Sunday review: January 3-8

The year has begun, and how are you doing? These colder, grayer days can sometimes sap the spiritual energy from the fervor we felt over the holidays. This week’s posts can help! Choose one or two to read again and share with a friend who also needs the encouragement only God’s Word provides.

January 3
So here is a question we must consider as we begin the new year: Will I pray when I learn that someone is struggling? Will I fast? Will I seek God’s will for the people and problems I’ve discovered?
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January 4
When we choose to lean into our faith and are faithful in our current responsibilities, our character is formed and the trust we earn can and will be leveraged for God’s purposes. We may or may never have access to a king or a president, but our access to God through Jesus is of much greater benefit to repairing walls and fixing gates.
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January 5
God was moving before Nehemiah heard about the condition of the Jerusalem walls. God moved in Nehemiah’s heart as he fasted and prayed. God moved with Nehemiah as he did his daily work. And God had already moved ahead of Nehemiah, preparing the king’s heart even on a day when Nehemiah was discouraged. God is always active, whether we are aware of it or not. Our task is to get close enough to God so that we see his movement and join him to accomplish his purposes for us, for others around us, and even for the world.
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January 6
As Nehemiah faced his detractors, he called his community to see the problem, join him in the work, and strengthen their hands to do the good work God had called them to do. If God has called us to a work of restoration, then maybe we should do the same: Show others the problem, call them to action, and prepare both spiritually and physically to do the good work of God together.
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January 7
When our work is prompted by God through prayer accompanied by vision and followed with a plan, others will follow. A community of people working together will quickly change the future.
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January 8
Zechariah’s problem gave him the chance to learn something about God and about himself he had not yet fully grasped, even after decades of obedience. And maybe your problem . . . —your unsolvable, unremovable, unrelenting challenge—isn’t as much a problem as it is something else. Maybe it’s a gift.
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Photo by Erik Mclean from Pexels

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