Soon the year 2011 will come to an end. For most people it has been a difficult and challenging year. And what of the new year to come? What is your’s and my expectation for 2012. Will it be another year like 2011? Or will 2012 be better; much batter? Yes, 2012 could be our best year yet! How do I know? Because I’m not only optimistic and positive about the 2012 but I’m also optimistic about the Lord and his word; that there will be great opportunities and great victories available to you and I when we maintain God as our source.
You see, God is not weak, his supplies are not running low and he is not subject to current economic conditions. Neither is He effected by political upheavals. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Yet the level of his power and influence in our lives is determined by us:
- We set the level of faith and confidence that we have towards God.
- We set the amount of his word that we taking in and receiving as truth in our lives.
- We establish our level of obedience to his will and to his word
- And we are the ones who have the choice to appropriate his promises for our lives
We are the ones who can effect the quality of our lives, accomplish victories and achieve breakthroughs not by passively drifting through life but by:
- seeking the Lord for his directions for our lives
- reckoning ourselves dead to our own agendas, ideas and methods
- applying our faith concerning what he says about us
- speaking words that line up with what we expect God to accomplish in our lives
- walking in love as Christ loves us
- avoiding strife with others
It is by our active participation and obedience with God and his word through the Holy Spirit that we can define the course of our lives and when necessary overcome obstacle, setbacks and reversals.
So what is it that the Lord Jesus wants to accomplish in and through your life in 2012? Take time in the remaining weeks of 2011 to sit quietly before that Lord and listen for his directions for you for the coming months. Maybe he is directing you to become active in a particular ministry or to begin a new job or move to a new city. He may be guiding you to work on self-improvement, to lose weight, begin an exercise program or learn a new skill. He may be telling you to expand your relationships and showing you how you can be better at reaching out to others and minisitering to their needs. Take these things that the Lord shows you and meditate on them. Write these things down. Keep them before your eyes. Pray about them each day. Back them up with promises from God’s word. And begin to confess these goals over your life. Then be ready to act when opportunities suddenly appear.
Yes, 2012 can be our best year yet, if we maintain God as our source, activity apply his principles and meet his conditions in our lives.