Happy New Year Beloved of Christ! It is with great joy and gratitude to be alive to witness the year 2018. God is worthy of all praise and honor for His love, mercies, and grace that always keeps us. I feel very excited about this year. Just like every year, 2018 has its own own stories and mysteries to unfold to give all of us a wonderful life experience that will bring glory to God.

In our first Wednesday devotion for 2018, I will like all of us to pray and meditate on this Bible verse and allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide our hearts in our journey into 2018.

In Paul’s letter to the Church of Philippi, he wrote ;

¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, – Philippians 3:13

In this Bible verse, I just want to highlight two important things that Paul mentioned in his letter. The first is to forget those things which are behind and the second is to reach forward to those things which are ahead.

Forget those things which are behind

Beloved in Christ, we just completed the year 2017. There were many things that occurred in 2017, some of these things may have been great and others may not be so great. No matter what your 2017 was like, let us let go off the pain, hurts, burdens, troubles, issues that we encountered  and empty ourselves for a new experience with Christ in 2018. We cannot pour new wine into an old wine keg, a new wine is poured into a new wine keg. God wants to bless you in this new year with new blessings, but you cannot receive with a handful of old things from the past. Beloved, forgive and forget the pains of the past and open up your heart to embrace the new grace and blessings of this new year.

Reach forward to those things which are ahead

Beloved, God has a lot of great things in-store for all of us. For each person, God has a plan and purpose for you to fulfill in your life. Please prepare your heart and mind to reach forward, to press on, to persevere, to seek what God has placed ahead of you in 2018. Reach forward with prayer, reach forward with studying and abiding in the word of God. Reach forward through trusting and yielding to the dearest Holy Spirit our true and faithful helper.

O Dear one, God loves you so dearly and desires that you will experience an amazing year that will be filled with fruitfulness to bring Him glory. Today, I pray that you will allow the Holy Spirit to guide you through the wonderful and amazing journey of 2018. Always remember that Jesus Christ dearly loves you! Stay blessed 🙂