A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
Facing the new year is daunting. The year 2025 is unknown. We can’t guess what will happen about inflation, family relationships, employment, the cultural divide our country faces, or the threats of hostilities all over the world. Looking back on the disappointments and failures of 2024 certainly doesn’t help. You were sincerely trying, but you experienced some set-backs. Where will you find the strength and wisdom to do better in 2025?
Thank God, He has given you His promise. You can face the new year loved by God, forgiven for every sin, and empowered to do whatever it is God wants you to do. Romans chapter 8 tells you how. Verses 33-37 (nlt) say: Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with Himself.
Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for He is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? . . .
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
Take to heart this Scripture. It is God who gave you “right standing” with Him when you accepted Jesus as your Savior. Jesus, who died for you, pleads with the Father for you. Just because you had “trouble or calamity” last year, just because you suffered loss, that does not mean God has forsaken you. Take assurance from this plain Scripture: you are loved by God, and when you accepted His free gift of salvation, He made you His very own child. He promises you the wisdom, the strength, the courage to do whatever He wants you to do! Will it be true in the uncertain days you face in 2025?
The Scripture itself answers that question too. Romans 8:38,39 continues: And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow,
and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Dear friend, don’t fear 2025 with all its threats. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can cut you off from the immeasurable love of God, His forgiveness for every sin, His infinite power to help you do what He wants you to do in 2025.