“I had fainted, unless I had believed...” - Psalm 27.13

Ever feel like that?

Ever need that sort of reminder?

I was going over Psalm 27 this past week, and I have probably read this phrase, and quoted the verse a hundred times – literally!  But when I was going over it this past week it struck me just like that,

“I had fainted, unless I had believed...”

“God is not ashamed to be called their God…” -  Hebrews 11:16

“...decline...”

Proverbs 4.5

The word decline here means to bend away from.  It’s like a picture of someone walking along and being offered something but putting their hand out and veering away.  We also define it as to “politely refuse (an invitation or offer)”.

                                                          “...decline...”

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:

old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” - 2 Corinthians 5.17

Is there anything about my life that a person who is not a Christian – not a born again Christian – might want?

Not money, or job, or house etc., but something that has to do with “old things” passing away, and “all things” becoming new?

Is my Attitude something people might like to have?

Or maybe my Patience?

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day…” - Revelation 1.10

I thank the Lord for the “Lord’s Day”!

We call it by that name because it is the day Jesus rose from the dead, the first day of the week, Sunday by our modern calendar.

“That which was from the beginning,

which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,

which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled,

of the Word of life;”

1 John 1.1

The Apostle John once again gives us some pretty incredible thoughts here:  He had the amazing opportunity to KNOW the Lord Jesus while our Lord was on this earth!  He knew the living, breathing Jesus in the flesh.  He never really “got over it” - Amen!

“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am;” - John 17.24

These are the words Jesus prayed the night He was crucified.  I think of them often because I am amazed and humbled that the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to be with Him!

“I will that they also... be with me”

Jesus is praying to His heavenly Father to let us be with Him!

“????????????????” - ???

What’s missing???

Does it matter???

If we wanted to know… if we wanted to know something… if we wanted to know anything… an answer – The Answer – to anything and everything, where would we look???

Can God help???  How can God help us find the answer???  All of the answers we need for the new year, for this life and the life hereafter???

Sometimes it may take some spiritual unscrambling with a prayerful heart looking into a the Bible...

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous, therefore, and repent.” - Revelation 3.19

Only God knows what the New Years hold, but one thing is true –

HE LOVES US!

Sometimes it’s good for us to realize that God’s love for us will not always seem pleasant, but it does not change the fact that He does love us!

Consider some example regarding the words of Christ in Revelation 3:19. When did the Lord Jesus Christ ever rebuke and chasten those He loved?

“What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?” - Psalm 116.12-13

God has been so good to me for another year!  What can I do for the LORD because He has been so good to me?!

This is the question in the verse above.

When we see all that God has done for us, when we focus on Him and His work in our lives and count our many blessings – we may also find ourselves asking, “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?”