Good Morning Very Blessed Gathered and Sent Team! Thank God for gathering us, preparing us and using us in 2025! Ask Him to continue His good work in and through you and us in '26 as H continues to build us into His Church and grow us as His people. Amen!
during my quiet time I opened several devotionals (below) that just really spoke to my heart as God affirmed His plans for us and reminded me to keep teaching these things and doing them as I follow Him and lead others--including leading myself. Start with my I to We Devo. Man this devo has been speaking to my hart all year and informing my prayers and teaching. God created us to be a team (there is no I in TEAM) and in relationships, first of all with Him and then others. We need each other and this journey we are on in Christ is designed to be done with others. When we are weak He is strong but also others can help us in our weakness as designed by God. As we enter the New Year, meditate on this and ask Go to lead you to some good friends, teammates and accountability partners. Invite and unite! Then just meditate on and pray through our other devos as we prepare to go live and love more like Jesus together! It's His perfect plan for you and us! Rejoice! Abide! Thrive in Christ! I'm praying for a prosperous and very blessed New Year for you all and us as His Team--His Good News Delivery Company with all of us doing our parts. Amen!
When we think about New Year’s resolutions, what probably comes to mind is a list of lofty ambitions we rarely achieve (80 percent of New Year’s resolutions are already abandoned by mid-February). Author Amy Wilson suggests a better idea might be to reject entirely “the idea that we have to fix ourselves before our lives can get better.” Wilson suggests that, instead of adding commitments, we see the new year as an opportunity to do less, to finally “start saying no” to some of the “oversized and ongoing commitments that take our time and energy without giving us much in return.”
In a world of constant pressure to do and be more, it can be easy to miss the radically different rhythm of life Jesus invited His disciples into—one of abiding in Him. In John 15, Jesus described Himself as “the true vine” (v. 1) and His disciples as “the branches” (v. 5).
Vine branches don’t grow through working harder but through the nourishment received from the vine. So, too, the growth we long for can only be experienced when we let go of self-reliance in exchange for resting in and finding nourishment in Christ, for “apart from [Him] you can do nothing” (v. 5).
Through Jesus, we have hope for a life of less anxiety. Less striving. And more resting in God’s love and letting it flow to those around us (vv. 12, 17).
By Monica La Rose
REFLECT & PRAY
What might God be leading you to say no to this year? In what areas of your life might God be inviting you to greater surrender?
Gracious God, please help me surrender my self-reliance to rest in You.
Jesus used an agricultural metaphor of a vine and its branches to depict our dependent relationship with God and Christ. The key word in John 15:4-12 is the verb menō, translated “remain” or “abide” (esv). It carries the meaning of “living,” “dwelling,” “abiding.” It can also mean “to be in a state that begins and continues.” Menō stresses the primacy of our union in Christ and our communion with, dependence on, and obedience to Him. Only Jesus can provide us with the grace and vitality for productivity as we stay connected to Him. In John’s first epistle, he directs us back to the vine-branches metaphor: “Whoever claims to live [menō] in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6). As we learn to abide in Him, we can surrender our self-reliance and trust Him to work through us.
K.T. Sim
UR: Helping Your Neighbors
If someone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but refuses to help — how can the love of God dwell in a person like that? - 1 John 3:17 (CEB)
I had just brought my wife home from a cancer operation when a snowstorm hit. I’m in my late 80s and have a bad back, so shoveling the driveway was pressing on my mind. What if my wife had an emergency? Then I heard a noise and saw a neighbor girl clearing our driveway. Shortly after she arrived, a man across the street finished his driveway and came over to help her. I thanked them both, grateful to have such caring neighbors.
We got more snow, so by the next day we were snowed in again. The same girl returned, and this time another neighbor and his wife also shoveled the large drifts. When I opened the door to thank them, the girl said, “Go back inside where it’s warm — we’ll finish this.”
I’m going to repay my neighbors in some way — perhaps I’ll mow their yards next summer, give them gift certificates, or take them baked goods. But I’ve already asked the Lord to be with them and provide them with helpers when they are in need.
Sometimes troubles bring unforeseen blessings from people we may have taken for granted. Let us thank God for those who help us!
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's Prayer
Dear Lord, open our eyes to see what the people around us need. Show us then how to act in love, remembering what you have done for us. Amen.
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