Is It Time for a Spiritual Reset?

I love a fresh start! It’s like a personal and spiritual reset for my life. As we enter 2021, I am pondering my personal goals for this upcoming year. What about you?

The apostle Paul understood the importance of a spiritual reset. He was a persecutor of Christians before he became a follower of Jesus. In his letter to the Philippian Christians, he said, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do; ‘Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14 NIV)

The world can easily distract us from pursuit of a relationship with God. More than anything, God longs to be in relationship with us. He has a mission for our family that goes beyond all we can imagine (see Eph. 3:20). We often settle for the things the world values rather than living out our full mission and purpose in this world.

If we sat down over a cup of coffee, and I asked you what your family is striving to achieve in the months ahead, what would you share with me? What is most important to you? Through the years, I have learned what is most important to me is most often what occupies my thoughts, money, and time. As I launch into this new year, I am asking myself, If someone I didn’t know was looking at my life and my family, would they see that pursuing a relationship with Jesus is important to me?

Friends, God longs to be in relationship with us. He longs for us to lean in each morning and ask him to open our eyes to how he can use our lives today. There are three areas I am going to push the spiritual reset button.

Prayer

The first area I am going to reset is prayer. Recently, I was reminded of this verse in Ezekiel: “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land” (Ezek. 22:30 NIV). As parents, siblings, grandparents, God is looking for those of us who are willing to stand in the gap and pray on behalf of our families.

I absolutely love it that God uses our prayer time to knit our hearts together with his purpose for those around us. It’s amazing to experience those answered prayers and be able to share them with our family around the table. Each answered prayer is a “God story” we have to bolster not only our faith but the faith of our kids. If we are looking for the activity of God around us each day, we will begin to have a book full of “God stories” we can share with our kids over dinner. Imagine their wide eyes as they hear how God answered your prayer today. Also, know that with each “God story” shared, you are passing on your faith to the next generation.

Scripture Memory

The second area I plan to push the spiritual reset button is scripture memory. In the hustle and bustle of my days, I have allowed this to slip from my daily routine. And oh, it’s so easy to allow it to slip because of the demands on our schedules.

The psalmist reminded us of its importance when he shared in Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man, who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked…but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is a like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” (vv.1-3 NIV).

I am very aware that I have two incredible kids God has entrusted to me, and they are taking their cues about walking with the Lord from my life. Scripture memory is so important because as we meditate on it, God begins to shed light on areas where we are not honoring him. I It also helps transform our thoughts so we can respond to situations in a way that honors God. I want to be the tree reflected in the psalm above, which is deeply rooted and bears good fruit.

Faith Conversations

Finally, I want to push the “reset” button on faith conversations with my kids. My two blond-haired teens will soon be gone. I have a son who is a junior in high school and a daughter who is a freshman. Surprisingly, it is more difficult in these later years to set aside time for faith conversations than it was when they were younger. God has entrusted these two amazing young adults to my husband and me, and I long to launch them into adulthood knowing they are walking with Jesus. I want to know they understand the power of prayer. I pray they will be thirsty for God’s Word. I also want to come alongside them and help them understand God’s purpose and mission for their lives.

Too often, I allow the demands of this world to keep our family from pursuing the one thing that matters more than anything else in the world. There is only one pursuit with eternal value, and it’s our relationship with Jesus. This is why we are recommitting to setting aside one night a week for intentional conversation about God’s Word and prayer. Believe me, if we do not put it on the calendar, we will find our schedules full and let the weeks slip by without those intentional moments together.

Paul shared with Timothy, a young pastor, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe” (1 Tim. 4:8 NIV).

So, if we sat across the table over a cup of coffee and we talked about our dreams for this upcoming year, what would be at the top of your list? How will you move your family closer to Jesus in the upcoming year?

Katrina Dorroh lives in North Carolina with her husband, Robert, and two teens: Caleb and Kaitlyn. Katrina has a Master’s of Divinity Degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has been in ministry for over 25 years. She is a writer, minister, speaker, wife, and mom. Katrina is the Founder of Faith and Family Box, a monthly subscription box which comes alongside families and resources them to have fun faith-filled nights once a month. More information can be found at faithandfamilybox.com.

Photograph © Carolyn V, used with permission