Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
12/27/2021
God isn’t done with 2021 because He isn’t done with you yet!
This year is all but over. Many of us get to breathe a little for a few days. May I encourage you to not remain idle and to take a few hours to reflect? And as we finish another trying year of 2021, the importance of tradition has never been made clearer. Tradition grounds us in God’s eternal and unchanging truths – He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Many of us are ready to leave this year behind…
ready to forget 2021.
But can I suggest we do something different…
Instead of forgetting, I want you to remember and reflect on all that God has done in and through you in the past 12 months. I want to reflect personally on what I have done. Done well…and not so well. What were my wins… What were my fails.
Seriously, we cannot do our best job of moving forward…creating a new future…a new year. Without completing this year. That includes an assessment of the facts and a living plan to enlarge our territory. 1Chronicles 4:10 Move the stakes! Improve across all fronts by asking:
I know what He has shown us. We are the hands and feet of God, making the pages of Scripture come alive but what does the Lord require of you now?
… To act justly … To love mercy … To walk humbly before our God!
Micah 6:8
Many of you faced a difficult year but you did not give up on your relationship with God, God’s church, or God’s people and continued to show His unending love to those in need. I also know that some did digress. They lost their traditions of Church, and gathering with other Christians and fell off of their relationships with Christ. They grew lukewarm.
BUT GOD… is a God of second chances. I know God must be good in math because the number of 2^nd chances he’s given me is higher than I can count.
So, as 2021 comes to a close, I ask you to take a moment and see the good that God has done. I want us to take a hard look in the mirror and listen to what the Lord would say to us about US! ALL of us have some repenting to do.
We need to begin by humbling ourselves before God in prayer. But we have ALSO been faithful in some smaller things too. Satan doesn’t win this war of shoulda – coulda … because we have read the final chapter. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. We Win.
Let’s answer these questions and complete 2021 before moving forward.
Would the child you were, be proud of the man or woman you are?
If you could, what would you work on right now?
What is your favorite excuse? Why are you still using it?
When was the last time you astonished yourself?
Who are the five people you spend the most time with?
Are they increasing you or holding you back?
If you’re not the you your proud of, then who are you going to be?
And as this season of miracles ends (and there were many) and the hope of a new year lays ahead,
I’m asking you to pray that He would reveal His will for you and your family…and your church…and your small group…for the year to come (http://click.bless.ifcj.org/?qs=1c5147e6fd9341c1e91e1b895c46e580f59acd8af5b1057548c0ba37420e1c21f0fb76f4f34466ac1e53a777b2647140017394419f935e2b) .
Lauren Daigle Look Up Child
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Z359U77XY
