12.31.10 "Last Words"

"Last Words"

Malachi 3:1-4:6
Revelation 22:1-21
Psalm 150:1-6
Proverbs 31:25-31

The last hours of this year are passing by. This has been another year of God's goodness. Many have gone through the reading plan of the One-Year Bible. Each day is a portion of the Old & New Testament, as well as Psalms and Proverbs. For the last day of this year, let's look at the theme of what the "last words" of each of these sections of scripture are saying.

The Old Testament closes with the book of Malachi. Chapter 3:1-3 says, "Listen: I will send my messenger before me to prepare the way. And then the one you are looking for will come suddenly to his Temple - the Messenger of God's promises, to bring you great joy. Yes, he is surely coming," says the Lord Almighty. "But who can live when he appears? Who can endure his coming? For he is like a blazing fire refining precious metal and he can bleach the dirtiest garments! Like a refiner of silver he will sit and closely watch as the dross is burned away. He will purify the Levites, the ministers of God, refining them like gold or silver, so that they will do their work for God with pure hearts."

Verses 8-11 speak of bringing tithes into the storehouse. "...if you do, I will open up the windows of heaven for you and pour out a blessing so great you won't have room enough to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you!" Nearing the end of the book, Malachi 4:4 says, "Remember to obey the laws I gave all Israel through Moses my servant on Mount Horeb."

Revelation 22:12 says, "See, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay everyone according to the deeds he has done."

Psalm 150 closes out with 6 verses commanding us to praise him. verse 6 says, "Let everything alive give praises to the Lord! You praise him! Hallelujah!"

Proverbs ends with many verses talking about wisdom and the awesome joy of a godly wife.

Do you see a link with all of these? The thought that goes through my mind is, "What are you doing with what you have?"

Both Malachi & Revelation speak of Jesus coming and our works being tested by him. What are our works? They are what we've done with the resources we have.

Proverbs causes me to realize that I need to highly value one of the greatest resources in my care. My awesome wife.

The Psalms cause me to understand that with all that is within me I need to be praising God.

This is for real. I need to use everything at my disposal for the glory of God. He's coming soon! He longs to pour his blessings out on his people who obey his commands and bring him glory.

Lord, I commit all of this to you, for your glory in the year to come.

The last 2 verses of the bible say "He who has said all these things declares: Yes, I am coming soon! Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen!"

You may or may not be a person who looks at the new year with the "resolution" mindset, but we should be consistently setting goals for progress in our Christian walk. Most of the time our resolutions come across as big drastic changes, and therefore only last a few days or weeks. But really, most also have to do with an increase in discipline in some manner. If we make a huge goal in the area of discipline, we can get discouraged and give up, but I want to encourage you to pray about what areas of discipline the Lord may be desiring you to grow in for 2010.

I'm pretty sure for all of us, the Lord would love to see us spend more time with him. It's been great going through the One Year Bible again this year. Even though they may be the same words read last year, when ignited by the Holy Spirit, they bring fresh life for every day.

Make it your goal to spend time in God's word EVERY DAY of 2011. It will tremendously equip you to do all that he has called you to do. Allow His Spirit to work in you so that you can become all He has created you to be.



Through the Power of the Spirit,
Live the DREAM!

P Greg


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