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Time to Move On and Up Now Showing: Week 1 (December 1st-7th) | Week 2 (December 8th-14th) | Week 3 (December 16th-21st) | Week 4 (December 22nd-Month End)
December 31st: Review and Reflect - The message for the day is look at where you are in your life. There are greater things that God has called you to do. There are more accomplishments in your life that you can achieve, that God would have you to achieve for his kingdom. Assignment: On this, the last day of 2009, look back over your life this past year. Meditate on your life at the start of this year and focus on where you are now. Did you make progress? Were you stagnant, or did you move to higher grounds? As 2010 approaches, reposition yourself to continue receiving God’s blessings. Start with reading 1 Corin. 2:9, which states “But as it is written, eye hath not seen, or ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. December 30th: God is Progressive - God is progressive. God is not stagnant. God is always moving. God is always challenging. God is always developing. He wants that for you. He wants that for me. He wants that for the church. Assignment: Make note of the developments in your life and around you. Read and mediate on Proverbs 7:8, which states “For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” December 29th: Your Net Worth - Land is like gold. If it comes available to you, get it, put your name on it, and get your name on the deed so that you can own it because God isn’t making any more land. He’s not making any more land. We have to redefine our values. Assignment: Review your net worth. Are you passing up opportunities to invest in others? If you are able, take the opportunity to invest in someone or something that lines up with both God’s values and yours. December 28th: Redefining Values - We have to redefine our values starting with the whole notion of economics and spending. It’s not that we don’t have money as a people. It’s what we spend it on. Assignment: Think of one thing that you can do without. Try not buying that one item for a month to see if it is something you can do without. December 27th: Values - We have to move on – the first thing we have to do is redefine our values, because we’ve lost them. We no longer value the things that used to be important to us. Assignment: Write down what’s REALLY important to you. Are these the values that please God?
December 26th: Get Connected - We’ve lost our sense of who we are. We’re not proud like we used to be. We don’t have the kind of dignity we used to have. You see the erosion in our young people, because they’re emulating cultures and values that will not help them or benefit them. Assignment: Consider becoming a mentor to someone. It could be someone in your own family. Take the time to get connected.
December 25th: Disconnected - There was a time you couldn’t come into the community without touching base with somebody there, because when you came in word would go around that there’s a stranger in the community. But now we’re so disconnected! Assignment: Take the time to introduce yourself to the person sitting next you next Sunday in church or to meet a neighbor that you have not met before.
December 24th: God’s Battle - God said I will fight for you. You don’t even have to fight your battles. I want you to know that you can compete with them and you can also win over them. Assignment: Read Jeremiah 29:11, which says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give you an expected end.” December 23rd: Move Up - It’s time for you to break camp. Get up from where you are, and get up and move to another level. Assignment: Read and mediate on Psalm 121.
December 22nd: The Past, Present, and Future - The past is important. But if you’re always talking about what happened in the past, you’ll never deal with your present. And you’ll never have a greater future. Assignment: List the things that happened in your past that you are still holding on to. Seek God’s word in putting them behind you.
Week 3 December 21st: Break Camp - Get up and move on to better things and to higher challenges that are before you. It’s time to break camp. Assignment: Review your goals and Action Plan to make sure you are succeeding in your objectives.
December 20th: The Power - We cannot just settle for where we are. God says it’s time for you to get up and get out of here. You’ve got to find the power and the strength to move on to better things and become greater people than you’ve all ready become. Assignment: As you move through life’s challenges, always remember 1 John 4:4, which states ‘Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
December 19th: Who the Son set free - He who the Son has set free is free indeed. God said it’s time for you to get up from here. There’s more to be done. You’ve got a generation coming behind you and you have to set the pace for them. You have to move from the mountain of comfort to the mountain of challenge. Assignment: Find an area in your life that you need to challenge (whether it be your weight, your Christian walk, your education, your finances, or any area that needs improving). Seek God’s word on moving from the comfort zone to the finish line. If you take the first step, God is able to carry you through to the end. December 18th: Hindrance - We have to be on the lookout for those who would hinder us and restrict us as a people. But even worse than that is what we do to ourselves. Assignment: Is there someone or something hindering you from being all that God would have you be. Pray and seek God’s word to overcome any struggles you face. December 17th: The Theology of God - The only theology in the Bible is the theology of God. Theo means God! Ology means the study. Assignment: Study God’s word daily. December 16th: Get Involved - If you got out of the struggle, go back and get somebody else and bring them along with you. We’ve become so individualist and pious in our individualism that we’re no good to anybody but ourselves. It’s not enough for us just to get happy and to shout and experience the opium of religion. We come just to feel good, but we won’t take it out and deal with the social ills. The reality is our educational systems are falling apart. The reality is our communities are not safe. The reality is the quality of life is degrading on a day-to-day basis, and it’s going to take a born again Christian to stand up and talk about what God would have for us to be as his people in the kingdom. Assignment: Think of something that you can do to help your church, community or neighborhood. Get involved. December 15th: God’s Blessing Upon Us - God has blessed us as a church, but there’s so much more that we can do. It isn’t enough that the pews are filled. It’s not enough that we have people joining every week. We’re not through until we save every soul that comes into this house, bless every family and help those who cannot help themselves. So we have to move on. Assignment: Focus on your Christian walk. Are you giving your time, your talent and your treasure to the Church? Are you using the Andrew Plan? Are you blessing others, as God has blessed you?
