It is still early in the New Year.  Many people make - and then break - resolutions for the new year.  How are your's going?  I think Jesus told us the one resolution we need to make DAILY - Matthew 6: 33 - Seek first HIM---and His will for our lives!  If that is not done, then I believe we are probably doomed to fail at any resolve me make.
This morning I began a devotional by A. W. Tozer  designed for pastors/ministry leaders.   The title was "Personal Life:  Let God Alone."  Immediately I was reminded of the old cliche, "let go and let God."  The scripture it used was James 1: 4 - "But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."  You guys know me, I love to go to the Amplified Bible and meditate on the words they use .  The verse reads this way there, "But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing."  A few additional words to emphasize the assurance.

Tozer tells us that through this verse God is saying, "I stand ready to pour a little liquid fire into your heart, into your spiritual being!"  However, we respond: "No, Lord, please excuse me. That sounds like fanaticism—and I would have to give up some things!" 

So, what are we doing?  We refuse His desire for us, even though we want all the benefits of His cross.  That cannot be!  We must resolve to seek first Him---and allow Him to do His work in us.

The devotional goes on to say:  "There is this thoughtful phrase in The Cloud of Unknowing: "He wills thou do but look on Him and let Him alone."  We are being challenged to "Let God alone."  Let Him do His work in us.  Do not try to stop Him.  Do not stand in His way.  Do not "prevent Him from kindling your heart, from blessing you and leading you out of a common state into that of special longing after Him."

You and I do not have to "coax" God.  He is not waiting for us to beg Him for His blessings.  The blessings are His to give and He waits for us to let Him work.

Again the devotional says, "Look on Him and let Him work, let Him alone." Get your hands down to your side and stop trying to tell God where to cut. Stop trying to make the diagnosis for God. Stop trying to tell God what to give you. He is the Physician! You are the patient...."  I guess it is our human nature to try to reverse the roles and manipulate things along, but we really need to heed what Tozer is saying.  As we are admonished in the Psalms - be still and KNOW God.  Our constant efforts to "reverse roles" and manipulate things to "help the process" stands in the way of God accomplishing His full and complete work in us.

Today, I challenge you (and myself) to let Him work in you (us).  As we do, our spiritual lives will begin to "blaze like the rising sun."  It will be visible to those around us.  We will be better able to withstand the snares of the enemy!

Here is the prayer they ended the devotional with:  "Lord, I know there is a work You want to do in my life today. I'll try to stay out of the way, take my hands off, and let You work! I'll put my hands to my side even now as a sign that I'm going to let You alone today to do Your work in me. Amen."

 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.  If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?  And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?  No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money.”  Luke 16: 10 – 13 ESV

How faithful (devoted, staunch, committed, trustworthy, dependable, reliable, dedicated) are we to the commands of Christ?  Among His commands was the requirement to DAILY take up our cross and FOLLOW Him.  “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  (Luke 9: 23.  However, there are many times we are less than faithful and actually choose to deny Him.

What is denial?  It is the attitude that avoids looking realistically at issues.  It is pretending or claiming to be something or someone that we are not.  It is rejecting or “disowning” that which He has commanded of us.  We could go on and on, but I believe the point is made—we are to DAILY choose to follow the Living Christ and strive to live in accordance with His teachings/commands.

In Every Day With Jesus, Ann Graham Lotz writes, “Most Christians (myself included) are to varying degrees held together by denial.  Deep down we sense that if we were to face the realities of life openly and honestly, we might not be able to cope, and so we pretend things are not what they are.”  There is a great deal of truth in that statement.

We all know (and are probably guilty of) professing Christians that pretend that what we have in our lives satisfies far more than it actually does.  We pretend life’s circumstances have not hurt us deeply.  We refuse to face and feel what is going on inside us, due to the strange belief that such confessions are expressions of a lack of faith. 

Only Christ satisfies!  Only faithful obedience to Him brings ultimate JOY into our lives.  We can be content in every circumstance of life if we will DAILY choose to pick up His cross and FOLLOW Him.  We cannot pretend to follow.  We cannot act as if we are fulfilled.  We must abide in Him, pick up that cross DAILY, and FOLLOW Him.

I challenge you to look deeply within yourself.  Is what you display you say you have in Christ real or fake?  We cannot ignore what is going on inside us, we have to face it and deal with it.  This “pretending” to be something we are not is responsible for more casualties in the Christian life than we can imagine.  A Christian psychologist says: "I am convinced that much of what we admire as spiritual maturity is a fragile adjustment to life based on the foundation of denial.”  Think about that statement a bit.

This would mean that much of what we call Christian maturity might very well be based on a “foundation of denial.”  We “pretend” to be something we are not.  We cling to the world AND try to be Christian in our own strength.  We pretend to be faithful, when we are giving God our leftovers and not our firstfruits.  In my own observations, I have found many non-Christians to be more open and honest in facing what is going on inside them than some Christians.

Denial is NOT a wise plan for life.  Again, Ann Graham Lotz writes, “The choice, then, is stark: either to deny and live comfortably or to face every painful issue - and go on to climb the heights with God.”  No matter how much we try Jesus’ truth remains His truth – NO MAN (or woman, or child, or youth) can serve two masters!  Our pretending will produce a façade that covers up our weakness and allows us to “meander in the wilderness.”  Our choosing to admit who we are and where we are in Christ – to BE REAL – and then, strive to pick up that cross daily and FOLLOW HIM allows us to experience the fullness of a faithful life in Christ and “climb to new heights with God.”

It is my prayer that today I will be real with God!  That I will choose to take up His cross and strive to FOLLOW Him.  I pray that I will not be so afraid that I would pretend instead of trusting Him.  Truth is, there is NOTHING we will face today that is greater than God.  If I will admit that truth, accept His provision, TRUST Him completely, and strive to follow Him, I WILL experience the fullness of Christ.  I will know the joy of His abiding presence in my life.  I will have His Joy and the peace that surpasses all human understanding.  What we are longing to experience is found in Jesus, but we must be real with Him.  Strive to be faithful in the “small stuff” today, so you can experience His faithfulness.