manna was heavenly food that the
Lord used to rain on his people
every morning - what precious
food that was that symbolizes the
Lord Jesus himself and his living
word! As we contemplate on
this story, we discover a strange
thing: the manna could not be
kept till the morrow, and if it was
kept till the next day it would rot
and get infested with worms.
This heavenly bread was only
sufficient for the day, never good
for the next day - the Lord used to
send them new manna daily. (Exo.
16:19-21)
In the same way, God’s words for
you, his will in your life and the
experiences he gave you last year
were able to satisfy you for one
whole past year, but are no longer
ample for feeding you in the new
year. It no longer goes along with
the spiritual growth that the Lord
has prepared for you. Yes, it fed
you, it became part of you and
you lived by it, but now you need
to add new elements to it. I am not
asking you to neglect or despise
God’s past encounters with you
or his past promises, these are
too precious to be forsaken and
have become part of our spiritual
beings but it is time to add to
them new encounters and new
promises. Rejoice in these past
blessings, thank God for them
and let them abide in you then
take off to the new blessings.
Look at the apostle Paul’s famous
words in Philippians 3:13,14:
“…forgetting what lies behind
and straining forward to what
lies ahead.” In fact, he used to
forget the accomplishments and
ministries of the past in order to
look forward and move towards
the new things
• Deal with the old promises:
Some divine promises are fulfilled
instantly like the king’s servant’s
son who started to recover from
his illness as soon as Jesus
spoke the words, (Jn.4:52,52) but
there are other promises that are
accomplished after some time.
How Abraham, the father of faith,
obtained the promise of having
Isaac is only one of the examples.
Unfortunately, many times I see
beloved believers in pain and
filled with disappointment and
tears because they are moving to
the new year with their unfulfilled
promises. Do not allow the
enemy to harm your faith, hurt
your feelings, accuse you or your
God in any way. If you have real
promises and have awaited them
by faith but they have not yet
come to pass, do not lose heart.
They will certainly come and will
not delay, just wait for the Lord
knowing that he will not let you
down. Do not surrender to the
feeling that the Lord has failed you,
be assured that the divine timing
has not yet come. Do not give up
to feelings of failure because the
promise has been late in being
fulfilled, do not neglect these
promises, do not treat them like
old things that will be laid aside.
Hold on to them, re-live them
and declare in front of God that
you are still joyfully waiting for
him; your disappointed tears will
turn to tears of joy and faith that
wait upon the Lord because the
promises will surely come.
“.and by practice of patient
endurance and waiting are
inheriting the promises.” (Heb.
12:6)
d) Receive a New Revelation:
The Lord wants to talk to you
about things to come…he wants
to reveal to you new blessings
and promises…he wants you to
see with his eyes what he has
prepared for you. Do not leave
his presence hastily; he will surely
speak to you. Continue to worship
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him with joy and thanks, offer him
your praise, bow down to him
with love and faith, with true fear
for “The Lord confides in those
who fear him…” (Ps.25:14). How
great is the goodness which God
has stored up for you. (Ps. 31:19).
Take from him new aims for the
new year. Do not limit yourself
to the boundaries that you have
built around yourself, let him
accomplish his purposes and will
in your life. What a great year to
come and how good is the will and
plan that the Lord has prepared
for you, that he wants to reveal to
you and pour over your life. Put in
your heart that you will, by God’s
grace and by the aid of the Holy
Spirit, live to accomplish what he
has spoken to you.
e) Get rid of your childishness:
The apostle Paul said: “I put
childish ways behind me.” Come
now let the Holy Spirit purify and
cleanse us from all the sins and
misgivings which we left to grow
during the past year. Let us allow
him to shake our lives like the
wind shakes the autumn trees so
the dead old leaves fall off. Let us
open our lives in front of him, with
a heart that is contrite and thirsty
for God’s work, let us submit
ourselves totally to him; he will
declare things to us, he will come
with his power to create in us the
will to change and the desire to
be set free. He will give us power
to put away childish ways and to
start moving towards maturity.
Yes, it is God who works in you
to will and to act for his good
purposes (Philippians2:13)…He
is now powerfully pushing you to
joyfully and enthusiastically move
to a new year with a new vision
and a fresh revelation.