Well here we are again…a brand new year! With a new year comes the hope of a fresh start… a new beginning. A chance to do something different whether that is trying a new experience or finally doing that one thing you have been meaning to get to for years. Or perhaps, this is the year that things will turn around in your finances, in your home, with your kids etc. Maybe this is the year that you will finally meet, the one you will marry, or have that child you have prayed about for years.
Whatever it is that you are hoping, waiting or praying for, a new year presents an opportunity for something to change. So how do things change? How do you change as you’re the same person entering the new year? Well, it’s not exactly a new revelation. Things change as you decide to do something different. As a follower of Christ we are not only called, but challenged to change. We are called to leave that old life behind and take up the cross of Christ, as we follow Him.
But change requires obedience. So the question becomes what is God asking you to do? We are always praying and asking God for His will and purpose in our lives. But if we are honest, we are not always willing to do the things God ask us to do. Sometimes those things seem so irrelevant or disconnected from our idea of God’s purpose for our lives. And becuase of that we disregard the simple things like prayer, reading our bible, attending church. We make excuses like ” Well, I don’t have to be in church to hear from God”. or ” God sees that I am trying, but I have to work on Sundays” or ever better… ” I am always talking to God, Him and I have our thing”. God is brought down to our level as He fits our little boxes and sits in our little corner of our lives. The reality is, our lives can be more of what we what God to do, or what we want to do, with God’s stamp of approval and not of us asking God what do He wants us to and actually following through with doing it.
Perhaps the “small” things that God is asking you to do, that you won’t do, is the reason why you feel stuck in your life. We want financial blessing but will you consistently keep and follow a budget? If you do follow a budget, will you give even though things seems tight and impossible? Will you talk to that person about Jesus? We all want our lives to count and do great thing for God, but will we share Jesus with the lost? will we offer to pray for someone that needs healing? You may want to get married but can you be content in the single space right now? Can God be enough in this season in your life?
So as you enter a new year, will you listen? will you do what God is asking you to do? or will you enter this new year the same you? with the same struggles? The bible says in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (NKJV). As you step out and obey God’s voice in your life, God will give you the strength to change!