2016 is here. How prepared are you for what's ahead?
Many New Year's resolutions we make are broken or forgotten within a few weeks of being established - 36% of us will break them by the end of January. And many of those resolutions focus on improving self, not others. Has that been your experience?
As you finalize your resolutions for 2016, I'd like to propose several mission outreach goals that focus on others:
1. Be resolved to renew your daily prayers for lost people you know. Identify those top 5-10 persons you believe are spiritually lost and make it your goal to pray daily for their salvation. Prayer is, to me, one of the first foundations we lay in any effective personal mission outreach strategy. Through prayer we discern how God is working and the role God is calling us to in reaching the lost. So pray daily, pray fervently, and pray expectantly.
2. Be resolved to revitalize your daily prayers for a lost world. May your mission outreach vision be expanded to include the world beyond those comfortable borders that you've set for yourself. There's a world out there, beyond North America (or whatever continent you call home) that needs God's hope. And God wants to use you to make a difference through prayer to help change the world for the better. One resource I've learned to appreciate is Operation World, a resource to inform your prayers for each country of the world. And, don't forget to pray for those fleeing their homeland and now coming to your region or city in need of relief.
3. Be resolved to strategically serve the lost and needy. Ask, how is God uniquely calling me this year to serve the lost and needy? As you look at the problems in your community or region, will you allow the deep pain and sadness you feel motivate you to be an agent of transformation? In light of what you see and feel, perhaps it's time to begin serving at your local food bank, or senior center? How about a short term mission trip to another state, or even another country, where you can be involved in service-learning projects that help to alleviate the sufferings of others. The point of all this is: do good things, and do them often, for hurting and needy people all year.
At this point I've encouraged you to be praying and strategically serving others. And there's one more goal you should have . . .
4. Be resolved to give away words of hope. A twinge of hopelessness surged up my spine earlier today as I read over the problematic prognostications being made for 2016. People are hurting from a deep and pervading sense of hopelessness about their future. So, with that reality in view, maximize your good deeds by linking them with hopeful and encouraging speech. When you faithfully serve others you earn a hearing. Don't waste that hearing by keeping that hope to yourself. The scriptures are chocked full of hope for the spiritually deaf. One practical goal you can set, "I am going to have ___ # of conversations with people this year where my goal is to share God's hope." What number will you set: 100 conversations? 500 conversations? Perhaps the most life transforming hope to give away is this: "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16
Thanks so much for taking the time to consider my thoughts. I pray you'll have an awesome 2016 serving others.
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