Starting the Year with Scripture
Sunday, January 14, 2024 by Melissa McLaughlin

A New Year in Christ

Each year my goal is to deepen my relationship with Christ. When I think back to the place where my faith journey began, I am amazed to see how far God has brought me.

From my earliest memories, I believed in God and felt His love for me. Around age twelve I confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and was baptized.

Through the years, I have continued reading the Bible, praying, attending church, and serving in Jesus’ name. Step by step, year after year, my faith has grown stronger. Yet, my desire remains the same, to draw closer to Christ and to reflect more of His image in truth and grace.

Journey with the Lord

After considering my own faith journey, I was fascinated to notice God’s attention to detail, during a recent reading of Numbers 33, as the Israelites reflected on their journey of forty years in the desert.

Numbers 33:1-2 NJKV – These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord. And these are their journeys according to their starting points.

God not only guided and sustained the Israelites every step of the way, but He also directed Moses to record the major starting points throughout their journey.

God Remembers

This list of a forty-year journey reminded me that God is fully aware of our starting places. He remembers how far He has brought us through the years. God is not thwarted by the enemy’s attacks, by our sinful blunders, or by the world’s rebellion toward Him.

Just as God protected and instructed the Israelites through the barren desert, so He will protect and instruct His people as we travel in a dry and weary land today.

Have you answered His call to follow? Are we willing to leave familiar places to journey more closely with our Savior and Lord?

Starting the Year with Scripture

As we turned the page to a new year, my husband suggested a spiritual strategy we used in the past. Choosing a Scripture verse for the year.

Somehow this simple thought moved both our hearts and together we chose this verse:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

We repeat this verse to ourselves and each other throughout the day. We include this verse in our prayers and look to the Lord to reveal more of Himself as we meditate on His Word.

Though this Bible verse is small, it is packed with God’s wisdom and truth.

Short Scripture – Big Truth

Trust in the Lord – Trusting is not easy. Despite ongoing hardships and trials, we intentionally place ourselves into His everlasting arms each day. We remind ourselves of the nail-scarred hands that hold us steady.

With all your heart – Doing anything with all your heart is a supernatural calling. Only the indwelling Spirit can strengthen us to trust God with our whole being.

Lean not on your own understanding – A spiritual heart transplant is required for this! We love our feelings, opinions, and thoughts. So, we choose to trade our finite thoughts for His Word that lasts forever. Daily, we surrender our lives to His Word and His will.

In all your ways acknowledge Him – With childlike delight, we look to our Father God and seek to please Him. We remember our Savior and remind ourselves that His ways are best. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we drag ourselves off the throne of our hearts and invite Jesus to take His rightful place there.

And He shall direct your paths – As we submit to the Lord moment by moment, we are enabled to walk in step with Him. We strive to get out of the way and let God lead us.

Starting the Year with Scripture

As we look back over our lives and remember how far the Lord has brought us, may it renew our hearts. May we recall His great faithfulness and tender mercies which are new every year and yes, new every morning!

What about you? What are your spiritual goals for this year? Would you like to choose a Scripture verse for the year?

With this fresh chapter of our faith journey, may we trust the Lord in new ways and follow hard after Him!

Spiritual Life

Join author and teacher, Melissa McLaughlin, and grow in Truthful Grace as we ignite the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our hearts, minds, prayers and lives. Grow in Christ, grow in the knowledge of His Word, the Bible, grow the passion in your prayers.

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