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Building One Another


E. Stanley Ott

REFLECT Vol 8 No 49

December 29, 2009

Dear Friend,

 There are few better times to reflect on your life – where you have been – where you are going – than the week between
Christmas Day and New Year’s Day!  Things usually move at a slower pace and you can find a quiet place for awhile.  Take
a Bible and something to write with.

 Spend some time reflecting on the presence of God in all times in your life using the Psalms such as Psalm 16, 34, and 139 – or any Psalm you may choose to read.  Spend some time in prayer in praise and honor of the God who loves you.

Reflect on your last year and record the things both pleasing and difficult to you.  What have you learned?  For what are you grateful?  Who were the people our Lord sent to encourage you?

 

As failures and personal sin on your part occur to you, record them on a separate piece of paper. Meditate on I John 1:9*, “If we confess our sins, he [Jesus] who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Confess your sin and destroy that piece of paper!  You are cleansed by Jesus!  Offer yourself to our Lord who has never stopped loving you!

 

What are your hopes for the coming year?  Your fears?  Who are the people you know you are to encourage?  Spend some time jotting all of this down.

 

Now reread Psalm 16, 34 and 139 and remember that while you have thought about the ups and downs of your own life in the past year and considered what is to come, the one constant throughout everything is the God who loves you and is with you and who delivers you.

 

May it be said of you what was said of the Thessalonian Church, “For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.” I Thessalonians 1:9-10

 

A joyous New Year to you - E. Stanley Ott

Copyright 2009 E. Stanley Ott           

*Scripture from the NRSV