By: Dr. Jeff Fuller
I found this quote to be something speaking to us today:
“New Year’s Day. A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery. Today carve out a quiet interlude for yourself in which to dream, pen in hand. Only dreams give birth to change.” (Sarah Ban Breathnach)
It is 2019! Happy New Year! Who would have thought it would come so fast and furious. It seems only yesterday we were saying “Happy New Year.” Only yesterday we were saying this and that will be done in the new year of 2018. We made plans, set goals and were invigorated by the thoughts of the great things we would do in a new year.
Now we come to another one…
We have now turned the page on a new chapter in life. It is a fresh page on which to write the story of your life-the life lived in a new year. As with all things, the new is something we have not experienced and have no idea of what is to come, but by putting the new year in the hands of a loving, caring, compassionate Father you will find rest for your soul and the plan He has for you.
The scripture clearly teaches:
“’For I know the plans I have for you’—⌊this is⌋ the LORD’s declaration—’plans for ⌊your⌋ welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’” (Jeremiah 29:11 HCSB)
What has happened in the past, what things have burdened us or lifted us, are now in the past. We look forward to what God has in store for us in this future. Though it is uncharted waters for us, nothing is to come as a surprise to the Heavenly Father. He will instruct, He will lead, He will hold on to you and never let you go.
“I will praise the LORD who counsels me— even at night my conscience instructs me. I keep the LORD in mind always. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:7-8 HCSB)
With these things in mind, let me share with you something I have thought about much over the last month. Resolutions, and promises, and being resolved to do this or that will not matter unless you have submitted these plans to the One who has the plans already in place.
By a life of obedience to God we find strength and power to follow His plans for our life. Submitting to Him and making Him the commander of our lives, we find great power to do greater things than we could do or can do on our own.
Things will happen, struggles and hardships will come, but if He is the focus of our life than we will learn from these things. We will grow! We will find joy for the journey!
One goal should be the aim. It should be the base for the foundation of a new year-for the year 2019. This goal is summed up in two words: Know Him!
For those who have wandered aimlessly through the previous years, attempting to get some footing in the mire and muck of life, Knowing Him means accepting His payment for your sin and accepting Jesus as Savior of your life. It means believing Jesus Christ is the only way to abundant life here and in eternity, and Jesus will forgive you of all your sin. It means confessing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life.
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation…Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame…everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-11, 13 HCSB)
For the one who is in fellowship with Christ through the above process, this new year gives you an opportunity to reaffirm your faith and trust in a God who will not fail. Reaffirm your commitment to follow Him, trust His plan and walk in His likeness.
This is our opportunity to start the year right-do it-and walk with Him!
Until next time…
