Examine Yourself For The New Year

C.H. Spurgeon’s Seven Seasonable Questions For All Believers  

The Sword and the Trowel  January, 1868  "Combat With Sin and Of Labour For The Lord"

(William Gurnall  The Christian in Complete Armour  "The Christian's life is a continual warfare and so he need a sword as much as a trowel.")

Nehemiah 4:17-18a  "Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked."

I. Cannot I do more for Jesus this year than I have done in the past? Have I no wasted time or rusting talents? 

II. What shall I do? What form shall my extra effort take? I must not be long in selecting, for time speeds; but, without neglecting my old work, what new labor shall I enter upon at once? 

III. Can I give more to the work of Jesus? Ought I not to practice weekly storing? Am I a faithful steward with my substance? Am I really returning to my Lord in proportion as he has given to me? 

IV. Ought I not, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to become more Christ-like this year? I am certainly older in years, should I not grow in grace in proportion? Shall I not seek more grace at once? 

V. Shall not my prayers be more constant and fervent during this year? Might not my whole life be more forceful for good if I had more power in secret prayer? Shall I be content to go on as I have done in this matter? 

VI. Must I not labor after nearer communion to Jesus? Why should I not walk in the light of his countenance? Why should I cleave so much to worldly things? Shall there not, by God’s grace, be an improvement in this respect? Is there not grievous room for it? 

VII. Can I not this very day aim personally at the conversion of at least one soul? Might I not go at once and talk with some unconverted relative or neighbor about his soul? O Lord, go with me! O Lord, use me in thy service! 

Pray that this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer communion with Christ, and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of His love. Pray that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and that thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master.

The motto for this year must be "Continue in prayer." (Colossians 4:2)

Octavius Winslow  Daily Walking With God

All wisdom to guide, all power to uphold, all love to soothe, all grace to support, all tenderness to sympathize, dwells in Christ. Let us, then, gird ourselves to a fresh taking hold of Christ. We must walk through this year not by sight, but by faith - and that faith must deal simply and directly, with Jesus. 

A New Year's message from Psalm 31:15  "My Times In God's Hands"

http://www.reformedreader.org/rbb/winslow/godshand.htm 

J.C. Ryle  Old Paths

Let us strive every year to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is sad to be content with a little religion. It is honourable to covet the best gifts. We ought not to be satisfied with the same kind of hearing, and reading, and praying, which satisfied us in years gone by. We ought to labour every year to throw more heart and reality into everything we do in our religion. To love Christ more intensely, to abhor evil more thoroughly, to cleave to what is good more closely, to watch even our least ways more narrowly, to declare very plainly that we seek a country, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and be clothed with Him in every place and company, to see more, to feel more, to know more, to do more, these ought to be our aims and desires every year we begin. Truly there is room for improvement in us all.

A.B. Simpson “The Rest of the Oil”  Leviticus 14:18  "The rest of the oil in his palm the priest shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed and make atonement for him before the LORD."  

Shall the coming months be marked by a diligent, heart-searching application of the rest of the oil (see Leviticus 14:17-20) to the yet unoccupied possibilities of our life and service? Let us think of the things we have not received, of some of the vessels that have not yet been filled, of some of the places in our lives that the Holy Spirit has not yet possessed for God and signalized by His glory and His presence.

Have we known His fullness of grace in our spiritual lives? Have we tasted a little of His glory? Have we believed His promise for the mind, the soul, the spirit? Have we known all His possibilities for the body? Have we tested Him in His power to control the events of nature and to move the hearts of men and nations? Have we begun to understand the ministry of prayer, as God would have us exercise it? God give us the rest of the oil!

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' New Years Sermon, 1963  “The Search For Happiness – Psalm 1:1-2”

http://books.google.com/books?id=de3vrOxcEGMC&pg=PA9&source    

On the Parable of the Prodigal Son

http://articles.ochristian.com/article538.shtml

What if you put all your actions of the past year down on paper? What if you had kept a record of all your thoughts and desires, your ambitions and imaginings? Would you consent to their publication with your name beneath them? What are you now in comparison with what you once were? Look at your hands, are they clean? Look at your lips, are they pure? Look at your feet, where have they trodden, where have they been? Look at yourself! Is it really you? Then look around you at your position and surroundings! Do not shirk it! Be honest! 

On what have you been living? Look! Is it food fit for men? Look at what you enjoy. Face it calmly. Is it worthy of a creature created by God with intelligence and understanding? Does it honor man, let alone God? Is it swine's food or is it really fit for human consumption?

Walter Chantry, adapted from "Living and Dying Under the Blessing of God: Psalm 1", The Banner of Truth December 2008

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked 

Or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. 

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither." 

At the end of one year and the start of another it is good to examine ourselves. 2 Corinthians 13:5 Is our pathway straight? Or have we begun to deviate from the Way of God? Matthew 7:13-14

It is possible to make choices which distance us from godly friends. It is possible to drift into the entwining of our lives in ever deeper relationships with the ungodly, with sinners, with blasphemous mockers. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 Do we need a fresh resolve to cherish and protect godly companionships for us and for our children? Should we withdraw from relationships with harmful, sinful influences? What are we watching on TV and DVDs? What are we listening to on the radio and our ipods? Ephesians 5:15-16 From what sinful entanglements do we need to free ourselves? Hebrews 12:1

Have the times spent and the discipline exercised in Scripture meditation declined? When iniquity abounds the love of the Word and of good books cools. Amos 8:11, Matthew 24:12 Have we even made a series of choices which diminish our presence in a biblical church? Should a correction of course be taken because we value God’s blessing above all temporal acquisitions?

Are our spiritual leaves withering? Is our fruitfulness in Christian grace and service obviously drying up? It is possible for genuine Christians to have seasons of relative dryness and lack of productivity. But if we long to remain under the care of God and to find success in our devotion to Him, we must keep watch over our souls. 1 Corinthians 16:13 We cannot allow our walk to veer off into sheer worldliness and neglect of heavenly matters.

We must surround ourselves with those who love and obey the Lord. And we must fill our thoughts with His Word. When we draw near to God again we have His promise that He will draw near to us with renewed grace. Proverbs 8:17, James 4:8