New Year’s Day offers many people a fresh beginning. We try to learn from the mistakes that we made last year and resolve to do better this year. We buy planners and organize ourselves, and we write out goals, objectives, and action plans. We have good intentions, but we lack tenacity. So after a few days in the New Year, we give up, lay aside the plans, and wallow in our old habits.
The problem does not lie with the intentions or the plans. The problem is two-fold: our plans are too self-centered and temporal. Our plans focus on what we want and how we will attain our goals, rather than finding out what God’s will and resources are (Proverbs 19:21). Plus, our sense of timing is distorted. Instead of giving up after just a few days, we need to remember that each day is God’s gift of a new beginning. His purpose has eternal implications and His resources can never be exhausted. Jesus illustrated this when He said: “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do” (John 5:19).
To be a winner, we must discover God’s will because His plan will prevail and we must use His resources to accomplish His plans. The question is, “How?” We discover God’s will through His Word and we access His resources through prayer by faith.
“There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand” (Proverbs 19:21).