Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29: 11 (NIV)

Here we go again—entering another brand new year, together.

We shared a lot of happy New Years together full of excitement and anticipation, but as we begin this year I sense that I am more excited than ever about all that is before us.

So, based upon God’s promise to us in the passage set out above from the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, here’s what I propose we do together in this New Year of 2018—let’s commit to claim this year as the best there will ever be for whatever we think that we know is before us, and for whatever we don’t have a clue which might be before us.

Is there something you have always wanted to do? Claim it, envision it as occurring. Maybe it’s a new job, a total career path change, or an opportunity you have long been looking and waiting for a door to swing wide open.

Maybe it’s a passion which God has placed on your heart, aligned with His will for you and others—to pursue something with Him, to do something that will make a difference in the lives around you and the world beyond your current reach. This is the year to embrace it with Him in the lead.

Claim that this is the year in which it will blossom, thrive, grow, flourish, bless others, make a difference in the world, and raise hope and spread peace. Embrace it and claim it, and then with God in the lead, move out with a holy boldness—claiming His promise for your life of “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

And then in the immortal words of the late Thomas Earl Petty (Tom Petty)—“Don’t back Down,” as he plainly shared with us in these words—

Well, I won’t back down, No, I won’t back down

You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won’t back down, No, I’ll stand my ground

Won’t be turned around, And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down
Gonna stand my ground, And I won’t back down

Hey, baby, there ain’t no easy way out
Hey, I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down

Well I know what’s right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground, And I won’t back down
And I won’t back down, No, I won’t back down

Oh, and if you have a relationship which God has blessed you with—claim and work hard to make it the very best it has ever been in this New Year of 2018. A relationship perhaps like the one I have with my blessed bride of fifty years, Lynda, whose birthday we’ll celebrate tomorrow on January 2. Her birthday each year is like her—perfect in its timing, first out-of-the-box, and first in all of the ways she begins another year of encouragement of me and others, always doing her best to lift me and those around us toward being all we can be, and should be, in each new day and year.

So here we are, beginning a new year together, full of adventures, opportunities, relationships and blessings for us from the One who is always at work for us and with us.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,

“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future.”

So, together then, let’s claim this New Year 2018 as the best there will be, embrace it, and move forward with a holy boldness into this brand new year with Him, realizing that no matter what mountain or valley we might face, with the God of all creation there with you and me—we can boldly move out, never back down, and trust Him for all that is before us.

In His Name—Scott