____ Week 36 Whose opinion means the most to me?
An ‘ordinary’ person: Laney Beard
____ Week 37 Repentance
____ Week 38 Grace
____ Week 39 Tests
October
____ Week 40 Prayer chains
____ Week 41 God, do you hear me?
____ Week 42 Rest and restoration
An ‘ordinary’ person: My mom, Marybelle Grossheider
____ Week 43 Faith and healing
____ Week 44
November
____ Week 45 Election, our nation
____ Week 46 Priorities
____ Week 47 God’s timely words
____ Week 48 Amazing things
December
____ Week 49 John Wesley’s quadrilateral
____ Week 50 Faith … just faith
____ Week 51 Christmas
____ Week 52 End of the year
Week 1 January 1
A new year with possibilities and opportunities has now begun. It seems like just a week ago that I was looking at the year through the same day!
Each and every day, I have a choice: Choose God or choose the world’s way of living my life. I sat on the fence for a long time, most of my life actually. I thought I could love God and do pretty much what I wanted the other six days of the week.
Then came that night in July when I knew that Jesus did it all for me, for my sins! All of a sudden the whole ‘salvation’ concept wasn’t just a theory. It was personal. It was about a relationship. If I was to have a relationship with Jesus, then it was going to be more than a once a week conversation! A marriage wouldn’t work if the husband and wife only spoke one day a week! Neither, would my relationship with Jesus grow and become the relationship that would finally fill that emptiness that I had always had.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15:5-9
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7
I will start today with God and put my feet in HIS footsteps. There will be no worldly New Year’s resolutions. I am just going to open my heart to Jesus and watch what happens!
Questions:
What ‘resolutions’ have I made in the past? Were they a ‘success’?
Is my daily time with God where HE wants it to be? What changes would He like me to make?
Week 2
When the man heard this, he was sad, because he was very rich.
Jesus saw how sad the man was. SO he said, “It’s terribly hard for rich people to get into God’s kingdom! In fact, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into God’s kingdom.”
When the crowd heard this, they asked, “How can anyone ever be saved?”
Jesus replied, “There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything.” Luke 18:23-27(CEV)
There was a very popular worship song a few years ago “All Things Are Possible” (Darlene Zschech. 1997). It was based on this 27th verse from Luke. I sang this song sometimes with tears of hope born of desperation in the circumstances I was in. God heard my voice and I could feel His very presence as He would pick me up off the floor and assure me that He was already walking before me and had all those ‘pesky little problems’, that seem so HUGE to me, well under control!
And then, as I saw God work in my life and in the lives of those I loved, I would sing the song with joyful abandon! I would put it in my CD player and just dance around the house! I confess to you that someone also gave me a ‘bootlegged’ copy of the videotape and I so loved watching adults and children alike sing this song. I could see by the expressions on their face that they KNEW that ALL things were possible with God!!
I know what it is to be poor or to have plenty, and I have lived under all kinds of conditions. I know what it means to be full or to be hungry, to have too much or too little. Christ gives me the strength to face anything. Philippians 4:12-13 (CEV)
Another translation says: I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether it be a full stomach or hunger, plenty or want; for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power. (TLB)
Paul wasn’t speaking of just physical hunger. Sometimes I hunger for … unconditional love … wisdom and clear sight in a particular circumstance … ‘gifting’ to accomplish a task I have been given. God is already there. He already knows the need. He can fulfill the need.
You are kind, LORD, so good and merciful.
You protect ordinary people, and when I was helpless,
you saved me and treated me so kindly that I don’t need to worry anymore.
Psalm 116:5-7 (CEV)
Questions: What ‘impossibles’ do I lay at God’s feet today? (Write them down and leave space for God’s answer.) Join together in agreement for God to do what He knows to do in each situation.
What are some ‘impossibles’ that BECAME possible because of God?
Week 3
The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written down to teach us, because we live in a time when all these things of the past have reached their goal. If you think you are strong, you should be careful not to fall. The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it…
“We are allowed to do all things,” but all things are not good for us to do. “We are allowed to do all things,” but not all things help others grow stronger. Do not look out only for yourselves. Look out for the good of others also. 1 Corinthians 10:11-13, 23-24 (NCV)
Are there things in my life that are “permissible” but not beneficial or constructive to my life? I could qualify that and say my ‘spiritual’ life but my spiritual life IS my life. Maybe it makes me feel better to try to separate my ‘spiritual’ life from the rest of my life but there really isn’t any separation possible. If I want God to be in my life (guide, director, protector) then do I separate my life into rooms and invite Him into some but then turn and say, “Hey, Lord, uh…I gotta go do something in here so why don’t You just hang out over there?!”
So as I look at the TOTAL rooms in my life are there ‘hairballs’ under the bed and ‘cobwebs’ in the upper corners that while not causing an overt health problem, they are not inviting the Lord into a clean house. AND when I invite others in (to hang around me) whether they are believers or not, they notice the ‘dirt’ and wonder just what kind of spiritual housekeeper I am!
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