I hate New Year's resolutions, how about you? But December 31st is almost here.In AA we always called New Years Eve "amateur night." In the early 80's I used to participate in the Alk-a-thons (24 hours of meetings) that were held at an old train station near New Haven. That is how "we" used to stay sober on the last of the holidays in something we referred to as the Bermuda Triangle - Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. It is a tough time to abstain - especially if you are addicted.
There were always a few guys there trying to make another 24 hours. Over the past 30 years, I attended them at various other places. One year I even did close-up magic, making lit cigarettes disappear, changing a $1 bill into a $100 bill, and doing card tricks.
I confess, the last few years my wife and I went to bed at the same time as usual; waking up to news reports of the celebrations around the world while we slept and the usual hang over cures.
I have long since given up on resolving to end or start a new routine in my life on December 31st. The Christian life for me is lived day-to-day. I pray, I meditate, read some Scripture, look for opportunities to be Christ to another, and go to sleep to wake up another day just to do it all over again. I am either pressing in, or sliding back - there are no other choices.
I know, it sounds boring. My kids tell me that all the time. My wife and I like happen to like boring. We go to work during the day, enjoy dinner each night as a family, and snuggle for an episode of Law & Order or CSI. Only an occasional vacation or holiday breaks the routine.
I have also lost my passion for sermons about the new and coming opportunities in the next year. I suppose the church will do the same thing next Sunday; expecting different results - again!
As I got more involved with church, I would attend overnight prayer meetings to ring in the New Year, and cast vision for our next year in ministry. God is always doing something "new" this week of the year - there is always a year of Jubilee, a year of triumph or a year of deliverance.... blah blah, blah. What if we knew we were going to have a year of persecution, hardship and trial? We probably would stone the person that said that!
Church, His mercies are NEW EVERY MORNING - grab yourself a handful!
I guess I would be pleasantly surprised if someone stood up next Sunday and said, this year we are not going to have children's church, nor Wednesday Bible study or home-group. Why? Ummm... because it isn't working, there is no fruit and honestly, it's boring. Or Sunday hasn't seen a salvation in a few months, maybe we should do something else, does anyone have any ideas?
Wouldn't it be cool if someone suggested that we have a fellowship night in which the Spirit of God was let loose in such a way that we didn't know what to expect - one in which there was no specified leader except the one reveled during the 30 minutes of prayer before hand? What if we hung out in prayer until someone heard from God? I know, it sounds kinda Quaker. What if someone came with a "word," a "hymn;" and not a Chris Tomlin song, or someone had a tongue and interpretation? What if we gave our gatherings to God, and didn't have an agenda, a book, or a bulletin? What if?
This year, I propose a New Year's Revolution and not a resolution. Instead of resolving to do what we should be doing anyway, why not resolve to go deeper; with greater abandon then we ever have before?
As Abraham brought Issac to the altar of sacrifice, why don't you (and me) put it all on the altar?
Are you with me? Do you want more of the same, or more of God? Ask yourself, is this all there is to Christianity, and is it enough?
If you are in, then let's pray together.
Lord, I am willing to give up whatever keeps me from you. It could be my job, my home, or just a few TV shows. Lord show me what I need to do to be closer to You.
Jesus, I want more of you, I want to be a part of what you are doing here on earth! I don't want to wear my salvation like a piece of jewelry, but like a power pack that enables me to serve others.
Lord let me experience true peace and true joy, not just calm and happiness which don't last.
Father God, shake what needs to be shaken, heal what needs to be healed, and Lord, let my works be hot for You! Lord let today be the first day that I promise not to look back, but to look up and hear your voice. And remind me to ask again tomorrow.
Lord stop me from being a hypocrite, but ignite me, fill me with your Spirit, set me on fire, unlock the spiritual gifts within me, and let me stop looking to others to supply that which you generously give to those that ask.
Protect my family, and bring my relationships into order; children honoring parents, parents instructing and loving their children, wives submitting to godly husbands and husbands laying down their lives for their Lord, their families and for the gospel.
Let me be filled with hope and faith; quick to forgive and quicker to love. Lord carve out a place for me to be like You with those that are like minded, and those that can lead me closer to your perfect will. And Lord deliver me from evil as I put behind me my selfishness, my faithlessness, and my fear.
Today, Lord God, I desire your spiritual gifts - not that you use my talents, but that you gift me in supernatural ways that I might proclaim Your Kingdom - let it come.
Lord forgive me of my sins, heal my soul, provide seed that I might sow, and bring me to the end of the race; my life spent for You, that I might worship you forever and ever. Amen.
I'm going to pray this everyday until God changes me. I am starting today. Will you join me in the revolution!
9 comments:
That is an awesome, inspiring prayer!
I've already printed it out and cut/pasted to my laptop background screen...forgive my copywrite infringement please.
I don't want to have to follow this -- can we just run this one for the week?
David:
Some times you really surprise me and this is one of them. You are trully gifted by the grace of God. Your prayer was outstanding and definitely one to follow as a person of faith.
Considering what you say about your area being ultra fundamental about churches, Perhaps this might be an area where you can jump start the Charismatic movement.
Might be a few people that are looking for the same thing up there. We have people asking when the next Encounter ( mini revival) is going to happen at the Vineyard Cincinnati down here. Average attendance on the last two was about 250 to 300 people.
