No More Resolutions...Expectation and Action: It SHALL Be Well In 2012!By the grace of God, we have made it to see yet another year. TO GOD BE THE GLORY! Now that the New Year has been ushered in, I have to tell you that I've made it a practice over the last several years not to make New Year's resolutions. After all, how many of us can honestly say that we've made resolutions and really stuck to them? I'll be honest enough to tell you I've never been in that number. I'm at a point in my life where I don't feel the need to make New Year's resolutions. I would rather focus my attention on nurturing my relationship with God. In doing so, I ask Him to show me myself: God, show me what honors you and what does not; show me how I can be better and make a greater difference in the kingdom on earth; show me what I can do to make a difference in the lives of others that no one else can do like I can.
And God has proven Himself faithful. As He continues to show me myself, He has also instilled within me a strong need to let go of the frustrations that sometimes infiltrate my thought processes. Instead, He would rather I concentrate my energies on Him and His power. As a result, this has further caused me to understand that as children of God, feelings of worry, anxiety, frustration, defeat, etc. should not be a part of our normal disposition. What He wants us to do in every area of our life is trust Him. Did He not tell us that He's the same today, yesterday and forevermore? If this is the case, that means He's still able to open doors that no man can shut. He's still able to make a way out of no way. He's still able to pour favor upon our lives. Amen? Amen and amen again!
My message to you this month, dearly beloved, is this: regardless of what God has promised you, He is not a man that He should lie. His Word is good. Whatever He said, He can and will do. And I have to give honor to my pastor, Rev. Grace C. Washington of Love Life Christian Fellowship Church, for bringing the message home in our Watch Night Services. She came from the book of Joel and shared with us the familiar story of the plague of Judah...about the palmerworm, the cankerworm, the locust and the caterpillar. As she spoke, she reminded us that even though we've experienced some terrible things in our life (some of us saw the worst of it in 2011), according to Joel 2:21, we should not fear; our God is a God of restoration. We should be glad and rejoice, for the Lord WILL do great things. On that note, she deposited a Word that I have run with; and I'll continue to run with that Word this entire year. That Word is simply this: IT SHALL BE WELL IN 2012!
And so I decree to you today my dear sisters and brothers, now is the time to prepare to receive the blessings of God that you've been waiting for. I often say that success comes when preparation meets opportunity. If you're not prepared, you need to be spending every waking moment getting prepared. Why is this so important? Because if the blessing presents itself and you're not ready, you will be like the five foolish virgins in Matthew 25. God forbid! You've prayed and waited such a long time for your blessing. You've suffered, you've been lied on, misunderstood, looked over...and so much more. Don't miss this season of blessing. So in my T.D. Jakes voice, I admonish you in the name of Jesus to "Get ready, get ready, get ready!" No resolutions for this year; only expectation and action. We expect because we know God's Word is true. Whatever He said shall, indeed, come to pass. And we act because we know that faith without works is dead. God's going to do His part. He's waiting on us to activate that which He has already given us, release it into the atmosphere and then He will send us a blessing. Once again, IT SHALL BE WELL IN 2012.