My 2010 Resolutions | Part 4


Some of you are thinking.....Why in the world is she making this one of her resolutions?

Well, the whole goal behind this study is to turn normal every year resolutions from 'lose weight', 'lift weights', 'join a gym', 'clean more', 'spend more time at home', 'eat out less', 'get organized', 'complete a yearly bible reading plan'........on and on and on!!!

I purposely stop at the bible reading plan.....you have NO idea how many times I have actually started one of those and NEVER completed it.  Ok, I'm not saying they are bad;  if they work for you then that's great, do it!  I followed those as a child and thought I was accomplishing something, because I would get a prize for completing it at the end of the year!  Even recognition in front of the entire congregation.  And- yes it stuck with me....like scripture says, the word has been hidden in my heart and will not return void.  I read it as a story book, not a study guide on how to live my life.

I feel this part of the study is the perfect place to say, 

We must start Living Every Year to Grow in the Word! There is room for improvement in all of us!

I dare you to ask God to reveal areas of your life where you need to grow more.

Watch Him work in you.  Ask him to show you how to live according to his Word.  I bet he jumps with joy to hear our new year resolutions are to better ourselves for Him not for us!  Amen?

This could be the best thing you ever do for yourself.  It was for me! Let me just say; IT WORKS!

Why?  Because we have His strength - power working in us.

Embrace My Plan and Purpose

Let's get to our topic verse for Part 4 of My 2010 Resolutions!

What's my purpose? (1)

"For I know the plans (2) I have for you;

declares the Lord,

plans to prosper (3) you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope(4) and a future (5)." NIV

1. Purpose: God fulfills his purpose for me.

Psalm 57:2

His purpose for me, not what we think is our purpose.

Proverbs 19:21 from the Message bible reads:

We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails.

Isaiah 14:24

The Lord Almighty has sworn,

"Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand!"

Isaiah 55:8-11

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow

come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes from my mouth;

It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Job 36:5

God is mighty and firm in his purpose.

2.  Plans: Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

Proverbs 16:3

Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed. AMP

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9

He always has a plan for us, no matter if we mess up the first one or not!  In the end He will achieve His ultimate plan for our future!

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:5

He will never give up on us even when we have given up on ourselves.

But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Psalm 33:11

He delights in us and knows the deepest desires of our hearts!

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. Psalm 20:4

3.  Prosper: The Lord wants us to be successful in all things.

Joshua 1:8

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful.

The Message bible paraphrases it...

Don't get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you're going. And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it.  Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed.  Haven't I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don't be timid; don't get discourage. God, your God, is with you every step you take.

The enemy preys on our fears.  We must take captive every negative thought that enters our minds.

2 Timothy 1:7 says..

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind!

Though beginnings may seem small, so properous will our future be! Job 8:7

4. Hope: The Lord is my hope.

Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:5

Sometimes all we need is a power boost of some hope!  There are over 174 references to hope throughout the bible.  Here are a few...

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24

We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. Psalm 33:20

I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. Psalm 71:14

You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. Psalm 119:114

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. Isaiah 40:31

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. Lam 3:25

5.  Future:  The Solution Is Life on God's Terms! 

What the enemy intends for harm, the Lord turns for good!  There is nothing we will go through in our lives that the Lord will not use to fullfill our ultimate purpose and future!

Read Romans 8 from the Message bible and see what the Word has to say about our lives, past, present and future! I ask you to read this slow and let the Lord speak to you as you meditate on his word!

Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from the hands of sin and death.

Instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored. 

If God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him.

So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!  And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!  That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.  The longer we wait, the more joyful our expectancy.  Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He knows us far better than we know ourselves. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. God knew what he was doing from the very beginning.  So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose?  The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.