Two Important Resolutions for Every Year, Month, and Day

There is nothing wrong with making resolutions if we understand that God looks at a heart that desires to please Him, and at faith that does not rely on the strength of one’s own will, but on the Lord, who gives both the desire and the strength to accomplish the task set before us. With this mindset, let us briefly talk about what we should pay attention to at the very beginning of the year: regular, personal reading of Scripture, and regular, personal prayer.

In the outgoing year of 2025, through meditation on the Word of God, God revealed to me a fresh meaning of being filled with the Holy Spirit. This is not something new or mysterious that came to me through some special revelation, but well-known truths that I myself have explained and proclaimed to others many times. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is when a person receives a gift from God: the Holy Spirit connects specific biblical texts with specific situations and questions that I encounter in everyday life. This is God’s work. It cannot be produced or manipulated by oneself. It is a gift of God. A gift.

But there are things that depend on me: 1) Am I filling my mind with the Word of God? For if the Holy Spirit is to connect specific texts of Scripture with specific situations in my life, there must be material in my mind that He can use. That is why I need to read, memorize, study, and explore Scripture. 2) Am I praying biblically? Biblical prayer is seeking God and asking Him to fulfill His promises. If this is so, then prayer is a closer relationship with God. It is precisely in this position that I will be under the guidance, influence, and work of the Holy Spirit!

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for God.” (Eph. 5:18–21)

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Col. 3:16–17)

And the text that connects everything:

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7)

The realization that God’s plan for every believer is to be filled with the Holy Spirit—and that this happens when we immerse ourselves in the Word and in prayerful fellowship with the Living God—leads us to clearer, more purposeful resolutions at the beginning the year. Our desire is that in this year as well we would be filled with the Holy Spirit!

A request from elders: Dear Church, if you are sick or know of someone who is sick and cannot attend services and be in fellowship with other believers, please let us know so we can visit them.

Continue supporting the churches working among the people who have suffered from the war in Ukraine:

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
John 15:7