2023—Frustration or Fulfillment

2023 could be one of the best or one of the worst years of your life. Satan is determined to make it a year of frustration—God offers a plan to make it a year of fulfillment. The choice is yours.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:17-19 an action plan that can help you and me make it one of the best years ever. If we receive and practice this plan, God has unbelievable things in store for us. Paul puts it in the framework of specific praying. Here is how Paul prays for you:

1. Paul prays that you will receive the gift of God’s wisdom that He gives. (v 17). There are so many decisions that we have to make and so much that we need to know. God doesn’t leave us helpless—He gives us wisdom and reveals what we need to know. God’s wisdom is the best education possible.
2. Paul prays that you will receive the capacity He gives to grow in your knowledge about Him. (v. 17) Receiving Christ is the beginning point—but then we grow in Him. The more we grow, the more we experience the joys that God has for us.
3. Paul prays that you will receive spiritual sight and see with the eyes of your heart. (v 18). Our physical eyesight may be diminishing, but the eyes of the heart see the things that are really important. I just finished a book containing 54 life lessons where we look at life through God’s glasses rather than human glasses. The glasses you choose determines what you see. You can order the book “What Do You See?” from my website—johnedmathison.org.
4. Paul prays that you will know and receive the hope to which God has called you. (v 18) There are a lot of questions about hope for the future; our only hope is in God’s plan for the world. The old hymn says, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.” Hope is not daydreaming about a better future, but daily applying the promises of God!
5. Paul prays that you will stay focused on what God has to offer in terms of the riches of His glorious inheritance. (v 18) We all tend to focus on some worldly inheritance that we want to receive or want to leave for our family. The most important thing is to know the glorious inheritance that He gives to us. Focusing on the temporary can blur our recognition of eternal riches. Inheritance that comes from human endeavors will last only this lifetime. Riches that are received from God’s favor will last for eternity.
6. Paul prays that you will know and rely on the immeasurable greatness of God’s power. (v 19) It is the power that “raised Jesus from the dead.” We might measure earthquakes and velocity of storms, or how much power we as individuals or a nation try to accumulate. God’s power is not measurable, but it is more than sufficient! God offers that to you for 2023!

Life consists of choices. If we make bad choices, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. If we make good choices, we have no one to credit except God who gives us the wisdom and ability to do that.

2023 will be fulfilling or frustrating. It can be a year that is one of the most fulfilling because you follow God’s game plan. It can be one of the most frustrating if you follow your plan.

Let God answer Paul’s prayers for you!