It's already December and in just a few weeks, we'll be seeing the start of another year. Doesn't that excite you? I know it excites me, and so I would like to share something important to you:

We need to prepare for it.

A new leaf

We all need to prepare for the coming of 2018. I know, it's just another year you might say, but for me, I believe that God is preparing good things for us this coming year:

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (see 1 Corinthians 2:9)

That said, we should get ready for the surprising and amazing things that God is preparing, and has already prepared, for us.

Here are some ways we can and should prepare for the coming of 2018.

1) Take time to seek God and pray

Before the year 2017 ends, we should all spend an ample amount of time in prayer to seek the Lord. If we want to make the most of 2018, then we should ask the Lord for guidance and direction before it ever comes in.

2) Forget the former things

I'm sure we all have faced good and bad experiences this year, but there's no point in keeping it all and carrying it with us next year. In Isaiah 43:18-19, God commands us to forget the former things because He will do, and is already doing, a new thing.

Unless we learn to let go of and forget the former things, we won't be able to step into the new things of God.

3) Let go of the old wine

We're all familiar with what the Lord Jesus said about wineskins. In Matthew 9:17, He said new wine cannot be poured into old wineskins, or else they will break. We should all strive to be a new wineskin.

However, many of us find this hard or even frustrating to do, because we focus on just being a new wineskin without letting go of the old wine. In Luke 5:39, the Lord said "no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

We should stop drinking the old wine, then. Let go of old and outdated ideas. Allow God to give you fresh ideas for the coming year.

4) Revisit prayer lists

Do you keep a list of answered prayers? If you do, then revisit them. If you don't, then now's the perfect time to start making lists.

Revisit prayer lists and see what God has answered. Bring unanswered prayers into the next year so you can keep praying until the answer comes.

5) Start off with a clean slate

Forgive. Let go of all offenses and hurts and offer it to God. Repent of any unconfessed sin and don't condemn yourself if God has already forgiven you. Release any disappointments and charge them all to experience.

You've got to start the coming year fresh and with a clean plate.

Friends, I leave you with this exhortation. I hope and pray that we'd all follow this.

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2)