Rather than deciding a New Year's RESOLUTION consider praying to discover a New Year's REVELATION. God has a plan for you in the coming year! Discover it! Devote yourself to it. Rehearse it. Remind yourself of it.
One of the most common frustrations believers have is not really knowing what to read or how to pray. When you seek God for a New Year’s REVELATION you have something to focus on and center around as you pray, study and read for the entire year. As you TURN THE PAGE you’ll notice so many insights that align in the direction you have sensed from God for the year and it becomes easier to realize God is drawing you into more of a conversation with him than you ever imagined possible.
He is a loving Father who desires to have an open dialogue with his sons and daughters. After all He sent Jesus as a Word. It was as if God was saying, “I’d like to have a Word with you” to unlock a lifelong conversation that actually will continue into eternity.
Every born again believer has spiritual ears to hear the voice of God. Just like every newborn baby is born with ears, God has given every born again believer spiritual ears to hear and spiritual eyes to see. You can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. If you are truly born again in the spirit, then you are His sheep. In John 10:27, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice.” You have the ability to hear God’s voice.
It is all too easy in our journey of faith to focus in on our commitment to God. Our commitment is an important part of our devotion to the Lord but committing to the wrong things isn’t obedience. 1 Samuel 15:22 explains how obedience is better than sacrifice. Obedience is our response to God’s direction in our lives. Our culture would say don’t just stand there do something! However, in God’s Kingdom there is great value to pausing to pray before we begin, “Don’t just do something stand there!”
Before we make commitments we should discover submission. This is something of “Submittment” where submission comes before commitment. This becomes an effective combination of God’s purposed plans guiding our sincere efforts.
OPPORTUNITIES ARE DISTRACTIONS IF THEY’RE NOT ASSIGNMENTS.
Over the past five years these have been our congregational focus of the New Year’s Revelation we have focused on as a church family.
2015 – Take Someone with you on your journey of joy
2016 – Enriched by God to enrich others
2017 – Love Is Our Source
2018 – Flourishing Lives
2019 – Fully Known. Fully Loved
These are illustrations of easy to remember phrases that have shaped our focus for a year at a time. Each person should take the time to prayerfully invite God’s perspective for the coming year. When we choose to live lives that are inspired by God we awaken our destiny.
When you choose to live a life that is inspired by God daily you awaken your destiny!
John 10:27 God speaks!
1995 - Prayer
1996 - Quantity Bible Reading
1997 - Memorization & Meditation
1998 - Study & Research
1999 - Health & Awareness
2000 - Rocks, Remember & Review
2001 - Arsenal of Scripture
2002 – Keep In Step With The Spirit
2003 – Build An Ark (Patterns refuge safety)
2004 – Heritage
2005 – Service With A Smile
2006 – Watch & Pray
2007 – Supernatural Servant
2008 – Appreciation
2009 – Kingdom = King’s Dominion
2010 – Keep Focus. Keep the Faith
2011 – Empowered to Empower others
2012 – Brighten Your Perspective
2013 – Deeper More Meaningful
2014 – Advancing Responsibly
2015 – Take Someone with you on journey of joy
2016 – Enriched by God to enrich others
2017 – Love Is Our Source
2018 – Flourishing Lives
2019 – Fully Known, Fully Loved, Fully Activated
Don’t confuse your prominence with your significance. We were not created for our pleasure. We are created for God’s purposes.
Jesus came as a servant to the Father:
John 5:19 Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless {it is} something He sees the Father doing; for whatever {the Father} does, these things the Son also does in like manner. (NAS)
John 16 – and the spirit of truth – he never takes the initiative either. He only speaks what He hears the Father speak.
If both the Son of God and the Spirit of God do not take initiative then this is the example we should follow. What you do should be a result of who you are after you’ve been with the Father.
Culture says don’t just stand there do something. God says, “Don’t just do something stand there!”
We feel that we’re wasting time if we’re standing still but we tend to forget that when we’re standing God is at work. Wait on the Lord!!!
It takes practice to get in touch with God’s perspective but you can do it!
Matt 7:24 Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. NIV
John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. NIV
Isa 30:21 “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." NIV
Don’t reduce your prayer life to stress therapy sessions where you just rehearse your problems. Seek God for his perspective on your situation. In doing so you will face mountains and giants from an entirely different point of view!
