January 2025

Happy New Year! Pastor Paige and I are believing that 2025 is going to be your STRONGEST year ever. We really do – and we are praying that for you this year. We want you to be strong in every way. Many people are starting their annual “New Years’ Resolutions” this month. Are you? Wonderful! Just know that research tells us that roughly 50% of the adult population makes at least 1 resolution and 80% of all New Year’s Resolutions FAIL BY THE 2ND WEEK OF FEBRUARY. So, these statistics give evidence that making a NYR may not be such a great idea - so maybe we need to take a different approach this year.

The number one resolution people make is in the area of health and fitness. They want to get bigger, stronger, leaner, and meaner PHYSICALLY. That’s fine – but how many of them do you think made plans to first strengthen their SOULS?  Their emotional, mental, intellectual life?

Why should we prioritize first strengthening our souls? Because here’s the truth: Most people don’t reach their fitness goals because they got PHYSICALLY tired – they don’t reach their goals because they were not strong enough EMOTIONALLY and MENTALLY to see them through. They got disappointed, discouraged, distracted, and then decided to discontinue!

Well, I’ve got good news for us today – God wants us to be become strong this year. The Bible declares that the Lord wants our souls to PROSPER:

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health,

just as your soul prospers.” III John 1:2, NKJV

This month of January 2025, we are taking four weeks to unpack what the Bible says about our souls and how we can strengthen them. We are going to talk about some steps we need to take to strengthen our souls and also identify some common issues that weaken our souls. We need to understand that if our souls are going to “prosper” in 2025, we need to face the facts that there is NO NEUTRAL GROUND when it comes to our soul. We have a “Chief Shepherd of our soul” (I Peter 5:4) and a relentless enemy of our soul (I Peter 5:8). One comes to kill, steal, and destroy while the other One – Jesus - leads us into an Abundant Life (John 10:10).

This is so important because I sincerely believe that humans are 3-part beings. When God said, “Let us make man in Our image” (Gen. 1:26), I believe that means since God’s image is 3-parts (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) humans were also made in 3-parts: spirit, soul, and body.

“May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Thessalonians 5:23b

We know a lot about how to strengthen the body and some about strengthening our spirit, but I believe the key to living the abundant life Jesus died to give you is strengthening your soul.

The soul acts like a Guardian – or Gatekeeper – between the body and the spirit. It helps us decide if we are going to feed our flesh or feed our spirit (Galatians 5).The Gatekeeper decides who or what we should allow in and who or what should be kept out. The soul decides if something has an “ALL ACCESS” pass or if it should have its “ACCESS DENIED.”

We simply need to decide if we want to have a strong Gatekeeper or a weak Gatekeeper guarding our hearts and lives this year. Our prayer for you is that you will have a STRONG SOUL that motivates you to experience God’s very best for you in 2025: the Abundant Life in Christ!

Here is an overview of the series titles each week:

S.Y.S. - “STRENGTHENING YOUR SOUL” SERIES

WEEK 1 Sunday, January 5 (Video Message: Church in Your Home Sunday) “WAITING” – How Waiting on the Lord Strengthens Your Soul (The Life of David)

WEEK 2 Sunday, January 12 (10am at The Grove) “WORSHIP” – How a Lifestyle of Worship Strengthens Your Soul (The Life of Moses)

WEEK 3 Sunday, January 19 (10am at The Grove) “WISDOM” – How Walking in Wisdom Strengthens Your Soul (The Life of Ruth)

WEEK 4 Sunday, January 26 (10am at The Grove) “WARFARE” – How Spiritual Warfare Strengthens Your Soul (The Life of Daniel)