A Brand New Year

Well here we are into another new year. The past is behind us and we look to this year with both anticipation along with expectation wondering what 2025 is going to bring. This will be interesting on all counts with no doubt many more changes on various fronts but moving on….

I don’t know about you but I am not one for making ‘new year’s resolutions’ and I stopped doing this in my late teens/early twenties and if we are honest, resolutions did not work and no matter how good our intentions were – they just did not happen so that is that. However, one thing I started doing a few years ago was to have a word for the year and this year is no exception though I do have two words which are Obedience and Perseverance.

Interesting words you may think, well yes they are and they both have relevance and meaning of which I will go through a short synopsis of both individually. So, the first one is Obedience – this for me means to be more obedient unto The Lord and His will for my life. To be more consistent walking in His truth and in His ways. I will touch on this a little more in a bit but moving on to the next word which is:

Perseverance, this is for me persevering in my walk with Abba Father unto the end and making sure that I don’t lose sight of who I am in Him; Making sure that no matter what, I am faithful and true to His will for my life which is to persevere through all trials and situations that come my way – no matter how difficult this may be – it is all about running the race to the very end!

Now, putting both of the above words together – this year I have decided to make some changes in my own life; changes that have needed to be put into place to help me more on my spiritual walk with Abba Father. These changes are through the prompting of The Holy Spirit first and foremost as well as desiring to be even more obedient as well as persevering to the end where I long to hear the words from Jesus “Well done good and faithful servant”. So, what are these changes you may ask? Well this is what I am about to get into – so, are you ready? Lets go!

• YouTube – Being careful who I watch and what content I am taking in. No none of it has been that bad, however, it is being careful in my choices of content and the time I spend on there
• Electonic Devices – Being more proactive in not switching on these until I have spent time with The Lord. I do switch on the computer very briefly first thing in the morning to check something which takes seconds and then I shut the computer off again until I have spent the time needed with The Lord
• Books – Picking up a book and to read at least one or two chapters a day. I am not talking about God’s Word here as this is a given and not included in this list.
• Movie night – setting aside one night a week to watch a Christian movie. This gives me something to look forward to during the week hence, setting aside this one night each week I can look forward to with anticipation
• Music/Podcasts – Listening to music more often and in fact I am listening now to Christian Worship music as I am typing this. I love listening to Christian/Messianic Praise & Worship. I also intend to start listening to Podcasts too, again Christian based. I no longer have any interest in music that is not Christian based and this has been the way for a few years now. Secular music does not interest me in the least.
• Journalling – this is something else that I desire to be more proactive in. To keep an account of my day to day to include how His Holy Spirit speaks to me through His written Word. Short devotionals and life in general.
• Gratitude Journal – last year I did keep up with this more but sadly got out of the habit. It is important each and every day to list something or more than one item if you like on what I am grateful for and every day!
• Vision Board – this is something I have put in place for the first time this year. This is actually helping me in keeping myself accountable on some of the decisions I have felt led to put into place this year which started three days ago on the 1st of January.
• Bible Notes – This is something else I have started implementing outside of my Bible. I have seperate notes which is something I have made notes of Bible passages I read and how they speak to me as well as how they relate to me today and how I can implement what I have learnt into my own life. This is a good route to go down too. This is something I need to be more studious about.
• Bible Memorization – yet another road I have decided to try and implement into my time with The Lord. Memorization is not my strong point – so this is going to be interesting and with the help of His Holy Spirit – may I start to learn more and more Scripture verses
• Less time on the computer – Being careful on how much time I spend on the computer and especially the internet! I have said this before that the internet can be both a blessing and a curse which oh boy this statement alone is so very true!!

The above are just a few decisions that have been made which are not in any specific order by the way. So far, the above is going well. For me it is all about being obedient to The Holy Spirit and His leading in my life and also persevance. When I do have difficulties where say I want to go onto YouTube – it is all about asking myself the question – Is what I am going to watch going to be helpful to me and what value is this going to be for me. Now, yes I do listen to Christian music via YouTube and some devotionals and other content but it is cutting down my time.

The decisions we make not only every day but at every moment of each day are important. We always need to go to Abba Father to help us and through His Written Word He teaches us how to live our lives. His Word is our Life line. In this amazing book are all the ways we need to live out our lives along with tons of practical Life skills and applications on how to live our lives that are pleasing unto Jesus. Everything we need to know is in His Written Word – we are taught so much on how to live gloriously and to be overcomers in every single area of our lives if we allow these truths to take place in our heart of hearts. Again, here comes the word I use so often again, choices – no I can’t get away from that word because this word is so true. We all have choices that we make every single day and it is the choices we have been given the ability to make and how we choose to live our lives that is a life to be obedient unto Jesus Christ.

So, in this new year – what are some decisions you have made especially in your walk with Jesus and how are you going to implement these “choices” into your own life. I love to ask direct questions and to hear your response. May 2025 be a year that we All start to put God first and foremost in each and every single area of our lives.

Bless you Dear Friends and know how loved you are 🙂

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