It’s a new year, Lord.
Again.
I have far fewer years ahead than behind, yet there is so much
I still have not attained in my life with You.
I tend to depend on learning in order to grow,
but I’m coming to realize that is not the way of Your Spirit.
Real change and growth come from a different source
than just knowing and accepting the truth.
In this new year I seek You, for Yourself.
The words that are drawing me are freedom, liberty, and joy.
I want to truly experience Your life, not just learn about You.
Come, dear one; come to Me, Myself. Put away all the tools and strategies of man in all his wisdom. I am the Source of all that you need. When you come to Me and to My word, lay aside your preconceived notions of who I am and what I am saying to you. I am infinitely more than you have understood, and My word to you, like My mercy, is new every day.
I am doing something new. Will you see it? Will your join Me in it? The grace I extend to you is far greater than you have yet appropriated. It is a miracle that you stand before Me forgiven and redeemed by My own provision, and the provision of My Spirit living in you every day to meet every need is no less of a miracle.
You are part of My new covenant which was sealed by My own blood. This covenant does not depend on your ability to be holy, but on Mine. My life and holiness replace your life and your filthy rag version of righteousness. You are no longer bound by your efforts to obey, constantly sabotaged by your weaknesses and appetites.
Dare to believe, not just with your mind, but putting the full weight of your trust on My faithfulness, that I have provided all I promise and will bring to completion all that I have begun in you.
This is freedom. This is liberty. This is joy. Abandon yourself to My grace and embrace each ordinary day with wonder that I have provided grace. When difficulty interrupts, do not look at your own limited resources, but run to Me as a helpless child runs to a parent, confident that I can sustain, provide, and work even this for your good.
Rejoice; yes, rejoice in the hard times and in the good times. I never leave you alone and will draw all the nearer as you draw near to Me. You were never meant to carry life on your own. The One who loves you most is Me, God Almighty! Rejoice!
Lamentations 3:22-23; Isaiah 43:18-19; Colossians 1:13-14; Colossians 2:25-28;
Galatians 2:16,20-21; Philippians 1:6; Romans 8:1-2, 18, 26-28; James 4:7-10;
James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 5:6, 7, 10
His Unfolding Grace 