Consecration Before Crossover
Hello V.I.S.I.O.N.ary!
Happy NEW Year! I’m praying this is just the beginning of the breakthrough you’ve been praying for.
This blog is a transcript of a message I shared virtually with the congregation of Canarsie Community Reformed Church on December 31, 2025. It came to me first as conviction, and I felt strongly led to share it. Don’t feel like you “missed” God’s timing because you didn’t do certain things by the end of last year or because you didn’t start something new on January 1st. Each of us will have many “new year” moments that transition us into new levels of blessing. If you’re in tune with God, you’re always on time. I pray this encourages you to reflect and renew your personal vision with God.
If you want to hear the message, you can listen here.
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It’s a dangerous thing to walk into a new year without consecrating ourselves and our plans to God. Refusing or neglecting personal consecration puts us in position to repeat cycles of brokenness, barrenness, and blockages.
Consecration is defined as the act of making or declaring something sacred, meaning that it is separated from secular or profane use and is dedicated permanently to the sacred by prayers, rites and ceremonies.
Crossover is a point or place of crossing from one side to the other.
Over the last few weeks a particular phrase has been echoing in my spirit, and this is the theme for my message today - “CONSECRATION BEFORE CROSSOVER” - and I believe this is the word God wants me to share with you now.
As we all look ahead to a new year, we must understand that we cannot stand in the past and the present at the same time. At this very moment, we are in the doorway of our now and our next. It’s impossible to simultaneously be in the room called 2025 and the room called 2026. We must choose movement. You may think that moving forward into a new year is inevitable, but any conversation with someone holding on to the past will tell you otherwise. Today, that person could be you. It could be me. This is a sobering moment to question ourselves and ask, “What am I carrying that God wants me to leave here? What former things do I need to forget? What thoughts are keeping me stuck? What lie am I believing is true? What healing have I hindered in myself and others? What revelation have I not yet discerned?” This isn’t for us to create room for regret but to carve out a place for reflection. Invite God in. He can hold space for disappointment, shame, guilt, regret or whatever else is weighing us down in this pivotal moment. If we’re honest, our lips may say “Happy New Year,” but our hearts may not. God can handle our honesty. It’s okay to bring our concerns to Him, especially as we enter a new era. You have to believe this is not just the turning over of one day or one year to another. You have to believe God is doing a new thing now. It cannot be that the world is growing, changing and advancing while the people of God stay stuck. It cannot be that revolutionary things are happening everywhere except the Body of Christ. Why should the world move ahead while we stay in the background? Yet if you speak to many Christians this is what we sound like. Consecration for crossover means even our speech must be aligned with what God said. It means we must speak like we are indeed the head and not the tail; above and not beneath. Because that’s what God said about those who heed and obey Him.
There are seasons when Life will urge us to move forward, and we can find ourselves unable to when the future outcome we desire collides with an old belief we haven’t released. At a juncture like this, it is only the mind of Christ that conceives breakthrough. The impossible becomes possible when divine destiny is met by our surrender to God. God does not orchestrate breakthrough moments because of our desperation. He creates breakthrough to line us up with the destiny He planned all along. His plan must prevail. God’s breakthrough is for His glory and His divine plan, not ours. When God is ready, He’s ready. Our job is to align, so we can handle what we’ve been praying for.
In Joshua 3:5, “Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” There is a tomorrow coming where God will blow your mind! It could be January 1, 2026. It could be later. But it’s coming. Despite what 2025 didn’t bring, God still has a divine plan that includes you.
We read in Ecclesiastes 3:1 that, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” There is a season to consecrate and a season to conquer. And there is an order - consecration before crossover. We can have the best plans for the coming year, but if those plans aren’t submitted to God, their success lies solely in our toil. We must decide if we want to walk in alignment with plans that are already defined, designed and blessed by the Lord or make our own plans and hope and pray He will bless them. Psalm 1 shows us that those who are blessed are those who walk closely with God. Those who avoid cynics and critics. Those who stand for righteousness. Proverbs 10:22 tells us that the blessing of the Lord makes rich, without added sorrow. There is certainty, ease and strategy in the blessing of the Lord. We have free will. We can do things our way, and scripture tells us there are many plans in a man’s heart but it is God’s purpose that prevails. Do we really want to continue walking out plans that fail, or do we want to finally walk in God’s favor and fruitfulness? It may feel like there’s nothing you can do, but you and God are always a majority. All of heaven backs your plans when you align with God.
Isaiah 61:2 speaks of the year of the Lord’s favor. How wonderful it would be for us to say on December 31, 2026 that it has been such a year for us! How wonderful it would be to know that we have walked in alignment and agreement with God. How wonderful it would be to know that we have wholeheartedly partnered with God in His perfecting work. How wonderful it would be to know that we walk and talk daily with the Most High God.
Hearing directly from God should be normal for each of us. We were each built with the capacity for supernatural encounters. I used to think only Pastors or special, extra-spiritual people could clearly hear God’s voice, but scripture tells us in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17 that in the last days God will pour His Spirit on all flesh. That’s us. That’s right now. As 2026 unfolds, I encourage you to lean in and listen for God. Really tune in. Disconnect from the world and reconnect with the word. The best way to hear God is to read your Bible. Within its pages you will find God whispering, shouting, guiding, explaining and instructing you. When you get more and more familiar with God’s word, you begin to hear Him more and more clearly. His voice will be unmistakable. And His instruction will be undeniable.
