As
the year closes and a new dawn breaks signifying the birth of a New Year, it is
necessary as children of God to sit back and take stock of the year closing
even as we prepare our hearts and minds for the New Year if the Lord tarries.
It is a time to look into the Perfect Word of God and reexamine our hearts: “Test yourselves to see, if you are in the
faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize for yourselves that Jesus
Christ is in you? – unless you fail the test” (2Corinthians 13:5). It is
not a time to take stock of what we gained or lost but to look intently at our
walk and service to the Lord. When the children of Israel finally crossed the
Jordan through God’s providence, before they could take possession of the Promised
Land, they needed to be circumcised (Joshua 5:1-9). One would have expected
that the first logical thing to do was to take a census of themselves and take
stock of their possessions so that they can truly give thanks to God (counting
their blessings)! This was the farthest from the heart of God for His people;
rather God pointed them to the one thing that could rob them of their total
possession of the land. For them to successfully enter into the land and take
full possession as promised by God, they needed to cut off every unbelief which
was symbolized by the physical cutting off the foreskin and be wholly devoted
to God. The Bible stated that those that came out of Egypt though circumcised
died in the wilderness because of their unbelief which led to their
disobedience. In our present dispensation, God expects us to cut out every flesh
from our hearts as it will hinder us from fully obeying His word; which in turn
will debar us from fully enjoying that which He has prepared for us in the New
Year. It is not enough to bear the name of the Lord but we must be seen to obey
Him as well in order for His words to come to pass in our lives.
Friend,
you have gotten to this point not because you are better than those that passed
on during the year but by the mercy of God. Therefore, to successfully navigate
the waters of the New Year which we have never experienced before, we must be
ready to re-calibrate our hearts in order for it to be in consistent tune with
the Word of God. Consider this, of what good is new wine when it is poured into
old wine skins? The Lord Jesus Christ told us that the wine skin will burst,
thus He admonishes us to pour new wine into new wine skins (Matthew 9:16-17). It
is not about making plans and New Year resolutions but it is about allowing God
to do an inner work in us in order for us to walk victoriously outwardly. As we
enter the New Year by His grace, let us circumcise our hearts by putting away
fleshy tendencies that negates the word of God: “For the mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not
submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. Those whose lives are in
the flesh are unable to please God” (Romans 8:7-8). Let us look again into
the mirror of God’s Word and adjust, readjust accordingly, after all our praise
should not be from people but from our Father who is in Heaven (Romans 2:29).
God bless you as you walk in the pattern set before you by God and may the New
Year herald in your life a higher walk in Him in Jesus Christ name! Happy New
Year!!!
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