What Is Your Vision For 2021?

Proverbs 29:18 KJV
¹⁸ Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Proverbs 16:3  NIV
³ Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Proverbs 20:4  NLT
⁴ May he grant your heart’s desires  and make all your plans succeed.

As 2020 draws to a close, this is a great time to look back over this past year and reflect on all that God has brought you through.  It is also a great time, to start looking forward to the new things that He is about to do in the New Year.

If God says the same, we are only days away from ringing in 2021.  This is a time to look forward with great anticipation and hope.   It is time to take a great look at your life and reassess some things that you may need to change.  Decide where you need to improve and decide what things need to be removed from your life completely.  With the beginning of a new year, you are being given a clean slate to make a fresh start.

I have noticed in the past few years that instead of setting goals, some people select a word for the year, and that one word may be their focus for the entire year.  Let’s just say the word is intentional.  Their focus will be on being intentional in all that they do for a year.

God Is In Control

Isaiah 45:6-7
⁶ so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷ I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
Job 12:10
¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
Daniel 4:35
³⁵ All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

2020 has definitely been a year for the record books. With the arrival of Covid came a lot of changes for us all.  Changes especially, in the way that we live and do life. There have been changes in the way that we work, as well as the way that we worship.  Covid even affected the way that our children have had to learn this year.  Dining out and gathering socially was brought to a screeching halt, as well as many other things that we took for granted in the past.

It does not matter to Covid how much money you make, or where you work or live.  This virus does not discriminate, any and everyone can be a possible target.  Thousands of families have lost family members and friends that were very precious to them.  Almost everyone knows someone, who has died from Covid, or that has had Covid.   Our world is reeling from the shock of being shut down with no prior warning.  Every country in the world has been deeply affected by this virus.

A Christmas Thought

 Matthew 1:18-23
¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”
²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[d] (which means “God with us”).
Isaiah 9:6
⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called  Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
John 1:14
¹⁴ So the Word became human^[a] and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.^[b] And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
2 Corinthians 8:9
⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

This past weekend it seemed that everyone in my family was exhausted from the busyness of the prior week.  We all needed some downtime, so we decided to watch Christmas movies.  Once we started watching them we were hooked.  We watched several in one day, and it had been years since we sat and watched movie after movie for hours like that.

God Wants To Protect You

My eighty-four years old mother, shared with me recently, that a few weeks ago a storm came through and left sticks and brush all over her yard.  She had decided to gather it all up by hand to dispose of it.  About the time she was getting started, my cousin stopped by.