Today is New Year’s Day and we start a new year. Many people around the world will celebrate certain traditions today such as eating black eyed peas or pork which supposedly will bring good luck to the person for the New Year. Some cultures eat round food believing if the food looks like coins and will bring them prosperity. Some believe you need to eat twelve grapes for prosperity in the New Year. Greeks will hang onions on their front doors and in Brazil they all wear white and go to the ocean and jump over seven waves believing this will bring them prosperity for the New Year. Chileans wear yellow underwear believing it will bring luck, red underwear if looking for love, and white underwear that is said to bring them peace. In Denmark people stand on a chair and at midnight leap to bring in January. People shoot off fireworks and those in cold climates will do the polar bear plunge into the frigid waters. People will watch the ball drop at midnight in Times Square in New York City or some other object such as a cheese head in Wisconsin. Some cultures burn effigies of people or other items that they want removed for the New Year. Many people will make New Year’s resolutions, but most will never be kept. Resolution means a promise to do what you said you would. It is estimated that 23% of the people quit their resolution before the end of the first week with only 36% making it past the first month and then most of them failing before the year is out. Only 9% are said to actually fulfill their New Year’s Day resolutions. Many will plan to quit smoking or drinking, to lose weight, to start exercising, sleep more, get more money, or get a new job during the year. Now while it is a good thing to eat healthy and to exercise and to plan for the year, we need to remember as we are told in James that we are not in control of our lives even though we think we are. God is the one in control and he tells us to be saved because we have no guarantee for tomorrow. (James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.) Many of those who are around at the start of the New Year will be dead before the year ends which is why everyone needs to make sure they are saved today if they are not already saved. New Year’s Day resolutions can be traced all the way back to the Babylonians about 4,000 years ago on their feast day of Akitu. They made promises to their gods and unlike most people today who as we saw do not keep their resolutions, the Babylonians did as they made the promises to gods and were afraid of not keeping them and losing favor with the gods. Some of the promises they made were repaying debts or returning borrowed farm equipment. Many cultures continue with their own New Year’s Day resolutions. As we saw many of the things associated with New Year’s Day such as what they eat, what they wear, and the things they do are often associated with bringing them luck, prosperity, and health in the coming New Year. People need to understand that there is no such thing as luck as this removes God from the picture. The person relies on some object or something they did rather than on God. What we eat or wear for New Year’s Day will make no difference as to how the coming year will go. If people truly want peace and health for the New Year then they need to get saved, trust in God, and live for the Lord. This does not mean that they are guaranteed to survive the whole year or not have any health problems, but if they are saved they will be able to get through those problems much easier and if they do die they can have comfort in knowing they will be in heaven with Jesus. Instead of making New Year’s Day resolutions that are about themselves that most will never keep and will never benefit their eternal souls, then they need to make resolutions for God such as attending church for all services, praying daily, daily Bible reading, and witnessing for the Lord. Then remember that you are making a promise before God and so you need to fulfill those promises. Do not let the heathen such as the Babylonians have more respect for their false gods than you do for the one true living God.
Some of the ways that a person can fulfill New Year’s resolutions for God is to make church and other Christians a part of their new life. The people you need to be hanging around should be other Christians, preferably ones who are strong in their walk with God. They can help keep you accountable to fulfill your resolutions you made to God. They will also help encourage you in attending church the way you should. As I said this should include all services unless it is just not possible on an occasion such as being very sick. Even if you are on vacation then still attend a godly church if there is one available. Too many Christians think that as long as they go to the Morning Worship service then they are good for the week. They will make sure they attend all high school football games or some other event such as see a movie every week on a certain day, but they will not attend all church services as they do not see the same priority. They skip Sunday School believing it is only for children when that is far from the truth. Just as many adults and often times even more so than children, then adults need to have Sunday School in order to teach them Bible basics. The Evening Service will complete the worship of the Lord’s Day. This is supposed to be a day of rest and worshipping of God and it does not end after the first service. The Wednesday midweek service is also essential as it will give you that pick me up that is often needed in the middle of the week as we deal with the stress of work. The midweek service also allows a time of prayer and more Bible study. This is often the time you can learn the most and grow as a Christian. The closer you get to God through your other resolutions of prayer and Bible reading and study then the easier it will be to fulfill the resolution of attending all of the church services as you will want to worship God and will want to spend time with God’s people. By keeping your closest friends as people in the church or other saved people from other godly churches then you will continue to grow and will again want to go to church rather than going to the beach with an unsaved coworker. Invite that unsaved coworker to church and even volunteer to pick them up.
