Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy – dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Train yourself to be positive”

A positive attitude will be one of your greatest assets in life. How we think matters more than we realize. Thoughts are powerful, and we tend to attract to ourselves the things that we expect. People with an optimistic and positive outlook tend to be happy and successful in life, partly because they expect to be and partly because their winsome nature is attractive to other people. People with a pessimistic and negative outlook tend to be brooding, unhappy, and relatively unsuccessful, partly because they expect to be and partly because their dark countenance turns people away.

Most people tend to lean in one direction or the other, either they’re mostly optimistic or mostly pessimistic. However, almost always that proclivity in either direction is a matter of conditioning rather than biology. Although in some cases there may be a neurological reason for a person to be dark and brooding (like Asperger’s syndrome), in most people they’ve simply learned to be that way. Our mindset is a combination of social conditioning, circumstances, the kinds of people we associate with, and it’s a matter of the influences we allow into our mind (like music and television).

Whatever your normal frame of mind is, optimistic or pessimistic, it’s a learned pattern of thinking and therefore it can be changed by learning to think differently. That’s what the Apostle Paul was getting at in Philippians 4:8. He was encouraging us to fill our minds with good influences and to train ourselves to dwell on thoughts that are wholesome and positive.

I’m not suggesting that changing your pattern of thinking is an easy thing to do, it isn’t. You will find it much easier to change your diet and exercise habits than to change your way of thinking. It’s a lot easier to turn a spendthrift into a frugal money manager than it is to turn a pessimist into an optimist.

And yet, it happens all the time. As a Christian you have the Holy Spirit at work within you bringing about the needed transformation. He won’t do it by magic, and He won’t force the change on you, but if you want to change from a pessimist into an optimist, or if you want to strengthen and enhance your already bright and cheery optimistic outlook, the Holy Spirit will help you to do it. You do your part by intentionally filling your mind with positive influences and making an effort to think positively instead of negatively, and the Holy Spirit will multiply your efforts. With His help, the change will come.

One of your most important and helpful assets going into 2020 will be a positive attitude. You can train yourself to be positive.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” Luke 14:28 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Make a plan, get going, and stick with it.”

All this month we’ve been considering New Year’s resolutions we could make to help improve some aspect of our lives that need a little improvement. We’ve thought about things like diet and exercise, finances, spiritual growth, and relationships. There are many more categories we could have addressed but we just didn’t have the time.

Hopefully you have a short list of resolutions, and so now it’s time to come up with a plan. Good intentions are nice, but success will be determined by how good your plan is and how closely you stick to it. In Luke 14:28 Jesus made reference to the fact that having a good plan to guide you as you strive to accomplish your objective is simply a matter of common sense.

Throughout the month I’ve suggested numerous resources that would be good guides and which can serve as your plan. A nutrition guide becomes your guide for eating. A workout plan keeps you on track for exercising. A Bible reading plan, regular church attendance, and a commitment to ministry activities will help you with your spiritual growth.

A good plan is essential. Visualize what it is you want to accomplish, compare that to where you are now, and then ask yourself, “What steps do I need to take to lead me from where I am now to where I want to be?”  Then write them down. That progressive sequence of steps is your plan. Now just get going and keep walking it forward one step at a time, one day at a time.

If you make a plan and stick with it by this time next year you will have made significant improvement in the areas of your life that needed some work. So, I encourage you to make a plan, get going, and stick with it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Choose your friends carefully”

I’m pretty sure that when you were a child your momma probably warned you, “Choose your friends carefully.” It was good motherly advice and it still applies. Over time we become like those we associate with and therefore it’s important for us to be very selective about who we’re hanging around with.

But beyond being a classic and time-honored thing that mothers have always said to their children, it’s also solidly Biblical and is expressed in the Bible numerous times, in different ways, by different writers. Solomon said it in Proverbs 13:20. He said it again in Proverbs 27:17 when he wrote, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” In 1 Corinthians 15:33 the Apostle Paul expressed it this way, “Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals.”

As we conclude our thinking about New Year’s resolutions regarding relationships, I want to encourage you to give careful thought to who you plan to associate with in 2020.  As has been noted already in this series, your most important relationship is the one you have with God, and paying extra attention to that relationship is certainly important.

But there are also other relationships that will help to enhance your growth and development as a person. Do you have a mentor in your life, someone who is older, wiser, more experienced, and who will spend time with you, building into your life? That’s what Proverbs 13:20 is talking about. Spend time with people who are wiser than you and in time you will learn from them and become wise like them.

