I love the freshness of a new year. It is a perfect time to work on throwing out some old, not-so-pretty habits, and instead push forward with some positive new hopes and dreams in our lives. Each year we want to get better and better, but how do we do that in a practical sense? I want to encourage you to take some time this week to be alone with the Lord seek His help and guidance as you prayerfully consider what is ahead of you this year.
The most important encouragement I could give you is to devote each day to God. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Ask Him to use you in new fresh ways this year. Surrender your agenda for His agenda. 17th Century French cleric, Francois Fenelon, often wrote about this daily surrender and listening to God’s direction. He wrote:
“God is our true Friend, who always gives us the counsel and comfort we need. Our danger lies in resisting Him; so it is essential that we acquire the habit of hearkening to His voice, or keeping silence within, and listening so as to lose nothing of what He says to us. We know well enough how to keep outward silence, and to hush our spoken words, but we know little of interior silence. It consists in hushing our idle, restless, wandering imagination, in quieting the promptings of our worldly minds, and in suppressing the crowd of unprofitable thoughts which excite and disturb the soul.”
May we turn our hearts and minds to Him continually and experience His peace in the coming year. As the writer of Hebrews wrote, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
