A new year, a new resolution
The new year, 2021 has begun in earnest. we have not seen the eradication of the dreaded Covid disease. But a new year has started and with it new hope has come. For some it is because there is a vaccine for this disease, for others its putting the past year of trouble and hopelessness behind them and look for hope in this year. But what about us as believers? Do we have a new years resolution? I know that of all the times I have made a resolution they fall away sometime in February. Its the well intentioned idea with very little action, and the vice of procrastination that is my reasoning for this failure.
But we should action one new year resolution, one that we all should aspire to keep, one that is not merely physical or academic, or spiritual, it encompasses all three of these. What is this new years resolution that I am alluding too? it is to be more active in spending time in His word and in prayer. It may seem like a basic idea, but how much time do we spend in this, and how often. In the first year of my faith I read the word and prayed a lot, then in my second year it tapered off, then came a time where if I read the bible I didn’t pray, or if I prayed I didn’t read the bible. This was a problem!
It took time and action to get the discipline of doing both, rather than seeing them as two sperate things, I came to see them as one, a way to not only hear Him but to converse with Him. A relationship is a two way communication after all, I want to hear from Him, and He wants to hear from me.
So how do we do this? I propose a few steps that if we put into place we can start or deepen our time in devotion.
- Set a time that suits and stick to it. This is key. If you schedule a meeting do you keep it? most likely you do, you see it as important enough, its an act of integrity to get up your end of the agreement. its the same here. If we set time aside then as people of integrity we need to keep it. We don’t want Jesus to be at the metaphorical coffee shop looking at his watch waiting for us to turn up. Do we ditch Jesus and do something else or do we turn up on time!
2. Don’t be in a rush. It seems like that we want to get in and out, get it over with so we can carry on with the rest of our day. But take time to read and hear what the word is saying, I recommend using the SOAP method (see an earlier post if you don’t know what this is.) This method will cause you to think about what the word is saying and how to apply it to your life. On average it takes 3 minutes and 45 seconds to read a chapter from the bible, spend a few minutes reflecting on what is being said, then a spend minutes in prayer. This whole process should take as a minimum 10 minutes. If you find it hard to find 10 minutes in your day to spend with the Lord, you may need to rethink your time management scheme.
If you employ these 2 steps you will see a growth in your walk, I can personally guarantee it. I did this and it produced growth in my walk.
The new year resolution for you then my friends is to start making a time with the Lord on a more consistent basis, and spend time in doing it. Who knows you might just find the answers and guidance you need to make 2021 a year of growth.
In Christ our redeemer Ps Jeff