Can you remember 2 occasions where the Lord has helped you tremendously over the last year?
Can you think of 1 action you will take within the year that will help you grow in your walk with the Lord?
Why did I ask you to remember the 2 occassions where the Lord has helped you?
Gratitude – Acknowledgement of our need for God in our lives will help us be humble
Why did I ask you to think of 1 action you will take within the year that will help you grow in your walk with the Lord?
Direction – when we know the direction we are taking, we will reach our destination. Otherwise we will be wandering aimlessly year in and year out, always seeming to be at the same place where we started. How many of us are like that? How many of us had wanted to spend more time in prayer now compared to last year? Or having a regular prayer time with the Lord? Isn’t this the same “wish” we have every year? Why isn’t it a reality? Because we lack direction?
Rev 21:5 Behold, I make all things new
In verse 4 : for the former things have passed away
This is a new year, the year 2021, a brand new opportunity to make things right with God and with one another. The Lord declares in His Word that the former things have passed away – what you have done before does not determine what you will become now. The past does not equal the future.
If you have made mistakes in the past, now is the time to rectify the mistakes. Make amends, mend relationships, rebuild bridges that you have burned down. Forgive those who have hurt you.
The Lord is declaring His Word into our lives right now that He is making all things new. All you have to do is claim it and believe it for your own life.
Isaiah 61 : 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
Let us also include in our lives the mission to proclaim the acceptable year of our Lord – to dedicate this year for Him – honoring Him in all we say and do.
When we surrender everything to the Lord, let go and let God, so to speak, and we will see the Lord working in our lives that will give us the joy and peace that we seek from our stressful environment. Over this past one year, I have seen God making financial breakthroughs in my life and the lives of some of my friends. Overwhelming debt suddenly becomes manageable through a series of circumstances that only God can do. I am also seeing prayers being answered in stages, seeing God’s hand moving in my own life and the lives of my friends in answer to our prayers.
As we claim God’s promises in Rev 21: 5 as well as in Isaiah 61: 2, let us always remember Matt 6:33 where we are called first and foremost to seek first the kingdom of God, not to seek first our promotion at work, or seek first my marriage partner, or seek first my million $$$ but seek first the kingdom of God and the promise of Rev 21:5 and Isaiah 61: 2 will be real in your lives.
For those of you who are praying for breakthroughs, remember Luke 11:9 Ask and you shall receive…..
And as we journey through this year, a year where God’s Word says that He will make all things new and that we are to dedicate this year to the Lord, let us claim His promise in Jeremiah 29:11-13
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
The key word here, my brother and sisters is when you shall search for me with all your heart.
With all our heart…….let us pray,
Father God, I give you my heart, my deepest fears and anxieties, my insecurities, my weakness. I ask Lord, that you will be strength when I am weak, so that everything I do, all glory will go to you. With you, Lord, all things are possible and I thank and praise You for your bountiful mercy and love for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
