adminGod operates in His own realm of timelessness and it’s by His grace that we have the opportunities to inquire from Him what He would want to see happen in this particular dispensation on the human calendar.
The year 2012 is set to be a great year I tell you. One of the scriptures that have been impressed so much upon my heart over the past week as we entered into 2012 is Colossians 3:1-2 which says: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Be mindful of things above, not on things on the earth.”
If we are going to have progress in 2012, there is going to be a need for us to focus on things above — love like Christ, believe like Christ, walk like Him, talk like Him or else we will miss God’s plan for our lives.
Maybe you have written new year’s resolutions and you have already failed on some of them. I have already met people who are saying “2012 yacho yakadakwa iyi!” or “U-2012 wakhona unzima bantu.” I mean, it’s only seven days into the year and the devil has already started messing the people of God around. It need not to be so, at all!
My spiritual father and mentor, Pastor Bambe has been teaching on four things that I would want to share with you on preparing for a great future or a great 2012. I surely hope they will help you as you set out on your God-given mandates in 2012. The Word of God actually says: “Where no advice is, the people fall; but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” (Proverbs 11:14). So we thank God for men of God in our
lives that help us in the direction that God is taking us as the people of God.
Four keys to a great 2012
Prepare and plan ahead — as a Christian remember that failing to plan is actually planning to fail and so you will need to prepare on the things that you would want to focus on this year.
Many people fail to plan for their own futures but they can plan Christmas parties at work. Proverbs 21:5 says: “If you plan and work hard, you will have plenty . . .” So, it is highly important that you write down your plans and strategise on how you will set out to pursue them. God himself before He created the earth sat down and planned (Proverbs 8:30).
Learn the habit of writing things down. Buy a notebook and write all your action plans, it will help you focus on the most important things in your life.
Think ahead
It’s really amazing how many Christians do not like this thing called “thinking”. Thinking, by definition, is the use or exercise of the mind or one’s power of reason in order to make inferences, decisions, or arrive at a solution or judgments.
What do you think about your finances in 2012? What have you thought about your education, marriage, ministry and so on? Thinking is very important because the Bible actually says that as a man/woman thinks, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7) You are what you think!
People who think they will die of their ailment will eventually die. People who think they will not afford school fees for their children or dependants will not afford it! It’s as simple as that! You reap the fruit of your thoughts.
In 2012, determine like the scripture in Colossians says, to set your mind on things above only. It does not hurt to think good thoughts about your life. See yourself prospering and making a difference in your community. Think on it! Reason it out!
See ahead
Seeing ahead simply means that you begin to live and act like someone who has the end in mind. If we as Christians master this concept, we will stop getting involved in sinful habits and exposing ourselves to sin at all. Someone who is seeing where God is taking them cannot act like a normal person on the street.
The Bible actually says we walk by faith and not by sight (by what our visual capacities are exposed to). Someone who sees ahead begins to act ahead because they know the end result!
I’ll give you a testimony. When I was in Lower Six at St Columbas’, I had “seen” ahead and understood that I was called to be a leader at that school, particularly being the head-boy. What the spirit of God then led me to do was gain a lot of influence among the students. They began to treat me like a leader before I was officially a leader because I saw myself as one and I acted like one. When the actual time came and I was officially appointed to be the head-boy, my service to the school sailed smoothly because I had seen it already and I had prepared.
Pray ahead
Having said and done all, it would also be important for the people of God to pray ahead. Prayer is a two-way communication with God. It is not just you reading out a grocery-list to God.
Prayer is more like a father-child talk. You and God will have to commune about everything that you have prepared for, thought about and seen ahead. If you thought well or you saw well, the drive to pray will not be a problem. The Bible says that we ought to pray always (Luke 18) and if 2012 is going to be counted for anything, then it will all begin in the place of prayer.
If you take some time to reflect on what we have talked about here and apply it to your life, God is really going to manifest himself in a greater dimension in your life in 2012!
Shout out to Pastor Bambe for allowing me to share these points with you!
Until the next time.
If Christ be anything, let Him be everything!
*Bruce Itai Chimani is a BSc in Journalism and Media Studies Student at NUST.
He can be contacted on [email protected]
Facebook Page: Itai Bruce Chimani
Blog: www.bruceitaichimani.wordpress.com
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