“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ..” ~ Ephesians 1:3 The Message
To me...the first day of a new year is always a great starting point for beginning a new behavior...a new thought pattern...and to establish the starting point of both my short and long term goals.
I like it when my ideas and goals are still “new”...or when something exciting and new is about to happen. I love the anticipation and excitement that “new” creates!
When I am at the beginning of something “new” I’m usually eager to explore it’s hidden beauties and enthralled with all the exciting possibilities that being something “new” promises. I’m often inspired by the new challenges it brings into my life.
I really, really like things “new”!
However..too often I find my excitement towards the “new”...gets old fast! My new ideas and my new goals...all fall victim to the same problem a new year falls victim to...it ages.
As “new” grows old...it becomes too familiar...and as it grows more familiar...I take for granted that it will still be here tomorrow to achieve or to leave behind...just another day...just another dream, having lost the excitement of being something new.
So...I leave these “old” ideas and goals unfinished and discarded...as my fickle heart begins to long once again...for something new!
I am sooo thankful that when God “laid down earth’s foundation, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love....” (Eph. 1:4). He doesn’t have a fickle heart like mine and leave the work He began in me unfinished!
In fact...I think God sees each moment with “newness”...and that the passing of time has no negative influence at all in Him. God patiently leads us in the plans He has made for our lives.
He will complete the work He has begun in me...and in you...until it is completed. These plans include our adoption into his family...plans that bring us hope and a home.
The Lord’s excitement and anticipation with each passing new year...new month...new day...new moment...only grows stronger...it will never wane or fail to succeed.
Is there any greater blessing than this promise?
The New Year may not always be as “Happy” as we would desire...but the Christian is blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3) and can look forward to a “Blessed New Year” no matter what may come their way because we are blessed by God!
May I encourage you...during this new year, you may live nearer to Christ than you have ever done before. Depend upon Jesus, for it is when we think more of Christ...that we are able to think little of ourselves, little of our troubles, and little of the doubts and fears! We will see more clearly God at work in each moment, giving us a portion of His anticipation for the “newness” of each day....and the new days to come!
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. And I saw the holy city—the new Jerusalem—descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.”
And the one seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new!” Then he said to me, “Write it down, because these words are reliable and true.” He also said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who is thirsty I will give water free of charge from the spring of the water of life.” ~ Revelation 21:1-6
Glory!
Kathy
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