Crossing over into a new year (Series) 1 ~ Pastor Ituah Ighodalo

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2: 10 KJV

Luke 2: 10 -13

We are all hoping for a better 2020, much better than 2019, and I pray that by the sound of the numbers 2020, it will be a year of perfect vision. It will be a year of rounded blessings. It will be a year of accelerated speed. It will be a year of great increase in the name of Jesus Christ. 2019 was a very strange year. A year that even the Queen of England said was a little bit bumpy. And what was a little bit irritating or annoying to me was that towards the end of the year, it tends to claim a lot of people, most of them very young, under the age of 40. Somehow, the year swept a few people away. I want to decree and declare that 2019 has done its worst, 2020 will be a year of compensation, a year of encouragement, a year when God will wipe away our tears, a year where God will recover you, a year where God will restore you, a year where God will lift you up, a year where God will say I’m proud of you. Everybody that has shed tears in the year 2019, the Lord will wipe away your tears himself. Everybody that has lost someone or something in the year 2019, the Lord will encourage you. The Lord will put his hands into the eyes of the devil and he will pluck the eyes out and he will rescue our children and it shall be well with us.

A lot of people come to Church on the last day of the year. Some have not been in Church in a long time. Some are coming maybe for the first time. Let me tell you, let this not be your last time in Church. It is not what you do once, but what you do consistently over time that causes your change. Today, God will bring you a new change. Some of us are in church thinking – ‘if I start my year with prayer, maybe God will answer my prayers. Church is a holy place. It’s a place of protection. If I start in church, I am protected for the rest of the year.’

It’s best to start on a right footing. It’s not how you start but how you end that is important. There is no point starting in church and not continuing in Church and in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. There is no point starting well, and then abandoning the cause midway or midyear. There is no point starting in church only to go back to your old ways; worldly music, champagne, alcohol, fornication, adultery, lying, wickedness. If you go back to your old ways, nothing will change. If you go back to your old ways, the old ways will stay with you. It’s not the once-in-a-year visit to church that makes a transformation. It’s a consistent fellowship with God and fellowship with the people of God that brings a steady change.

We have said so much about the dangers of sin, the dangers of wrong thinking. A lot of people think sin is an offence to God but the real meaning of sin is doing something that will damage your own life. That is what sin is. Not necessarily an offence to God. So a lot of us say, well God doesn’t mind a little bit of sin. It has nothing to do with God but it has everything to do with you. Sin is something that damages your own life. And because you don’t see the damage immediately does not mean that the damage has not been done. My prayer is that God will help us in the year 2020. God will stand by us in the year 2020. God will make this year a wonderful year. God will make this New Year a delightsome year. God will make this year an extraordinary year and God will make it a happy new year.

What should your resolution be?

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 

Romans 8: 28 – 30 KJV

Each yeah people do resolutions at the beginning of the year. Typically, when people do resolution it is about what they want God to do for them. But resolutions should be about what God wants from us and that is total obedience. If you can find out what God wants from you and you can key into it, then our life would be one of great joy.

More often than not we lack understanding of what God wants from us and what we want. We need to discover for ourselves where God is and His position in every situation, we find ourselves. We need to ask ourselves some questions;

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8: 28 KJV. If we take our time to understand the scripture, we would understand the mind of God. Even the early Christians were faced with challenges we faced today in their walk with Christ. When bad things happened to the early Christians even after giving their life to Christ; Paul made them understand that all things work together for the good of all that rely on and trust God.

Everything we go through in life is pre-planned; whether we are justified or not, whether the person is good or bad; in every situation there is something good and a lesson to be gotten from it.
A person without Christ find it difficult for him/her to conform to the will and image of Christ. It is tough but can be easy if we focus on the one thing – the love of God. The key is to find this God and love Him in truth and unconditionally.  Focus on God and on where we are going in life. There are so many distractions around us and if we allow ourselves to be held up by the distraction life would become difficult.

Our new year resolution should be to focus on God and on the things that would reflect the nature of God to the world.  In the book of Romans 8:31 Apostle Paul said, “What do we then say, if God be for us who can be against us?” If you love God key into the purpose of His will for you.