Wednesday January 11, 2023

Today is Wednesday, January 11 and we are seeking what God has next for us in the new year.

As I approach this quiet time alone with God, I slow my breathing and focus my whole being on His loving presence. I pause to silence the clutter of my rambling thoughts and still the discord of my spirit.

Pause and Pray

Come Holy Lord, reveal whatever You have next for me in this new year. I surrender myself to Your pleasing and perfect will, trusting in the knowledge that You continue to work all things together for good in me. Guide and equip me to fulfill Your desires, purposes and plans. Amen.

I lift my heart in praise to God and rejoice with the words of Psalm 40.

Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:5

Pause and Pray

Discernment is an essential tool of the mature Christian. God promises to give us the ability to discern right and wrong, good from evil, the best path vs. the worst path, what is of God and what is not of God. As part of sanctifying grace, my ability to discern grows, I gain a holy understanding and can make wiser decisions about the future. In his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul expresses his thankfulness and joy for these believers and assures them that God is not finished with them yet, but will continue to work for good in them and increase their holiness.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:3-6, 9-11

Paul is thankful for these Christian converts in ancient Philippi and joyfully prays for them. I imagine Paul’s words to the Philippians addressed to me. God is the one who initiated my relationship with Him. God found me, claimed me and called me to His side. God began a good work in me and as Paul reminds me, I can be confident that God will continue that work until I am complete and mature. My spiritual journey may sometimes seem like I am taking two steps forward and one step back, but I make progress because ultimately it is not up to me. God is the one working for good in me. Thank God! Because of grace I continue to grow in love, knowledge, insight, wisdom and discernment. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, I am in the process of being purified, kept blameless and filled with the fruit of righteousness.

Ask: How am I cooperating (and not cooperating) with God’s work of sanctifying grace in me? What changes can I make in the new year to be more open to the inner work God wants to carry out?

Pause and Pray

Holy and loving God, thank you for the good work you began in me years ago. I am grateful that you have not left me to rely on my own devices but remind me that you are not finished with me yet. Although I have made progress in the spiritual life, I am profoundly aware that I still have very far to go. I commit myself to your guidance and yield to your leadership in this upcoming year. I read the words from Philippians again and listen for the message you have for me.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:3-6, 9-11

Ask: What image, word or phrase stands out to me when I slowly read this passage? What is God trying to say to me through these words of scripture?

Pause and Pray

I ruminate on these words of scripture and consider how God might want to guide my journey. I consider which words resonate most with the current state of my soul. Words like knowledge, insight, and discern or words like pure, blameless, and righteous. Perhaps I am confident God is continuing to work for good in me or maybe I have begun to realize I am struggling on my own to make spiritual progress. Maybe God wants to renew my confidence in His power of sanctifying grace and His ability to produce abundant fruit through me this next year.

Pause and Pray

Holy Lord, I am helpless to make spiritual progress on my own and I turn to You in poverty of spirit Asking for Your merciful grace. I invite You to come and reveal the obstacles preventing my maturity and the resistance impeding the work of sanctification. I surrender myself – body, mind and soul to Your lordship and submit myself to Your perfect will. Amen.

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified. 1 Thessalonians 4:3a

I leave this time of prayer seeking to live a life of holiness and striving to do all the good in the world I can possibly do.

Amen