Ready, Aim, Fire!

I've been knowing that 2011 was right around the corner. I even had a small get together with friends to ring in the new year! Yet, somehow I still feel caught off guard. I am working on goals for the upcoming year, and my mind is swimming with all the ways I could improve and grow in every area of my life... (To be posted at a later date in bullet point form and God-willing with the practical steps of how to get there)... In these moments, I am reminded of His patience, of His kindness that leads me to repentance. Tonight, it's been good to turn everything off and sit still before the Lord. There is something about being still and knowing that He is God. It puts everything into perspective. I believe this is something we must do every day, but some days (I feel) everything needs to stop. Everything must be put on hold. My house that so desperately needs to be vacuumed. My Christmas decorations that need to be put away. My laundry that needs to be washed, dried, folded, and put into the appropriate place. You get the point. It all can wait. It all must wait. Why? So that I can listen to the One and only voice that matters. He is greater than my heart and knows all things. I need to hear from Him. I won't make it if I don't. What a gift it is to be able to sit down and read His Word, to hear Him speak each and every day. To know all that I have in Him and through Him and to have access at any moment. To be able to approach His throne with confidence! Oh the benefits! May we not forget that there is no greater thing. The name of this post is "Ready, Aim, Fire" for a reason. I must be ready. I must sanctify Christ as Lord in my heart, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks me to give an account for the hope that I have. If all of life is about knowing Him and making Him known, what does that look like in my life? It looks like me knowing Him in such a way that I might be able to love others the way He does, the way He did when He walked this earth. It looks like me abiding in His Word, taking up the Sword to fight the enemy, because he is always lurking, always seeking to steal, kill, and destroy. I'm so grateful that Jesus came that I might have life and have it to the full. I'm so blessed that He has given me all that I need to live that life and share that life with others. I'm asking that He would take me deeper and wider and higher in His love and truth that I might bring Him glory in all things. I long to be ready, to live my life with great aim, and to fire away at the enemy... Knowing that the Lord has already overcome and that in the end...He wins!

Lord Jesus,

Help me to run the race in such a way that I might win. By Your grace, I can exercise self-control in all things. I long to run each day of my life with great aim. I desire to be about Your business, Your purposes for this earth. Give me Your pure and holy passion that runs after all that is eternal. It is Your divine power that has granted me everything I need for life and godliness, and I want to partake in all that You have to offer. Let me continually put my flesh to death. Thank You for being alive in me. Be at home in my heart. Get rid of all the junk. You are welcome. I desire to be set apart for You, Lord. For You alone are worthy, precious Jesus. Remove all that is not lovely and pure and noble. Give me the grace to think on all that is. I want to love You well. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You. It's all about You. Help me to walk by faith. You have not called me to shrink back, but to boldly call out to You, my only Hope, my Salvation once and for all, and in each and every day. What can I say to describe even a glimpse of Your glory? I cannot say enough about who You are and who You have been. Great is Your faithfulness. Thank You that all that You give is not based on what I have done or what I can do, but on what You accomplished on the cross. Your compassion fails not. I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of Your call. You demand my soul, my life, my all. Take it Lord. Use me. Mold me. Make me. Transform me for Your glory and the display of Your splendor in this coming year. Thank You Lord for 2010. Because Your love is better than life, I am ready for 2011!