Happy New Year guys!!! 🎉 🎉 🎉
I pray your 2024 has kicked off full of love, joy, peace, and hope for the months to come!
2024 is announcing itself as a very promising year! I put up a poll in my Instagram stories and as you can see most people are feeling pretty optimistic about the year, which is beautiful to see. Usually, we get so jaded from the previous year that we walk into the new year full of anxiety and uncertainty about what to expect. But not this year.
There is hope in the air.
There is increased determination in the air.
There is an overwhelming sense of "this is going to be a great year" in the air.
And I'm here for it!
It's easy to let this confident expectation of good news make us more self-reliant though. The reality is even when things are going well, we still need to seek God as desperately as we did when things were not going well.
So in this blog post, I wanted to share the 7 Bible Verses I will be clinging onto in 2024!
1. "I can do all this through him who gives me strength." ~ Philippians 4:13
The "through him" part of this verse is what I'm anchoring myself in, in 2024. When we are excited about the things we are planning to do, we tend to focus on what we're going to do to make it happen, the changes we're going to make to see it come to pass, and all the plans we have to crush the goals we have set. And while that's great to an extent, because faith without works is dead (James 2:26), it's important for us to remember that some things will not happen because of us or because of our ability. They will happen because of God's grace, God's favor, and God's supernatural intervention. So as you stay excited and hopeful for the year, remember that you can do all the things you set out to accomplish this year, but it is through Christ who gives you strength.
2. "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." ~ Proverbs 19:21
As you set out to accomplish the goals you have for the year, seek God for clarity and guidance about which goals He wants you to take on. We often take on more than God wants us to take on, and then wonder why we're tired, burned out, and barely making it to the finish lines we set out for ourselves.
What is God asking you to do in 2024?
What goals do you have this year that you know are from God?
What are some things you were previously working on, that He's clearly asked you to take a break from?
Seek Him for clarity on the plans He has for your 2024 and once you receive that clarity, be obedient and follow through.
3. "... And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." ~ Hebrews 12:1-2
Storms will come in 2024. Whether we like it or not, that will be a part of our testimony for this year. But as this verse reminds us, the best way to push through storms is by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. What does that look like?
That looks like going to him in prayer when bad news comes.
That looks like being open and honest with God when we're going through it.
That looks like listening to worship music and praising God even in the midst of our storms.
That looks like reading our Bible and opening our hearts to hear from God in the midst of our storms.
That looks like not isolating ourselves in the midst of storms and allowing Godly community to pour into us.
No matter what comes your way in 2024, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.
4. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." ~ Matthew 11:28
When you get weary this year, whether it's from the storms you're facing, or from doing good, go to God. A lot of us have it ingrained in our mind that when something is wrong, we have to be the ones to fix it, but sometimes (a lot of the times actually), what you need to do is take it to God and lay it at His feet.
Go to Him with your weariness, go to Him with your frustrations, go to Him with your anger, go to Him with all the things that are weighing you down, and allow Him to give you rest. Rest in His presence, Rest in His goodness, Rest in Him.
5. "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." ~ 1 Peter5:7
Like the previous verse, this verse reaffirms the fact that God cares about us. He cares about the things on our hearts. He cares about the things weighing us down. And even more than that, He cares about us. Even if He doesn't fix our situations or transform them in the way that we want them to change, He will at least fix our perspective so that our burdens don't weigh so heavily on us.
God is good you guys! He cares about you, He loves you, and He doesn't like to see you hurting. So the next time you're stressed out, or worried, or burdened about something, go to God with it.
6. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." ~ Proverbs 3:5
God is always working in our lives. You know the Way Maker Song?
Even when I don't see it, you're working...
Even when I don't feel it, you're working...
You never stop, you never stop working...
We may not always feel it or understand why things are the way they are, but even when our circumstances make us doubt God's plans, we have to anchor ourselves in the truth that He is always working in ways we can't even begin to fathom yet. His ways are better than our ways and His plans are better than our plans. That's why we cannot lean on our own understanding of things and instead should trust that God is working and using it all for our good (Romans 8:28).
7. "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." ~ Matthew 6:33
I was at a Friendsgiving last year and we were playing a card game that prompted us to say which person in the Bible we were most like. One of my friends mentioned that she felt like she was Martha, who in Luke 10:38-42, is busy tending to the guests in the house, while her sister Mary sits intently at the feet of Jesus. In the story, Martha asks Jesus to reprimand Mary for not helping her tend to the guests (Luke 10:40), and Jesus reminded Martha that her sister was actually where it mattered most... at His feet (Luke 10:41-42).
As soon as I heard my friend describe how she felt like Martha in this story, I could instantly relate to her. It's so much like us to be running in 10 different directions at the same time, trying to do it all: work the 9-5, exercise, sleep 8 hours, eat all our veggies, spend time with our friends and family, take one vacation a quarter, try a new hobby, post every day online, have 5 different streams of income... oh and read our Bibles and put our relationship with God first too.
It almost seems like an afterthought, and it's easy to start making excuses as to why you have to rush through your devotion time in the morning because you have goals to crush, or why you don't have time to pray or read your Bible, or journal to God because it's time you can be using to be productive in other ways. There is so much you can do in 2024, but if you do nothing else but seek God first every single day of this year, you will have your most amazing year yet.
In a world where we can be Martha's chasing after all the things this world has to offer, let us be Mary's intently focused on Jesus all throughout 2024.
Bonus verse: "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." ~ Matthew 6:34
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