Friday, January 1, 2010

Seems to be a lot of...

wondering what to do in the New Year. I want you to consider the last thing God asked you to do. Were you faithful to complete it? "Oh but this is a new year, all is wiped clean." Sure... consider the words of Paul. Here he is addressing the Philippians as he is imprisoned. Many thought this would stop him from sharing the message but it didn't.

Philippians 1:18-21 So how am I to respond? I've decided that I really don't care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! And I'm going to keep that celebration going because I know how it's going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don't expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn't shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I'm Christ's messenger; dead, I'm his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can't lose.
22-26As long as I'm alive in this body, there is good work for me to do.

"Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted.
But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably." Oswald Chambers

If God has called you to do something and you have not completed it, he isn't gonna give you something new just because of the calendar change. Pick yourself up and put your foot forward into 2010 and follow through!

1 comment:

CMcConnell said...

Thanks Stan. This was a great encouragement for me.