Look Both Ways | Rev. Mathew Oommen

 

 

Dear Church Family,

 

When the end of the year approaches, we take time to reflect upon the past year. We gather and pray this prayer together, “Father, we surrender this past year and give it up to you.  We give you our failures, our regrets, and our disappointments, for we have no more use for them.  Make us now a new people, forgetting what is behind and pressing on towards what is ahead of us.  We give you all our hopes and dreams for the future.  Purify them by your spirit so that our will shall truly reflect your will for us.  As we stand on the threshold of another year, encourage us by our successes of the past, challenge us by the power of your word, and guide us by the presence of your Holy Spirit  - Amen”.

 

Just like the New Year, in every transition, it’s good to look both ways.  When Joshua assumed leadership of Israel, God told him to consider the past and the future; “Moses my servant is dead.  Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them” (Joshua 1:2).  Then He promised, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.  Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

 

It is evident that the prayers of the faithful prayer partners of this church have covered us the past year in our everyday living. We take this time to convey our

heart felt love and thanks to those that have spent time interceding and also in so many ways for the church famil. With confidence in God, we can look ahead, and walk boldly into the New Year, expecting “A year of Abundance – 2015”.