41. A message for 2013

I cannot believe that 2012 has flown by so quickly. It feels like yesterday that I wrote the devotion with a message for 2012. There were so many uncertainties then, so many doom prophets doing the round, so many people predicting the end of the world at 21 December 2012. But that also came and went. This increased my faith even more, our God is in control, and no doom prophet or prediction! Ultimately it is all about Him. He is the One leading the way and that excites me. He has a Plan for our world and for each one of us and that makes me smile. That gives me peace and that gives me hope. Hope that God is in control, hope that He will lead the way and hope that there is a better future for us all. I can feel the excitement welling up in me. Each year we need to walk according to this excitement. We need to walk with a spring in our step, we need to walk like Jesus did.

On Christmas morning Dr Stephan Joubert brought a powerful message echoing this. He said that the people in Jesus' day believed that 'gods' had a different way of walking when they made their way down to their 'subjects' on earth. They walked like 'gods', like they were more noble than everyone else. And when Jesus came, they noticed His walk immediately. He was like a 'god' to them, they saw that He was different. But unlike their 'gods', He didn't deem Himself more important than all the others, He was one of them, a suffering Servant to them, even though He was distinctly different. He walked with dignity, He walked with compassion and He walked with love. He redefined the word 'love'. And we as Christians need to imitate His walk. We are after all His Body on earth, we represent Him and we need to show a lost world the walk of Christ. We need to show them that someone do care, we need to show them that there is hope after all and most importantly we need to show them His love. That should be our mission for 2013 and that is the Father's heart for each one of us. Even if 2013 doesn't deliver something spectacular for you, if you walk the walk of Jesus, you did more than enough and our Father is very pleased with you. The King of the Universe will smile on you and say "Well done, you good and faithful son." What more can we ask for?

I would like to leave you with the chorus of the song 'The motions' sung by Matthew West:

"I don't want to go through the motions, I don't want to go one more day without Your all consuming passion inside of me, I don't want to go through my life asking, what if I had given everything, instead of going through the motions."

And I would like to challenge you this year, to give everything you have, to walk like Jesus did with His all consuming passion inside of you. Don't simply go through the motions, but make a difference right there where you are and 2013 will be a year full of peace, hope and love!

Father, we don't want to simply go through the motions anymore, we want to be like Jesus and present Him to the world. We know we can't do this in our own strength, but thank you for Your Holy Spirit inside of us leading the way. Thank you for Jesus and His all consuming passion and thank you for being with us. With You by our side, we can do anything. We love You. Amen

2 comments for “41. A message for 2013”

  1. Gravatar of RonelleRonelle
    Posted Friday, 28 December 2012 at 1:04:27 PM

    Thank you Ilze, it is so true. Sometimes we just go through the motions without thinking why. We should be mindful of everything we do, and do it as if we do it for Him.

  2. Gravatar of Karlien WoodKarlien Wood
    Posted Friday, 28 December 2012 at 3:21:54 PM

    This is SO encouraging thank you Ilse! We can be victorious over situations that cause us pain and suffering and rob us of our peace. God is there for us today, tomorrow , next week and next year. We will walk with HIM! We will surrender ourselves to our Prince of Peace..

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