Nena Arias | January 8, 2024
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…”
(Psalms 23:6).
For the most part, a new year brings great expectations to the minds of people. They start the wheels of their imagination rolling and great hopes are born in their hearts. You may have great hopes or none at all. One thing is for sure, many things can and will happen. Some you anticipated others will be a total surprise. Some will bring satisfaction others perhaps will be great disappointments. But at this point the best advice I can gift to you is to challenge you to make up your mind to live your best life for God because he promises his children to be with us through thick and thin. This is what he says to us in Isaiah 43:1-3 “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you,… he who formed you,…Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God.”
It is a proven fact that most people’s New Year resolutions are a disaster almost immediately. As a matter of fact, statistics show a high percentage fail at reaching their goals in their New Year resolutions even before the month of January is over, not to mention the rest of the year.
However, it doesn’t have to be that way. You and I can decide to have a great year, what is best is that with God we can have success for the rest of our earthly life.
Thousands of years ago God delineated the basis for us to have a prosperous and successful life which we can read about in the book of Joshua 1:1-9:
“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:1-9).
The promise God gave to Joshua is completely valid for us today. God promises if we obey His Law we can expect prosperity and success all the way. The more we apply the above passage in the book of Joshua to our faith walk the more the guarantee we will have from God for a happy and successful earthly journey no matter what we have to face. The kind of obedience the passage in Joshua talks about strengthens our confidence because we will experience how God gives us the direction and guidance we need on a daily basis just like he did with Joshua. That kind of faith and obedience will destroy any limitation we may feel about ourselves and it allows us to hear the voice of God within. His voice reassures us of who we are and what we can accomplish.
You need to make sure that your New Year plans are in accordance with the ones God has for you. Look to our heavenly Father for your direction to arrive at your objectives. Accept God’s government for your life and determine to develop a strong love for Him in all you do and thus secure your truly prosperous New Year in a happy and satisfying new spiritual dimension. Only then can you say like the Psalmist “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…” (Psalms 23:6).