Do any of you still make New Year Resolutions? Many people when they are young use the New Year as a time to reflect and reevaluate life. However, most folks I know are less likely to do so the older they get. Perhaps it is because they found themselves making the same resolutions every year and never following through on them. Perhaps it is because they have learned to address areas of change as they come up and not wait for the New Year to get busy on things.

  The last several years, I have limited myself to just one resolution, and have found that the focus on just one thing has been very beneficial. The Walking By The Spirit series and the Romance Of Redemption series both resulted from focused resolve. New Year's Resolutions can be helpful because with them we challenge ourselves to focus on something we want to accomplish. When we are serious about our resolutions, they encourage us to become more disciplined and committed people. Resolutions that have been kept teach us and those around us some important lessons on life.

  We should all have resolve for the New Year. Indeed, we should face each NEW DAY with resolve to worship our loving heavenly Father in spirit and in truth and live for Him each day. "To resolve" can be defined as "coming to a determination" or "making up one's mind." It implies firmness of intention to carry through a decision. When it comes to resolve, the psalmist David often expresses his resolve with the words, "I will." In Psalm 119 we find the words, "I will" twenty times.

  As we look at these, perhaps you may find something to focus your attention upon.

1. David decides to praise God and give thanks. What a great place to start, recognizing God's magnificence and thanking Him for making Himself known in His Word.

Psalm 119:7:
I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.

Psalm 119:62:
At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.

2. David determines to keep what God has committed to him. He performs it and does it with his whole heart

Psalm 119:8:
I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

Psalm 119:69:
The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.

Psalm 119:106: [two times]
I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.

Psalm 119:115:
Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.

Psalm 119:145:
I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes.

3. David resolves to meditate upon God's Word. He thinks about it deeply and continually. He repeatedly reflects upon it. He studies it. He refuses to forget it. Not only does he commit it to memory, but he considers and uses it in his daily life.

Psalm 119:15:
I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

Psalm 119:16b:
… I will not forget thy word.

Psalm 119:48:
My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.

Psalm 119:78:
Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.

Psalm 119:93:
I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.

Psalm 119:95:
The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies.

Psalm 119:117:
Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.

4. David resolved to delight in the Word, also. When you love something and it's your delight, resolve is much more easy to maintain.

Psalm 119:16a:
I will delight myself in thy statutes...

Psalm 119:47:
And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.

5. David never gave up or backed up, or shut up. He moved ahead with the things of God. He put the energy of his conviction into living God's Word. He was not ashamed of God and His Word.

Psalm 119:32:
I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

Psalm 119:45:
And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.

Psalm 119:46:
I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.

  Where is your resolve when it comes to God's Word? What do you want? Perhaps this New Year's Resolution can direct your focus to: Fathom your faith. Famish all fear. Ferment your faithfulness. Flush out faintheartedness. Never forget the Word of God or the God of the Word.