A Good Word--For the New Year

You shall not go out with haste...for the Lord will
go before you, and the God of Israel will be your
rear guard--Isaiah 52:12

Security from Yesterday
"...God requires that which is past." (Ecl 3:15) 
At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all 
that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to 
arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present 
enjoyment of God's grace is apt to be checked by yes-
terday's sins and blunders. But God is the God of our 
yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in or-
der to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth 
for the future. God reminds us of the past to protect 
us from a shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow
"The Lord will go before you." 
This is a gracious revelation, that God will send his 
forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep 
watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the 
same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were 
not our "rear guard." And God's hand reaches back to 
the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.

Security for Today
"For you shall not go out in haste..." 
As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the 
haste of impetuous, forgetful delight nor with the quick-
ness of the impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out 
with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel 
will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable 
things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities 
which will never return, but God can transform this de-
structive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness of 
the future. Let the past sleep, but let is sleep on the bo-
som of Christ. Leave the broken Irreversible Past in His 
hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future IN HIM. 
Oswald Chambers

Reader, this was passed to me by a dear Russian friend.
It comes from My Utmost For His Highest on Dec 31.
Chambers has balanced our failures, our sorrows, with
our gracious God "who can and does transform de-
structive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness of
the future.' Open the scripture and spend time with Him
in this New Year, long enough to hear Him speak a per-
sonal word to you. Don't forget to write it down...

Lord of All!

God also highly exalted him.   Philippians 2:9

Child in the manger,
Infant of Mary;
Outcast and stranger,
   Lord of all!
Child who inherits
   All our transgressions,
All our demerits
   On Him fall.

Once the most holy
   Child of salvation
Gently and lowly
   Lived below;
Now as our glorious
   Mighty Redeemer,
See Him victorious
   O'er each foe.

Prophets foretold Him,
   Infant of wonder;
Angels behold Him
   On His throne;
Worthy our Savior
   Of all their praises;
Happy forever
   Are His own.
Mary MacDonald 1817-1890
Tr Lachlan MacBean 1853-1931

Reader, take the time this season to ponder His
birth and His death together. Then go to the
first chapter of Genesis where this Baby spoke
the worlds into existence.

He is Going On

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestined according to the purpose of him who 
works all things, after the counsel of his own will.
Ephesians 1:11

We need to recover an assurance and confidence and con-
viction that, however things may seem--through all things, 
over all things, behind all things, God is pursuing His 
counsels--He is going on.

Ceaseless action, undeviating in course, with tremendous 
energy, He is working all things after the counsel of HIs 
own will.

Sometimes, as we look out, we wonder if God is doing 
anything, and in our prayer times we try to get God to do 
something. What we need is to realize that God is doing, 
and we need to get into line with His doings...

For He is going, and He is going in our day; it can be seen--
more or less--in the world. But, seen or not seen, the fact 
remains--or our Bible is not right, and Paul was mistaken! 
And I am glad always to recognize this: that when Paul 
stopped traveling about the world and had all his tremen-
dous activities among the nations curtailed, it was then that 
he saw the goings of God from eternity, it was then that he 
wrote this letter to the Ephesians, containing the eternal 
counsels of God.

It is a wonderful thing, is it not? When we are taken out 
of our work, when we cannot run about and do all sorts of 
things, when we are perhaps physically unable to do any-
thing, God is going on.

Sometimes we think that, when we stop, God has to stop,
and if we do not go, well, God will not be able to go! Oh
no, He is going on--He is going on! May we be helped to
understand His goings, and to get into His goings.
T Austin-Sparks 1888-?  God dealt with a deep prejudice
and brought this man into a deeper ministry where Christ
was always first. I have read some of his books and I love
what this man has written.

Reader, when you watch the news, see what is going on be-
hind the news, wondering what tomorrow will bring, does
not your heart sometimes sink? The author hits the nail on
the head, that no matter what we see, think, or feel, God is
going on. His will is a certainty, regardless of the things
we are experiencing. AND, old age is nothing to Him and
His purposes!

What a Savior!

