The legendary 2017 has come and gone in grand style. A year filled with so many shenanigans, mishaps and controversies. Enemies were made, and new alliances were formed. After doing an audit of 2017, it was discovered that all those things were just distractions. They were well planned distractions by the enemy to divert our attention from God’s plan and blessings upon our lives. By God’s grace, New Year 2018 is here and we along with it. Let’s briefly look into the major distractions to avoid for the fulfillment of the glory of 2018.
2017 and Its Shenanigans
2017 was filled with lots of shenanigans and mishaps. Towards the tail end of the year, we were greeted by a string of negative events that shook the whole nation and Christian community at large.
The non-teaching staff of Nigerian universities decided to embark on an indefinite strike. This comprised of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).
Fuel scarcity then hit us so hard that many people spent their Christmas celebrations queuing for fuel. It was so bad that on Christmas Eve, Sunday, 24th December, 2017, church was scanty with few cars. Majority spent their church service at the filling station queuing for fuel.
To cap it up, the tithing war emerged. It was so fierce that the Nigerian Christian community (which was already divided) was thrown in disarray, with many Christians, pastors and General Overseers (GO) revealing their true colours. I also had my own fair share of the persecution for writing a critic on the unscriptural and unchristlike manner in which the Christian community handled the whole situation.
Distractions to Avoid in 2018
Looking back at 2017, it is very clear that the enemy attacked us seriously with distractions, and didn’t give us any breathing space. It was a well planned, all round and wholesome attack on our lives through different points of entry or sources of distraction. It was so coordinated that there were distractions left, right and centre; capturing our daily living cycles.
These sources of distraction include our relationships (families, friends, acquaintances, etc); jobs (workplace, colleagues, bosses, etc); religion (religious fanaticism, arguments and debates, churches, ecclesiastical fallacies and false doctrines, etc); situation of the country (economic, security and political issues, corruption, etc); and the media (social media addiction, fan-celebrity fixations, celebrity news, movies, songs, music videos, meaningless TV shows like Big Brother and Keeping Up with the Kardashians, sports fanaticism and pointless debates, e.g., Messi vs Ronaldo, etc).
All these distractions are meant to draw your attention away from the glory that has been set before you. They are to preoccupy your heart with so much rubbish and nonsense with the sole purpose of attacking your faith and belief system. Once the enemy is able to fill your heart with darkness and negativity, your wall of faith will come down. And once you wall of faith has been brought down, all your words will be rubbish and nonsense. Negativity is all that will come out of your mouth, “for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).
Do not also forget the power of your words. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Matthew 12:37 then ends the matter saying,
For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
2018 and Its Glory
Majority of us attended different 2017/2018 crossover services, and I’m certain we all received and made prophetic utterances for 2018. I personally I’m certain that 2018 is a glorious year for me. I’ve also received my personal slogan for 2018, and it is glorious. In the light of the revelations above, let us therefore guard our heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).
Finally, as we begin our journey into this glorious 2018, Proverbs 4:20-27 has these very strong words of advice to give us in checkmating such distractions:
20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
I believe that as we remain focused on the fulfillment of God’s promises upon our lives, and avoid the lurking distractions, we will not only testify, but our lives will be living testimonies this New Year 2018 in Jesus’ name.
Happy New Year!!!
Cheers and God bless you infinitely!!!