Take some time to read and meditate on this week’s featured scriptures.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV — Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Philippians 4:8 NIV — Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Mark 12:30-31 NIV — Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Philippians 3:13-14 NIV — Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Spend some time listening to the following songs as you pray and meditate on the week ahead focused on goals. What goals do you have for your body, mind, and spirit?
John 3:30 NIV — He must become greater; I must become less.
Have you prayerfully selected a word, mantra, or verse to lean into for 2025? Have you made any resolutions or declarations?
As we close out our week on being humble, I want to share some short Bible verses that can easily be remembered and help us to stay humble. In our key verse, John instructs us that we must become less.
Matthew instructs us to be last in Matthew 20:16 NIV — So the last will be first, and the first will be last.
Paul instructs us to give God glory in Philippians 4:20 NIV — To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Let’s close out the week with a New Year’s resolution joke that is actually good advice for 2025. What’s a spider’s New Year’s resolution? To spend less time on the Webb.
Philippians 2:3-4 NIV — Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
On this thankful Thursday and in keeping in mind today’s key verse, I want us to evaluate 2024. Did you have any selfish ambition? Did you put others before yourself? How can you improve in 2025? I encourage us to make a list of ways that we can put the interest of others before ourselves. We can look at it as a gratitude list or a “get to” list.
As we are making our lists we can keep in mind the chorus to this week’s song choice, Simple Kingdom by Bryan and Katie Torwalt: “Your kingdom is humble. As humble as death. Its King is a savior. Who gave His last breath. So may we die daily. Our pride laid to rest. Your kingdom is humble. And the broken are blessed.”
Our lists could be as simple as, hold the door open for strangers, ask a co-worker or friend if they need help with anything, sign up to serve in a church or community event, or simply offer to pray for others in need.
Let’s pray. Dear God, I humbly come before You, broken and blessed. Thank You for daily providing opportunities to serve You and others. I desire to bring You all the glory, honor, and praise. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV — If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Happy New Year! Today is a new year, a time to seek God and His will for 2025. When selecting my word of the year, today’s key verse was a God Wink. It contains both seek, which was last year’s word, and humble, my word of Year for 2025. Recently our country went through an election year. It has been a time of prayer for our country, state, and community. I would like to take this Water Walking Wednesday as an opportunity to step out for 2025 through prayer.
God has chosen us as His people. For 2025, let’s declare a spiritual blessing in Christ for our country, state, and community through Ephesians 1:3-14 NIV — Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
James 4:10 NIV —Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. As we head into a new year, I want to share my word for 2025: Humble. Although I feel I am a humble person, as I grow in our ministry and my service, I want to bring glory to God. James instructs that God will lift us. We don’t need to do the heavy lifting, we can choose to take up our cross and humbly come before God.
Sunday I shared the song, Simple Kingdom by Bryan and Katie Torwalt. From that song, I have selected my mantra for 2025: “Live and breathe His praise.” I will stumble but through my brokenness, I want to be a blessing to others. From the same song, I have also selected my prayer for 2025: Hallelujah, hallowed be thy Name.
Let’s take a moment and pray through Matthew 6:9-15 NIV —
“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
