Nothing is as important for a Christian to do… than obeying God. Our future either brightens or darkens by our willingness to take directions from Him

Last week we left the year of 2024 with a reminder of the faithfulness of God. What God has promised to do for and in us… He will keep doing. We open 2025 with the absolute certainty that God keeps His Word and that He loves us enough to adopt us into his family and invite us to live with Him forever.

But this week and several more after this, we will discover that God is asking us to keep doing some things ourselves and we’ll begin with a ‘huge’ assignment; not huge because it’s almost impossible to do without his help, but because it sets the course for either failure or the most incredible joy and contentment in our Christian walk.

Here it is in Scripture form: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15 KJV 

One of the most important burdens to shake off in this first week of the New Year is the assumption that any command of God is ‘burdensome.’ They are only grievous to those ‘stiff-arming’ God’s desire to love and care for them.

The Ten Commandments are all life-giving and blessings as we adhere to them. They each set a protective border around our lives that, if followed, add joy, satisfaction, peace and pin point directions for our lives. While the Ten Commandments are the basics, there are many more issues that call for our efforts to ‘keep’ them and they’re scattered through the entire Bible… all are important in our walk with God and to all those around us.

We have an amazing Co-Partner in helping us live God’s instructions for our lives… the Holy Spirit. He lives in us and the Apostle Paul said, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25 NIV  This is not hard! The entire Bible is God’s book of instructions to help us live up to our potential and to God’s dreams for us.

Here are some tips to consider for 2025.

• Make it easy on the Trinity by listening to God’s voice from different sources. Obviously, His written Word really has all the information we need… if we read and follow it.
• He may speak through your pastor, a family member or even a non-believer. (It happens!)
• Many times a song will trigger an obedient response you have missed before.
• Learn to recognize God’s subtle ‘bumps’ in your spiritual ears.
• Expect ‘God-winks’ (a Hallmark movie phrase indicating way too many ‘coincidents’ that points to divine intervention.)
• When you feel God talking or hear his voice, KEEP OBEYING!

Next week, we’ll look at two ‘keeps’: Keep your mouth shut and your eyes wide open!