So it has been a while before I have shared what I believe to be the theme for the year for this year but I trust nevertheless that in spite of this, the word will be fulfilled in all our lives as we see more and more of God’s goodness and trust even more in Him. The past 2 years, I had the experience where the Lord woke me up with a verse or passage to read as the theme for the year and when the same thing did not happen, I was a bit surprised and was wondering really “If I still had it, and the like.” But after a few moments of shakiness, I realised a few things that along with the message, I believe will continue to help me a lot.
First what I have learnt is that I cannot box God, even to the way He speaks and shows me the way to the one way which I have been used to because He is a lot bigger than I am. And the second is that my desires and wishes are relevant to God and He works with them, by birthing them in me to speak to me as well. The Bible says “It is God, who works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure” in Philippians 2:13; if we are born again that is and I now know we should as believers not be afraid of new desires that are born in our hearts as we continue in our walk with the Lord. A lot of them are God-given based on what He desires to do in our lives and shutting down as selfishness or thinking ourselves does nothing to glorify God. He is the painter, we are the painting and as such when the painting is one beautiful thing, then the painter is truly glorified.
Having said that, I want to move on to the scripture that has been on my heart for a while now, in longing and earnest desire to see it manifest and fulfilled in my life and what I believe/desire to be the theme for the year. If you are not familiar with churchy jargon, then what normally we describe as a theme for the year is a phrase we use to describe a particular focus that we believe the Lord wants to emphasize during the particular season, be it a literal year or any other defined period of time and in this case it for the year. This does not mean He will not do any other thing in our lives, or that other scripture are less significant or irrelevant, but I believe this He does for the sake of relationship, in a similar way to wedding anniversary gifts which year by year continue to remind the couple of the commitment to one another in their own special way but do not preclude the giving of gifts at any other time in the year.
That said, let me now share what the theme of the year I believe will be and it comes from the Book of Proverbs in Chapter 13:12 as follows in the NLT:
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.”
Having shared this, I know to expound on that, I will probably need a new and separate post as this one would probably be too long so I will end this post with a simple statement, a promise if you so desire to see it that way, 2016 will be a Year of Fulfilled Dreams.
May the good Lord continue to bless you and guide you in all your ways and may 2016 be the best year of your life yet.
Selah