Like many of you I am reflecting on 2019 and making my 2020 “focus” list full of dreams, goals and aspirations for the coming year. I personally like the emphasis most cultures place on the transition of years. It’s like there is an embedded moment where you can define a date on a calendar where you decide to let the past go and focus on what’s ahead. That is not to suggest we forget the lessons or wisdom the past has taught us, nor be grateful for the blessings it provided, but rather an opportunity to shake the shadows of difficult and challenging circumstances which seek to define, hinder, or haunt us.
I am aware that the world treats this moment with the perspective of “turning over a new leaf” (which undoubtedly includes many leaves), but for those of us who claim relationship with the Lord, it has a much more profound and important context. We are practicing precepts that set us free from the problems and stains of the past and positions us for the blessings of the future. We are recalibrating with the help of the Holy Spirit to get us focused again on the Will of God for our lives. A new year isn’t simply a time to restart the diet, a new exercise regime, and a positive attitude for the future; but rather a moment to flex your faith and get focused again on the purposes of God for your life, your marriage, your family, and your service to the King. It may indeed include dieting, exercising, and positivity, but that is not the end-game. The end is defined by embracing and fulfilling in ever increasing steps the plan of God for your life.
This time of year I am always reminded of two of my favorite passages…
“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14
Both tell me to forget some things in the past and then exhort me to anticipate some new things (good things) for the future. This is how God wants us to handle these calendar transition.
Let’s make this practical…
What should we forget? (Allow me to help make this practical and be sure to read to the end.)
1. Forget the disappointments and injustices of people. Imagine what God could feel towards us if He recorded and replayed every disappointment He had about us. Christlikeness is to simply let it go and leave whatever the disappointment may be in the hands of a just God who will either discipline or judge those you feel mishandled you or fell short. Forgive them and cut them loose. Chances are, right or wrong, you probably disappointed a few people along the way yourself.
2. Forget the regrets of decisions and outcomes. There are hundreds of decisions I can analyze from an historical position and think if I could only have a “do-over” the outcome would be different. Perhaps, or perhaps not. Sure, we all make dumb choices that would be nice to have a second chance at. Some are simply poor decisions. Some may be sinful decisions. The point is that the decision was made and it’s done. Learn from it, but don’t be paralyzed by it. God has this amazing ability to take the worst of our ways and orchestrate something that will ultimately bless us and others (Romans 8:28).
3. Forget the dreams you self-generated without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The sad legacy of Charismatic Christianity is that it rightly taught us to dream and think big because we serve an awesome God (Ephesians 3:20), but it got twisted into this self-actualizing, self-help scheme which obligated God to bless OUR plans rather than yield to HIS purposes. There is a line which needs to be recognized and re-emphasized that God’s “exceedingly, abundant” plans are HIS plans that we have embraced because our life is now at His disposal.
I am sure there may be more to forget, but for me I have reconciled myself to much of the past by recognizing that if I serve a sovereign God then somehow, some way, He was leading and guiding my steps through all that I faced. Whatever hardship, injustice, or disappointment I endured, He was there guiding me through it all. Dare I say, He was leading me into it all. Just as the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, perhaps the Spirit leads us into desert locations and circumstances. It was designed to ultimately forge His purposes and character in my life.
Now the question arises, how do I position myself (in the Will of God) to apprehend this “high call” in the future? As you are praying, begin to do the following…
1. Write down the Will and purpose of God for your life on a piece of paper or better yet, the home screen of your phone. If you don’t know what that is, then it starts by asking. He would love to input you at that point.
2. Write down goals and steps you need to take to move closer to the fulfillment of that purpose. What things need to come to pass to see His Will come to fruition. Undoubtedly, the fulfillment will take more than 2020.
3. Write down a resource number (salary or compensation) for 2020 that you will stand in faith, believing that God will supply. Financial goals are not less spiritual to God. The reason I do this is because:
a. Vision and God’s Will needs money to accomplish it.
b. Charitable and benevolent people can be trusted to handle large sums of money integrally.
c. God has no problem resourcing tithers for His promises.
4. What books, podcasts and articles do you need to read in 2020 to self-educate yourself in the purposes of God for your life?
5. Develop new goals for generosity and service. Seek to eclipse last years giving record. Find a ministry to serve God through and work diligently in it.
6. What relationship goals do you need to set for your marriage, family, friends, and the lost?
7. What dysfunctional, negative and sinful tendencies or habits do you need to repent, resolve, and reform in your life? What steps do you need to accomplish that?
This is just a short template of things that I am considering as 2019 turns to 2020. I want this new year to be a year of miracles, effectiveness, and apprehension of more of the Will of God in my life. I am grateful for everything He has done, but I am anticipating the greater things He yet wants to accomplish in me and through me.
Before the clock strikes midnight tonight, take a few moments and get positioned for a new year. You may be amazed at what God can do when you are in a place anticipating His work and favor. May 2020 be the year you have waited for all your life!
No Comments