NEW THOUGHT

 

     Each year I love to share verses from the Bible that are designed to encourage us to live more fruitful, productive and directed lives.  Paul writes in 2 Cor 1:20. “All God's promises are yes and amen!  God is consistent, therefor His words are consistent.   So the following scriptures are concise, direct and simple.  They are verses you can standing on when you need hope, an answer or a promise to get you through. 

     The first one is how to live in Christ – 2 Corinthians 5: 17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”  This is a great promise for a new year.  The old has gone the new is upon us with hope, love and faith we march forward.  It is a time of new beginnings and new vision and dreams

     The next is about praising God and trusting him in every situation of life.  In 1 Peter 1:3, it says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  In this verse we have mercy, a living hope all through Jesus Christ who rose from the dead.  The world is looking for hope in the middle of a pandemic.  Here is a living hope.  Did you know when you serve the Lord you are never alone?  Jesus said in Matt 28:20 that He would never us or forsake that.  What a great promise to know and have.

     The New Year is all about being new and starting over.  Paul states in Ephesians 4:22-24,  “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  That last part is so great.  Change the attitude of your minds.  Put on a new self, created to be like God.  What an opportunity for a 180 degree change, to be right with God and others.  Throwing off the old and putting on the new.  Getting rid of the junk and getting a new way of thinking. 

     The next goal is Giving Control to God.  In  Jeremiah 29:11, is states,  “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.”  What a verse for the New Year.  In spite of popular opinion God has a plan for us, to prosper and not harm, and to give a hope and a future.   God is good all the time.  I know I have decades of proof from my own life. 

     James says in this verse to live for the moment.  Listen to his thoughts from James 4:13-15, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”  Make each moment count and maximize every day.

    Each year is an opportunity to allow growth. The writer of Hebrews says in 12:10-11, “They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  Peter stated in 2 Pet 3:18, to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Make sure to grow this year.

     The last promise is Revelation 21:5, which states.  “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty, I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”  God is calling so answer the call and have the best year possible.