Consecration invites God’s favor. What His favor rests on is automatically blessed. When we choose to consecrate ourselves, our lives, our work, our businesses, our families, our health, our communities, our money - all we have and all we are to God, we align ourselves with His will and His nature. God sets up what is set apart for His glory. Holiness can’t hide. We are to be the city on a hill that cannot be hidden. When God’s glory is revealed all see it. In Luke 2:9 the glory of God was shining so brightly around the angels announcing Jesus’ birth that the shepherds became afraid. That same overwhelming glory is available to us when we look to Jesus. Do not be afraid of the Presence of God. Do not be afraid of displaying the glory of God. Do not be afraid to displace what the enemy has set up so you can shine for Him. Do not be afraid to fill the jar of your spirit with His oil so your lamp is well fueled for this Christian journey. There may be times where you’re going in a direction nobody else wants to walk in. Some of us will be sent into 2026 to walk a path others don’t know they need to travel…yet. It is the voice of God that will whisper, “This is the way, walk in it.” Consecration quiets our hearts to hear this voice, and it builds love and trust in God so you will obey what you hear.
Consecration is a cocoon that prepares you to transform so you can travel on the wind of the Spirit of God. Like a caterpillar must undergo the process of radical change, we too must enter times of consecration to be equipped for what God wants to do next. Genuine transformation requires consecration to God. We can’t experience or excel at the next level without submission to Him. Let 2025 be the last year you walk without God leading. We heard from Rev. Willock last week about the pillar and the cloud leading the people of Israel. Exodus 13:21-22 tells us that “…the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.” Did you really think that God would let you walk into your promise without His direction? He said that He will never leave you nor forsake you. For each of the 24 hours you have in a day, you are guaranteed access to His leadership, provision and protection. Where are you positioning yourself for 2026? Are you behind or ahead of God? Exodus 13:18 tells us that God didn’t want the Israelites to see war and want to return to Egypt, so He led them through the wilderness. God knows what you can handle. He knows what would make you want to return to the very Life you begged Him to save you from. Exodus 2:23 shows us that God hears the cries of His people. It says that their cry for rescue from slavery came up to Him. What have you cried for rescue from in 2025? God heard you. Are you ready for deliverance? Are you consecrated for crossover?
In Exodus 14:9 Pharaoh and his army caught up with the Israelites after changing his mind about freeing them. They had Pharaoh following on their heels and the Red Sea ahead that looked like it would swallow them. Moses told the people in Exodus 14:14, “fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Oh it’s hard to be quiet when you feel threatened and afraid! But silence is a strategy. It takes faith to be quiet when it looks like it’s all over. Silence the thoughts that tell you this is the end. Silence the will to give up. Silence the negative words forming and don’t speak defeat over your situation. Stand in silence and watch God save you. Silence isn’t admission of defeat. It’s defiance. Consecration will give you the courage to defy what looks like defeat and stand firm in the face of what you once feared.
We know what happens next. Moses stretched his hand over the sea, God sent a strong east wind all night to drive the sea back. God made the sea dry land for them to cross over. I read this passage recently and the word “dry” leaped off the page into my spirit. Why did the bottom of the sea become completely dry? God won’t have you crossing over in the mud. He won’t have you slipping around in waterlogged earth, trying to escape an enemy. God set the Israelites up to walk over safely, securely, on solid ground. God isn’t sloppy. So your salvation won’t be either. We can walk out of 2025 with clean hands, a clean heart, and clean shoes. God doesn’t want us walking into 2026 with the mud of 2025 still on your shoes. He wants us consecrated for crossover.
Psalm 24:3-6 says
Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face.
What is consecration? Seek God’s face. Ask Him what it means for you. We don’t have to wait for a corporate call to pray or fast or read scripture. This is personal. There are moments when God will move on a mass level, and there are moments God will meet us face to face. Your crossover is personal. God has already gone ahead of you. Will you follow? Will you follow the cloud and fire? Will you listen to His voice as He leads you into your promise? This is more than escaping an enemy. This is an invitation into divine destiny.
Let’s pray:
Lord, You alone are holy, set on high and worthy of praise. Thank You for the blessing of Your presence with us tonight. Thank You for going ahead of us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our mediator, intercessor and friend. Thank You for the Holy Spirit speaking in and for us. Thank You for blessing us with every spiritual blessing and for a seat in heavenly places with Christ. We consecrate ourselves for crossover. We lay down all idols, imaginations, and every thing we have created, consumed and collected that doesn’t line up with Your word and Your will. Help us to shed what doesn’t serve this new season’s mission. We release doubt, pain, unforgiveness, offenses and negative thoughts. Help us to walk in wholeness and holiness, to listen for You, to heed Your instructions, to obey immediately and completely, to honor Your Name, and to carry out Your plans for this new year. Help us to seek You first, above our preferences, aside from popular opinions, and beyond past failures. Grant us new Life in You. New hope. New anointing. New favor. New blessing. Make us new from within, Lord. As we enter 2026 may Your glory be manifested in every area of our Lives. May Your Presence with us be undeniable, and may Your will be done in and through us. May Your Great Name alone be glorified. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Térésa Scotland is an Author, V.I.S.I.O.N.ary Confidant and Mindset Coach. If you’d like to go deeper, schedule your 1:1 Confidential Introductory Illumination Session at www.calendly.com/thevisionsequence/hello.