A 365 Day Challenge

It's quite common that with the coming of a new year people make resolutions, but do not follow through with them day after day till the end of the year. So, why make them? I considered this myself as I pondered over whether or not to make a resolution for 2017. I wouldn't want to make a resolution that I knew that I'd have a hard time sticking with throughout the year.

At the 2016 homeschool convention I was challenged by one speaker to make a commitment to establishing a daily devotional time. Up until the convention I will confess that my daily time with the Lord wasn't consistent. Instead of hanging my head in shame and pouting about my half-hearted attempts of daily time with the Lord, I recommitted myself to making the time. As 2017 has arrived, I encourage my blog readers to also make the time with the Lord on a daily basis.

The next question you might ask is, "What shall I do during this time?"

My brother gave me an idea for my daily devotional time that will help one stay disciplined on a daily basis by keeping it simple and worthwhile.

First, keep your daily time with Lord simple. If you place upon yourself a long list of written assignments and activities every day for your devotional time, before too long you may find yourself feeling overburdened, making it challenging to keep up with it all.

On a daily basis try out the following: make time daily for prayer, reading God’s Word (both New Testament and Old Testament passages), and write a daily journal entry of what you’ve done with the Lord for the day.

While the Bible teaches that we should remain in prayer with the Lord all day, talking with Him, praising Him for every aspect of our day, I encourage you to set aside a dedicated moment to spend in prayer with the Lord praising Him, confessing sin, thanking Him, and petitioning Him with the concerns and issues of your heart. This time will refresh your spirit. You may find that doing this as soon as you awake in the morning primes your heart and mind, setting you off on your day with your mind first set on the Lord who woke you up and in His sovereignty is caring for every care and concern of your heart.  

During your devotional time, spend time reading God’s Word. It is His way of communicating to us who He is and what He expects of His children. As you read and learn about the Lord you gain wisdom and insight to mature into Christ-likeness and it equips you to teach and disciple others.

Lastly, a new method of study that I’ve added to my devotional time is journaling. One way of journaling during devotional time is to record what you’ve accomplished during your time with the Lord. A daily journal entry might looks like this,

January 1, 2017

- I awoke this morning and thanked the Lord for His grace and mercy for a new day.
- Old Testament reading: Read and meditated on Psalm 1; the Lord reminded me as I read this Psalm 1 of the blessings that come from meditating on His law day and night.
- New Testament reading: Read and meditated on Colossians 1
- What a blessing it is to see a new year.

Adding the technique of journaling to my daily devotional provided a level of structure to my devotional time that was missing in the past.

I pray that with these few simple actions of prayer, reading, and journaling each day will become a new practice for you that will energize and revive your time with the Lord. If you don’t have a regular routine I challenge you to commit to it... just for the next 365 days!