By Tom Shanklin

As we begin this new year, I want to encourage you to stay focused on the plan that God has for your life. God may have revealed wonderful things to you. You may have received a multitude of prophecies, visions and revelations clearly showing God’s will. But unless you are faithful, diligent, and steadfast in walking out that plan, you will never see a fulfillment of the will of God in your life. So, stay focused!

A study of successful people in a variety of fields found a common denominator among them. It was not talent, intelligence, or natural ability. Rather it was drive, determination and desire. What is motivating you? Do you have a purpose, a goal, a mission in life? Find that purpose and pursue it for the glory of God.

Today, we are living in a time of great distractions. Things like other voices, peer pressure, temptations, and even seemingly good causes can keep you from fulfilling the will of God. Ask yourself, “What is the one thing that God wants me to accomplish in 2012?” Can you define it? Can you speak it? Can you write it down? Do that and then walk it out day by day in the coming year.

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14, KJV).

The Apostle Paul was determined to keep His eyes on the prize…to stay focused on the will of God for His life. He refused to allow the failures and problems of the past (or even the successes) to waylay him from the course that God had set for him. Like Paul, we must have a forward vision. We must not live our lives in regrets of the past, nor in fear of the future. Great opportunities lie before us. We must seize the moment and press into the great plan of God for our lives.

I encourage you to take time to wait upon God. Re-focus on the things that are most important—God’s will and your destiny. Seek Him for His vision for your life and your family. Re-focus. Re-envision. Re-invigorate your faith. Expect God’s blessings to be upon everything you do as you follow His will. Expect to be blessed…and live to be a blessing!