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My New Year Resolutions 2025
To begin with, let us resolve to put God first.
New Year’s Resolutions can only help us if we start in the right place. That place is making our commitment to place God first in every part of our lives. This must be our daily goal. If we fail to put God first, nothing else we plan will make a whole lot of difference.
Remember the greatest commandment. Jesus tells us what it is in Mark 12:30 NKJV. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.
Without this beginning, no other resolution will be of much value. So, I hope you will join me in making this your first and most important resolution this year.
My next resolution is to watch what God does!
This is one of my favorite ones. Life is such an adventure when you put God first and watch Him work in your life and the lives of others.
I look forward to each year God gives me. There is always something new and wonderful. Now in my eighties, I find each new year just as much of an adventure as I did in earlier years.
Some adventures start with sad events.
One such event was the loss of my first wife after 54 years together. She had been sick for several years, but we had always worked as a team. She supported me and helped me make wise decisions.
I was very dependent on her and found it hard to be productive without her. Where would I ever find someone to encourage me like she did? After her passing, I felt the Lord leading me to give up my commercial business and serve Him online. It was a complete change for me and one I was making without my helpmate.
However, I knew that God was leading and He is always faithful in showing the way.
Expect the unexpected!
If God wants you to do something, He will always provide the means if you ask Him.
However, I have found that He never does it the way I expect. One of the exciting things about trusting in God is seeing how He works things out.
Nearly a year after losing my wife I felt like giving up. I hated writing and God wanted me to build a website and write articles to help His people come closer to Him.
I knew how to build a website. However, I never was good at writing and always hated it. It is not that I can’t write, I would just rather talk. When I preach a sermon, I always preach from an outline. I never wrote my sermons out.
It was clear that I was in trouble, so I did what we all should do when in trouble. Pray!
That brings up my second resolution, prayer.
Continuous prayer should always be one of our resolutions. Without it, we are trying to stand on our own, and that never works. Prayer is always one of my resolutions and I knew that I would need a lot of prayer to do what God called me to do.
So, believing the Scripture, I prayed and asked God for help.
In John 15:7 NKJV Jesus tells us, “ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
I knew I was not getting the job done. So I changed what I was praying for. I somehow knew that God did not want me to remain alone.
So, Friday night I went to bed and began my evening prayers. I confessed to God my failure at what He had called me to do. I felt like I knew what I needed, so I asked God for His provision.
I asked God for a wife and a helpmate and went to sleep.
The next morning when I opened my messages there was one from Carol in Virginia. It simply said she had read one of my articles and wanted to tell me it was very good. She closed her message telling me that I did not need to respond.
It was great to hear someone was reading and even liked my article.
This was how God answered my prayer!
After reading her message I responded by thanking her for her comments. This would have been the end, but the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that she was to be my wife and the helpmate I had just asked for.
I am not the type to make quick decisions about anything, so I was confused. Several things confused me. First, God never answered my prayers so quickly and so clearly. Secondly, she did not live in Texas, but in Virginia. Besides, I had never met her and knew nothing about her.
I continued to pray and God continued to impress upon me that she was His gift to me.
As always, God was right.
Carol and I have now been married for over three years. And, yes, she is the perfect helpmate, full of love and joy. I never dreamed I would have such joy and peace so late in my life.
There is much more to the story but I only give this as an example of answered prayer.
We need to resolve to look for God’s unexpected answer. I have found that He nearly always answers me in some way I did not expect. I praise Him for it.
My next resolution is to pray for those God puts over us.
As a nation, we have just ended two or more years of political warfare leading up to this past election. Everyone is tired of it and would like to just forget politics. I know I would!
However, as Christians, we should proclaim God’s Word about right and wrong to our nation. In other words, we should tell them about SIN. Our government should not be given over to evil.
Our party loyalties should never be put above God’s Laws. We must stand up for God’s truths.
The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 NKJV, Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Therefore, I pray for myself, my family, the Church, and the lost. I also pray for those in authority. They are greatly tempted to abandon their faith in God and accept the views of Satan’s world.
Our prayer life is a very powerful tool that we can engage in at all ages.
We must also resolve to study God’s Word.
I am a strong advocate of reading the whole Bible each year. Every year as I read through the same Scriptures, God shows me something I missed or misunderstood.
At this writing, Carol and I just finished our third time reading through the Bible together. Both of us have read the Bible through many times in our lives. We are always amazed to find something that seems new to us or the Holy Spirit opens up to us.
