Ready for His Coming

Because, my dear friends, you have a hope like this before you, I urge you to make certain that such a day will find you at peace with God and man, clean and blameless in his sight.

2 Peter 3:14

Surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ must not be partial - but total. Only when we repent and turn away from our sins (using His power, of course) does He fill us with His Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit makes us right with God and God's love in us makes us right with men. Through that we can forgive - even love - our enemies.
Jesus Himself makes us ready for His coming.
-from Tramp for the Lord by Corrie Ten Boom

When God Runs

While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

Luke 15:20

In one of the most moving moments in all of Scripture, Luke 15:20 records that the father "'ran to his son.'" Scripture often employs anthropomorphisms--descriptions of God as if He had a human body. We sometimes read that God walked (in the midst of His people) or that He rode (on the clouds like chariots), but this is the only time in the entire Word of God when He is described as running.
What makes God run? A prodigal child turning his face toward home!
How can we resist Him? How can we not reciprocate such lavish love?
When was the last time you saw an older man, the father of adult children, run? Would you picture it now? Can you hear his heart pounding in his chest? Can you hear him catching his breath? Nothing could keep him from his son.

-from Jesus the One and Only by Beth Moore

New Year Prayer

O Lord,
Length of days does not profit me except the days are passed in thy presence, in thy serice, to thy glory.
Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides, sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,
that I may not be one moment apart from thee,
but may rely on thy Spirit to supply every thought, speak every word, direct every step, prosper every work, build up every mote of faith, and give me a desire to show forth thy praise, testify they love, advance thy kingdom.
I launch my bark on the unkown waters of this year,
with thee, O Father, as my harbour,
thee, O Son, at my helm,
thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt, my lamp burning, my ear open to thy calls, my heart full of love, my soul free.
Give me the grace to sanctify me, thy comforts to cheer, thy wisdom to teach, thy right hand to guide, thy counsel to instruct, thy law to judge, thy presence to stabilize.
May thy fear be my awe,
thy triumphs my joy.
-from The Valley of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:6-7