Eager-Hearted New Year

I am coming into this new year more committed than ever to spending time with God through prayer and reading His Word. I just keep thinking, "Lisa, if you REALLY BELIEVE that God is alive today, both available and passionate about developing a personal relationship with you, then you will be willing to spend time with Him, quietly and still, every single day as early in your morning as possible." I am trusting through experience that the measure of blessing and fruit coming out of that commitment will be unmistakable and transformational!

I am eager to make new discoveries about the Truth this year ...to have my heart and mind transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. He does that! Are you ready for that? Are you eager for that?

Remember the eagerness with which you prepared for your graduation? What about how eager you were for your wedding day to arrive? Can you remember the eagerness in your mind and in your heart as you walked down the aisle and were whisked off to the wedding reception? (Don’t read these questions too fast. Slow down and really chew on what it means to be EAGER.) How eager is my husband for March Madness and the Final Four? Ladies, what about the eagerness you had each time your body swelled with a child? How eager we were during those last weeks, days, and then hours!

God waits for us to run to Him with greater eagerness than any we can imagine? He wants us to come running to him with hunger and anticipation because he stands ready to lavish His love on us! If you don’t have that sense of eagerness, I hope you’ll just stop what you’re doing right now and ask Him for it. Make a list of some things you are truly grateful for. Then sing one or two of your favorite worship tunes. STOP. Resist your urge to check another thing off your list, schedule another appointment, start more laundry, tidy up, run an errand, make another phone call, read another email, post on another blog. Just stop. Make RIGHT NOW a moment to practice your eagerness before God and see what He plants in your soul when you dwell with Him. If you have a small child at home who needs your attention, won’t you bring him/her up into your arms right now and explain that he/she and mommy or daddy are going to take 10 minutes just to be with Jesus?

I want to be eager to be still and KNOW that HE IS GOD. I've been reading in Hebrews and love chapter 10. Verses that inspired me today included Hebrews 10:19-25. Phrases that are challenging me include "let us draw near to God with sincere heart and full assurance of faith," and "let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful," and "let us spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Now that just makes me want to eagerly dive in for more!

Lisa