New Year’s Resolutions

Written by Rev. Joseph Lee

How many of you make New Year’s Resolutions, only to break them within a week? I know I have and I would think the majority of those reading this post has broken them as well. In order to make a change, one must practice the new change for at least twenty-one days for it to become a habit.

Your New Year’s Resolution might be going on a diet. It could be exercising more. It could be financial such as making a budget. All of these are great resolutions which must be practiced for at least twenty-one days to become part of our lifestyle.

For the Christian, here are two very important resolutions that you should start right away. The first is to spend more time in private prayer to our Heavenly Father. J.C. Ryle once said, “private prayer is the most neglected of all Christian duties. That is most unfortunate because private prayer is the true measure of a Christian’s walk before God and ‘the pith and marrow of practical Christianity’”.

Private prayer is a necessity for the Christian walk with the Father and His Son. Ryle wrote, “Prayer under the blessing of God leads to the new birth, strengthens faith, moves mountains, and promotes spiritual growth and contentment that rises above circumstances.

Prayerlessness, on the other hand, is the broad road leading to Hell for the unbeliever and the major cause of backsliding in the Christian.”

It is imperative to pray daily, and maybe more than once to the Father. We are to talk to Him about everything, from our struggles to thanking Him for our food. We are also to praise Him for our blessings. In order to be able to live a life like Christ Jesus, prayer is one of the most important things you can do in your spiritual walk with the Lord.

The second most important resolution is to read your Bible daily. Have a time in the day where you read and study God’s Word. I once knew a man who said he had read the entire Bible once. He never picked up his Bible again because he thought that was all he had to do. He read it but apparently did not internalize it. One can read a verse and it speaks to them and then in a month read that verse again and it means something different to them. The difference in what the verse is saying to you may be caused by the Holy Spirit teaching you God’s Holy Scriptures.

According to J. C. Ryle, “next to praying there is nothing so important in practical religion as Bible reading. God in his mercy has given us a book ‘which is able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus’ (2 Tim. 3:15). By reading the Bible we may learn what to believe, what to be, and what to do; how to live with comfort, and how to die in peace.”

Reading the Bible daily is your handbook in how to live a life of Christ. It is an instruction from God to teach those called unto Him how to live their lives.

Tonight is New Years Eve. When making those resolutions, consider making two, praying daily and reading your Bible. Do it daily, then it will become part of your life!

May you all have a very Happy and prosperous New Year. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace (Cf. Numbers 6:24-26)!

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