“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13). 

Believing is more than a casual thought in the direction of God. It is a firm conviction that God will do everything He has promised. His glory will cover the earth and we will be glorified together with Him. Our faith is not in vain, nor will our prayers go unanswered; yet circumstances often make it easy to identify with the Psalmist who would have otherwise lost heart.  Faith is not faith unless it has been tested. The trying of our faith is more precious than gold. When we believe even when there are no visible signs to support our beliefs, God is then the primary focus of our lives. His goodness is not limited to the past, but is always present. He is our help in time of trouble and He is working all things according to His definition of good and for our glory. Our trust in Him provides a means for Him to complete His work within us; then we will be enabled to see the goodness of the Lord in all things. 

“I’m single-minded in pursuit of you; don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted” (Psalm 119:10 MSG). 

The heart has many paths available for it to follow. There are significant things that one must pay attention to that can easily grow into obsessions, and one can find justification for having to give their undivided attention to them. To be single-minded is to consider the Lord in all of our ways; it is to pursue Him, not merely first and then move on to other things, it is to pursue Him in the midst of everyday life. What pleases Him must become our priority even when other things are pressing us and vying for our attention. The signs along the way; His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our pathway. We are then able to read the signs leading us closer to Him. God is here to direct us through every decision if we just let Him into our lives. There is a message for us as His Spirit guides us along the Way. 

“Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God” (1 Samuel 25:29). 

When our souls are joined to the Lord, our lives are hidden in Him. Our minds, our wills, and our emotions are under the influence of the Holy One. We think His thoughts in order to willfully obey Him, thus we can feel with Him the same as He feels about every matter. His objective is to draw us into a merging of hearts that we may love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Such compassion will bring us to give a fuller expression of His life. The life that we live in the flesh will be the life of the Son of God. Our lives would be hidden. We are bound to each other, and bound together with the Lord. This is the Church of God. This is the degree of protection and safety that is provided for us when we are in accord with Him. No man can touch us without touching God. He has identified with humanity through the incarnation. Now we can identify with Him as He identifies with us. 

“Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down!” (Isaiah 64:1). 

There are many things about God that are hard to explain and difficult to make others to see. For example, the dimensions of His love presents among us when it feels like He is not there, and how definite the course is that we are to fully follow. We do our best in attempting to point people in the right direction, but very often our instructions are taken as an opinion equal to any other opinion. Things will continue as they have always been unless there is an infusion of life in this culture of death. If we are left to ourselves, there would be no solving of the riddles or answers to deep questions that we lack the ability to ask. 

God revealed Himself through His Son Jesus Christ. Now Christ must be seen through His Body, the Church. We need the Spirit of God to come down and descend upon His people in revival! Then we will feel the need to be in accord under the same governance and rule. God’s power will then function among us as it did on the Day of Pentecost. We cannot afford to lose this battle by default while many are merely concerned with their own personal affairs. We need to be about our Father’s business. “Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down!” 

“If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). 

As we move forward into this New Year, we need the Presence of the Lord. We stretch our hands into the darkness of uncertain experiences, but by faith believe that there is another hand on the other side to take hold to guide us throughout the year. We trust God who has gone before us and has full knowledge of the end as well as every beginning; but our hope is for His Presence to be with us. As Jesus became man to dwell among us, we need His Presence daily to assure us that we are not alone. If God be with us, who can be against us? He will guide us past every pitfall and entrapment of the enemy as long as He is doing the guiding and we are not merely following the dictates of our own hearts. It is our prayer to be changed this year in order for our hearts to be after His own, thus having the will to fully follow Jesus wherever He may lead. “If He does not go with us, we do not want to be brought from here.” 

We have entered into a New Year. What will we be like by the time we reach this date next year? It is certain that we will not be as we are now. We are changing and the world around us is changing. We face the mysteries that lie ahead with a bit of apprehension; but what are the choices? Life must proceed, and we must enter in by faith. It matters who is leading us as we embark upon a venture pioneering a course that has never been traversed. It is like reaching our hand in the dark in search of a familiar object. 

We reach our hand in the dark by faith that someone is on the other side to lead us through the uncertainties that await us. God’s will is for us to move forward, but our forward movement is dangerous if we are not led. Your presence is being made known and You are with us.  As we face the uncertain journey into the future, we are unable to see what lies ahead. 

“I say to God, ’Be my Lord!’ Without you, nothing makes sense” (Psalm 16:2 MSG). 

To reason is a virtue. Through reasoning, we embrace the truths applied to our hearts with a renewed mind and emblazoned hope. Those who have meditated upon the Word have arrived at conclusions that are vastly different from those who merely compare the spiritual to the natural. It is the reasoning that is limited to what is known, or merely natural that will lead to a great impasse. Our minds alone cannot grasp the origin of the creation of all things; neither can we understand their proper use and truest meaning. Only God is able to guide us into the deep mysteries that would raise even deeper questions than otherwise would be asked. However, the journey on which we are led will reveal to us His Majesty and Glory. We cannot help but worship the One who knows and reveals secret things to His children that the wise and prudent are not privy to. None of His wisdom is sensible, void of knowing Him. As we pursue Him, the knowledge of His will for all things becomes sensible. Without Him, nothing makes sense. 

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15-16). 

We must be presented as approved unto God. Our lives are to be on display as showing evidence of God’s character. How else would the world know that Jesus is alive and the same yesterday, today, and forevermore? It is the life that expresses the truest meaning to Scripture that others are able to read even clearer than the text itself. Their interest prompts them to read on until the Word irresistibly becomes life to them. We direct them to Jesus Christ, the source of all that may be seen in us. He is seen through our every effort. He is glorified through our every deed, and He is edified when we participate with Christ and all who have come to know Him. Ours is to establish His kingdom on the earth as it is in heaven. Those who profess to know but do not know Him bring shame and disgrace to His name. And their pride becomes their shame. But those who know Him have contained in His Word the life that He promises.