How To Begin A New Year
You can begin again, and it does not matter where you are, you can start over right now if you would like. A New Year seems to be an excellent time to begin something. We have just celebrated the passing of the old year, and it has a feel of turning over a new page or starting out fresh, the slate is clean.
There is a beautiful prayer offered by the Psalmist:
Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
1 Search me (v.23)
This shows that we come to God with our hands raised in surrender. We are inviting a close inspection by from our Heavenly Father to turn the searchlight on our lives. Nothing in our lives is off limits to the Lord! The only way to grow and be better is to allow the God who created and loves us to make sure we are holding nothing back or keeping things hidden. You cannot hide from God, a part of total surrender is to give everything to God! No better way this first week of a new year than to say God give me a thorough search, I want you to have all of me!
Know my heart. The heart is the center of our being. It contains everything that goes into making me who I am.
The heart is the center of our lives
The heart is the wellspring(Prov 4:23)
The heart is what the Lord considers ( 1 Sam. 16:7)
God knows us, He knows who we are when no one is looking. He knows who we really are, not just who we want people to believe we are deep down. Rather than a fearful thing, it is a great thing to be known by God. Because He knows us the best, and He still loves us!
2 Test me (vv.23-24)
Tests serve as a valid standard of evaluation. The purpose of God’s analysis and evaluation is to reveal the person of Christ, and a test shows once again that you can trust and depend on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Know my thoughts
David prayed that God would read his mind
David is asking for God to reveal offensive attitudes and habits and actions and to cleanse them.
We must never come to the place where we think we have arrived. We must continually be open to the work of God in our lives.
3 Lead me (v.24)
What a great prayer, just to acknowledge that we need the leading of God in our lives daily and through the year and all of the days ahead. in praying this way The psalmist is seeking two essential items
David asks for direction We have never been here before, so we need guidance.
Guidance: God will guide us through our lives. I must rely on and depend on His guidance. He has led me, and He has led me to places I never dreamed possible, and I have learned I can trust His leadership.
Keep asking the Lord To search, test and lead you throughout the year. May this be a year of dependence and following His leadership as well.
Keep asking the Lord To search, test and lead you throughout the year. May this be a year of dependence and following His leadership as welll
