Desires Need A Discipline To Bring Transformation in 2025
New Year Desires and Divine Motivation
Every new year, millions, probably billions of people, make new resolutions. This is neither a good nor bad thing but a thing to be observed and observed in the light of the wisdom of Scripture.
As 2025 opens and we make our resolutions (the commitment to use our resolve towards our particular aim), we, as humans, display a trait unique to us – the desire to change. The desire to be different from what we currently are, based on the idea that there is a better version of ourselves that is both available and attainable. We are living by faith, as would make sense for creatures created in the image of God, even if our image-bearing capacity is marred.
As a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit amplifies, defines and directs this aspect of your human nature. The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Philippian house church, makes a remarkable statement in the 2nd chapter and 13th verse when he says:
“for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” – (ESV)
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. (NLT)
“That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.” – (The Message Bible)
As a child of God, you are taken well beyond merely making resolutions based on your ideas of “the good” and your own power to achieve “that good”. For Christians, God Himself becomes an actor distinct from us, but dwelling in us and provides the desire to do what is truly good. But what is truly good? Whatever pleases Him, whatever is in His Word, whatever is consistent with His nature, whatever makes us more like Jesus Christ.
He then takes it further, beyond just providing the desire and redirecting our aim to what is truly good. He willingly gives you the power to achieve that end, which is truly good. Good for you, good for God, good for all, both in time and for eternity.
Desire and Power Essential, But Not Enough
We thank God for this miracle of desire and power. These are essential to embark on the journey of actual change this year, but it’s not enough. All desires need corresponding disciplines or practices through which they can work. Similar to how electricity needs a wire or a train needs tracks. Without corresponding disciplines or practices, your desires will do one of a few things.
- Weaken, but not totally disappear and become a source of frustration.
- Become a source of accusation, guilt or shame.
- Disappear and reappear at points in your life, reminding you of the good but with weaker and weaker appeals each time until you don`t feel the desire anymore.
None of the above scenarios is desirous, yet we all have experienced them in varying degrees at various times in our lives simply because we failed to hang our vibrant vine-like desires on the trestles of disciplines/practices or rhythms.
Disciplines and Practices
So, what does this look like in practical terms? I will give you some examples from my own life for 2025.
Desire: Reduce my social media intake.
Disciplines: Intentionally practice the command to “watch and pray” and commune with the Lord when I am bored or have downtime so as not to doom scroll.
I gave my phone a bedtime and a bucket that it would be placed in at a specific time.
Desire: Deepen my prayer life.
Discipline: Praying the Psalms so that I am engaging in a rhythm of prayer and also being taught how to pray by the Psalms themselves.
Desire: Deepen family bonds and increase spiritual practice as a family
Discipline: Weekly meal with the family, where we pray, bless each other and create the space for undivided family time.
I’ve laid down these tracks so my God-given desires can run on and lead me to my expected end. I am 100% certain that, at times, I will fail, forget or fall off the wagon. But that’s ok because God is at work providing desire and power, and I have a practice I can resume when I fail. If there were no practices and just desire, I would find myself exerting my will to fulfil my desire with no practical and sustainable way to express it. That is a sure recipe for frustration.
So give your desire concrete, actionable tracks to run on with dates in the calendar, and you will be well on your way to seeing genuine change, slowly, over time.
Prayer
Last but not least is the posture of prayer. The Scriptures tell unless the LORD builds the house (or the life), its builders labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. So yes, you need practices, but they should not be seen as solutions in themselves but as the means by which you partner with the God already at work in you, so pray for God to give life, power, wisdom and endurance to all you are doing.
Face to Face with Myself
- What are some of the God desires that the Lord is birthing in your heart for 2025?
- What are some of the disciplines and practices you will put in place to partner with the Lord, who is at work to will and do for His good pleasure?
- Who can you involve in this journey so that you are not walking alone but in fellowship and community?
Face to Face with Jesus
Ask the Lord to help you discern what His will is for you and the desires that He has for you in 2025. Lean into those desires with practical disciplines that give those desires practical expression.
