Thy will be done...

"Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground." Psalm 143:10

I learned a long time ago not to make new year resolutions (promises). It didn't take long to realize that I wasn't any good at keeping my word. And when I broke it, I felt regret and felt the pain of letting myself down as well as others.

Jesus taught us to pray; "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"...not mine. Not ours. But God's will. We can try to will ourselves to do anything, but most of the time when we try to will it on our own, we will fail. Things happen that we don't foresee and before you know it, we have slipped right out of our "resolution or promise". The apostle Paul cried out in Romans 7:

"So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner-being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

We need to set goals and continue to try to do the right things for ourselves and others. That's not a bad thing to do! But be wise in what you "promise" to do.