Happy, Prosperous New Year Greetings!

As this New Year begins and the former year fades, we turn our hearts toward the Lord with great expectations to see even more of His will come to pass in your life, our lives, and prayerfully in the lives of people all around the world.

Jesus said, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:10). God has a will, a purpose and plans for each of us in this New Year and He wants us to realize it, pursue it and see His will be done.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

God has good plans for you and me, but let’s not forget – they are always found as we spend our time with Him. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:33 to seek FIRST God‘s kingdom and His righteousness, then that puts us in queue for great benefits, because: He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, and the Author and Finisher of our faith. He is our Everything!

Let’s also remember that without Him we can do nothing, yet with His strength and through His grace we can find His will and do great things. Paul said in Philippians 4:13, I can do all things Through Christ who strengthens me.

Paul also said in 1 Corinthians 15:10, But God’s grace has made me what I am, and His grace to me was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other apostles. (But it was not I really; it was God’s grace that was with me.) (NCV)

This is an amazing verse that shows Paul’s total dependency upon God’s grace, but at the same time reflects our responsibility to work with the grace He gave us. However he quickly reminds us that it’s not us, but Christ IN Us doing the work. Wow! What great balance. We work hard, but it’s through His grace and strength.

The bottom line is, we must RELY on God’s grace, and allow Him to work though us in new and creative ways in this new year. We are His hands, His feet, His voice and He desires to touch this world through you and me.

Is there a creative thought that you’ve had in your heart that God might have you awaken this year? Is there a hidden desire that you need to resurrect and pursue?  If God has planted something in your heart, don’t be afraid to pursue it. If He placed it there, then He will also give you the grace to see it come to pass.

I know a man that at the age of 49 decided to go back to medical school to complete his studies and become a physician’s assistant. I know a pastor who recently decided to finish his college education and graduated last spring at the age of 55. And then there’s the great composer George Frideric Handel who wrote the famous musical masterpiece The Messiah at the age of 56.

Let’s not limit God by our small thinking and excuses, or by neglecting to discipline ourselves and work hard to see His will come to pass. Remember what Paul said, I worked harder than all the other[s]…  Just because God gives you a vision, doesn’t mean that it will come to pass without work. It takes our cooperation with the Lord in prayer and discipline to see His will accomplished in the earth.

So go for it this year! Go after the things God has placed in your heart! Philippians 3:12 says, I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. (NLT)

We wrote a couple of songs with these thoughts in mind: Keep Pressing On and God Has A Plan. They are both available on our CD called Seeing By Faith, which can be downloaded through iTunes and several other music websites.

We are praying for you. We believe in you. No matter what you have faced in the past years and no matter how many times you may have tried and felt defeated, remember today is a new day and this is a new year to seek the Lord and see His will come to pass in your life.

Thank you again for your continued support of our ministry. We know that we have many more songs to write and many more people to reach with our music. We are committed to work hard this year to see God’s will come to pass in our lives and we appreciate your help. Thank you for standing with us. We are standing with you.

Ephesians 3:20, Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (NLT)

Pressing On,