I Will Resolve to...

Happy New Year, 2015!!!

January 1, 2015

How odd is that, to write 2015? I never thought about my living in the year 2015. Did you back in the 70's, 80's, 90's, even 2000, or 2010? Oh my, where have the decades gone? The years keep flying by faster and faster.

Of course, when we think of a new year, we often think of "New Years Resolutions." Right?
My husband and I are reading a daily devotional book written by a friend of ours, R.E. Clark, called Life Is Not A Snapshot It's A Mosaic. (It is for sale on Amazon.) Here are some things he says about this subject:

Most of the commercials deal with exercise equipment, diet plans, or quitting some bad habit like smoking. Though we may not formally mad a resolution, the merchants know that this is the time of the year that we are at least subconsciously thinking about them.

The word resolution means to determine an action, course of action, procedure, or method. It is at the minimum a mental state in which we resolve to accomplish some set of goals.

Resolutions come down to a matter of the will. You have to take that which was mere thought and put feet to it. Your resolution must rise up and become a reality. David wrote the longest chapter of the Bible, which we know as Psalm 119.

In verses 15-16, David said, I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.

David's resolution was short and sweet. It was a four step plan with a single focus. Each step is always centered upon the Word of God.
I will meditate.
I will contemplate.
I will delight.
I will remember (not forget).

David's resolves included:

1. Meditate on the precepts of God. The Hebrew word for meditation means to ponder; to weigh carefully in the mind; to converse with one's self; to talk out the issues of God's law to the place that every point was completely understood. Meditation is a "get honest with God and yourself time". Read Ephesians 5:17-21 for more mediation information.
2. Contemplate God's ways. Contemplation is the idea to scan or to look at intently. Make the necessary adjustments in your life to get back on the Lord's highway. When we go to the doctor, and they prescribe medication to help us, it will do us no good unless we fill the order and take all of the medication.
3. Delight myself in God's statutes. Delight means to please. David looked at the statutes, commandments, and the law of God with delight and pleasure. He handled each one as if holding close like a beloved child. Be resolved to hold close to your heart God's Word.
4. Forget not God's Word. Forget means to mislay. It is not so much intentionality, but carelessness that brings our resolutions to naught. I will remember Your Word. It there is no intent to perform, then the resolves become meaningless.

Whatever this year will bring to your path, be it good or bad, always remember God's Word and His ways.

Meditate, contemplate, delight, and remember God's Words and ways.
Be it finally resolved...

Are we making time to read and study the Bible? Are we taking it into our life, our heart, making it a part of us? Does it feed our soul that is hungry? Do we remember what the Word says about a certain situation which pops up before us?
How resolved are we? How willing are we? 

Have a Happy New Year and watch those resolutions.

Linda