New Year New Resolve

Just thinking as we are about to embark upon a new year, about the great comfort it is to know that God is always near, always with us. Jeremiah 23:23-24 reminds us that because He is omnipresent He is everywhere, all at once, as He is. That is, God in all His might and beauty and perfections is a constant companion through all the paths our lives may take. He is all knowing, all mighty, all merciful. All that He is as God is in all places, all the time. This can be a great comfort to us who follow Jesus Christ. In all the good times this new year may afford us, as well as the difficulties and challenges that will certainly come, we are strengthened by knowing that there is nothing of which He is not aware. That includes the past, present and future. He can bless, make right, deliver and carry us through whatever the new year holds for us in the greatness of His eternal purpose. His purpose for our lives flows into His purpose for all life.
  Because He knows all about the things that concern us we can approach Him with great confidence in prayer and worship.  As Psalm 139 explains, He knows our innermost thoughts, our day to day experiences, our words and thoughts, His care is upon us constantly. By faith we appropriate His promises and follow His activity in our lives, since there is no place from which we can't call on Him and have access to Him because of Christ Jesus. So as we look back and sum up the past year, and look ahead by faith into the new year, may we be reminded of the comfort we have of knowing that our Great Shepherd is always nearby and quite able to do more than we can ask,  think, or imagine.
   

Face The Times Of Turmoil

In Habakkuk 1:12-13 the prophet voices his faith that although God is everlasting and holy and to pure to look at evil, yet He is in control of all things, even calamities. This is a good lesson for us in our time, when there is so much unrest and trouble all around us. God isn't the author of evil or calamities, but He is in control of them and in His eternal character and holy purpose will use difficult circumstances to correct us and turn us back to His way. He doesn't approve of the evil, for He will soon judge all evil, but He will in His sovereignty use troublesome times to purify His people and to accomplish a very specific purpose for each of us individually.  In light of ISIL, the poor economic times, and the lack of leadership in our nation, we would do well to remember that God is in control and perhaps desires His church to repent of our own ways, and lift our voice for truth and righteousness found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.