GODS WISH LIST FOR 2011
By, Randy Loescher
With five children, I need an app for my phone that will keep track of birthday and Christmas wish lists. Of course, some are easy to remember. I have a teenage daughter for whom make-up, shoes and clothes are always most wanted. My five year old sees items almost every day that he “must have.”
Have you ever wondered if God has a wish list? I believe he does. While praying Thursday, January 27, 2011 at about 11:00pm, the Lord dropped into my mind seven wishes that are in his heart for this year. Before I share these, please know that I do not believe this list to be comprehensive, nor do I think the wishes apply to just this year. In reality. God has many more than these seven items in his heart. Additionally, these desires really have a timeless quality.
God’s Wish List for 2011 could be titled “Recalibration Requirements.” We become so easily distracted in our Christian lives by the stuff of every day life that we can forget who we really are…sons and daughters of God created in his image. Through this wish list, God invites us to recalibrate our lives around him, the one in whom we live and move and have our being. He longs for us to know him and to comprehend the extent to which we are known by him. At the core, God burns with a desire to be intimate with us. These points of recalibration make that intimacy possible.
This will be the first in a series of seven articles on God’s wish list for 2011. I hope that you respond positively to the loving invitations God makes in these “Recalibration Requirements.” At the end of each article you will be given the opportunity to make God’s invitation personal.
Recalibration Requirements
RR 1: Repent and Return
“I hold this against you,” Jesus says to the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2). “You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place.” Addressing the Laodiceans’ lukewarmeness, Jesus reminds, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock….”
God longs for the hearts of his children to return to him, but this can only take place through heartfelt repentance. One could argue that the first word in Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom is “Repent.” (See Matthew 4:17.) But what does true repentance look like?
True repentance demands that we turn from living for the kingdom of this world towards God and living for his kingdom. In fact, we run away from this world’s kingdom towards his kingdom. We crave his kingship and lordship in our lives.
True repentance demands that we give more than just mental assent to the fact that we are sinners. Repenting demands that we look into our true sinful state with gut-level honesty, not sugar-coating anything. Without the blood of Jesus to cover our sin, our hearts are wicked and deceitful above all things.
People with colorful pasts tend to do this more easily. Those of us who nearly always choose well and live according to the rules are often blinded to our own sinfulness. Our sinfulness expresses itself through more acceptable behaviors and hidden attitudes (i.e., materialism, addictions to work, hidden bitterness, pride, jealousy, etc.)
So whether my testimony involves a colorful past full of poor choices and blatant sinful behavior or a life lived well according to all the rules, I must come to terms with my true sinfulness, laying every evil thing in me at the feet of Jesus. The extent to which I am able to grasp the significance of God forgiving my sin through Jesus determines the extent to which I am able to love God. As Jesus said, “The one who has been forgiven much loves much. The one who has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:47). My ability to grasp how much sin Jesus’ death and resurrection has saved me from results in a much deeper love and appreciation for him, and for his sacrifice on my behalf.
Thus, repentance demands more than just saying, “I repent of my sins. Please forgive me.” Repentance demands a rending of our hearts, a laying bare of our souls before the Lord, a cut-us-to-the-core grieving over how deeply we have let God down and fallen short of his glory. Repentance calls for a deeper response than a trite, “Oh God, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” Heartfelt repentance causes us to grieve over our lukewarmness and the loss of our first love.
With great sorrow and conviction from the Holy Spirit, we don’t just return to the Lord, we run to the Lord. Laying ourselves at his feet, we receive the love, mercy and forgiveness he offers so freely. In response, God separates our sins from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103: 12). Grateful for how he took the penalty of our sins upon himself so that we could stand free from guilt and condemnation, we now express unreserved, heartfelt love and worship to him.
Making it Personal
So now, respond to God’s invitation to recalibrate. Repent and return. Use the following to make it personal.
1. Think about how you use your time, money and resources. What do these reveal about God’s place in your life? Which word most closely describes your present relationship with God – hot or lukewarm?
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you areas of sinfulness in your life that the Father wants to deal with at this time. List them. These may include more than just behaviors. They may include attitudes and ungodly desires in your heart.
3. Now pray. Make it personal by addressing the areas the Holy Spirit brought to your mind.
Lord, I say “yes” to your invitation to repent and return to you. Here I am! I repent of my spiritual ambivalence and lukewarmness. I repent of my propensity toward greed and materialism. I repent of my spiritual pride and intellectual pride. I repent of addiction to ____________________. I repent of _____________________....
Thank you for covering my sin with the blood of Jesus. Thank you for taking upon yourself the penalty for my sin, the penalty I deserve. Thank you for your forgiveness and mercy. I receive your forgiveness, knowing that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).
I now run from the world’s kingdom and I run to you and your kingdom. Change me. Transform me. I choose you as my first love. May there be a fire in my heart that burns for you. May my love for you be so deep and strong that sin and temptation hold little appeal. Do your work in me, I pray.
Thank you, Father! Amen.
Suggested Resource: Decree
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Randy Loescher serves as an adjunct professor at Oral Roberts University and Southwestern Christian University. He also acts as Director for the TEXOMA District of Open Bible Churches. Randy and his wife Kerry live with their five children in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
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