Job 42:12 – Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.
Regardless of your past or your current situations or circumstances the second half of a person’s life can be more blessed and productive than the first half.
Every journey begins with a single step, making a decision to step out in faith and no matter what the devil throws at you to make this the best year of your life trusting, believing and acting upon the word of God and His faithful promises concerning every area of your life.
In the final chapter of the book of Job, after tremendous hardships and heartaches, God blessed the latter days of Job more than the beginning. Life is rarely easy, but the good news is that God’s plan for us is for good, plans to prosper us and to give us a future and a hope (Jer 29:11). 3 John 2 says: “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
Beloved, it is time for a turn around. A turn around in your thinking. A turn around in your actions. A turn around in your faith. A turn around from complacency, to desiring and walking in the fulness of the life God has and intended. It’s time to make up your mind that this year is a time for things in my life, heart, business, ministry, family, marriage, etc. to turn around – and the turn around first starts with “ME”.
In the beginning of Job we read that he was a tremendously blessed man. He then entered a time in his life when he lost everything he had, including his health, wealth, and children. Even his marriage became strained. He suffered hardship after hardship for a long time, then all of a sudden he experienced a miraculous turn around. Have you had a rough go of it? Has there been strain and hardship all around you? Are you truly ready for a turn around? “Yes.” Good! Now listen. A turn around is a matter of the heart and mind and our circumstances have very little, if anything at all to do with it. In other words, it’s a matter of the heart and what you choose to think and act on. Prov 23: 7 says, “For as a man (or woman) thinks in his heart so is he.” You can have the best year of your life in spite of your circumstances. Change comes from the inside out. Let me reemphasize that: Change starts on the inside of each individual first. It does not start on the outside or with the other person. When you change on the inside, God steps in and will change your circumstances on the outside. Job changed his attitude and God blessed him – (Job 42: 2-4).
Today decide to change your attitude and your actions. Declare “This will be the best year of my life!” “This will be the best year of my career.” “This will be the best year of my marriage.” “This will be the best year of my children.” (You fill in the sentence.) As you start changing your attitude, be honest with yourself and start making physical changes that line up with a change of attitude. Beloved it’s time to wake up and smell the roses. Yes, all roses have thorns but so what? Winners and people full of passion and a desire to walk in the fulness of the life God has for them focus on the bright red beauty and sweet smell of the flower more than the thorns. In other words, are you focused more on your past hurts or on the blessing and promise of the current day? Are you focused more on what you’ve been through or more on the life that you should be living and walking in. To many times we are missing the love and blessing and life that God has put before us and planned for us because we refuse to change our attitudes, the way we do things, or the way we have thought about a situation for so long. Some people refuse to even admit there is a problem or they simply have chosen to accept a situation as it is because of a refusal to deal with their own heart which would cause them to change. God wants to move in your life, but first he want to move in your heart!
Remember, Prov 23: 7 says, “For as a man (or woman) thinks in his heart so is he.” Get up every morning this year and picture yourself succeeding in every area of your life where it has become stagnant and lifeless. Picture your attitude changing and see yourself succeeding in that area as you put your hand to it (Psalm 90:17). If you keep the right images in front of you, and submit yourself openly and honestly to the Lord through prayer, God promises you that nothing will be impossible to you. Sometimes the circumstances of life can make us feel like we’re in a dead end situation and you don’t know where to turn. Are you in that place in a particular area? If so, don’t give up. What may look like a dead end to you may in reality be the beginning of a fresh supernatural flow of God’s divine power and favor in your life. Expect Him to release His power on your behalf and watch Him begin to turn around your situation – beginning with you.
The very last verse in Job says: “So Job died, old and full of days.” Job lived a long and full life. His latter days blessed more than his beginning. He was completely restored. His health, his marriage, his children, his finances, all that concerned him was restored and blessed by God.
Today, will you trust God to bless you so much that life just feels good? Today, and everyday this year, believe for a turn around. Expect that turn around to start with your heart. Pray, and think with a new mind and attitude, put actions with it and have the best year of your life.
John 10:10 – “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more ABUNDANTLY.”
Prayer: “Lord, I declare that this is the best year of the rest of my life. Start with my heart and completely change my attitude and my way of thinking in every area. Open my eyes that I may see what I have not wanted to see in my situations. I thank you Lord for changing my attitude and my situations and for blessing my latter days more than my beginning. In Jesus precious and most holy name I give you praise and thanks. – Amen!”