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God has infinite ways to accomplish His purposes. Legions of angels are eager to do His bidding. Yet, when He wants to do a great work upon the earth He habitually calls out ordinary people and transforms them into leaders.

Could God have delivered the Israelites from Egyptian bondage without Moses, a man who considered himself in every way to be unworthy? Certainly. Could the people of Israel have been freed from the Midianites without Gideon, or protected from the Philistines without Samson’s services? Of course. Did the Lord have to call Deborah or Esther to help save their nation? No. These were all fallible people who served God imperfectly. If God had wanted perfection, He would have commissioned angels, such as Gabriel or Michael. Instead, He chose unremarkable mortals and helped them to fulfill His purposes.

Just as God fully equipped people in biblical times to accomplish His purposes, so He will enable you to do whatever He asks you to do. If God is calling you to serve Him as a leader, don’t be intimidated. You follow a long line of commonplace people who have enjoyed the amazing adventure of participating in the Lord’s activity.

As time passes, our earlier resolve can begin to wane. In years past, we may have set ambitious personal goals for ourselves as we entered each new year. We established bold resolutions. We raised the bar for our job performance and physical health. But after years of falling short or failing, we may have grown timid, or weary. Perhaps striving year by year to better ourselves has become discouraging, or demoralizing. It may be that we are simply meekly entering the new year without any real plans to advance in our life. But that should not be so.

God has a unique purpose for your life. He intends for you to become like Christ. He wants your life to produce much fruit. What He began in you, He intends to complete. So it may be that you need to buckle down and press on. It could be that this coming year might be a breakthrough year, if you don’t lose heart. It could be that you are on the cusp of a significant advance, if you persevere. So as you enter this new year, take time to consider those things you know God has been trying to do in your life. Has He completed it? What about your relationships? Is God seeking to bring healing? What is God seeking to do in your family? Are you trusting Him for it until God brings it to pass?

In what areas of your life do you need to keep pressing on? Will you commit to do so?

What is in your life that is holding you back from greater fruitfulness for God’s kingdom? What habit or doubt or attitude or fear is limiting your effectiveness for God? What is keeping your Christian maturity in the same place instead of allowing you to move forward to a greater level? Whatever it is, it must die.

You ought to hate anything in your life that is keeping you from being more like Christ. But in actual fact, we tend to excuse and hold on to those issues. We can become so protective of our life that we cling to the very things that are keeping us in bondage. We would be happy to do more for God, or to take on additional responsibilities, but dying is wholly unappealing.

 As you draw near to the end of the year, take an inventory of your life. Are there habits, practices, attitudes that need to be cast aside before you enter the new year? Don’t carry into the next year the same baggage you had in the previous one. Let God weed out any encumbrance in your life that is holding you back. It may well be that this new year is your greatest year of spiritual advance you have ever experienced.

There are many fascinating facts about the birth of Jesus. It is an event that has caused the greatest of Bible scholars to debate and study for centuries. One of those profound details is who the angels of heaven first let know about the miraculous birth of the Son of God.

We would have imagined that Gabriel would have at least sent word to Caesar in Rome. An announcement might have been expected in Athens or certainly in Jerusalem. We might have thought that the religious leaders of that day would have been notified somehow. But they were not.

Instead, as soon as the most famous birth in history occurred, a heavenly host excitedly interrupted the night shift for some weary shepherds, living outside with their sheep, so they could hear the good news. Shepherds were often viewed as social outcasts. As untrustworthy, shiftless thieves whose testimony was not even valid in a court of law. Surely God could have alerted more respectable people of the birth of His only Son!

But it was to working people, in the middle of their ordinary workday, that the angels were dispatched to proclaim the incredible news. God loves ordinary, working people. They are the ones who know of their need of a Savior. They are the ones whose demanding lives remind them daily of their need for hope, and God’s presence.

The young peasant girl had just been told the most amazing thing she had ever heard. It was humanly impossible. It was difficult to understand. It was terrifying!

Ironically, it also meant that the righteous young woman would also be subjected to ridicule and gossip for allegedly having loose morals. What would her tiny village think when this unwed mother began to show that she was pregnant? Would she be stoned to death for immorality? Having kept herself pure her entire life, how painful would that be for the teenager to endure peoples’ stares and laughter and disapproving nods? How hard would it be for this young mother to watch her son be criticized, hated, and brutally murdered? God had assigned her a glorious, yet extremely difficult road to follow.

We might understand if Mary had argued that she was not the one to carry such a load. She might have at least asked for time to think about whether she was willing to undertake such an enormous responsibility. After all, this would disrupt all the plans she had made for her life.

