Beloved, we are still in the mood of giving thanks to God with an expectation that the New Year would be better.

This is one of the reasons, we greet, each other Happy New Year when we meet.

May God make the year a Happy one in Jesus name.

Beloved, to have a happy New Year, we have roles to play as individuals.

You don’t need to make a verbal resolution, but you need to make a deep assessment of who you are, person or persons that you associated with last year and who you want to associate with this year.

In doing so, you need to ask yourself, was my association with X or Y fruitful?   If not, you need to make changes.

Believers, your best companion should be JESUS.  To walk with God, is to have a relationship with God.

Walking with God gives instant connection with the Holy Spirit.

Why have I suggested this?  

It is because God wants us to walk with him.  Genesis 17 vs.1 ( KJV)  “ And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk  before me, and be thou perfect”.

Here God told Abram to walk with him and “ be perfect”.   In other words, you would lack nothing, including children.

Another person that  the Bible recorded as having a walk with God  is Enoch.

Genesis 5 vs.  22 & 24 : “ And Enoch walked with God after  he begat  Methuselah  three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:”.

 Verse 24 : “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him”.

Let’s note that God  blessed Enoch with many children.   He did not experience barrenness.   In addition, God gave him long life.   Everything for him was perfect.

For Abram that was childless when God spoke to him,  let’s see what the Lord said to him in verses 2 and 6 of Genesis 17: “ And I will make my covenant  between me and thee, and  will multiply thee exceedingly.

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make  nations of thee, and kings shall  come out of thee”.

The question now, is how do I walk with the invisible, immortal  God ?

First,  you have to believe in God.  That is Faith.    Without faith,  no one can walk with God.

Hebrews 11 vs. 6: “  But without faith it is impossible  to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder  of them that diligently seek him”.

We are told in 2nd Corinthians 5 vs. 7 : “ For we walk by faith, not by sight”.

You need to take your faith to the next level by resolving to be a born-again Christian.

It doesn’t matter if you have been going to church from childhood, what matters is what you choose to do with your faith.   Be a born-again Christian.   If you have backslid, resolve to rededicate your spiritual life.

Moses, suggested to the children how to walk with God in Deuteronomy 8 vs. 6 : “ Therefore thou shat keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in  his ways, and to fear him”.

Brethren, there are benefits of  walking with God but you must be prepared for self-denial.

You need to deprive yourself of some pleasures of  the world to walk with God.    You cannot  be in a walk with God and be engaged in adultery.   A person in a walk with God cannot use being single as an excuse for fornication.  Someone in a walk with God   must not  be found in the company of the ungodly.

A person in a walk with God, must never think of ,  let alone visit  herbalists or be in consultation with idol worshippers or witches.  No. No.

Once  you begin to walk with God, the joy of the Lord would give you rest from  whatever troubles your mind.

Walking with God is  step towards  pleasing the Lord .

Let’s  see what happened to those that pleased the Lord in the Bible

Hebrews 11 vs. 5 “ By faith Enoch  was translated that he should  not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”.

Enoch and generations of his children,  were blessed with long life but God  honoured him specially as  did not experience death.

That of Abram is more relevant to our focus.  Hebrews 11 vs. 8 &9 : “ By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance ,  obeyed;  and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

By faith he sojourned in  the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in terbanacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise”.

Note that Abraham obeyed, even when he knew nothing about the land God asked him to go into.

Brethren, this tells us that  though we have faith, we still need to be willing to completely obey the LORD without questioning or grumbling.

Are you prepared to obey God completely?

I’ll share with you the experience of a lady that walked with an ungodly person and what befell her.

Two women lived in a block of flats.  The one that lived with her husband was barren.   The other was a woman with children from different men.

The two women became friends and the one waiting on the Lord made the other one her confidant.

The one that had children told her not to worry. She then took her to an Alpha somewhere. They both went there.   However, each time they returned, a fight would break between the barren woman and her husband.   One day it got so bad that the man then  a Customs officer said he would shoot her. She ran out  to the street crying  for help.

Unknown to her, the other woman that she made her confidant had been having an affair with her husband. She didn’t know until the friend got pregnant for her husband.   She was shocked to her bones.

Brethren, had she made Jesus her confidant, would that have happened to her?   Definitely Not.

The lesson from this story that I witnessed  is that the  barren woman  chose the wrong companion and made her a confidant.   

Secondly, she failed to trust and patiently wait on the Lord though everyone knew that her husband loved her.

To shorten the story, the confidant taunted her with the pregnancy.  It got so bad that the husband took the generator  from the flat  that  he lived with his wife to the apartment of the other woman.   His excuse was that she was carrying his  baby.   So the apartment that everyone knew always had electricity  when  public power supply failed was thrown into darkness.

Of course, the barren woman retraced her steps and put an end to her friendship with her neighbour but it was too late.

But the merciful God, the God of Justice showed the barren woman mercy.  She took in and had a baby boy.

When her husband announced her delivery, the other woman fainted and  landed  in the hospital. 

Brethren, you needed to see how the man radiated joy.  He called everyone in the neighbourhood to rejoice with him.   .

No matter the challenge, do not allow societal pressure to make you take steps that are not in line with the word of God.

No matter the years of waiting, beloved Sister, do not give in to anyone that suggests to you to commit adultery.   They would tell you don’t worry, another man can get you pregnant . Once you sleep on the same bed with your husband, the child would look like him.   This is a lie from the pit of hell.

 As a man too stand firm in Christ.Don’t submit to relations that tell you, to have another woman that would bear children   outside your marriage. In many cases, you wouldn’t be the biological father of the child presented as yours.

As a child  of God,  make Christ your confidant.  Be found in the company of born-again Christians.

No matter what you are going through,  make Christ  your confidant.

May the Lord give you the Grace to  walk  with him and obey him.

Remember Friends may fail you but JESUS never fails.

If you do, your story will end in Praise.

Shalom!