The Walk That Makes New Years Resolutions All Possible

Today is the fourth and final blog in my series on New Years Resolutions. If you would like to read the the other three, please click on the links below. Today's thoughts may make more sense if you do.

Requirements For The New Year
Just, Justly, Justice- How Do We Act?
What Do You Love?

As I really think about the upcoming year, and I think about the previous year, I know I must make changes. It is healthy, and I would be very arrogant to think that I am so right in everything that I do, that no change is needed.

My favorite quote is:
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten".
(author unknown)

If I want changes in my life but I do nothing differently, that is called insanity. How can possibly expect a change, simply based on a statement, "I want change."?
Let me give you a couple of examples:

I want to lose weight and be more healthy.
I still eat the same foods, in the same amounts, and do not exercise.
Can I expect to lose weight?

I want to keep my home more in order and be more organized.
I still continue to leave things lying around, and do not put things away, and push them into piles in the living room and on the counter.
Can I expect my home to be neat and orderly?

Now apply that thought process to the following:

I want to be the person God has created me to be, and to love Him and treat others the way He wants me to.
I believe that I am doing exactly that. I need nothing to be different. The problem is actually with others who just don't get it, and who just need to obey God more. Like me.
Can I REALLY expect that my relationships with people will change? Can I expect my walk with God to deepen?

The verse that I have been meditating on for the last few days tells me exactly what my issue is and what I need to change.

Micah 6:8

⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
   And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
   and to walk humbly with your God. 

 

When I shared my favorite quote from above, I had someone say to me, "But what if you like what you've got? There really is no need to change now is there?".

That statement really got me to thinking. There are many things I would never desire to change, such as;

being a wife to Larry. I like what I got.

being a mother. I like what I got.

being a granny. I like what I got.

Then it comes to my spiritual life. 

Such as;

being a child of God. I like what I got. 

But if I were to say: 

I am;

being a holy person. I like what I got.

being a godly woman. I like what I got.

being an effective light for the lost in the world. I like what I got.

so connected with God, everything is just like it should be. I like what I got.

Arrogance.
Self-righteousness.

I need to change my thought process about myself, if I want my behavior to change and my heart to change, and me to do what the Lord desires and requires of me.

to walk humbly with my God

 

If I want to deepen my walk with God, if I want to be in His will this year, if I want to do HIS WILL, I must know WHO HE is and who I am. 

He is God. I am not.

He is perfect and had NO need to change. I am not.

The answer for arrogance, is humility.

Humility does not mean lack of confidence. I know who I am in Christ.

Humility does mean I realize who I am in relation to God. And I know I will NEVER be equal with God. Even though I am a joint heir with Jesus, He is still God and I am not. 

The key to me being able

To act justly 
and 
to love mercy 
 is simply this:
He has shown me, O mortal that I am, what is good.
I need to see that God alone is the giver of all that is good. He is good with nothing bad found in Him.
 AND
I need to
walk humbly with my God.

It is much easier to be just and show mercy when I see myself in the correct light of Christ.

I need to see that I will always have room to change and grow in His grace and knowledge.

I need to desire that change. For me. 

Because of what He has done.

And that is good.

Now I know what God wants of me.

Now I know what I need to change to bring that about.

 

I need to surrender my will to HIS, so He can mold and make my heart more like His.

Happy New Year. Be resolved to be more of what He requires!

Chasing After Their Hearts,

Glenda Johnson

 

Requirements for the New Year!

The New Year is here. 2011. I keep reading about resolutions. Plans for this year. Changes people want to make in themselves.

Why do we do this? Why do we choose the first of the year to decide to make a change? 

People, myself included, tend to resist change. It is not comfortable, and yet, change is necessary for a healthy life. Your child's doctor always does a check on height, weight, and skill changes when you take your child to see them. If there are no changes then there is a problem.

We are either growing and changing, or we are dying. 

This relates both to our physical life and our spiritual life.

Since it seems that people from all over the world are deciding it is safe to make changes it is easy to jump on the band wagon. 

It's "ok" to make a change since "everyone else is doing it"!
This is also the very reason so many fail at keep New Year resolutions. They are made for the wrong reason, at the wrong time. A clear set up for failure.

I have spent the last two days pondering this very thought. There are many things I want to change and do for myself and my family. 

I want to make changes because it is God's will for me to do so. This verse spoke to the very core of what I have been searching my heart and pleading to God for insight to, the last few days.

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” - Micah 6:8

The very question, "What does the Lord require of you, (ME)?" is answered so clearly here. 

No "maybe". 

No "if".

No "when".

No doubt, what God wants me to do.

No doubt why God wants me to do it.

God truly has shown me what is good. 

His love.

My salvation.

His grace.

My response to those things?  My response is what God actually REQUIRES of me.

Act Justly.

Love Mercy.

Walk Humbly before Him.

 I need to know what it looks like to do those things. 

What I need to change , in my life, to do what is required of me, by God.

The next three blogs will cover those thoughts and searching of God's word, and my application to my heart and life.

You are invited to join me as I chase after God's heart this year!

Chasing After Hearts,

Glenda Johnson