Ahh, 2013. A new year, stretched out before us. We can choose how we will use this opportunity. We can live this new year just like the one before that and the one before that. We can keep busy, look out for ME, and do just enough good to keep feeling okay with ourselves, and keep filling ourselves with stuff that doesn't last but gives us momentary satisfaction.
OR
Do you feel a stirring in your soul? Do you feel the stagnancy in your life? Do you feel the longing in your heart for more? More fulfillment? Genuine love? Spirit filled worship? Passionate prayer times? A new zeal for serving God? A burden for the lost? A hunger to know God more? Hatred for sin and the way it wrecks lives? Boldness for the truth? Determination to fight the spiritual warfare that surrounds us each and every day?
I can't keep living my life like I did last year, or the year before that. God continues to work in my heart and continues to show me areas I need to grow in, to change, to stretch. If I ignore the Holy Spirit in my life, He will get quieter, and quieter until I can't recognize His voice at all.
It would be nice sometimes to stick my head in the sand and ignore the world around me. The state of our nation is not a joke. It is headed in a fast, downward spiral. We as Christians are called to live genuine, Spirit filled lives. We have NOTHING to offer the world around us if we are so caught up in trivial issues of disagreements and differences between God's people. We go to conferences, counseling, and other life-changing events and come home, changed temporarily.
My heart's cry is to allow God to do the work He wants to do in my life. To stop getting in the way. To be all in. To pursue Him like someone who's dying of thirst pursues water. To encourage others, to love unconditionally. I believe God longs to see revival in our land, in this time in history. Oh, that God's people would band together and join in the battle. Could it start with one person, with me, with you? Could we just be obedient to Him?
Wonder about all this...... I don't think we who are redeemed and walking with God in an ongoing relationship really get to choose. It seems like I'm pretty deep into the battle on every side. 2013 isn't going to be about changing anything for me. It's probably more about being thankful and joyful about the things that bring me to my knees..... and willing to learn....facing fears and those things that can't be gotten rid of but learn how to live with them....and glorify God and thank Him in the process. .....those things that happen along the way that make one grow and change and stretch. I want to bow out sometimes but yes, it starts with me.....if not for anyone else it's done for my kids. I want them to see God's glory in my life....even though it is hard sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI love your thoughts especially the line '..if not for anyone else it's done for my kids.' Press on, Amy. Someday it will be worth it all.
Delete