Seven Habits for a New Year

Introduction

Today’s message is more of a teaching tool belt than it is a sermon exposition based on a passage. What I mean by that is that, today is about learning or affirming good habits for a year of spiritual growth, a year of discipleship bringing you closer to God and being a true follower of Jesus Christ. Each of these helps to feed our soul, use gifts, and carry out the mission of God.

First Habit - Feed your spirit

The first habit has to do with reading scripture. It is very important to start with feeding your spirit. We have talked before about reading the scripture as your daily bread and let us nourish you. This is the starting point of the journey. This is the first habit to develop and reinforce daily. Listen to 2 Timothy 3:16

2 Timothy 3:16 NRSV

16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

We have a huge volume of inspired stories, sayings, histories, parables, and several other types of writings contained in this one book called the bible. If we don’t spend time, receiving and taking in these passages, we can become spiritually starved. God has provided this tool where we can be fed daily, we can be inspired daily, we can be taught and corrected daily. God uses theses passages in order to speak to us and feed our soul. To neglect this is to ignore a wonderful gift that helps us grow into a mature Christian.

There are many ways in which you can take the bible reading daily seriously and make a habit of it. First, simply reach a chapter a day or maybe a few verses that make up a paragraph or a story. Reading the bible directly will be fruitful. Remember it is not your abilities or smartness that determines the experience. It is God feeding you, not you figuring out how to make spiritual food of what you are reading.

There are other methods such as daily devotionals. These may have a key passage or a key verse which is the focus point for the author who explores the meaning of the passage and what it may be telling us about God or how to respond to what God is telling us in that passage or verse. Make sure scripture is part of that daily devotional when choosing one.

An example happened as I was reading in my life application study bible, in the beginning of the Psalms there is a section where it list various Psalms to read when you want x. For example: To Find comfort - Psalm 23; meet God intimately - Psalm 103; learn a new prayer Psalm 136; and the list goes on. The point is that the Psalms are excellent in that a lot of the times they help us in many of our seasons in life.

At any rate, regardless of whether you choose to just read the scripture by itself or use a devotional, be prepared to listen to God speak through scripture. This means not just rushing through it to check it off your list but to sit down with God and not just read but also listen. Remember, scripture reading is a two way conversation where you may be reading God’s word, out loud or silently, and God may choose to speak through that passage something you need to hear.

Second Habit - Pray to God about your relationship

The second habit is to pray to God. While this may sound basic or common sense or maybe something so broad it means nothing much to you other than talking to God. This second habit is prayer, and a specific type of prayer. The prayer I am referring to here is praying for yourself, praying for you and God alone. However, this prayer is not asking God for anything. This prayer has to do with remembering who God is and who you are to God. It is very easy to get caught up in asking for prayer for your needs or the needs of others, but spending time with God in prayer just for the two of you and that relationship is just as important

Scripture can help you in this if you feel like you don’t know what to pray. In other words, think of the bible as God’s story written so that you may come to know God more. Different passages may show you different ways of seeing God. In some passages, God is all powerful and parting the seas or sending plagues on Israel’s enemies. In other passages, you see God’s intimate knowledge of us like Psalm 139

Psalm 139:1–24 NRSV

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. 7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. 17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you. 19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me— 20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil! 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. 24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

This psalm is one of many passages where people can see how well God knows them, everything about them and it speaks to how much God cares about each of us individually to know each of us this well. There are an incredible number of passages which speak to the compassionate love God has for us. Listen to the familiar passage of John 3:16-17

John 3:16–17 NRSV

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Over and over again, we see in scripture who God is and who we are to God. These are not only important to discover but they are also important to always keep in our daily prayers with God. Simply pray to God to solve problems or fix things is to treat God as a vending machines where we get what we want out of God by praying for needs alone. We must treat out relationship with God in this special way by spending daily time reciting or praying about who we know God to be and who we are to God. If we lose sight of these, the world can be overwhelming and seem like a hopeless cause. Make sure this type of prayer is always in your daily prayer habits.

Notice how these first two habits are only about you and your relationship with God. These first two habits are about filling up you heart and soul with the goodness of God and your loving relationship with the God who is all these attributes we find in scripture. If we don’t keep these habits which help us to grow and mature in our relationship with God, then we cannot hope to do the other steps which has to do with fulfilling the mission of God in this world.

