Practical Steps to Maximizing 2022 and Beyond
Hello everyone, I hope your 2022 is off to a great start. Mine has been pretty good so far. I’m sorry I haven’t posted more but I’m sure that I’m going to have more to share with you in the coming weeks. I wanted to take a few minutes today to share with you some things I have been going through, and to offer some pointers that can help you maximize your 2022, as I certainly hope to do.
2021 was an interesting year for me. On the one hand it was a great year. I had my best financial year. We had a great year as a family. We took some vacations. As a lawyer, I worked with my clients to close approximately 80 deals. Now for your local title company doing a bunch of homes day in and day out, that’s not very many. But for me, working at home, with no staff, and all of them being rather sophisticated commercial real estate transactions, that’s a good amount of work. And despite all the good things that happened in 2021, I still feel myself wanting more.
I know a lot of people are in that boat, where they are not thrilled with certain aspects of their current situation, and they want to make some changes. That’s true for many people who had a great 2021, and it’s true for many people who had a terrible 2021. Lots of us want to see some changes in our lives. And for me personally, despite a great 2021, I’ve just been confronted with this reality that I’m not living in the fulness of my potential, or I’m not living at the highest expression of what God created me to be.
You know all of us have amazing gifts and talents and abilities that God has given us. It’s probably true that we don’t even know all of them or haven’t even discovered all of them, because all of them can only be discovered in that union with God and His plan for our lives. But suffice it to say that we have gifts and abilities from God, and we want to make the most of them. I won’t take the time here to read Jesus’ parable of the talents, but generally Jesus said that God expects us to take what we have been given and make it grow.
In many ways I have seen what God has given me grow and produce. But just to be totally honest with you, which I plan to always be here, I have done nothing compared to what I’m capable of. And please here me correctly, that is not a statement to brag at all. That is an admission of guilt and sadness and regret that I struggle with on a virtually constant basis. When I look at the hand God dealt me, so to speak, with my parents and my education and my general attributes, and then I combine with that the reality that with God all things are possible, I should really be doing a lot more.
And again, all things are possible with God, and that statement is true for anyone. By no means and I’m meaning to elevate myself in anyway. I just want to put out there, for purposes of this discussion, that I could and should be doing more with my life, plain and simple.
And honestly, I’ve struggled with that for a while now. And I’ve reached kind of my breaking point. I’ve reached that inflection point where the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing. And just to be very specific with you, for me that means (1) I must change my daily work situation and (2) I must do more for the Kingdom of God. God has given me so much that I know can help people, and I need to find ways to get it out there.
Now that’s just me and my personal issues and I know we are all going through different things and have different needs and different goals for our lives. But I have really thought long and hard about what changes I need to make, changes to really step into the rest of my life, and anything else I should do. I’ve had a very calm January in my work, so I’ve been able to do a lot of praying and soul searching to analyze these issues. And I think I’ve landed on some points that will really help me, and I believe they will really help you as well.
In fact, I know that if you listen to these Bible verses and applications today, you can absolutely use them to develop a personal action plan for your life, so that you can start rising up to that highest potential that God has put in you, for you to do all that you can, for you to grow and produce as He intends.
So I’m going to walk through kind of the key actions steps for me and I hope these will prove helpful for you. And the first one for me is truly having my mind surrendered to the Kingdom of God. Let me just say that again, for me to live in all that God has for me, to really live out the fulness of His plan for my life, I believe that I need to have my mind completely surrendered to the Kingdom of God.
And before I go on, maybe that’s not you. Maybe that doesn’t resonate with you. OK, I totally get it. This is definitely me talking about my personal journey, but I just believe that if I’m honest with people about my personal journey, we can learn together, and we can all grow closer to God in our own ways.
So – surrendering my mind to the Kingdom of God. You’ve probably heard me talk about the importance of your mind and your thinking before, so I won’t go into extreme detail today, but let me make a few points.
Having your mind renovated according to the Kingdom of God is absolutely essential to living in God’s plan for your life. (Romans 12:2 KJV) “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
The word for “renew” is the same word as “renovate” which I think we all understand better. We must renovate our minds. We must change the way we think in virtually every area of our lives. This world is filled with sin. This world is filled with backwards thinking. This world is filled with all sorts of mindsets and beliefs that are contrary to the Kingdom of God. We must rip all of those things out of our mind and we must install new beliefs and understandings into our mind, in the same way you would renovate a kitchen.
(Romans 8:5-6 KJV) “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
The mental renovation that must take place is a renovation from naturally minded to spiritually minded. That doesn’t take a ton of explanation if you just think about it a little bit and also look at that verse. Are you minding the things of the flesh or are you minding the things of the spirit?
