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&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

"New Beginnings"

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Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.  James 4:13-15.

My good friend J. Harold Smith has a saying that "even the news is too true to be good".  Well, this is pretty much true in that the only really "good news", is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As I watched the news on the television last night, which is the only network television I watch, the above verses of scripture stuck so vividly in my mind.  Their main focus was on the year in review and the forecast of the upcoming New Year. 

While it is true that we can learn from history, not only from our own mistakes and failures and our successes, but also from those of others, there are many people who refuse to let go of the past and choose to continue to live in that past.  Some dwell upon their past mistakes and failures and they can't let go of them and they simply go on through life making themselves and those around them miserable with the notion that they have blown it and nothing can be done to improve it.  And then there are those who rely upon their past successes to carry them through.  Some of them even go way back to what they call, "the good ole' days" and they say things like, "When I was in high school I was a star quarterback for a championship team".  Those people never strive to do something great right now.

Likewise, there are many who are all too eager to let go of the past and are living in the future.  Those are the ones who are saying things like, "Next year I am going to get thus and thus done", or "Next year I'm not going to do this thing or that thing anymore".  Those are the people who are so quick to make all those New Years resolutions which they never keep.

The truth of the matter is that as the before mentioned verses of scripture so clearly state, this life that we live truly is but a vapour.  Yesterday is time already spent and though we can learn from it, there is absolutely nothing we can do to get it back or to change it.  Though we have been born again and our spirit has been redeemed, we still have this vile corrupt body to contend with and though we will have successes, we will also have failures.  If you don't believe this body is vile, do this little test.  Go for about three days without taking a bath and not only you, but all those around you will see the evidence.  Knowing this, we can be sure that none of us will do all that we could do for the Lord nor will we not do all that we should not do. 

Likewise, as the scripture states, tomorrow is not a promise of God.  All we can truly count on is what He has given us and that is right now.  It is true that we can and should make plans for the future, knowing only that if it is His will, it will come.  But we cannot count on nor live in the future.  Though none of us knows when the Lord will return, I am truly amazed each day when I wake up that we are still here and I thank God for that new day because I know that there is still hope that another soul will be saved.  By the presence of that new day, I can know that there is still work to be done for Him.  As much as I would love to go right now to be with Him, He has the Master Plan and only He knows when His plans for me and for you and indeed for this world will be complete.  I read a prayer once that was entitled "A Prayer For The New Year", and with the previous thoughts in mind, I have adapted it to "A Prayer For The New Day".  This is how it now reads:

"A Prayer For The New Day"

Dear Lord, I stand before a door

To a day untried and new,