2020 Is Here!
Happy New Year! It feels good to see that we made it! Not by our own strength or might or influence, but by the grace of God! How wonderful! From all the words that have been spoken about this year, it promises to be an interesting one. Prepare to be wowed! God is good.
As we engage the year, there is the awareness that we are not only starting a new year, but we are starting a new decade. A decade filled with so many promises, due to the increased awareness of people worldwide. Even those of us in the so-called ‘Dark Continent’ are more aware of global happenings. The world is now a global village where events in a country would have ripple effects in other countries far and wide. Not only that, the news is now updated by the second. So if President Trump catches a cold in the White House, we get to see him sneezing into his handkerchief in Lagos, Nigeria! Imagine how that sets the pace for the fulfillment of Scripture that when Jesus comes again, all eyes shall see Him!
At the beginning of a new year, there is usually so much anticipation. We expect new things, good things. We anticipate that the year has packaged gifts ready for us and we are just itching to open those boxes to see what we got! It is an exhilarating experience, especially as we move away from a particularly difficult year. It is my prayer that our expectations will not be cut short, but that we will experience and testify the goodness of God in this year 2020.
Regardless of where you are at today, lift up your eyes to God and thank Him. Let us together thank Him for the past year, with all its ups and downs, as we look to Him for the unfolding of His good gifts in the new year. May His thoughts towards us be fully manifest every day of this year. Those good thoughts that give us a future and a hope; those thoughts of peace.
On our own part, let us trust God afresh, leaving behind our past disappointments. Let us launch out into the deep, believing that God will guide us to that place where He has prepared a bountiful harvest for us. A harvest of influence, governance, academic achievements, career progress, notable incursions into previously closed places, the rebuilding of desolate places and whatever else our mind can think to achieve. Let us not limit God by our limited minds. God told Abram “Look as far as you can see in every direction – north and south, east and west. I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.” Gen. 13:14-15 NLT
This year, reach out for those things “as far as you can see”, with no limitations. If you can imagine it, it is the first step to getting there! That is what I want to do this year, lift up my eyes. Improve my imagination. Then lift up my expectations to achieve those things that I imagine and see. Yes, there’s the risk that I might not achieve everything. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I want to leave behind the things of the past, the achievements and failures of the past, and press into what God has for me both now and in the future. Moving away from my comfort zone, to be courageous and bold. This is not who I am naturally. But I choose to take a step forward this year. I am doing it afraid, but I am doing it, with God’s help. I suggest you do the same. Let us see what God will do!
Happy New Year!