Yet she did not. Instead, she uttered one of the simplest and yet most profound statements of submission to God’s will that can be found in the Bible. Mary acknowledged that she was but God’s maidservant. Hers was not to question or argue or debate. Hers was to humbly obey. In her response, it became clear why God had chosen her in the first place.

You, too, are God’s servant. Are you embracing His will for you with the same willingness and humility? What does your response to Him reflect about your walk with God?

Mary was flabbergasted. The angel Gabriel, God’s special heavenly messenger, had just informed her that almighty God planned to have her miraculously give birth to the Son of God. It was incredible! It was humanly impossible.

In response, Mary asked a question, not out of unbelief, but out of wonder. “How?” She knew she stood at the threshold of an incredible journey with God. Ultimately the salvation of all humanity throughout all of time would rest on what God did through her ordinary life. It was breathtaking to consider.

Throughout our lives we will immerse ourselves in numerous mundane tasks. We’ll wash dishes, drive to work, do laundry, mow the lawn. We’ll put in years at work or spend countless hours raising our children and shuttling them to appointments. But in the course of the mountains of ordinary tasks we will invest our one, precious life in, is there something you can point to that is clearly a work of God? Can you identify one aspect of your life that cannot be merely explained by your own effort and expertise? Is there even one thing you stand in awe of, that almighty God would choose to accomplish through your life? Is your life touching eternity in any way?

It will be those heavenly, divine moments that will be the highlights of your life. Live a life that pleases God and then embrace His will for your life. You may be amazed at what God does.

Leaders walk a delicate line to maintain profit-making while simultaneously caring for their people. Too many businesspeople know far more about their product and services than they do about their employees or clientele. Profit may be what keeps a company viable, but if pursuing gain necessitates neglecting the people, something is wrong. Moreover, there are lots of worthy causes to attract attention and vie for company resources, but Christ did not die for the trees or the whales or baby seals. He did not give his life to clean up the environment or to make the world greener. He suffered and died to redeem lost humanity. The only things that are eternal in this world are people. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, people took precedence in every circumstance, often at the cost of ‘success.’ If the living Lord resides in us, and if Christ is our model, then people will be our priority too.

It can be tempting to fall back on routines and policy manuals when addressing new situations. If the system worked last time, why change it? Three times David inquired of the Lord as to whether or not he should engage the enemy soldiers in battle. Three times God gave him the green light and assured him the victory (1 Samuel 23:1-4; 30:8, 2 Samuel 5:19). But the fourth time David asked for direction, the Lord advised a new tactic – to wait and watch for a sign before taking on the foe (2 Samuel 5:23). David could have taken victory for granted and employed the same battle strategy that had worked previously. But he would have been tragically mistaken. Had he presumed to know God’s plan, many men would have needlessly died and he could have lost a strategic battle. The key to victory is not the method or attempting to replicate past successes; it is a relationship with God. God knows exactly what is needed for every situation. Assuming to know God’s heart and mind in a matter promotes methodology and weakens our relationship with him. But seeking the Lord in every circumstance acknowledges our dependence and guarantees the victory. Spiritual leaders cannot afford to be presumptive. They must rely on the Lord.

It happens in your marriage, in your job, in your family, in your church, and in your relationship with God – settling into the status quo, being content with inertia. Businesses that stagnate soon find themselves surpassed by their competitors. Perhaps they have fallen behind in technology, and now they must either change and catch up, or disband. In today’s world staying the same means falling behind. Leaders who do not grow become stumbling blocks to the growth of those they lead and their organization becomes outdated. Organizations will rarely grow beyond its leader. Although God’s nature remains constant, he is always in motion. He is perpetually at work seeking to redeem a lost world. Never settle for mediocrity in your spiritual life, lest you miss what God is doing around you and he passes you over in his kingdom work. A dynamic, growing relationship with God will not only benefit you personally, but it will also help you lead your people to go deeper with him.

Most of our life occurs in ordinary times. Occasionally, spectacular events, grand visions or unusual challenges come along but, for the most part, we are engaged in the mundane tasks of daily managing the tasks at hand. Such days require unbroken commitment and steadfast faith in God. They are times when character matters, because there may be pressure to compromise your integrity in order to attain your goals. Temptations to take short-cuts, to modify reports, or put a positive spin on negative results will come, but know that people are watching you. God wants you to shine as brightly before him in the ordinary days as you do in the extraordinary moments. Learning to stay faithful in the mundane helps prepare us for the next exceptional event God will unveil. Those climactic occasions reveal character that was built in commonplace circumstances. Walking honorably through life glorifies the Lord as much as running well in the race.