A few months ago we went to a local beach in San Francisco and ran into a big Jewish Celebration there, the new year celebration Rosh Hashana. Many people stood together at the beach worshipped God and the Rabbi shared a message about the Celebration. In that message he encouraged people to throw all their sins into the ocean to have a fresh start into the new year with no leftover baggage from the old year. So all the people at the event walked down to the ocean and threw bread as a symbol for their sin into the ocean.
This is a beautiful picture of what Jesus wants for us too. He wants us to give our sins to Him by repenting for them so we can live a life of freedom. He already paid for them so don’t carry that burden around with you. Let this year end by dropping off all that baggage at Jesus feet.
Here are some easy steps to do that:
- Think about what sin you are still carrying around and write it out on a piece of paper.
- Pray and ask God to reveal things you missed and then write those on the paper
- Start going down the list one by one and use the following steps. First ask for forgiveness. Second spend a moment to receive his forgiveness. Third cut of any condemnation that you feel and give it to Jesus. Fourth declare what you want to do from now on. Example: if you lied declare that you will now with His help speak the truth. Fifth Rebuke the enemy. Tell him that he has no more power over you in Jesus name.
- Take the piece of paper and burn it as a statement that its really gone, of course burn it in a safe place!
It might take some time to do that depending on the length of your list but its worthy to leave everything in the old that you don’t need.
Hey our friend
We hope you had a great week celebrating Christmas. WE had a big meal with friends (neighbors) at our house. It was a lot of fun and we ate way too much food! Please pray for lonely people in this season since the holidays are an especially hard time for people that have no one! This week we will leave for Pennsylvania to spend time with family there.
Thank you for praying with us and supporting us financially in this past year. We don’t take it for granted and are thankful for you every day!! You are such a blessing!!
Have a great week and a good New Years Eve celebration!
Markus and Jen