We all need to mind the things of the flesh to a certain degree, and God understands that. We have physical issues, dietary issues, occupational issues, so on and so forth. There are many things that bind our minds to the physical realm and things of the flesh. But in our free time, when we have the time to direct our minds to entertainment, to study, to recreation, where are we putting our minds? If we go back to the flesh issues, are we allowing the Kingdom of God to inform the way we work, the way we live, the way we treat our bodies and the various physical issues of our life. Are we allowing the things of the Spirit to, essentially, form the foundation and guiding light of our entire mental framework? That’s what we need to do.
Are we minding the things of the Spirit? That’s the question. Personally, I’m going to drastically reduce my secular entertainment. The secular entertainment, that is so available and so plentiful, does not help me become spiritually minded. That doesn’t mean I won’t watch the occasional show or movie. But it’s going to be very different from before. In addition to reducing my secular entertainment, I’m also going to take a harder look at my choices. I already had a filter in place, but I realize that it wasn’t strong enough. This is an area where I can do better to protect the renovation of my mind and being spiritually minded.
There is no point in renovating a bathroom if you are going to allow leaks in the plumbing or you aren’t going to appropriately seal the tile, or do whatever you need to prevent damage to your renovated facility. Your mind is no different. I’ve worked hard for years to become spiritually minded, and I need to protect what I’ve done and keep working.
Similarly, I’m going to make sure this mental filter works for relationships, music, podcasts, and anything else that might enter my mind, even sermons. As I can help it, I’m not going to allow the wrong things in anymore.
Proverbs 23:7 teaches us that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If I look at your life, I can tell what is going on in your mind. It’s just that simple. In some ways, if you looked at my life, you would think I’m doing ok. But, candidly, you wouldn’t really see a person going for it, a person truly going after the best God has for their lives. In many ways you would see a person going through the motions. It may surprise you to hear that, but in many ways it’s true. In 2022, I’m going to strive to lay hold of all that God has for me.
I know that I must be spiritually minded, and I must submit my mind to the Spirit of God. As my thinking changes, I am going to change. As my thinking changes, my life is going to change.
The next area where I personally need to step it up is in my general consecration and holiness. Again, maybe my life would look pretty holy to you. Maybe it doesn’t even look so bad to God. But I know that I need to step it up, at least if I’m going to do all that God wants me to do. Honestly, I’m personally called to the highest levels of consecration and holiness. That might be hard, but I know it’s because of what God has for my life. Thank God that doesn’t mean some sort of weird, unbiblical poverty vows or chastity vows. But it does mean I need to guard my mind, watch my behavior, watch my mouth, and seek God’s righteousness.
Let me show you the verse that really forced me to think about this.
(2 Timothy 2:19-21 NLT) “But God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: “The LORD knows those who are His,” and “All who belong to the LORD must turn away from evil.” In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.”
Let’s briefly mention any potential interpretation of this verse where a person might say I’m ok being just a regular vessel that God can use at any time. If you hear someone say that when looking at this verse, and I have, they need to read this verse a little closer. It may be a reality that in God’s house there are some common vessels that be used for any menial task, but that is not what God wants for any of us. God wants us all to depart from evil. God wants us all to be pure. And God wants us all to be special utensils for honorable use, that He can use for every good work. Some days I’m moving furniture for a needy family. Others I’m preaching the Gospel or ministering healing to someone. I need to be usable for every good work.
I have talked about this idea before, but it is really important. When you first become a Christian, you are automatically qualified to serve in the Kingdom of God, in some ways. You can absolutely pick up garbage around the church building. You can absolutely pass out food in the soup kitchen. There is nothing wrong with those activities or anything like them, but they don’t require any spiritual maturity, and they don’t require any significant degree of purity.
And let me say that, and I’m sorry if I step on anyone’s toes, if you meet one of these people (and this is especially true for men) where they are just content to keep serving in the traffic ministry or as an usher, year after year after year, and they never do anything else for God, something is wrong. That’s a cop out. They are not growing up in the Kingdom, they are not listening to the Spirit of God call them to do more. They are not seeking the Kingdom like they should. Now that might offend someone, but that’s just the way it is.
There is nothing wrong with being an usher at the same church and in the same row for 30 years, if that’s what you want to do. But if you aren’t expanding your service for the Kingdom, if your influence in the world isn’t increasing, if your desire to be involved with the true ministry work that God is doing in the world isn’t growing, then something is wrong. You need to recommit your life and your mind to God, and you need to open yourself to what God wants you to do.
I want to be available at a moment’s notice to do anything God wants me to do. So I must grow up. I must depart from evil. I must keep myself pure. If I want to step into ministry areas where maturity is required, where spirituality is required, where purity is required, then I must pay the price. Look can I just be real here? You can’t get sober on Monday and minister to addicts on Tuesday. You can’t get delivered from pornography on Monday and be ready to minister to prostitutes on Tuesday. You want to, you want everyone to experience the freedom and love you’ve found. But it doesn’t work that way. This growth, this maturity, it takes time. Being pure, being available, being usable for every good work, this takes time and development.
