Please take time to muse over the following Scriptural thoughts as you prepare for 2022—no matter what our Sovereign Lord allows this year.
“Sovereign LORD, You have begun to show to your servant [Moses is speaking] Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do?”
– Deuteronomy 3:24 NIV
Thought #1
Until the pain of staying the same becomes more acute than the pain of change, nothing happens.
We can simply maintain the status quo. And we convince ourselves that ‘playing it safe’ is the safest route.
“David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” 18 So the three broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD. 19 God forbid that I should do this!” he said. “Should I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives?” Because they risked their lives to bring it back, David would not drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty warriors”
– 1 Chronicles 11:17-19 NIV
The greatest risk is taking no risks at all.
Thought #2
Faith is the willingness to look foolish. And the results speak for themselves.
• Noah survived the Great Worldwide Flood – Genesis 9:18ff
• Sarah gave birth to Isaac – Genesis 21:1ff
• David defeated Goliath – 1 Samuel 17
• Benaiah killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day – 2 Samuel 23:20-23
• Two years after Christ’s birth the wise men found the Messiah – Matthew 2:1-12
• Peter walked on water – Matthew 14:29
You know why some of us have never killed a giant, chased a lion, or walked on water? We are afraid of looking foolish.
It’s the fear of looking foolish that is foolish!
Thought #3
I frame the third thought in the form of a question:
What specific cause are you pursuing for the reputation of the Lord God and Jesus Christ?
“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses” – 1 Timothy 6:12 NIV
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”
– 2 Timothy 4:7 NIV
What are you fighting for?
Thought #4
Go, Set, Ready.
I have inverted the old axiom, “Ready, set, go,” because if you wait until you are ready, you’ll be waiting until the day you die! I think that at the end of our lives, our greatest regrets won’t be the mistakes we made. It will be the opportunities we left on the table.
13 The sluggard says, “There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public square. “…A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets” …The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion!” –
Proverbs 22:13, 26:13; 28:1 NIV
Seize God Ordained Opportunities
Thought #5
God can and will turn our “if only” regrets into
“what if?” possibilities!
Most of us will not bat a 1,000 this coming year. God wants to do so much more than forgive our sins. He wants to leverage our past, present, and future regrets for His eternal purposes. (Please look to one of my past teachings titled, “Leverage Your Regrets.”
“He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” – 2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT
Repentance is a restraining order against regret.
Hey, you all, we are in this together!
In Christ,
Dale