A Fruity New Year!

There’s been a lot of chatter around last week’s sermon.  

·      “So what fruit should I focus on?”

·      “I think it’s peace but I really need to work on patience.”

·      “I asked my closest people and they said the fruit I should focus on is self-control. What do you think?”

The conversations have been fun and powerful and altogether of God!

If you have no idea what I am talking about take a listen to last week’s sermon here.In it I asked the question:  What does God think is possible for you in the New Year? 

And here is the answer:

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22

God thinks that these things are POSSIBLE for you. The reason God thinks these are possible is because they are the Fruit of The Spirit.  

Do you know that means? 

 Very simply, it means that as we walk with Jesus daily, He can produce this kind of fruit in our lives. Jesus promised that!  As we abide and stay connected in Jesus, something powerful happens!

So here’s the challenge.

 If, for the whole of 2020 you were to focus on just one Fruit of the Spirit (because let’s face it the list of nine is overwhelming) which would it be for you? 

God thinks it is possible for you.  Do you?

Happy New Year in the midst of uncertain times.

Happy New Year! Really? Have you read the news? 

“Happy New Year!”  

“What’s your New Year’s Resolution?”

“Hope for a brand new year!”

 Ok, ok. Yes, but have you read the news?

There is anxiety in the air. There is a lack of confidence and clarity about the future. Turn on the news, and within a few minutes you are left with feelings of fear and uncertainty.

Life is uncertain.

We may have hopes and expectations for the new year, but there is such uncertainly about all of it – our world, climate change, finances, relationships!

While clearing out his immense library, my dear friend and mentor gave me his copy of the 1935 classic devotional called “My Utmost for His Highest.”I treasure it because it came from him.  As I flipped through the old, yellowed pages this is what the author, Oswald Chambers wrote in one of his entries: 

“Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life, gracious uncertaintyis the mark of the spiritual life.”

He goes on to suggest that the nature of a spiritual life is that we can be certain in our uncertainty. We are certain in God, and God alone.

I love that.  In the midst of life’s uncertainties, we can be certain of one thing and that is the unchanging Love of God! Furthermore it is God, and God alone, who can give us the strength and the wisdom we need to meet its challenges. 

That theme permeates throughout Scripture, doesn’t it?

Take a look at Psalm 23 again. While life is filled with enemies and the valley of the shadow, God overwhelms them all, and God’s people find comfort and assurance in God. 

We are assured that God will never leave us or abandon us. (Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5)

Jesus reassured his disciples that he would not abandon them. (John 14:18-20)

Paul declares: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen (what is certain), but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

What is his bottom line? Turn the page (in my Bible anyway) and in 2 Corinthians 5:7 he says, “For we live by faith, not by sight.”

Chambers said that the fact that we don’t know what a day will bring is often said with a sigh of sadness, but that for the Christian it should be “an expression of breathless anticipation.”

What is God going to do today? This year? Surprise is God’s gift to you.

Chambers concluded: 

 “We are not uncertain of God, but uncertain of what He is going to do next. If we are only certain in our beliefs, we get dignified and severe and have the bane of finality about our views; but when we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.”

That is my prayer for you for 2020. Uncertainty is inevitable, but we are responsible with how we respond. I pray that your life will be so aligned with God that 2020 is a year of gracious uncertainty.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  

One of the things my family (and our friends who gather with us on New Year’s Eve) have come to expect and sometimes dread is the time I call “Year in Review.” So here is what I do. At some point on New Year’s Eve, usually after midnight, we gather in a comfortable space. Then I usually ask the questions: “When was God most present to you this past year?” and “What will this new year bring?”

Every year, (this year was no exception) I get the same response – initially a lot of groaning and rolling of eyes, and that’s from my friends.  I won’t tell you what my family says. But I push through and soon we are going around the room praising God and dreaming about how God will use us in this year to come. By doing this annual ritual we set goals and we become accountable to one another.  I love it and, whether they admit it or not, my family and friends love it too. What an amazing way to start the year – with the sense of being heard and encouraged, and being accountable. It makes running the race and getting to the finish line that much more rewarding.

So let me ask you …

When did you see God at work in your life in 2019?  Thank Him, Praise Him for how God has carried you through yet another year.

How will you allow God to use you this year? What does God want you to do for Him, for others and for yourself in 2020? What will it look like? 

One thing I know for sure is that God wants amazing things for you.  You are a child of God and God loves you. We are reminded of this truth in scripture. Check these out. Matthew 6:30, John 3:16-18, Deuteronomy 23:5, Revelation 1:6

Probably one of my favourite verses is found in Jeremiah 29.  Verse 11 says:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

That is the kind of God that we have – a God who wants to love you, to protect you, to cherish you, and to prosper you. All we need to do is to be open to it. All we need to do is respond to God’s love to us by being faithful and obedient.  All we need to do is love God back.

I am excited by all that God has in store for each of us in 2020!!  May this New Year be a year of Praising God!

To God be the Glory for the things He has done … and the things He will do.

May I take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very Blessed New Year. May your vision of what God would have you do be 20/20!