Happy New Year 2015

Wow, 2015 is here! Where did 2014 go? This can be a time to reflect on our past, and gaze into a hopeful future in the Lord. For some He has been elusive and just beyond our reach. Many and most really haven't cared about Him in the last year. And others, He has and is the center of their lives. Such a vast difference in the spectrum of the lives people choose. What will we do in the next year? What will we do with Him?

Are you happy and content with your relationship with God? Or are you skeptical and worrisome about your relationship. Who are you Christian? Are you a Christian? Is your minds-eye about your heavenly Father full of joy and is He your refuge, or does He look like a testy father full of mean and threatening looks upon you because you have feelings of guilt as you think you can never measure up to His standards? Or do you see a merciful and loving God who is long suffering waiting patiently for you to return to Him embracing His compassion, filling you with heavenly joy again? (Psalms 103:1-13)

Did you know there is not one single scripture in the bible that teaches we can forgive ourselves? That's right. The bible only teaches that God alone can forgive us. The world in its wisdom has fabricated and placed in the minds of mankind an alternate of forgiveness that is contrary to Gods design for His children. We would do well to learn from the Word, to accept our identity as children of God and in faith, believe the Word of God, forgetting whats behind and striving for the future in 2015. We really need to get past the past.

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 12:1-2)

Let me encourage you to resist the year in and year out promise to meet certain worldly resolutions, and resolve to hasten to Christ in 2015. As the hymn rings for us,

I am resolved no longer to linger,

Charmed by the world’s delight,

Things that are higher, things that are nobler,

These have allured my sight.

 I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free;

Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

I am resolved to go to the Savior,

Leaving my sin and strife;

He is the true One, He is the just One,

He hath the words of life.

I am resolved to follow the Savior,

Faithful and true each day;

Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth,

He is the living Way.

I am resolved to enter the kingdom

Leaving the paths of sin;

Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me,

Still will I enter in.

I am resolved, and who will go with me?

Come, friends, without delay,

Taught by the Bible, led by the Spirit,

We’ll walk the heav’nly way.

I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free;
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

Click this player to hear a podcast by brother Mark on Getting Past the Past as we move into 2015 with hope and faithfulness to make pleasing the Lord our No.1 priority. Blessings will surely come.