The Power of Prayer + Habit

I predict that to a surprising degree, this new year will bring you a response to what you bring to it.

You may or may not have made a New Year’s resolution, but they typically rely on willpower. And willpower is like a battery with a limited energy cycle—it needs to be frequently recharged. That’s what makes resolutions so vulnerable to failure. 

But if we use our willpower to form simple habits that we do every day, the habits pave the way to accomplish what might otherwise elude us.

That’s where I encourage you to consider the annual growth commitment. It’s a commitment to grow in a particular area of your personal character by the habit of 1) committing it to prayer, and 2) doing your practical part in agreement with that prayer. I’ve been doing it since 1986, and my wife will tell you she’s glad I have! It works.

In the Online Library of  this website  I’ve created a new section with a half dozen new items under “Live by God’s Word and Spirit,” which God has led me to emphasize more.

Among them is a PDF that explains the annual growth commitment and includes cards to cut out if you so desire.  Click here: Your Annual Growth Commitment

This is a powerful way to live the verse: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). 

Prayer plus habit in harmony with each other and in alignment with God can become an unstoppable force.

In 2019 may you be blessed to be a blessing.    

Releases February 1 

The Sailboat and the Sea:  Encounters with God through the Journey of Life.

Here’s a sneak peek of the second chapter:

LittleBoat unfurled his jib and thirty-foot mainsail. Through the reach of a concrete jetty, he leaned into the open sea, and the waves received him. He glanced back at the harbor as a brisk wind filled his sails. Many boats sailed near shore. He gazed beyond his bow, his stern, and into his hull.
                                  ——- 
I’m going to sail far away.
You cannot run from who you
     are inside.
You again?
I never left.
Leave me alone.
I am all around you.
Just don’t talk to me.
But for the first time you are listening.
Because I can’t get that sinking boat out of my mind.
Good.
Good? That’s not good. It makes me wonder why I even float in the
first place.
Very good. That is why you and I are talking.
I don’t want to talk, and if you knew me, you wouldn’t like me.
Know me, and you will find freedom from who you are.
You wouldn’t want to know who I am.
I already know.
And I suppose you love me and care about me.
More than you know.
Do you really think I’ll believe you love me? I’m even not worth
liking.
You have not learned how I love.
So what?
But you will.
Yeah, well I’ll just try to love myself if you don’t mind.
Loving yourself is meaningless. Upon the waves you are almost
nothing.
Oh, that’s nice. You’re as cruel as any big boat.
You are a speck on the sea. You live. You die. And the sea continues
as it did before.
I already feel bad. Thanks for making it worse.
Do you think you are worth something?
I … I want to be worth something.
All boats do. But even if you grew powerful and well known by
other boats, to the sea you are trivial. The sea is vast, eternal.
You can never claim significance as you sail on the sea.
So I’m insignificant.
No.
But you said I was a speck.
Do size and influence determine value?
Don’t they?
A pearl in an oyster is insignificant. But people search tirelessly for
it. Though on the sea you are barely visible, in my heart you are
a pearl. You are everything to me. I made the sea and all that is
in it for you to sail.
As if I’ll believe that.
Seemingly nothing but in truth, everything.
How can I be everything to you? I’m just a boat.
As you sail with me, you will learn that I love you, and your own
heart will grow big.
But I’m small, and no one cares who I am.
You need not be known. I know you. Though your sail may be
small, travel the course I give you. You will find purpose in
me. And you will live larger than yourself.
I don’t even know why I’m here. What’s the point of being a
sailboat?
Though you did not know it, I created you, LittleBoat.
I was built in a boat yard.
Yes, you were. But everything rises from me. I designed you to be
LittleBoat. As you were constructed, you slowly took shape,
first a frame, then your hull, your deck, your mast, and
finally your sails. Then you learned to sail.
I’ve been trying a long time to sail straight.
And I have sighed with every wrong direction. You have hurt
yourself many times. And I have hurt, because I carry you
in my heart.
Spare me the sentiment. What do you expect of me?
Your part is to become what I’ve put inside you. Will you become
what you were created to be?
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Follow me.
Where are you— No, you’re already there, right?
You are learning.
Do I need to go to some kind of boat school for this?
Only follow.
That might be harder than going to school.
Your heart grows by intention. Not every boat makes the effort to
sail well. Some rarely leave the harbor.
All I needed to do in the harbor was float.
Comfort leads to rot. Pursue what you were created to be.
Let me guess. It won’t be easy.
It will cost more than most are willing to pay.
Is it worth the price?
Keep sailing, LittleBoat. And you will learn the answer.