Living in the Goodness of God
The start of a New Year is viewed differently by everyone. Personally, I welcome the fresh feeling of a new beginning. I’m all on board with making resolutions or setting goals, all the motivational things!
Our church does a time of corporate fasting at the beginning of the new year. I honestly love this time each year. In fact, when I think of what I could be fasting, I get excited at the changes I know I will see in my life spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Recently, I felt the Lord speaking to my heart during a worship song. A few Sundays ago during worship, we were singing one of my favorite songs, “Goodness of God.” The lines, “With my life laid down, I surrender now, I give you everything,” stopped me. What have I not laid down, surrendered, or given over to God? Of course, as a Christian, it’s easy for me to think I’ve totally surrendered to God. I gave my life to Christ, I’m doing the new life. I’m going to church, reading my Bible, praying, doing all.the.things. Those things are good and necessary but what else is there?
I began to reflect and truly think about surrender. I began thinking about the part of the song that also says, “Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me.” How is the goodness of God running after me? It’s certainly not the notion that after salvation everything is perfect and good and well all the time. Sometimes it can be hard to feel that you are living in the goodness of God. You may not be in a season where you feel those lines to be true, but I’ve found that it’s in the laying down and surrendering of those things that take up space in our lives, where God could dwell more abundantly, that allow us to be pruned and molded more into the image of God when we let them go. It’s in the surrender that we can always say, “I am living in the goodness of God.” Surrendering and giving things up is not always comfortable or what we naturally want. But this surrender is our testimony, and it is the goodness of God that will chase us down, come running after us, as we give Him everything.
Today, I’d love to challenge you to soul search, prayerfully. What have you not truly let go of yet? What have you not surrendered yet? Is it time? Money? A loved one? Control? An addiction? The list of our personal and private battles are too numerous to list, yet they often hold us back from truly experiencing the full goodness of God. So, truly ask yourself, what can I lay down that will lead me to living in the goodness of God?
As you begin 2025, draw near to God. Ask Him what else there is to surrender to Him. Psalm 27:13-14 says, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
May the goodness of God run after you as you run after Him.
LISTEN: “Goodness of God” by Bethel Music and Jenn Johnson
PRAYER: Take time to pray from your heart, asking God to reveal to you something you need to let go of this year. Pray that God will reveal what area needs surrender as you walk in the goodness of God.
Our church does a time of corporate fasting at the beginning of the new year. I honestly love this time each year. In fact, when I think of what I could be fasting, I get excited at the changes I know I will see in my life spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Recently, I felt the Lord speaking to my heart during a worship song. A few Sundays ago during worship, we were singing one of my favorite songs, “Goodness of God.” The lines, “With my life laid down, I surrender now, I give you everything,” stopped me. What have I not laid down, surrendered, or given over to God? Of course, as a Christian, it’s easy for me to think I’ve totally surrendered to God. I gave my life to Christ, I’m doing the new life. I’m going to church, reading my Bible, praying, doing all.the.things. Those things are good and necessary but what else is there?
I began to reflect and truly think about surrender. I began thinking about the part of the song that also says, “Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me.” How is the goodness of God running after me? It’s certainly not the notion that after salvation everything is perfect and good and well all the time. Sometimes it can be hard to feel that you are living in the goodness of God. You may not be in a season where you feel those lines to be true, but I’ve found that it’s in the laying down and surrendering of those things that take up space in our lives, where God could dwell more abundantly, that allow us to be pruned and molded more into the image of God when we let them go. It’s in the surrender that we can always say, “I am living in the goodness of God.” Surrendering and giving things up is not always comfortable or what we naturally want. But this surrender is our testimony, and it is the goodness of God that will chase us down, come running after us, as we give Him everything.
Today, I’d love to challenge you to soul search, prayerfully. What have you not truly let go of yet? What have you not surrendered yet? Is it time? Money? A loved one? Control? An addiction? The list of our personal and private battles are too numerous to list, yet they often hold us back from truly experiencing the full goodness of God. So, truly ask yourself, what can I lay down that will lead me to living in the goodness of God?
As you begin 2025, draw near to God. Ask Him what else there is to surrender to Him. Psalm 27:13-14 says, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
May the goodness of God run after you as you run after Him.
LISTEN: “Goodness of God” by Bethel Music and Jenn Johnson
PRAYER: Take time to pray from your heart, asking God to reveal to you something you need to let go of this year. Pray that God will reveal what area needs surrender as you walk in the goodness of God.
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2 Comments
thank you
So good and timely!! Happy new year!