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Rob Patz: New Year, New You

Rob Patz

SGNScoops Publisher’s Point for January 2018 by Rob Patz

It is a brand new year. Are you excited about what God has for you in 2018? We have a slogan right now at WPIL (91.7 FM, Heflin, Ala., www.wpilfm.com) that is, a brand new year and a brand new you. I started that with the idea to encourage people to experience new things.

I truly believe that 2018 is going to be an amazing year filled with exciting opportunities. I believe that about every year, and as I look back at 2017, I think we should always take an inventory of where we’ve been. There have been many great things that have happened in 2017, and there have been some trials. I am thankful though that God has allowed me to be a part of some fantastic events and to minister to people around the country.

The year of 2017 saw changes, but then again, if you think about it, in every year there are changes. If we stay the same we are not moving forward. In the Bible, it says that we should run the race, and my feeling about that is that God doesn’t want us to be stable. He doesn’t want us to be happy in the location we are in today.

I had the opportunity to talk with a pastor, and we were sharing our visions for this coming year. I said that God always put big visions in my head. Now, that doesn’t mean that those visions always come to fruition that year. Sometimes, those visions take years to accomplish. But it says we have to run the race, and life is not a sprint … it’s a marathon. That means like a marathon runner, we watch for landmarks to know where we are. Like when runners get to the 13-mile mark, they know they are halfway there.

I truly believe God puts it in our hearts each year to grow in new and exciting ways that He wants us to run. He wants us to continue to make an impact for the kingdom, because if we stand still, we are not fulfilling the great commission.

So many people say, “I don’t know how I’m going to get to my goal.” I had a very wise friend who was an older pastor tell me that the best way to get to your goal is start walking. If you don’t start moving, nothing will ever happen. If you don’t start exercising your faith, you won’t reach your goal. As much as we talked about running earlier, we talk the same about exercising our faith.

So, as I sit here at the beginning of a brand new year, I want to encourage you to do three things for me. This year, I want you to read your Bible more. I want you to pray more, and I want you to begin to exercise your faith.

So many of us talk about exercise as one of our New Year’s resolutions. May I encourage you this year to make one of your resolutions – that you will keep – to exercise your faith. Start to dream. Start to believe that God has bigger, greater things for you ahead. Then, start to run your race. If the Lord allows, I want to be with you at the end of this year, to cheer you on as you cross the finish line of another year.

As you start the new year off, make plans to join us in Oxford, Ala., from March 1-3 for Southern Gospel Weekend. Find more information about this great event in this edition.

That’s the Publisher’s Point.

By Rob Patz

First published by the SGNScoops Magazine in January 2018

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