You cannot submit to evil without allowing evil to grow. Each time the good are defeated, or each time they yield, they only cause the forces of evil to grow stronger. Greed feeds greed, and crime grows with success. Our giving up what is ours merely to escape trouble would only create the greater trouble for someone else.”
–Louis L’Amour (A Man Called Noon)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
–2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
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Welcome back! I know that an echo is a sound that is reverberated after the original sound. I have never thought of a campfire giving off an “echo”, but if one looks at the analogy of the campfire being their life then it is continually giving off an echo. Look in the mirror, if you dare, there is a semblance to the person of the past, but there is also a “new look.” Hmmm, maybe that’s the way we are in our Christian walk. There are some appearances of who we were in the past, maybe we are still paying consequences–an “echo” if you will–but there is a new person.
What is in store for you in 2020? What are you going to do for the Lord? Maybe more importantly, what is He going to do for you/in you? I would say the most important thing for you to do in this coming year is found in the last two words of Matthew 17:5. The heavenly Father is speaking, “Hear Him!” Listen to what Jesus is telling you this year. How can you do that? You must be in the Word of God. The more you have of the Word down in your heart, the more the Holy Spirit can speak. I might mention that the Greek for the word, “hear” in this verse means “to yield to.” The phrase “hear and obey” would convey this thought. Will your yield this year–2020–to the authority of Christ?
“All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him, In His service daily live.
All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow;
Worldly pleasure all forsaken, Take me, Jesus, take me now.
All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit, Truly know that Thou art mine.
All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.
All to Jesus I surrender, Now I feel the sacred flame;
O the joy of full salvation, Glory, glory to His name.”
–Judson W. Van de Venter
The attacks from the devil and his minions are not going to stop in 2020. Evil is prodding ever so heavily across this land and throughout the whole world. To survive, we must surrender. To the enemy? NEVER! But to survive we must surrender completely to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Guide, our Comfort, our Protector. This year–2020–walk in His presence.