Face 2016 with the Joy of Jesus!

            Have you had your JOY JUICE today?  Happy New Year!  It’s hard to believe that it’s already 2016.  Let’s make a New Year’s resolution to drink in more Joy in the Lord!

            These past few days we’ve discussed the Bible characters who played an important part in the Christmas story.  We looked at Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth…and even Herod. We’ve gleaned lessons from their examples that will help us to be stronger Christians.  This New Year’s Day, as we look toward a joyful future, it would be fitting for us to focus once more on the most Holy One….Jesus.

        None of us know what this New Year holds.  But we can trust that our Savior, Jesus Christ, knows that plan!  In Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version) God says:

 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

            Whether 2015 was a good year or a challenging one for you…it’s past…gone…never to be here again.  It’s time to look forward into a New Year and aim toward being all the God wants us to be.  If we “go it alone”, we’re likely to make a mess of things. But if we ask Him to guide us, Jesus will take us by the hand and walk with us every step of the way throughout the New Year.  

            Let’s make Jesus our role model, our confidant, our best friend as we face 2016.  My prayer is that you will allow him to fill your heart and life with a contagious JOY that will reflect His image in everything you do.

            ALWAYS drink the Joy of Jesus and faithfully share with others in the New Year.