A new year is a time of celebration, joy, hope, love, sharing, and bonding with family members and friends. It is also a time when countless people bid farewell to the previous year and are ready to welcome the New Year (2022). The New Year can be likened to a new notebook to start afresh and wish for better days ahead. Fortunately for believers, the New Year is a time for believers to experience great and precious promises from their heavenly father. However, all of these will require a measure of faith.

The Journey Thus Far from 2021

The year 2021 has been a trying year for so many believers in their respective nations. Almost every nation in the world has become vulnerable due to the COVID-19 virus, the impacts of climate change, high unemployment rate, deaths of loved ones, economic meltdown, and so on. Whatever may be your experience in 2021, whether being sorrowful, hardship, drug addiction, financial losses, health challenges, grief, etc., there is always an end (Proverbs 23:18).

In the late ’90s, a friend of mine shared a testimony of how a terrible year came to an end. According to him, there was a lot of financial pressure because he had lost his job, his daughter had lost her health, and there was no money or insurance cover for the hospital bill and many others. He was hopeless and was not expecting anything great to happen anymore. He decided to turn on his TV on New Year’s Eve to watch something entertaining. Fortunately, the great Billy Graham preached a sermon titled “The Journey thus far.” He held back and listened to the message till the end, and he decided to rededicate his life to Jesus. He was later again filled with so much faith and expectations for the New Year. Truly, the journey took a new turn for him!!

The journey thus far from 2021 might not have been great for you, but the good news is that there is an end to it and your expectation for the new year shall not be cut short (Proverbs 23:18). So quit worrying about the problems, situations, health challenges, financial hardships, and family problems, because the journey thus far has come to end. It is a new season (Ecclesiastes 3:3), and you are rising again to a new level (Proverbs 24:16).

The Journey Ahead in 2022

It is now a new year, and I welcome you to the year 2022. In this period, the common custom among believers is that we begin the year by sharing goodwill messages with our friends and families. Other similar practices are celebrations, toasting glasses, and shooting fireworks high into the sky. These practices are a way to celebrate the New Year, forgetting the sorrows of the past and marching forward. The bible says in the book of Philippians 3:13-14 — forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead

The new year is a call to set aside any previous wounds, pains, failures, disappointments, rejection, falsehoods spoken about you, regretful things, misunderstandings, and all other negative past events from 2021. Allow them to go and focus on the journey ahead. It is time to go ahead into the area where God has planned for you to be. You cannot drive backward anymore, because of the things ahead.

The book of 2 Kings 7:3-20 was very instrumental in my faith. It was about four leprous men at the entrance of the gate of Samaria who had lost hope of living with no food, shelter, or family love. So they have given up and decided to submit their lives to their enemies to see if they will be spared or killed. However, as the case may be, the journey took a different turn when they learned that their enemy, the Syrians, had fled for their lives because of the strange noises they heard. So behold, these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp; they went from one tent to another, ate and drank, and carried a lot of silver, gold, and clothing.

Just like the four leprous men, it is time to march forward to your new year as there is so much in store for you. Just like the word of the Lord to the Israelites in the book of Deuteronomy 2:3 – You’ve been at this mountain long enough; now move forward to the North, It is time to move forward for the journey ahead of you is great.

Faith for things to Come

Faith connects the spiritual world to the physical realm, bringing the resources God has given us (Heb. 11:1). As Christians, our faith is the key to our triumph over the challenges of this world (1 John 5:4). Faith is the key to all that the Lord accomplishes for us. I am not talking about human faith that is restricted to what it can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel to make things clearer.

Human faith is based on the five-sense belief system. For example, you can sit in a chair you have never sat in and trust it will support your weight, or you can travel on an airplane and trust that the pilot will fly you safely. But spiritual faith believes in God for things you cannot see. So, friends, it is time to believe in God for anything you want in this New Year. For example, you can believe in God for a child, a car, financial status change, marital status, new jobs, promotion, healthy living, satisfaction, and establishment.

Conclusion

No matter how rough your 2021 has been, a new chapter has been opened up for you. You can write your story to become something different from the hardships, medical reports, and challenges. I know your journey thus far might not have been a good experience. Still, a new journey is filled with pleasant surprises, victories, celebrations, favors, and continuous blessings in 2022. Nothing can truly stop you if you can believe in God for what he has installed for you this year.