@ LibertyGal

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am currently reading the book [*The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards*](https://www.amazon.com/Unwavering-Resolve-Jonathan-Edwards-Profile/dp/1567691080/ref=sr_1_1?sr=8-1) by Steven J. Lawson. The primary subject of this book is Jonathan Edward’s 70 Resolutions for his life that he made between the ages of 18 and 20 when he was first out on his own and was a new pastor of a Presbyterian church. Here are [Jonathan Edwards’s Resolutions](https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards). Reading some of his resolutions made me think I should write some resolutions for my life. They are basically goals for my life and ways to keep me working towards these goals. Since my goals are lofty and I have a long way to go to fulfill them, I decided to add a prayer to each resolution because I can only succeed in fulfilling these resolutions by the power of the Holy Spirit. I started originally with my own preamble, but Edwards’s preamble was so much better, so I went with his. The preamble is from Edwards, but the resolutions and prayers are mine. ## My Resolutions for a Godly Life “Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake:” 1. RESOLVED: To seek to glorify God with my thoughts, words, and actions and to do nothing that harms God’s reputation or that of His church. \ *Father God, help me to glorify You with my thoughts, words, and actions. Take away from me any desires that are not for Your glory. Help me to understand what an awesome and holy God You are so I may glorify You with every bit of my being and glorify You before men.* 2. RESOLVED: To seek to do all good things for God’s glory and not my own. \ *Father God, help to do what is right and good in Your sight and help me to do it with the right motives of thankfulness for what You have done for me and to glorify You. Do not let pride or self serving be my motivation or harm my good works in Your name.* 3. RESOLVED: To daily acknowledge that I am unable to keep these resolutions without the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit and divine grace. \ *Father God, please enable me to live out these resolutions, in so much as they agree with Your perfect will. Help me to lean on Your power and not my own so everything I do is for your glory.* 4. RESOLVED: To read the Bible every day, unless I am too sick to do so, and to read through the whole Bible every year, so I may know Your word and apply it to every part of my life. \ *Father God, give me a hunger for Your word so I long for my time in Your word. Give me joy in Your word and don’t allow it to be a burden that I do solely out of feelings of obligation. Help me to know You better through Your word and to understand Your word, apply it in my life, and faithfully share it with those around me in a manner that is glorifying to You.* 5. RESOLVED: To accept every word in the Bible as perfect truth. When I find something that doesn’t make sense, seems wrong, or seems to contradict another passage in the Bible or something considered true by science or culture, I will seek to discover whether it is my misunderstanding of what the Bible is saying, whether it is science/culture that is wrong, or whether the problem is within me. I will seek the full truth through the Holy Spirit knowing that Your word is truth. \ *Father God, help me to understand and submit to Your word, whether it is convenient or not and whether it is easy or not. Align my mind, heart, and spirit with Your will so I can understand Your word and so that it becomes part of who I am. Prevent me from ever modifying Your word or the meaning of Your word to meet my desires or to make my interaction with others easier.* 6. RESOLVED: To seek to faithfully speak the truth in love to all people. To speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. To add nothing to the truth defined by the Bible and to leave no uncomfortable biblical truth out of my speaking Your truth. \ *Father God, help me to always be faithful to Your word and Your will. Don’t let me ever seek to add or subtract from Your perfect word. Help me to love people enough to share the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth even if this makes interaction uncomfortable and even if it requires time that I don’t feel I have.* 7. RESOLVED: To seek the eternal wellbeing of those around me even if that is uncomfortable in the moment. \ *Father God, help me to see the people around me as You see them. Help me to speak the truth in love. Help me to not fear hurting a relationship that lead me to not share the whole truth, but also help me to not be so concerned with the truth that I trample Your children.* 8. RESOLVED: To seek to live the truth that my citizenship is in heaven and I am just a resident alien here in America. \ *Father God, help me to make every decision for every word I speak, every action I take, and every thing on which I spend my time be with the eternal consideration of my citizenship in heaven and the desire for others to join us in heaven.* 9. RESOLVED: To seek the wellbeing of the city, county, state, and nation where I live through voting, speaking the truth, and witnessing to bring people into the heavenly kingdom. To seek to find the perfect balance between seeking good for my earthly neighbors while not spending too much time taking away my focus on biblical and salvation issues to Your glory. \ *Father God, help me to do what is right for the good of the country and land in which I live while not taking away time from doing Your work for Your kingdom. Help me to find the right balance of earthly and heavenly responsibilities and priorities.* 10. RESOLVED: To seek to always put honoring God above honoring my country and to seek eternal good above momentary comfort. \ *Father God, help me to keep all of my priorities aligned with Your will and to pledge my allegiance to You alone and above all other allegiances. Help me to see everything according to Your perspective, especially with a view towards eternity.