I’ve seen and heard a lot of resolutions and goals to “dive deeper into my faith in the new year.” And first of all, yay!!! No matter where you’re at in your faith journey, there is always room to grow and learn more about God, His Word, and so much more.

However, “diving into your faith” is a broad goal. Maybe a little too broad. So instead of completely ignoring this goal because you have no idea of how to accomplish it, I’m outlining steps to achieving this amazing and incredible goal. And not just accomplishing it, but incorporating this goal into your routine and rhythm of your everyday life.

Find a Devotional/Reading Plan.

This can be a devotional or a Bible reading plan. Although The Bible should be the ultimate source to diving deeper in your faith and growing in your relationship with God, devotionals, reading plans, and books are amazing catalysts to grow your relationship with God and help you understand Scripture. Some examples I recommend are: Bible in One Year with Nicky Gumbei and The One Year Chronological Bible.

Set a time in the day to read your Bible.

Next is to set a time in the day to read your Bible—and be consistent. For me, I prefer to read in the mornings, but sometimes, my body is just too tired and exhausted to comprehend anything before 7 a.m. I will modify this to read my Bible at night! However, it’s important that you set a time every single day to read your Bible. For me, even though I am exhausted in the morning, reading my Bible first thing in the morning and spending intentional quiet time with the Lord always sets me up for a great day. Check out my night routine blog post where I wrote about everything I do in my night routine to set me up for a great morning.

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” —Matthew 6:6 (ESV)

Grab a pen and highlighters.

I totally understand just grabbing your Bible and turning to your designated reading for the day, but underlining and highlighting key verses and phrases have helped me understand the Bible passages more critically. Look for contrasting words and phrases, words spoken by Jesus, and anything else that sticks out to you. I love the Mildliners Highlighters and Pilot G2 pens.

“Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.” —Psalm 119:34

Put together or find a worship playlist.

Turn on soft, gentle worship music to help you guide your quiet time with the Lord. I tend to turn on worship music that has very few lyrics or no lyrics at all, because if I turn on worship music with many lyrics, I’ll find myself singing along to the worship songs instead of actually reading the Bible! Here is the link to the worship playlist (on Spotify) that I like to play in my quiet time.

Find community.

I get it — as an introvert, I struggle with actually going outside and making new friends; I want to, and I know it will benefit me and strengthen my faith, but it’s hard. I don’t say that to complain; I say that to be relatable. So, maybe you struggle with it. Let this be a push to step out of your comfort zone and find community. Visit a church in your community you’ve been watching online, and make an effort to talk to the someone next to you. Get involved with a church group, volunteer, serve on a team. This may be hard at first, especially for the introverts with social anxiety, but it will be worth it.

Pray.

Above all else, spend time in prayer with the Lord. Pray for strength, boldness, and any word of the year that if you choose to take a word of the year. Pray for understanding and clarity as you read through the Word each day. Ask God for these things.

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” —John 15:7 (ESV)
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” —Romans 8:26 (ESV)
“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.” —Luke 11:9 (ESV)

How to Grow In Your Faith In The New Year