A new year is sort of like a blank slate, but not really, because we can’t erase all things from years before, yet God can. Yes, we must still pay the price and carry the scars of mistakes long ago, but we can lay all of that at the foot of the cross as we start anew. The real question is whether we have let our earthly challenges blur our vision of the basics of our faith and a new year is the best time.
The best exercise is to go back to the basics. When the legend coach Vince Lombardi’s team wasn’t doing well, He got them back to basics by standing in front of them with a round leather object in his hand and said: “Gentlemen, this is a football.” We too need to get back to the basics of the Christian faith.
Here are some ideas to get us to the basis of our faith in this New Year:
• I am God’s child (John 1:12)
• I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15 )
• I am united with the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:17)
• I am bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
• I am a saint (set apart for God). (Ephesians 1:1)
• I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)
• I am the salt & light of the earth (Matthew 5:13-14)
• I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27)
• I am free forever from condemnation ( Romans 8: 1-2)
• I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Philippians 3:20)
• I am free from any charge against me (Romans 8:31 -34)
• I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
• I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18)
• I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6)
• I cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39)
• I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Corinthians 1:21-22 )
• I am assured all things work together for good (Romans 8:28)
• I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )
• I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3: 12 )
• I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13)
• I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
• I am God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3: 16)
• I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2: 10)
• I am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
• I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
• I am God’s co-worker (1 Corinthians 3:9)
• I am God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)
• I am confident the good works God has begun in me will be perfected.
(Philippians 1: 6)
• I have been redeemed and forgiven (Colossians 1:14)
• I have been adopted as God’s child (Ephesians 1:5)
• I belong to God.
Thank you Lord God, that I can know for sure who I am and also Whose I am. Amen.
by John Grant
Used by Permission
FURTHER READING
• What Does it Mean to Love God? by Helen Lescheid
• Do You Look Both Ways? by Julie Cosgrove
• Possessing the Redeemer’s Mind by Francis Frangipane