5 Things I Want to Do Better in the New Year

We live in a world of cause and effect. When you do one thing, something else happens because of it. For example, if you eat right and exercise, you are going to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. The cause of eating right and exercising leads to the effect of losing weight. This is not only a natural principle but also a spiritual one.

One effect we experience in life is worry. I realize in my life how easy it is to slip into worry mode. When you consider what is happening in our world and combine that with the internal decisions you must make in your life, these can cause you to worry. If you spend your time listening to the constant conversations in the media around inflation, the economy, fear of recession, the threat of war, global conflict, gun violence, social issues, political issues, and everything else they are talking about, you are going to worry. I must admit I may have listened too closely this year, but I will not carry that into the new year.

Worry is not good for you. Studies have shown worry can cause anxiety and panic. It can affect your relationships, your sleeping habits, it can cause your heart to race, it can cause illness and for some it can lead to overeating. Some seek relief from worry by turning to drugs, cigarettes, or alcohol. Can you see why God doesn’t want you to worry?

Here’s what I want you to do. If you are worried right now about something, stop it immediately. Did that work? Probably not because that is not how it is supposed to work. You can’t just stop worrying, you must replace it with something else. This leads to the second thing I am going to focus on doing in the new year.

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I have learned a simple truth in my life – I can either worry, or I can pray and trust God. But I can’t do both. As God has outlined it, you don’t just stop worrying; you start praying. The cause of prayer leads to the effect of not worrying. Usually, if I am worried about something, prayer is absent.

When you look at this correlation, the conclusion is simple. If you are worried all the time, you are not praying. If you are praying and still are worried, then you are not trusting God. You cannot trust God and be worried at the same time. One is going to override the other. If you pray but still worry, then you must ask yourself, are you really trusting God, or just going through the motions?

My commitment this day and leading into the new year is to pray about everything, no matter how big or small it may seem. The command is to pray about everything, and everything means everything. I encourage you to join me in committing to praying in this fashion, because when you pray with faith and trust, it leads to the next thing I am going to do in the new year.

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When you tell God what you need, this is a critical step in replacing worry with trust. By nature, when I see a problem, my mind immediately goes to solution mode. While this may be good for some areas of my life, this is horrible for my prayer life because worry rises when you try to figure out how things are going to work out. I have done that too many times and I realize when I do this, I am not really trusting God; I am searching for my own answers.

Here is what I have learned about trusting God. Trust is not when you try to figure it out, but when you rely on God to work it out. When you try to figure things out, you may not see how all the pieces are going to work together, which increases your anxiety because you focus on the situation. When you tell God what you need and trust him to provide it, you don’t need to know how it is going to work, you just know it will. This puts your focus on God. 

I am convinced we often forget how powerful God really is and how much he loves us. Whenever this happens, it means you must change your perspective. Whenever I travel, I usually fly out of NYC. One thing NYC is known for is towering skyscrapers that fill the skyline. From the ground up, these buildings are massive structures. However, when you view them from above, the higher you go, the smaller these buildings become. This is how God sees everything. He looks down on every situation and they are small in his eyes.

Telling God what you need is simply changing your perspective and taking the weight off you and putting it on him. What a relief it is to know I don’t have to make things happen. I can tell God what I need, trust him to provide it, and do what he tells me to do as he works it all out. I have lived the other way far too often, and trusting God is by far a better way to approach the new year.

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This is such an important instruction because it forces you to look back. When I look back over my life, I have a long track record of God proving himself time after time. I could fill up pages telling you of God’s faithfulness to me and if you think about it, you could probably do the same. We used to sing “count your blessings, name them one by one.” I encourage you to do this today. Start counting all the things God has done for you in your life. When you remember what he has done and thank him for it, this gives you hope and expectation that if he has done it before, he will do it again. 

I want to encourage you to do something else. Don’t just think about what he has done, write it down. Get a notebook or journal and write down the times God has proven himself faithful in your life. Whether it’s provision, healing, comfort – whatever he has done, write them all down. Every time you feel a little anxious or worried, return to this journal and thank him. I am going to commit to remembering God’s faithfulness and thanking him for it. I know God has been faithful to me throughout my life and he will not stop being faithful to me now.

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Earlier, I mentioned causes and effects. When you do certain things, other things will happen. The reason I want to do these first four causes in the next year is because of the effect it will have in my life. I will experience God’s peace.

“Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, NLT).

When you stop worrying, start praying, start asking, and start thanking, then his peace is on its way, and nothing can stop it. You don’t have to try to experience his peace, it will come automatically. This is the difference between the peace of God and the peace of the world. Peace in the world comes only after the conflict is resolved. God’s peace comes when the storms are still raging. The world’s peace depends on the circumstances. God’s peace depends on his presence. The peace of God is not based on what is happening, but on who you are trusting. For this year, I am going to trust in the one who knows all, who sees all, who can do all, and who loves me. When that is where my trust is, peace will be the result.

Conclusion

As we face this new year, guess what? I do not know what is going to happen, and that is just fine. I am committed to not worry about anything, but to being a man of prayer whose hope and trust are completely in the Lord. There have been moments where I failed to do that in this past year. My goal is to not make the same mistakes again. I pray you would join me in this too.

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