The Race is Set!

"Happy New Year!" Isn't that how we have come to learn to say it? It has become our culture and tradition: Actually, the Yuletide season's greetings are lesser than a hundred and fifty hours separated by the thin-line boundary surrounding a bright, and a brand new year! An imaginary line that tens of thousands of souls did not get to cross past the December 31st mark! Life is a race some, simply, are not privileged to complete!

That you're here today, reading this first blog of the new year is an act of the mercy of God! Some more have managed to cross that finish line of the 2021-race into January, only to have succumbed to not witnessing the third as it is today! This is one of the reasons why the living ought to be grateful! Vocalize these words: "LORD, I am grateful that I am alive and well; able to breathe, see, talk, walk - and make use of all my faculties and members to the glory of Your name. I do not take Your grace, for granted!"

You see, it's only when we cultivate the habit of gratitude - not focusing on Mr. & Mrs. Jones' fortunes that we seem to be deprived of - not giving in to the temptations of unbelief, but rather always "strong in faith, giving glory to God" that we will be kept from stumbling at the promises of God in the race en route our Canaanland!

Obviously, God has spoken! He has called out 2022 for us, our "YEAR OF FULL RESTORATION with A Vengeance." If you're wondering how we got to this concept, it was spoken by the mouth of the Lord unto the Prophet Jeremiah concerning Israel's restoration from the land of captivity in Babylon. Just like I am writing unto you, God instructed His prophet to write a letter to the Israeli-exiles in captivity, thus:

"Therefore all they that devoured thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all they that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.

For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after." - Jeremiah 30:16-17.

Would you love to see the goodness of the Lord this year 2022?

Let me share with you from Hebrews 12:1-2 very succinctly how you would actualize this:

1. Recognize that the calibrated timepiece is ON. The race for dominance and the experience of God's prophecies unto you has started!

2. Notice that there are clouds of witnesses, always surrounding and watching how you run this race (Hebrews 12:1). The phrase 'clouds of witnesses' refer to the angels of God, the saints who had preceded you into glory, watching and often cheering you on your race, praying for you to finish well and do better than they had done in their time-allotted spaces. It also refers to fellow citizens of Heaven who are watching your life as an example to encourage their faith-walk/race with God. These are the major ‘clouds of witnesses’ that we would love to reckon with in this discussion!

3. Lay aside every encumbering weight ... Weights are heaviness that drags you down whatever that is. For most people, 'weight' is the past they couldn't let go of ... God says "Cast your burdens upon Me, for I care for you!" (1 Peter 5:7). For some others, it's unprocessed emotion over sad occurrences or losses of the past. Lay it all away from you in Jesus' name.

4. Deal ruthlessly with your besetting sin! What is a besetting sin? It is an iniquity that always overpowers you. You didn't mean to tell a lie, but you have always lied! That's a besetting sin. Or gossiped - and felt so condemned after engagement. And you should feel bad ... But that's not the end of it: Make sure that you confess this sin to God and appropriate the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. Thereafter, get accountable to someone whom you love and trust well enough; let them hold you accountable, even as you hold yourself accountable to them. (This works well in the area of addiction and addictive behaviors). Besetting sins have a free flow into our lives to destroy and ruin us. Even every addiction is besetting, and vice versa! Deal a deathly blow to your addictive behaviors today: Our ministries for the past three decades had always fasted and sought the face of the Lord for the entire month of January of each year, submitting ourselves before His rulership. It's always worked for us. You find what works for you, but deal a deathly blow to your besetting sin(s).

5. Run now with patience! This implies you setting achievable goals: Break down your goals into quarters, and quarters into months, and months into weeks and weeks into days. By the end of each day, you must task yourself to tick boxes of attained targets. You must write out your vision and break it down into achievable and sustainable goals!

6. Finally, constantly looking unto Jesus Christ as your Author and the Finisher of what He has called you to do!
   

May you and I at the end of 2022 be bold enough to declare that this indeed has been our year of full restoration! Amen.

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Written by Prophet (Dr.) Sammy Joseph. Should you wish to book/schedule a one-on-one counseling time-slot with the man of God regarding what subject you've read here, please copy this link onto your web browser: https://www.harvestways.org/counseling

and follow through!

Photo credit: PULSE Publishing House, UK

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