Time flies so fast. We're nearing the end of the year and in just a short while, it's already 2018. Are you ready to face the coming year? Are you excited for what the future holds, or perhaps you're still stuck in 2017 because of what you've been through?

As the year comes to a close, we are reminded that our lives are very short. Our days are fleeting as the grass. If we want to make the following year count, we ought to learn from what we have experienced this year.

Knowing this, here are a few things that every Christian needs to do before the year ends. Doing these allows us to prepare ourselves for the coming year.

Five things every Christian needs to do before the year ends

• Honestly evaluate your relationship with God

Dear friends, our relationship with God is the most important thing in our lives. We should cherish it and nourish it. Christ paid a dear price for us to be given the privilege of being called God's children. Now let's ask ourselves: how did we respond to what Christ did?

Go over the year and honestly evaluate your relationship with God. Have you grown obedient to God's word? Have you grown in fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Have you grown more dead to sin and self and more alive to Christ?

• Repent of any unconfessed sin

Don't ever dare carry any unconfessed sin into the coming year. Ever. Go over the previous months and years and see if there's any unconfessed sin in your life. If there is, confess it to God. If there isn't (really) any sin, then thank God for the grace to avoid sinning.

Keep short accounts. Repent of any sin, and live free.

• See the answers to your prayers

Did you make a list of faith goals or a checklist of things you are praying to the Lord for at the start of 2017? Go over your list and see what God has done.

If there are answered prayers, thank God for them, and pray for more of His will to be done in your life. If there are still unanswered prayers, keep praying and believing for God's answer.

• Forgive and release any and all offenses

Don't ever bring any unforgiveness to the coming year.

Look back to all that happened to you in 2017. If you were hurt or offended by any person, admit it to God and yourself, and forgive your offender. You don't need to hear your offender's apology or words of sorry. You can just forgive here and now. 

If you've offended yourself by failing in something or doing something wrong, just repent of your sin before the Lord, accept His forgiveness, and forgive yourself too. There's no point in condemning yourself for something that God has already forgiven.

Do this and be free.

• Let go of the past

Lastly, if you want to enter into what God has prepared for you this coming year, you have to let go of the past.

Let go of all that happened this year, including the good and the bad. Repent, forgive, release, let go, move on. You can never get to where you should be if you keep staying where you shouldn't be. Move into God's will for you by walking in faith in the finished work of Christ.