If you looked at my life, other than the occasional drink, you would see that I’m years removed now from virtually all habits that people would call sins. But when I cried out to God for more good works, this verse in 2 Timothy was His answer. I must take a hard look at my life and press in for my personal development, so God can use me anytime, anywhere for anything. If you want to be usable like that, and I guess I’m not there yet so I’m not throwing any stones, you need to be thinking about this verse as well.
Fortunately, and you may recall this from my other teachings. I am greatly aided in this purity endeavor by some other understanding God has given me. I know that God’s ways are best. I know that the highest levels of purity and spiritual maturity are the ways to God’s best life for me. I know they are keys to the highest levels of peace and fulfillment both in myself and in the world around me. I know that I won’t be giving up anything that is actually good for me. I know that no decision I make along this path will work out to my detriment, and I know there is a lot of good ahead of me.
The next area where I’m really going to step up my game in 2022 is in my faith and confession practice. Let me start by briefly describing what I mean here.
I am a big believer in the idea of a daily confession, and I’ve said a confession most days for the past 17 years. A personal confession typically involves saying Bible verses of Biblical promises over yourself and various areas of your life as a daily habit. Typically, one would have verses that they confess for their health, their families, their finances, and other areas of their lives. A personal confession is closely related to the idea of praying God’s Word. The ideas are a little different because one of them is a daily confession or statement, and the other would be a targeted prayer time with verses. But a confession is really a subset of praying God’s Word, because the desired result would be the same. You want to speak God’s word over your life and hope that it manifests.
However, now that I have a much greater understanding of faith, and I encourage you to listen to my teachings about faith, my understanding of the confession practice, and how I approach it, has evolved and I really think I have some solid understanding here.
Let’s start with the simple idea of Biblical promises. God’s Word promises us many good things in many areas of our lives. We know that such promises are God’s will for our lives, so it’s a great idea to pray God’s Word and even build your prayers using these promises. Those concepts probably make sense to most of you. You take Bible verses and you make them into prayers.
But let’s also recognize that mere repetition of words does nothing. Simply reading a Bible verse 10,000 times, without more, won’t do much. Please look at Hebrews 4:2, which gives us an extremely important truth. “For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
The key question in your confession practice (and in praying God’s Word) is whether you are mixing your faith with the Word that you are praying or confessing. Remember, true Biblical faith is “pistis” faith (“pistis” is the Greek word used in the Bible for “faith”), where you are convinced that God has heard and answered your prayers, you are convinced that it’s done, even before there is any physical manifestation.
So confessing God’s word, and really wanting it to happen, or really hoping it happens, is not the same as mixing your faith with it, or standing in faith for God’s Word. Again, please listen to my teachings on true Biblical faith, and how to see your prayers manifest, for important teaching on these subjects. When I say my confession, I must be saying it with faith.
Here is a passage from my confession and a bit of an explanation on this. “God makes all grace abound toward us, and we always have all sufficiency in all things and we abound to every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:9) It’s one thing to say those words and hope that they are true or hope that they come to pass. But it’s another thing to truly know, with an absolute heart confidence, that God’s Word is true, that it has already in fact come to pass, and manifestation in the physical realm is on its way.
So now I’m taking the time to truly establish my faith while I say my confession. It doesn’t necessarily make the confession sound differently, but I know that my heart is connected to both my mouth and my mind when I speak out the verses. God makes all grace abound towards us. We always have all sufficiency in all things. We abound to every good work. God’s Word is true. This is my reality. It has manifested and it will continue to manifest. You must mix your faith with God’s Word to see it manifest in the natural realm. Making sure that my faith is in the right place for my daily confession is taking my confession practice to another level.
Similarly, I need to have a faith time every day. There isn’t much point in understanding faith if you aren’t going to use it, and God wants us using our faith all the time, in every area of our lives. I need to have a time every day where I get quiet before God and hear Him tell me where I need to use my faith. Personally, I think a great practice is to pray in the spirit, or pray in your prayer language (that means in tongues), and after a few minutes then see if you sense God leading you to pray in any particular direction.
Perhaps God brings a person or situation to your heart. Perhaps God brings a verse to your mind. How do you feel you should pray for these people or situations? What might God be saying with that verse? Where is the Holy Spirit leading you to use your faith? That’s the key question.
So to put it simply, I’m going to have a deliberate faith time every day. Every day I’m going to have faith time, where I ask God to lead my prayers and use my faith. I’m also going to daily use my faith around those Biblical promises that are really important to me, that are in my daily confession, and I’m going to use my faith for anything that God brings to my mind in my prayer time.
Furthermore, and very important, my daily faith time is going to help create a lifestyle of faith. I’m going to constantly be in faith for all these areas of my life. Remember that we have seen the Bible tells us to live by faith. Sometimes things will happen and I will realize, you know it’s been weeks since I’ve really prayed in faith for my children, or it’s been weeks since I’ve really prayed in faith over my marriage. No more. I’m going to have a daily faith time, and I’m going to constantly be in faith for every important area of my life. I’m going to live by faith. Maybe I’ve used my faith here and there, with some success, during the previous years of my life. But 2022 is the year I develop a life of faith. Now is the time I truly live by faith.
