Try, Try Again...

(wipe the sweat off your brow, and resolve to trust God!)

2014 has started and with it, resolutions.  The word can mean so many things, and yes, I am one that more or less sets ‘goals’ for the year.  This year is no different.  I have been thinking about and praying about what the Lord would like to have me do this year.  Well, I made them, wrote them out and shared them with my dear sister.  They are reasonable, yet the Lord wasn’t done working on my heart in regards to what I need to work on this year. 

Today I sat down to read a Christian magazine and one of the articles was on ‘resolutions’.  Yep.  I wanted to skip right over it and keep going, but for some reason the Lord caught my eye with a question at the top of the page and quite frankly, I didn’t understand the question.  So, into the article I went.  Well, the Lord had greater things to show me, and I am SO excited to share what the Lord taught me today!

                In the short article the author said how many times we resolve to try harder.   We start strong the first week or so.  We can do it, we try hard.  However, soon, the trying hard doesn’t work.  The will power is dying, and we throw in the towel.  So, he says:

“This year, I want to try hard, but I want to try hard at the right thing.  I want to try hard at that which God prizes in His people. (the heart)  I’m going to try hard to BELIEVE. 

                We often make the mistake of thinking that resolutions are about willpower.  Though certainly that’s a big part of it, the truth is that every decision we make is, at some level, driven and maintained by FAITH.  What we believe will in the end determine what we do.  Think about it again in terms of a diet.

                In the case of losing 20 pounds, instead of just trying harder to eat right and go to the gym, I’m going to focus my primary effort elsewhere.  I’m going to attack the ROOT of the issue at the FAITH level.  Instead of focusing my effort on the weight, I’m going to try hard to believe that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  I’m going to try hard to believe that God will empower me to honor Him with my body.  I’m going to try hard to believe that He’s my substance – not another bag of chips.

                There’s a HUGE difference.  One is centered on sweat; the other is centered on faith.  One lifts up the power of humanity; the other lifts up the power of God.  One is about me; the other is about the gospel.  Perhaps we shouldn’t be asking, “Why can’t I try HARD enough to accomplish the things I have resolved to do?”  Maybe we should instead be asking what we should be trying hard to BELIEVE about God and His works in our lives.  Perhaps it’s that belief – that faith – that can result in the change we need.

                In 2014, resolve to try hard, but to try hard at the RIGHT thing.  FAITH is the center of all things – even trying harder.”  - Michael Kelley (emphasis mine)

                When I read this, my heart started to twinge.  It started to nod.  And it moved from my heart to my head!  Yes, Yes, YES!!!  This is it.  It is NOT about me.  Not in the least.  This is about my heart, in faith and obedience, trusting and obeying the Lord.  It is about my desiring to BE ALL for the Lord, BELIEVING He can and will do a powerful change in my life, which is even obeying Him in what I put in my mouth.  It goes with the verse, ‘Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial!’  The Lord doesn’t need me to follow the rules of a diet and exercise plan to a ‘T’.  Yes, that would produce results, for sure, it is a given, but the Lord doesn’t need another fat or skinny person living life by rules.  HE has set me free.  All He asks is that I obey Him in that freedom.  So, my resolution has changed, and if I follow this resolution, the results will far outweigh the results of which I was hoping for!  For my resolution is to fall so completely in love with the Lord in a new way, I can’t put a morsel in my mouth without it giving glory and honor to the One I love so dearly.  I am turning this battle back over to the Lord, and may HE work in MY heart, it can’t but grow, and grow in a good, righteous, pure way. 

                So, I challenge you, with your ‘resolutions’, resolve to try harder at the RIGHT things.  For when we resolve to love the Lord more, change WILL happen!!

                Lord, I ask You to go before me.  I want to BE all YOU want me to be.  Life is a heart issue, and I want a clean heart , obedient and focused on YOU.  I love You Lord, and I pray this pray for my brothers and sisters who make ‘resolutions’ too.

“God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.  RESTORE to me the JOY of Your salvation and SUSTAIN me with a WILLING spirit!!”    

Psalm 51:10-12