Maybe you should have known better.

Maybe you should have listened when people said ‘don’t go out! Don’t drive in that stuff!’

But…there you are, stuck in a snowdrift that you didn’t see until it was too late.

…and you thought your 4-Wheel-Drive SUV could not get stuck!

So, you make the humiliating phone call for assistance, you wait the agonizingly long time for the help to come..and you go home wishing you could get that time back.

Many of you have experienced something like this recently.

Getting stuck is bad enough…getting stuck when someone has told you not to push it is even worse!

However, you must remember: The important thing is NOT that you got stuck–the really important thing is that you’re ‘un-stuck’ now, and you have more wisdom and experience to avoid ‘stuck-ness’ later on.

Spiritually, many of us have experienced the same thing.

We’ve started on a path that someone–our parents, a friend, our Pastor…someone who cares about us has warned us not to go down.

We’ve gone anyway and ended up in a spiritual ditch. We’ve found that our morality crumbled, our relationship fizzled, our great plans went wrong.

Maybe we sinned. Maybe we just made a stupid decision. Whatever it was, we got ‘spiritually stuck’.

For others, it’s simply that we have stayed in the same spot for too long–we’ve lived as though we were stuck, when in fact we could be free!

In either case, we need to Move Forward!

We need to make a change!

We have lessons to learn from our past, but we want to move forward, into our future. Into the future of blessing, purpose, power and promise that God wants us to experience…the ‘Full Life’ that He designed us to have!

As we do that, then–and only then–will we be able to know and experience His Will for us.

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)

How do we do it?

First, we admit that we’ve been stuck. We confess our sin or apathy to Him and ask His forgiveness.

Next, we make a commitment to change…to move forward, and we tell others about it.

Finally, we Move Forward.

We start a Bible Reading plan, we start each day with 5-10 minutes of prayer, Praising Him, Thanking Him, Asking Him for what we need, and Seeking a closer relationship with Him.

We engage on a more consistent, ongoing basis at  church.

Not really all that ‘fancy’, but important. Crucial, in fact.

 

So, have you been ‘stuck’?

It’s time to Move Forward!

Want to start a Bible Reading Plan? Go here: https://www.bible.com/

Beginnings are great.

The start of a new book or movie, the start of a new job, a new marriage.

They’re great because they represent freshness…possibility…potential.

A New Year is no different.

TODAY you and I have an opportunity.

To a large extent, we get to choose what 2014 will be like.

Please note–I did not say that we get to choose everything that will happen…simply that we get to choose what it will be like because we get to choose what we will invest in, what we will prioritize, and what we will focus on.

We can choose how we react to events in our lives, and in the larger world around us.

Will we focus only on ourselves, or on other people?

Will we go through life with the negative, selfish, me-first mindset of our culture, or will we become generous, loving people who invest themselves in things other than our own appetites?

Most importantly, will we invest in our relationship with God, and really make Him a priority this year, or will we go through another year in ‘Spiritual Neutral’, while hoping somehow that we’ll see evidence of His power and blessing in our lives in spite of our apathy?

This year…today…you have a new opportunity to make the changes necessary to see God work within, and reap the benefits of that work in your life.

YOU make that choice. HE promises to bless, keep, and grow you up–IF you put Him first again (or maybe, for the 1st time), IF you worship Him with your life, and IF you allow Him to direct you (not the other way around).

Psalm 90:12: “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

2 Chronicles 16:9: “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

God wants to support us and strengthen us…but He will not do so if we’re not “Fully committed to Him”.

So, how about it?

What’s your Spiritual Goal for 2014?

Today is your new beginning…make it count!