Finish Strong, Stay Connected!

The Word of the LORD God as we go into the new year is 'stay connected'!

At this time of year, people are busy making plans: plans for New Years' Eve celebrations, plans for church services, plans for family gatherings. There are also vision board parties, affirmations for the new year, Christian planners, prayer journals. So many things are geared towards maximizing the new year.

Our training has taught most of us that the coming of the new year means that we have to clean out old stuff, clear out clutter, cut off dead things, reevaluate and reassess our lives. We examine our circles (or we should!) and review our friends and connections. We review our relationships. We give thanks for all of our loved ones, both living and ancestors. We review the lessons of the passing year, good and bad, and we make decisions about how we will change for the better in the coming year.

While we are thinking about the new year, let's consider finishing the year strong. How? Stay connected.

In the 15th chapter of John, Jesus said that he was the True Vine, the ultimate connection (John 15:1). The LORD God does His own version of cleaning and clearing out but your charge is to stay connected. He will prune you to make you more fruitful, but your charge is to stay connected. The better connected you are, the more fruit you will bear. If you disconnect yourself from Him, you will not bear any fruit.

It is through our connection to Him that we are able to realize all of the other gains in our lives. He gives us the minds to come up with ingenious ideas and to develop marvelous inventions. He gives us the strength to work and earn our living. He gives us the power to attain wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). He opens doors of opportunity for us (and closes wrong doors) (Revelation 3:7). Commit your plans to Him and He will establish you and cause your plans to be successful (Proverbs 16:3). He gives us the power, love, and soundness of mind to stand boldly and proclaim our ideas (II Timothy 1:7).

As we consider the new year, let us make sure that our connection is firm and that our relationship to the LORD God, the Eternal One, the One who is able to keep us from falling, the only Wise God, established through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, is secure. That is the best way to finish strong and to start out ahead!

Prayer: Ephesians 3:16-21 (NET2)-I pray that according to the wealth of His glory He will grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner person, that Jesus Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you will be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus to know the love of Jesus Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you will be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.