MS New Year's Resolution by "Multiples Slerosissucks" Poster

MS Patient's New Year's Resolutions

Live by the Spirit

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Actually the purest Christian at the moment of his or her greatest strength is as weak as he or her was before his or her conversion. What has happened is that he has switched from his little human battery to the infinite power of God. He has quite literally exchanged weakness for strength, but the strength is not his; it flows into him from God as long as he abides in Christ. One of the heaviest problems in the Christian life is that of sanctification: how to become as pure as we know we ought to be and must be if we are to enjoy intimate communion with a holy God. The classic expression of this problem and its solution is found in Paul's epistle to the Romans, chapters seven and eight. The cry, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (7:24) receives the triumphant answer, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (8:2).

No one who has given attention to the facts will deny that it is altogether possible for a man to attain to a high degree of external morality if he sets his heart to it. Marcus Aurelius, the pagan emperor (i.e. Gladiator), for instance, lived a life of such exalted morality as to make most of us Christians ashamed, as did also the lowly slave Epictetus; but holiness was something of which they were totally ignorant. And it is holiness that the Christian heart yearns for above all else, and holiness the human heart can never capture by itself. A.W. Tozer

When we trivialize the Scriptures and Church Tradition, we reduce God’s Commandments of our Christian Life to formulas (legalism) which lead us to be “proud” of our efforts, or we rationalize away the demands (liberalism) which makes us comfortable with our lives, or we fabricate a list of things (agenda) we are going to do for God (moralist) which makes us tired, all three (legalism, liberalism and moralist) replaces God’s grace and need for Jesus Christ. If we allow ourselves to the bondage to a corruption of nature (i.e., legalism, liberalism and moralist), then we are not free.

Legalistic: My own concept of obedience makes me feel very safe that if its part of my life, I will impose on others. If they are not following my formula of legalistic beliefs, they are not being obedient according to my understanding of the Scriptures. This is why I am NOT a legalistic person.

Liberalistic: I rationalize that certain rules, regulations, laws (ceremonial) and/or any other concept of commandments in the Bible do not apply today. If I see it does not apply, then others are not being obedient according to my understanding of the Scriptures. This is why I am a liberalistic person.

Moralistic: I am following my resolutions according to my understanding of the Scriptures that being radical and focusing on agendas to accomplish God’s will even though I understand this is a “self-effort” rather than “grace-power”. I am a liberalistic and not a legalistic, I am defining moralistic according to my spiritual relationship with God. This is between God and me.

Training

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Christian spiritual training is this: "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me". (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). Paul wanted the thorn removed but God wanted to teach Paul that "the sufficiency of His grace" in the worst of human circumstances is that when a person is weak in a temporal sense while the person is strong spiritually by God's Grace in eternal sense. If I keep forgetting the basic meanings of God's grace, I would become a bitter, angry, and cantankerous person just because things are not going "my way". Grace teaches me that I am to continue to rejoice and praise God even in the midst of my trials and suffering in this earthly life! This is related to the Beatitudes of a "happy paradox" to focus on God's power to control my thoughts. So, how I do I endure through my trials? Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses (i.e. illnesses), in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." When I am forgetting God and His grace, I am confused between flesh with my spiritual life. The characteristics of my flesh are independence and self-will which hinders my spiritual growth. God have been pushes me to the limits of my flesh where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, "I will not surrender," or "I will surrender" which is submitting to Him is breaking the hard shell of my flesh, which allows my spiritual life to emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see Matthew 5:23-24 ).

What have we learned in this "life" is that we are to have spiritual fruits.

a. Fruit of Patience: Hebrews 10:36, James 1:3
b. Fruit of Joy: Psalm 30:5, Psalm 126:6.
c. Fruit of Knowledge: Psalm 94:12
d. Fruit of Maturity: 1 Peter 5:10

Trials come to test the strength of our faith because they assist us in the knowledge of our own faith. (Genesis 22:1-18, Malachi 3:3-4, 1 Peter 1:6-9). Trials come to us to reveal what we really love. Trials including disability which teaches us that the greatest good of the Christian life is not absence of pain, but Christ-likeness and to do His will. Trials including disabilities teaches us that God is more concerned with the character He is building in us, He comforts us in His arms through His power of Grace on the journey to His destiny for us as Paul explains: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3-4) If we don’t take care of ourselves it’s because we don’t think we have time. Yet no one else can take responsibility for our private lives. Health is mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wholeness. Health is a gift from God, but we are responsible alone to create a proper balance with rest, recreation, nutrition, and exercise.

