It’s a powerful word with deep meaning. What I’m seeing is God has a lot he wants to do in us, through us, with us, and for us in this coming year. So today we began to look at the foundational meaning that we will begin to build the image of what God wants us to see and understand from this verse. And so we’re going to start right here just with the first four words. You crown the year.
David [00:03:02]:
Psalm 65. 11. Psalmist David started it when he said, you crown the year. That word crown there is telling us that God crowns the year. You crown the year. David speaking to the Lord. This isn’t something that’s being done by just any leader. This crowning is being initiated by God our Father, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.
David [00:03:41]:
This is the heart of God for us in 2026. It’s his word to us. And so in scripture, the image of a crown is deeply symbolic. It represents honor, authority, identity. It represents favor that is bestowed by a king. When royalty crowns something or someone, it isn’t just an ornament placed on the head. It is a public declaration of value, worth, and destiny. When someone is crowned, they are honored by the king who crowns them.
David [00:04:32]:
When someone is crowned, they are endowed with the authority, the power and the influence of the king. When someone is crowned, they are identified with the king. When someone is crowned, the favor of the king is bestowed upon them. God is bringing something of value to us this year. God is bringing something of worth to us this year. God is beginning something new that will impact our destiny as we move forward this year and into the years to come. The word crown here means to encircle, to cover it, to surround it, or to wrap it. And when it comes to circle, cover, surround, wrap it with is dignity, honor and favor.
David [00:05:40]:
It is a blessing by royalty from the throne. And because God is crowning this year, this is coming from his throne, the place of divine authority, where all true authority flows from the highest authority. You know, I want us to get a clear picture of what being crowned means here. This time of year, here in the highlands of middle Tennessee, it is quite chilly when you go outside, yet everyone is still out and about. A few days ago, Kanye and I were out and we were standing next to a family who had a newborn baby. And when I saw how the mom had made sure the baby was protected from the cold, it reminded me of this definition of being crowned from head to toe and all around. The baby was encircled, covered, surrounded by and wrapped with a blanket. She wanted to make sure her little baby stayed warm and snug and felt comforted and protected in the same way.
David [00:07:11]:
When God says, I will crown 2026, he is saying, I’m going to encircle, cover, surround, and wrap this year with my dignity, honor and favor, day to day, week to week, month to month, from the highest place of authority, the throne of God. He said to me, I decree this. I declare it. Now, let me say this. This is not me speaking this. This is not my word to you. This is God’s word to his body, his kings and priests here on the earth, his children. That’s all of us who believe in him and have accepted the Jesus, accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
David [00:08:12]:
What God is showing us is the picture of his divine sovereignty plus his lavish blessing. That’s what we’re going to see. God begins it. God sustains it. God finishes it all he says he will do. He is the one who crowns, and he is crowning this year for you. Now, that word year there in Psalm 65:11 says you crown the year. The year means the seasons to come.
David [00:08:57]:
Simply put, one year is four seasons. And God is crowning not just one season. He’s crowning all of them. Every day, every week, every month, he crowns them all. So this is a picture God wants us to see. God crowns your year, January 1st to December 31st. You’re not moving through 2026 on your own. You’re moving through 2026 under the covering of God’s authority, dignity, honor and favor.
David [00:09:44]:
There are two perspectives I want to talk about here. I want us to understand as we think about the season ahead. First, there are two ways to look at a year and how you measure it. You can measure a year by events or by God’s involvement. Most people measure the year by what happens to them. The events that happen, what they’ve gained, what they’ve lost, what surprised them, what disappointed them, the weather. The list could go on and on and on. The different ways we measured the year and whether we think it’s good, bad.
David [00:10:33]:
All right, but Psalm 65:11 invites us to look at the year differently. Not based on the ups and downs of life, but based on our God who reigns over every season. That means the year doesn’t start with circumstances. It starts with his character. It isn’t defined by what you’ll walk through. Hear this. It’s defined by who walks with you. We’ll say that again.
David [00:11:21]:
2026 will not be defined by what you walk through. It will be defined by who walks with you. Scripture tells us God is always walking with us. He never leaves us or forsakes us. The question comes down every day. Are you ready to walk with Him? Are you ready to go where God is going today? Are you ready to trust him and surrender to him and let him order your steps through every day? Wow. That is a powerful place of surrender to live and walk in. The second thing we see here is God appoints seasons.
David [00:12:25]:
See, a season is far more than a period of time on a calendar. A season is a divinely appointed window, a God ordained moment in which he accomplishes specific purposes in his people and in history. Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the heaven. God has a season for everything and he has a purpose. Every day we get up. God has a purpose for us and he has a purpose for that day. There are seasons of celebration and there are seasons of remembrance. There are seasons of deliverance and seasons of transition.