1 Cor 4:1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. (NIV)
Prov 3:6 Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. MSG
A train traveling 60 mph can’t be stopped by a wall of reinforced concrete built across the tracks. That same train at a dead stop can’t even get started if blocked by small blocks of wood.
Have you ever felt like you were at a spiritual standstill and just seemed unable to make progress in your journey with God? Where do I read? How do I pray? God how do I do this?
When you have no momentum small problems seem like impossibilities.
Momentum is about a consistent rhythm. Daily rhythm turn the page. Weekly rhythm come to church. Want to talk specifically about a yearly rhythm today.
God doesn’t measure faithfulness in days so stop getting discouraged over a bad day. God measures faithfulness in years. Every year Jan 1 comes around and resolutions come to mind. It is good to determine a New Year’s Resolution but it’s better to discover a New Year’s Revelation.
We want to help you more effectively find your way.
Sun, Sept 8th - Discovering Destiny Reception
Wed, Sept 11th - Discovering Destiny Community Group begins
We need every one of you in this fight!!!
We bring GP2RL Action Point:
Spend some time looking for opportunities to hear God this week. During your quiet time ask Him to tell you what He’d like to talk about. Journal what you hear.
DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY GROUP LEADERS
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Describe the difference between a friendship with healthy, robust communication and a friendship with minimal or unhealthy communication.
2. Describe the difference between Christians who spend time paying attention to God’s voice and those who never learn to pay attention to what He has to say.
Rather than deciding a New Year’s RESOLUTION consider praying to discover a New Year’s REVELATION. God has a plan for you in the coming year! Discover it! Devote yourself to it. Rehearse it. Remind yourself of it.
One of the most common frustrations believers have is not really knowing what to read or how to pray. When you seek God for a New Year’s REVELATION you have something to focus on and center around as you pray, study and read for the entire year. As you TURN THE PAGE you’ll notice so many insights that align in the direction you have sensed from God for the year and it becomes easier to realize God is drawing you into more of a conversation with him than you ever imagined possible.
He is a loving Father who desires to have an open dialogue with his sons and daughters. After all He sent Jesus as a Word. It was as if God was saying, “I’d like to have a Word with you” to unlock a lifelong conversation that actually will continue into eternity.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
3. Describe a time when you think you heard God speak to you. What was that like? What impact did it have on you?
Every born again believer has spiritual ears to hear the voice of God. Just like every newborn baby is born with ears, God has given every born again believer spiritual ears to hear and spiritual eyes to see. You can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. If you are truly born again in the spirit, then you are His sheep. In John 10:27, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice.” You have the ability to hear God’s voice.
God speaks to each of us perfectly. He speaks to us in the best possible way for us to hear Him. Some of us are visual; He’ll speak to us in pictures. Some are auditory; He speaks to us in words or phrases. And some of us are “feelers” or more kinesthetic, and He speaks to us in impressions. God speaks through the Scriptures. Praying through verses of Scripture can awaken a greater depth of conversation with God.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
4. What are common reasons or distractions that keep us from hearing and listening to God?
5. What can you do this week to move beyond these distractions?
It is all too easy in our journey of faith to focus in on our commitment to God. Our commitment is an important part of our devotion to the Lord but committing to the wrong things isn’t obedience. 1 Samuel 15:22 explains how obedience is better than sacrifice. Obedience is our response to God’s direction in our lives. Our culture would say don’t just stand there do something! However, in God’s Kingdom there is great value to pausing to pray before we begin, “Don’t just do something stand there!”
Before we make commitments we should discover submission. This is something of “Submittment” where submission comes before commitment. This becomes an effective combination of God’s purposed plans guiding our sincere efforts.
OPPORTUNITIES ARE DISTRACTIONS IF THEY’RE NOT ASSIGNMENTS.
Over the past five years these have been our congregational focus of the New Year’s Revelation we have focused on as a church family.
2015 – Take Someone with you on your journey of joy
2016 – Enriched by God to enrich others
2017 – Love Is Our Source
2018 – Flourishing Lives
2019 – Fully Known. Fully Loved.
These are illustrations of easy to remember phrases that have shaped our focus for a year at a time. Each person should take the time to prayerfully invite God’s perspective for the coming year. When we choose to live lives that are inspired by God we awaken our destiny.