Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and here we are at the last week of the year.
I hope that you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus, and now, starting this week, we’re looking forward to a New Year. And that means lots of us are thinking about new habits, new routines, and new disciplines for 2015. Because there are plenty of things we “ought” to do, but rarely do we have a heartfelt desire to do what we should do, right? We ought to lower our cholesterol, go to the gym; we ought to spend less, lower our debt, save more; we ought to forgive people who have offended us, we ought to love unconditionally; we ought to put our spouse first, we ought to pray often; we ought to, we ought to…! But like Romans chapter 8, verse 7 says, “The mind of the flesh is hostile to God—it is not able to submit to the law of God.”
Believe me, if we end up ever wanting to forgive or wanting to love unconditionally, or desiring to put somebody else first or desire to pray often or want to read the Bible more or whatever, it is only because God has placed that “want to” in our hearts. It’s a gift from the Holy Spirit. And it’s why Psalm 119 says, “Incline my heart O God to your testimonies” and elsewhere it says, “Make glad the soul of your servant for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” Oh, friend, if we pray that way, if we ask for God to do His heart-changing work in our lives, He will. He promises He’ll do just that. In Ezekiel chapter 36, He says flat-out, “I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk [did you hear that, He’s going to cause us to walk] in my statutes.” That is such good news especially if you desire to rise to a new level of confidence in Christ in 2015!
You know what I do when I see I'm not following through on things I should? I usually push myself to do the right thing, recognizing I'm probably doing it in the flesh, but I pray that God will eventually bless me with the deep desire to do the right thing; I pray He will give me the happy desire to forgive or pray or read or love. And I don’t think this is hypocrisy. No, Dr. John Piper says, “Hypocrisy hides and pretends that the “want to” is really there when it’s not.” No, no, no, I want the Holy Spirit to give me the desire to do His will. And you know what? He does. He inclines my heart, He makes me glad and He causes me to walk in His statutes. And that’s not hypocrisy, it’s just a little lesson in how to grow in grace today, making all your ought-to’s happy want-to’s!
So as we approach the New Year, ask God to incline your heart to do His will. Ask Him to make your soul glad! And one way to start is by reading the Bible all the way through in 2015.My husband Ken Tada and I will be doing this, as we have for the last eight years – and we’d love for you to read along with us. Just visit my radio page at joniandfriends.org and download your “Through the Bible in a Year” schedule where we’ll be reading chronologically from Genesis to Revelation. And I can’t wait to get started with you. So download your reading schedule today on my radio page at joniandfriends.org. Finally, remember this encouraging word from Ezekiel chapter 36 where God says, “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees.” That’s a wonderful promise from God for your New Year!
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