I congratulate you all, my readers, on your successful entry into the new year. I appreciate you for the time you have invested in reading and sometimes commenting on my blog posts. May the Lord richly reward you all.
    Thank God for the brand new year before us. We are privileged to have a new beginning with a lot of potential opportunities awaiting us. We would do  well to maximise each of them. We should remember that the Bible encourages us to, “Be very careful, then, how you live– not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:15-16 NIV). My prayer for you is that you will not miss any opportunity God has planned for you in this year.
    However, it is important for us to remember that opportunities do not, automatically, become achievements or prosperity. We need to handle them with care, if we want to convert them into desired outcomes. Otherwise, they develop wings, and like birds, fly away.
    The first thing we need to know about opportunities, if we are to make the most of them, is that they come in disguise, sometimes. This is why many people easily miss them. Opportunities do not always announce their presence as such. Rather, they may come in the form of difficulties or problems. Hence, if we do not look beyond the obvious, we are likely to miss them.
    Secondly, opportunities require efforts on the part of those who will maximise them. Even though a large catch of fish awaited Peter after he had  failed to catch any earlier, he still had to make some efforts when Jesus instructed him to, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (Lk 5:4). Your intentions may be noble, but if you do not express them by your actions they remain just that— noble intentions, with no concrete result.
    Thirdly, taking risks is an integral part of making the most of opportunities. This is because opportunities present the possibility (at least, superficially)  of failure with its attendant consequences. There is hardly anyone who has achieved anything worthwhile in life, who did not take a risk. There was a level of risk involved in Abraham’s departure from the familiarity of his father’s household for an unknown destination, all because he had heard a voice instruct him to do so (Heb 11:8). This, however, is not to encourage you to take unnecessary risks.
    Fourthly, just as large doors swing on small hinges, so do great breakthroughs, sometimes, hinge on seemingly negligible opportunities. Many people have missed great opportunities because those “favourable moments for doing something” looked insignificant. God does not want us to despise the opportunities He brings to us, just because we think they are small or insignificant : “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” (The seven lamps represent the eyes of the lord that search all around the world.)” (Zech 4:10 NLT). Note, the LORD REJOICES TO SEE THE WORK BEGIN. 
    In conclusion, we all need to be led through the year, if we are to recognise God-given opportunities, irrespective of the form they take. This is why God has made the ministry of the HolySpirit available for us—same Spirit,  whose guidance and influence in the earthly life and ministry of Jesus, made His record unbeatable. Like Jesus, choose to be filled with the HolySpirit, led by the HolySpirit and empowered by the HolySpirit. Then you will, inevitably, make the most of every opportunity God gives you. Happy new year. Shalom.