New Year's Recipe to SUCCESS!

New Year Resolutions
Aaah... it's a new year again. 2012 has gone by in a flash and we're now starting fresh with 2013. But then again, are we really?

Studies have found out that people set a LOT of goals around the New Year's celebration and many still stick to the practice of making a New Year's resolution. In fact, a study shows that 40 to 45 percent of American adults make one or more resolutions each year. 

Well, it's no wonder that notes to self for the fresh year will (again) be posted up on a wall or the fridge. We all get excited as we set out anew with our personal goals. The list can range from diet and exercise, to financial strategies, to keeping life simple and resolutions to a happier lifestyle.

Made to be broken
Whatever it is that we put in our list, New Year resolutions will always affect the way we live in the first couple of months of the year. Yep! You read that right. Just the first couple months. You see, studies also show that just like many promises, most of these resolutions are actually made to be broken. We all start strong but pretty much wane along the way. Research has it that people spend six to eight weeks on average before giving up on their resolutions!

I've come across an article that tried to explain why we fail greatly at keeping with our New Year's resolutions. Interestingly, the writer presents the evidence to be this:

This is the scientific explanation for why most people who make New Year's resolutions don't succeed, in a nutshell: the brain wasn't designed to do so. Apparently, we are hard-wired to resist change; it is built into our human nature. The harsh truth is that everything inside you will fight improvement; that is our physical, biological make-up.

So, with all that scientific reasoning of why we fail to keep our resolutions, what was the article author's final conclusion? He said, 

So why are we so bad at keeping New Year's resolutions? Part of it is human nature, but I'm convinced that the other part of it is that we experience resolutions as a kind of wishing. We have a daydream of what we desire to be in the future, and we hope, rather than will, that we get there. The difference is that the former requires a genie; the other requires that we stop looking for a magic carpet, find a map, and start walking to our destination.

Ingredients: A will and a roadmap!
I agree with the article's author. Most of us remain daydreamers of the good life and are merely wishful thinkers of the better life we all wanted to achieve. We simply lack the WILL to "get there."

Now, don't get me wrong. There are a LOT of people out there who are very good at keeping their goals and achieving what they want to have and be in life. A closer look in their lives, though, would reveal that they are successful because of the two ingredients mentioned--WILL and some sort of MAP!

Let's take a closer look into those main ingredients to success, shall we?

The BEST roadmap to life

If we really would sit and ponder about our resolutions we'd soon realize that each of them has something to do with improving the life we have HERE ON EARTH. We all want the better and happier life while on THIS SIDE of eternity. Yet, we all know that our pursuit of happiness and success here on earth is spiced up with all matters of troubles and tribulations. So, is there any hope for us at all to really attain that happiness we all constantly pursue? 

Well, let me share to you the BEST map for it all...

"1My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

2For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

3Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; 

write them upon the table of thine heart:

4So shalt thou find favour and good understanding 

in the sight of God and man.

5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; 

and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

7Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

8It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

9Honour the LORD with thy substance, 

and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

10So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

(Proverbs 3:1-10, KJV)

It doesn't take a scientist to figure that out. God's Words are simple and easy to understand. They are very easy to follow, too... BUT, (let's put the but here...) there's the second ingredient that is a requirement for success. The WILL to follow the roadmap laid out before us.

The WILL of the matter...

The question then boils down to this:

Are YOU willing to SUBMIT to God and do things HIS WAY 

when it comes to the pursuit of happiness and success?

The result will depend on your honest answer to that question. The roadmap is there, and all you need is your UTMOST WILLINGNESS to submit to His ways. Are YOU up for it? Remember, it ain't that easy because you aren't really WIRED for change and submission to authority.

Want some helpful hints for this new year's road to success? Here they are:

"The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7)

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. " (1 Corinthians 2:14)

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6)

"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)

And here are some helpful hints that will make the success go beyond this short-lived life on earth... here's to make it last for ALL ETERNITY...

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)

" If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." 

(Matthew 19:21)

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 

(Matthew 6:19-21)

Want to get to where you want to be this New Year 2013 and beyond? 
God's Word gives us the roadmap! Do you have the WILL to follow Him?