To truly pursue a New Beginning in God this year, you may need to take back control of your life beginning with the external forces you have allowed within your personal space.

Identify your time wasters - any activities or persons - that don't add to your life but subtracts the life out of you.

With a renewed mind, and a fresh perspective - practice these steps to achieve a New Beginning in 2009.

1. Write the vision and make it plain (Habakkuk 2:2)

It's important to have goals (the vision) but it's more important to understand WHY (make it plain) you have the goals you do. Sometimes goals aren't obtainable because we have them for the wrong reasons.

Seek God in prayer and ask Him to give you clarity in this area. Are you wasting time pursing goals and dreams that aren't yours but just look attractive to you because they have brought wealth and success to others? Or even worse, are you feeling like your gifts and talents aren't worthy? Like the men in Mathew 25 that God gave the same number of talents...are you burying yours?

2. What gets measured is what gets done.

Select an accountability partner and provide a written update (email, text) to them on the success of your goals. Allow this coach to help you get focused and stay balanced. Coaches are like personal trainers in the exercise world. They will give you an honest assessment of yourself and devise a plan that will be as successful as you make it.

3. Be consistent.

Schedule time in your day to accomplish your DAILY tasks. Although I am what you call a daily to-do list person, I admit that I have days that I have to speak my confession of faith to my flesh:

I am not a procrastinator!
I (will) complete my assignments on time!

As you begin to seek God more in 2009, you will see that the enemy will try to trump your plans, so you have to be ready. Ready with a counter attack.

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Caleb Whitlow  - My Beginnings   |01-11-2009 19:41:03 Hey everyone, it's Mr. Awesome writing and reading! I agree with you very much Pastor. With my life at least, last year had some highs and lows. There were many times last year that I struggled with have a strong focus on God. The 'time wasters' became an issue for me at times. I would get involved with friends or activities or the Earthly treasures, and lose site of who God really was and how he wanted to use me. I had to make some personal sacrifices that I didn't really want to make, but through some time, effort, and prayer I was able to make those sacrifices. At first, I tried not to actually have any goals for '08 as you talked about. Any goals that I set for myself were made for selfish reasons. Such as, being able to spend more time with friends, or playing video games (You know who you are). My goals have changed dramatically over time, but the morality of them never did. It always remained that I had my goals focused on me, me, me, and not God, God, God. That was my major issue to begin with. For this year my goals focus on creating a closer relationship with God and I and working on that relationship. In terms of an accountability partner, I rely closely upon my friends that follow God's word and keep me in check. That does not mean that I have only one accountability partner. I would consider people in the Church, such as leaders, pastors, etc. to be my accountability partner to give my success of my goals and spiritual life to. My parents are probably the strongest forefront in this, whether they know it or not. They have always been there for me through thick and thin, and I thank them for that dearly. Teens, kids, and even for some adults. Your parents might not be your favorite people at times, but they are your parents and they love you dearly. They can be a great accountability partner or someone to lean on when your feeling down or when your on a high. And last but not least... consistency. Being consistent with just daily tasks can be tiresome, for me at least. As Pastor Perry said you need to speak your confession of faith to your flesh. For me it can be hard to get out of bed in the morning for school or for Church. I might wake up and say 'God, do I really need to go to school today? Cant it just wait for while?' I need to give thanks unto for my day and waking up. It's hard for me when I hear other people say it because they don't what's going on in my life, but they're right. I'm JOYFUL I'm alive, JOYFUL I'm breathing, and JOYFUL God gave his only son for me.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” That verse pretty much sums it all up in a whole for me. I should always be joyful even though I might be in a bad circumstance. Truthfully it's very hard to try to do that, but if you pray and have this little thing called FAITH then you will be able to do it. Oh boy, that was a little more lengthy than I wanted it to be, but I felt I needed to say that. 2009 will have its ups and its downs, but stay strong through it all, and know that God will always be there because he has and unconditional love for you and for me. Psalm 36:5 (NIV) Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. God Bless and make sure to call me Mr.Awesome   -Caleb Whitlow (Mr.Awesome) Reply | Quote 2   0

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