I recently was looking over this post about not making new year resolutions. I am still a firm believer in this. I do think my one resolution from last year I did complete, which was to blog more. 2010 was much more of a blogging year than 2009. I think I really like the whole blog thing! So in the post I referred too I wrote about having a theme verse for the year. Last year was Matthew 6:33 which was so good for me. I really think the Lord taught me so much about putting God first and seeking Him alone. This past year was a year of the Lord showing me my idols and how much my idols cause me to miss out on knowing Him. It is a continual fight to seek the Lord first before all things, but I also see the blessings of what happens when we do put Him first. As I prayed and journaled at the beginning of this year I decided on a new theme verse for my year. So for 2011 I am going to unpack and meditate on Lamentation 3:21-23 "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion' says my soul, therefore I will hope in him." I really love this passage of scripture and I desperately need to focus on this promise in my life. I want to write a whole post at a later date on why I have chosen this verse to be my verse for the year.
I am starting something new this year that I have wanted to do for a looooonngg time! This year is the year that I am reading through the whole bible! I have never done that, but always wanted to. Last spring a friend gave me the M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan but I really wanted to wait until a fresh year when I could start on track to begin doing this. I kept the plan in my bible so I wouldn't forget. when Jan 1 came I was so excited to begin, but I have to admit it's only Jan 12 and this is really hard! Man it's alot of reading and you can't even skip a date. I already skipped 2 days and boy did I have to do a lot of reading to catch up. Not sure how this year is going to go with it, but I really want to try to do this! It has already been so good for me to be held accountable to being in God's word everyday. Right now I am reading in Genesis,Nehemiah, Matthew, and Acts and I am loving these books!! I just finished reading Ezra. I have decided to pick one verse from every book to memorize. For Ezra I picked Ezra 8:22B "The hand of of God is for good on all who seek Him And the power of his wrath is against all who forsake Him" I am also doing Ezra 7:28 "I took courage for the hand of the Lord my God was on me".
I loved how the theme of this book felt like it was about God's hand being on Ezra and him succeeding because God's hand was on him. It was such a good reminder for that God's hand is on me. I don't have to fear, because He is with me and He blesses those who seek Him. This week I have tried to visualize the hand of the Lord on my shoulder steering me as I struggle through some stressful situation and feel defeated in my sin. He is with me and He is for me. I want that to sink in. God's word is so powerful. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to spend several hours with an elderly man in my parents neighborhood. As we talked all about the Lord and he shared story after story of God's work in his life he got up at one point went into his kitchen and brought back a manual to his refrigerator. I kind of thought that was strange, but he handed it to me and said "Bethany, just like this manual tells me all about how to work my refrigerator, the word of God is your manual to living a life for Christ. It tells you how to do it and what is expected. You need the bible as a manuel for your life and to never forget that you need God's word in your life." It was a silly little analogy, but it has stuck with me. This man is now in Heaven singing with Jesus! I want God's word to penetrate my heart in the way that I saw it penetrate His. So here's to a year of reading every page of the word of God!
P.S. I finally got the Christmas music off my playlist and added a new song. A friend introduced me to it yesterday and I am loving it!! You should listen to it. It is such great words.
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