So, what are you going to do with the rest of this year? I plan on keeping up my service to my Lord and I pray that all of you will strive to do the same.

How can we keep our lives on track to follow Him throughout the year? Many people ask that question but it is as easy as reading a book. I know many people don’t think of the Bible as just another book, and it isn’t. It is God’s love letters to us, not just instructions for the nation of Israel.

Many people don’t think that God’s Word is relevant to us today but the wisdom contained in it is the same type of wisdom that you find in most of the books that claim to have the “answer” for your problems. I read many of those books, but once I started reading God’s Word I found that those books had just repackaged and reworded God’s wisdom!

Can this be a new year for you? By following Jesus and trusting Him it can be new every day because of the things you learn from Him and through studying His Word. It can also be new every day because you will be a new creation once Jesus takes hold in your heart and your life! Things that you wanted to do or thought were so “cool” before, now they don’t seem so important.

Even friends and people that you hang out with will see a difference in your life. They may ask you about it, they may not like the person that you have become..but that is OK. You are becoming more like Jesus and as long as you keep your eyes on Him and the focus of your life on Him, your life will work out for your good and for His glory.

Now, I am not saying that every day will be a wonderful, stress free day with no worries because it doesn’t work that way. Satan will come against you in the form of so-called “friends” and other circumstances. Sometimes life with Jesus starts out smooth and then gets tougher as time goes by, but keep your focus on Him and He will bring you through it.

No matter the problems or the circumstances, God will see you through them. Troubles and the cares of this world have always been there, whether you are a Christian or not, but when you have Jesus in your life they do one of two things. Either you will turn to Jesus for your help to get through them or you will turn away from Him and that is exactly what Satan wants, so sometimes those troubles can be tough.

The more you cling to Jesus and trust Him to bring you through any trials that you are having, the more those troubles will seem to be less troublesome to you. Our God loves us all and has provided a way to get through this life with victory, but it involves submitting our life to Him and that is something which some people can’t do.

This year, make it a point to check out what God has for you. Investigate it with an open mind, ask questions. This is your life we are talking about and it doesn’t just end when you die, you have a soul that is eternal and the time that you have here is just getting you ready for that time in eternity. Wouldn’t you want to spend it where Jesus is? Because the alternative is not going to be a party like some think. The Bible says that when you are cast into hell, the punishment goes on forever!

I know that people say that “A loving God wouldn’t condemn me to eternal punishment“; He doesn’t but you do! If you haven’t given your life to Christ then you are the same as the angels who threw their lot in with Satan. Hell was not made for us but for them and yet we will end up there if we don’t accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Think about it, investigate it and then decide because you don’t know when your time here is finished.