To help with your journey through the Bible we have prepared a free Scripture Study Guide.
You can download a free PDF of our Bible Reading Calendar by clicking HERE. It takes about twenty minutes a day to read the entire Bible in one year. We encourage you to take the time. It will bring many new blessings to your life.
Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV, 15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
You need to plan time to read and study God’s Word. It will help you grow in righteousness. Make yourself a workman that does not need to be ashamed.
Another Resolution that is often forgotten to consider is our giving.
Our giving should be intentional. We need to confess first that everything we have belongs to God and is given to us by Him. When we accept that all we have is His, it changes our way of thinking.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16:2 NKJV, “On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.”
Every year we look closely at how we are using His resources. Carol and I have found that even with very limited income, we have all we need. Each year we look at ways we can give more from the bounty God gives us.
How does God want you to use the resources with which He has entrusted you?
Are your resources used for yourself or others? Do you find yourself holding back what you know you should give back to God or others in need?
Money is always a touchy subject. Everyone must seek what God wants them to give above their Tithe. If you study giving in the Bible you will find that the Tithe to the temple was only the starting point.
Use wisdom in giving.
In the Scripture above the Apostle points out that we should give regularly as God prospers us.
He also points out these truths in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 NKJV Paul says, “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”
This is where the other resolutions come into play. Each one builds on the others.
We build by putting God first, spending time in prayer, studying God’s Word, and seeking God’s Will for all the resources. Plan for the resources He has entrusted to us.
All the above leads to God’s call to Ministry.
As Christians God gives each of us a special ministry. Looking at the New Year we need to examine what we are doing and planning in light of God’s call on our lives.
What is your calling? Does He want you to expand it or maybe add a new ministry? This is why we examine what we do each year and plan for the New Year.
God called Carol and me to an online ministry. Our website is IAmCalls.com. We write messages such as this and inspirational pieces to encourage Christians to walk as Jesus did.
We are thrilled to see our messages being read in many different countries. Every week we see people in China, Africa, and throughout Europe reading about Jesus.
My much older brother, Walter, when he was 93 or 94, pointed out to us that there were seasons in our lives. At one time God called me to preach. Later in life, He called me to write.
In my case, previously, I had hated to write. However, now that God has called me to write, I find that I enjoy it. It is still work, but there is satisfaction as I finish an article.
However, each year we need to prayerfully review our calling.
I encourage each of you to search your heart for how God wants to use you. God made each of us with different abilities. He also sometimes calls us to areas where we would rather not go.
Our calling should be a part of the New Year Resolutions process. We should examine it every year to make sure that we are still in line with God’s call.
God never changes, but He does change how He uses us.
God called all of us to Love and Serve.
We need to look into our hearts and examine our actions. Are we showing God’s love to others? Often we give lip service to the idea of loving others, but do we love even those within the Church? What about that troublesome neighbor? The homeless person we meet?
Jesus says in John 15:12 NKJV, “12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. It is so important that we love even those we disagree with and who do not even like us. Jesus died for those who nailed Him to the cross.
Each year we must renew our resolve to love the lost.
Our example of loving the lost is Jesus. He died for the lost.
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment He answered and then added, “ And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Mark 12:31 NKJV
Certainly, we should resolve to love the way Jesus teaches us to love. It takes effort.
Scripture is clear that if we love our neighbors we will serve them. In Ephesians 2:10 NKJV Paul says, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Faith is important. So are our deeds. We read in James 2:18 NIV, But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
Finally, I renew my resolve to Evangelize.
All the other points listed above have no meaning without our planning to obey God and evangelize the world. Each year we should ask ourselves if we have done all we could and how we can do better this year.
Ask God to help you see opportunities to share Jesus with others.
Jesus commanded us to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16 NIV
This is God’s will for each of us. It does not mean that we are all to rush off to another country. However, it does mean we are to tell the lost that God sent His Son to die for their sins so they could be with Him in Heaven.
You should not need a resolution for this one, but I did and do. As my life changed through reading God’s Word and praying I came to an understanding of one very important fact.
I needed to obey God. This was something that I have always known, but we often let the things of the world turn our attention elsewhere.
Conclusion
These are only a few resolutions we make at the start of each year. There are many more that may come to your mind as you prayerfully seek to obey God and follow Him.
If you follow just these few, it will change your life and make you a life changer for others.
Carol and I pray that the peace of God be with you through this coming year! May He fill you with joy regardless of what the world throws at you.
I hope this helps you with your New Year’s Resolutions!