Key Scripture: Psalm 68:19.

Blessed be the Lord, who DAILY loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. 

Relevance

Christian writer CS Lewis is quoted as saying "You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending."

I feel now is the time to hit the action button for the coming year, not to wait for January 1^st. 

If we make changes now, they will be in place when that unforgettable date is upon us. 

Life often sees us messing up. We all blunder at some things. In fact, every single year we can look back and see where we've failed. Those failures cry louder than our victories. Have you found that? Does that mean we have more failures than victories?NO! It's because Satan re-feeds them into our minds on repeat.

By believing him and thinking that way, we end up in a spiral of negativity, where our lives mostly comprise bad news.Leave the bad news to the newspapers. The reason bad news sells is its impact on the human population. Bad news doesn't empower; it overpowers. We’re in the business of overcoming with joy, not being overpowered.

Even though we are called to be victors in spiritual warfare, we often feel we are losing the battle. Do you condemn yourself when you fail or put it down to experience? Could you thrust your own sword through yourself because you feel useless for the umpteenth time? Even though you are called to be a warrior, do you sometimes feel like a jellyfish, doubting your usefulness to God?  

The finish line of your life has not yet come. One’s final moments are more meaningful than the beginning, when the writer composes the epitaph.

Thankfully, every day is new, bringing with it renewed opportunities. Our key scripture says, "Blessed be the Lord, who DAILY loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah." Every single day, the Lord gives us a fresh start, a new beginning, a chance to rectify yesterday. He begins every day with hope, and so should we. 

When we think about our time here on Earth, there is only today. As the quote says, “Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is not here yet.”We can’t return to yesterday and fix what we’ve messed up. Neither is tomorrow useful, as it comes every day. We must stop planning a vision for our life. Today is for carrying out, for introducing those simple achievable disciplines, and getting on with the Lord's work.  

Today we can change the course of our own history. We can make the last days of 2025 about abundant spiritual growth by changing what we do and modifying our goals.

After Christ died, His disciples were at a loss, as we sometimes find ourselves. They treaded water for a few weeks in a quandary. That ended when He rose again and showed Himself to them. From that time forward, they found another gear, their pace quickened, and their spiritual life and faith grew rapidly.

Suddenly, time to them was short, not dispirited and dawdling. They praised more, had greater fellowship with each other, and deeper communion with God. Their world changed, and they changed their world. Jesus Christ meant something entirely different to them now. The race they were called to only just commenced. In that instant, they began changing the epitaphs on their gravestones. 

Today, we can begin changing the outcome of every future day by doing similar.

Today’s prayer:

Dear Lord, we all fall into the trap of dwelling on yesterday with all its blunders, and becoming miserable, when today hold so many wonders. Please help us squeeze as much of You into today as we can, and forget pursuits of little or no value. Help us find another gear and another one after that. 

Photo by Dayne Topkin