My last point of personal development for 2022 that I’m going to discuss in any detail is a constant awareness of my relationship with God, and allowing that relationship to direct my entire existence. Now honestly that probably sounds a lot deeper than I really mean it to. On the one hand it is kind of a deeper idea, but on the other we can probably keep it simple.
As you hopefully know, when you become a Christian the Holy Spirit of God comes to live inside of you. This is the Spirit of God and He takes up residence in your body. But more than that, He unifies Himself with your personal spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17 NLT) “But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
Now that truth explains so many verses and so many of Jesus’ statements about Him being with us, and it is so powerful, that we could write books on it alone. But to keep it simple just understand that your heart, your spirit, is now forever bonded and unified with God’s Spirit. You retain your human individuality, but you now also have a perfect spiritual bond with God, and He is always with you.
You probably already know that God is always with you, but do you let that truth be the foundation and guiding light of your existence. As much as I have strived to do that, I’ve certainly fallen short on many occasions. But I’m going to recommit in 2022.
God is always with me. The wisdom and power of God is always available to me. All of God is always right here. I must allow that reality to guide every word, every action, every decision, all of my existence.
Remember, as we have seen, bringing God into every area of your life will only lead to your best possible life, in every area of your life. Don’t hold anything back from Him. He wants to help you renovate every part of your life where you aren’t currently living in His best. He wants to help your relationships, He wants to help your work life, He wants to help your physical body. He wants all of your life to exhibit all of His blessings. Why is that true? First of all, He loves you and wants His best for you. But He also wants others to see His blessings in your life. He wants them to see His blessings and want them, so His blessing you brings glory and people to Him.
So I’m going to recommit to always acknowledging my union with God, and His constant presence in my life. “God, I know you are with me, please help me.” “God, I know you are with me, what would you have me do here?” “God, what should I say? “God, how should I pray?” “God, please guide me.” We should be praying these prayers regularly.
This next verse is, I believe, the first verse I memorized as an adult. Honestly, I don’t even know how I memorized it, how it got embedded in my mind. When I recited it to my girlfriend (my wife today), and I was talking about how I wanted God to guide my life, she was like, where did that come from. Memorizing scripture wasn’t exactly one of my primary activities in college. But anyway, somehow God got this verse deep in my heart and mind, and it still guides my life today.
(Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV) “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
We must learn to acknowledge God in all our ways. For example, I regularly check with the Holy Spirit before making decisions of any consequence. Of course, if it’s a big decision I will pray over a few days and make sure I have clear direction. But if I need a quick decision (like an invitation from a friend) or if it’s not a major decision, I will quickly check with the Holy Spirit. Do I feel good? Do I feel peace? Or do I feel like I want to gag? Honestly that’s how I make a lot of decisions.
So in 2022 I want to take these points and practices I have gained over the years, and develop a better working paradigm for a constant awareness of God’s presence, a constant awareness of His desire to help and guide me. I’m going to acknowledge Him in all my ways. I’m going to be always looking for His will and what He wants to do in every situation. And my friends, this is a major part of staying tuned into God’s frequency.
If you haven’t heard my podcast on God’s frequency, please consider giving it a listen. God is always broadcasting, He is always speaking His guidance for your life, the best decisions you could make in every situation. But we must tune in. We must point the dial of our hearts and minds towards the Holy Spirit broadcasting frequency, and then we must pay attention. If you will do this, then you will begin seeing God show up, and God’s best, everywhere. Making sure that I’m constantly tuned in is another reason that my mind needs to be totally submitted to God. If I’m allowing the wrong inputs into my mind, my tuner is going to get shifted away from God’s frequency. That’s just the way it is.
Constantly acknowledging God also keeps me tuned in. Constantly acknowledging God also helps me walk in purity and love.
Before we wrap this up I’m going to mention one last thing I will be working on in 2022. I’m not going to discuss this in detail but I just offer it up to you as a suggestion. I’m going to try to have heart to heart connection time, one on one, with my spouse and children every day. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s definitely a goal. I don’t mean a long drawn-out interaction, but simply a time of personal connection where we grow closer in our relationship, even if only for a few minutes. I want to be working on that heart bond with each of them every day.
Well, all that said I encourage you to spend some time thinking about the year ahead. I know we are a bit past the time for resolutions, but it’s always time to make good decisions regarding your relationship with God and your future. Every day can truly be the first day of the rest of your life.
Maybe my suggestions aren’t right for you. Maybe you’re beyond me and you are thinking about next level modifications to your life and mind. If so, seriously I would love to hear about them. Please share them with me. But if my points that I’ve shared today don’t resonate with your heart, then just develop your own. Spend some time with God and see what He says to you. Where do you need to be? What adjustments should you make to see more of God’s will and God’s best in your lives? If you have the time, I would love to hear about them.
