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A New Year

In Psalm 139, David elaborates on the humbling reality of how well God knows us. Consider these verses from the psalm...

O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

It occurs to me that because God knows us so well, as we begin this new year we should humbly seek Him the way David did and ask Him to lead us into His perfect will. Rather than make your typical New Year's Resolutions, why not ask God what He has in mind for you. Here are some questions to ask yourself in the presence of the Lord. Keep track of what the Lord tells you, and pray along these lines throughout the year.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What’s the single most important thing you cold do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is your most important financial goal this year and what will you do to achieve it?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What is the most important need you feel burdened to meet this year?

9. Who do you most want to encourage this year?

10. What habit would you like to establish this year?

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