Welcome To 2026 (1) By Babatunde Olugboji
When we are in the throes of transition or we’ve just transitioned to a brand New Year as we did a couple of days ago, we may be confident or nervous, faithful or fearful; and our perspective of what awaits us in the New Year may bring out the best, or the beast in us.
2025 might have been a difficult year for you. Maybe your finances weren’t great. Maybe you lost your job or you were underemployed. Maybe something that was meant to be a blessing became a burden. Perhaps you woke up one day to discover that the person sleeping next to you, your spouse, had become a stranger. After work, you struggle to go to the home on which you pay the rent or mortgage. Or you are cocooned with a husband you no longer love; marooned to a wife you now detest. A loveless union.
For some people 2025 might have been like being sandwiched between the Biblical Red Sea and the army and chariots of Pharoah. You bought a franchise that didn’t bear fruits and has now become a frustration.
This week, I want to speak to those who have been drained by life; those who faced deprivation, have been beaten, battered and broken. Pummeled by the vicissitudes of life. Just because you were in a crisis in 2025 doesn’t mean that Christ has written you off. Just because 2025 was rough doesn’t mean that 2026 would be tough. Just because you faced a momentary affliction last year doesn’t mean 2026 won’t be momentous. Just because life incarcerated you in 2025 doesn’t mean you will be incapacitated this year. Just because the devil has been after you doesn’t mean you have to give up. Just because you are down doesn’t mean you are out.
True we may be hard pressed on every side, but we’re not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.
This year, you need to think deeply about choices before you. “As a man thinks, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7. For change to happen in your life, the first line of action is to think. Think through the promises of God. Think through what you want the year to look like, because change starts from the realm of thoughts. That is why the devil is waging war against your mind.
Do like Apostle Paul suggested: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. (Philippians 4:8 ) Our thoughts can destroy our outlook or develop it; it can unearth or unravel our expectations, uncover our faith, or undermine it.
The main question I want you to reflect on this first week of the year is: What is occupying your thoughts at this moment? The answer to this question will, to a large extent, determine the direction you are going in 2026.
Thinking precedes doing. Without thinking there is no doing. Or there will be haphazard doing. We must have the right thoughts to do the right things. Think in the right direction in order to go in the right direction. Make a list. Or a Plan of Action. Plan with God in mind.
The most important plan is a spiritual plan. We’re not just flesh and blood. We are spirit beings encased in an earthen vessel. Our eternal part is the spirit. In 2026, pay more attention to the spiritual than the physical. It is good to look good. But it is better to be godly, because the healthiest, wealthiest, cutest, most organized individuals cannot enter heaven without Christ. Find the right balance between the physical and the spiritual, with priority to the latter.
Remember, physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. I Timothy 4:8
Spiritual exercises, otherwise known as spiritual disciplines (e.g. worship, prayer, service, studying the Word of God) will do more for us than any exercise program. Godliness will help us in this life and give us the promise of the life to come.
To be continued.
May 2026 bring you unparalleled joy.
Have a great week.
Questions or comments?
+1-609-887-6610 (WhatsApp)
