Happy new year to everyone! I hope we all enjoyed our holidays and are ready move on to greater heights in Christ. While we all have our own way of bringing in the new year and starting the new year fresh, we should all try something different. Start off the new year in a way that you haven't before. If you make new year resolutions, make different ones than the usual. If you have not started your year giving God the glory and submitting your all under Christ's control, this is the year to start. Every year people say "I'm going to do this" or "I'm going to do that, and they never stick to their word. This is the year to stop doing that. The old things we once used to do, needs to be put behind us. This is the year of letting things go. This is the year of change.
1 Corinthians 13:11 NIV
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me."
I've always had the mindset to start my year with Christ, and in church. Since I do that every year, it can become a habit, like more of a tradition. I don't want to ever just become complacent in that each year and never feel growth, so I decided to do something new, myself. I chose to start my year doing something new that I would also continue throughout the year and prayerfully, the rest of my life. I decided to invest in a prayer journal. I've never had a specific journal dedicated to conversations with God, so I'm so excited about my new journey with Him. I feel that this is the start of a new thing God is doing in me. So whether it's getting a prayer journal like me, buying a new study bible, or reading for 30 minutes a day -- starting the new year, in a new way, for Christ, is always great.
Isaiah 43:19 ESV
"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."
God really wants more of us than what we are giving him. If you only take the time at the beginning of the new year to acknowledge God and say you want to grow in every aspect of life, make this time worth it. Stick to it. Be consistent. Stay motivated. Keep persevering. Stay committed. When we go on these new year kicks, or start doing something like working out at the beginning of the year, we are all on board and going strong. Then, we soon fall off and stop doing the very thing we said we were determined to do. God doesn't like that. God loves consistency and God loves integrity. Start your new year, in a new way, for Christ, and watch God's plans for you unravel.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"