Stay On Course

As we conclude 2025 and head into this new year, everyone is looking for a new start, hoping to avoid or weather the storms expected. It is essential in this new year to stay on course – the course of blessing that God has for us.  

It has been fascinating to hear how people over this past year have dealt with the financial storm that our nation faced. Prices continue to rise, markets close down one day and then up the next. So, what can we do to weather the financial storm? Invest in Bonds? Seek guaranteed Interest funds? Keep an eye on the long-term picture more so than the daily fluctuations. How about investing in gold? For centuries, buying gold has been recognized as one of the best ways to preserve one’s wealth and buying power. And now, it is Bitcoin investments and AI companies.

Someone once said, “A sailor can’t be a good sailor unless he passes through the storms.” How are you going to withstand and pass through the storms that will come in during the new calendar year? Consider the following thoughts.

Trials of Your Faith

Peter likens the “trials of your faith” (I Peter 1:7) to being more precious than gold. In relating this to educators, the “trials of your faith” means problems, challenges, adverse circumstances, pressures, and we might add, financial storms.

No one on this earth is perfectly safe and perfectly immune from all the different kinds of storm clouds that can come our way in this life. Just as some feel that gold is a way to avoid losses, it is our faith in God’s power to carry us through these storms that helps us overcome future trials.

Do not Deviate from the Course

Most of the trials Satan brings have the full intent to get us off the divine course. It is vital that, during the trials we face, we do not deviate from the course God has set. Throughout this new year, there may be words spoken and actions taken by parents and students that, in the natural, would lead one to conclude that things are not going well. When this happens, we must be aware of the pressures that follow; these pressures can create a tendency to compromise and lean towards the natural rather than putting total trust in what the Word of God says.

When we face these storms, trials, and tests, we need to speak faith-filled words, to grasp all that is right, and to speak with confidence using God’s Word.

When everything is going “our way,” it is easy to talk positively, but when a challenging situation comes along, we really find out what is in our hearts and whether our words are in line with the Word of God.

Responding to Pressure

Who is the author of pressure? It is not the curriculum. It is not the daily schedule. It is not the administrative staff. It is not the lack of one thing or the other. It is the devil or ourselves.

Have you ever wondered why we sometimes feel under pressure? Dr. Kenneth Hagin shared that God does not have to put pressure on us to see how we will respond under certain situations, for He already knows our hearts and how we will respond. The devil does not know this about us, so he must bring the challenges, problems, and pressures our way to see how we will respond. It is not until we act or speak that he learns what is in our hearts.

If we resist the devil (pressure and bondage), he (it) will flee. Resist with the Word of God and faith-filled words. Furthermore, we cannot afford to harbor any resentment, bitterness, ill will, or discontentment towards any student, staff member, parent, or any aspect of the school program; these will rob us of our ability to release faith. In fact, these things give people an opportunity to steal others’ faith.

Consider the Following Actions

·        YOU must set a guard over your lips and thoughts. Ps. 141:3

·        YOU are the testimony that God’s Word works. Ps. 19

·        YOU are more than a conqueror through Him. Rom. 8:31-39

·        YOU are far from oppression. Isaiah 54:14

·        NO weapon formed against you will prosper. Isaiah 54:17

·        YOU are established in righteousness. Isaiah 54:14

·        YOU are delivered from the hand of the enemy. Luke 1:74

·        YOU are an example in word and deed. Titus 2:7

·        YOU will not bow your knees to circumstances. Phil. 1:12-18

·        YOU make the devil flee. James 4:7

·        YOU place the devil under your feet. Rom. 16:20

·        YOUR mind is in perfect peace. Isaiah 26:3

·        YOU are obedient in all things. 1 Cor. 15:58

·        YOU are free from poverty, sickness, or sin. Gal. 3:13, 14, 29

·        YOU reign as kings in this life. I Peter 2:9. Rev. 5:10

My encouragement to you this new year is to stay on course.