Ponder - To think about (something) with thoroughness and care. To reflect or consider with thoroughness and care. To think; to deliberate; to muse;
"Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil." (Proverbs 4:25-27 NKJV)
"Set your gaze on the path before you. With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions. Watch where you’re going! Stick to the path of truth, and the road will be safe and smooth before you. Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked for even a moment or take the detour that leads to darkness." (Proverbs 4:25-27 TPT)
2022 is coming to a close. Let's take time for self-introspection, examination, and evaluation of our hearts and lives.
No matter where you find yourself, know that God is a God of restoration. Believe that with all of your heart.
"And I will restore or replace for you the years that the locust has eaten–the hopping locust, the stripping locust, and the crawling locust, My great army which I sent among you." (Joel 2:25 AMPC)
As 2023 approaches, let's ponder and evaluate:
What did I learn in 2022 that will help me better navigate 2023?
What needs to be left in 2022 because it weighs me down?
What can I bring into 2023 that makes me a better person and blesses others?
What do I need to hold on to that brings and sustains life, like a drowning man holds on to a life preserver?
Who do I need to forgive? (That might include myself!)
What relationships need restoration because of neglect, not wrongdoing?
What has God told you that you need to ponder in your heart more closely?
"But Mary was keeping within herself all these things (sayings), weighing and pondering them in her heart." (Luke 2:19 AMPC)
What promise has died in your life that needs the resurrecting power of God?
"When He had said this, He shouted with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out!" (John 11:43 AMPC)
Remember, if it hasn't happened yet, God's not done because all of the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus! Keep your hope alive.
"Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete." (2 Corinthians 1:20-22 MSG)
Let this be your focus and heart's desire:
"But I will keep hope alive, and my praise to You will grow exponentially. I will bear witness to Your merciful acts; throughout the day I will speak of all the ways You deliver, although, I admit, I do not know the entirety of either. I will come with stories of Your great acts, my Lord, the Eternal. I will remind them of Your justice, only Yours." (Psalm 71:14-16 The Voice)
Today, take some time to ponder, or as Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines ponder, take time:
To weigh in the mind; to consider and compare the circumstances or consequences of an event, or the importance of the reasons for or against a decision. To view with deliberation; to examine.
Celebrate what worked and learn from what didn't work. Determine to be open to the new God may want to do in you and through you in 2023 by letting go of the old. If you want something different in 2023, be willing to do something different. Take a risk and grow.
"Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.: (Isaiah 43:18-19 AMPC)
Be Encouraged! ❤
(Updated From the Vault of LWM)