I know that God loves you and wants you to have a 2022 full of His blessings and promises. I know He will help you get there, if you will listen to Him and do what He says. God bless you, and I’ll speak with you again soon.
2021 was an interesting year for me. On the one hand it was a great year. I had my best financial year. We had a great year as a family. We took some vacations. As a lawyer, I worked with my clients to close approximately 80 deals. Now for your local title company doing a bunch of homes day in and day out, that’s not very many. But for me, working at home, with no staff, and all of them being rather sophisticated commercial real estate transactions, that’s a good amount of work. And despite all the good things that happened in 2021, I still feel myself wanting more.
I know a lot of people are in that boat, where they are not thrilled with certain aspects of their current situation, and they want to make some changes. That’s true for many people who had a great 2021, and it’s true for many people who had a terrible 2021. Lots of us want to see some changes in our lives. And for me personally, despite a great 2021, I’ve just been confronted with this reality that I’m not living in the fulness of my potential, or I’m not living at the highest expression of what God created me to be.
You know all of us have amazing gifts and talents and abilities that God has given us. It’s probably true that we don’t even know all of them or haven’t even discovered all of them, because all of them can only be discovered in that union with God and His plan for our lives. But suffice it to say that we have gifts and abilities from God, and we want to make the most of them. I won’t take the time here to read Jesus’ parable of the talents, but generally Jesus said that God expects us to take what we have been given and make it grow.
In many ways I have seen what God has given me grow and produce. But just to be totally honest with you, which I plan to always be here, I have done nothing compared to what I’m capable of. And please here me correctly, that is not a statement to brag at all. That is an admission of guilt and sadness and regret that I struggle with on a virtually constant basis. When I look at the hand God dealt me, so to speak, with my parents and my education and my general attributes, and then I combine with that the reality that with God all things are possible, I should really be doing a lot more.
And again, all things are possible with God, and that statement is true for anyone. By no means and I’m meaning to elevate myself in anyway. I just want to put out there, for purposes of this discussion, that I could and should be doing more with my life, plain and simple.
And honestly, I’ve struggled with that for a while now. And I’ve reached kind of my breaking point. I’ve reached that inflection point where the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing. And just to be very specific with you, for me that means (1) I must change my daily work situation and (2) I must do more for the Kingdom of God. God has given me so much that I know can help people, and I need to find ways to get it out there.
Now that’s just me and my personal issues and I know we are all going through different things and have different needs and different goals for our lives. But I have really thought long and hard about what changes I need to make, changes to really step into the rest of my life, and anything else I should do. I’ve had a very calm January in my work, so I’ve been able to do a lot of praying and soul searching to analyze these issues. And I think I’ve landed on some points that will really help me, and I believe they will really help you as well.
In fact, I know that if you listen to these Bible verses and applications today, you can absolutely use them to develop a personal action plan for your life, so that you can start rising up to that highest potential that God has put in you, for you to do all that you can, for you to grow and produce as He intends.
So I’m going to walk through kind of the key actions steps for me and I hope these will prove helpful for you. And the first one for me is truly having my mind surrendered to the Kingdom of God. Let me just say that again, for me to live in all that God has for me, to really live out the fulness of His plan for my life, I believe that I need to have my mind completely surrendered to the Kingdom of God.
And before I go on, maybe that’s not you. Maybe that doesn’t resonate with you. OK, I totally get it. This is definitely me talking about my personal journey, but I just believe that if I’m honest with people about my personal journey, we can learn together, and we can all grow closer to God in our own ways.
So – surrendering my mind to the Kingdom of God. You’ve probably heard me talk about the importance of your mind and your thinking before, so I won’t go into extreme detail today, but let me make a few points.
Having your mind renovated according to the Kingdom of God is absolutely essential to living in God’s plan for your life. (Romans 12:2 KJV) “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
The word for “renew” is the same word as “renovate” which I think we all understand better. We must renovate our minds. We must change the way we think in virtually every area of our lives. This world is filled with sin. This world is filled with backwards thinking. This world is filled with all sorts of mindsets and beliefs that are contrary to the Kingdom of God. We must rip all of those things out of our mind and we must install new beliefs and understandings into our mind, in the same way you would renovate a kitchen.
(Romans 8:5-6 KJV) “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
The mental renovation that must take place is a renovation from naturally minded to spiritually minded. That doesn’t take a ton of explanation if you just think about it a little bit and also look at that verse. Are you minding the things of the flesh or are you minding the things of the spirit?
We all need to mind the things of the flesh to a certain degree, and God understands that. We have physical issues, dietary issues, occupational issues, so on and so forth. There are many things that bind our minds to the physical realm and things of the flesh. But in our free time, when we have the time to direct our minds to entertainment, to study, to recreation, where are we putting our minds? If we go back to the flesh issues, are we allowing the Kingdom of God to inform the way we work, the way we live, the way we treat our bodies and the various physical issues of our life. Are we allowing the things of the Spirit to, essentially, form the foundation and guiding light of our entire mental framework? That’s what we need to do.
