5 Christian New Year’s Resolutions

Here are 5 Christian New Year’s resolutions that you might think about making.

Create a Prayer Journal

I started writing down prayer requests once because I received so many but then I took a notebook and started writing down the prayer requests, the person’s name, the date and then later I could look back and see just how faithful God was in answering these prayers. Sometimes He answered quickly and sometimes His answer was different and then at other times it was even better than what I had prayed for. Start your own prayer journal next year to record prayer requests and then you might make it a “Praise and Prayer Request Journal.”

Read the Bible in a Year

I have a Bible where it gives you the day of the month where if you read so many chapters a day you can read the Bible in a year. I don’t try to hurry my reading but it does keep me on task. I actually make myself read some out of the Old Testament and the New Testament every day so that I can get the Word of God into me. If you get into the Word of God the Word of God will get into you. I guarantee that.

Witnessing at least Once a Week

D.L. Moody made a pledge or covenant with God to witness to at least one person per day for the rest of his life and he was faithful. One night, about ten o’clock, he realized that he had not yet witnessed to anyone so he got out of bed, got dressed, and in the Chicago snow, went out in to the street and spoke to a man standing by a lamppost, asking him, “Are you a Christian?” The man flew into a violent rage and threatened to knock Moody into the gutter. Later, that same man went to an elder in the church and complained that Moody was “doing more harm in Chicago than ten men were doing good.” The elder begged Moody to temper his zeal with knowledge. Three months later, this same man came to Moody and apologized to him for losing his temper and said “I want to talk to you about my soul.” That man was saved because D.L. Moody was unafraid to share the gospel, even if it made someone mad. If you can’t seem to find it in yourself to share the gospel with someone every day, try to do it at least once per week. That’ll mean that you would have witnessed for Christ 52 times in one year! You’ll never regret it.

Be a Mentor and Find a Mentor

I have an older, retired pastor who mentors me and I have a younger man that I mentor. I believe this is so important for the Christian and part of the reason why Jesus said to make disciples and to teach them to observe all things that He taught them. Every Paul needs a Timothy just as every Timothy needs a Paul. Find a mentor and then be one for someone else who is new to the faith.

Start Something New

A few years ago when one of our elderly church members broke her hip, she ended up in the local assisted living center. Since she couldn’t come to church, I brought the church to her. I read the Bible to her and other residents seemed to love it so I started visiting the other elderly members. Statistics show that 60% of assisted living center residents or nursing homes never have anyone that comes to visit them so in my opinion, I found something that God would delight in…visiting the orphans and widows there (James 1:27). How many of those in nursing homes are orphans and widows? Almost every single one of them!