Success and Failure Blog

New Year gives an opportunity to look back over the past year and count all the blessings in our lives. We need to celebrate New Year with genuine spiritual values, and not the values of a fallen world like “eat-drink-and-be-merry-for-tomorrow-we-die”.

 Scripture speaks about New Year in Exodus 12:2 “This month shall be unto you the Beginning of Months: it shall be the “First Month of the Year” to you”.

 Our  New Year Resolutions should be Godly virtues, commitments to change, grounding in holiness , righteousness ,keeping and seeking for all the commandments of the God, delighting in Gods word and constantly growing in the Knowledge of the Scriptures, by repenting of our sins. Since the last days are going to be so evil, we are advised in the scriptures that we need to put on the Armor of God against all the spiritual forces of Satan and its evil people. We need to stand firm, with the belt of truth buckled around their waist, with the breastplate of righteousness Keeping the Full Armor of God Enduring Hardships, Sufferings, and Trials through Christ. Ephesians 6: 10-18

 Many celebrate New-year in sinful parties that involve alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling, fornication, provocative dancing, sinful pride, heathen music, immodestly dressed women etc. Galatians 5:19-21 says, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

 As believers, we are to guard ourselves against temptation, remembering that “bad company corrupts good character” (1 corin 15:33). God says to focus our thoughts on heavenly things not earthly things. We are to set our minds on the things of God and on the things that bring glory to Him Not Conforming to the Things of This World. 1 John 5:19 says we know that we are from God and that the whole world lies under the control of the evil one.

Jeremiah 10:2 God says that we are not to learn the ways of the heathen.

 Conclusion: We all need to thank God that we are alive for another New Year day because many of them do not have that opportunity.

I want to wish each one of you a prosperous, healthy New Year filled with joy, peace love and God‘s blessings . Happy New Year!

Reflecting on Resolutions

Well here we are again, another year is gone and a new year a waits us, but what does that really mean to us individually, to the whole of humanity?

Generally at this time of year most of us are busy making plans to “Party Hardy” or “Make New Year’s Resolutions” that are for the most part lost in our own ambiguity.  Yet would it not be more prudent to be pondering on our thoughts and actions of the past, in order to improve the future?  Perhaps it seems overly introspective, but have you ever asked yourself “What am I really committed too and what is it that I value above all else?”  Could one or more of your answers be; Money, Power, Influence, Acquisitions or perhaps you have identified so strongly with your job, as being a means to worth. If so, I guess my question would be the same as Jesus’; “What good would it do to attain the whole world and lose your own soul?”

What if we take to heart what we are really committed too and why, and identify what those things really mean to us, those intimately around us and the world as a whole.   After all Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “Commitment” as;

1 a : an act of committing to a charge or trust:

2 c : the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled <a commitment to a cause>

“How many of us actually take these two extremely important time frames of passage, from old and new, whether it be minute to minute, month to month or year to year  to heart and instead simply transition with little or no reflection of the opportunities lost or the successes to be gained in our personal relationships to others and Christ?”

As I grew up, I used to hear an old saying that goes something like this, “All things are fleeting and pass away and only what’s done for Christ will last.” Yet most people would say that those who take this message to heart really don’t understand what’s really important and valuable to the people of the world.  However I would beg to differ with that conclusion and instead believe it identifies the essence of what life is all about and exemplifies what is really valuable.

Imagine implementing all of the words to the popular Beatles song “Imagine”.  After all there seems to be tremendous acceptance of that ideology, because it probably evokes a warm fuzzy feeling when you become nasolgic about those four young men. But I would ask you to actually hear the words and point they made around the world using their musical talents:

Imagine there’s no heaven, It’s easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky, Imagine all the people, Living for today… Imagine there’s no countries, It isn’t hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too, Imagine all the people, Living life in peace… You may say I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one, I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one, Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man, Imagine all the people, Sharing all the world…
But what if I pointed you to Christ, the only begotten Son of God, does that warm fuzzy feeling suddenly get lost and instead you no