Are we minding the things of the Spirit? That’s the question. Personally, I’m going to drastically reduce my secular entertainment. The secular entertainment, that is so available and so plentiful, does not help me become spiritually minded. That doesn’t mean I won’t watch the occasional show or movie. But it’s going to be very different from before. In addition to reducing my secular entertainment, I’m also going to take a harder look at my choices. I already had a filter in place, but I realize that it wasn’t strong enough. This is an area where I can do better to protect the renovation of my mind and being spiritually minded.
There is no point in renovating a bathroom if you are going to allow leaks in the plumbing or you aren’t going to appropriately seal the tile, or do whatever you need to prevent damage to your renovated facility. Your mind is no different. I’ve worked hard for years to become spiritually minded, and I need to protect what I’ve done and keep working.
Similarly, I’m going to make sure this mental filter works for relationships, music, podcasts, and anything else that might enter my mind, even sermons. As I can help it, I’m not going to allow the wrong things in anymore.
Proverbs 23:7 teaches us that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If I look at your life, I can tell what is going on in your mind. It’s just that simple. In some ways, if you looked at my life, you would think I’m doing ok. But, candidly, you wouldn’t really see a person going for it, a person truly going after the best God has for their lives. In many ways you would see a person going through the motions. It may surprise you to hear that, but in many ways it’s true. In 2022, I’m going to strive to lay hold of all that God has for me.
I know that I must be spiritually minded, and I must submit my mind to the Spirit of God. As my thinking changes, I am going to change. As my thinking changes, my life is going to change.
The next area where I personally need to step it up is in my general consecration and holiness. Again, maybe my life would look pretty holy to you. Maybe it doesn’t even look so bad to God. But I know that I need to step it up, at least if I’m going to do all that God wants me to do. Honestly, I’m personally called to the highest levels of consecration and holiness. That might be hard, but I know it’s because of what God has for my life. Thank God that doesn’t mean some sort of weird, unbiblical poverty vows or chastity vows. But it does mean I need to guard my mind, watch my behavior, watch my mouth, and seek God’s righteousness.
Let me show you the verse that really forced me to think about this.
(2 Timothy 2:19-21 NLT) “But God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: “The LORD knows those who are His,” and “All who belong to the LORD must turn away from evil.” In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.”
Let’s briefly mention any potential interpretation of this verse where a person might say I’m ok being just a regular vessel that God can use at any time. If you hear someone say that when looking at this verse, and I have, they need to read this verse a little closer. It may be a reality that in God’s house there are some common vessels that be used for any menial task, but that is not what God wants for any of us. God wants us all to depart from evil. God wants us all to be pure. And God wants us all to be special utensils for honorable use, that He can use for every good work. Some days I’m moving furniture for a needy family. Others I’m preaching the Gospel or ministering healing to someone. I need to be usable for every good work.
I have talked about this idea before, but it is really important. When you first become a Christian, you are automatically qualified to serve in the Kingdom of God, in some ways. You can absolutely pick up garbage around the church building. You can absolutely pass out food in the soup kitchen. There is nothing wrong with those activities or anything like them, but they don’t require any spiritual maturity, and they don’t require any significant degree of purity.
And let me say that, and I’m sorry if I step on anyone’s toes, if you meet one of these people (and this is especially true for men) where they are just content to keep serving in the traffic ministry or as an usher, year after year after year, and they never do anything else for God, something is wrong. That’s a cop out. They are not growing up in the Kingdom, they are not listening to the Spirit of God call them to do more. They are not seeking the Kingdom like they should. Now that might offend someone, but that’s just the way it is.
There is nothing wrong with being an usher at the same church and in the same row for 30 years, if that’s what you want to do. But if you aren’t expanding your service for the Kingdom, if your influence in the world isn’t increasing, if your desire to be involved with the true ministry work that God is doing in the world isn’t growing, then something is wrong. You need to recommit your life and your mind to God, and you need to open yourself to what God wants you to do.
I want to be available at a moment’s notice to do anything God wants me to do. So I must grow up. I must depart from evil. I must keep myself pure. If I want to step into ministry areas where maturity is required, where spirituality is required, where purity is required, then I must pay the price. Look can I just be real here? You can’t get sober on Monday and minister to addicts on Tuesday. You can’t get delivered from pornography on Monday and be ready to minister to prostitutes on Tuesday. You want to, you want everyone to experience the freedom and love you’ve found. But it doesn’t work that way. This growth, this maturity, it takes time. Being pure, being available, being usable for every good work, this takes time and development.
If you looked at my life, other than the occasional drink, you would see that I’m years removed now from virtually all habits that people would call sins. But when I cried out to God for more good works, this verse in 2 Timothy was His answer. I must take a hard look at my life and press in for my personal development, so God can use me anytime, anywhere for anything. If you want to be usable like that, and I guess I’m not there yet so I’m not throwing any stones, you need to be thinking about this verse as well.
