Have you ever tried setting New Year’s resolutions, tried to work on them and then just drop it all after a while because they never happen anyways? Don’t worry, everyone’s been there.
Studies show that the top three things that we include in our New Year’s resolutions are things that pertain to health, finance and relationships. Some of the resolutions make it through the first week, lesser through the first month.
Whatever our goals and plans are, and no matter how hard we plan and try to attain them, the Bible teaches us that it is God’s plans that will always prevail (Proverbs 19:21). So if that’s the case and most of our resolutions never make it through January, is it God’s will for us to stay fat, broke or single?
Well, not necessarily. You see, it’s common for us to make plans without seeing it from the perspective of God. It’s clear that God knows plans that will bring prosperity and protection, but question is, do we bother to ask him what those plans are?
From Isaiah 54:2-3, we can learn five areas to increase in to experience the greater plans of the infinite and loving God.
1. Vision | “Enlarge the place of your tent”
When vision is not clear or not big enough, it’s easy to lose track of progress and goals. How much weight do you really want to lose? Five? ten? When you know where the place of your tent is, it’s stretch it out as far as you can and that applies with our New Year’s resolutions.
2. Skills | “Stretch your curtains wide”
It’s great that you want to save more this coming 2016, but question is if you’re working on finding the right information, training, teaching and practices to get you to the financial goal you’d like to achieve. It’s hard living in a tent when you don’t know how to set it up and stretch it as far as possible.
3. Faith | “Don’t hold back”
It’s a sad sight seeing someone give up on his or her dreams because of the tendency to hold back on chasing after them them. It’s easy to make goals, but the real challenge comes in persevering in the pursuit. Greater perseverance will always lead to greater faith. How far have you stretched your faith in making your New Year’s resolutions?
4. Values | “Lengthen your cords”
Just like a tent is held together by it’s cords, we are held together by our values. In the same way a tent with strong cords will stand firm when the winds start blowing, a person with strong and clear values will stand firm through life’s greatest storms. A man who wants to become a better father and husband should know the value of family, and an executive who wants to become better in his career should grow in the value his or her company brings.
5. Relationships | “Strengthen your stakes”
In times we are challenged most, it is our relationships that serve as anchors. Just like the old saying goes, no man is an island. We were all meant to grow in the area of relationship with one another because we are better together.
Before setting goals, my encouragement and challenge is that you review these five areas of your life and see how you can increase in them, and as a result lead you towards the greater plans that God has in store for you this 2016.
God bless your New Year, and may His sufficient grace overtake your plans!
