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These past couple of weeks have flown by and its already two weeks into a new year. It seems as if days are less than twenty-four hours lately, because there never seems to be enough time to get everything done we need to do.

Christmas has come and went and 2011 is here and yet we get so far behind it seems it will be Christmas again before we catch up on everything. Sometimes, life just gets in the way of our plans. But it is a new year, a new time to reflect on the past, and time to start over and make this year better than the last.

We all do it, at least subconsciously, and yet we never seem to complete the task. What am I talking about? New Year’s resolutions of course. Usually by a couple weeks into the year we have already broken our resolutions at least somewhat.

I started on another blog post about resolutions but it became so large that I have decided to offer it instead as a book. Yes, a real book. I will probably make it available as well in formats suitable for e-book readers, free for a limited time.  I will do my best to keep the costs down in printed format because I truly believe it contains principles that is vital for making ministries grow and blossom into the revival we all want. Stay tuned for that! In fact, bug me about it if you do not hear about it soon. :)

Did You Accomplish All You Wanted in 2010?

I know I didn’t. Not only in my personal life, but in doing things for God that I had made great strides toward. Sometimes, it is difficult looking back over a year and seeing the places we have slipped and the trials and tests that have come our way. Maybe we have lost friends or loved ones, perhaps a job, or maybe even our home.

It can be very gloomy at times to reflect back on the year if things did not work out the way we planned.  I have to admit there were situations that arose in my life last year that, while I did not cause them to happen, hurt me in many ways and really tested my faith. Sometimes our dreams even when we are serving God can come crashing down around us.

We can begin the new year thinking about all that we went through and be sad about it, or we can look at the fact that it is a new year and start again. It is much more productive if we take the lessons we have learned and make this year even better. That is my hope for 2011. I want to accomplish more for God this year and get a fresh outlook on new possibilities in my life rather than being weighed down by the past.

Quit Crying Over Spilled Milk

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.    

Lamentations 3:22-23

With God, we only have to wait until tomorrow to find new mercies. Isn’t that amazing? There are  situations we find ourselves in where we may have let down our guard or even failed in our walk, and it can be very trying on our mind. But the bible says ‘his mercies are new every morning.’ In a sense he is saying, ‘quit moping about what happened yesterday.’ It is a new day, move on and do better.

The Apostle Paul talked about dying daily. While he did not mean we need to take our life, he meant that the sins or problems we got ourselves into, we need to just repent about it, forgive ourselves, and move on.

I used to have a friend that his wife came to God, but he did not for quite a while. He was a nice guy. He would give the shirt off his back to anyone, and you could always find him doing something to help other people. He seemed like the perfect person to be in church, but the only times he came was for Christmas programs or Easter. Unfortunately, many are like that.

However, he started trying to come more for his little boy and before long he was always there. He would sing the songs, fellowship after church, always go to the altar and pour out his heart to God, but it took a few months before he got the Holy Ghost. He was so excited. He started getting rid of anything in his life that he felt was not pleasing to God.

I sat by him at church camp. It had only been a couple weeks since he prayed through, and you would have thought he had served God his whole life. He whooped, shouted, sang, and danced with the best of them. He was so thrilled that he had God in his life. It was a great thing to see. He even talked some about maybe becoming a preacher in his little town. Whether he meant as a pastor, or just being a witness I do not know.

However, about two weeks after church camp, one of his old friends had lost someone, and was going fishing and he was invited along. He went with the intention of being a comfort and a witness to his friend.

However, out there on the water it was hot and the fish were few and far between, and his friend offered him a beer. Without thinking about it, he drank it. It was what he had always done before he was saved.

He missed church that following Sunday morning but managed to make it to the evening service but it was obvious something was wrong. Over a few short weeks, he stopped coming, him and his wife started having problems in their marriage, and before you knew it, they were separated and the excitement and vigor he had about God was gone.

I spent a lot of time working with him, praying, talking, just hanging out, but it became clear to me after a few weeks that he wasn’t coming back to church. I struggled it with it very hard, and one day after several weeks I asked him why he stopped and he told me about the beer.

I tried to explain to him that he could just ask forgiveness, that no one was going to blame him, but in the end he could not forgive himself. He could not come to terms with the fact that God forgives, even when we struggle to do so ourselves.

His mercies are new every morning!

Too many times we get caught up in a situation that takes us down a path we never intended to go. We can keep on that path knowing that it leads to trouble, or we can get up and brush ourselves off and switch lanes.  I have seen so many people over the years that are on fire for God, some with even a definite call to the ministry and some circumstance comes up and before you know it, they are out the door.

Oh, sure, they still love God. They are still good people. But many times, they rationalize their change in behavior as ‘God still understands.’ I agree he does, but he has set before us life and death, and it is up to us to choose life. We all have situations in our lives that can knock us down, but we have to keep in mind that his mercies are new every morning!

And here we are a brand new year. Not just a new day, but a whole year ahead of us! What are we going to do with it? Become new! Start fresh. Make this year the best of your life so far.

As a reminder, I have included downloadable links to a new twitter background below. It is free and available just for reading this article. How is that for a deal?

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