How will you walk into 2013?

There are two ways you can walk into the coming year. You can either walk into it facing forward or facing backward.

To walk backwards into the New Year is to go into it looking backwards as you allow the past to define the steps you take in the New Year. But to walk forwards into the New Year is to go into it believing, expecting and looking forwards to all that God has in store for you.  So let me ask you: How are you going to walk into 2013?

No matter what the past has been, I want to encourage you to walk into 2013 facing forward. To walk forwards into the New Year is to walk into it remembering what the prophet Jeremiah said;

‘Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:   Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ (Lam 3:22 – 23) NIV 1984

I can personally relate to this message that I am sharing with you. 2012 has been a very bitter-sweet year for me. It has been a year of incredible personal pain and struggles on one hand, and at the same time it has been a year of incredible personal growth, encouraging growth in ministry and one that has been loaded with many divine interventions and miracles. Indeed I can testify with the prophet that it is ‘because of the LORD’s great love we have not been consumed’. I am still standing. I am still here. God has been good to me in 2012, and I am sure that if you too do not allow the tears of your pains to blur your vision, you will agree with me that in 2012 God has been good to you too.

God offers us a new beginning every new day. With each new day He offers us a new day of compassion. I believe that in the same way, He offers me and also you a New Year that is a new beginning – a New Year filled with his compassionate plans and purposes; a New Year pregnant with possibilities to become more like Jesus in every way;  a year with extraordinary open doors to win more souls for Christ; a year to trust God to take the Gospel to many more nations that have never yet heard of Him. I believe that if you will choose to walk into 2013 facing forward, the best is yet to come.

I am no motivational speaker and I do not speak these words lightly. They are true. I do not speak of a year without pain or trouble. No. I am sure 2013 will have its share of pain and trouble. But we can expect God to be God in 2013. We can be sure that His compassions will never fail in 2013 no matter what lies ahead. We can open up the ears of our inner man to His big plans for our lives. We must not limit God in 2013. We dare not! Our plans must be great because his faithfulness in 2013 will be great.

So I ask you again, ‘How are you walking into 2013 – backwards or forwards?’ I am praying that you will choose to walk forwards into it and that it will be the greatest year of your life thus far.