Last week, Pastor Greg encouraged us to refocus our efforts at reading the Bible in the new year. It's a great place to start when thinking about your goals for spiritual growth in 2025! And in this post, I want to build on that.
Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 6 that all of life is spiritual war. Whether or not it's obvious, there are spiritual forces at work in the world (Eph 6:11–12). This is not just on the mission field or in serious situations of terrible sin. Paul's instructions for spiritual warfare come in the context of church life (4:1—5:21), home life (5:22—6:4) and the workplace (6:5–9). We face spiritual pressure from the world, the flesh, and the devil in the everyday decisions of life. In the midst of these things, we are called love God and neighbors, pursue godliness, and kill sin—all to the glory of God. We need God's help to succeed (Eph 6:10).
Toward that end, consider the wisdom of Proverbs 21:5—"The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty." We need to plan for our spiritual lives. This is not legalistic rule-making for saving ourselves, but discipline for godliness (1 Tim 4:7).
But remember that making a plan by itself will not make you mature. Instead, it will give you a framework for consistently and intentionally pursuing Christ and the life he calls his people to live. Pursuing him by faith will lead to growth and maturity (Gal 2:20).
There are several ways to put together a discipleship plan, ranging from very simple to more complex. Every plan should address three areas of life: personal devotion, godly development, and outward disciple-making. Likewise, it should account for practical implementation: the where, when, and how of your plans for growth.
Linked here is one example you may find helpful. It's broken down into the three key areas and gives question that prompt practical planning. The first part is about Abiding in Christ and focuses on planning for a prayerful, Word-filled life—the way we fellowship with God through Christ. Again, if you need help planning in this area, Pastor Greg's post is helpful. Remember to have multiple kinds of Bible reading: devotional reading, times of deeper study, and reading quickly over larger chunks to build your familiarity with the overall storyline of the Bible.
Part two, Growing in Christ, helps you think through how to deal with sin and grow in godliness, reflecting the Savior who bought you. You should also identify elements of life that regularly provide temptation to sin, and so, must be changed or eliminated. Be prepared to be radical in your pursuit of holiness (Matt 5:29)!
Finally, Serving with Christ gives you some direction for thinking through how you can pour into the lives of others in broad and specific ways. This includes ministry within the body of Christ and ministry to those who are lost. Remember that every disciple is called to make disciples. Making disciples can be simply summarized as helping others move toward maturity in Christ (Col 1:28). This means disciple-making involves help believer grow and helping the lost be saved. Think about how you can be involved in God's plan for gospel growth.
Ideally, you should revisit your plan every three to four months. This allows you to see what's not working and make adjustments. Spiritually, it will help encourage you as you reflect on your progress or motivate you to re-engage if you end up falling behind.
Even unbelievers understand the need for planning. Benjamin Franklin wisely observed that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If we are succeed in spiritual maturity, we need to plan. We need a war plan for spiritual growth in 2025. Whether it's a few specific changes or a more intentional overhaul, don't let your spiritual life fall by the wayside in the new year. Take up the spiritual resources offered freely in Christ and plan to "be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might" (Eph 6:10).
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