How do I allow the Holy Spirit to transform my life?

Holy Spirit will convict me to make such amendments as the circumstances demand.

We can always trust the moving and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives and experiences, but we cannot always trust our human leanings and our fleshly and carnal desires. A.W. Tozer

Life's Compromises

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This is a mystery which only for spiritually alive Christians, who are quickened by the Spirit of God. Jesus did not promise any of us that consistent Christian living would be easy! He did not promise release from daily problems and pressures. Life is hectic and today’s life is not quiet simply because we live in a sinful world. Through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life.

Does "life" teach us?

Christians' attitudes find their root in the heart (Jeremiah 17:9-10). In Proverbs 4:23 says, “...Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” God charges each Christian to personally model his attitude: “Do nothing out of ... vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2: 3-5).

Bad things happen to everybody because we are living in a sinful world. Things will go wrong, they will go wrong all the time and that God has given us the grace to survive. God has given us the grace to sanctify us. God uses suffering to perfect His power which the Bible referred this as "Power is perfected in weakness". God is basically saying "You should not have self-confidence and trust in yourself in the sense you believe you're capable of anything eternal that only I can provide grace and power." Only God can help us overcome situation as long as you trust in His GRACE.

The question here is, when did God has given me the grace to handle the sufferings of life?

And when or how do I accept God’s grace? That's the issue.

Paul’s thorn was not his main focus but rather something far deeper. The thorns are not necessarily evil, but rather the works of sanctification. The right perspective is to understand that in the trouble of life this is part of it trying to discern what God is doing in the trouble of it. James says count it all joy when you fall into various trials cause trials have a perfecting work. Peter says after you've suffered a while the Lord will make you perfect. God uses suffering to reveal our spiritual condition.

This is why Jesus talks about discipleship. Remember the story about the rich ruler? Jesus looked after the rich young ruler as he walked away, but Jesus did not follow him or attempt to coerce him. Jesus wants people make their own moral choices; and Christ knew this and permitted rich ruler to go his own chosen way. Jesus is saying that He cannot do our repenting for us. He died for our sins, now it is up to us to pick up the cross. "Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Becoming a disciple, following Jesus Christ requires personal cost, giving up your selfish "me" and become like Christ. Jesus might have grieved over His Cost of Discipleship requirements, but He never ran after them to try to win them with rosy promises. Luke 14:27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. God's Grace is that we live in His Spirit AND also walk in His Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in us with all the power and gifts of God, necessary to enable us to walk the noble, spiritual, Son-like life with God. With Grace, we can show mercy and help others (Heb. 4:13-16).

This is an "inward" relationship with the Holy Spirit and His conviction in my heart to repent and follow the cross of Jesus Christ. After I failed, did I repent and ask God to help me to change? Go to my earlier post that explains the strategies that will help develop "success attributes" which is a set of characteristics that help define our attitude and effort put into overcoming our weaknesses.

Instead of “New Year’s Resolutions”, go for “daily grace”.

We all have temptations and will most likely fail with our New Year's Resolution.

It is interesting to be reminded and realized that Christian do not do "resolutions" but rather "repentance" in order to change every New Year. Often resolutions do not last because they are basically "delaying" repenting" for those who wants to change. Christians have the opportunity to repent daily if they fail which means we can focus on our goals daily, one day at a time rather than following our resolution goals. In order for us to take credit for success when we achieve a resolution, we must repent daily. After each time we repent, we are to look at the barriers that were in our way. As Christians, we are to have continuous sanctification process of repenting throughout our Christian lives because we will never be perfect. We need to develop "coping strategies" to deal with problems that will come up. It is not about achieving anything by my own effort but rather believing in what God has accomplished and trusting Him to "work it in me both to will and to do of His good pleasure" and "to complete the work He began in me". I can't have a right faith by anything I do because that is based on self-effort instead of what is given to me by the Holy Spirit who actually gives me strength through Grace. My faith is to trust God who makes me effective according to His will.

Based on Christian Tradition and Scriptures, God’s design for us is to be radically transforms by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2) that our hope for this radical transformation is by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13). Often sin in a Christian's life ignores the Holy Spirit that he/she is not willing to acknowledge the conviction. That's the trouble with Christians when they tend to focus on superficial desires rather than their hearts to change by the Holy Spirit. Wisdom by definition means quality of being wise; power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action, based on knowledge, experience and understanding (In 1 Peter 1: 13 – 16). We are to present our bodies "as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God". Truth is, the Holy Spirit is able to grasp our inner being only when we submit completely which will allow Him to teach us, lead us mysterious and divine where we ought to go. "Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." — Psalm 86:11.