How about close Christian friends, especially those of the same gender? Are you part of a small group of men or women who are open and honest with each other, who hold each other accountable, and who help each other to grow and to navigate the difficult times in life? Proverbs 27:17 can be about one-on-one relationships, but it is also often used regarding small accountability groups of men or women.

And then there’s 1 Corinthians 15:33. If you hang around with bank robbers then pretty soon you will probably be robbing banks too. If you associate with people who drink a lot and who use foul language, in time those behaviors will define you too. Find people who have the kind of life that you would like to have and spend your time with them.

Perhaps a good New Year’s resolution would be to find a mentor (Proverbs 13:20); become part of a small accountability group (Proverbs 27:17); and maybe even say good-bye to some associates who really shouldn’t be part of your life anyway (1 Corinthians 15:33). Relationships in life are crucial. We’re either helped or hurt by the nature of our relationships with others, so choose your friends carefully.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.” Ephesians 4:1-3 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Be an easy person to be with”

I once had the pleasure of working with a man who was a joy to be around. He was humble and kind, he had an easy-going way about him, and he laughed easily and often. And also, importantly, he was seldom offended. Even when someone did or said something unkind to him he was able to shrug it off and quickly return to his typical easy-going and joyful self.

That was many years ago but I remember it vividly to this day because he made such a positive impression on me. Oh, and by the way, that took place in a work environment where there was a considerable amount of strife and dissension between many other workers. It was a place where there was frequently arguing, backbiting, and distrust. But his man was a breath of fresh air and a positive influence in an otherwise unpleasant place. He was the kind of person the Apostle Paul was writing about in Ephesians 4:1-3. Being a person like that will make a positive difference in your home or your workplace, in your neighborhood and in your church.

As we consider New Year’s resolutions that would help to improve the health of our most important relationships, becoming a kinder, gentler, happier person who is not easily offended would be a good move for any of us. There are many Bible studies and other books on this subject which would be well worth your time and which would help to develop better relationship skills. “The Bait of Satan” by John Bevere is a Christian classic. It explains how Satan uses the emotion of being offended, to create innumerable unnecessary problems in human relationships. The study teaches us how to recognize the bait for what it is, and then how to resist taking the bait.

“The Anger Management Workbook”, by Les Carter and Frank Minirth will help you recognize the many forms anger can take, the damage it does, and how to handle it effectively.

And then a non-Christian book which has also helped millions of people develop better relationship skills, and which is a time-honored classic is, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.

One of the best things you can do to care for and nurture your most important relationships is to be an easy person to be with.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you’ ….” Zechariah 1:3 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “You go first.”

As we approach the end of our month-long study about New Year’s resolutions that we could make to help improve some aspect of our lives in 2020, we’re now thinking about things we can do to improve and nurture our most valued relationships. And of course, the most important relationship you have is with God.

In Zechariah 1:3 God articulates an important principle about how to maintain healthy relationships – “You go first”. In this case God was telling His people that if they want to have a healthy relationship with Him, they need to prove it by taking the first step. He said, “You return to me and I will return to you.” In Jeremiah 29:13-14 God expressed that same thought in this way: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord …” In other words, “I’m here waiting for you. You take the first step by seeking me and I promise, you will find me. But you go first.”

This same principle applies to all of our important relationships. If you want that relationship to be healthy, then it’s up to you to do the things necessary to keep it healthy. There’s an old saying that goes, “If you want to have a friend, be a friend.” Likewise, if you want to have a good spouse, be a good spouse. If you want to have good kids, you be a good parent. If you want to have friends, be a friend.

Do you have some important relationships in your life that need a little work, that need to be nurtured and better cared for? Well, what are you going to do about it? Don’t sit there waiting for the other person to make the first move. It’s up to you. If you want to have a friend then be a friend. You go first.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are Christ’s letter, delivered by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God – not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Merry Christmas”

As I write this devotional message for Christmas Day 2019, and since in this series we are currently thinking about the importance of taking care of our valued relationships, I’m thinking about my relationship with you, the readers of these daily devotionals.

I’ve been writing these daily devotionals for nine years now. Six days a week, every week, for nine years. However, I think the bigger deal is that some of you have been reading them six days a week, every week, for nine years. My goodness! It’s one thing for me to write them, after all, doing so is part of my personal devotional time with the Lord and these are all subjects and issues that God has spoken to me about in some way. But to continue to faithfully read what someone else has written, day after day for so long, is a compliment and a blessing to me. It’s a gift for which I am very grateful. Thank you.

