I’ve started a new devotional this year. It is called, Morning by Morning, the devotions of Charles Spurgeon with updates from Jim Reimann. In today Charles writes that Jesus Christ was made to be a covenant for the people–you and I are included in this covenant. He goes on to say that our blessed Jesus, as God, is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. So, does He have the power we need to strengthen us, subdue our enemies and sustain us? Does He have the love we need? He asks us to dive into His immense ocean of love and say, “This is all mine!” Lastly, he asks if He has the justice we need? This justice is the assurance that everything promised in this covenant will be secured for us (me).

As I continued in my devotions I then read this sentence, “The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness.” The covenant God made with Jesus for you and me included His work to help us become more and more like Him in our very nature. All I ever wanted in life was to NOT be like my father or like my one brother. This morning my eyes were opened to the possibility of becoming more and more like Jesus. As I began to pray and recognize the limited scope of vision I’ve had, I rejected it and asked Jesus to replace this mindset I’ve had with the beauty of His character He’s been wanting to give to me (to each of us) as we (I) recognize and surrender our all to Him.

Can you see yourself jumping into this “ocean of love” Jesus has for us? I don’t swim well at all, but as I pictured myself jumping into this ocean of love I simply floated in it. This all sounds to good to be true, but this is what God is instilling into me now that I know I’m a new creation. It is one day at a time and one moment at a time. Today, each moment of this day I want to praise Him for lifting my eyes to Him rather than where they have so often been–on the ills of man.

What a nice quiet beginning to a new year. Yesterday was one of those for which you sit back and say, “Now, that was nice.” The morning had us dismantling the tree and rearranging the family room’s furniture so I can now be in my rut for 11 months where I am most comfortable. Some of the kids and grandkids came for lunch and the afternoon where we played games. The evening was with Hallmark movies. That is a perfect example of a calm beginning.

I am sensing God’s leading for this year to be the one of total surrender. I’ve thought for several years that I have been, but this past year has brought to the surface the areas of fear I dreaded and had them faced. The main one of these has been the belief of being a new creation. For 6 months now I’ve lived knowing and believing I am one. I always had this hope that if this were possible then I’d be free of all temptations which looked anything like dad or my brother. A new creation couldn’t look like them. Well, truth be told, a new creation is still one of human flesh. Human flesh does have temptations just like all men do. The difference–acting on them.

What will be a new experience for this coming year will be to not fight temptations with my will power that often loses, but to learn what genuine surrender is like as a new creation. Learning what relying on the strength of surrender truly is. I’m going to face the voices that say a 70 year old man has lived too long to genuinely know this. I’ll be a student of Jesus Christ’s lessons as long as I’m alive in this body of flesh. So, this new year will be year 1 of being a new creation living surrendered one day at a time.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I’ve never thought about the fact that New Year’s always comes in the dead of winter. The shortest days of sunlight are upon us, the weather is cold and dreary, yet it is a new year. Be happy! This tells me that I cannot let the circumstances which surround me determine my happiness. It has to be something much greater than circumstances/environment. This is why the assurance of Jesus Christ becomes so important. No matter what the circumstances are for which we face, Jesus Christ stands far above them all and He is right within us with His Holy Spirit to empower us so we can walk through them one day at a time, one moment at a time. I love this about Jesus and His relationship with us!

I was amazed last night at Celebrate Recovery to find that only a few of the regulars were present, but unexpectedly there were two couples with young children who came. Their reasons for coming sounded the same, they were hurting and needed support. What was causing the hurt was very different for each, but the underlying support needed was the same. They needed hope for their future and hope seemed to be what they found as they spoke with us.

I am always so amazed how God works and how unexpectedly He shows up. I pray this New Year has many unexpected blessings for you from God our Father. May He show up for you in places you never expected. This has been so true for me, even in this past year of unexpected trials. Our God is always Faithful and True. I give this year to Him and thank Him this day for it!

