Another "New Beginnings" Tool

One of the new spirtiual disciplines I started practicing in 2008 was choosing a very specific (& Biblical) word/phrase for the year on which to focus. My baby daughter, Haley, is the one who got me started doing this, as she learned it from her former pastor. It has been a life-changing thing for me, not because I've suddenly become super-spiritual or even mastered a certain quality or skill in a year's time. Simply put, it has given me direction for a spiritually-proned easily distracted mind.

The longer I walk with Jesus the more I realize how many wavering opinions there are to what believers think we should be concentrating on. Because His Word has told me that I HAVE His Spirit living inside of me, I can also know that same Spirit is going to teach me the things I need to learn in order to become more faithful, more obedient, more God-glorifying and so forth.

I'm not saying that I have no need of any teaching. Nothing would be further from the truth! But, what I am saying is that far too often in years past, I've allowed others to unduly influence me regarding my spiritual walk. The operative word is , "MY"!

Same goes for YOU! You have your OWN spiritual walk with Jesus, and NO person can know for sure what He wants you to focus on except Him! The catch is figuring out what it is He wants ME or He wants YOU to focus on, right? So, I'll let you in on what I believe is a "secret" to one of God's Father-like ways He uses with us, just like I used with my children (and as always, He's going to center it around His Word because He is the Word and the Word explains Himself to us) :

Here it is: He REPEATS Himself. What do I mean? I mean that when you begin going to Him and asking Him, "Lord, what do You want me to work on this year?", He will start showing you by speaking to you the same thing or slight variations of the same thing over and over and over. You'll find yourself seeing a common thread in every scripture you read. He will bring people into your life, maybe even strangers, who just happen to "mention" a spiritual nugget that is the same thing you've been seeing in His Word. Your pastor will preach on it; or maybe your SS teacher or small group leader will talk about it.

Speaking of repeated things, ever notice how many times the gospel writers included Jesus' words, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Jesus IS speaking, but am I, are you listenin'? Go to Him, and tell Him you want to hear Him more, and hear Him more clearly, I believe His Word teaches us that's the prayer He is eagerly waiting to answer!

p.s. don't get side-tracked by the fact that it's June and NOT the start of a new calendar year...that's definitely a distracting strategy of the defeated one! instead, think outside that calendar box! Since July is the start of the 2nd half of the year, pray over the last few weeks of June, asking Him to show you what to focus on for the rest of 2009. I'd LOVE to hear feedback from those of you who begin practicing this new discipline & hear what God's teaching you!

p.s.s. to give you a personal example of what I'm talking about: my word for 2008 was "contentment"....and for those who know me well, I know you would heartily agree, this word was indeed a challenge for me with almost more changes than I can list occuring in that year... God knew what was coming and what was ahead, so He, by design, directed me to become firmly grounded in finding contentment, no matter how rocky my circumstances became...; my word, actually, words for 2009 are "submit with joy"...I'll wait for another blog to elaborate on this one...oh yea, it's been another challenging year!