WHAT IS ON YOUR LIST?
The Christmas rush is behind us, and now preparations are underway for New Year’s celebrations. How will you celebrate the New Year? I am so glad that New Year’s Day is on Sunday, and we can gather and start our year with our Lord in worship and prayer and teaching from God’s Word.
But where will your focus be? Is it on the New Year’s resolutions you are going to make? We all make those resolutions, but they only last a short time and life goes on, and the resolutions we tried so hard to keep go by the wayside. As I think about 2011, I wonder where the year went, as time seems to go by so quickly.
Instead of those resolutions, which we never keep, let us take some time for reflection, and look back over the past year and see the path that we have trod. Maybe you had times of great trial and pain. Maybe you looked on the world scene and had moments of great fear. But as we look back, as believers in Jesus, we can see “his footprints” over the year. We can see those places where He carried us in times of great trial, when we could hardly carry on. He carried us on days of darkness, on foggy days, when our way was not clear and our eyes foggy with tears.
And there were times of great joy and happiness. You felt fulfilled in what God had called you to do, you prospered in your business. Your family was blessed. Maybe, as my husband and I did, you passed a great milestone in your marriage.
Now we face this New Year of 2012. What does the future hold for each of us this year? I know that some will go home to be with Jesus this year, and are you ready? Jesus could call at any time, and I believe His coming back to earth could be at any time, but His Word says that we do not know the day nor the hour, but to “Watch.” What will the Lord do in our lives this year? I would suggest instead of making a Spiritual Resolution List, make a list of the desires of your heart for this year. The Word promises that He makes all things new. So what new thing will He do in your life this year? “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” Isaiah 43:18-19.
As we head in this New Year, we are not to look back over the past and the hard places we have been, but to look ahead. The Lord is going to do some new things in your life. He may take you down paths that you cannot even imagine going. It is going to come, and He calls you to watch and see what He is going to do. What are the desires of your heart? Do you desire to walk closer to Him this year, or spend more time in prayer and the Word. Maybe He would call you to minister to others in a new way? “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also on the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” Psalm 37:3-5.
As you make your “Spiritual Resolution List”, the first thing would be to absolutely trust in the Lord no matter what this year brings, and He will satisfy with the good things He has promised. And then to just delight in Him, spend time with Him, worship Him, and He will give you the desires of your heart, those spiritual things you long for, and maybe He will bless you with some material need that you have been praying for. And then, commit your way, your walk to Him, and whatever you desire He will bring it to pass. Praise the Lord! And when you go through dry places this next year, He promises to make a way for you during those “wilderness times” and overflow you with His precious Holy Spirit. “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground” Isaiah 44:3a.
We go to the New Testament and the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:13-14, and he challenges us to look ahead, forget those troublesome times behind us. “Brethren, I count myself not to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
What are we reaching for, what is our goal as we press forward for the prize in Christ Jesus? We have a promise of a future with the Lord Jesus. The ultimate prize is our heavenly home, to finish the course He has set us on. Can you affirm with Paul? “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the LORD, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them who love His appearing” II Timothy 4:8.
So as we set out in this New Year of 2012, we are reaching for the ultimate goal, the prize of His heavenly calling. We leave behind all of the struggles of last year, and reach forward this New Year with joy, walking with Jesus, looking for that day when we will have finished the course and won the Crown of Righteousness, awarded to His faithful ones, by the Lord Himself. And we anxiously watch and wait for His appearing.
I ask again, are you ready? Are you ready to face whatever lies ahead in this New Year? If you don’t have Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, please let Him come into your heart right now. As I have said in a previous blog, “The Story Goes On.” The Christmas story never ends, as that little baby came to save the lost. His very name means “Savior.” In His future was the cross looming ahead. He died on that cross to save you, my friend. He shed His precious blood for your sins. Please don’t start this New Year without Him by your side.
Father, in the Name of Jesus, I commit this year to you. I commit all those who are reading this to You. That many will make a Spiritual Resolution List, and know that You will grant them the desires of their heart and walk with them through this New Year. And for those who have not accepted you, I ask for conviction of the Holy Spirit to draw them to Yourself and that they will enter this year as a “new creature in Christ Jesus.” (II Corinthians 5:17. Amen
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