Habit 3 - Speaking kind words

This may sound silly but the words we speak reveal what is in our hearts. In other words, people can begin to see God in you when your words are more in line with who God is rather than what the world acts like. In other words, if you speak coldly and harshly to others, they cannot possibly see the love of God coming from you but instead see that you reflect the world and not some savior who loves them.

Kind words are sometimes hard to come by when we stay frustrated and angry with the world. It is much easier to be upset by events or other people’s words where we simply return the favor with more unkind words. If we don’t fill ourselves up daily with scripture and intimate time with God in prayer building up our relationship, then we are running on an empty spiritual tank so to speak.

Speaking kinds words, and being genuine, takes a conscious effort. You have to look at somebody, and see something in them, that maybe you already know or maybe just noticed. In other words, simply saying have a nice day or how are you doing and only expecting fine in return, is not the type of kind words conversation I am talking about.

What am I getting at then? What I mean by seeing that person is to look into who they are. Do you know someone who has done something kind to someone else and did anyone remind them later on, not in the moment, that they were a kind person for doing that kind act? In other words, we often speak in the moment of that kind act where someone did something nice to you and we say thank you that was so kind of you. Later on, maybe days later, do we still speak to them about how we see them as such a kind person? What about when someone went out of their way to help you or maybe make a meal when you were sick or mourning the loss of a loved one? Months later, do you still see their kind acts and them as a kind person? If so, remind them of how you see them as a kind person for helping.

I am driving a point here in that, we need to start seeing the good in people and speaking to them about it. By speaking kind words to others, they may be reminded of who they really are by someone else seeing them as good and kind. Often we can get caught up in what we did not do or what we should have said or the endless what if game… however, kind words can often change our day because someone reminds us of who we have been and who we are.

I am sure you are thinking right now, how in the world can do this daily? Am I not going to wear them out by saying this to them over and over? I am not suggesting you say this to the same person or the same three people but what I am saying is to be vigilant and on the lookout to seeing the good in others and reminding them of that good. It can be a loved one, a friend, a co-worker, or maybe even a stranger in the store. This may be tough and seem impossible but with God, nothing is impossible, and there is no limit to the good that God can show you in others. Speak those kind words daily to others.

Habit 4 - Praying for others

In addition to speaking kind words to others, there is also the good habit of praying for others. When you are reading your bible daily, praying for your relationship with God daily, speaking kind words towards others, then praying for others will come almost naturally. When someone asks you to pray for them, you have two choices, stop what you are doing and pray for them, or say you will and maybe you will remember later to do so. When you try to remember later, it is too easy to forget. It is much easier to stop what you are doing and say a simply prayer for them right there. While it is good to pray for them, it is even better to pray with them. Jesus taught his disciples the importance of praying together. Listen to Matthew 18:19-20

Matthew 18:19–20 NRSV

19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

Not only do they know you prayed for them but also you are assured Jesus is there with you. Jesus is part of that prayer. You don’t have to wait for someone to ask you to pray for them. You are perfectly free and capable of praying for others even without their asking you to. When you see others who are sad, or sick, or anxious, or in need, pray for them.

There is another side of praying for others that is a bit harder. This is praying for your enemies. While I am sure you might have wished for your enemies downfall or demise, this is not the kind of prayer I am talking about. Listen to Luke 6:27-28

Luke 6:27–28 NRSV

27 “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

In this passage, Jesus taught us to love our enemies, this includes praying for them. This is learning to love others by praying for them. This is especially hard when we have been wronged or disagree or strongly dislike someone. Praying for them helps to soften your heart instead of hardening it.

Praying for others helps you to start working your heart to love others as God loves you. If you can do this every day, watch your heart increase in the ability to love others as God loves you. Now you will start living out the greatest comment of loving God and loving neighbor. Praying for your enemy is actually much easier than confronting them and changing them. Let God work in them rather than trying to fix them or correct them yourself.

Habit 5 - Do a kind service for someone

How often has someone done something kind for you? How often do you repay that favor someone did for you? Serving others helps our heart be shaped and molded by doing rather than just talking about it. Loving others sometimes means, rolling up your sleeves and helping in some way. In the same way we talked about speaking kind words to others, and speaking up when we see others being kind, kind acts inspire more kind acts. In other words, by serving others, you love them. By them feeling loved, they too may be moved to love others through kind acts.

Habit 6 - Thank God daily in your prayers

Habit 7 - Worship daily - Sing, pray, read aloud