For there is one God and one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as 
a ransom for all men...1 Timothy 2:5, 6

What a Savior is Jesus! How fully worthy is He of our
fullest praise! He stooped to us that He might put His
hand upon us, degraded though we were, and He has
done it tenderly and graciously, so that we are not afraid.

There is no terror for us in His hand, we do not shrink
from Him. He has touched us with the touch of a man,
and bound us with the cords of love. Yet was never less
than God, and God has touched us in Him. He has put 
one hand upon us and the other is placed upon the throne 
of God, and He is the one mediator. With the one hand He
has offered the fullest satisfaction to the righteous claims
of God, and with the other He has bestowed fullness of
grace upon us. He brings us to God and gives us a place
in His presence without fear, and in everlasting peace, a
peace established upon the infallible and immoveable
foundation of divine righteousness, secured for us by a
divine person for the eternal glory of God.

Thus we are justified before God, and all our fear is re-
moved and we are free to behold the hand that has been
placed upon us, and to mark the fact it is a wounded hand:
a hand that was nail-pierced for us when He identified
Himself with us, as we stood subject to the judgement of
God, that He might save us. We know the power of this
hand too: it has smitten death for us and will not relinquish 
its hold upon us forever. He will never surrender that 
true humanity which He has taken up, and as He is, so are 
they also who are His. The purpose of God is that we 
should be conformed to His own image. And so we shall 
be, and yet never shall we forget that He is "over all, God, 
blessed forever. JT Mawson 1873-1943
Such a sweet biography:
http://www.stempublishing.com/hymns/biographies/mawson.html

Reader, I have been pondering the conception and birth of
our Savior. His beginning made the cross and our salvation
possible. "The purpose of God is that we should be con-
formed to His own image. And so we shall be..."
May your heart soar this season, and give thanks, for such
an awesome salvation that keeps on giving!

It's All in the Timing

My words...will come true at their proper time.
Luke 1:20
What the Lord has said...will be accomplished!
Luke 1:45

Matthew Henry said, We can depend on God to fulfill
His promise, even when all roads leading to it are closed.
'For no matter how many promises God has made, 
they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the 
"Amen" (so be it) is spoken by us to the glory of God.'  
(2 Corinthians 1:20)

Reader, I love these verses. My soul sings at the trust-
worthiness of God to His children. It does not depend
on what I do, but on what He does. Hallelujah! So be it!

Weariness

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men
stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength. They will soar on wings
like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they
will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:30-31

The spiritual life is not passive. Too often it may look that 
way when we speak of ceasing from ourselves and  our own 
efforts. The point is that we need to learn to live and serve 
by the power God has provided, not self-effort. A true spiri-
tual life is even more active, enlarged and vital because the 
limitless power of God energizes us. Normally the spiritual 
Christian will occupy himself with effective service for his 
Lord. We should be yielded and ready to do whatever He
may choose. Spirit-filled Christians are quite likely to feel
physical exhaustion at the close of the day the same as other
people. They are weary in the work, but not weary of the 
work.  Lewis Sperry Chafer--1871-1952

Reader, when I am being energized by the Holy Spirit rather
than my own fleshly efforts, the task seems too easy. I come
away from a day of nudges by my Lord, with a deep sense
of satisfaction. As I get older, I have to be careful to do only
what I am given by the Lord--I wear out fast, so there are
gaps in my day that He fills with His requests. Works out
very well!

Something to Ponder

Have I been so long with you, and yet have you not known 
me? John 14:9

So immensely are our lives below the mark as nominal
Christians that we have next to no idea of the distance
at which we walk from God, and when the soul is turned
to seek Him only, we discover we have been leaning on
the love and approval of others and not upon the Father's
love alone. 
George Wigram of the nineteenth century.
The following is a very powerful biography of a man that
I knew nothing about.
http://sueyounghistories.com/archives/2009/07/09/george-vicesimus-wigram-1805-–-1879/

Reader, I continue to be confronted with the church of
a previous century when there were so many men and
women who had a grip on scripture and lived out what
they taught. How is it that a man of that century felt that
the Christians were living below the mark of a nominal
Christian? With all of our toys and conveniences, how
can we really know the Father's love for us? As I talk to
others this, feeling unloved by God, comes up frequently.

Mary brought forth her first born and called Him Jesus--
Emanuel, God with us.