It’s Gone, hallelujah! What’s next?

According to the Gregorian calendar, today is Monday January 8th, 2024.

We are already a week into the New Year, but since it’s my first day back from vacation, I’d like to take this opportunity straightaway to wish each of you a Holy Spirit filled New Year. I truly hope you had a blessed Christmas as well.

We certainly continue to give God thanks that we are still here on the land of the living and like me, I believe you would have renewed your commitment to the Lord.

So, it’s another go round, if the Lord wills, as we countdown to December 31st, 2024.

I did a bit of research to understand how this Gregorian calendar came about and it took me back to 753 BC or Before Christ, when the Roman calendar was being used. I understand that the original Roman calendar had only ten months and 304 days in the year in the 7th century BCE or Before common Era.

The calendar evolved over the centuries and by 45 BCE, it was reformed into the Julian calendar, which led to the development of timekeeping systems. This Julian calendar aimed to reform the Roman calendar and featured a 365-day year with a leap year every four years. However, according to reports, it overestimated the solar year's length, leading to a gradual misalignment with the seasons.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar which replaced the Julian calendar to address this discrepancy. They skipped several days to realign the calendar with the equinoxes, the time or date twice a year when the sun crosses the equator, when day and night are approximately equal.

And alas, voila, therein lies my answer about the time zones. See, I told you…people been messing with God’s clock!

And so here comes the spiritual lesson. Here comes the Word for today.

When God created the earth, it was clear. Day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6, and day 7. All over the earth. Correct? That’s when time as we know it began.

”In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.“ Genesis 1:1 KJV

And He went on to create the sun, moon and stars, which are used to measure time. When the sun comes up, it’s daytime for 12 hours, and when the sun sets and the moon rises, it’s evening time for 12 hours.

”And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.” Genesis 1:14-16

Time, Family, was not created by man, nor can man change time. Our Great God who existed before time began, did that and He still controls that. Amen??!!

So that’s why it is extremely important for us Family, to use every moment of every day wisely, in obedience to our Creator, in service for Him, communing with Him through prayer giving Him thanks and praises and laying our petitions at His Feet.

This is why my sisters and brothers that we cannot afford to spend another minute playing the fool. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18, ”For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.“ So if we continue to act the fool, we are spiritually blind and we will not see heaven.

Saints of God, we cannot continue to play church, we cannot continue to use the excuse that church is boring and not being run right and the people in church are hypocrites and sinful and refrain from going. We have to pick ourselves up and be the church. Glory to God.

Hebrews 10:24-25 - ”And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.“

Matthew 18:20 - ”For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.“

2024 is already speeding along and some people are still caught up doing the same old same old - cheating, stealing, gossiping, lying, allowing anger to get the better of them, cursing and catch this, neglecting the call of God on their lives because it is more convenient to tell God wait, while they try to fix some situations on their own. Think about it.

Family, we cannot continue to allow the world to influence us negatively. As Christians, we must positively impact the world, starting with our relatives, friends, coworkers and everyone we meet.

We cannot continue to be distracted. In fact, March 4:19 says we run the risk of becoming unfruitful if we give in to the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in and choking the Word of God that we must live by.

That’s why Romans 12:2 tells us - ”And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.“

Here, the Apostle Paul again, is teaching us to recognise God for His merciful kindness towards us by setting our minds on things that are truth. In His mercy, God has offered us grace and mercy and forgiveness and restoration, in spite of the tragedy of sin. Shouldn’t we be grateful? Shouldn’t we want to do everything we can to show God how appreciative we are? Shouldn’t we want to do the will of our Father at all times?

Romans 12:2 goes straight to the mind, because that’s where our thoughts are that turn into actions. So, if our thoughts are clean, we will do good. Naturally if we think evil thoughts, our actions will reflect evil.

So, we are encouraged to change our thought pattern so that we can do the will of our Father, not according to the worldview, but according to thus saith the Lord.

There is mounting pressure for us as Christians to fall by the wayside. Things may be going good one minute and the next it’s pandemonium - an attack on your marriage, an attack on your children, you lose your job, you become ill, something happens to throw you off track.

You could have the best of plans with all good intentions!

And that’s why the Bible tells us in Proverbs 16:9 that we can plan all we want, but we better understand that if we don’t allow God to direct our steps, we will be in trouble. Earlier in the chapter in verse 3 we are admonished to ”Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.“

So, this year, may we all commit to living the good life God wants us to live by changing how we behave, changing our attitudes, changing our knee jerk reactions that create more problems than we can handle.

This year, Family, may we commit to changing from our stubbornness, changing those bad habits that negatively affect our health and livelihood financially, changing from being selfish and prideful.

May we commit to changing our thoughts and leaving all of the negativity behind in 2023 and welcome new beginnings in 2024.

Colossians 3:1-2, ”If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.“

Family, we cannot continue to do the same thing all the time and expect a different result. None of us is stupid nor are we crazy. Amen??!! 

These are some quotes I found online:

“Don’t let the noise of the world keep you from hearing the voice of the Lord.”

“If the enemy can’t destroy you he will distract you.” “If he cannot have your heart, he’ll do his best to distract you.”

“And if the enemy can distract you from your time alone with God, then he can isolate you from the help that comes from God alone.”

Remember, “When the enemy sends distractions, they never look like distractions until they are finished distracting you.”

Today we can say hallelujah, 2023 is gone. We have been through so much, but God has blessed us even more than ever.

So, as we go into the rest of our days, may we be able to answer the question, what’s next, as we seek the Lord diligently for direction.

aub 8 January 2024

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