A New Year
2023 has come and gone. Regardless of how the year treated you, a new year stands before each of us. This new year will contain joy and sorrow, excitement and disappointment, and a lot of things unknown to us yet foreordained by our good Father.
What will you do in 2024? Let me encourage you in three biblical habits.
1) Church Attendance
Nowhere in the Bible does the Bible say you should read through the Bible in a year. And yet, many of us gauge our spiritual growth based on how well we accomplish our Bible reading plan. To be clear, a Bible reading plan is a good thing. However, it is not everything.
Do you consider gathering with the people of God to be a spiritual discipline? It seems that the Bible greatly cares about Christians gathering together for the purpose of worshipping God corporately. Consider how prioritizing church attendance might help you grow in your Christian walk.
For example, consider showing up 15 minutes early and making a conscious effort to encourage someone spiritually at your church before you leave. That might make you uncomfortable, but it will also help you grow in your faith. There is great joy in belonging to the church of Jesus Christ. After all, Christ died to save her. Shouldn’t we also make sacrifices to belong to her?
In 2024, make church attendance a priority. Attend as regularly as possible. Yes, children will be sick, you will be out of town, and unforeseen things will happen, but gathering regularly with the church of Jesus Christ is the primary way God intends to grow His people in holiness.
Hebrews 10:24-25
24And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
2) Prayer
How can you grow in praying in 2024? Many of us feel like miserable pray-ers. Nevertheless, prayer is vital to our Christian growth. Here are a few simple ways I have tried to grow in my prayer life. See if some of these things might invigorate your praying as well.
Pray at the same time and in the same place every day.
Pray first thing in the day and last thing in the day.
Walk and pray outside, looking up at creation.
Pray out loud, even if that prayer is a whisper.
Write out your prayers in a journal.
Keep a list of intercessory prayer needs in the back of that same journal.
Before you pray, read a Psalm and pray those words back to God.
Pray with someone else regularly.
Pray shorter prayers more frequently, rather than longer prayers less frequently.
Buy the Valley of Vision or Piercing Heaven and read a prayer each day.
Let me remind you that the Lord’s Prayer is very short. Our prayers do not need to be long to be effective. The absence of long prayers does not indicate you are a failure when it comes to praying. A short, heartfelt prayer to God is just as pleasing to him as a long one. And remember, Jesus tells us not to heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do (Matt. 6:7). Telling my wife I love her is a more meaningful conversation than telling her all the things we need from the grocery store, thought telling her everything we need from the grocery store takes more time. Jesus doesn’t despise small things, and I think that includes short prayers.
If your prayer life is going well, then keep on going. If you feel stagnant, consider adopting one or two of the above strategies. No two people are the same, so no two prayer lives will be the same. Find a strategy that helps you to pray and go for it.
3) Bible Reading
I do not know a Christian who is growing in their faith who does not prioritize Bible reading. God has given us His Word. We should commune with Him in and through His Word. Here are few things to help you in your Bible Reading.
1) Have a plan.
This year, I am using the Mc’Cheyne plan. This plan will take me through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice by reading 4 chapters a day. In addition to reading these chapters, I have also downloaded the ESV Bible app, which has a function that allows you to listen to Scripture being read. While you brush your teeth, you can listen to Scripture. While you are in the car or on a run, you can listen to Scripture. Don’t underestimate how God might use such things in your life.
Trying to do significant Bible reading without a plan is very difficult. Consider how a Bible reading plan might make your Bible reading more consistent.
2) Have a place.
Maybe it is a chair or a spot on the couch. Maybe it is on your bed or in your bathroom. The type of place you have is not as important as having a place. Have a place where you will commit to consistently reading the Bible.
I have a chair that I sit in regularly to read my Bible. There is nothing sacred about the chair, but it is a consistent place for me, and we are creatures of habit. Having a place where you read your Bible might make your Bible reading more consistent.
3) Have a partner.
Does anyone else know what you are reading? Is anyone holding you accountable? A natural partner is a spouse. Another option is a close friend or church member. Consider telling your pastor what you plan to read in the New Year. It is a great joy for me to pray for members of my church in their Bible reading, so consider how having a partner in Bible reading would help you to grow in 2024.
You don’t have to check in every day, but consider checking in once a week with a progress report of how things are going with your Bible reading. This doesn’t guarantee you’ll do it, but it might be enough of a structure that will push you beyond spiritual lethargy into some manner of consistency.
Everything Takes Effort
If you want to excel at anything, it will take effort. Spiritual growth is no different. There are a bazillion things you can attempt to do to grow spiritually next year, but consider how these three things might bolster your faith and make you more like Jesus in 2024. If you will put in the effort, you will be glad you did.