It’s day two of the New Year, and no doubt resolutions abound. Lose weight… exercise more… finish your degree… The list is as varied as the uniqueness of each individual. But if you want to be spiritually stronger next New Year’s than you were this one, there are 3 things you must do to grow spiritually in 2017.

1. Make a Daily Appointment With God

Seems like a no-brainer to make sure you pray every single day no matter what, but even devout Christians seem to slide when their schedules get overcrowded and their body becomes weary. If we are to give God the first fruitsof all our increase, (Proverbs 3:9-10) then serious Christians should consider giving God the first fruit of their day in prayer. Make your first waking hour one that is devoted to prayer and Bible reading – not to cruising social media, texting your friends, or checking out news stories. Determine this so strongly, that you literally make an appointment with God. Write your prayer time on your calendar. Set an alert on your smartphone. Develop a mindset that your time with God is just as important – in fact more important – than if you had a meeting with your boss.

2. Find a Sword Sharpener

Sword Sharpeners are people in our lives who sharpen our spiritual mind and heart just by being around them. Sometimes they come in the form of a mentor, but often they are a prayer partner or friend to whom we feel challenged to grow in God just by being around them. Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” Do your friends sharpen you for the kingdom? After you have spent time with them, are your thoughts filled with God and what more you can do to reach the lost? If you don’t have at least one Sword Sharpener in your life, determine now to find one. Be intentional about cultivating a relationship with someone who you see as your spiritual superior. If you do this, by this time next year, you will be amazed at how much you have grown.

3. Meditate On Scripture

Don’t just read the Bible, soak in it. Read and reread a passage of scripture that resonates with you. Write key verses out on a post-it-notes and put them on your bathroom mirror, your kitchen cabinets, your computer monitor, or on the dashboard of your car. Make the word of God come alive in your day-to-day routine by binding them about you. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”–Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Your Turn

These are my top 3 things you must do to grow spiritually stronger in 2017. What are yours? Leave a comment and share with the rest of us!