new year | Revelations From The Road

The New Year

December 31, 2017 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given December 30, 2017

OK, here we go again, time to do the resolution thing for the upcoming year. A survey by today.yougov.com found the following of what people plan to do:

Eat better — 37 percentExercise more — 37 percent
Spend less money — 37 percent
Self-care (e.g. getting more sleep) — 24 percent
Read more books —18 percent
Learn a new skill — 15 percent
Get a new job — 14 percent
Make new friends — 13 percent
New hobby — 13 percent
Focus more on appearance — 12 percent

I was thinking of how that would compare or contrast with a Christian’s resolution list and found this Top 5 list of resolutions suggested for Christians:

Read the Bible daily
Dedicate time for prayer
Go to church regularly
Do more to help people
Drop bad habits

It’s a good thing to write down your plans, dreams, and things you want to focus on in order to keep them before your eyes daily. But as I was thinking about this scenario, a scripture came to my mind: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33). Might I make a suggestion? As you make out your list of resolutions for 2018, why don’t you put this verse at the top? Jesus is saying to put God first and all the things below will fall into place. It sounds like a good plan to me. Have a happy, blessed, healthy, prosperous, generous, peaceful, productive, prayerful and pleasing-to-God New Year!

Is There More?

January 2, 2017 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given December 30, 2016

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

The Bible says that God knew you before you were even conceived, (Jeremiah 1:5), and the verse above says He has plans for you. As we look forward to 2017, some questions arise in my mind:

Does God have more than one plan?
When His plans are completed, is that all?
Even when we’re old, does He have more for us to do?

As I’ve asked God these questions, He has shown me that, yes, there is more than one plan. When we complete a God plan, God doesn’t just say, “OK, you’ve completed your assignment, see you later.” No, He wants to take us to the next assignment or the next level. And even after we’ve completed several assignments and we’re in the final years of our lives, He still has things for us to do. Is there more? Yes!

I will also mention, if you’re like me, you’ve messed up on some of God’s plans or gone off on your own with your OWN plan and had to go back for more training when that didn’t work out. Can you relate? God knew that and is very willing to work with you to complete His plans for you and those around you.

So, as we look to the New Year and you’re creating your “New Year’s Resolutions” for 2017, be sure to ask God what He has planned for you this year. In fact, do that first. (See Matthew 6:33, Seek ye first.)

“Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:16)

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose,” (Proverbs 16:3)

There IS more! Have a happy, blessed, successful, fruitful, and victorious New Year!

The Next Chapter

December 31, 2013 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given December 31, 2013

As the year 2013 comes to a close and 2014 looms ahead, let’s look at this like a book of our lives. Chapter 2013 is finished and we’re ready to turn the page to the next chapter. What is in this new chapter? Will it be a continuation of the last chapter? Will things that happened in previous chapters affect this new one? Is there something new and wonderful in store in chapter 2014? By the way, who is the author of this book of our lives? Let’s look at that.

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16). God’s eyes saw us before we were born and He made a plan for us; that’s pretty awesome. He wrote His plan down and it was set into motion on the day you were born. But there is a problem; the devil has a plan for us too, “to kill, steal, and destroy” us, (John 10:10). But didn’t Jesus defeat the devil when He rose from the dead? Yes He did but old Satan and his fallen angel crew are real good at deceiving and tricking us into believing his lies. So what about our book?

First, a thought about previous chapters. We all have made mistakes in our past lives that we can go back and read about in our book. Don’t do that! If we have confessed our mistakes, repented, and asked for forgiveness, those things are not in God’s book. Look what He said, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25). God erased your sins from His book, for His own sake, He doesn’t want to see us as that old sinful person. So why do we keep going back and reading our bad chapters? The only reference to those bad decisons may be a footnote at the bottom of the page to show us how that mistake was used by God, (if we let Him), to grow us and bring us to the next level of accomplishment. So it’s OK to look at the footnote for learning but not for guilt. He even said anything we lost or had stolen from us back then would be restored, (see Joel 2:25).

So, what will we read in chapter 2014? A lot of it is up to us. Will we follow what God has already written or will we write our own life version? I’m not sure what God’s version for me is but I read from His book that it’s pretty good. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11). So let’s humble ourselves, pray, seek God, and turn away from evil, (see 2 Chronicles 7:14), and chapter 2014 will be one to remember. Let’s not just copy and paste chapter 2013 but let’s allow God’s writing to come to pass. And you know, we’re almost to the end of this book.

Two Resolutions for 2012

January 1, 2012 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given January 1, 2012

As I contemplated what to write on this New Year’s Day, several thoughts went through my mind. God has given me numerous “revelations” that I have made note of for future posts but none of those seemed appropriate for today. Then, I remembered two revelations I had written previously that made sense. These two former posts are very appropriate for me to use as New Year’s resolutions this year and I want to share them with you. My prayer is that you will think about these ywo and adopt them for yourselves.

The first former post can be found here: https://roadrevelations.org/?p=196 and is titled, “Levels Of Servanthood”. It mentions several levels we may go through as we choose to be servants of the Master. I want to serve my Master more this year and hope you do too.

The second is found here: https://roadrevelations.org/?p=416 and is titled, “Jesus at the Back of the Church”. It helps us to visualize what it means to “Seek ye first…”. I will admit my eyes teared up as I read this post again. I want to be pleasing to Jesus and accomplish His plan for me but He constantly reminds me that all that I want, all that I desire begins with Him.

I hope you are blessed as you read these posts from the past and resolve in 2012 to seek Jesus with all you have FIRST and then go about being His servant. May God bless you, your family, and all you attempt in 2012.

Five Steps to Success in 2021

January 8, 2011 by Bill 1 Comment

Given January 1, 2011

I found this post that I wrote ten years ago and thought it would be appropriate to re-post for this year. Take heed as we enter into 2021.

Now that we are in the second week of 2011, many of us have had a chance to forget our New Year’s resolutions or are not doing very well with them. May I suggest some things that just came to me one morning as I was in my devotional time. There are many more things that can contribute to our success in the coming year but these five are the first that came to me.

1. Prioritize the things in your life. Most of us have way too many “things” in our lives that demand our time and energy and many of them are a waste. Seriously look at these “things” and prayerfully place them in order of their eternal importance. You might list them on paper.
2. Ask God to heal you of your “I problem”. Many of us think too highly of ourselves and much of our conversations and prayers include the word “I”. “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (Romans 12:3). It’s not about us but about God.
3. Get out of debt! We can’t be of much use to the Kingdom of God if we are obligated to the world’s financial system. The Bible says, “Owe no man anything but to love one another.” (Romans 13:8). Especially in these economic hard times, if we are indebted to the system, we are controlled by it. You might not be able to be debt free in a year but you can begin and you will see that when God sees your faithful intentions, He will help you.
4. Read your Bible, learn what it says, and do it. All the answers to life are contained in God’s Word. We have to read and study it with prayer and the revelation of the Holy Spirit. We cannot be successful without it.
5. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you as well.” (Matthew 6:33). This says it all. If we seek God and His holiness, putting all other things in a lower priority, He will be pleased and actually give us all those other things we need. We will also find out that needs and wants are different and should be prioritized accordingly. However, if God is first, He will give us many things to enjoy as well, (1 Timothy 6:17).
* And, I will add one more. Pay attention to your health. God has a plan for each of us based on the giftings He’s given us but we will be limited in what we can do if we’re in poor health. It’s hard but, as with anything God assigns us to do, He will help us. Get in shape and be strong!

As I mentioned earlier, there are numerous other things that will help us be successful in the year 2021. I’d like to hear from you readers; what things do you think we can do as Christians to insure success this year?