Happy New Year!

Happy new year. Here we are at the start of another new year! We all hope for a change for the better(!); but apart from a seven changing into an eight it seems like everything else is the same. Even the weather! Yet each year we hope for better.

Hope is a good thing. It helps us through the tough times. The Bible is filled with hope, which is just as well as much of it was written during tough times, whether it was slavery in Egypt, war in Canaan, exile in Babylon or occupation by the Romans.

The greatest hope of all is that Jesus Christ has overcome death and paid the penalty for our rebellion. We will only see that full extent of the victory when He comes again and completely annihilates the source of evil.

The following promise was originally given to Israel when it was on the verge of complete defeat and exile, “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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you’. Jeremiah 29 v 11-12.

My prayer for us all is that we may fulfil the purposes that God has for us in 2018; that we may find a way, with His help, to overcome the things that pull us down; that we may experience more of His love and power in our lives and those around us; that church will be a place where we experience more of His love and power in our lives and those around us; that church will be a place where we experience a meaningful relationship with God and one another.