My daily life always face some obstacles in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. This is where “regret” comes in. Those obstacles were my life which I need to repent and change. Sin by accident is part of our sinful nature as Galatians 5:17 says: For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. Christ turned from the fallen world of Adam and spoke about another world altogether, a world where Adam's philosophy is invalid and his technique inoperative. Jesus doesn’t want to destroy our wills, but to sanctify them. I have learned to understand the true nature of the Christian life which is unpredictable and expanding called "sanctification". God does not desire to destroy my will, but to sanctify “my will into His will”. During the sanctification process, spiritual training which is forming spiritual fruits that we need to arm them spiritually to wrestle against the world, the devil and the flesh. I am to surrender to the Holy Spirit (God) to produce spiritual fruits. Richard Foster said, “Superficiality is the curse of our age. . . . The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people. “ Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” We live in a wonderful age, but it has a dark side. Many of us today are in a "structural hurry”—a fast pace is “structure” into our lives.

Let’s begin the new year by resolving to call “time out” to peer into our souls and repent. We need to understand God’s unchanging nature that our job is not to change God—but rather to let Him change the core affections of our hearts. We must come humbly and negotiate a full “surrender” to Him. We all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him which is "My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory." To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning.

In my own life, often I am blinded by my own selfishness which effectively blocks out any possible efforts for me to discover a remedy for my current negative conditions so I can change. I am just a man with many faults and shortcomings of my own. There is a close cause-and-effect relationship between benefits and negative consequences around my life. God has always provided a way for me to escape the bad fruits of my past however, often, I chose not to because I was following my flesh's desire more than my spiritual desire. I know that I am still capable of change and I can become something other than what I am today.

How can I change?

What can I do to change?

Mistakes

I wrote this on my birthday a few weeks ago before I started this blog.

What is "true maturity" when we think of birthdays? Maturity means acting responsibly; it means learning from my mistakes and trying not to make the same ones over again. Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. I regret not being with the people I care about when they need me most.

Next year, I will be turning 50 and for the next 12 months, I will be doing alot of soul searching. Years ago, one of my major mistakes was marrying a "high maintenance" woman who only cares about herself and what she wanted out of life. While I hate divorce, I am thankful and happy that I am divorced freed from such hardship and she was taking me for granted. In the last few years, I have struggled with my own issues that I have come to terms to accept them and move on. I regretted for not being their for my kids.

New Year's Resolution

A New Year's Resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous. New Year's resolutions are a dime a dozen so with that thought in mind, having a dozen would be good. There are 12 months so we are to come up with one resolution for each month. New Year's resolutions involve making vows to do better in the coming year. In order to have successful resolutions, I have to learn to “respect my bad habits." Habits don't develop in a vacuum. For years, my old habits served function that has helped me to reduce stress, to enhance socialization, to make tasks feel easier. I know I can’t just give up a bad habit (quit smoking was hard enough), especially if it has endured for a long period of time, without understanding the value of my habit and considering methods for replacing it with something easier to adapt with. Rather than “beating” my habits, I need to understand that my habits as my “weaknesses” similar to people with disabilities who have learned to accept and adapt life with their “weaknesses” in terms of disabilities. We all have disabilities in one form or another. Most are “invisible” than visible. Accepting may be the most important step toward finding success and happiness by focusing on the term “All disabilities or weaknesses are part of life’s challenges". By learning to develop compensatory strategies rather than try to “fix” the weaknesses (disabilities). Develop strategies that will help me develop "success attributes" which is a set of characteristics that help define my attitude and effort put into overcoming my weaknesses. These included self-awareness, my ability to accept the existence of my weaknesses and identify my strengths and weaknesses rather than dwell solely on the negative aspects of my weaknesses.

Quotes on New Year’s Resolutions
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

It wouldn't be New Year's if I didn't have regrets. ~William Thomas

Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult. --Samuel Johnson

Let us resolve to be masters, not the victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way to blind suspicions and emotions. --John F. Kennedy

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. --Abraham Lincoln

'Where there is a will there is a way,' is an old and true saying. He who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scales the barriers to it, and secures its achievement. --Samuel Smiles

Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits. ~~Anonymous

A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other. ~~Anonymous

New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time. ~~ James Agate

Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle. ~~ Eric Zorn

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~~ Bill Vaughan