For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
--Psalm 84:11
Not only have we ended a year, but we have ended a decade. And as I thought back across the last ten years, I feel truly blessed for how much favor God has poured out on our lives, our family, our church, and PowerPoint Ministries.
The decade didn’t seemingly start out so great. I was recovering from cancer surgery, and I felt discouraged, down, depressed, and so very mortal. And while my cancer was under control, I was still fighting personal battles. As I end the decade, things could not be more different, cancer free for ten years is just one of the highlights. While we started the decade with one beautiful grandchild, Deb and I now I have eight. Our church has been booming in growth. And PowerPoint now broadcasts the Gospel across the Globe.
One thing that has made a huge impact on me over the last decade has been each year deciding upon a “word.” In Jon Gordon’s book One Word, he explains a great way to live a life of impact and influence. Instead of creating goals and New Year’s resolutions, he suggests that one word should be your driving force for the year. No goals, no wish lists, just one word that will describe your focus and aspirations for the year.
In reflecting upon this last decade, I am filled with gratitude and can only see God’s hand of favor on my life, my wife, my family, my church, and our ministry. So my word for this year is “favor.”
“Favor” is a word that gets so misused, because it is often tied to a quid pro quo, a this for that, help requested or even expected because of a relationship or perhaps with an expectation of a return favor. That is not the “favor” of the Bible. The “favor” of the Bible is akin to grace; it is unearned blessing. Favor is not bestowed because of what we have done, but because of what He has done.
It is true as today’s verse says we are to walk uprightly in order to receive favor, but make no mistake, favor is what God intends for us and gives us. And it is so good. As Jeremiah wrote, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
As growing believers, we know favor is what God desires for us, and not necessarily what we want. I asked my lovely, precocious eight-year old granddaughter what her word for the year was and she said “fashion!” Now as her grandfather who loves to spoil her, I could definitely provide her lots of whatever fashion is “hip” with the eight year olds, but the favor she will receive are the things she truly needs. (And perhaps some princess costumes as well.)
Likewise, at the beginning of this decade when I was in recovery from surgery, I was fearful of cancer’s return, anxious, and depressed, yet God’s favor was upon me just as much as it was yesterday. This experience has given me an invigorated faith in his healing, greater love and empathy for those who are hurting, new friends, opportunities to share my faith, restored physical energy and health, and allowed the rest of the decade to be even more meaningful.
So in 2020 my goal will be to seek his face and find His favor everyday. Some doors will be opened due His favor and some may be closed due to His favor. I will seek to walk uprightly, so that I don’t miss His favor and can truly appreciate it when it arrives.
May you also experience God’s favor in your life this year.
A Way to Walk in a New Year
Wednesday, January 01, 2020
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
Psalm 1:1–3
Over the years I’ve read a lot of New Year’s Resolutions made by different people. Many people use the start of a new year as a time to try to reach a specific goal, perhaps related to their health, their finances, their time management, or their spiritual lives. I have never yet seen anyone announce their resolution to have a complete failure of a year—to be fruitless and unrooted, to wither away and not have anything they do succeed.
Yet God’s Word draws a clear distinction for us between those who walk in His way and those who do not. All of the positives that are promised to those who love God’s Word and meditate in it and obey it are denied to those who do not. “The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away” (Psalm 1:4). While we would not make a resolution to fail, if we do not develop roots in God’s Word, we will fail in the ways that matter most.
Obediently following God and reaping the blessings and rewards that follow requires a conscious and dedicated effort. We are surrounded by the counsel of the ungodly, the work of sinners, and the negative attitudes of the scornful. Yet, God offers us the refreshing, life-giving, Word of God. When we find our delight within its truths, we will think on it and obey it…and we will experience the good fruit of it in our lives.
Today's Growth Principle:
The path to success in all parts of life begins by conforming our walk to God’s Word.
Have a Blessed Happy New Year! 
|
No comments:
Post a Comment