How To Begin the New Year; Psalm 139:23-24
It’s hard to believe that another year has past. The saying, “the older we get the faster time goes by,” is becoming a definite reality in my life. I truly understand James 4:14 which says, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” I am amazed at how quickly the year has gone. It’s the beginning of a new year and it’s time to reflect on our lives and make resolutions to make certain changes in our lives.
Can you guess what the #1 resolution is every year? The #1 resolution is to loose weight, yet by the end of the most people haven’t lost weight they have actually gained weight. Most people make some pretty good resolutions but have little resolve; they make big resolutions but have little will power. It is my hope that this year’s resolutions will remember Christ and our personal relationship and worship with Him.
This morning I want to focus upon some new year’s resolutions that each of should consider for ourselves, but before we delve into our topic, I thought you might enjoy a few stories of failed resolutions:
A story is told that At the beginning of a new year, a high school principal decided to post his teachers’ new year’s resolutions on the bulletin board. As the teachers gathered around the bulletin board, a great commotion started. One of the teachers was complaining. "Why weren’t my resolutions posted?" She was throwing such a temper tantrum that the principal hurried to his office to see if he had overlooked her resolutions. Sure enough, he had mislaid them on his desk. As he read her resolutions he was astounded. This teacher’s first resolution was not to let little things upset her in the New Year.
Or how bout this one…A son called his parents to wish them a happy new year and when his Dad answered the phone, He asked his dad,” well Dad, what’s your new year’s resolution? His dad replied, To make "To make your mother as happy as I can all year," When his mom got on the phone he asked. her the same question. His mom replied my resolution is "To see that your dad keeps his New Year’s resolution."
Or some of you may have given up on resolutions taking the same attitude as the characters in the cartoon Calvin and Hobbes:
The cartoon character Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes once said, “God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I’m so far behind I’ll never die.”
Regardless of past successes or failures… I want you to give a new year resolution one more try but this time realize that keeping this promise is a team effort. Invite the Holy Spirit to join you this year…
The disciples were faced with a new day. Their master Jesus had died. Their hopes were crushed. Their dreams shattered. As per Jesus instructions, they assembled in an upper room knowing what needed to be done but lacking both the power and the desire to carry it out. It was here in their doubt that the Holy Spirit entered the picture.
Turn with to Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 1. The Holy Spirit powerfully entered their lives and they became bold preachers of the Gospel.
Jesus spoke of this same Holy Spirit in John chapter 14 verse 26 when he said: But when the father sends the Counselor as my representative- and by the counselor I mean the Holy Spirit- He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I myself have told you.
As we contemplate a new year’s resolution, we must do so realizing that we can not be successful in keeping it apart from God. John 15:5 b says… Apart from me you can do nothing.
The New Year is upon us, and we look forward to another year filled with opportunities. To make the best use of the opportunities that God gives us is we must be sure that our hearts are right before Him.
In 1 Sam. 13:14, David is described as being a man after God’s own heart. That means that he was a man who desired to know and do the will of God. In these two verses, David asks God to do three things in his life and I believe if we would sincerely ask God to do the same things in our lives. We might also be considered as a person who seeks after God’s heart.
I. "Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart..."
The heart is the center of our life.
B. (Prov 4:23) "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."
C. (1 Sam 16:7) "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."
D. David asks God to search him and see what is in his heart.
1. God already knew what was in his heart.
2. David asks God to reveal it to him. Jeremiah 17:9
3. That God would make him conscious of any wrong desires or motives that might hinder the blessings of God upon his life.
E. We ought to do the same.
1. We should ask God to look into the very center of our lives.
2. And ask that He reveal to us anything in our hearts that might prevent us from being what we need to be in this coming year.
II. "...Try Me, And Know My Thoughts..."
A. Next David asks God to literally put him to the test.
1. Much the same as we test and prove metals to evaluate their purity.
2. Gold is heated time and again to bring all the impurities to the surface where they can be removed.
3. That is what David is asking God to do.
(1 PET 1:7) "THAT THE TRIAL OF YOUR FAITH, BEING MUCH MORE PRECIOUS THAN OF GOLD THAT PERISHETH, THOUGH IT BE TRIED WITH FIRE, MIGHT BE FOUND UNTO PRAISE AND HONOUR AND GLORY AT THE APPEARING OF JESUS CHRIST:"
B. David prayed that God might know his very thoughts.
1. Read his mind.
2. When David said, "See if there be any wicked way in me."
3. He wasn’t challenging God to try to find an area of wickedness; he was asking God to show them to him that he might confess and repent before God.
III. "...Lead Me in the Way Everlasting."
A. David asks God for direction and guideance.
(PROV 14:12) "THERE IS A WAY WHICH SEEMETH RIGHT UNTO A MAN, BUT THE END THEREOF ARE THE WAYS OF DEATH."
B. If we want to be used of God...want to have a heart after God...we must seek Him.
1. That means we must admit that we need His direction in our lives.
2. We must be willing to follow His leadership.
3. He has given us a Guide.
(JOHN 16:13) "HOWBEIT WHEN HE, THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, IS COME, HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH: FOR HE SHALL NOT SPEAK OF HIMSELF; BUT WHATSOEVER HE SHALL HEAR, THAT SHALL HE SPEAK: AND HE WILL SHOW YOU THINGS TO COME."
Conclusion: The choice is ours. Do we want to have the blessings of God upon our lives in this new year? We need to be people who have a heart for God.
Search Me....Try Me.....Lead Me....
Thanks to other contributers
