Come 12am tonight, 1st of January, many Senior pastors and churches will roll out the much awaited ‘Word for the year 2014’. The word, often written as “2014, My Year of…..”, usually signify the direction God will have each church go, or perhaps, a prophetic declaration into God’s desire and will for the year. Examples of such words are: ‘my year of Breakthrough, Abundance, Overflowing, Flourishing, Enlargement, More than Enough, Good and better things, Overcoming, Victory, Jubilee, and so on’.
But recently, I’ve began to wonder at the direction of these declarations . I notice just one particular trend.
Since, it is believed to be God’s desire for the church; I wonder if God’s desire is not more than these. I ask myself, aren’t there other things in the Word that God will rather have us desire?
I ask: is Breakthrough and victory not supposed to be normal for us that we have to dedicate special times to experience them? I do not have a problem with God deciding to work in a particular dimension in a particular year, but I do have a problem when people are made to build their faith on the ‘word of the year’ rather than on the finished work of Christ.
Sincerely, I look forward to a time our ‘word for the year’ will read something like this: My Year of Sacrifice, Love, Giving, Patience, Endurance, Kindness, Longsuffering, Knowledge, Soul-Winning, Character, Integrity, Humility, Dignity, Modesty, Purity, Virtue, Service to Humanity, and so on.
Of course, such words may sound not too appealing or very powerful for the average Nigerian Christian, or perhaps, could be a direct reflection of our value system.
Whatever the ‘word for the year’ will be in our various churches, come 12am tonight, two verses of the scriptures come to my mind:
“What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” – Matthew 6:31-34, MSG.
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” – Philippians 4:8, KJV.
For those who attend my church, it is obvious we ‘flourished’ this year(2013);but let us also know, that we will flourish again in 2014 and every other year, not because the ‘word’ for those years will be ‘Flourish’ but because everyday in Christ is ‘Flourishing’. Whatever the ‘word’ will be tonight, let it be known that God as being doing it for us, did it also in 2013 and will do it every other year, as long as we allow him.
The centre of everything is Christ. Whatever we want and desire is done already in christ-our breakthrough, riches, victory, miracles, etc. We don’t need to seek them like they aren’t ours. The more we are enlightened, the more we see them work out in our life. They are not the end, nor the indicators of our Christianity. They are merely who we are.
We expect miracles, blessings, healings, etc., this coming year, but not because it will be the ‘word for the year’, but because it is our inheritance in Christ. We’ll be blessed in 2014, but only as a continuation of God’s Love since before the foundation of the heavens.
But much more than that, we’ll be better Christians; we’ll grow in grace and knowledge of Christ; and we’ll Love more.
I thank God for His Loving you and I.
2014; Our Year of…?
Happy New Year
With contributions from:Owonikoko Olusola
Photo Credits:www.vichy-universite.com