My new years resolution? I just found it. Thanks.
Some days we just need to break the mold of religion on us - to look for some fresh manna, fully abandoning our lives to Him.
My experience is that doing His will is the most fulfilling emotional and personal experience I have ever had.
@Larry - revival is simple. We repent and turn from our wickedness, God heals us. That is a personal revival. If a church does it, they are in revival, and if a state or nation does it, they are in revival.
Lack of faith is sin, and we must repent and begin to act in faith.
The real question is this: If revival depends on you (me), will it happen?
I have been pondering that.
David:
The answer is no!
Only through the grace of God and through the Holy Spirit leading you will a revival come to fruitition. You or I can say we are going to have a revival but with out the leading of the Holy Spirit and God, we have nothing.
It is ironic my experiences with revivals are from a long time ago where people were usually regular or part time Christians. However the revival brought them closer to Jesus and experienced the baptism by fire in the Holy Spirit.
Some times curoius on lookers would come in to see what was happening, some were touched by the Holy Spirit, and became Christians on the spot.
There was just something miraculous when the Holy Spirit was allowed to operate freely with out restraints. I miss that about the revivals of old.
I missed that feeling in many churches over the years thus my eventual pull towards the Charismatic movement with the gifts, super natural miracles, and healing which are allowed to flourish with out restraints.
Some day I pray that God will see fit to allow me to become a vital part of the Charismatic movement if only to serve in a humble position.
"God is always doing something "new"... there is always a year of Jubilee, a year of triumph or a year of deliverance... What if we knew we were going to have a year of persecution, hardship and trial? We probably would stone the person that said that!"
I smiled when I read this. For me, 2009 has been a year filled with hardships and trials, a year of immense pain. In addition to my usual disabilities, I have had two jaw surgeries, gall bladder surgery and two additional surgeries to rule out the cause of my illness - to no avail.
Monthly medical costs have always consumed a large portion of our income but with my husband being laid off for 3 1/2 months, we are now facing financial disaster and in the past year, I have lost my niece, Dorthy, to legionnaires and my sister-in-law, Pat, to cancer.
I watch my marriage of 32 years, slowly erode before my eyes as my husband distances himself from me - he is overwhelmed and doesn't know any other way in which to handle the situation. Still, it saddens me.
Also, I am responsible for every aspect of my 90, year old, mother's care. Daily, I watch as the mother I once knew, slip away, becoming the child in need of mothering.
Oh, how I long for a healing, a release from pain, for the ability to perform the most mundane of tasks without having to be laid out for days on end for having done them. I long for the day when my husband accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior, a missing element in our marriage and to have an open tap to financial resources, to offset my debt and meet my monthly expenses without creditors pressing in on me - it would be greatly welcomed. But this is not the case.
In part or in whole, most of what I hold dear has been stripped away, yet, paradoxically, in this most weak and vulnerable state, the Lord has made manifest His presence in practical and powerful ways.
I am truly blessed. I no longer can attend church or participate in the prayer ministry as I once did, so God opened the door to the BASIC Prayer Ministry. Along with the greatest intercessor of all, Jesus, I am privileged to pray for the members who have become my spiritual church and family in Christ.
Also, seeds sown in the heart of my son, that for years, have been fertilized with prayer and watered with tears, are now coming to fruition. His eyes have been open to a whole new level of the Person of Jesus. He has been radically changed, professing God's Kingdom to all he comes in contact with, with amazing results.
The deepest longing of my son's heart, to have a closer and more meaningful relationship with his earthly father, has also taken place this year. My son confessed to me the other day that his father is his best friend. What an honor any father could receive from their son. It makes a mother's heart fat. These are just a smattering of testimonies concerning what our God is doing in the midst of the storm of my life.
As far as the upcoming year, I know not what it will bring. I have to admit though, the first sentence of the prayer is a bit difficult to pray, having already been pared down, yet I still choose to believe in spite of my circumstances. However, my spirit was moved to tears when I read, "Lord carve out a place for me to be like You, with those that are like minded, and those that can lead me closer to your perfect will". I need a place of belonging and being poor in spirit, I desperately need Him.
Like Tony C, I too, will copy this prayer, knowing the sincerity behind the request and the God who is able to perform it. I also want to thank you, David, for personally inviting me to join the New Year "Revolution". You have no idea how touched I am that you have chosen to include me in this endeavor.
God's richest of blessings to you, your family and all of our BASIC and Facebook friends with the hope of a promising New Year in Him, our Lord and Savior, Jesus.
Jan
@Larry - I am ready for a move of God that reaches outside the tent. A place where His Spirit is ever present bringing salvation, healing and power to His church to take ground for the Kingdom of God.
@Jan - I can't begin to imagine what it is like to be sick enough that you can't make it to church. I thank you for your faithful prayers for so many. I pray that today, God begins to bring healing to you, and that 2010 can be a year of health and wholeness for you and your family.
Jan, Thank you so much for sharing your life and testimony of God's workings and faithfulness here. The Lord so moved my heart. God bless you, my sister in Jesus. May He fulfill Isaiah 61 in your life and bring healing to every part of your body....May He provide for you and in Jesus Name....bring salvation to your husband. You are obviously one of His 'special ones'. DebiZ
David.....wonderful prayer! Great blog... Thank you, Brother!
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