David [00:13:24]:
There are seasons of sowing and there are seasons of reaping. And one way or another, we are always in a season of God’s design. Seasons are not accidental. Scripture teaches us that God assigns times and and purposes. What we walk through is never random, even when it feels uncertain. God is working intentionally within every season. Now is the enemy trying to mess it up and stop it and make it look like it’s not right? Sure he is, but that’s not what we stay focused on. We focus on our God, who’s walking with us, who’s made the way, he’s prepared the way before us, and he will order our steps in line with his will and purpose through every season if we just simply look to him and trust him.
David [00:14:42]:
As Daniel wrote in Daniel 2, verses 20 and 21, he said this, blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. Again, as Ecclesiastes 3:1 says to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. I’m excited to see what God has in store for us as he crowns 2026. I’m excited to see the season that we’re stepping into and the purpose, the plan God has for the body of Christ. And that’s the point.
David [00:15:55]:
2026 is a year God has crowned for his intended purpose and plan, and we get to be a part of it. He’s inviting us today to be a part of it. That’s why he’s given this word. That’s why he said, david, go share this. He wants us to be a part of what he’s doing this year. And here’s a truth, a true principle. If God appoints the season, he also appoints the grace needed for it. God has already made all the grace we need, all the favor and earthly blessing, as Paul says in Second Corinthians, available to us so that we can walk out his purpose and plan during this season.
David [00:16:54]:
Hallelujah. God has a purpose for you in the seasons of this coming year. So don’t cling to the old season out of fear, thinking, oh, I don’t know, did things felt pretty good right here where I am. I don’t know if I want to step into a new season. God has more for you. See, the enemy wants to get us tied up and tangled up and trying to figure it all out. God’s going, no, just trust me. Follow me one day at a time.
David [00:17:32]:
See, this is a way that the enemy is trying to stop us or hold us back and keep us from what God wants for us so he can rob us of what God has for us. Us. God has great things intended for you. And we’re in our next message. Next week we’re going to drill down more into what that is. But I want to encourage you today. God has designed this year, this season, 2026, for all of us. Don’t let the enemy hold you back from where God is taking you.
David [00:18:18]:
Stay open and surrender to what God is bringing you into. In this new season, You can get up every day and say, God, what do you have for me today? How do you want me to walk out this day in this season? And you can be sure of this. Be ready to follow his direction because he’s got a plan for you. He’s already ordered your steps for the coming year. He has a path prepared for you. And as we study this verse, we’re going to look at what that means. What is his path? What’s the path he has prepared for you? Seasons come and seasons go. But God uses every season to produce eternal fruit.
David [00:19:25]:
And that’s what he wants to do in us and through his force and with us every day is produce eternal fruit. Just like he told Adam and Eve in the beginning back in Genesis 1:28, he blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply. That is still true for us today. God has crowned this coming year 2026, and he’s crowned you, whether you realize it or not, for a special purpose. He wants to produce fruit through you that brings glory to him and to his kingdom. So what is the eternal fruit he wants to produce in you? You’re unique. You’re one of a kind. And he wants to produce things for you that nobody else is going to come up with or think of.
David [00:20:31]:
Or he’ll have a way for you to do it that nobody else will think of. What he wants to. What does he want to produce in you, through you, with you and for you that will impact eternity. You might be thinking, wow, David, this is all a little overwhelming. Why is God saying all of this? I’ll tell you why. God wants to see, wants us to see and understand what he is about. Here’s the truth to understand. He always invites us to partner with Him.
David [00:21:15]:
And what he is doing, he is He. He wants us to see it so we can Be it just like he did with Abraham. He told Abraham, I’m going to make you a father of any nations. Come out here with me. Look at the stars. Can you number them? Look at the sand here by the seashore. Can you number it? I’m going to do this through you. This is my covenant with you.
David [00:21:52]:
God is still wanting for us to be fruitful and multiply. He is planting seeds of hope in us. Seeds of hope. And when hope springs up in it, we begin to see it before it’s a reality, before we can touch it and feel it. Out here in the natural world, we begin to see it. God gives us a vision of what he has for us and what is coming. And when hope springs up in us, it creates an expectation. In fact, that is the definition of hope.
David [00:22:42]:
Hope is defined as expectation. And there are three expressions of expectation when you study this in Scripture. Number one is active expectation, which means I’m not just sitting around wishing and waiting. I’m getting up every day expecting God to do what he has said. And I’m looking for it. Everywhere I go, I’m looking. The second is confident expectation. I get up with faith and hope every day knowing that God is working, sure he’s working and looking for how I can be a part of what he’s doing.
