The Bible says that "the godly man's life is exciting" (Prov.14:14- Living).

Let me give you my testimony. I am 72 years old now (November 2011), and I have been a born-again child of God for more than 52 years. I can testify honestly that my Christian life has been exciting. I have been through many trials, but in all of them, I have experienced God in exciting ways. And I believe the best part of my life is still ahead of me. I am excited to be able to live for God and serve Him. To serve Him is the best thing that anyone can do in this world.

I don't have a complaint against a single person in the world. Nobody has ever succeeded in doing harm to me so far. Many have tried to harm me, and some of my co-workers have betrayed me and turned against me. Many "Christians" have spread falsehoods about me in "Christian" magazines and on the Internet, and some of them have even taken me to court. But all of these have only been a part of "the fellowship of Christ's sufferings" for me; and everything that everyone did has only worked for my good - as it says in Romans 8:28. So I actually thank God for all of them, because God has used their evil actions to make me a better man - more Christlike in my reactions. That was the main good that came out of their evil actions.

We need to be BROKEN first of all, before we can be useful to God. God uses many people and events to break our pride and our confidence in our own abilities and to make us small in our own eyes.

God broke me much in my younger days, and He is still breaking me today. This is the way of fruitfulness. The more we are broken, the more God can use us to be a blessing to others. We read in Exodus 17 that it was only when the rock was smitten that the waters begin to flow. When a woman brought analabaster vial of perfume to anoint Jesus, it was only when the vial was broken that the sweet aroma filled the house (Mark 14:3). To feed the five thousand, Jesus took the bread and blessed it. But no-one was fed until the bread was broken. What is the message in all of these examples? Just this that brokenness is the way of blessing. When an atom is split, it generates enough power to give electricity to a whole city! An atom is so small that you can't even see it under a microscope. But when it is broken, what tremendous power is released. The message in nature as well as in the Bible is just this: God's power is released through brokenness. May that message grip us all in the coming new year.

God gripped me with this message in 1963 when I first sought Him for power in my life and ministry. Right then, before I resigned from the Navy, God showed me that the way of brokenness was the way of power. And I never want to forget this all my life. I want to encourage young people especially to learn this lesson while they are still young.

A second requirement is a living FAITH in the promises of God.

God made two promises to the elders of Israel in Egypt: "I will bring you (1) out of the land of Egypt and (2) into the land of the Canaanites." (Ex.3:17). As you can see, there were two promises there. But only the first one was fulfilled. The second was not fulfilled. None of those elders entered Canaan - because they did not respond in faith when the time came to enter Canaan (Numbers 13). God's promises are not fulfilled, until we respond in faith. God's promise and our faith are like two electric wires. It is only when they touch each other (as in an electric switch) that the power begins to flow through the wires. You may hear about God's promise and understand it. But it is only when your faith reaches out and says, "Yes, I believe that will be fulfilled in my life," that the promise will be fulfilled. At the borders of Canaan, only Joshua and Caleb believed God's promise, and so only they entered the promised land. May we have the same faith and live continuously in the promised land of victory in the new year.

We wish you all a very blessed New Year - one of greater brokenness and greater faith in God.