Direction For 2010

At the beginning of this year I decided to take the first 21 days and commit them to seeking the Lord’s direction for the beginning of 2010. I was resting from ministry work and spent more quality time with my family. Of course I also reflected on 2009 and all that our Lord had done in me, through me, and in my friends and family. The past couple of years have been full of change and restructuring in my finances, friendships, and ministry partners. I have seen the Lord making my crooked paths straight and leading me the way that HE WANTS me to go. Every day I realize that I am far from perfection but in the words of the Apostle Paul,

“I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:12-14)

In 2009 many of us saw wonderful break throughs and victories but now it is time to keep pressing forward to what lies ahead. We should not be living on the accomplishments and victories of 2009. This is a new year with brand new opportunties to help the helpless, to extend mercy, grace, and forgiveness, to love the unlovable, and to share the Good News that Jesus loves us and died for our sins. There WILL BE be new tests, struggles, and trials that we will have to overcome not by our own might, but by the Spirit of the Lord who will strengthen us, sustain us, and move us according to His will. (Zechariah 4:6, Philippians 4:13)

2010 is a new year full of new hope and expectation. We don’t have to look back or dwell o all the mistakes of 2009. It’s a new season! The old has gone and new things are coming. We should be excited knowing that our Lord has wonderful plans for each of us! We should be excited knowing without a shadow of a doubt that HE IS working everything out for our good! We should be excited as we watch how the Lord brings restoration, deliverance, and expansion of territory in our lives! (Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28)

The Word that the Lord has placed on my heart since the end of 2009 for 2010 is Matthew 6:33

“But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.”

But truly this is not a Word for 2010. It is a Word for every day of our life. He wants us to seek Him first and His way of doing things, then everything else that we are worried about will be taken care of. He put it simply to me a couple of years ago. The Spirit of the Lord said to me, “Lisa, you take care of My business and I will take care of your business”. He has been faithful to keep His promise to me. I have seen Him constantly working everything out in my life for the good of our family. There is nothing that comes against me that I really need to fear because I KNOW that I am in His hands and He cares for me. All my fear and doubts are no more because I KNOW that HE IS in control. When I truly began to put my focus on seeking Him and what He wanted me to do on a daily basis, instead of doing what I thought was right do in my own eyes, my life was transformed.

Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”

I remember being on that path. That path is the broad road that Jesus said many take which leads to hell. (Matthew 7:13-14) Doing things our own way, being lead by our fickle and selfish emotions, and submitting to our sin-ful desires leads to destruction and turmoil in our lives as well as those around us. Our way is not the right way. If we want to know which way God wants us to go then we must seek the One who is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. Jesus is the Way. His way is found in the Word of God, the Holy Bible. It will be the lamp to our feet and a light for our path in this dark world.

I pray that each of us would committ to seeking God’s way and will for our life everyday of 2010 and for whatever remaining years we have left here before Jesus Christ comes back for His Church.

Blessings to you all in Christ Jesus name,