David [00:23:30]:
And then the third expression of hope is unshakable expectation. It doesn’t matter what’s going on around me. It doesn’t matter what the newscast is saying. It doesn’t matter where the world is, doesn’t matter where things are economically. I know that. I know that. I know that. I know my God is faithful and true to His Word.
David [00:23:55]:
And he is doing and bringing to pass what he has promised and declared. You see, when seeds of hope take root in us, we are. We are like I said before, not sitting around. We get up every day actively looking for and expecting what God has declared. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Well, we become confident.
David [00:24:25]:
We become unshakable. God gives us a vision, and we’re ready to run with it. God wants us to begin 2026 knowing that he has crowned the year. He has encircled this coming year. He has covered it. He has surrounded it and wrapped it with his dignity, his honor and his favor. Every day you can get up expecting to experience and walk in his dignity, his honor and his favor. Because he has promised that he’s encircled us with it.
David [00:25:16]:
He’s covered us with it. He surrounded us with it and wrapped us in it. Hallelujah. It’s A blessing by him directly from his throne. And I’ll say this again. He wants us to get up every morning expecting to see his blessings, favor and honor all around us. In fact, I encourage you get up every day and declare as you’re getting out of bed. Father, I thank you that today, all around me, I see and experience and have your blessing, your favor and honor.
David [00:25:56]:
Everywhere I go, everything I do, with everyone I interact with, I walk in. Your blessing, your favor and honor. Today. In 2026, God is bringing something of value to us. God is bringing something of worth to this year. God is beginning something new that will impact our destiny moving forward this year and in the years to come. I want to declare this one more time what the Lord said to me. I’m going to encircle, cover, surround and wrap this year with my dignity, honor and favor, day to day, week to week, month to month, from the highest place of authority, my throne, I decree this.
David [00:26:58]:
That was God’s word to me. That’s God’s word for you. He’s inviting us to join with him in this journey. Are you ready to see how God crowns 2026? I believe this is going to be a year of seeing that verse in Ephesians I love Ephesians 3:20, manifested in all of our lives. And let me read it to you so you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. This is Ephesians 3:20 and 21 and the amplified it says this now to him, speaking of God, who buy in consequence of the action of his power that is at work within us, is able to carry out his purpose and do superabundantly far, over and above all that we dare ask or think infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
David [00:28:26]:
So be it. Wow. What Paul is saying here sounds like what David was saying in Psalm 65:11. When you study it and go deep into it. Psalm 65:11 says, you crown the year with your goodness. I’m excited. I can’t wait till next week to get into what goodness means. Hallelujah.
David [00:28:55]:
You crown the year with your goodness and your paths drip with abundance. Praise God. Get ready, get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready.
David [00:29:14]:
Get ready. Let’s go into 2026 expecting God’s goodness, His blessing, his honor, his favor all around us every day so that we can go and touch the world in a way we never have before and see God’s kingdom come. Here in the earth. And his will be done here in the earth through us as it is in heaven. What a powerful thing God is bringing for all of us this year. Let’s bow our heads in prayer. Father, we thank you. We thank you for your word to us about 2026.
David [00:30:07]:
We thank you for what you’re wanting to accomplish in this year. Father, we come to you expecting, Father signs and wonders and miracles, salvations beyond measure. Father God, this is going to be a great year of blessing here in the earth. And we thank you for it. Father, we thank you for it. And I ask that you show each of us as we continue to study this verse, show each of us. Give each of us revelation into how you want to work through us this year to crown this year with your goodness. Thank you, Father.
David [00:30:50]:
Thank you for showing us and thank you for inviting us to be a part of what you’re doing here in the earth and your heart and your desire for all of us. Lord, we give you praise for it. We come rejoicing as we enter into 2026. Hallelujah. Blessed be the name of the Lord God. Blessed be the name of the Lord God who is always more than enough. We praise you, Father. We praise you.
David [00:31:28]:
And we commit, Lord, to follow after you and walk in your way in Jesus name. Amen. Pastor Kanye is coming now with a closing thought and a prayer. God bless you. Have a great New Year’s. Celebrate God and what he’s doing. Celebrate what he’s done. You know, we’ve been talking about thankfulness the last few weeks and gratefulness.
David [00:32:01]:
So celebrate everything God’s done in 2025 and begin to thank him now for everything he’s going to do in 2026. In you and through you and with you. And for you. God bless you. We’ll see you here next week.
