I love the fact that God has shown us how to mark out periods of time. 24 Hours that gives us a day, and a night. 12 months that gives us a year with all of its changes, and the many other ways that we measure time. He is timeless, and is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) But He created us to be constantly growing and changing, and that many times we need to look at ‘a change in time as a time to change’.
One of my favorite Pastors, the late Dr. Gerald Mann, used to always bring a Message called, “You can begin again” as we started a New Year. It was a reminder to let go of the things we did not do right, or as well as we could have, and not beat ourselves up over them. Just ‘begin again’. Set new goals. Decide to do things differently if the goals of the past year did not work. Look at what may have been the reasons. We have been given an opportunity for ‘do overs’ if needed. Let us just put them all on the table before the Lord, and ask Him to lead the way to be the best we can be in Him this coming year. We may find ourselves going in a direction we had not planned on – something new and exciting He has for us.
As we begin a New Year, let us look to the Scripture as our ‘road map’. It tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) The Apostle speaks of Jesus. He goes on to say. “He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1:2) This is how we want to begin our New Year – ‘With God – in the beginning.’
We are privileged beyond most of the known world to have the written Word of God available to us. How blessed we are who can read it. Let us begin each day in it. Let us glean the promises of God made to us from it. As we do, we find reading it more and more exciting as we begin to see and hear Him speak to us from and through the Holy Spirit that inspired it. From personal testimony, I can assure you this is a true statement. I have read the Word diligently for well over 40 years. I have never seen as many new truths in a period of time as I have over this past year. It is truly the ‘Bread of life’. We are indeed fed by it. As you go to it in expectation, you will taste the truth as you take it in. You will grow to a new level in your journey this coming year.
Happy New Year, God’s Beloveds. You are greatly blessed, highly favored, and deeply loved. Enjoy!
Poppa B.
Abundant Life Christian Fellowship, On Line