What is the most important goal or resolution we can make for the coming year? Many believe we should resolve to do things that make us happy. Others say we should set goals that will help us be more successful. Perhaps you have a goal to lose weight, get healthier, spend more time with family, achieve better results in your career, or something else. But is there a goal that should be the goal for every believer every year?
If you’re a follower of Christ you might think that goal involves things like going to church, reading your Bible, doing good deeds, giving more, or praying more faithfully. But is there a bigger goal, one that may include those things, but begins in the heart? What should the goal be for a believer?
And in our reading from Revelation, we meet the two witnesses. With fire to devour their enemies, the power to shut heaven, turn water to blood, and strike the earth with plagues, they will warn, preach, and prophesy during the first half of the Tribulation. But what happens after their death is even more shocking.
Welcome to “God’s Word Day by Day.” Why not make the coming year the best ever when it comes to your understanding and enjoyment of Scripture by signing up for these daily devotionals?
Today’s Readings:
Micah 6 & 7
Psalm 145.10-16
Proverbs 30.15
Revelation 11.1-19
The Most Important Goal for Next Year
Micah 6 & 7:
What Does the Lord Require?
Chapter 6.6-8:
6 With what shall I come before the LORD,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
1 Samuel 15.22 says it this way:
“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
God does not want our sacrifices alone. He isn’t looking for religious activity or mere outward obedience.
The Goal of Life for a Believer
The goal of life for every believer in the coming year and every year is to live in ways that are pleasing to God! The Apostle Paul said:
So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him (2 Cor. 5.9 NLT).
This is about more than our outward behavior. This is about what we think about, how we talk to others, how we respond to the tests and trials of life, even when we’re sinned against. It’s about why we spend time with God and other believers, not seeing it as something on our to-do list but with a desire to grow in our relationship with Him and the family of God. It’s having a servant’s heart.
And when our goal is to please Him, we will be givers. We will have the desire to pray and read His Word and do many other “good” things. But they will be the fruit of our relationship with Him, not the cause. Our motive will be love and not a need to earn something or look religious. And when obedience is love-driven, it is not burdensome.
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome (1 Jn. 5.3).
Today’s Other Readings:
Psalm 145.10-16:
The Source of Everything
You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing (v. 16).
God is the source of all provision. Sinful man often thinks he is his own source, but every gift, every talent, and every ability, ultimately come from Him. James said it this way, 1.17:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Proverbs 30.15:
Never Enough
The leech has two daughters—Give and Give!
Proverbs 27.20 says:
Hell and Destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Those who refuse to be satisfied with that which God has provided will not find contentment in what they desire or strive for either! If happiness could be found in the stuff of this world, Hollywood would be the happiest place on earth. But instead, as the media headlines attest, for the most part, it’s a merry-go-round of drinking, drugs, extramarital sex, and broken families.
Revelation 11.1-19:
His Two Witnesses
During the Tribulation, God will send two men the Bible calls the two witnesses. With fire to devour their enemies, the power to shut heaven, turn water to blood, and strike the earth with plagues. They will warn, preach, and prophesy during the first half of the Tribulation.
And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth (Rev. 11.3).
Even in the midst of God’s judgment, He sends them with signs and wonders to warn those who will listen and offer the gift of salvation to those who will believe.
7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The evil world will rejoice in their death, even exchanging gifts like a mockery of Christmas. But in the end, their death and resurrection will be a testimony to the power and sovereignty of God.
Coming Up
In the next few days, we’ll talk about grace, the responsibility involved in being a true friend, the second death, God as the Righteous Judge, the number 666, the Book of Life, and purgatory. I hope you’ll join us.
Get Ready for the Coming Year with a Plan for Your Bible Reading
The holidays are just around the corner and the new year will be on us before we know it. What will you do to make Bible reading an ongoing habit in the coming year? I want to encourage you to set a goal to read through the Bible again or for the first time. If you join me here, I’ll take you through a plan that covers both the Old and New Testaments in about 15 minutes a day. Sign up here for my daily email. It can serve as a gentle reminder to stay on track and I believe you’ll benefit from the additional background and application comments that I share.
Start today so you can begin the habit and it will be a regular part of your day come January.
You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. Just click on the social media icons. But nothing replaces having the daily devotion pop up in your inbox each day. It, usually (once in a while life gets in the way), goes out at 6 a.m. MST. Also, don’t forget to check out our sister site Joyful Marriage Ministries.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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