Christians need to learn to pray daily not only for their food, but also spend some time in prayer with the Lord. The more prayer throughout the day the better things will be. You should pray when you get up in the morning to start your day off right, pray for safety going to work, at work, and going home. Pray again before going to sleep so that it will help bring you a better night’s sleep. God told us to pray without ceasing so prayer needs to become a part of your life and not just a temporary thing or only when you need something from God. (I Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.) (Psalm 145:18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.) (Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.) Christians need to stop treating God as if he was some genie who is supposed to answer all of our wishes. When we pray we need to believe that God can and will answer the prayer as long as we are not asking something that we know is a sin. (Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.) (Psalm 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me🙂 The more you pray then the more you will want to pray as prayer is just talking to God. The closer we get to God the closer we will want to continue to get. Prayer is like exercise and it must be done daily as it does not take long to get out of the habit when you stop for a few days. The same applies to church. You make some excuse why you cannot go to this service and before long you start always skipping that service as Satan will whisper in your ear that it is not necessary. First it will be the midweek service and then Sunday night, then Sunday School and the Morning Worship will also cease as you stop attending church all together. Do not let Satan inhibit your prayer life. Whenever you feel like you want to stop praying then that is the very moment that you need to pray and ask God to keep Satan away from you and to keep you on a path of righteousness. When praying it is best if you have a quiet place. Jesus mentioned a prayer closet though it does not have to be a literal closet, just somewhere where you will not be disturbed and can be alone with God. (Matthew 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.) The point Jesus was making was to be sincere in your prayers and not just doing them so everyone can see you praying.
All Christians need to have daily Bible reading of the King James Bible for those who speak and read the English language. This daily Bible reading should not be rushed so make sure you intentionally set apart time each day just for Bible reading. If you plan this as a part of your day just as you do work, sleep, and eating then the time will not be used for something else and you will not as likely get out of the habit. Find a quiet place to read. It is best if you can do your daily reading after you first get up in the morning following your prayers. This way you day will start off on the right foot. This may mean getting up earlier than you used to. If you have to read at night then do it before watching TV or doing the other things you do at night such as play board games or work on jigsaw puzzles or spend time with the family. If you have a family then the dad can have a short family devotional and then instruct the rest of the family to read their Bible. Before reading your Bible then ask the Holy Ghost to give you an understanding and then read from the beginning or at least read an entire book. Reading from the beginning will give you the best understanding as things in other books often relate to an earlier book. If not saved then start in the gospel of John or Romans and read them through. Do not just randomly flip through your Bible each day and then just read a few verses. You will never grow this way as you will not learn as you have no pattern to your reading and never get the whole picture. Make sure you read at least several chapters so that you should be able to read through the entire Bible at least once every year. You can find schedules for this or make your own. Take your time and study God’s word by comparing scripture with scripture and not just speed read through it so you can check Bible reading off of your list saying you have fulfilled your New Year’s resolution. This type of reading will eventually lead to you quitting as you will not learn anything and will feel you are just wasting your time, which for the most part you are as you will get very little out of it. The same applies to going to church, but never listening to the pastor as you are too busy playing on your phone or when you pray as fast as you can so that you can do quote “fun” things. God commands us to read his word daily and to study his word and not just speed read through it. (II Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.) (II Timothy 3:16-17 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.) (John 5:39 ¶ Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.) If we obey God’s commands then we will look forward to our daily Bible reading and getter closer to God. A better Bible reading will help with you following through with prayer and attending all of the church services. Daily Bible reading will bring good changes to your life as you will most likely sin less. Let daily Bible reading become a habit that is good unlike the bad habits of smoking or drinking. This is one habit you never want to give up. Let the light of God’s word shine in your life.
If you have been fulfilling your resolutions in attending all church services every week, praying daily and reading God’s word daily then you will be more likely to fulfill your last resolution of witnessing for the Lord. The closer you get with God as you fulfill the other resolutions then you will see how important it is in winning souls for God. Scripture even calls those who do as being wise. (Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.) The more you understand God’s word and the more you pray then the more you will see that we live in a lost and dying world and that we must witness to those lost before it is eternally too late. You will start to have a concern for those around you as you go about your lives wondering if they are saved or not. Since we cannot tell if a stranger is saved just by looking at them then we need to assume everyone is not saved and give them the gospel. If you are scared to talk to people then ask God to help you. This can be done during your prayer time. An easy way to witness is to hand a person a tract or leave it in some location that it will be found. It is not for you to worry whether it gets read or not. That is God the Holy Ghost’s job to convict them. We are to just plant the seed as God said his word would not return void. (Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.) Someone will read it even if the tract gets discarded by the original person. As you get more confidant and realize how close we are to the end and how many die each day and go to hell then you will be able to start a conversation with people. You can also win souls by writing a book, starting a website, or posting on social media a daily verse about Jesus. There are many other ways that we can reach the lost and your fellow Christians or your pastor can help. Get the church involved in supporting missionaries or in other ways to get the unsaved to church so they can hear the gospel. Do not leave soul winning up to just the pastor. We all must be involved. We are in a spiritual war against Satan for these lost souls. Do not let him win.
As we celebrate New Year’s Day today, then instead of making resolutions that will have no impact on your soul, let us make resolutions that will honor God by becoming closer to him and winning the lost. Remember that a resolution means promise to do something and this is basically a vow and God said it was better to never make a vow then to not fulfill it. (Ecclesiastes 5:5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.) Let us make sure we fulfill our vow to God so that he is pleased. (Numbers 30:2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.) If you fulfill those resolutions that we spoke of with sincerity then you will not need to make any new resolutions next year except to continue to win even more souls for Jesus and to become even closer to God. I pray that all of those listening will fulfill these resolutions and have a blessed year along with safety and health. For those who are unsaved, let today be the day you get saved and let this new year become the best year of your life as you start a new life with Jesus. Call upon Jesus today.
