One of the most consistent things that people do as they start a new year is some type of New Years resolution or plan for the future. Personally, I find nothing wrong with putting a plan together that is going to help one improve upon the life that they live or the way they live their life.
But I do want to go a step further and add this to the equation of your thinking Romans 12:2
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
I interpret that to mean that you are going to have to change the way you think about certain matters of life. The way you identify with life in a whole, even possible the way you identify God in your life and you in the life of God. If you keep thinking and viewing things the same way you did in the previous years of your life, then there stands a reason as to why things have not yet begun to change and magnify within your life.
The late songstress Whitney Houston said in one of her tracks that the greatest love was learning to love one self. But I want to submit that in order to love oneself, one my first know who oneself it.
My question to everyone, Do You know who you are?
I want that thought to kind of just linger in your mind for now.
I further believe that even entities like churches should or could have their own plan for the future.
I want to encourage you today, as we move into a new season or new year. We may not personally know what tomorrow holds but what we can do is enter tomorrow with God being our hope, strength and our purpose.
I have four scriptures here, that are designed to encourage us, push us, motivate us and establish us in our belief in God’s ability to shape our future.
Proverbs 19:20-21 (KJV)
20 Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
21 There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless, the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.
Romans 15:13 (KJV)
13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Proverbs 16:1-3 (KJV)
1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.
3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Philippians 1:6 (KJV)
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
It is very common for us to sit around and consult with people close to us about our plans for the future, in some cases we do not identify it as plans for the future, we just see it as something that we endeavor to do. But just for clarification purposes, if it is going to happen after you think about it, then it is the future that you are making plans for.
We also have friends that we sometime refer to as sounding boards. You know that person that we can bounce things off of just to see the reaction that they give. These things are very common in our lives and our completely natural to the physical person.
I heard a quote this week when a radio host said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, for we are Spiritual beings having a human experience”.
Even though this may be a quote from a Frenchman several years ago. It is frame of thinking that some of us tend to mis-understand. You see when you begin to understand who you are what authority you have been given, when you begin to understand your place in this world, when you begin to move in your life with the authority, mindset, purpose and attention as one that is a spiritual being.
So, when you begin to put plans in order, you tend to do this with the right frame of mind and understanding.
Be yea renewed in the thinking of your mind. So, I asked again Do you know who you are?
The scripture says, the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand. The sound counsel that one needs to identify with and pursue is those conversations with God, and not giving so much authority and sound judgement with the sounding board. Contrary to what you may think, the sounding board does not know you like God knows you. The sounding board cannot tell you what God meant when he said do you not know the plans, I have for you.
People may have the greatest intentions in the world, but at the end of the day; they are not God.,
The scripture goes on to say; that you will abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. You need to know from whence comes your hope and from whence comes your help. You are not in this alone, the things you strive to do, the things that you have went into sound counsel about, the things that you believe that God is leading you to do. God says, he will renew and strengthen your hope, that you will abound in hope. All of a sudden you vision for the future have taken a new life, they have much more meaning to you, you have a greater determination to see them happen in your life.
The scripture continues to say Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. But before God said that he also instructed us with the understanding that The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. what I understand is that I had a conversation with God, about how I desire to see my future, I had a conversation with God about how I feel and what I think need to do to get to destination that I have seen in my future.
But what stood out in the scripture was if I commit my works unto the lord, if I make if my business to let God live in my heart and his living in my heart is manifested in my life. If I can forsake my flesh and allow the presence of God to reign supreme in my life.
A few years back my mom Mother Andrus wrote a book called keeping the flesh under subjection.
It is okay to have a New Years resolution or a plan for the future, but if you have not yet learned how to keep thy own flesh under subjection than it is just a plan that has no true power, authority or likelihood of success.
So, as the scriptures continue to teach us that we as commit our works to the lord and move through this spiritual life with the knowledge of knowing that whatever God has started in you, whatever path he has placed you on, what ever future he has laid out and ordained for you, what ever his mission is for your life.
He says; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ If you have managed to have your faith in God, in your plans are center around God, If you can begin to move through this land with an understanding that you are a priesthood, that you are royalty, that you are heirs to the throne. This may sound like just a cliché, but I need to tell somebody today; it is way more powerful than a cliché.
There is living breathing life in those words, there is the hope of a better future right now in through Christ Jesus.
It is imperatively important that you begin to walk with the understand and assurance that you are a Spiritual Being that has been design, fashion and chosen by God. You are not just another Eli or Martha; you are not just another Sarah or David.
You are something special in the eyes of God. You must renew your thinking and understanding of who you are. You must begin to establish your authority so that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. In your life.
I am going to bring this to a close but I want to encourage somebody, live for God and not for self. Let your commitment be to the glorification of God.
I do have a Resolution for the Church for the year 2022.
Every member is to bring at least 4 people without a church home with them throughout the year.
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