Fortunately, and you may recall this from my other teachings. I am greatly aided in this purity endeavor by some other understanding God has given me. I know that God’s ways are best. I know that the highest levels of purity and spiritual maturity are the ways to God’s best life for me. I know they are keys to the highest levels of peace and fulfillment both in myself and in the world around me. I know that I won’t be giving up anything that is actually good for me. I know that no decision I make along this path will work out to my detriment, and I know there is a lot of good ahead of me.
The next area where I’m really going to step up my game in 2022 is in my faith and confession practice. Let me start by briefly describing what I mean here.
I am a big believer in the idea of a daily confession, and I’ve said a confession most days for the past 17 years. A personal confession typically involves saying Bible verses of Biblical promises over yourself and various areas of your life as a daily habit. Typically, one would have verses that they confess for their health, their families, their finances, and other areas of their lives. A personal confession is closely related to the idea of praying God’s Word. The ideas are a little different because one of them is a daily confession or statement, and the other would be a targeted prayer time with verses. But a confession is really a subset of praying God’s Word, because the desired result would be the same. You want to speak God’s word over your life and hope that it manifests.
However, now that I have a much greater understanding of faith, and I encourage you to listen to my teachings about faith, my understanding of the confession practice, and how I approach it, has evolved and I really think I have some solid understanding here.
Let’s start with the simple idea of Biblical promises. God’s Word promises us many good things in many areas of our lives. We know that such promises are God’s will for our lives, so it’s a great idea to pray God’s Word and even build your prayers using these promises. Those concepts probably make sense to most of you. You take Bible verses and you make them into prayers.
But let’s also recognize that mere repetition of words does nothing. Simply reading a Bible verse 10,000 times, without more, won’t do much. Please look at Hebrews 4:2, which gives us an extremely important truth. “For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
The key question in your confession practice (and in praying God’s Word) is whether you are mixing your faith with the Word that you are praying or confessing. Remember, true Biblical faith is “pistis” faith (“pistis” is the Greek word used in the Bible for “faith”), where you are convinced that God has heard and answered your prayers, you are convinced that it’s done, even before there is any physical manifestation.
So confessing God’s word, and really wanting it to happen, or really hoping it happens, is not the same as mixing your faith with it, or standing in faith for God’s Word. Again, please listen to my teachings on true Biblical faith, and how to see your prayers manifest, for important teaching on these subjects. When I say my confession, I must be saying it with faith.
Here is a passage from my confession and a bit of an explanation on this. “God makes all grace abound toward us, and we always have all sufficiency in all things and we abound to every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:9) It’s one thing to say those words and hope that they are true or hope that they come to pass. But it’s another thing to truly know, with an absolute heart confidence, that God’s Word is true, that it has already in fact come to pass, and manifestation in the physical realm is on its way.
So now I’m taking the time to truly establish my faith while I say my confession. It doesn’t necessarily make the confession sound differently, but I know that my heart is connected to both my mouth and my mind when I speak out the verses. God makes all grace abound towards us. We always have all sufficiency in all things. We abound to every good work. God’s Word is true. This is my reality. It has manifested and it will continue to manifest. You must mix your faith with God’s Word to see it manifest in the natural realm. Making sure that my faith is in the right place for my daily confession is taking my confession practice to another level.
Similarly, I need to have a faith time every day. There isn’t much point in understanding faith if you aren’t going to use it, and God wants us using our faith all the time, in every area of our lives. I need to have a time every day where I get quiet before God and hear Him tell me where I need to use my faith. Personally, I think a great practice is to pray in the spirit, or pray in your prayer language (that means in tongues), and after a few minutes then see if you sense God leading you to pray in any particular direction.
Perhaps God brings a person or situation to your heart. Perhaps God brings a verse to your mind. How do you feel you should pray for these people or situations? What might God be saying with that verse? Where is the Holy Spirit leading you to use your faith? That’s the key question.
So to put it simply, I’m going to have a deliberate faith time every day. Every day I’m going to have faith time, where I ask God to lead my prayers and use my faith. I’m also going to daily use my faith around those Biblical promises that are really important to me, that are in my daily confession, and I’m going to use my faith for anything that God brings to my mind in my prayer time.
Furthermore, and very important, my daily faith time is going to help create a lifestyle of faith. I’m going to constantly be in faith for all these areas of my life. Remember that we have seen the Bible tells us to live by faith. Sometimes things will happen and I will realize, you know it’s been weeks since I’ve really prayed in faith for my children, or it’s been weeks since I’ve really prayed in faith over my marriage. No more. I’m going to have a daily faith time, and I’m going to constantly be in faith for every important area of my life. I’m going to live by faith. Maybe I’ve used my faith here and there, with some success, during the previous years of my life. But 2022 is the year I develop a life of faith. Now is the time I truly live by faith.