December 14th: The Struggle Goes On - God says you’ve got to move on. You’ve got to move on. You’ve got to move on, because the struggle goes on. Assignment:List any struggle you are currently facing (whether large or small). Decide today to move on and put it behind you. Rip the paper into pieces and throw them in the trash. December 13th: Losing Ground - We have lost our fight! We have lost our ability to stand on the front line for justice. And day by day, I can see we are losing ground. It’s time to rise up and stand up and move from where we are. Assignment: Pray for our nation, our President, our leaders, our church, our country. December 12th: Time to Move On - God says to us that it’s time to move on. Dr. King was on the battlefield. He was on the front line. When you look at where we were then and where we are now, the reality is too many of us have become complacent. Too many of us have gotten out of the struggle. Assignment: Read and mediate on Psalm 28. December 11th: Conflict is Still Before Us - There were times and places that we could not enter in because of our color. Do you recall that there were times when the schools were segregated; and do you recall there were times in the south where you had a white drinking water fountain and a drinking fountain for colored people? We could have settled because of the Civil Rights Movement and become self-satisfied as a people, but the reality is the conflict still is before us. Assignment: Meditate on how far you have come in your life. Thinks of things or situations you would like to change and ask God for direction on how to change them. December 10th: Mountains - Move from the mountain of achievement to the mountain of attainment. Yes, you’ve achieved some things in your life. Yes, you’ve made some progress in your life, but God is not finished with you. You are a work in progress. There’s so much more that God wants to do for you. But if you settle where you are, the greatness that’s in you will never be made manifest. Assignment: Write down the goals that you are striving toward. Do you see yourself climbing up the mountain of achievement and reaching the mountain of attainment? As you climb the mountain, there may be stumbling blocks or setbacks, but if you keep your eye toward God you will reach the mountain of attainment. December 9th: Your Destiny, Your Future - Why stop short of what God has called you to do? Why abort what God has in terms of your destiny and your future, which is far better than where you are? God said to the Israelites I did not deliver you out of Egypt to bring you to the Mt. of Horeb. I delivered you out of Egypt to go to the land of promise that is flowing with milk and honey. Assignment: Are you doing what God has called you to do? Concentrate on Philippians 4:13, which states “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” December 8th: Time will pass you by - Focus on the gift of time and the gift of opportunity. God also has a perspective on time and has a perspective on opportunity. And what God says is that you have to be cautious and careful because you can become so self-satisfied that time will pass you by and opportunity as well will pass you by. That is what had happened to the Israelites as they had come out of the land of bondage, out of Egypt. They had settled in the planes of Horeb, around the base of Mt. Horeb; and they had begun to camp out in their comfort zone. They felt that everything was going well for them and they were satisfied where they were. They had stayed there too long. Assignment: Focus on some things you have wanted to accomplish. Write some goals or an Action Plan for attaining what you wish to accomplish.
December 7th: Time and Opportunity - Time and opportunity are gifts from God. And when God offers these gifts to us, we as believers should take advantage of both time and opportunity. In Shakespearian literature, in the Venus and the Adonis, there is a passage that says that we should make use of time. Let not advantage slip, for beauty within itself will not be wasted; fair flowers un-gathered and primed will rot and consume themselves in little time. The message even from a Shakespearian perspective is you have to take advantage of time and you have to take advantage of the opportunities when they come our way. Assignment: Take time to smell the flowers today. Take time to call or visit someone you have not seen or been in contact with recently. December 6th: Season of Mending - There is a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Assignment: Examine the relationships in your life. Are you tearing down relationships when you should be mending fences? Are you speaking when you should be silent or listening? Are you showing Christian character and loving your neighbor as yourself? December 5th: Season of Pruning - There’s a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. There’s a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away. Assignment: Examine the assets in your life. Are you holding on to materials possessions that do not benefit you? Are you pruning your possessions so that you will have room for more? December 4th: Season of Weeping and Laughter - There’s a time to weep and there’s a time to laugh. There’s a time to mourn and a time to dance. Assignment: Examine the pitfalls and highlights of your life. Are you weeping when you should be laughing and mourning when you should be celebrating? December 3rd: Season of Healing and Building - There is a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build. Assignment: Examine the trials in your life. Are you holding on to past trials and tribulations, instead of putting them behind you and concentrating on God’s will for your future success? Write down any present trials you are experiencing. Pray to God for guidance and instruction, wait patiently for God to answer, and then write down ways you can put things behind you and move on. December 2nd: Season of Harvest - There is a time to be born and a time to die. It’s a time to plant and a time to pull up that which is planted. Assignment: Examine the fruits of your life. Are you planting seeds and harvesting them when they should be harvested, or are you letting your fruits die. Write down the results of your assessment and how you can make improvements or how you can begin harvesting. December 1st: There is a Season - You’ve been at this mountain too long. It is time to move up and to move on. The Book of Ecclesiastes offers us some very powerful and insightful tidbits for daily living. It declares that there is a season for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens. Assignment: Take note of the seasons in your life. Are you staying in one season too long? Over the next several days, we will examine each season to see if we are dwelling in one season too long. Write down each season which applies to you.
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