From time to time some of you send feedback telling me that a devotional message, or an entire monthly series, spoke to you, and that God used it in some way to help you. Others of you faithfully repost the devotional on your Facebook page each day, thereby increasing the size of the Facebook reader group. That kind of feedback is very encouraging and affirming to me as the writer and I appreciate it more than you know. Again, what a sweet gift. Thank you.

Without readers there’s not much sense in writing, so I appreciate you and I am grateful for you. Over time, writers and readers develop a bond, a special relationship, even if they’ve never actually met each other. I’m deeply grateful for the relationship the Lord has developed between us, and I’m looking forward to the subjects the He is going to lead us to deal with in 2020.

My family and I wish you and yours a blessed Christmas celebration. I encourage you to enjoy your time with each other as you celebrate the birth of our Savior. He is after all, the greatest gift ever.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Nurture your relationship with Jesus”

As we approach the end of our devotional series for this month “A New Year, A New Beginning”, we will spend a few days talking about the importance of nurturing our most valued relationships. Relationships don’t become and stay healthy by accident. We have to be intentional about keeping them healthy.

Today is Christmas Eve. On this day we anticipate the event we will celebrate tomorrow, the birth of Jesus. The incarnation of Christ was all about relationships. First and foremost, it was about the Father’s relationship with us. That relationship was broken by sin, which meant that we were lost to the Father for eternity. A person defiled by sin could never be allowed into the presence of a perfect, pure, and holy God. Something had to be done about that sin.

So, God sent His Only Son to earth to live among us, to die upon the cross, and to be resurrected (thereby defeating death). Then, through faith in Him for the forgiveness of our sins, our relationship with the Father could be restored. That was the primary reason Jesus came to us, and that makes your relationship with Him the most important relationship you have. You must make an intentional decision to trust in Him as Savior for the forgiveness of your sins. But the second part of that relationship involves then following Him through this life as your Lord. He wants to be your Savior, but He also wants to be your Lord.

That then brings us to our verse for today, Revelation 3:20. That verse is often used in an evangelistic way because it certainly is true that Jesus knocks at the door of every heart, desiring to be invited in to be that person’s Savior. But the words of this verse were actually spoken to people who were already Christians, and rather than being about salvation, the primary meaning is about Lordship. Jesus is saying that He stands ready to enter into every moment of a Christian’s life. But a decision must be made by the individual to open the door of your heart and actually invite Jesus into that moment, or issue, or event.

As you prepare to celebrate Christmas, and as you continue to consider New Year’s resolutions you might make that will help to improve some aspect of your life in 2020, I encourage you to consider ways in which you could more fully involve Jesus in every aspect of your life. Jesus doesn’t want to just be part of your life; He doesn’t want to be just one of the relationships you have; He wants to be at the center of your life.

I encourage you to make a New Year’s resolution to do something new or different that will help you to be intentional about nurturing your relationship with Jesus in 2020.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “Now, the Lord of Armies says this: ‘Think carefully about your ways: You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough to be satisfied. You drink but never have enough to be happy. You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm. The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a whole in it.” Haggai 1:5-6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Spiritual growth and being obedient to God is the main thing.”

The Old Testament prophet Haggai wrote his short little two-chapter book to a group of approximately 50,000 Jews who were in Jerusalem working to rebuild the temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. In the process of rebuilding the temple, they were to also establish their own lives there. They were there to repopulate the city and therefore they also needed to be building homes, planting crops, tending animals, and establishing businesses.

The problem was, as God tells them in verse nine of chapter one, that they were spending much more time and effort tending to their own business than they were in tending to God’s business. And as a result, God was not blessing them. Instead, they were spinning their wheels, working hard but reaping little. Here’s verse 9: “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why? This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. ‘Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.”

They planted but harvested little; they ate but were never really satisfied; they drank but were still thirsty. No matter how hard they worked taking care of their own business, it was as if they were putting their wages into pockets with holes in them – it was gone before they knew it and they were left wondering why they weren’t doing better. The answer was that their priorities were misplaced. They were much more concerned with their own business than with God’s business, and therefore God wasn’t blessing their business.

Please remember my word of caution to you regarding your priorities when making New Year’s resolutions. Your spiritual growth is more important than anything else you have going on in your life. Spiritual growth is more important than losing weight and improving your physical fitness. It is more important than paying off your car and increasing the size of your savings account. It is more important than any other resolution you might be thinking about making about any other issue. Therefore, I encourage you to focus first and foremost on establishing new practices and habits that will help to accelerate your spiritual growth in 2020. Then you can think about that 20 pounds you want to lose or the bills you want to pay off.

