The John Walker Blog

I am starting 2010 in a new way (and it is not just this blog). I have no New Years Resolutions that I know I will work really hard to keep through, at most, January. Instead, I am looking at 2010 as a year where I quit wandering in the desert, begin to walk towards the Promised Land. When the nation of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years, God provided manna from heaven every day. They couldn’t store or hide it for the next day, because it would spoil. All they knew was the next morning they would wake up and there would be provision for that day. I can only imagine how manna must have tasted after only a few months, let alone 40 years. After a while the provision of the Lord can lose its tastiness. As a great preacher once said, “Everyone wanders and God uses our wanderings for 3 things: 1. to break down our doubts and fears 2. to build our faith and give promises 3. to makes us so tired of wandering that we would do anything He says to get to the Promised Land”

I believe this year 2010 is going to be a year I begin to walk into the Promised Land. What the heck does that mean? As I write that statement, it sounds great, but when eliminating the eloquence of christianese what does it actually look like? I think it begins by finding out what God wants of me. Again, sounds great, but how do I accomplish this in the real world? If I wonder what my wife wants of me, I ask her. If I wonder what my parents or friends want, I call them. But how do I know what God wants? It feels like I say all kinds of prayers, but usually the clouds don’t open, no doves come and land on my window sill and I don’t hear a loud voice. Here is what I have found in those moments. I look first and foremost to the Bible to enlighten me as to who God is and what He is saying. It is the written word of God. I know that if I pray and ask God to reveal Himself and I spend time reading His word, then I will begin to hear Him speak to me. It may not come in a booming voice, but He will show me things in the scriptures that will help align my thinking to His will. This is the first step!

If you are like me at all, it is our thinking that leads to our actions. And it is our actions that lead to us accomplishing our goals. We think “I need a new car”. We take action and go research which car to buy. We go test drive and find out what we can afford. After negotiating we can walk out with a brand new car.  The link between each – thoughts, actions, and goals – is quite substantial. Therefore the reason I don’t complete my resolutions is because I quit the actions required to accomplish them. When I quit my actions it is usually because my thinking is messed up and it’s no longer important to me to keep thinking right.

So for this year, I am not starting with the resolutions. Instead, I am starting out at the beginning, I want to change my thinking so I better align who I am with who God says I am. Isaiah 55:8,9 says “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,  Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”