Walk Confidently Into 2024 :: By Holly Spate
Thoughts of a new year bring to mind many things: fresh starts, new beginnings, a chance to turn a new page and leave another year of yesterdays behind. There’s something so nice about wiping the slate clean… being given an opportunity to begin again, to start over. There’s something so refreshing about second chances. It’s comforting to know that one does not have to be defined by a moment in time or many moments in time but rather be free to reinvent, to begin again, to start anew.
New Year’s may be the one day out of 365 that many actually give themselves permission to let go and move forward. It may be the one time they give themselves a pass to truly leave the past behind.
Whether you feel the need in this new year to start fresh and leave the past in the past, or whether you are content with life as it’s been and forge ahead bringing yesterday with you, we all start the new year together. Each of us has an opportunity to ring in the year with expectation and celebration. And each of us has an opportunity to decide how we will live each day.
For the believer in Christ, another year means another opportunity to grow closer to God, another opportunity to do more for the kingdom, another chance to get up early and meet with the Lord in the quietness of the morning. It gives another chance to be more forgiving, to plant more seeds, to give more generously. It provides another opportunity to exercise and build one’s faith and to grow closer while trusting in the only One who is forever trustworthy.
With breath in our lungs, each new day is another beautiful gift given to praise our Creator… to awe at His glory and majesty… to remember His goodness and grace. Another opportunity to express heartfelt gratitude for all He’s done in the past and all He’s going to do (both seen and unseen) in the future as we enter into another new year.
As a Christian, another year brings a chance to grow closer to our Creator… a chance to give our all to the very One who gave us His everything. And, as we grow in Him, our hearts can be joyful in understanding there’s so much more He has in store… so much.
1 Corinthians 2:9 clearly states, “However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”- the things God has prepared for those who love him.”
Just think, when we ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, when we call upon His name and believe in our hearts what He did for us on the cross and through His resurrection, accepting the amazing gift of His salvation, not only are we forgiven of all our sins and rescued, but we are promised an eternity so bright… so incredibly wonderful our minds simply cannot comprehend.
Amazing!
1 Corinthians 2:9 is a beautiful reminder that this life we live in the here and now, although important, is merely a speck, a very short moment in time compared to an eternity without end. This truth truly proves His mercies and the reality that His remarkable love knows no bounds! It’s a beautiful reminder, or should be, of what miraculous wonders lie ahead.
Just think… all that Jesus mentioned in His Word is lovingly being prepared for our eternal future… for your eternal future! A future we each have yet to encounter… a wonderful, glorious eternity of pure perfection.
Awesome!
Every Christian should enter this new year with a smile on their face fully confident that the God of their salvation has a beautiful plan for their today and all of their tomorrows.
As believers, we should feel comforted, encouraged, and joyful by the many scriptures in the Bible, scriptures that remind us of His promises… His forever goodness. Scriptures such as Romans 8:28, which states, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Or Lamentations 3:22-23, which says, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Every Christian should enter this new year with a sense of calm and confidence in knowing that, although change is inevitable, there is one constant that never changes… the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Malachi 3:6 clearly states, “For I am the Lord, I change not.”
How comforting to know that our great God… our ever-loving, all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful God is the same yesterday, today, and forever! How wonderful to know His ways are perfect and He changes not! How blessed to know, because of Him, you have what the lost world so desperately longs and searches for… you have HOPE!
As you begin this new year, remember you serve a God who never changes… whose unconditional love and mercies are available and new to you every. single. day.
Wow… how incredible!
As you walk into another year, keep your eyes forever fixed on the very One who created you… the very One who gave His everything… who promises to love you and never leave you. Because you are His, you have every reason to hold your head high and celebrate. Because you are His, you have every reason to walk confidently into 2024, remembering the God who never changes, the God who has your best interest at heart, who walks with you.
Happy New Year!
“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).
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