Getting Ready For the New Year 3

2Chronicles27verse6 ‘So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God.’

The secret of success lies in your preparation, or to put it in another way; success comes when opportunity meets with preparations. This is what happened to Uzziah in our text scripture. He became great because of his preparations. In the same vein, the new year can be a glorious adventure for you if you take your preparations seriously. This is why God is sending this series of messages your way and by the grace, I will begin to share with you from today how to prepare for a new year. So how should you get ready for the new year?

1. By reflecting on the outgoing year. This is an important task that you need to do if the new year will be better and one way of doing this is to review the outgoing year. If you do this successfully, you need to take time and also find a place to do so. Probably you are wondering why I should reflect on the outgoing year! I will tell some benefits of reflecting, which are as follows:
-It helps you to see the things that worked
-To see the things that didn’t work
-To see where you are now, where you have been and where you could have been
-To see things properly
-To see things differently
-To know what to do next
-To make the right kind of decisions
So in general, reflecting on the outgoing year will do a great deal of Good. So make out time to reflect. Lk15v17-18

2. Be grateful for the outgoing year. You owe God a debt of gratitude. Grateful people are graceful people. 2Cor4v15 and their lives never lack beauty, honour and glory. So when you look at an outgoing year, what are you to be grateful for?
You are to be grateful for:
-The things God has done. Ps107v8, 15, 21, 31
-The things God has not done
-The things God has done that you have no knowledge of
-The things he will yet do.
-The things he is about to do.
Generally, you need to thank God for the successes, setbacks, trials, victories and every other thing you have been through the year. Don’t be a complainer or murmurer. Choose gratitude over grumbling. Choose to be positive instead of being negative! Choose to commend instead of complaining! His grace will be more than sufficient for you as you do this. Philip2v14-15
This is where I will be bringing our discussion to an end today; join me tomorrow in our next lesson. Thanks!

Other Scriptural References: 1Thess5v18: Col4v2: 2Thess1v3; 2v13: Lam3v40: Ps119v59; 46v10

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, thanks for opening my eyes of understanding on how to prepare for the new year today

CONFESSION: The new year will be different for me! My experience in the new life will be better than this outgoing year because by the wisdom of God, I am taking heed to the counsel of God I am receiving today in Jesus name, amen