Christian leaders share inspiring new year messages for 2019
Ravi Zacharias
Well-known Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias also shared a brief message of encouragement on Instagram for the start of the new year.
“Wishing you a blessed #NewYear and may God's abiding presence be with you,” he wrote. “The one hope that still stands tall is the hope of Jesus who changes us from within to see the gloom without and breathe new possibilities into it.”
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The Indian-born Canadian-American who has authored or edited over 25 books went on to share another post for the new year that included a quote from Anglican hymn writer and poet of the 1700s Henry Francis Lyte.
"Hold then thy cross before my closing eyes/Speak through the gloom, and point me to the skies/Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee!/In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!," Zacharias quoted Lyte’s Hymn “Abide With Me.”
Lyte composed the song during a moment of despair after developing tuberculosis at age 54. The biblical link for the hymn is believed to be Luke 24:29 where the disciples asked Jesus to abide with them for it is toward evening and the day is spent.
