A NEW BEGINNING

WISDOM FOR LIVING DAILY DEVOTIONAL

JANUARY 1, 2022

TOPIC: A NEW BEGINNING

BY T. O. BANSO 

“So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth’” (Genesis 9:1 New King James Version).

Happy New Year! I pray for you that the New Year shall be a year of supernatural advancement and overflowing blessing in Jesus’ name.

A new year offers you an opportunity for a new beginning. It doesn’t matter what happened last year, what you achieved or didn’t achieve, what went right or wrong, the Lord is giving you a new beginning.  From today you can change whom you serve if you’ve not been serving Jesus. You can change your lifestyle or habits. You can do things the right way rather than the way you did them. You can stop repeating past mistakes that made you a stranger to success. You can make your story at the end of this New Year positively different from the previous years.

God is not mad at you, no matter how you lived your life in the previous years. He wants you to succeed. His thoughts towards you are thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

Take advantage of this new beginning that God has offered you and make a new beginning of a righteous, Christ-honouring, prosperous, and fulfilled life.

After the flood, which destroyed the whole earth, only Noah, his sons and wife,  his sons’ wives, and all the animals with him in the ark survived, They went out of the ark (Genesis 8:18-19). It was a new beginning for them.

Genesis 8:20-22 says, “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.  While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (New King James Version).

Please take note of what Noah did when they came out of the ark. He built an altar to the LORD. He offered burnt offerings to Him. In other words, he put God first; He worshipped Him. Before the flood, the Bible has told us that Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generations. He walked with God (Genesis 6:9). That was why he found favour or grace in the eyes of the LORD (verse 8).

Noah came out of the ark. He started a new beginning for humanity. He put God first. He worshipped Him. And when God smelled a soothing aroma of the offerings, He made a covenant with Creation. Genesis 9:1 says, “So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth’” (New King James Version).

This New Year offers you a new beginning. Make it a new beginning of putting God first. Make it a new beginning of worshipping Him, obeying Him, doing His will, and honouring Him. God blessed Noah and his sons. He pronounced on them fruitfulness and multiplication. God’s blessing will rest upon you and your family this year. You will be fruitful and multiply. You will increase and not reduce. You won’t lose any good thing you have brought into the year 2022. But put God first. Serve God; worship Him in 2022. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33 New King James Version).

Because all human beings on earth had been destroyed by the flood except those in the ark, God said among other things that Noah should be fruitful and multiply and bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it (Genesis 9:7). Whether you ended the year 2021 with surplus or deficit, profit or loss, or gain or pain, your family, business, the ministry will experience fruitfulness and abundance this year. Make sure you build an altar to the Lord as Noah did.  Not a physical altar but a spiritual altar. Worship Him in 2022. Serve Him.

If the altar of God in your life or family has broken down, repair it like Elijah repaired the physical altar of God in Israel in his bid to return the people to the worship of the true God. 1 Kings 18:30 says, “Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come near to me.’ So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down” (New King James Version).

The aftermath of his contest with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel was that the LORD answered him by fire. The fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:38-39). Thereafter, all the prophets of Baal were killed.

Make the year 2022 a new beginning of your walk with God. Forget the past (Isaiah 43:19; Philippians 3:13-14). If you’ve sinned, genuinely repent, ask for and receive God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:9-10; Proverbs 28:13; Jeremiah 31:34, Psalm 103:12). Stop bad habits. “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits’” (1 Corinthians 15:33 New King James Version). 

Do you remember Rahab? She was a popular harlot in Jericho who was even known in the palace! But after her encounter with the two spies that Joshua sent to Jericho, she had a new beginning. Her life changed.

She was sensitive to the programme of God for the nation of Israel. She cooperated with the spies, preserved their lives, and asked that they should show the same kindness to her father’s house and spare the lives of her parents, brothers, sisters, and all that they had (Joshua 2:8-13). Their lives were spared when Jericho was eventually attacked and defeated.

Rahab later became one of the few ancestresses of our Lord Jesus Christ. A former harlot! Yes, that’s what the mercy of the LORD can do for a person. Matthew 1:5-6 says, “Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king” (New King James Version). Jesus came from the tribe of Judah, David’s tribe.

Rahab must have stopped harlotry after the Israelites took over Jericho. Therefore, she gave birth to Boaz who married Ruth, a widow. Ruth gave birth to Obed who was the father of Jesse, David’s father. Just as this former harlot had a new beginning, you, too, can have a new beginning, no matter your past. Jesus says all that the Father gives Him will come to Him, and the one who comes to Him, He will by no means cast out (John 6:37).

Make the year 2021 a positive, new beginning.

PRAYER POINTS: Father, thank You for bringing me into the New Year 2022. Thank You for the opportunity for a  new beginning you’ve offered me. The negative things of the past are gone in Jesus’ name. I will make a new beginning of walking with you, obeying Your Word, living a holy life, worshipping You, and living a Christ-honouring life in 2022. Help me, Holy Spirit.

(For over 800 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit www.cedarministry.org).

T. O. Banso is the President, Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
Phone No: +2348155744752, +2348033113523
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Email: cedarministryintl@yahoo.com,
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Website: www.cedarministry.org