As we embark on this New Year, I invite you to pause as together we express our gratefulness to Almighty God for the tremendous blessings that He has bestowed on each of us. God has indeed been faithful to His promises for His children. 

Today has been designated as a day of fasting and prayer. Let us dedicate this Sabbath, the first day of the New year to Jesus, by spending these sacred hours with HIM in prayer. The South Bahamas Conference’s quarterly all-night prayer meeting commences at 7:00 p.m. tonight until 7:00 a.m. All are invited to join us as we continue in prayer.

As we reflect on the past year and the challenges of the pandemic, we appreciate the lessons learned with God at our side. As various strains of COVID19 still loom ahead of us, we look forward with great expectancy to see what the Lord will do for and through us in 2022.

Romans 15:13 tells us,
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Our God is a God of hope. People often place their hope in things such as family, career, health, politicians, and material things. However, hope placed in anything, but God will undoubtedly lead to disappointment.  Therefore, hope in God can be described as an attitude of confidently looking forward to what is good and beneficial, an expectation of good things. When we put our hope in God, the things of this world become bearable.  We can expect good things and know that our lives will be richly blessed. Does this mean that we will not become discouraged? The answer is “no” but rest assured that we will not remain discouraged as God will help us to rise above our discouragement.

When the trials of life come to test our faith, we can turn to God and know that He is in control and will see us through to victory. Our disposition in life will be a joyous one. We will have a peace that passes all understanding, and persons will wonder in amazement at the joy we possess despite our trials.

Friends, we can hope for the good things in life and see them come to fruition because we have a Savior who came to give us life abundantly. More importantly, we have the eternal hope of knowing that this world is not our home as we have a home that awaits us in glory and a life beyond what mortal words can tell.

As we face 2022, let us share this HOPE in Jesus with our family, friends, co-workers, and even our enemies. Invite them to the upcoming Footprints of Hope, Walking with Jesus series with Evangelist Glen Samuels. Also invite them to participate in the Health and Happiness Bible Lessons.

I challenge you today and for the rest of this year to take this gift of hope that God offers, and you will live a life of fullness in Him. Be joyous and courageous in all that you do. Believe that God will take care of every aspect of your life. Accept all that God has in store for you. Jesus is our Hope.

He Offers People Eternity (HOPE).

--This article was written by Pastor Kenny Deveaux, President of the South Bahamas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.