My last point of personal development for 2022 that I’m going to discuss in any detail is a constant awareness of my relationship with God, and allowing that relationship to direct my entire existence. Now honestly that probably sounds a lot deeper than I really mean it to. On the one hand it is kind of a deeper idea, but on the other we can probably keep it simple.
As you hopefully know, when you become a Christian the Holy Spirit of God comes to live inside of you. This is the Spirit of God and He takes up residence in your body. But more than that, He unifies Himself with your personal spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17 NLT) “But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
Now that truth explains so many verses and so many of Jesus’ statements about Him being with us, and it is so powerful, that we could write books on it alone. But to keep it simple just understand that your heart, your spirit, is now forever bonded and unified with God’s Spirit. You retain your human individuality, but you now also have a perfect spiritual bond with God, and He is always with you.
You probably already know that God is always with you, but do you let that truth be the foundation and guiding light of your existence. As much as I have strived to do that, I’ve certainly fallen short on many occasions. But I’m going to recommit in 2022.
God is always with me. The wisdom and power of God is always available to me. All of God is always right here. I must allow that reality to guide every word, every action, every decision, all of my existence.
Remember, as we have seen, bringing God into every area of your life will only lead to your best possible life, in every area of your life. Don’t hold anything back from Him. He wants to help you renovate every part of your life where you aren’t currently living in His best. He wants to help your relationships, He wants to help your work life, He wants to help your physical body. He wants all of your life to exhibit all of His blessings. Why is that true? First of all, He loves you and wants His best for you. But He also wants others to see His blessings in your life. He wants them to see His blessings and want them, so His blessing you brings glory and people to Him.
So I’m going to recommit to always acknowledging my union with God, and His constant presence in my life. “God, I know you are with me, please help me.” “God, I know you are with me, what would you have me do here?” “God, what should I say? “God, how should I pray?” “God, please guide me.” We should be praying these prayers regularly.
This next verse is, I believe, the first verse I memorized as an adult. Honestly, I don’t even know how I memorized it, how it got embedded in my mind. When I recited it to my girlfriend (my wife today), and I was talking about how I wanted God to guide my life, she was like, where did that come from. Memorizing scripture wasn’t exactly one of my primary activities in college. But anyway, somehow God got this verse deep in my heart and mind, and it still guides my life today.
(Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV) “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
We must learn to acknowledge God in all our ways. For example, I regularly check with the Holy Spirit before making decisions of any consequence. Of course, if it’s a big decision I will pray over a few days and make sure I have clear direction. But if I need a quick decision (like an invitation from a friend) or if it’s not a major decision, I will quickly check with the Holy Spirit. Do I feel good? Do I feel peace? Or do I feel like I want to gag? Honestly that’s how I make a lot of decisions.
So in 2022 I want to take these points and practices I have gained over the years, and develop a better working paradigm for a constant awareness of God’s presence, a constant awareness of His desire to help and guide me. I’m going to acknowledge Him in all my ways. I’m going to be always looking for His will and what He wants to do in every situation. And my friends, this is a major part of staying tuned into God’s frequency.
If you haven’t heard my podcast on God’s frequency, please consider giving it a listen. God is always broadcasting, He is always speaking His guidance for your life, the best decisions you could make in every situation. But we must tune in. We must point the dial of our hearts and minds towards the Holy Spirit broadcasting frequency, and then we must pay attention. If you will do this, then you will begin seeing God show up, and God’s best, everywhere. Making sure that I’m constantly tuned in is another reason that my mind needs to be totally submitted to God. If I’m allowing the wrong inputs into my mind, my tuner is going to get shifted away from God’s frequency. That’s just the way it is.
Constantly acknowledging God also keeps me tuned in. Constantly acknowledging God also helps me walk in purity and love.
Before we wrap this up I’m going to mention one last thing I will be working on in 2022. I’m not going to discuss this in detail but I just offer it up to you as a suggestion. I’m going to try to have heart to heart connection time, one on one, with my spouse and children every day. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s definitely a goal. I don’t mean a long drawn-out interaction, but simply a time of personal connection where we grow closer in our relationship, even if only for a few minutes. I want to be working on that heart bond with each of them every day.
Well, all that said I encourage you to spend some time thinking about the year ahead. I know we are a bit past the time for resolutions, but it’s always time to make good decisions regarding your relationship with God and your future. Every day can truly be the first day of the rest of your life.
Maybe my suggestions aren’t right for you. Maybe you’re beyond me and you are thinking about next level modifications to your life and mind. If so, seriously I would love to hear about them. Please share them with me. But if my points that I’ve shared today don’t resonate with your heart, then just develop your own. Spend some time with God and see what He says to you. Where do you need to be? What adjustments should you make to see more of God’s will and God’s best in your lives? If you have the time, I would love to hear about them.
I know that God loves you and wants you to have a 2022 full of His blessings and promises. I know He will help you get there, if you will listen to Him and do what He says. God bless you, and I’ll speak with you again soon.
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