Wow! The last day of this 2020 year. Some have called this year the worst year of the century. Personally, I will just say that it has been a year to watch and see how God orchestrates outcomes which are beyond the reach of man. Our country, our world, our universe was all created by the same God. Man was place on this earth and given dominion over it with the understanding that God was its creator. Today man seems to think he is the one who can orchestrate our world’s outcomes ignoring the key–we are not the creator–GOD is. God asked us to be good stewards of what He has given us. He never told us to try and replace Him. My firm belief is that we are stepping into the reality of man’s attitude towards God. What a sad reality too.

All of this doesn’t mean that God is not working. For each of us who do believe and who do want His Son to be Lord of all, we trust Him and rely on Him. Yesterday was a great example of Christ Jesus at work. Just as I’d finished my devotions I got a call that one of our men’s grandson had taken his life–19 years of age. Right after that call I got another one saying he’d been kicked out of his residence. He has been sober for over a year but he relapsed and he has to be out of the residence today. Could I help, he asked? Late afternoon I did an inventory with a young man who is in the step study we presently have going for men. By last night the inventory had given tremendous Light from God to this young man. The other man found a place that welcomes him today. The grandpa and wife headed to their daughter’s home to offer God’s Grace at this most troubling time. Our prayers continue to be with them.

This is the God I know and serve. What God is doing at the scale of our country, world and universe–I leave to Him. He asks me to join Him where I am and where I see Him working. This is what I want to do faithfully for Him and with Him as this year ends and as the new one begins tomorrow.

I am always amazed seeing God work. Sometimes we get to be directly connected to it which is a great honor. I watched a young man yesterday be awakened to some realities in his life as he shared his inventory with God, himself and me. The issues within the inventory are his to tell, but the outcomes of his telling are much like all of us who go through the process–God sheds tremendous LIGHT showing what our next steps are for finding great freedom from the bondage of sin and replacing it with the surrender of ourselves.

This morning I finished reading II Kings. What an endless accounting of men, just like you and me, who would not let go of their selfishness to realize the beauty of living for our Great God. Maybe its because my relationship today is much better with God, but I shake my head in grief wondering why we endlessly continue the sins of the past as we live in the presence of today. We are not good students of history or we would not continue to repeat it as we do. Some say the greater the sin, the stronger the bond man has with God once we turn it over to Him.

I lived in the denial of sin’s effect for much of my life not wanting to face it within me. However, now that I have, I ache for others to know the difference between living committed to God, surrendering all to Him, verses living in the tentacles of sin’s grip. This grip was seen yesterday by the young man I mentioned above. Today he is beginning the life of stepping away from it. The journey is not easy, but his determination is strong and he has the King of the universe now fighting his battle with him. Praise God!

The house is very quiet–the first indication that everyone is gone except Kathy who is snoozing away. There are remnants in many places indicating that there has been a “grandkids’ storm” very recently, but it has subsided! The clean-up won’t take too long! It was a fun 48 hours having most of the family here.

Today starts with our quartet singing for a funeral of a man we had sung for only a couple weeks ago. Six days after we sang, he passed. His wife asked if we’d sing for his service which is in just a few hours. This afternoon I will listen to one of the young men in our step study as he tells me his inventory. This young man has shown nothing but commitment to his need for overcoming. I’m proud of him for this and today I pray God will open his eyes to what he needs to do for next steps and where he needs to let go.

The message of last Sunday regarding the new creation vs the old self is still being addressed. Today’s message hits it squarely. Paul, in Acts 23:1, describes the good conscience he had. He is saying, “Well, Lord, I can go to sleep with a perfectly good conscience”. He goes on to describe what he did to keep a good conscience. “Therefore I always exercise and discipline myself (putting to death my bodily cravings, deadening my carnal affections, bodily appetites and worldly desires) to have a clear conscience…” Joyce Meyers writes that our new creation is still flesh. The flesh still craves what could turn into sin if we act on it. The Holy Spirit’s presence within us is able to help us stop stepping into sin as we do as Paul is writing. I needed this clear message and it is so timely. God is always perfect in His timing!

Today the house of full of sleeping folks in most every room. I’m not sure how many spent the night as I went to bed soon after the two littlest grandkids did. My job is to feed everyone breakfast once they begin to arise. Christmas dinner and gift sharing came a few days late this year but it still happened. The unplanned part was that our Oklahoma kids were opening their gifts from us as the same time we were. Even the text messages had us filling our dishwashers at the same time. Fun little details making it not quite so sad we couldn’t all be together. May is coming in a few months so it will be nice to have us together then when the garden is growing!

