I know a friend of mine who went through severe financial crisis sometime back. He had a passionate desire to conduct open-air Gospel meetings at different rural areas in Kerala. But since he didn’t have sufficient financial backing, He gave the matter into the Lord’s hands.

After sometime, he got a witty idea. Why not construct a facility on top of his house and rent it out for business? He began working on that idea. With the help of a substantial bank loan, he hired a construction company to build his dream facility.

To cut a long story short, now his facility houses three business groups and his financial woes have ended. Besides, he is following his passion and hosting open-air Gospel meetings at different places!

Psalm 37:5 declares, “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you” (NLT). Why should we commit our plans to the Lord? The reason is simple: God is omniscient (all-knowing) while we don’t know everything. He knows our past, present and future while we know much of our past and present with less knowledge about our future. So God knows well what we should do for growth and productivity. And He is ready to tell us if we ask Him!

Check out this beautiful passage: “Put God in charge of your work, then what you’ve planned will take place” (Proverbs 16:3 MSG). It’s not about asking God to bless your plans. Rather it’s about asking God to work out His plans on your plans! And the result will be, His plans work like a catalyst on your plans and transform it to something beautiful and powerful.

Here’s a smart way to commit your plans to the Lord: start a Plans Journal. You may use a diary, notebook or A4 paper for journaling. Make two columns on the selected page. On the left column, write “Plans I commit to the Lord” as the heading. On the right column, write “How God worked it out!” as the heading. Fill out the left column with your plans that you commit to the Lord. And as results start showing off, log it in the right column. By the end of the year, you will be so amazed at how beautifully God transformed your plans and brought huge blessings out of that!

So, remember: Committing your plans to the Lord helps you start 2012 afresh!

In the next post, we are going to analyze the 4th step to starting this New Year afresh. Meanwhile, what are some of the benefits you reaped by committing your plans to the Lord in the past? Add your comments in the comments section below. Also share this post with some of your friends to help them start this year afresh!

- – - written by Joe Abraham from www.joeandancy.com

If you really want to have 2012 as a new beginning, you got to decide what you want to accomplish this year. It’s not enough that you have a desire. You need to have a plan, a goal or a vision.

I know some folks who say that they will not make a plan because they are afraid that by doing so, they may miss the plan of God! But that’s not true. You may be familiar with this adage: “It is difficult to steer a parked vehicle. But when it starts moving, it’s easy to direct it”.

As we look around, we find that comparatively, it’s those who don’t have a vision suffer discouragement than those who do have a vision. That is why Proverbs 29:18 declares: Where there is no (prophetic) vision, the people are discouraged.

However, when you prayerfully create a goal, the amazing thing is, God starts working on your behalf. Besides, discouragement wouldn’t be found anymore!

Here are 3 smart tips that help you in creating your goal for 2012.

1. Check your passion

What are you passionate about? If you can do only one thing in life, what would be that one thing? Your goal must be closely connected to your passion.

2. Check what you dislike

What do you consider as “I can’t stand it!”? What stuff, situation or scenario produces a (righteous) anger in you? Though you may not realize, your God-ordained purpose is connected to that! Incorporate it into your goal.

3. Check your track record

What have you been through the past 5 years, especially 2011? It may be a mixture of good and not-so-good circumstances. But God used them to prepare you for 2012. Seeing these from a ‘mountain-top’ angle will help you create a ‘heavenly’ and realistic goal.

So, remember: it’s your decision to accomplish something specific that helps you begin 2012 afresh!

In the next post, we are going to deal with the third step to starting 2012 afresh. Meantime, what are some of the past experiences that help you in creating your 2012 goal? Pen your comments below in the comments section.

- – - written by Joe Abraham from www.joeandancy.com

One thing you can be certain about in the coming year is that you can’t be certain about what is ahead. This is a great blessing, because you do not need to know. To know what is ahead and the details of what will happen would be too great a burden to carry and too great a responsibility to bear.

What you do need to know about the future is not what is ahead of you, but Who is ahead of you. It is the Lord who goes before you, is ahead of you, and is preparing the way for you. Your future is in His sure, strong, caring hands.

“I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” – Genesis 28:15

As you pass through the door of 2011 and enter the door of 2012, here are six of the needs you are certain to have.

1. There will be the need for prayer

Until you get to heaven, there will always be the need for prayer. In every prayer as a believer, you will be speaking to the living God, your loving Father—the One who invites you to come, the One who hears your cries, the One who answers your prayers, and the One who will work all things together for the good according to His will and purpose.

2. There will be the need to trust

God does not want you to be fearful or worried about what is ahead. He will give what you need when you need it; He will tell what you need to know when it is time to know it; He will show what you need to see when it is time to see it. When He is silent about any matter, be at peace about it and do not become anxious.

3. There will be the need to obey

You will never outgrow your need for obedience. To obey the Lord is to please the Lord. He will always give you the provision, the time, and the opportunity to do what He has asked you to do. If He is not asking you to do anything new or different at the present time, continue to do the last thing He asked of you.

4. There will be the need to forgive

No one will ever act perfectly or speak perfectly to you. Even those who love you will not perform perfectly. Forgiveness is an attitude of the heart and a choice of the will that you must walk in each day. Some people carry hurt, bitterness, or resentment in their hearts for years, never wanting to let go of the past. As you go through the door of 2012, drop at the entryway, all the hurts of yesterday and carry them no more.

5. There will be the need to be faithful

In 2012 you will need to press on in the will of God for your life; you will need to walk on through the valleys and over the mountain tops that you will face; you will need to carry on in your service of love to others; you will need to live on in the will of God with a thankful heart, with praise upon your lips, and with zeal in your spirit.

6. There will be the need for Jesus

Every day, in every moment, through every circumstance of 2012, you will need Jesus. You will need Him fully and you will need to trust Him completely. You will need His grace to enable you, His Spirit to empower you, His strength to support you, and His counsel to instruct you in all the will of God.

The best place is wherever He puts us, and any other would be undesirable, all the worse because it would please our fancy, and would be of our own choice. Do not think about distant events. This uneasiness about the future is unwholesome for you. We must leave to God all that depends on Him, and think only of being faithful in all that depends upon ourselves.

When God takes away that which He has given you, He knows well how to replace it either through other means or by Himself. – Fenelon

Strive to carry yourself with total resignation to the Divine will that God may do with you and all according to His heavenly pleasure, relying on Him as on a kind and loving Father.

- – - written by M. Molinos