What next? In His Word- 1-4-16
What should I do with this ‘New Year’ ahead of me? Should I resolve to loose weight? Should I plan to make more money? Maybe I should set a goal to become famous this year!
Though they stumble, they will never fall, for
the Lord holds them by the hand.
Psalm 37:23-24
Sometimes I think
that we try to plan out our lives to too much detail and forget to ask God’s
direction in what we should do. After all, He is in charge of our lives not us,
we gave Him that right when we asked Jesus into our lives to be our Lord.
You can think about
it this way; the Lord of a manor is over all who reside in it. He is in charge
of what they do, work, play whatever comes under his charge or care. In that
same way God is over us; His direction is what we should seek to follow in
every portion of our lives.
Sometimes we
think we can plan out our days or our years, even our lifetime without Him; we
are mistaken. Maybe it is just the fact that we have not acknowledged His
Lordship in our lives? Maybe we just do not know what He requires of us. If you
read your Bible, God’s Word, then you should know that is not true!
He hath shewed
thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Micah 6:8 kjv
Perhaps it is a matter of
trust? Do you not trust yourself to hear, read, and understand what it is that
He is directing you to do? Do you maybe doubt in yourself that ability to discern
what the Holy Spirit is showing you in His Word? After all that is what it comes down to when
we do not know what we should do in a situation or in the beginning of planning
our year. We need to first check with the Lord and ask Him to show us what we
should do.
He has taught us to do what
Micah 6:8 says, but even more so Jesus gives us direction in prayer that is another
great place to start!
Prayer is the first place to
start your year. Begin by praying about what to do. Thank Him for giving you a
new beginning, beginnings are always great whenever they are starting; January,
a new season, a new day. It’s all good when something becomes anew!
So let’s start there!
Jesus tells us to speak to
God in private and to speak the truth from our heart to His. So don’t go
quoting prayers just talk to God on your own. You can follow the direction in
the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ or Disciples prayer as some call it. Just put in your own
words and don’t just follow it by rote.
This morning I told my God
that I never want to pray, and read my Bible by rote I want it to be new every
morning, fresh and exciting and interesting to do. No matter how many times I have
read through His Word I know that I can find a needed ‘bite to feast on’ each
day if I sincerely focus on His Word. That is another thing we can remember is
to read the Bible every day!
So we have a plan! Pray,
Read… what next?
Walk in it! Genesis 13:16 God told Abraham to walk around
on the land and that everywhere he went, He was going to give it to Abraham. God wants us to walk in His presence. He has
saved us, through Jesus and now He wants us to walk in His presence.
Psalm 81:13 and Psalm 56:13
show us this.
For
you have rescued me from death; you have kept my feet from slipping. So now I
can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light. Psalm 56:13
Oh,
that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths! Psalm 81:13
We
do this by remembering that He is with us wherever we go. By speaking to Him as
we go about our day, and not trying to hide things we do from Him, because we
can’t obviously. When we remind ourselves of His words, speaking to our selves
in psalms and hymns in our hearts toward Him, we can’t help but walk in His
presence and be filled with His Spirit. Ephesians 5:15-20
Lets
make these three our beginning for this year! Prayer, reading His Word, and
walking in the presence of the Lord each day; this is the plan God wants for
us! His Word said so!
Dear
Heavenly Father, help us to follow your footsteps in our daily walk through
life. Let us walk with Your guidance and study Your Word to know without a
doubt what we should do each day, in Jesus name, amen.
Suggested
Reading :
Ephesians 5:1-33, Psalm 37:1-40, Genesis 1:1-31 and Psalm 81:1-16