What is stirring in your heart for the new year?
It’s hard to believe that 2021 is gone. But here we are at the beginning of 2022. Our minds have naturally drifted to resolutions for the new year. Almost as though a little change of a number will make a difference in how we feel or think or act. But the intent behind a resolution is important. It’s a determination to do something different than we have done in years past. I did a quick search to find the most common New Year’s resolutions and you won’t be surprised at what I found: “The most popular resolutions for 2021 are exercising more and improving fitness (50% of participants), losing weight (48%), saving money (44%), and improving diet (39%). (from “Discover Healthy Habits) Those are not bad resolutions at all. But if we were successful, these wouldn’t be the most popular resolutions year after year. If we were successful, we would have succeeded and moved on to a new resolution the following year. The problem is in our execution of those resolutions. They are often things that we aren’t truly serious about changing or accomplishing. Our hearts are not in them, so, they fail. By the time you read this, some of our resolutions may have already fallen by the wayside. Or maybe we’ve set them on the shelf to dust off in 2023 for another try. ?C.S. Lewis said, “You are never too old to set a goal or to dream a new dream.” I would add, we are never too young. Setting goals and dreaming dreams are important things for human beings to do. They keep us from having no hope for the future or getting bored with the present. But the dreams and goals that truly matter are the ones that are birthed in the heart of God for us to fulfill. Luke quotes Joel in Acts 2:17 saying; “This is what I will do in the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on everybody and cause your sons and daughters to prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will experience dreams from God.” It is in the heart of God for us to have dreams, for us set goals to accomplish. These dreams and goals help build up the Kingdom of God here on earth. They also usher us into the presence of God where we can walk in a deeper relationship with Him, experiencing the supernatural in this lifetime as well as the next. Regardless of where you are with your New Year’s resolution (if you made one), I challenge you to lean in and listen intently for what God is birthing in your heart. What are the dreams and goals He is placing there? Can you see or feel God stirring something new in your heart? Are you hearing a new call to change the world where you live? To make a difference in someone or a group’s life? Are you being empowered to have a louder voice to proclaim the good new of Jesus Christ, to your family or friends or neighbors? Is your heart growing with the love for and of Jesus that is going to make a difference in 2022? This year, make a resolution or set a goal or dare to dream a dream that will stir and excite your heart. Open your arms wide and embrace the call of God on your life in 2022.