New Year Faith Journey 123
As we turn the calendar are you prepared for a New Year Faith Journey? In this episode, we will explore the exciting New Year that God’s got for you, and we look at it with expectant hope.
Thanks to our sponsor Media Angels, and the books A Few Minutes with God and One More Child
The end of a year brings celebration, not because the year ends – well, I guess it depends on the summation of the year you’ve had – no, the celebration is symbolic of the excitement of the year to come. We look at it with excitement and hope for the best. This is how we as a Christian should look at the coming year.
Our Hope is in Christ and the New Year Faith Journey should look something like this:
- I can’t wait to see all that God is going to do in my life this year.
- I am so excited about how I can serve others this coming year.
- I look forward to the new insights and revelations in my studies about God.
The world looks at the future so much differently than a Christian does. Success to a Christian is being in God’s will – it is the joy of waking up each day and saying, “God’s got this!” It is realizing that God’s will is so much better than our will.
The Lord’s prayer reminds us of this –
“…thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Free will is God’s will.
What Does A New Year Faith Journey look like to you?
But the new year gives us a blank slate and as we as Christians look at this we can begin to map to look forward to our life as a journey of faith. We can make changes for the better but in order to do this, we must have an examination of our life. Some people think they don’t need to make any changes. They are great! They are living a wonderful life. No changes to be made – nothing to see, move on.
I heard a wonderful sermon recently at Mass where our pastor said, “Sometimes we get comfortable in our sin and we don’t think it is bad – or that bad, in fact sometimes we don’t even recognize it as sin! We go along cloaked in sin, comfortably wrapped!”
Wow – food for thought but he went on.
There are consequences of sin! And know this we should change, right? We want to live a life that is free of guilt or misgivings. A life that is happy and successful in the belief that we are living a righteous life.
God has a perfect will for us but we often spurn God’s will to find our more “perfect will.” We want to do things our way. Our first parents who were created out of nothing by the hand of God and given the perfect place to live turned their backs on God and sinned. Decisions and choices have consequences and our rebellion causes this – not God, but for us. People often blame God for their problems but the real person is us. Sin causes a breakdown in a relationship and the breakdown is between us and our creator. But there is good news!
We can restore our relationship by asking for forgiveness – just as a good parent who punishes a child to ensure that this child does not continue to sin, God’s justice means punishment for sin. Jesus took on our sins on the cross to free us from sin and this is the beginning (asking forgiveness) of our restoration.
As we look at the new year it is like a new beginning~ we look at the answer Jesus gave the scribe when he asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus said (Matthew 22) – “You shall love the Lord your God with your heart and all your soul and all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And as second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
What hope! What joy! WE can go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness from all the ways we have turned away from Him, for rejecting Him and because of all the bad decisions we have made that caused us to sin and to harm ourselves. Even if we have done so without knowing! Secondly, we can move forward by depending on God’s love and His promises. To be with us always. We don’t have to do it alone. We have an arsenal of tools!
Faith Journey Tools
- We have God’s love. The Holy Spirit to guide us, ask Him into your heart (repentance first and a promise to change!)
- We have prayer – talking to God. (We do this at the end of each podcast.)
- We have quiet before the Lord – listening.
- We have the Word of God – in the Bible.
- We have the thanksgiving – praising God each day.
So what is it going to be? Will you trust God this year that He has the best in store for you? Will you trust that His will your faith journey be on that least traveled road that leads to heaven or that wide highway to that other place?
Let’s pray for a journey that is protected by Almighty God with an abundance of Grace.
Dear Lord, I thank you first for the gift of faith. Without this gift, I would be nothing. I have no worry about the future because I know that you are with me. I ask for the outpouring of your Holy Spirit and an abundance of grace to carry me through the day. I can’t wait to see what is in store for me this coming year as I grow closer to You, as you reveal your truth to me, as I see your hand in my life. Thank you, my God, for all of this and I ask for the following prayers: God I know you have my needs and my wants in Your precious hands and I thank you for this, and I pray all of this in your Name, Jesus, Amen.
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