2015 is off and running, but have you taken time to reflect upon 2014 and pray and plan for 2015? I would like to encourage each of you to set aside one full day to be alone with God for prayer, fasting and planning within the first 40 days of 2015. Why is it that over 80% of New Year’s resolutions and goals never get met? I believe the primary purpose is because people do not have a mission big enough and glorious enough to motivate them. It is an amazing reality that the God of the universe wants us to join Him on His mission.

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:13-16)

Part of being on mission with God is being “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” At Crossroads we will be going through the Gospels and Acts in 2015 and asking God to show us how to better be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” To start this year off we are asking everyone to get ONEDAY alone with God in the first 40 days of the year to pray, fast and plan with God.  Here are some questions to process during that day and some practical helps for what that time might look like.

LIVE, What do you need to change this year in your schedule so you can live the life God has for you more fully?

WORK, What about your vocation do you need to see changed this year so you can be more Kingdom focused and favored?

PLAY, What about your health and recreation needs to be changed so you can be physically and spiritually healthier to serve God?

LOVE, What about your heart and spiritual discipline needs to change so you can love God and others more fully?

AM I FOLLOWING JESUS?

Being a Christian was never just about believing the right things, saying the right prayer – it has always been about being a disciple of Jesus-  following Jesus. And this cannot be done alone. Jesus meant for us to journey together in following Jesus. Are you willing to be a part of a discipleship group this year, so you too can make disciples as you follow Jesus?

“Who, among Christians today is a disciple of Jesus, in any substantive sense of the word ‘disciple’? A disciple is a learner, a student, an apprentice – a practitioner, even if only a beginner…the governing assumption today, among professing Christians, is that we can be ‘Christians’ forever and never become disciples. Not even in heaven, it seems, for who would need it there? That is the accepted teaching now. Check it out wherever you are. And this (with its various consequences) is the Great Omission from the ‘Great Commission’ in which the Great Disparity is firmly rooted…Jesus told us explicitly what to do. We have a manual, just like the car owner. He told us, as disciples, to make disciples. Not converts to Christianity, nor to some particular ‘faith and practice.” (The Great Omission, Dallas Willard, pp.xi-xii)

PRACTICAL HELPS FOR ONEDAY

Find a quiet place you can go for the day (someone’s empty house, hotel room, library, cabin etc)

Turn off cell phone and wifi

Take your bible and journal

Practice the spiritual discipline of “fasting and prayer”

Spend first part of your time reading some scripture (i.e.: Matthew 5-7)

Spend time in prayer processing the above questions with God

Ask God to speak to you – open your heart to God – LISTEN

DREAM with God – think big, reject the lies!

Write down your dreams, plans and questions

Make plans to share your planning day with God with someone else

Regularly pray about your plans and execute – take steps of faith!

GREATER THINGS for 2015