It’s 2023, and I’m thinking it will be a great year.
Not because the circumstances around me. They seem to alternate between dire and disastrous with flashes of good in between. It’s a fool’s quest to base anything on the circumstances around me.
I think 2023 will be great because I know Who created it. I know that His plans are for His glory and my good. I just need to hitch my trailer to that wagon, and it’s a guarantee of a good year.
This is an important mindset shift. It’s not an easy one either. My eyes and ears continually feed me data about the circumstances in the world. And I have unprecedented access to information to feed that beast. So it’s going to take some intention to get what I want.
How do you deal with this? Have you developed tricks or strategies to keep your focus where it should be? It think this is a really important question.
Here are my answers.
Read the Bible. This is a drum I’ve been banging for a long while now. But it’s one that I think I have to bang. Until I die.
I’m going to do something different this year.
For the last couple years I’ve use the One Year Bible (ESV translation). It’s been a daily companion (most days). I’ve enjoyed reading through every book of the Bible.
But toward the end of the year it got kind of heavy. Minor Prophets and Revelation at the same time. That’s a lot of hellfire and brimstone for a month.
So this year I’m doing something different. Same program: One Year Bible. But I’ve picked the Chronological Bible. It’s a different experience already in the first few days of the year. The history buff in me loves to see the approximate dates, and it’s fun to see all the places in the Bible that support one story.
I’ll still get Revelation in December, but I think it will be much better. It won’t be paired with all the Minor Prophet “Day of the Lord” jazz.
My only “complaint” is that I couldn’t find the chronological format in the ESV translation. So I’m reading in the NIV. Not a big issue. but I would have preferred the ESV just to be consistent.
Next topic: Bible Memorization. For a long while I’ve been thinking about the book of Ephesians. I think it’s generally familiar and I know chunks of it. But I want to memorize the whole book. I have some ideas on how to do that. But I still need to work it out.
I’ll be honest. I’ve kind of tried this before. This is the third or fourth year that I’ve thought about this as a goal. So I’m going to need some help.
I give you permission at any time to ask me about it. Send me an email and ask “Dennis, what’s the most recent thing you’ve memorized in Ephesians?”
This will be very welcome accountability.
Prayer. Yeah. This is something I still want to pursue. Last week I told you that my most memorable/impactful scripture was Abraham “negotiating” with God about Sodom and Gomorrah. That has been an inspiration on praying God’s character back to him. This year I want to read 4 books on prayer to help me process what it is and how it works. Since I lead the prayer ministry at my church, I feel convicted to master prayer better.
Finally, Writing. I’ve already started a Second Edition of Study the Bible: Six Easy Steps. More to come on that as I get it out there. Odds are you’ve already read the First Edition, so this might not be the most compelling thing I’m going to do.
But I also want to add some companion books. I’ve been thinking about how to write some specialty books around:
- Studying the Epistles
- Studying OT History books
- Studying the Gospels
- Knowing God’s Will
I think these would be helpful assists to anyone who wanted to take the discipline of Bible Study even farther.
This is an aggressive set of plans. I don’t know how I’ll fare throughout the year. But I do know that if I don’t set any plans, I won’t achieve as much.
So here’s to 2023! What do you want to accomplish this year?
Dennis
