Your2024 Appointment

Good morning! It’s January 1st - It’s the start of a new year! What will you do in 2024? What will we allow God do in our lives this year? What are your goals? Your plans?

Today is the day we start putting things on our calendars. If you’re like me, you already have appointments up well into February. Every year our calendar seems to fill up faster and faster.

We put up dentist and doctor appointments. We write “vacation!” sometime in the summer. We pencil in church activities. We definitely write in lunch with our best friend. We always make time for our friend. Some appointments and commitments are necessary and others are just because we want to do them. Most of the time our appointments are important to us so they are planned and scheduled. And there are appointments that you have regularly but you don’t need a reminder on your calendar. Eating a meal 3 times a day is very important but you don’t need a calendar or an appointment to remind you. Your body has an internal schedule that tells you you’re hungry and you need food. It tells you when you’re tired and when you need sleep.

What about goals? Some people have long term goals for the year. Goals are plans we make for the year. Our appointments are the days we do specific actions that help us meet our goals. The goal of being healthier every year needs more specific plans and commitment. Appointments for the gym, dentist, doctor appointments are all specific plans of action to become healthier. Those of us who have full calendars and/or goals in mind, do we think we think just because we put it on the calendar it will happen?

A full calendar with “things to do” might be good to keep us busy but what about having a Godly vision or goal or plan for today, this week, this month? We are quick to fill our day on a calendar with busy things to do but what about starting that busy day with time with God first thing in the morning before our activities begin? Quiet time with Him is when you are willing to set those things aside UNTIL you have spent time with Him.

If our full calendar goals, plans, and appointments, do we really think that means that we are “entitled” to tomorrow? We wrote those plans for our future on the calendar so we must believe we are entitled to tomorrow. How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog-it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, ‘if the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’ Otherwise, you are boasting about your own plans.” James. 4:14-17 I’m not saying to skip making appointments and plans and having an active life but be flexible to allow God to make changes. Let Him help you set goals and make plans-including spiritual ones first.

What if God scheduled an appointment for you on your heart every morning of every day to spend time with Him? The appointment would not be something “to do” but just to sit in His presence - to go deeper withHim. It would be a an appointment filled with new mercies, hope, vision and expectation. He would schedule that appointment on our hearts but it’s up to us if we accept it or cancel it.

Every morning when we wake up, we open our eyes to Him watching over us-not literally but He does keep watch over us. He is waiting for us to wake up so He can give us hope and mercies new every morning. He loves us and looks forward to spending time with us. “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lam. 3:22-23. He doesn’t just give us those things but He’s excited to spend the first moments of His day with us.

Our waking up and breathing and being able to open our eyes is His invitation to live life and spend the first part of our day with Him. His mercies are new for you today. His hope is renewed for you today. There is no other day like today. There is no other January 1, 2024. This day will NEVER happen again! Each day that you wake up is NOT an entitlement; it’s a GIFT and every single gift is new and different!

There is nothing better than the gift of intimate time spent with the creator of the whole universe. If he had a plan and created the whole universe and achieved all that to perfection, just think what he could do and plan for you in 15 minutes of a 24 hour period. Every day He gives us 1,440 minutes. He expects us to use all of them doing something today even if it’s resting. We can’t have back what we don’t use to use for another day. We must use each minute and we have the choice to do whatever we choose. What is 15 minutes out of your 1440 minutes? Let Him show you what He wants to in the first 15 - 20 minutes of your day. It will be more than you can do without Him in a full 24 hours.

We may think our life is great with a full calendar and goals and success. We may have a day by day plan of action and we achieve it. That’s great that you met YOUR goals but just think how much more amazing life would be if we started it off with time with Him and expectations of what is He going to do today. Life is not about us but about Him. Time is not about what we do with our time but about what we do with the time God has gifted us with.

There are people committed to time with God. There are “workers”who are committed to doing everything on their calendars and reaching their long term goals. Those who commit a tiny bit of time to God will get more done than those with full calendars pretending God is not there. If you’re holding onto what’s happening later, as in 2024, as in today, tomorrow, next week or next appointment, you’re way ahead of what God wants to do right now. Put Him on your calendar first thing every single day. Put Him on the calendar of your heart today-the beginning of 2024. Can we give more time to Him than we do to our calendars, plans and goals? Make the choice to not run the “rat race” but choose to spend time sitting at the feet of your Heavenly Father who loves to give you new mercies, hope and expectation every morning. The coming year, 2024, is not about having a full calendar; it’s about time with Him and doing what He wants us to do in the coming year. Your daily appointment with Him is not the one to cancel.

The goal should be to live your gift of life today with God. The plan should be to accept His hope and mercies, which are NEW every morning and to spend time in His presence. He wants to spend today, this week, this month and this year with us. We are written on His calendar every single day. Know your goals and plans but EXPECT God!