His Encouragement #39

Happy Thursday! I am blessed to be a part of a group of bloggers who feel led to share a bit of encouragement each week from the Bible. We recognize our daily need for Christ and we aim to share that with our readers. Plus, when Thursday comes around, we can all use a little encouragement right? I hope that this post blesses you and that you find comfort, strength, and peace in the Lord today ❤

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With it being the new year my WordPress Reader and social media feeds have been inundated with people’s 2018 reflections and 2019 goals. I myself have posted about both of them as well–at least for reading terms. But what about my goals for spiritual growth? Believe it or not, I’m generally someone who is against New Year’s Resolutions. Why? Because studies show that goals made in the new year are often the least likely to be achieved. Wait, what?? why would people make them then?? The thing is, over the years New Years has become the most popular time to set new goals for yourself. Want to get healthy? Gyms are running the lowest deals of the year. Want to get organized? Planners and organizers are up-front and in multiple styles and colors to attract your attention. Want to read more? Join the Goodreads challenge. Want to read the Bible in a year? Find multiple new reading plans to get you started and keep you on track.

I realize this post may sound like it’s coming off sarcastically, but I promise you it’s not. Instead I want to encourage you to start a goal for the right reasons, and not the popular ones or ones you feel pressured to do. Set a goal that you can actually achieve. Having accountability can be helpful, but also don’t allow your goal to become a chore. If you can’t or don’t want to read through the Bible every year, that’s fine! If your goal is to simply pick up your Bible and read every day, go for it! If you have certain topical goals that’s fine too. There is no commandment in the Bible that you have to read it in a year every year. You are no greater or lesser than as a Christian because of how fast and often you can read through it. Don’t allow New Years to dictate your need to start or finish a goal either. If you fall behind in a goal you’ve set for yourself, just pick it back up and keep going. You don’t have to give up and “just try again next year.” If this time of the year isn’t the best for you to start a new goal, then find another time to start. New years can be a great time to start, and is probably your easiest time to find an accountability partner, but set your goals for the right reasons and not simply for what is popular.

Having said that, I am starting a goal to read through the Bible Chronologically this year. I’ve read through the Bible several times, but I’ve always done a start to finish Genesis to Revelation, or a start to finish that goes through the Old and New Testaments simultaneously. The YouVersion app is nice because it allows you to start your reading plan on the day of your choice instead of only on January 1st. Want to start a yearly plan in April? It will start your journey on the day you start.

One thing you can count on, is if you set a goal to grow closer to the Lord, Satan will try to come in and try to distract you and stop you in your tracks. Don’t give him any victory! So in no way am I bashing New Years reading goals, and on the flip side I’m not saying we should take our goals leniently, but I want to encourage your time to be with the Lord to be about the Lord, and not a competition or to-do list.

Considering I’m a bit late in my post today, I was able to see that a few of the other ladies have decided to share a verse for the year. I know I shared it in the recent past, but a verse that has come to mean a lot to me recently is Psalm 91:4. Since I shared about it in another post, it’s been on my mind frequently and I’ve seen it repeated in several of the books I’ve read recently. I even received a wall decoration with it on it at our family Christmas white elephant exchange. It speaks of an intimate closeness with the Lord and a protective embrace. It really speaks to my heart and is definitely a feeling I’d like to abide in in 2019.

This week I’m ending with the worship song “How He Loves Us.” It’s a song I love dearly. When I went to Youtube to select my song for this week, I saw this pop up as the first recommended video. I haven’t heard of the artist singing it before, but she has a beautiful voice and I enjoyed listening to it. So I hope you take a moment to listen before you click away. Happy New Year and hope you have a blessed rest of the week!

Now, it’s your turn!

What Biblical verse is encouraging you today?

And, check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:

Nicole @ Christian Fiction Girl

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective

Jenny @ Author Jenny Lynn

Gina @ Stories By Gina

Rebecca @Rev. Rebecca Writes

If you would like to join us: please contact Trisha or Nicole