New Years Resolutions and Such

As I write this thought, 2009 has about seven hours left in its life. By all news accounts, '09 was a bad year. The economy took its toll on people to be sure. More people are unemployed than in nearly eighty years. The dedicated men and women of our armed forces have been in harms way and taken more losses this year than in the years since the Vietnam conflict.

That being said, many people are looking forward to 2010 with the hopes that it will be a better year. The realist in my is not too sure that it will be a better year, unless folks begin to look at priorities in terms of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus has invited us to seek first his kingdom and righteousness...and all of these things will be added to you. A sacrificial love for others, pursuit of the common good, taking on the mind of Christ are just a few of the priorities of the Kingdom that are missing in our society. The absence of community and the righteous love of God has stripped us of our ability to live in harmony with God, with one another, with the world, or even with our selves. Only as we surrender our will, our agenda and our life to Christ can the world truly improve.

As you are planning out your New Year's resolutions, ask Him to reveal to you how you can seek Him and His righteousness more fully and how he may like to reveal himself more fully in you and through you.

A

Knowing God With Us

During the past month I have been preaching a series entitled "Really Knowing Jesus." I have been thinking about, talking about, and praying about having a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. This relationship is predicated upon an ongoing intimacy with Christ. That intimacy, for most "believers" is lacking. I find that the intimacy is often lacking in my own life.

I found myself writing in my journal today asking God to open my eyes to the places in which he is revealing himself to me, where he is working in my life, and where he may be found in others and the world around me. This prayer is the heart of "God with Us." I have come to realize that the times when I do not recognize God near to me, when I can't hear his voice, are my fault, not his.

I ran across this quotation today.

God is not real to most of us because of the condition of our consciousness. He is closer to our minds every moment than your own thoughts. He is nearer to our hearts than our own feelings. He is more intimate with our wills than our most vigorous decisions. If we are not aware of him, it is not because he is not with us. It is, in part, because our consciousness is so under the sway of other interest that it cannot turn to him with the loving attention which might soon discern him.

-Albert Edward Day

Discipline and Discover

quoted in A Guide to Prayer, p. 36

I pray that you will come to open your eyes and ears, cast off the business of the world and see God with you this advent season.

God With Us

Advent is a time of celebrating the first and second coming of God with us. After all, one of the names of Jesus is Emmanuel. As I have been reflecting on life recently, I have come to a new appreciation of the power and hope of God with us...especially with ME! Like so many people I am often so very guilty of living my life under the guise of my own agenda, needs, desires, and plans. Yet God wants to be involved with me every single moment of every single day. No decision, no thought that I have escapes his attention. So why do I so often miss that God is with me?

Simply put, God is there, but he does not force his way into my thoughts, attentions or life. He loves me enough to give me the ability to choose.

I stumbled across this thought today in my devotional.

He [God] comes only through doors that are purposely opened for
Him. A person may live as near to God as the bubble is to the ocean and yet
not find him. He may be "closer than breathing, nearer than hands or feet" and
still be missed.

Rufus M. Jones The Double Search

quoted in A Guide to Prayer, Shawchuck and Job, p. 21

I have been thinking about that this morning. How often do we miss the blessing that comes with being a follower of Emmanuel because we do not stop to recognize his blessed presence with us?

I pray that this advent season will be a time of God's presence touching your life in tangible and powerful ways.