Remember that time your words did not match your good intention or your action did not follow your good intention? We’ve all had many of those times!
There’s also a pattern of this at the beginning of a new year.
How often do we set goals and then find ourselves minimizing their importance even after one month? In reality, most new year’s resolutions never come to fruition.
We may set goals without outlining the steps to achieve it. We might not pre-determine to persevere when the going gets tough. We might not have count the cost of reaching our goal.
The same can happen with our spiritual goals. In fact, spiritual goals are often not viewed as a top priority. According to Forbes, an American Business Magazine, a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults revealed that their top 2024 new year’s resolutions were to improve fitness (48%), to improve finances (38%), and to improve mental health (36%). The lowest were to travel more (6%), to meditate regularly (5%), to drink less alcohol (3%), and to perform better at work (3%). The list did not include anything specific to growing one’s faith in God.
Do you have a goal for this new year related to exercising your faith? Is training for godliness part of your desired mindset and heart’s focus? Even this requires discipline and fortitude, because each day has troubles of its own (Matthew 6:34) and necessitates a determination to persevere in faith (Philippians 3:14).
Have you decided to know more of God and, therefore, live more for him? This is best goal to set! As with other endeavors, spiritual endeavors need to be taken step by step toward the goal.
The God we serve, who loves us dearly, provides us ways to grow in him. He gives us the written Word to teach us. He give us Jesus, who understands our struggles, to intercede for us. He gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us in truth, and he gives us other believers to join with in prayer and worship, for accountability and service.
When an endeavor is new or challenging, developing habits is key to following through on your good intentions. The Heart Training books for Bible verse study and memory are one way to help with this.
As we choose to focus on God and his truths daily, we choose to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely… and run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a ESV).
So, step by step we can choose to follow Jesus.
Let the Heart Training books help you train for godliness. For more success, meet with a ‘training partner’ to help keep each other accountable! Remember, Keep on Track Volume 2 is now available!