How will you strengthen your faith in 2024?

We are now in the third week of 2024. By now, most of us who made New Year’s resolutions have already broken them—or just given up on them! To be sure, some have continued and will continue with their resolutions—and depending on what those resolutions are, that’s great.

But what resolution does God want us to make and fulfill this year?

I have known the Lord over half a century now, and it is my experience that God simply wants us to love Him and obey Him. In fact, John tells us that those two things are the same (This is love for God: to obey his commands. 1 John 5:3, NIV).

So what are these commands? Clearly the scripture is full of commands, and Jesus told his followers to pass them on to others who would follow Him (Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19-20a, NIV, emphasis added).

As we begin this new year—a year that promises division, anger, even hatred among people in the world—we who follow Jesus cannot afford to ignore this. If we are to be strong in our faith, we must be willing to obey Him. This begins with basic practices—what I call the essentials. Worship, Prayer, Bible Study, Service, Giving, Relationships with others in the Body, and Sharing our Faith—all of these are commanded in scripture, yet they are treated as optional by most in the Church today. Practicing these essentials doesn’t earn us anything—it is simply a faithful response to our Lord. It is rooted in devotion to Him, and it produces the strong faith He intended.

For the last five years The Essential Faith Project has produced resources and made them available to the Church to assist the Church in strengthening spiritual health. No disciple of Jesus can be strong without worship, prayer, Bible study, service, giving, relationships or sharing their faith. Without these things we are not in a position to stand firm as we encounter what life throws at us. But with them, we not only stand firm, we grow in our faith.

The Essential Faith Project offers a free tool to help individuals and marriages assess where we are strong and where we need to grow in these essentials. It can be used by individuals, marriages, or entire congregations. For more information, or to register to use The Spiritual Health Assessment, go to https://my.essentialfaithproject.org. For more information on the essentials and how they can grow in your life, see our book, The Essentials of Spiritual Health available in print, e-book or audible versions on Amazon.

Know Jesus and Be Faithful!

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