Beloved: I am pleased and delighted to welcome you to year 2026. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Spirit of God be with you without measure all through the year. Amen.

As we begin this new year, this is my word of encouragement to you:

REMEMBER THE LORD YOUR GOD
“But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.” (Deut 8:18NIV)

What is Moses’ instruction to the Israelites in our opening text? It is that they should remember the Lord their God. And why does he tell them to remember Him? It is because they can forget Him. They can get so carried away with matters of life that they will forget that God exists.

Now you know that God is invisible. And because of that, it is very easy for us to lose the consciousness of His existence and presence in our lives. Mind you, there are times that we lose in our lives the consciousness of even people that we can see. And that is often a produce of a feeling of adequacy. In other words, it is when we feel that we are adequate and not in need of people that we forget them. We hardly forget those that we know that we need to move on in life.

My point, in any case, is that if we can forget people, who are visible to us, is it God who is invisible that we can’t forget? We can forget Him. And we will forget Him the moment we begin to think that we don’t need Him in our lives. Where this, then, is the case, we are bound to be disconnected from His goodness and mercy.

As Moses points out in the text above, God is the source of man’s prosperity. He is the giver of every ability needed to prosper in life and to enjoy life. So, to forget Him or not to remember Him is to disconnect ourselves from the source of life, peace, joy and prosperity. And though the consequences of that may not fully manifest immediately, they will surely manifest, if we stay long enough in that condition. Only God Himself, then, can tell how terrible that will be for us.

Therefore, if you don’t want to be disconnected from life, joy, peace, rest, prosperity and any other good thing this new year, always remember the Lord your God. Yes, always remember that He is your source, the source every good thing you may need for your sustenance in life. And as you walk in this consciousness this year, you will never be stranded or lacking in any good thing.

Then you also need to remember that God is your judge. He is the judge of all of us. Solomon says this about Him:

“For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Eccl 12:14NIV)

That clearly shows us that God is the judge of every one of us. So, we can expect Him to hold us all responsible for everything we say and do this year. And if you walk in this consciousness in the year, you will never intentionally say or do anything that is contrary to His righteousness. That way, you will keep yourself from bringing His judgment on yourself.

Now my prayer is that your heart will be daily taught and strengthened to remember God in all your ways this year and to walk accordingly, for your peace of mind and prosperity, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Happy New Year.