^“Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”- Ephesians 6: 11

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, as we start this New Year, I wish all of us a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year in the precious name of Yeshua, Jesus Christ. Amen.

January the first month of a new year, is named after the Roman god “Janus” a god of two faces- one face facing westwards that is looking back at the previous year and all that is gone on before and the second face facing eastwards that is looking forward and making new plans for the new year. It is for this reason; we tend to make new Resolutions in Greek “analysi” which is the root for the word analysis.

In our New Year’s Resolutions, it is important we start with thanking God for: having healed us, having delivered us from things we may even might not be aware of, having guided and directed us, having brought us through difficult times, having provided for us and protected us and most importantly, having loved us and loving us since we were first conceived in our mother’s womb.  Giving thanks (Greek- eucharisteo) to God should therefore, be the first of our New Year’s resolution. The second point on our resolution list should be Prayer (in Greek proseuche- a word meaning a person who makes a kind of vow to God because of a certain need or desire in his life or her life). Prayer is also a vehicle whereby we may enjoy a closer and intimate relationship with God, by giving Him our praises, petitions, adorations and thanksgiving and we listening to what He has to say to us.

Lastly, in making our New Year Resolutions, it is important we take consideration of the words of Paul from Ephesians 6: 11 that is to: “Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”. Let us remember, our best wishes for everything to go well in the New Year will not happen if we allow ourselves to be tempted by the evil one. Therefore, let us fervently ask God to “deliver us from evil” in our resolutions, the greatest of this evil being death.  So, as we start 2022 AD, let the rest of Paul’s word from Ephesians 6:13-17 guide us.

^13 “Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Brother and Sisters, if we take Paul advice above and continue to pray and remain alert by having the Word of God in our hand at all times during this new Year, then definitely we will not fear whatever the devil puts in our way and victory will be ours through Jesus Christ our Lord. So in our New Year’s Resolution let us make Jesus our friend and let us get to know him much better this year. Let our hymn we sing this year be: “What a friend we have in Jesus!” (Please click and play the hymn).

Prayer: Mercy Father, we entrust the past to your mercy, the present to your love and the future to your providence. We ask this in the powerful name of Yeshua, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.