It’s a new year – and a new decade! 2020 is here and you’ve probably decided that you’re going to make some changes to make your life better. Maybe you’re going to eat healthier or exercise more. Maybe you’ve decided to read a challenging book or even take lessons to learn a new skill.
Just like most of you recognize that to have a healthy physical body, you need to exercise, eat nutritious food and get proper rest. You also need to see that to be healthy spiritually, you need to follow certain principles. Immediately, you’re probably thinking that you need to pray, read the Bible or go to church more. These are great things to do! But I would encourage you to take things further and start to work out more – spiritually speaking.
You may be wondering how to do this. Just take principles that you’ve learned and start applying them to your everyday life. Start small. For example, maybe you’ve been hurt by someone. Every time you see this person, your stomach sinks and you relive what has been said or done to you that has caused so much pain. You know that you’re supposed to love your enemies, but you just can’t seem to make progress in this area. My suggestion to you would be to start by praying for the one who has hurt you. After praying for the person on a regular basis, they won’t be an enemy for long. Trust me. Something will happen in your heart and you’ll start to feel those chains of hurt and unforgiveness fall off you. The final result will be that you’ll be a more Christ-like person. That’s the desired result. Some of you have given up your pursuit to change – you’ve tried so hard in the past to change and you feel you’ve failed miserably.
But there is hope for everyone! God has impressed upon my heart that there is absolutely no reason why He can’t use ordinary people like you to do extraordinary things this year!
There are no rejects in God’s Kingdom. No write-offs. No cast aways.
1 Corinthians 1 says:
26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
With God’s strength and help, you can accomplish great things in 2020!
Happy New Year!