Are You Ready for 2008

Are you ready for what God wants to do in your life in 2008?

What does this year hold? Where is God taking you? What is He asking you to do? What is He asking you to NOT do? Who is He going to bring into your life to bless you, teach you, and correct you? Who is He bringing into your life for you to serve, teach, bless, and correct?

Are you OPEN to any of these things as God would give them to you? Are you absolutely closed to all of God's desires? Are you partially open to God's directions? Are you sold out to God's will for your life?

Is God calling you to be more, do more, experience more?

Are you ready for the adventure?

Too many of us are completely closed to God and His will for our life. We're consumed with selfishness and 100% bent on doing our own thing our own way and we don't give a rip about God or what He wants. Are we ready for the consequences of this decision, both in this life and the next?

Many of us are willing to acknowledge a belief in God, but we still want to be in charge of our life and do what we want, how we want, when we want. God is just a minor character in the musical of our life. Are we ready for the consequences of this decision? Do we realize we're robbing ourselves? Do we realize that God longs to do so much more in our life and through our life? How can we become so self-absorbed and thus blind to the reality that we are not the biggest and most important character in this musical? We don't know it all! We can't do it all! We can't be it all!

But, are we being all we CAN be? Are we living the adventure that our life is meant to be in following God? Are we hearing God speak? Are we seeing God move? Are we seeing the miracles and answers to prayer? Are we seeing peoples needs met and lives changed?

At what point do we become dissatisfied with nominal and humdrum? At what point do we become heart-achingly disturbed at our lack of God's presence and activity in our life? At what point do we get fed up with having just man-sized results that we can accomplish in our own strength? At what point do we get sick of all the self-absorbed drama and break out into a full and whole life that is no longer just lived in my comfort zone and security?

When do I step out on the edge? When do I begin to get nervous? When do I begin to feel excited? When do I experience the joy? When do I experience the struggle? When do I feel the urgency and desperation to be all God's called me to be and do all God's called me to do?

Most people look at a new year as an opportunity to start fresh. They make New Years Resolutions. They grasp at a chance and a hope that maybe with a clean slate and a fresh start, things will be different.

The truth is... they can be, but for most... they won't be. Why? One reason... they won't commit whole-heartedly to God's way.

While truly sincere, they truly will not change! They'll start out making some changes, but when it gets too hard, too uncomfortable, too costly, or when something else looks too good to pass up they will cave in to the temptation to give up in their commitment to change. They may start out going God's way, but they end up going down a different path, following a different set of directions.

You may have started out making a cake, but when you stop following the cake directions and start following the directions for making Egg Rolls, you're going to have a very unpleasant and dissatisfying experience. Who's to blame? Betty Crocker? No! We the cook are the ones who broke from the clear instructions.

As a follower of Christ, I challenge you to consider who called you to live the status quo or to make such your goal and agenda in life? I challenge you to answer the question... what is God's will for my life? I dare you to ask God, sincerely, what do you want to do in my life? Even more scary... give God the permission and freedom to do it!

What will your life look like when God's done with it? Well... we know it'll be more like Jesus in love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But don't forget it'll also be more like Jesus in power, sacrifice, miracles, sufferings, hearing from God, disapproval from close relationships, people's lives being changed as they turn follow Jesus, and people rejecting the work of Jesus and you His messenger.

Does God really want to do great things in and through your life? What dream has God placed in your heart and mind that could change the world in some small or big way? What's keeping you from doing it? Remember, God used normal every day people to do amazing things. He turned a shepherd into a king. He used fisherman to carry His message and do miracles. He used a farmer to do miracles and declare His special message. He himself came to this earth as a humble carpenter.

Whatever limits you've placed on you or God I encourage you to remove them. Let this year be a year unlike any other. Let it be a year where you experience the life changing power of Jesus and fully commit to His way of doing things to get His results. Determine to NEVER say "no" to God, but instead to trust Him and know He's leading you into life to the full, life at it's best. He knows what will have the greatest impact in your life and how your life may have it's greatest impact in the world for His kingdom.

Don't hold tightly to the things of this world. Don't let job, money, things, fame, or pleasures mislead and consume you getting you off track of where God wants to take you. Don't think that God won't ever call you to a change... where you live, where you work, what you do, who you do it with.

What God has in mind for your life is so much bigger than anything you could think up or do yourself. Will you experience it? That depends on the degree you are surrendered and committed to doing things the Jesus way and following the leading of His Spirit in your life.

I want to encourage you to follow after God with no reservation and to fully trust Him and fully obey Him in all things and every area of life. This is where the adventure is experienced! This is where the miracles are seen! This is where the blessings are found! This is where life is at it's fullest!

The call is to "Come and follow me." not "Come and follow me, sometimes."

Let's fan into flame that passion. Let's revive that unwavering unquenchable faith and spirit that we started out with seeking after God and all He has for us, and let's let 2008 be a year that is NOT just good, and NOT just better, but a year that is truly GREAT!