The New Year

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and had taken some time to reflect on the real reason why the church celebrates Christmas, "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11) Now that Christmas 2016 is over we all move closer to the new year. New Year's Day falls on January 1st and marks the start of a new year according to the Gregorian calendar. It marks the end of New Year's Eve celebrations in the United States and gives many Americans a chance to remember the previous year as well as contemplate what the new year may bring.

Rather than making what is known as "New Year Resolutions" let us active our faith for the new year and speak forth over our lives and all believers the pray of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ spoke, and believe it to come to pass this new year like never before since the early church, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:20-26)

What the church and moreover the world would be if believers would confess this wonderful prayer over themselves as well as believing that it will come to pass in the entire Body of Christ. I truly believe that this prayer is centered around every believer releasing the God kind of love. Jesus told the disciples, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) Notice, Jesus says, "My Disciples." This applies to all believers. The power of God's love actively at work in and through believers causes the world to know that we belong to Jesus. What a wonderful way to release the glory of the Lord. Simply by loving one another with the same love that God loves us. 

Let this year be the beginning of great restoration and reformation in the Body of Christ. The writer of Hebrews records, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2) In context with the previous chapter, believers are to cast off every "weight," every hindrance that keeps us from running the race of faith, such as, unforgiveness, offenses, all failures, our past, to name a few. We are to also lay aside every "sin," that is, unbelief. These are things that can "so easily ensnare us." However, we get past these things first by casting them aside and then most importantly, we are to look to Jesus, His holy life; His love; His grace; His patience and perseverance in trials; to what He endured in order to obtain the crown, and to His final success and triumph.  

So, let us activate our faith and believe God for the things that may seem impossible. Let us act upon God's Word like Abraham, "He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform." (Romans 4:20-21) Let us stand on the words spoken by Jesus, "Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23) Let us let God arise manifesting His Kingdom, Power and Glory in His church. Let us love one another with the God kind of love and do as the apostle Paul, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)

Have a safe, healthy and prosperous 2017 being united together in Christ, doing all things for the glory of God.