“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. 

“One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25). 

God has allowed us to see the arrival of a New Year. Sight is such a precious thing. Without it we would never see the beauty that surrounds us, nor be able to discern the difference between it and the most horrifying and disgraceful thing that may appear. God gives sight to the blind and restores those who have lost their way. Often it is the knowledge gained of other things that appear which makes it more difficult to believe in the invisible. Even when God is not seen, the signs of His Presence are all around us; they speak of His majesty, splendor, and power. As New Year’s resolutions are being made, the greatest would be to draw our hearts and minds in the direction of Jesus Christ. If He is known, He will make His Father known to us; then our hearts would be settled on the one thing that really matters. When we see Him through pure eyes, we would be enabled to see all things that pertain to life and godliness. Those things that accompany salvation would become as priceless jewels; but the greatest gift of all is that we would know that our names are indelibly written in the Lambs Book of Life. He gives us sight that we may see Him. One day, we will see Him face to face. 

“Set up the Tabernacle on the first day of the new year” (Exodus 40:2-3). 

The Tabernacle is the dwelling-place of God. What will be God’s position in your life this year? This is the time to consider what priority He is to occupy. Discard what would be distractions and replace them with reminders of who God is and what He has done throughout the previous year. Each utensil had to be in order and everything had to be in its proper place because God was to tabernacle among His people. Decisions must be made early and maintained throughout the year. Many will be making New Year’s resolutions in areas in need of discipline. The spiritual disciplines will affect the soul and spirit; they alone have eternal value. Arrange the disciplines of your heart to seek the Lord as never before. It is His desire to express a degree of love unknown to you in your present state. When the alignment is complete, He will suddenly come into His dwelling-place to inhabit that space reserved exclusively for Him.