My Word for 2019...Resolved.

New Year’s Resolutions. Sometimes I don’t come up with a list…I just have a word that I center my heart on for the whole year.  I haven’t had a word for like three years, but this year a word has been bouncing around in my mind like a blowfly.  I can’t shake it for some reason and it’s the world: RESOLVED.

I was even reading through the Bible for our New Series starting in a couple weeks called “The Art of Living” and one of the texts contained the world that’s been pestering me like a stray dog lately…

2 Chronicles 16:9 - For the eyes of the LORD look to and fro throughout the earth to strengthenthose whose hearts are fully resolved in all their ways.

Re·solved

1.    firmly determined to do something.

Synonyms:

determined, hell-bent, intent, committed, set upon

I Peter 1:13 - Therefore,prepare your minds for action, and be single-minded, and set your hope.

We underestimate the power of ‘making up our minds’, or as this text put it: ‘preparing our minds for action’. So much of what we see around us that we would call success or health is the result of ‘hard labor’, not ‘good luck’ or ‘hoping for the best’.  I remember some things from my past that happened as a result of “preparing my mind for action”…making a priority… 

“Prior”ity – deciding “priorto pressure or pleasure” what you are going to do because it’s true and healthy.

“If you don’t make up your mind, your unmade mine will unmake you.”– E. Stanley Jones

So I sleuthed around the Bible in different versions and found the places where The word “resolved” was mentioned as the “concrete & compulsive force of change” in a person’s life.

Change doesn’t just happen…it must be chosen.  I firmly believe that…

What sets humans apart from the rest of creation is free willas opposed to base instincts. Every day in every place, every one of us has the chanceto make a choiceto enact a change. … to “prepare our minds for action’…or to turn our ‘intentions’ into ‘actions’.

So as I spent some time in the Bible the last week or so, I plucked out 12 passages centered on “RESOLVE” that I believe could set our church on a unified course to make a radical change in our individual homes as well as our collective community. The effects could be astonishing if over a thousand people set their hearts to resolving to make these changes together…

 Resolutions as it relates to our spiritual devotion and our faith:

Joshua 24:15 – “Resolve within yourself this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

*I resolve this year to make my home a place that where God is talked about often and honored above all. (praying before meals and at bedtime with my kids/spouse)

Colossians 4:2 – Resolve yourselves to pray, being watchful and thankful.

*I resolve this year to praying more consistently, looking for things to thank God for throughout each day.

1 Peter 4:19 - So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should resolve themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

*I resolve this year to suffer well, stay faithful to God through painful times, and keep doing good.

Resolutions as it relates to fear and shame:

Isaiah 50:7- But the sovereign Lord helps me, so I am not humiliated. For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; I know I will not be put to shame.

*I resolve this year to live with less shame and humiliation believing in God’s complete healing and forgiveness.

Psalm 112:8- The righteous possess a resolve that is firm; they will not succumb to fear.

*I resolve this year to not let fear cripple me, keeping me living with freedom and making a difference.

Resolutions as it relates to practical things in life:

Daniel 1:8,12 - Daniel resolved not to eat the king’s food and wine, so he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way. “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.”

*I resolve this year to make a concerted effort to eat healthy and to exercise regularly in order to take care of my body as God’s temple believing it will make my spirit more alive.

Malachi 2:15- Has not the LORD made a man and wife one? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. Therefore, resolve to guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

*I resolve this year to regularly date my spouse, pursuing them the way I did in the ardor of the early days so that my family will reap the benefits of a healthy marriage relationship.

Job 31:1- I have resolved that my eyes will not to look lustfully at a young woman.

*I resolve this year to not look at any porn and fight lust with a vengeance, seeking regular accountability in staying faithful with my eyes in order to keep my heart pure. 

Psalm 17:3-You have tested my heart. You have tried me, and found nothing. I have resolved that my mouth shall not disobey.

*I resolve this year to stop swearing, gossiping, and complaining before God and my fellow man using my mouth for positive and encouraging purposes. 

PSALM 141:3- Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.

Resolutions as a Church Family…

Act 11:29 - So the disciples resolved to bring relief to those in need, each according to his individual ability, to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea.

*I resolve this year to bring relief to people who are in need instead of talking myself out of it and walking past people’s needs.

2 Corinthians 9:7- Each of you should give as an offering what you have resolved in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

*I resolve this year to be faithful as I give financially to the church, tithing 10% of each paycheck I receive with generosity and with joy.