A New Beginning

By Peggy Lester –

I love new beginnings. I must say the first of the year is my favorite time of the year. It is like the sunrises and sunsets except on a bigger scale to me; new beginnings in the morning, as I meet God and give Him my day; and, a new beginning, as I thank Him for the day and He cleanses me before falling to sleep at night.

At this time of the year, I like to get alone with the Lord and ask Him for a Scripture, a special Ramah word or whatever He would like to give me to hold on to for the New Year. It becomes my Christian “Mantra” (if that is possible). I go back to it time and time during the year.

This year as I sought the Lord with prayer and fasting, I felt He gave me two words: evaluate and invasion. Now, evaluation has always been my process during the first of the year but for this year, I felt it go deeper. In my journal, I wrote for myself and my grandchildren the Scripture found in Ps. 51: 6, 7: “Surely You desire truth in the inner parts; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

I see several stages in this Scripture the Lord desires to do in my life. Maybe, you can see them for your life, too. First seek Him; there is no one higher to look to; He is the One that holds the keys to everything. He is the Sovereign, “I AM”. Second, He has a plan for me and you; He only can reveal the Truth, His divine destiny, and purpose for living. Third, He is the One to wipe the slate clean and bring healing to our spirit, soul and body. Why do we run to other sources first and Him last? Why do we wait until we are desperate and at the “end of our rope”? Why not go to Him first? Let’s evaluate our lives, past and present, let Him prepare us for our future.

Next word is invasion…sounds like a military term to me and that is the way He ministered it to me. What have I let invade my life in 2011 He would like to remove? What things foreign to His character have settled in my promise land?  He has shown me a few behavior issues, a compromise here and there, and maybe even a waning in passion that I have felt in previous years. It is not too hard, at my age, to just sit back and “veg”. I am just being honest with you…would you be honest with me?

How about your commitment? How about your passion? Have you compromised your Christian commitment to the Lord in the last year? A little here, a little there, next thing you know we are slipping into apathy, bad habits, hurtful behaviors and meaningless words. Maybe even losing the passion to know Christ, follow Him and Him alone; not counting the consequences in our lives and those around us. We need to remember He is the “hound of heaven”, “the covenant keeping God” and He will draw us back unto Himself…maybe even at a high cost!

I was so blessed to see the live stream of Passion 2012 with Rev. Louie Giglio and Chris Tomlin. It was phenomenal. Close to 100,000 students and adults took part in this conference around the first of the year. Some of my favorite teachers were part of this conference. This generation involved, Generation X, I believe they are called is pressing into the future with only JESUS on their lips…not works, not prestige, not material wants, only JESUS and the desire to know Him. We could take some lessons from this age group.

My prayer for you and myself, at the beginning of this New Year, is we would press in, press hard and press humbly into our Lord Jesus Christ. He and He only is our Deliverer from the things past, present and our protection for the future. God cleanse our hearts and give us passion to know you more! Let us “Spread His Fragrance” throughout the world.

Peggy W. Lester © January 16, 2012
Peggy W. Lester is the founder of Spreading His Fragrance Near and Far, Inc. Her desire is to take the Gospel to those who haven’t heard, to disciple those desiring to grow in their faith and to share the healing balm of Jesus to those who have been wounded in life. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian counseling and is ordained through FCFI located in Indiana. She lives with husband, Don, about 35 miles West of Atlanta, Georgia. Website: http://www.peggywlester.com/