What’s the favorite and repeated saying of a two year-old on Christmas morning? For our granddaughter Gracelynn it was “Open it, Pop” or “Help me open it, Pop” or “I help you open it, Pop”. As you might imagine, this year Gracelynn was really ‘into’ Christmas presents. It didn’t matter if the present was hers or mine or anyone else’s, she put her little hands to work ripping the wrapping off presents. “Let’s open it!” So...here we are ‘opening up’ a new calendar year – 2024.
Are you eager to tear into the new year? Or are you in a holiday ‘fog’ simply trying to reorient to normality? Either way, 2024 opens before us with many opportunities. Some are known. Others unknown. How then do we step into this new year? Our church’s Bible Reading Plan over the last two weeks led us through the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah’s burden was to see the People of God flourishing and the Name of God worshipped through the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. Readers of Nehemiah will soon recognize his dual approach to the rebuilding project. Most certainly Nehemiah rolled up his sleeves and rallied the people to get to the work. But all along the way Nehemiah went to his knees in prayer – relying upon God’s leading in and provision for the project. In short, Nehemiah worked AND prayed. He did all he knew to do and he relied upon his God through prayer.
Church family, I believe Nehemiah’s approach to rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem should be our approach to the new year of 2024. Our church has a ‘great work’ to do; namely, making disciples of Jesus Christ who both know Him and make Him known to the glory of God. We must be about the work of inviting people to Christ and to His Church. We must be prepared and always ready to share Jesus personally with others (1 Peter 3:15). We must employ our spiritual gifts to serve our church family members for their building up’ (1 Cor. 14:12). At the same time, we must be praying. Prayer brings life, power, zeal, and confidence in the work of God.
The first season of our Prism Journey is ‘The Spiritual Season’. Over this first 100 days many have been praying fervently for God’s will for our church. I can’t wait to hear the reports of our prayer triplet participants and others who have taken seriously this call to prayer. I hope you’ll plan to participate in the “Prayer Celebration” at 6:00 PM on Friday, January 26th. Please sign up by January 17th so that we may plan for food and childcare for you. Also, I invite you to join your church family each Wednesday at 6:00 PM for Prayer Meeting in Adult 1. We must ‘open’ 2024 with sleeves rolled up and heads bowed.
Looking forward to a God-honoring year with you,
Cecil Sanders