"Resolved" January 1 Readings: Genesis 1-2, Matthew 1, Psalm 1, Proverbs 1:1-4

  

Reading the Bible in 2025

Each day of 2025 we will read a selection from the Old Testament, the New Testament, a portion of the Psalms, and part of Proverbs. By the end of the year, you will have read the entire Bible. We read this way to give you a bit of variety. 

NOTE: If you get behind, do not give up. Read today's readings and try to catch up when you have a chance. The goal is not to "accomplish a task" but to meet God in his word. Read the word. Also, if you are short on time, READ GOD'S WORD and skip my devotional!

Bible Readings: Genesis 1-2, Matthew 1, Psalm 1, Proverbs 1:1-4

    Scriptures linked to Bible Gateway in ESV version 

Daily Devotional: Resolved

I want 2025 to be a year of spiritual growth and power in my life and ministry. This last year had its blessings as well as its struggles - particularly some health-related issues. I hope to be voted "Comeback Old Guy of the Year" in 2025. 

I don't really do resolutions anymore. I was setting the same goals year after year and failing, so that got discouraging. Still, there are some things I would like to see happen in this coming year.  

• I lost a lot of weight, then with the health problems I've had, that trend has reverse. I want to get headed back in the right direction. 
• Jenni and I have found a wonderful church and we want to see God work in powerful ways here in Tekamah. 
• I am hoping and praying that my health issues won't stop what God has been doing in the ministry in Senegal. 
• I need to reorganize and reinvigorate my prayer life. 
• I want to get back into the swing of things in my writing ministry. 

That all takes work and if I want to accomplish any of these aspirations, I must give myself fully to them. I have to make changes, use my time wisely, devote myself to things that matter, and turn away from things that don't. To add some things I must subtract some others. It's a challenge and it's easy to get fearful, frustrated, stressed out, and bothered. 

And then I read Genesis 1:3.

"And God said, 'Let there be light." 

And there was light. He spoke it into being. God didn't stress or strain to create the world. He spoke and it was. There was nothing - empty, void, shapeless, nothing. Then God spoke and there was something.

That is the God I serve. His power is unlimited and he is willing to release that power to enable me to become everything he wants me to be. Make sure you heard that correctly! I did not say that God would work to help me become everything I want to be. We need to stop sipping that kind of man-centered poison. God will change me, transform me, renew me, and empower me to be what he wants me to be.

This year is a new adventure, a gift from God. God is not limited by what I used to be. He looked at the emptiness and spoke to it, making it something. He can empower my life to be all he wants it to be. God's restoring and transforming grace is at work in me as it was in creation.

My success or failure this year depends on three things.

First, am I devoting myself to and engaging in the projects and purposes to which God has called me and for which God has gifted me? Am I living on God's agenda? If I am on my own agenda, I will likely fail, but if I am seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all the other things I desire will tend to fall in line as they should.

Second, am I depending on the power of the One who spoke the world into being? I've tried through my own moral will, through "doing my best," to do those things that need to be done. That is why I have consistently failed at those things that I have resolved. But God is powerful. If I am depending on his power and the fullness of his Spirit in me, I can do everything I need to do. I can walk in power, withstand storms, serve God, be all he wants me to be, and do all he wants me to do.

Finally, am I disciplining myself to read God's word regularly? My ability to discern the agenda of God and to walk in the power of God is directly related to my discipline in reading God's Word. The Christian life cannot be lived successfully without constant dependence on and obedience to the written word of God.

Psalm 1:3 makes this plain. The one who delights himself in the law of God and meditates on it day and night...

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

My desire, my prayer, is that this year, that might be me!

Father, I thank you that your grace is sufficient and that your power is unlimited. Nothing is impossible with you. We come to you this year asking for renewal, for power and strength, for a new experience of your grace. May this coming year, as we commit to reading your Word regularly, be a time of growth for each of us. Help each of us to follow through on our commitments to this Challenge.

 

Consider God's Word:

Which of these four passages spoke most clearly to you today? 

Is there sin in your life that needs to be confessed and dealt with that was revealed in one of these passages? 

Is there something in your life that needs to change?

Is there a struggle in your life that one of these passages spoke to? 

Whatever your plans, hopes, and dreams are, will you commit yourself to Bible reading, prayer, and spiritual disciplines in the coming year? 
Remember, in all of that, your success depends on the power of God, not your own will, strength or effort. Rely on him.