Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

It is a brand new year, a brand new day, a brand new start. 

Everyone is considering how and what they will change. People see the new year as a clean, fresh start and a chance to make things right.

David, the psalmist understood that very thing.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. (Psalms 51:10, 12 NASB)

Only instead of seeking to change himself he sought the help of God. His resolutions were:

1. To have God create for him a clean heart.

2. To have God renew a STEADFAST (dedicated, devoted) spirit in him.

3. To have God restore the Joy he had at his salvation.

4. To have God sustain (nourish) me with a willing spirit.

David had 4 wonderful resolutions. I cannot imagine any better than his.

People have a tendency to resolve to be more healthy, to seek happiness, to save money for prosperity, to be a better husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, worker, etc. but the word of God says, But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33 NASB)

I think I will try to think like David. 

I am asking God to make in me a clean heart. Get rid of my cold, hard heart. Make for me something new, pliant and soft, something that yields to Him and His desires for me.

I am asking God to renew my spirit with a devotion to seek Him and His will for my life.

I am begging God to restore to me the earnest Joy and zeal that I had on that day when I was made a new creation through immersion into Christ. When ALL of my sin was washed away and I was resurrected a new being filled with His Holy Spirit.

And I am trusting Him to nourish me through His word and through My Christian friends to hold fast to a spirit that is willing to be used for and by Him to further His Kingdom here on earth.

I am excited!

These are big statements. I desire to be pleasing to God. I know from past experience that He will take care of me.

And I know that if I fail, if my resolve should falter, if I sin, God is quick to forgive me if I am repentant.

The Lord ' s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22, 23 NASB)

And God makes new things too. He says He will do this for His chosen:

"Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19 NASB)

Get ready for it. God is going to be making roads through your wilderness. No more will you be stumbling and bumping along. And no more wondering if you are lost or going the right way. He is building roads for you.

AND He is making rivers in your desert. He may not remove you from the dry, hot, dusty place, but He will bring you rivers! He is not saying an oasis, he is saying moving, flowing rivers, that will refresh you and sustain you as you go through that desert as long as you stay close to the River.

Would you consider making this your resolution for the year?

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. (Psalms 51:10, 12 NASB)