Recently while traveling, I missed my turned and my GPS (Global Positioning System) "recalculated" and rerouted me down an unfamiliar road. I ventured down the path that I was being instructed until I came to an intersection and cross over "Nowhere Road". I chuckled and thought, "When you listen to the wrong voices in your life you will end up on Nowhere Road". The wise old king, Solomon, addresses this as we have recorded in Proverbs 4:10-15 MSG,
"Dear Friend, take my advice; it will add years to your life. I'm writing out clear directions to Wisdom Way, I'm drawing a map to Righteous Road. I don't want you ending up in blind alleys, or wasting time making wrong turns..."Probably all of us have taken many wrong turns in life. But I am thankful that we have our GPS (God's Positioning System) that helps us to get back on the right road. As you begin a New Year I encourage you to look ahead:
Map out the scriptures you plan to read for 2015.
What translation will you use? Will you start from Genesis and go to Revelation or do you have another plan? Are there a book(s) of the bible that you want to study more in detail?
Purchase or download a prayer journal.
It's always good to go back a year later and read what God spoke to you the year before. Include scriptures you read, thoughts you received, and prayers needs you mentioned as you write in your prayer journal daily.
Plan a time daily to read, write and pray.
All of our lives are busy and there is never seemly a convenient time. It is nearly impossible to do this the exact time 365 days of the year, but find the time that works best for you. Do it and you will not regret it!
Be intentional about the books you read and conversations you have.
I like to read from several difference sources every morning. I want to hear God speak to me through His Word as well as hear what He has spoken to others. A good devotional book, a book on leadership, and a bible commentary is usually pretty close to me during my "devotional time".
I am watching for the signs ahead instead of always looking behind in regret. Along the way I want to influence others to follow Christ. To do this I must take the right roads of life and not lead any down the wrong path. Solomon once said, (Proverbs 28:10 MSG)
"Lead good people down a wrong path and you'll come to a bad end..."
As Dale Evans Rogers once wrote, "Happy trails until we meet again!"
May God be gracious to you and bless you and make his face shine on you in 2015!
