SECRETS FOR A SUCCESSFUL YEAR

Base Text: Philippians 3:13 (NIV)

"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead."

INTRODUCTION

Every year that ends, for those of us who meditate a bit about life, leads us to reflect on how we did, and automatically a balance, a statement of accounts, is produced. There are people who are not very interested because their life is already a disaster, and they observe how they are hopelessly carried back and forth by the inertia of life.

Every year is just a vicious circle where they do not reach goals, where they cannot grow, or just live regretting losses, letting the days pass by without believing they can have a successful life in God.

What must we do for this to change? How do we have a successful year in all areas? Because some grew economically but fell spiritually, others did very well spiritually but disastrously economically, with unresolved family problems.

Let's discover what the word of God teaches us.

1️⃣ FIRST SECRET: DO ONE THING

vs 13: "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do"

This phrase indicates action that comes from the Latin actio or actionis which means "to do, to work, to perform." Every movie has a protagonist or an antagonist, and each ending for the actors depends on the role given.

You and I are the protagonists of our own lives, or the antagonists of it. Remember that in the end only one comes out victorious.

For what the Bible calls "heroes of faith," they were not supernatural people; the only supernatural thing was their faith in God. They decided to be protagonists who, although they suffered and were attacked, were not passive in their lives, but took action, seized, and conquered.

To do one thing means:

1. PLAN: It is making a defined plan with purpose. To keep watching time pass by is to lose it. Every day is either lost or won, invested or failed.

2. PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL INVENTORY: Evaluating is essential to know how this season ended. In the personal (family, economic, physical) and spiritual (your relationship with God) areas.

3. VISUALIZE POSSIBILITIES: See with the eyes of faith the success that God has for you.

2️⃣ SECOND SECRET: LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND

vs 13: "Forgetting what is behind"

The past means different things to different people:

For some, saying "the past" is like remembering everything bad. This word represents darkness, pain, wounds. "I have a dark past." "I have pain for the past years that I have not forgotten."

Remembering with pain is a very bad symptom that something was not taken advantage of well.

For others, the past represents "glories": "I did," "I was," and they only talk about old glories but nothing of a present or a future with promises. They live on what they were.

Some live on past consecrations, on dead leaderships, on old miracles, but nothing of "today I know that God is with me," "I am moving forward."

How is the past canceled?

Colossians 2:13-14 — "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross."

He erases our sins, our faults. It's like that whiteboard they sell to children: you write and with a button you erase everything. Living by blaming ourselves turns us into antagonists; accepting the sacrifice of Christ is an action that produces change.

Jeremiah 31:34 (NIV) — "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

THE POWER OF FAITH is believing in God and accepting His forgiveness. Only He erases every badly written day, every bad action, every iniquitous thought, to cleanse us and remember them no more.

Three steps to cancel the past:

1. ACCEPT THE "DEBT PAID" BLESSING:

   Romans 8:1 — "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

   Jesus was crucified on the cross so that you would stop crucifying yourself. This is good news!

2. BURY YOUR SINS AND FAILURES:

   Micah 7:19-20 (NIV) — "You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."

3. FORGIVE AND LET GO: End this year, leave it with all your mistakes and absences, analyze and make a resolution, ask for forgiveness and cross the line.

3️⃣ THIRD SECRET: CROSS THE LINE

vs 13: "and straining toward what is ahead"

A new year is the boundary between what was and what is next. This is the difference between the protagonist and the antagonist: one decides to win, the other to be defeated.

Israel crossed the Jordan (Joshua 3:14-17)

"So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them... the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap... and the people crossed over opposite Jericho."

It was time to leave behind 40 years of failures, of rebellions, until the last of that bad generation died. This other generation was willing to forget their past, cross over and enter God's land.

Stop complaining, it's time to advance. Cross with purpose, cross with God, tell Him today: "I want a year of victory in all areas of my life." I will no longer be rebellious, You paid my debt. "Debt paid!"

David crossed the line (1 Samuel 17:48-51)

David had to fight against a terrible giant who intimidated Israel every day. Every year brings challenges, but there are people who live defeated, fearful, with their heads down. Like Goliath who yells constantly.

David was the protagonist of his own story. No one invented it. They wanted to sink him, but he was determined. His faith was absolute in God:

1 Samuel 17:45-46 — "David said to the Philistine, 'You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands.'"

Crossing the line, crossing the year should have this expression in our mouths: "A giant year is coming, but God will deliver you into my hands."

David did not hide, David went to the line, that line that makes the difference between those who fall or those who say: "I will take up weapons to fight" "This will be my year in God."

CONCLUSION

Do you want to have a different year? Start:

1. DO SOMETHING: Don't stay in oblivion anymore. Plan, evaluate, visualize.

2. PAY THE DEBT: Christ paid it. Forgive, cancel, erase the board.

3. CROSS THE LINE: Like Israel crossed the Jordan, like David faced Goliath. This is your year of victory.

Outline based on the preaching of Pastor Joshua Angarita - MMM Portal Campestre Church, Giron, Santander - New Year 2026.