New Year’s Greetings!

It’s time for new beginnings! It’s time for a fresh start! It’s time to make some resolutions!

These are often statements that are made by most people at the beginning of a new year, and we as Christians are not really all that different! Who wants to remain the same as before? I know I don’t, because I want to continue to grow in the Lord, as well as put off some of those things that have held me down for being all He wants me to be.Yet, we all struggle just a bit in our endeavor to move forward as failings and difficulties from the past create a “drag” on the vision for the future! I’m reminded of a wonderful scripture that helps me each time those thoughts come into my mind, and it follows here:

Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV) 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

In Paul’s declaration of forgetting, he said he does one thing, however we see that one thing is actually broken down into three parts.

Forgetting what is behind is the first one. It seems that the more difficult a situation is, the harder it is to “forget!” Paul wasn’t saying there’s no way we would remember these things, but he was simply saying those things would not be enough to hold us back from forward progress!

The next thing he said was he would “strain toward” what is ahead. Yes, there are times serving God, and even moving forward in life takes some “straining!” Yet, be reminded today that it will truly be worth it all one day!

Lastly, he said he would “press on toward the goal to win the prize.” We need to remember also that we will be rewarded one day. We must keep our eyes focused on the prize, and the greatest prize we will know one day is to see our Savior face to face!

So let’s move forward! Let’s dream dreams!

However, let’s do it all within the safe confines of God’s will. And May God richly bless you and yours in the New Year!
 

Happy New Year!

Apostle V. Wayne Huffman
Senior Pastor
Alpha Omega Fellowship