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Starting right off the bat, the first thing that must go in 2019 is discouragement, and the biggest source of it is negative people. As believers, we sometimes underestimate the extent to which the devil will work through others to discourage us so that we lose hope in God. Social media allows these negative messages to get to us faster and by individuals we don’t even know. We see an appealing thumbnail or image and click on it out of curiosity. A seed of negativity can be planted just that quickly, and some of this misinformation can do serious damage; especially if you’re in the waiting phase of God’s promise. In John 10:10, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, said that he came to make a more than abundant life available to us. God has guaranteed that He’s our sufficiency, and that He will never leave or forsake us. We must let His promises saturate our hearts and keep us fueled with expectancy, because very soon, we’ll witness the fruition of them come to pass.

Don’t be swayed by people’s opinion
During times of uncertainty or when it appears the wait on God’s promise is too long, don’t make the mistake of being swayed by the opinions of others. The wisdom of Psalm 37:7(NLT) tells us, “Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.” When God tells us to be still in the midst of change, this is what He means. We are not to make bold moves or be persuaded to turn in any direction. This can be challenging when everyone else is anxious due to uncertainty. During these times, people may try to sway us to take actions they deem appropriate, and they may have good intentions, but we must be obedient to Heavenly Father. Our eyes and ears are to be totally focused on Him; He’ll tell us when it’s time to move, and we must have faith in this.

Don’t underestimate God’s allegiance to your growth
Quite often you hear people say that they want God to do something new for them in the coming year. Phrases like, “…this is going to be my year!” or “God is really going to show out for me in this season!” are very popular. They help to keep us motivated in hopefulness, but we must remember that God wants us to have the ability to maintain and keep the blessings that He places in our lives. Immaturely and prematurely, sometimes we desire things we’re not yet strong enough in Christ to handle. God doesn’t say “No!” He watches the efforts we make to spiritually grow in faith and love. He watches how we handle the tricks, darts, and plots of the enemy, because these will often bring out the truth regarding our level of diligence and endurance. So, when it seems that blessings are prolonged, we must seek the Lord in humility, and ask Him how we can be further strengthened to handle the heft of our heart’s desires.

Don’t let your enthusiasm dwindle
The Christian walk should be filled with adventurous expectation. Many of us are hopeful with the start of a new year but allow our enthusiasm to dwindle because things are not happening according to our time schedule. God holds our futures. He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that He has tremendous plans for us; they are good plans, and we should be continually hopeful about what He’s going to do in our lives. He tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT), ““My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”” We don’t know all the details of what He’s doing behind the scenes, and we don’t know how things will come together, but He promises in Romans 8:28 that even in the right now of this moment, He’s causing everything to work together for our good. So even though we can’t see all the details coming together, we can’t walk by sight, we must hold tightly to faith and remain excited about what God holds for us.

Don’t allow anything to diminish your gratitude to God
Things in the world are moving at a very rapid pace, and subconsciously, we can’t allow our need for entertainment to filter over into our walk with the Lord. This is a no-no, and we must be diligent to squash any semblance of it. Some of us try to pull on God to excite us in new ways, and we overlook the great truth that God is performing something new and miraculous for us every moment of each day. There are millions of transactions, modulations, and computations going on every second just to keep us alive and thriving. If we haven’t acknowledged this and been thankful for these things at the deepest level, the really big stuff we’re waiting on can happen right under our noses, and we won’t even notice. We can’t allow anything to diminish our gratitude to God for what He’s done for us through Jesus Christ. And we must understand that if we’re waiting on something new, we must be willing to meet it at a new place of deeply felt gratitude to Heavenly Father. We must praise and thank Him for giving us another year to enjoy life and grow closer to Him.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“Things NOT to Repeat in 2019” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2018. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.

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