CONSIDER CONSISTENCY



This is a season of expectation and it's a season of preparation. Christmas reminds us that God comes to us when we need him. Some of you need him desperately to come into your life. Jesus wants to enter your existence. Just like he came into a world that needed him so badly 2000 years ago, he is ready to enter your world, too. If your life is cold and empty, he wants to fill it with joy and passion. If you feel like your life is going nowhere and will never be merry and bright, he wants to guide your path so that you're going somewhere. Let this be a time in which you prepare your heart to receive the promises of God.

There are people who will flock to hear a good sermon or a great teacher or a talented worship leader — and they come for the entertainment value, and they leave without ever confronting the need for change in their lives. You prepare to receive the promises of God by stop playing religious games and get serious about living a life devoted to God. The way you prepare your heart for the coming of the Messiah is to practice being the same, day after day after day. If you're really serious about turning your life over to God, then be serious every day. Practice consistency.

“Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.” (Luke 3:8)

That’s the message you need to hear. If you're waiting for God to do something in your life, if you're living in a season of expectation, you need to prepare yourself for God's blessing by practicing consistency, day after day, hour by hour. Say to yourself: “I am serious about wanting to experience the power of God in my life, so I will be as consistent as I have the power to be. I will do what I can to produce fruit in keeping with my repentance.”

That means you don't live by your emotions, you live by your commitments. When you hear a word from God, you follow it. When the Spirit convicts you of sin, you turn from it. When you have an opportunity to do good, you take it. Day after day, live with increasing consistency in your walk with Christ and your Christmas will be merry and bright.

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