* 11. RESOLVED: To seek to serve those around me just as Jesus served His disciples and the sinners of the world. To seek to put others good above my own. \ *Father God, give me the desire to serve those around me: in my family, in my church, in my business, in my community, and beyond. Help me to have the mental and physical strength to serve and to not be overwhelmed with my earthly and heavenly responsibilities. Help me to put the good of others above my own desires.* 12. RESOLVED: To seek to align my will with God’s will and my priorities with God’s priorities. \ *Father God, align my will with Your own will. Help me to submit to Your will in all things. Help me to find joy and peace in obeying and following You. Keep me on the path You have created for me.* 13. RESOLVED: To be careful to spend my time primarily on things that matter eternally and to not be distracted spending time on things that may seem urgent, but have no eternal significance. \ *Father God, I am so easily distracted by “urgent” responsibilities of this world. Help me to see my life as You see it so I can set my priorities right according to Your will. Help me to not only not be distracted by unfruitful works, but also help me to spend my time on the best and most fruitful activities and not just on the good.* 14. RESOLVED: To seek to use the wealth You have given me to honor Your and to serve my fellow mankind, especially fellow believers and to bring people to You. \ *Father God, help me to so align my priorities that I do not hold on to my physical possessions or wealth, but spend it in a way to multiply heavenly wealth to Your glory. Make my financial priorities always align with Your own.* 15. RESOLVED: To seek to honor my parents even if I strongly disagree with them and even if they are not being loving or respectful in return. \ *Father God, sometimes I have trouble finding a right balance in honoring my parents since they are not believers and have opposing world views. Help me to find the right balance between being faithful to You and honoring my parents. Help me to honor my parents in such a manner that they are drawn to You and can come to know You like I do.* 16. RESOLVED: To seek to honor my husband, especially to speak up about how grateful I am for him and who he is. To seek to be a helper and a support to my husband, especially in the support of our family and in his ministry. \ *Father God, help me to be more vocal about my appreciation of my husband. It is so easy to get busy with life and to not speak up about how much I love and appreciate him. Help me to be the helper I was designed to be and to lift him up rather than to drag him down.* 17. RESOLVED: To seek to be available to witness or disciple anyone who wants to know more about You, God. \ *Father God, help me to see the need in those around me and to take the time out of my busy life to share You and Your word with whomever You have put in my path. Help me to not let the urgent overcome the important. Help me to witness or disciple based on who they are and their needs rather than just the manner that is comfortable to me.* 18. RESOLVED: To seek to find the right balance between defending the truth of Scripture and loving my fellow man in a way that is neither divisive nor demeaning. \ *Father God, help me to balance truth and love. Help me to not get so passionate about Your truth that I trample the souls of those I am trying to bring to You. Help me to not be so gentle that I withhold part of Your truth and not so forceful that I drive them away. Help me to listen to Your leading so I can be used as a tool in Your hand to Your glory and the well-being of those around me.* 19. RESOLVED: To pray daily and continually and to include You, God, in every decision, small and big. To make talking to God a part of everything I do and think. \ *Father God, guide every decision I make, no matter how small, to be in complete submission to Your will. Help me to talk to You continually about every joy and sorry, about every need and answered prayer, and about how much I appreciate who You are and what You have done for me. Help me to include You in every part of my life. Help me to not only speak, but to listen.* 20. RESOLVED: To pray “Your will, not mine be done” and to mean it with every ounce of my being.\ *Father God, help me to submit my will to your own, especially in my desires for myself and others. Help me to so trust you that I automatically trust your answer to prayer and guidance in prayer. Help me to trust your will even when I don’t understand it.* 21. RESOLVED: To pray more for people’s spiritual well-being than for their physical well-being. \ *Father God, help me to see people as you see them and to see their needs as you see their needs. Help me to understand and pray for their most important needs — the spiritual and eternal needs and not to just see and pray for physical needs that are a problem today, but don’t matter for eternity.* 22. RESOLVED: To seek to be an encouragement and to support (emotional & financial) our church pastors, elders, deacons, and others in ministry. \ *Father God, help me to support and encourage our pastors, elders, and deacons in all they do in Your service. Help me to be the encouragement that helps them in their work when they have been dragged down by complainers. Help me to provide whatever help is needed to enable them to shepherd the church.* 23. RESOLVED: To seek to be a godly example to others, especially my kids, so that they may know about You, know You personally, and become more like You. \ *Father God, help me to live a life that honors You and helps those around me to see You. Continually mold me in Your image to Your glory. Help me to live a life so devoted to You that I am honoring You whether there are witnesses around or not. Make every good work be in Your honor.* I’m sure, like Edwards, I will add more resolutions over time. I hope these resolutions have made you think and that maybe you may decide to adopt some of these resolutions for yourself. I’d love to hear what resolutions you would add or how you would change any of these I’ve listed. May the God and Creator of the universe mold you and carve you to become more like Himself. May He help make you more like Jesus and help you to implement a life in His honor. Trust Jesus