Year: 2018

Good Riddance Day

Since 2006 a group of people have celebrated an unusual event around the New Year. It’s called Good Riddance Day. Based on a Latin American tradition, individuals write down unpleasant, embarrassing memories and bad issues from the past year and throw them into an industrial-strength shredder. Or some take a sledgehammer to their good riddance item.

The writer of Psalm 123 goes beyond suggesting that people say good riddance to unpleasant memories. He reminds us that the Lord bids good riddance to our sins. In his attempt to express God’s vast love for His people, the psalmist used word pictures. He compared the vastness of the Lord’s love to the distance between the heavens and the earth (Psalm 103:11). Then he talked about God’s forgiveness in spatial terms. As far as the place where the sun rises is from the place where the sun sets, so the Lord has removed His people’s sins from them (v. 12). The psalmist wanted the Lord’s people to know that His love and forgiveness were infinite and complete. God freed his people from the power of their transgressions by fully pardoning them.

Rejoice! We don’t have to wait until the New Year to experience Good Riddance Day. Through our faith in Jesus, when we confess and turn from our sins, He bids good riddance to them and casts them into the depths of the sea. Today can be a Good Riddance Day!

5 Verses for Trusting God in the New Year

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8 NASB). Reflect on these five passages when you need to be encouraged to trust God in the new year.

 

Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely. Psalm…

Following the Model

To really learn about prayer, you must pray. Take it seriously and carve out some time each day to pray. Jesus gave us a blueprint for prayer—use it that way. Begin by praying, “Our Father in heaven.” Let your mind focus on what it means to talk to the God of the universe as Father. Then pray to the Father about…

Jesus' Model for Prayer

I admire men and women who give prayer high priority in their lives. Frankly, prayer has proved to be the most demanding discipline of my life. At different times I have found it strenuous, boring, frustrating, and confusing. Over the years a solid prayer life has been more intermittent than persistent. To admit my lifelong struggle with prayer is something I…

Why Pray?

Most people thinking about prayer eventually ask, “Why pray at all?” Is the basic purpose of prayer to get things from God? Certainly the Bible assures us that God hears us and gives us what we need. But is that the basic reason Jesus taught us to pray?

George MacDonald offered this rationale for prayer:
What if God knows prayer to…

Jesus' Blueprint for Prayer

One of the biggest problems in our relationship with God is thinking that we can depend on Him on our own terms. This independent dependence often shows up in the way we pray. While most people do pray, relatively few people pray to God on His terms. This booklet is about praying the way God wants us to pray.

The Lord’s…

What is a Personal Relationship with God?

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What do we need to know about God?

God loves us and wants us to have a personal relationship with Him.

God loves us even if we haven’t loved him.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us.” (1 John 4:10)

God wants us to know him.
The Bible says God is at work in everyone’s life. “So that…