Tag Archives: New Year

Something New

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lets-try-something-new-daytobeyou-com1The Bible always tell us that God is doing something new. Something big.  Something that we probably won’t be able to even understand.

That’s what God does.  He always does something huge.

And so, as we stand, one foot in this new year, what new and big thing does He want to do in your life?  What resolution have you started, that day two into it, you are already a little wishy-wash on? What life changing thing do God want to start right now, this instant, this moment?  God is wanting to do something big.  Listen to the words that were said by John the Baptist when he saw Jesus for the first time in John 1:29-30:

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’

The Lamb of God that takes away the sins the world.  Takes away the sins of the world. Takes away the sins the world.

That is what God longs to do, not just for me and for you, but for the entire world.  Take away our sins. Start over. Start fresh. Begin again.  Begin a new.

God wants to take away your sins.  Do you really grasp that?  In a world that remembers and holds onto and lets go, never  forgives, God wants to take away your sins.  And the sins of the world.

What is that something new that you can start in this new year?  How about this?  Let go.  Let go.

Let Him do what He wants to do.  Let Him take away your sins.  Let Him let you start over.

Let’s try that

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phone

A Prayer for the New Year

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john-wesley-1Yesterday I shared with you a prayer from Rev. Billy Graham for New Year’s Eve. Today, I’d like to share a prayer with you from another of my spiritual heroes, John Wesley. While Wesley didn’t write this prayer, he did use it, and encouraged others to use it as a prayer and a covenant to begin each New Year.

It’s a prayer that I dearly love, and one that I try to read again, at the beginning of each New Year, as a reminder of what really counts and is important.

Please join me this year, in doing our very best to give all that we are, each day, the Gracious Lover of our Souls.

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

My this covenant prayer be our desire each new day.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phone

Words for a New Year

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I write this on January 2, 2012. There’s no telling when you will read this, it may today, or it may six months from now. Who knows. But no matter when you read it, this passage is a powerful call to a great New Year’s resolution, a great daily resolution, a great goal for each day.

Love. That’s the call of Christianity, that’s the command of Jesus Christ to His followers. Listent to what Jesus says in John 15:12-13:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

In this passage, it isn’t too much longer until He would be betrayed and handed it over for the cross. He wanted to leave His follower with a clear and concise understanding of what He wanted from them.

He could have said go out there and strive to be perfect with everything you are. He could have said be the more religious person you can think of. He could have given a variety of different commands.

He didn’t. He said this – Love.

But that was always His commandment. What was His greatest commandement for us? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.

Love. That’s our command as Christians. And that’s a great resolution for us in 2012, and each day of our lives. To love God with all that we are. And to love each other.

Today, will you love? Even the ones that are hard to love? Even the one’s that don’t make it easy to love? Even the ones that create a challenge to love?

That’s Jesus’ command for us today. And in doing that, we will show the world that we are His disciples. Today, may we follow His command.

Today, may we love.