Do resolutions work???

I've just revisited the blog I posted exactly a year ago. My goal for 2008 was to read through the entire bible cover to cover twice. 7 chapters a day!!! Did I do it??

Well before you laugh, and before I make up a terrible excuse as to why I failed miserably - I have to say that this little challenge without a doubt stirred up a new passion and hunger for more of the word of God. After a few months into it I realised that I had actually turned this into a chore. It became more about me ticking the boxes to say I'd done it - than actually enjoy it. I'm not making that the excuse for stopping - because in fact I probably read more than that some days. 2008 has definitely been the year of the word. I don't even think my words could justify the journey I've been on this year.

Some of you who read my blog and know me will understand more about that journey. Gods word has the most incredible way of shaking you up, making you fell uncomfortable and it challenges your life in the most gentle, loving way. It really is great - and for the first time in years, I experienced a true excitement as I picked up that book.

I'm almost certain that it was Peter Jordan who said this when he preached one night in CFC - he said that the hardest bits in the bible where in fact the bits that where really easy to understand. You know those bits - the parts that are totally black and white, there's no reading between lines or taking opinions or history into account - it's there, plain and simple!! Easy to understand - and it unsettles you to your very core because you know that your thinking is so far away from that.

I've learnt a lot this year from that book. I've realised that for a long time I've let my life dictate that book. I've let my life mould IT - and made it fit my life. When my experiences in life contradict what God's word actually say, I've chosen to believe what's in front of my nose because that appears more real. What I see has been my reality.

But thats not what it's about at all. Whenever you take God's word as fact - boy does it start messing with your cosy little world.
When you're walking through sickness and God's word clearly says that 'by his stripes you are healed'
When you walking through financial difficulty and God's word says that 'he's your provider - worry for nothing, like the lillies
When you feel ashamed, guilty and so far from God - yet his word says you are holy, righteous and have the very nature of Jesus on the inside of you.

This stuff totally messes things up - and this year I've been challenged as to what I actually believe. Do I believe in God in the middle of my mess - or do I focus on the mess so much that there's no room for God.

When you read the bible and read about the great men of faith (in that amazing chapter in Hebrews) you realise what it was that made them different from the people around them. They believed God's word in spite of the physical circumstance that was the opposite of what God said.
Abraham walked around childless for 40 years with a name that declared he was the father of many.
Noah trusted the word so much so that he built a boat, was mocked because it was a ridulous thing to do - yet he believed.
There's so many examples - but you get the point!

I think there is a great challenge in all of this. Because the truth is - God kept his promise to all these people. Because God is faithful, true to his word - and our part is to have faith in that word.

Whatever God has promised you (and that book lists them all - if you're a child of God) - keep holding on to it. He is faithful, he is good - don't let life tell you otherwise. Keep standing on the word, renew your mind and let it change your world. What's my resolution this year ?? To keep on pressing on