Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

There is something about the New Year that makes us think about improving our lives. And even though self-improvement is a great thing, the process makes us start a new year by focusing on ourselves.

A few days ago while reading the Book of Nehemiah, I thought – what if we ask a question different then “what should I do about me?”.

The Nehemiah story provoked me because, it is a story of hard work and care. A story of a guy who once heard about the troubles in Jerusalem and his heart was broken. This made me think about how can my own new year resolution be about something bigger, about what breaks my heart. What should I do for others? So, this year, I have decided, my question will change from “what should I do about me” to “what needs to be done around me”.

We can do nothing by our own power.  But we can do anything by the power of God, which explains the change in the disciples before and after Pentacost.  According to Tozer in Mystery of the Holy Spirit, 7 things changed in them:

1. “The first is a sudden brilliant consciousness of God being actually present… A veil was raised and they felt God. A sense of acute God – consciousness was on them from that time on. They knew themselves to be in immediate contact with another world.” Only the Holy Spirit can bring, impart and maintain that sense of the divine presence.  His Presence is what we really need, all the time, every day.
2. Jesus said “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.  Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.“The second difference the Holy Spirit made was He gave them the joy of the Holy Ghost…. In the Four Gospels, there is not too much joy… When we get over into the book of Acts, it changes from the minor key into the major.” A change of emotional makeup came at once over the disciples and changed them by filling them with true joy of the Kingdom and what it meant for them and mankind.
3. “There was the joy of the Holy Ghost and there is the third, the power of their words to penetrate and arrest… The Holy Spirit makes that difference. He said, ‘Ye shall be endued with power’ and the word power means the ability to do.”
4. “They had, fourth, a clear sense of the reality of everything.”
5. “Then, a sharp separation between them and the world…They were looking at another world. They really saw another world.”
6. “Then another thing; they took great delight in prayer…. Before that (Pentacost), they would fall asleep. Now, nobody, was sleeping. They had a great delight in prayer.”
7. “And a passionate love for the Scriptures. This is the seventh thought…You cannot read the Scriptures with the spirit of Adam, for the Spirit of God inspired them.”

An old Latin proverb says “What man is a man who does not make the world better”. At the end of the day, the people we admire the most are not the people who were able to maintain their ideal weight. The people who we admire the most are the people that have made someone’s world a better place, and we all have to potential to change part of the world. Thank God that He has given us the power to make a difference BY HIS SPIRIT that He gives to all who ask.

Let’s together change a small part of the world for the kids who are in situations where your gifts are life-changing. We together make them feel like they are not forgotten. And if we are Jesus followers, we have to do that, because our devotion to God is measured by our devotion to others.

Join us, and be part of the AVCi mission this year to change the world of our children.  When we put others first and stop focusing on ourselves is when we are truly able to see God at work in our own lives and in the world around us.