Adding spiritual New Year resolutions to your list for 2023 is a brilliant way to start the year.
It makes sense, when considering the year ahead, to put thought into how you are going to nourish your spirit as well as your mind and body.
If this is your first time considering a spiritual New Year’s resolution here are some examples.
If you’re still not sure why you should add a spiritual New Year’s resolution to your commitments for the next year, consider these four reasons.
We are holistic beings and so when one part of us is struggling or not looked after, it affects all of us. If our mental health suffers, so does our physical health. This works in reverse too.
Now, apply the same logic to your spiritual health. Making a commitment to invest in your spiritual health next year can transform every part of you.
God made us with intricate connections that we’ve barely begun to understand. Think about how smells send actual messages to your brain, which then impact your emotions.
Or, how our guts are filled with brain matter
There are connections, more intricate and wonderful than we can understand, that weave our spirit, soul and body together. We are made to be whole when connected to our maker, God. So, when we nourish our spirit we are investing in our wholeness which, in turn, transforms our wellness.
In short, we are at our healthiest when we are connected to God.
Setting a spiritual New Year resolution can have a tangible impact on your life. Are there things in your life that you want to see changed? Do you have a loved one who needs healing? Maybe you need a financial breakthrough?
Or, maybe you’re heartbroken for the need of so many people in the world.
Prayer is our most powerful weapon against the darkness in this world.
When we pray we partner with the creator of the universe. We pray from a position of authority because we are His children. Imagine how a prince or princess would confidently make requests of the king. It’s the same for us, we are children of the King of all kings.
Remember that prayers are not just empty words, they are powerful tools that can shape, reform and remedy the pain we see everywhere.
We were created to be in relationship with God. It’s for this reason that loneliness is so heartbreakingly bad for us. We were never meant to live alone or to live separately from God.
Building up a regular discipline of prayer is the best way to build intimacy with God. The more we pray the more we learn what His voice sounds like and how He feels. We learn what it is to spend quality time with Him and how He makes us feel.
This ever-deepening intimacy with God is what we were made for. If you center the year ahead, and your whole life, around intimacy with God, you will feel the burden of loneliness lift.
He wants to be with us in the mundane tasks of our every day, and in the big moments of our life too. The more we pray, the more we learn about God, the more relaxed we are in His presence and the more we are healed of the isolation and loneliness of this world.
There is a God-given call on your life. Incredible destinies and world-shaping plans are not just reserved for the pastors and preachers. God has a dream for your life, one that is vital in His kingdom.
Do you know what it is? Are you confidently walking in your call?
A brief recap of some of the most famous stories in the Bible can show us the ways God loves to reveal His plan for people’s lives.
How do you think He does that?
It’s in conversation. And, it’s in meeting places, where He has been sought out. It’s also in dreams.
Every single one of these points us back to abiding in intimacy with God.
When God reveals his thoughts in a dream it invites us back to Him, to unpack its meaning with Him. He also calls us to step out of our comfort zones and usual rhythms of life to meet with Him and hear His heart.
Stewarding your prayer life is the best way to discover what the heavenly call on your life is.
Committing to a spiritual New Year’s resolution only to give up by March can be seriously demoralising. That’s why it’s so important to decide on a resolution that really works for you.
While finding inspiration from others’ goals is helpful, you need to make sure you tailor each resolution to you and your life.
Begin by taking some time away from your usual routine to reflect, with God, on the year ahead. Have a journal and pen ready and sit in stillness asking God to fill your thoughts with His plans and ideas for 2023.
Next, think about what you can realistically commit to for the next 12 months.
For example, getting up five minutes early to tune in to a devotional on Glorify could be a brilliant, achievable goal.
Spiritual New Year’s resolutions don’t have to be lofty or too intense. Small changes, like two minutes of meditating on Scripture a day, can make a huge difference.
If you’re still struggling and don’t know where to begin with connecting with God why not try this one, simple, New Year’s resolution.
Every day, next year, wake up and pray this simple prayer.
“God,
I want to know You better.
Please reveal Yourself to me today.
Help me to know You better tonight than I do this morning.
Amen.”
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