Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: New Year 2017
Ps 100:1-5
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Phil 4:4-7
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
As we enter the new year of 2017, let us rejoice and give thanks to the Lord for all the blessings he has given and for his goodness. It is such a joy to be his child and to have so many fellow Christians who care for us and share his peace.
It is so easy to focus on our problems (and we all have them in various degrees) instead of seeing how good our lives actually are today. (To be sure, there are some who are hurting deeply and some who are struggling to keep their faith and commitment to the Lord.) This is not to minimize this at all but to help us focus on the grace of God. No matter what we are facing, God is with us and he is cares about us. He will give us his grace which is sufficient to carry us through another year – should we live that long. The other part of focusing on God and his forever presence in our lives is that we realize that should we leave this life, we are better off than the best we have here. In fact, that is our purpose in living.
Heavenly Father, thank you for all you did for me in 2016. Thank you for my family that has brought so much joy to me in so many ways. Thank you for my spiritual family and all the help and encouragement they have given to me. Thank you for your strength to overcome things that would draw me away from you and for your forgiveness when I have failed to be all you want me to be. I offer my praise to you for this country in which I live. Thank you for the freedoms that abound and the opportunities these give me to serve you by serving those around me. As I see the technology that overwhelms my mind but is all around, I thank you for making it available to me. Your majesty and your awesome power is beyond my ability to comprehend and fills me with reverent fear. Your love and your grace shown in Jesus Christ also transcends my comprehension but gives me reason to overflow with praise and love for you in return. I praise you in Jesus name.
Robert
