“And just as we have borne the image [of the man] of dust, so shall we and so let us also bear the image [of the Man] of heaven.” 1 Corinthians 15:49 AMP
Your destination would influence your journey. E.g. if you want to go on a trip, it’s wiser, safer, economical, time-saving to say the least, to decide where you want to go to before setting out. If you want to go to City A using public transport, you’ll need to go to the park/station/port having the means of transport to take you there. If you don’t, you’ll have to cancel your journey or change destination to the ones your port of departure offers. If using your own car, you’ll still have to decide where you are going except if you want to go on a fuel-expending drive with no particular destination. You might enjoy yourself but time and fuel would have been wasted and you probably wouldn’t have made much progress either. My point is, you need to know where you want to go before setting out.

2018 is round the corner. I’d like to believe that everyone has (or should have) various dreams, goals, plans etc of what you want the new year to look like and/or bring. However, do you want to wait until the year comes to start making action plans? That would be likened to going to the park/station/port before deciding your destination and I believe you wouldn’t do that. Seriously, who wants avoidable waste? Not me! Undoubtedly, God has plans and various purposes for us in 2018 and many of us are on the outlook for such wonderful blessings; that’s fabulous!

However, could I highlight something that may be overlooked more than necessary? Could we perhaps add some different approach this time? Could we focus more on BEING what God would have us be rather than just promises He definitely wants to bless us with? Could we critically evaluate our lives, finding out areas of deficiency when measured to the standard of JESUS CHRIST and be deliberate with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit’s help to improve in such? A character deficiency could lead to the premature termination of the promises of God turned blessings if released on unprepared ground (Matthew 13:18-30).

I’ve looked at Abraham’s story many times and wondered if God couldn’t have given him Isaac nine months after He first promised; of course He could have. I may not know all that pertains to the twenty-five year interval, but one thing I see is that a maturity process especially in His walk with God was needed in the time being. “…walk before me and be thou perfect – whole, complete etc (Gen 17:1). Even in the natural, no matter how rich a family is and how much an underage child wants his or her own car, it would be hazardous to hand him or her such because it would risk his or her life and potentially, many others; a certain maturity (at least in age as recognised by the government too) is needed to handle such machinery. Yet, sometimes we think we can cry, bully, threaten etc our way to getting God to do what we want, when we want, how we want, for reasons we desire etc like He was created for our own pleasure. Nope, it’s otherwise actually, we are CREATED FOR HIS PLEASURE! (Rev 4:11)

This post by no way aims to discourage you from receiving God’s promises and accompanying blessings in 2018, far from it. He’s our loving Father who delights to give good gifts to His children; if He doesn’t, who will? This is just a reminder to focus more on our relationship with the Lord and be better representatives of Jesus Christ in and to the world; the seeds of His promises would bear abundant fruit in our life if the grounds of our hearts are prepared adequately than not. Remember, eternal life is to KNOW GOD AND the JESUS (John 17:3). Moreso, what is the true state of our hearts; are we after the GIVER or gifts? If all we want are the gifts, at what point would they be sufficient? It wouldn’t profit a man anything to gain the world and lose his soul (Matt 16:26; Mark 8:36; Luke 9:25).

Please, let a thriving walk with God reflected in a Christ-like behaviour be a part of your 2018 realities. It is a work-in-progress, so don’t be discouraged if you fall too many times in your opinion. God is cheering you on for choosing to try and His sufficient grace would be available to help you, if you let Him.

Wishing you a Happy New Year in advance and God’s grace to resemble Christ closely in all you do in Jesus name, amen.

God bless you 😀

Lydia for PneumaWord x