by Pastor Cecil | Jan 2, 2009 | Micah
Micah 6:6-8
“With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
As we stand on the cusp of 2009, many people across the world will be making resolutions. The problem with making resolutions is that they seldom last much longer than the time it takes to make them.
I received an e-mail message from my dear friend, Kenny McClinton, who lives in Northern Ireland. He had the most remarkable suggestion that I intend to follow for the coming year. I am including Kenny’s comments:
“I’m convinced more and more that what we need are not our own New Year’s ‘Resolutions’, but New Year ‘Revelations’ from God. It’s not about us. It’s about Him. Instead of pronouncing our own resolutions, let’s ask Him what He has to reveal to us this year. What do you have for me this year, Lord? In what ways will you restore life in me? What purpose will you draw out of my heart? What fires will you stoke?”
Wow! What a wonderful direction for 2009!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 1, 2009 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:16-18
“From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”
Do you ever feel like you would like to have a new start? Perhaps you have made some foolish choices and find yourself in a real quandary. Regardless of your own actions or those of others, you feel that you would just like to begin again.
Years ago I was working for the Idaho Law Enforcement Planning Commission. We had a custodian who was on work release from the Idaho State Penitentiary. He was in my office one day and asked if I may be able to help him.
As we talked he told me a story of failure and pain that stretched back across the years of his life. Virgil was in his sixties and told me that he had been in and out of prison for all of his adult life.
He asked if I might speak in his behalf to the Parole Board. I had witnessed to him about the Lord and there was some indication that he had accepted the Lord. Still I asked him why he thought he would be able to stay out of prison this time since he had previously failed so many times.
He stunned me with this statement: “I have reached the age that if I ever come back, I will die in prison and I don’t want to die inside the prison walls.”
I agreed to speak in his behalf and he was paroled and continued working for our agency. It was only a few months later that Virgil failed to report for work. When I checked on him I was told that he had died suddenly. His wish to not die in prison had come to pass. My wish is that his heart was truly right with God.
How can we insure a new life in Christ and to have our name written in the Lamb’s book of life? In John 3:7, Jesus told Nicodemus that it was necessary to be born again. That is accomplished by confessing that we are sinners and that only Christ can cleanse us and make us fit for heaven. It is not in being as good as possible, but rather humbly bowing before Him and inviting Him into our life.
I think it is safe to say that many who are “born again Christians” live a life that is far from God’s standard. At the beginning of the year 2009 it is an excellent time to make a new commitment to live our life for Christ. World events strongly point to the soon return of Christ. I pray that we may live for Him with all that is in us from this day forward.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
— Pastor Cecil
