This time of the year is particularly known for its religious ‘'new years resolutions” - we grab hold of our pens and notebooks and jot down numbers one to ten, compiling a list of all the things we want to better in the new year.
Most of our lists look a lot like this:
1.) Lose Christmas weight,
2.) Eat healthy
3.) Less TV more reading
4.) Exercise more
5.) Work harder to earn more money
While these goals are good, I ask myself these questions:
Have I set goals for my life that are life God-honouring?
Are these goals biblical?
Would the ambitions that I have set out for myself please the Lord?
Do these goals help me walk closer to the call that God has on my life?
There’s no knocking healthy eating - this is a good goal! But maybe, as God fearing people - we could go a little deeper and look at things which not only fuel our body, but fuel our hearts too.
Could 2021 be the year that we work on our character and not just our keto diet plan, our spiritual strength and not just our core strength, our heart muscles and not just our biceps.
A friend asked me this question a few weeks ago, and it’s been haunting me ever since. He said to me, "Robynne, what is your ‘Why’?”
So, I’m extending the courtesy to you and asking you the same question - “What is your “Why?” I believe that when we figure out our ‘why’s’, we will figure out our goals.
What has God placed in your hands today, that you can use to glorify Him?
Too often, we work on goals and resolutions that only build up ourselves. I believe that God is preparing us for something far greater than just us. He wants us to start pioneering into the things that He has on His agenda. Not ours!
So, I urge you to ask yourself these questions when planning and jotting down your new years resolutions and “To Do’s” for 2021?
1.) What has God called me to do and am I fulfilling the calling on my life?
2.) What has God placed in my hands that I can use to glorify His name and His Kingdom?
3.) What spiritual gifts has the Holy Spirit given me?
4.) Am I operating within these gifts? If not, why not?
5.) What decision can I make today to start operating within my gifting in greater measure?
6.) Am I submitting myself in obedience to the teachings in Gods Word?
7.) Do I allow the Word of God to permeate every area of my life?
8.) Am I learning Gods Word, loving Gods Word and living it out?
9.) Am I encouraging others and leading others well?
10.) What decisions can I make today to start hearing God more for myself and others?
When we figure out these answers, we will most likely find our ‘why!’ Our ‘why’ is drenched in purpose, hope and future if we find it in Jesus.
Jeremiah encourages us with this:
Jeremiah 1: 5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Every year, at the beginning of the year - I ask the Lord to give me a letter (alphabetic) or word for the year. Based on that letter, I put together a few words that I feel God blowing into my spirit.
I believe that 2021 is a year of “plucking up and planting, preparation and pioneering, patience and perseverance, promotion and positioning. I believe we will see the power of Gods provision, the power of prayer and the power of the prophetic.”
Ecclesiastes 3: 1, 3
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
Are you in a plucking or planting season?
When God begins to pluck the old out of our lives, He starts planting the new. This season involves both patience and pioneering into the new.
Could 2021 be there year that God wants us to put down roots that will carry us into the new things that He wants to use us in this year?
Could 2021 be the year that we set aside the obvious resolutions and begin to pick up on what the Holy Spirit is saying to us?
Too often, we get so caught up in the natural that we begin to neglect the spiritual.
In Exodus 14 Moses held up his hands, and as long as he did the Israelites won the fight against the Amalekites. Moses teaches us that we need to walk in obedience in the natural and the Holy Spirit will turn our natural into the supernatural.God simply used what was in Moses' hands.
When we walk in obedience, it encourages the move of the Spirit. We simply need to obey. The Holy Spirit will take care of the supernatural.
I believe God is calling us to start walking with our spiritual eyes wide open and our spiritual ears fully tuned in to hear all that He is saying. The Holy Spirit is speaking to those who will listen. If we aren’t tuned into His voice, we will miss what He is saying.
What is He saying to you for 2021?
Let us numb the voices of the world that tell us how to navigate New Years resolutions and yearly goals. And instead, let us turn to the Word and let the Word tell us how to navigate this New Year.
Here are some scriptures worth studying:
Isaiah 30:23
Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture.
Ezekiel 17:5
He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters; he set it like a willow.
Zechariah 8:12
‘For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
Hosea 10:12
Sow with a view to righteousness,
Reap in accordance with kindness;
Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord
Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.
Luke 8:15
But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.
James 3:18
And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Here are some questions worth jotting down:
1. Spend time with the Lord and ask Him to give you a word for the year. 2. Look up scriptures about this word.
3. Write down these scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through them. 4. Ask the Lord what changes need to be made in your life so that you can start seeing His will being fulfilled in your everyday life.
Love
Robynne
Women Of Reverence welcomes Robynne De Wet as a guest blogger.
Hi! I’m Robynne. I am a Port Elizabeth born and raised small city girl. I moved to Cape Town with my husband nearly ten years ago. We have been blessed with three little girls, now aged 2,3 and 4. My husband and I serve on the eldership team at Red Harbour Church. I have known my King Jesus for 25 years and each year I grow to know and love Him more and more. I am passionate about Gods Word and I love writing about what God shows me through it. I write for my blog called Robynne Writes. Robynne Writes was birthed out of a place of longing to see women learn Gods Word, love Gods Word and live out Gods Word.