One Year From Now
The year 2010 is now history, and we have entered a brand new year, 2011. Did you achieve any goals this past year? Will this next year be a year similar to last year? …Get up, go to work, care for family, go to bed, and then start over again. Do you have any dreams for this year? If you do not, you will probably end up with another “ho-hum” year or worse. It is time to believe God. We can change some things but for others it will take a move of our Lord. No, we may not know our future but we know, child of God, Who holds our future.
One may even respond to this that Jesus said in Mt. 6:34, “…Take therefore no thought for the morrow…” This does not mean that we do not plan for our future, but it means that we are not to worry or be anxious about our future. Someone else may say that Jesus is coming to take us to heaven. Yes, He is coming some time, but we do not know when. He gives us a parable in Luke 19 which suggests that we are to “occupy” until we die or Jesus takes us in the rapture. “Occupy” means to improve; to employ in business for the purpose of increasing it or of making profit on it. It means to increase ones capability of doing good, and to do it ‘until’ He comes to call us hence, by death or to meet Him in the rapture. I am concerned that believers are not increasing their capability of doing good but are hopelessly remaining the same. We often are so side-tracked by what is not right that we expend our energies here rather than believing for a solution. For example, I may have a couple in counseling say, “This is not right. He does this.” or “…Well, she does that.” I ask them, “So what are you believing God to do in this?” They sit silently, shocked that they could believe and expect a change. If Jesus says to “occupy”, then we can.
I want to share seven powerful things that you must do.
1. Make a decision; I do not want to remain the same (complacency).
2. In prayer, decide, “What do I want?”
3. Make a petition (a formal request). Jesus said, “And in that day, ye shall ask me nothing. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever, ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you” (I Jn.
5:14&15).
4. Ask. Jesus said in Jn. 16:23, “And in that day, ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you.
Whatsoever, ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.”
5. Agree in prayer with someone. Jesus said in Mt. 18:19, “Again, I say unto you. That if two of you
shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father
which is in heaven.”
6. Believe that you receive. Jesus said in Mk.11:24, “Therefore, I say unto you. What things soever ye
desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
7. Thank the Lord for what you are believing for. Philippians 4:6&7 says, "Be careful for nothing;
but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
thru Christ Jesus.”
God’s thoughts and plans toward us are peace and not of evil, to give us an expected end (Jer. 29:11). Let us believe Him for this. Amen!
Jesus said to the blind men in Mt. 9:29, “…According to your faith be it unto you.” Their eyes were opened. Jesus is saying this to us as well. What are we believing? …Our circumstances, what we see and feel, what others say, then be it according to your faith. If we believe that things will not get better, then they will not. Let us believe the Lord based on His promises. I believe that something good is going to happen to you in 2011: in Jesus’ name. (To be continued).