For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning ~ Psalms 30:5.
Introduction
One of the amazing things God has given to us as human beings is the unquenchable desire for a better life. However, we must realize that a better foundation is quintessential to a blissful life. We must build into the beginning of this year what we hope to experience in it, carefully putting into its foundation a strong and virile structure of wisdom.
Of a truth, in our society today, only a few people are having fairly cozy experiences in life. The larger population, even with strong determination, are only operating in survival mode and they keep wondering what’s happening. To crown it all, fear also runs rampant in many hearts, especially in Nigeria, because of the upcoming 2023 general elections.
Howbeit, our God is a God of new beginnings, and those who choose to believe Him, and stay put with His Word can still become brighter than the best of the day (Isaiah 43:18-21).
New Year, Beautiful New Beginnings!
It is my well considered view that the main reason God created days, weeks, months and years is to give us ample opportunities for fresh starts.
Twelve hourly, daytime takes over from nighttime, and vice-versa continuously. When night falls, it offers us a new opportunity to sleepover the failures of the day, and wake up wholly refreshed for greater positive achievements (Psalm 30:5).
Similarly, every new year is a new beginning, offering a new set of opportunities for fresh starts. With these, we can push behind us the mistakes and failures of yesteryears and reach forth to become the excellent persons we can be under God.
A new beginning is intended to put an end to the undesirable events of our lives and introduce constructive changes that should lead to better results in all areas of our lives: spiritual, marital, business or even in our national life.
A new beginning can move us from a sad past into a bright future, turning experiences of emptiness into those of productivity and relevance. Albeit, a new beginning does not just happen, we must jump-start it. There must be a strong determination to work it out through positive actions.
Mere wishes and colorful intentions don’t build legacy houses, it is actions that do. Stop wishing for a wonderful job, create one for yourself! Stop wishing and waiting for accidental occurrences, rise up, act and put an end to failures in your life!
No matter how bad your past has been, there can be a new beginning for you! Whatever has existed in your life before now that looks like failure, set back, confusion, depression or oppression shouldn’t be allowed to weigh you down. If you desire a new beginning or a new level of success, just cooperate with God to create it.
Your uniqueness is in your passionate dream, and the actualization of that dream is what secures your destiny. Bill FitzPatrick, a human development expert, observed that: “Life’s champions accept that … they may have to adjust and even start again and again.” Rather than struggling and fighting the present, focus your energy on creating new beginnings towards the realization of your dreams and expectations, even if it means starting all over!
Necessary Steps To Reinventing A New Beginning
Never doubt it, everything that ever gets done is done by somebody, and you are a major force in determining your new beginning (Hebrews 3:4). Get on your feet now, and begin to take steps to create a new beginning.
The foremost and most fundamental step towards reinventing your “new self” this new year is to keep God first in all your ways. Life has no meaningful beginning without God (Genesis 1:1). You need God to give form to your destiny, and you even need Him to breathe life into the dead issues of your life. God is not “a” factor for your success, He is “the” factor (John 15:5).
All the labour of man is futility without God’s input (Psalm 127:1). You can never generate lasting impacts in your world until God has imparted you, neither can you become anything significant until He has “made you” (Mark 1:17). The new beginning of success that you desire is guaranteed only if you put God first in your life.
Secondly, you must arise and accept responsibility. Creating new beginning places responsibilities on you. Until you accept responsibility and get committed to your life, you keep making excuses and looking for scapegoats to blame for everything that happens to you. But, those who constantly blame others usually remain lame.
Recall the story of the prodigal son as told by Jesus Christ in Luke 15:11-32. At a point, the prodigal son became less-fortunate than the pigs. Nevertheless, he accepted responsibility for unwittingly attracting the great evil to himself by his riotous living. But, at long last, he chose to change his estate of misery and woe. He arose and went to his father with a penitent heart, and that was sufficient to excite his required change.
Yes indeed, there is always something to do even when it appears there is nothing else to do. You cannot afford to leave your destiny to chance, you must choose to accept responsibility for your life, and act fast enough to deliver your destiny from the lions of past failings.
Thirdly, in order to reinvent a new beginning, you must firmly choose to make the practice of His covenant demands on your lifestyle. Yes, it is God's steadiness and faithfulness that keep us going, not how “good” we are. Nevertheless, God’s faithfulness cannot be divorced from the demands of His covenant (Psalms 89:28-29).
God is not going to give up on us if we learn to live true to His covenant. Amusingly, however, many people deliberately breach the benchmarks of the covenant, thereby exposing themselves to the diabolical dangers of unforced presumptions. Yet, they join others to cry when they don’t see their signs (Psalm 74:9).
An authentic covenant walk with God demands a lifestyle of righteousness, kingdom service with thanksgiving, passionate soul-winning, giving and an insatiable thirst for His Presence (Proverbs 3:9-10; 19:17; Psalms 67:5-7; 89:20; Malachi 3:10; Matthew 10:41-42). These are the irreducible minimum demands of the divine covenant.
Finally, men and brethren, let’s stay focused. Anytime vision is divided, attention is lost, energy is dissipated and divorce becomes inevitable. Guard against any form of distractions this year. By favour, the Lord will deliver you from every form of reproach, the old barriers must give way, and as you get closer to God you shall equally get closer to your Promised Land. You will celebrate, in Jesus Name. Amen. Happy Sunday!
** Bishop Taiwo Akinola,
Rhema Christian Church,
Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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