Let me first begin by wishing each and every one of you a Happy and richly blessed in the Lord 2017! I really sense in my spirit that the Lord is going to do great and mighty things in His people in 2017; new and fresh things that will bring forth much fruit in 2017. There is no doubt in my heart that you can say this about the start of every new year, but for some reason I really sense in my heart, God’s church, His people, are going to move in power and might; under the Holy Spirit’s leading in 2017!

A huge deterrent I see among the church today for that taking place, is that too many Christians, including myself, sadly fail to recognize all the wonderful, new things the Lord desires to do in them in a new year, simply because of past mistakes, past sins in their life. Satan is called the ‘accuser of the brethren’ in the Scripture. We read in Job 1 where one day the angels presented themselves before the Lord and Satan was also there. The Lord asked Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan’s response was, ‘From roaming through the earth and going back and  forth in it.’ We can tell by the Lord’s next question that Satan wasn’t on a sight-seeing tour of the earth, nor was Satan just cruising around the earth. The Lord asks Satan ‘Have you considered My servant Job? There is no one on the earth like him, he is seamless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’ Satan was roaming the earth looking for someone he could devour. 1 Peter 5:8 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil (Satan) prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 

Most animals when hunting for food, look for the weakest prey in the herd to attack and devour. You rarely see any animal attacking the strongest one in the herd, for they are strong and willing to fight for their life. It’s the weak ones they go after for they are not strong enough to put up a fight. There are Christians today who because they fail to recognize what the Lord has done for them on the cross, allow Satan to take the smallest failure, the slightest mistake in their walk with Lord, to cause them to be weak, thus they fail to fight and become his prey.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God and then goes on to list all types of wickedness; many we can sadly personally relate to. After listing many horrible types of wicked lifestyles, Paul makes a very condemning remark, “And that is what some of you were.” (You don’t have to get so personal, so real Paul, right) Before we knew Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our greatest wickedness was that we didn’t live a surrendered life to the Lord; instead we served the lusts of our flesh. If Paul stopped by saying that is what some of us were, where would our hope be?

The  next words Paul writes is where all Christians need to find themselves in so they can receive all the ‘new things’ the Lord desires to do in their lives in 2017. “But you were washed, you were sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Most of us have that special shirt, pair of pants, dress, suit, that we love to wear, but when we wear them, they unfortunately get dirty and soiled. Do we toss them away after one wearing; no. We wash them, have them dry-cleaned so they can be worn once again.

We will make mistakes, commit blunders in 2017 as we walk with the Lord. If it were possible, we would gladly go back and change our mistakes, our blunders, but we can’t. Yet, we can go to the Lord, get washed and cleansed/sanctified again by His blood for the forgiveness of our sins and be used by Him once again. 1 Peter 1:8-9 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He (Lord) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 

Don’t become easy prey for Satan in 2017 simply because you have allowed him to torment you by reminding you of your many past mistakes, Get washed, get sanctified by the Lord and return to the work He has determined for you to do. You are a new creation in Christ, now walk as that new creation and watch those ‘new things’ the Lord desires to do in you begin to surface in your life!!