My devotional message yesterday was in direct alignment with our Step Study lesson–Victory which took place yesterday late morning. Total surrender is the key. As I shared with the guys what God had opened my eyes to about the old self vs the new creation, the heads were nodding. I think everyone who comes to Celebrate Recovery struggles with self-esteem. Surrendering self to God is known to be important. The problem is that we want to surrender our old self hoping it will then give us a new self (creation). The fact we are already a new creation from accepting Christ into our hearts is lost in the lies we believe. These lies are some of the character defects we begin to replace with God’s Holy Spirit’s help. It has taken me a number of years to fully believe I am a new creation and not think that believing this is arrogant. In reality, it is one of the most humbling truths.

I love how relentless and kind The Holy Spirit is. He is not going to let us continue our walk with Jesus Christ believing Satan’s lies. One day at a time He keeps bringing these to the forefront of our minds until we finally see the truth. Thank You Father for this LOVE!

As I read my two devotionals this morning I was awakened to a reality which had not hit me until this now. The one devotional’s topic was Surrender. It had three subtopics for this larger one. They were: Surrender for Deliverance, Surrender for Devotion and Surrender for Death. Deliverance was about surrendering our will so we can be delivered from its attraction to evil. Devotion was about self so we can genuinely be devoted to living the life of Christ in us. The last, Death, is a matter of “being united with Jesus in the likeness of His death until nothing ever appeals to you that did not appeal to Him.”

As I was reading this passage in the devotional I was struck by the reality that today I am a new creation. I am no longer the man who is ashamed of the person God created. I have begun to know what self-love, self-appreciation and self-confidence is. So what hit me this morning is that today I can surrender not a defeated, abused believer; I can surrender a new creation! As this reality hit me I began to realize that it is the new creation for which the Holy Spirit resides. I was trying to have Him reside in the old self which was never going to be cleansed for Christ had replaced him with a new creation. Now that I have this firm belief grounded in me, I can surrender this new creation in these areas stated above: deliverance, devotion and death. I can grow into the truth where “nothing ever appeals to me that does not appeal to Christ Jesus”. This is one day at a time and I rejoice in this new Light as my journey continues.

Yes, the journey continues. Christmas is past by only one day, yet the celebration of family sharing will not happen until all of us can convene tomorrow. I hadn’t realized until yesterday how much the family sharing overshadows the genuine meaning of Christmas. I’ve always thought the sharing of gifts was similar to Christ sharing Himself for each of us. However, now having the reality of this separation, I easily see what I missed most of all yesterday was the assembling of everyone together. The gift of Christ’s birth is to be the sole reason we have a Christmas. I didn’t like realizing this morning that my actions reflect differently. Yes, I do get caught in the “giving of gifts–it is fun,” but I sure don’t want it overshadowing the best GIFT of all, Christ Jesus!

Today is Christmas! It is the birthday of our King of kings and Lord of lords. I love the fact that no matter the turmoil of our nation or any nation on earth, the genuine truth is no man is king and or lord for Jesus Christ alone is on this throne! Lets worship Him together this day and each day to come!

I have written about the changes for this Christmas. I think most of us are experiencing disruptions to our traditions this year. The one tradition which will not be disrupted is the truth of this celebration–Jesus Christ is born. Bethlehem was the birthplace for this baby who grew into His purpose for coming–Savior and Lord for all of mankind who will believe and accept Him as their personal Savior and Lord. One of my devotionals this morning reminded me that our heart is the personal Bethlehem for Jesus. He came so we could let Him be born in our hearts giving us new life–eternal life with Him, His Dad–Father God–and the precious Holy Spirit.

Don’t let the opportunity slip by if Jesus is not your personal Savior. We celebrate His birth in Bethlehem today and Jesus wants to celebrate with you when you let your heart be the new Bethlehem. Just ask Him to come into your heart and give you new life–the offering of eternal life with Him along with a much richer earthly life while we are here.

Merry Christmas everyone!