Sacred Holidays: A Devotional Leading Up To New Year'sSýnishorn

DAY FIVE:  

Yesterday we committed to a goal (or a word), and our very first step toward doing it. If you still aren’t certain about your word or goal, that’s OK. Keep moving through this plan and the Lord will show you, or simply choose something and be open to Him evolving it as you go. 

Read Philippians 3:12-14 and note the attitude we should have as we move on through our goal and word for the year. 

Here, Paul is speaking about the resurrection and being called heavenward, where all believers will one day spend forever with Jesus. That’s Paul’s goal—finally enjoyed the resurrection with Christ! But he hasn’t made it there; he hasn’t made it toward his goal. Sometimes in our goals, though they aren’t anywhere near as important as the resurrection, we haven’t made it yet there either and that’s okay.

Paul shows us a perseverant attitude as he “presses on” toward his goal of being with Christ in the resurrection. How does he “press on”? By forgetting the past. Nothing in the past is as wonderful as the future he has with Christ! The same goes for us. As we move toward our own goals, we learn from Paul’s attitude and example. We forget the things that held us back before, and we press on. 

This can feel scary, can’t it? There can be comfort in doing things the way we’ve always done them. It’s why we look back and want what we had even if we weren’t really happy with what we had before. The Israelites know this so well. They’d been enslaved for 400 years and their first taste of struggle in their freedom and they were begging to go back, believing slavery to be easier than freedom. 

Here we find them 40 years into their freedom, their days of wandering through the wilderness are ending and they are about to step into the promised land… finally. 

Read Deuteronomy 31:6 and hear the charge Moses gave Joshua before He lead the Israelites into their promised land. 

I’m not a big fan of our new culture of constant cheering on women to be big, brave, powerful, wild, etc. I think we are throwing out a lot of fluffy words that feel so good in the moment. Who doesn’t want to hear those things? But they don’t hold up to reality. We can’t be brave just to muster up brave. 

But God said we can move forward in bravery without fear because He is with us. The pressure isn’t on us to be brave, all we do is take the next step—God’s strength does it through us! 

Read 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 and note what all God can do. 

This passage is a personal favorite. It tells us that we can’t, but God totally can. We can come to Him weak—in fact, His power is perfect through our weakness. The pressure is off, my friend! So we know that He can use anything—“weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecution, and calamities” to bring about his will for our lives.

We can’t, but God can. So let’s take our first steps into this new year strong, courageous, and brave because God is with us!

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