“This year is a new year with no mistakes in it!”

Those are the charming, hopeful words of my kindred spirit, Anne of Green Gables. I chose her  words to express my joy in new beginnings when I began writing this on the 2nd day of the year, full of the hope. Well, that was two weeks ago. Mistakes have now happened. So much for new beginnings.

I’ve given up on making resolutions because I now have a history with me. When New Year’s comes around with the memories of how many times I’ve already failed, its tempting to give into hopelessness. The echo in my heart is, “why bother?”

Yet, my longing to be better never diminishes, and I’m pretty sure you feel the same way. We not only love new beginnings, we need them. Which is why every new year we’re tempted to make resolutions or devise a personal plan to make ourselves and our lives better.

The trouble is, we are not good “self coaches.”

The Apostle Paul struggled with the same way. He expressed it something like this, which you will recognize from Romans Chapter Seven:

The good I want to do, I don’t! And the bad things I don’t want to do, I end up doing! Oh wretched man that I am, who will help me?“

But Paul escaped from this cycle, and reveals the answer to his cry a few verses later, in Romans 8. The subtitle in my Bible reads, “Live through the Holy Spirit.“ Paul explains how HE, the Holy Spirit, is the answer to breaking out of the human cycle of failure.

Frankly, this isn’t news. We’ve read the Scriptures. We know Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would be our helper in this life. So why do we continue to struggle with living the better way we desire?

We still live as if it’s all up to us.

Experience tells me I can say with all sincerity, “God is with me,” while living with low expectations that He is actually present and will help me in a way I can truly experience in the moment of my weakness!

In the quiet places of the heart, it is easy to give in to the feeling that God is far away. It seems as if you are on your own to make changes happen. You pray earnestly, but then continue to wrestle with yourself in moments of testing.

This is where we fail. Because if you’re all you’ve got, you’re in trouble. You end up doing the same thing over and over, hoping to get a different result. (I’m not sure this is the definition of insanity, as some say; but it certainly evokes a couple of words the Bible authors used a lot: futile, and foolish. The Scriptural formula for abundant life does not include either of these things.

God is very present to those who believe.

If you really want to change something about yourself, about your way of being; if you want a new beginning that endures, trade in your LIST of resolutions for this ONE: to live as if you can really rely on the Holy Spirit, as if He is truly there for you.

This requires you to take God at His word in Psalm 46:1, which says:

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

As a writer, the word choices of other writers get my attention. In this case I notice this writer could have simply said, “God is here to help you when you’re in trouble.” Instead, he says God is VERY present to help you in trouble! That’s what I call a literary speed bump — makes me slow down and ponder. And look things up in Bible dictionaries.

Here’s what I found: the word “very” is translated from a Hebrew word that means “muchness, force, abundance.” It is most often translated as “exceedingly, great, greatly.”

Sooo, slip some of those words into this verse and reward the author’s effort to make his point. This author — the Holy Spirit, of course — didn’t just say, “God’s here for you, kiddo, if you need him.” No, He says, “God is VERY present for you! Exceedingly, abundantly, greatly present!”

I made just one resolution some years ago that I’ve never changed: to live every day by faith in these words. When I live as if I truly believe this, I reap the benefits of walking with the wisest, strongest, most personal life coach ever. This Person knows stuff about me I don’t even know. He alone is best equipped to help me be the me He created me to be.

The Spirit is always present for the redeemed children of God.

If you are born again into the family of God through Jesus the Son, then the Spirit of Christ is available to be abundantly, greatly, present for you.

The Hebrew word translated as “present” in Psalm 46:1 means “to find.” It is overwhelmingly translated in the Old Testament as “found,” such as this familiar Scripture from Jeremiah 29:

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord. (Jeremy 29:11-14, NASB)

As we just learned, when God says “I am a very present help in time of trouble,”  it means, “I will be abundantly found by you when you need help.” God is not stingy with Himself.

You don’t have to earn God’s help.

God doesn’t make you earn His help. I know this from personal experience! He does not hold back because you’ve failed over and over. The God you share life with forgives you as often as you need it, whenever you confess your sins, trespasses or weaknesses. He doesn’t stop forgiving because you come back to repent for the 10th time. Remember, He is the God who commanded us to forgive “seven times seventy” – in other words, as often as another needs it – so you can be sure He is this way with you as well. The God who demands you forgive the same offense even if the offender does it again the same day, demands this of you because that’s exactly what He offers to you. This is the way he treats you. He’s not keeping a record of your wrongs, because love doesn’t do that.

Forgiveness: God’s plan for new beginnings.

Forgiveness was invented by God, because He knows we need new beginnings, and often. Every time God forgives you it’s a clean slate and a new beginning, if you will accept it. Forgiveness is not a license to keep failing; it is an expression of God’s values. While God hates sin, His priority is relationship that nurtures you over punishment that leaves you stuck.

Punishment doesn’t bring you back into His loving embrace, but forgiveness does. God knows that as you live close to His heart you will find the grace and courage to keep trying. As you experience His goodness, wisdom and love, you will be inspired to be more like Him.

It is our own guilt that banishes us from enjoying God’s forgiveness. This I know from experience too. So please, dear soul, once you confess and ask God’s forgiveness, believe in your clean slate and return to rest in His love!

When you talk to God in moments of weakness, speak to Him as if he’s really present, really listening, and has real strength to help you. Because He does. It might be helpful, as some have found, to sit next to a chair and imagine Him sitting in it.

One resolution will do.

The only resolution you really need to make: to seek God, by inviting the Holy Spirit to help you in daily life. Pay attention to Him. Frankly, this requires you to stop ignoring him, because He has been with you always! Treat the Spirit as if He is the VERY present life mentor and strength Jesus promised. Don’t plead for help, then say Amen and go about doing the things you would do anyway.

Don’t muddle through as if you are all alone, because you’re not. Take a cue from the dialogue between God and David about this very thing, which I wrote about here.

It’s not a good thing to try to reinvent yourself; which is overwhelming and a recipe for failure. Change is not easy; plus there is the issue of wisdom. What is the best way to live this life? What is the best course of action in this particular matter? We often really don’t know, yet barrel through life as if we do! It is easy to see that the choices we make today will build or diminish the life we live tomorrow.

Again, you need change one thing: seek to know the God who lives within you. Ask for His counsel and guidance (according to His promise in James 1:5-7) and follow it. Trust Him more than yourself. Listen in your heart for what the Spirit is saying to you. God in His graciousness will gently lead you through one change at a time, and help you build the life you were made to live.

Change your focus.

It is much more important to know the amazing, compassionate, powerful, helpful God-friend you live with than to focus on who you are. Looking at yourself and past failures only invites hopelessness. And the God who redeemed you will not entertain hopelessness in you, because He is present, powerful and available!

The key to real change is to stop dwelling on your ways and weaknesses, and get to know who God is, and how God is with you. If you do not know the Holy Spirit, ask Jesus to baptize you with Him (see Mark 1:8). Receive this incredible gift the Father freely gives to those who trust in Jesus.

When God makes a promise, He keeps it. But it’s a two-way relationship. You’re not a bystander memorizing promises and claiming them from God. Your job is to demonstrate your belief in God by responding accordingly. That’s what faith is for — to learn to relate to this invisible helper you live with.

This life with God is a partnership. He gives you free will. He won’t make your choices for you; he won’t make you be good, or do what is right. But He will help you every time you ask. Every time you reach for Him you will find Him. He will provide the power and the grace to carry out the best thing, when you choose it. Before you know it, every day will be bathed in the joy of hope and new beginnings.

How about you? What about you and your life has God changed through walking with His Spirit?