Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to 2021! When I think of starting a new year, I think of staying up with friends until midnight on New Year’s Eve to ring in the New Year. I think of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day with a dime under my bowl. I also think of making New Year’s resolutions. I don’t actually make them, but I think about making them! Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Perhaps you begin the New Year telling yourself things like:

  • This year I’m going to eat healthier and lose some weight
  • I’m going to exercise more this year
  • I’m going to read through the Bible this year
  • This year I’m going to spend more time in prayer
  • This year I’m going to get out of debt

As we begin 2021, let’s consider what the Scriptures tell us about God’s New Year’s Resolutions. As human beings, we make New Year’s Resolutions and then we don’t follow through. But, unlike us, when God resolves to do something, it’s done! He doesn’t run out of steam or get distracted or give up. He always does whatever He resolves to do! What are some of the new things that God will do this year?

Isaiah 43
16 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
18 “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
20 The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,
21 the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

Lamentations 3
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Ezekiel 36
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

2 Corinthians 5
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

Revelation 21
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

As we begin 2021, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, may we surrender ourselves anew to the Lord Jesus Christ. May we open ourselves to the new things that God is doing in us and around us. May we have eyes of faith to see and believe those new things. May we have tender hearts to cooperate and participate with our God in those new things that He is doing in us and all around us. May we live out our new creation status in all areas of our lives. And may we fully take hold of the newness of life that only Jesus can give.

Remember: The Lord Jesus is making all things new in 2021!

Peace and love in Christ,
Courtney Brown

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