So defines the dictionary of a word we often hear (and use ourselves) as we enter a new year… resolution. We often begin the year with great intentions and expectations, but by February we can’t even remember what our New Year’s Resolution was let alone still be doing it!
So what is the motivation to really change one’s behavior for the good? Why do we so often set out with great intentions but fail miserably soon after?
"For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate." Romans 7:15
So relying on self is pretty ineffectual… Let’s instead rely upon God… Let’s spend time listening to God through His word…
Michael Krause challenged the Faith Family to spend regular time in God’s word realizing that…
· doing so will NOT fix your problems
· doing so will NOT be easy
· doing so WILL cost you something… your time
In this time and place, God has chosen to speak to us primarily through His word. View spending time reading God’s word as spending time listening to God, as His Spirit brings to our mind things of which we need to be “re-minded”.
Faith Bible Church’s website now provides a reading plan (adapted from a plan developed by Robert Murray M'Cheyne in 1842) with the desire and encouragement that the Faith Family be in the scriptures together.
This plan is NOT a checklist, and no one will be checking up on you! This is NOT a ‘New Year’s Resolution. Rather, it is a 2011 call to what King Josiah declared in 2Kings 23:3. “And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.”
So during January 2011, read the chapter of Matthew that corresponds to the date (Matthew 4 on Jan 4, Matthew 5 on Jan 5, and so forth). You can also see the reading plan with links to ESV scriptures at the Faith Bible website.
No one knows what lies ahead for 2011… So listen to God, rely upon Him, and trust Him.
I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
with thee, O Father, as my harbor,
thee, O Son, at my helm,
thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
(from Valley of Vision)
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