Take care of God’s business first. Spiritual growth and obedience to God is the main thing and it is the most important thing.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “The more spiritually mature you are, the more freedom you will experience.”

In John 8:30-36 Jesus taught a fascinating lesson about what it means to be truly free. His audience was the Jewish people, who as a nation had experienced centuries of slavery and bondage under the rule of nations like Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. But worse than their physical captivity was their enslavement to sinful lifestyles. Ultimate bondage is not mere physical bondage in a political sense, but it is bondage to sin which leads to a lifetime of rebellion against God.

Jesus’ point was that those who put their faith in Him as Savior (thereby having their sins forgiven), and then who choose to follow Him as Lord and become His true disciples (engaging in a lifetime of spiritual growth), they will “… know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (verse 31) … because “… if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (verse 36).

Spiritual growth results in true freedom. Simple faith in Christ frees us from the eternal penalty for our sins, but spiritual growth brings us insight which enables us to see and understand the reality of situations as they truly are. The Holy Spirit develops in us a Biblical worldview which enables us to see people and situations as God sees them. This is the genuine truth of the situation and it frees us from the deceptions of the world. Second, spiritual growth also frees us from the bondage of habitual patterns of sinful living.

Then a third way in which spiritual maturity brings freedom is that it frees us from the bondage of legalism. A spiritually mature person doesn’t need rules and regulations to keep them in line. Instead, he or she has learned to hear the voice of God and to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. God has created a big beautiful world, filled with things and activities that we are free to enjoy. But it takes spiritual maturity, sensitivity, and discernment in order to live that way without abusing your freedom. Spiritual growth makes that possible.

Two of the best resources I have ever found to help Christians learn to live free in Christ are the Bible studies “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God” by Henry Blackaby; and “Hearing God” by Dallas Willard. Completing either or both of those studies in 2020 would make a great New Year’s resolution for the person who is committed to doing things that will help to accelerate their spiritual growth.

Tomorrow I have one final thought I want to share with you about spiritual growth, and then we will think about the important relationships we all have and some things we could do in 2020 to strengthen them.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Your spiritual growth impacts what your life in eternity will be like.”

As we’ve been considering New Year’s resolutions we could make that will  help to improve our lives, I have argued that nothing in your life is more important than your spiritual growth, and no improvements you can make in your life will have a more profound impact on the overall quality of your life than will spiritual growth. That’s true for this lifetime (as was discussed yesterday), but it’s even truer for eternity.

Your spiritual growth will determine what your life will be like for eternity. That’s a truth that God communicates to us repeatedly all throughout the Bible – especially in the New Testament, and especially through the teachings of Jesus. In Matthew 6:19-20 above, the essence of Jesus’ point is that the spiritual growth you experience now, and the ways in which you serve God and others now, makes a difference for you for all eternity. He likened it to gathering treasure and storing it up in order to ensure a comfortable and secure future. He taught that when you engage in activities such as prayer, Bible study, acts of ministry, acts of compassion and mercy, etc., you are essentially making deposits into your account in the First National Bank of Heaven, and your investments will be waiting for you when you get there, to be enjoyed for all eternity.

In Matthew chapter twenty-five Jesus taught a parable about servants who were entrusted with various resources by the master, and then rewarded later based upon how well they used what had been entrusted to them. It was a metaphor for rewards in heaven. In 2 Corinthians chapter five, the Apostle Paul wrote about Christians appearing before the judgement seat of Christ so their actions in this lifetime can be evaluated, and the person rewarded accordingly.

The subject of rewards in heaven based upon our conduct in this lifetime is a common theme in Scripture and in some mysterious way, it will be applied to our eternal state by a holy and righteous God. One Bible college professor explained it this way: “All Christians will enjoy heaven to their maximum capacity, but we will not all have the same capacity. Capacity for spiritual awareness, and enjoyment in heaven, is developed in this lifetime. One Christian may arrive in heaven with the capacity of a fifty-gallon drum. That person will be filled to overflowing and fully enjoying heaven to their maximum capacity. Another may get there with the capacity of a pint container. He too will be filled to overflowing, enjoying heaven to his maximum capacity, but the two will have vastly different capacities.”

What an important truth: Your spiritual growth in this lifetime helps to determine what eternity will be like for you! If you needed motivation to make a New Year’s resolution regarding spiritual growth, I think this should be it!

Finally, in a kind of counterintuitive way, having the discipline to make and fulfill resolutions about spiritual growth actually creates a wonderful form of freedom for us. Tomorrow we will conclude our thinking about resolutions for spiritual growth, by thinking about the freedom spiritual growth will bring us.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim