How to Approach 2022
First of all, Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your year has been great so far. I wanted to publish my first article a few weeks ago, but I just couldn't bring myself to write anything. I started this year really joyful and excited, but soon after, I was in a funk. But I'm much better now, thank God.
Now, onto the elephant in the room; 2021. 2021, for me, was a perfect mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly. I experienced surreal moments of joy, warmth, and healing. And I also experienced pain, disappointment, tiredness, and fear. Nonetheless, every feeling I felt in 2021 taught me something. About myself, others, and most importantly, God. In this article, I won't be sharing with you guys lessons I learnt in 2021, although that was my original plan. Instead, I feel strongly led by God to talk about something else, which is the most important approach we must all have towards 2022. I'd call it the 'Lordship Awareness' Approach.
The 'Lordship Awareness' Approach
I believe that the best way to approach 2022 is being aware of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, what does this mean, especially for Christians, who already believe and confess that Jesus is Lord and He died for their sins and resurrected? Well, I would say that it is very possible for us, as believers, to believe and proclaim that Jesus is Lord and not consciously and actively walk in that reality. For Jesus to be Lord over our lives is for Him to have full control over and influence on how we live our lives.
I was going to study one portion of scripture last week, but the Holy Spirit directed me to Luke 6:46, which says, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” This verse reminded me of God's admonition to me in October 2021.
One night in October 2021 when I was about to sleep, God started speaking to me, and this is what He said:
"How can you be making plans for a life that is not your own? If your life was truly Mine, when you wake up, you’ll say, 'Lord, what do You want to do today? Where should I go today? Who should I call today?' That is what it truly means to live a life that is not your own. You will not make the decisions or call the shots, the actual Owner of the life will. Surrender your life to Me completely. What are you scared of? Who are you scared of? You cannot proclaim, 'Jesus is Lord' and not let Me be Lord over your whole life."
Man.
Being used to my freewill and my ability to make my own decisions, I have often found myself making plans without listening or asking for a go-ahead from God, who gave me the freewill and brain in the first place. And that is not His will for any of us. While this obviously does not mean that we should ask God if we should pee or not, which is an extreme, it also does not mean that we should only seek the counsel of God when it comes to lifelong decisions like marriage.
So, how do we become fully submitted to the Lordship of Jesus?
The first step would be ensuring that our hearts are in the right place when it comes to God and His will. This is very vital because, at the end of the day, it is what we believe about God and what He tells (or has told) us that determines our obedience to Him.
Overtime, I have learnt that at the root of disobedience and the desire to have your own way is a heart that does not fully believe in or grasp the authority and goodness of God and His statutes. For us to be fully submitted to the Lordship of Christ, we have to begin to see His commands as all the things David described them as in Psalm 19:7-10 - perfect, restoring, sure, right, enlightening, joyful, true, righteous, more desirable than gold, and sweeter than honey. We also have to see Him as these wonderful things.
The second step is ensuring that we love Him and delight in Him above everything else. Jesus Himself said to His disciples, in John 14:21, that if they love Him, they would keep His commands. Which means that a good measure of our love for God is if we keep His commands. When we love someone, our desire becomes to do what pleases them or puts a smile on their face. This should apply even much more to God.
Doing this does not mean we are trying to earn His love or approval. We are already fully loved by Him and He already approves of His children, through His Son that died for us to be His righteousness. What it means is that we are so in love with Him that all we care about is making His heart glad by doing His will. Steffany Gretzinger said this: "There is a place of love that is more wonderful than having a choice; it's yielding to Jesus." So profound.
Thirdly, always remembering that while it is completely true that God is our Father and Friend, He is also the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and therefore, worthy of our total submission to His Lordship. The access we now have to God because the veil has been torn is not to make us so familiar with Him that we no longer revere Him as King. He is still the God who sets His children apart for His good pleasure, and we are still His workmanship created for good works.
In summary, our awareness of and submission to the Lordship of Jesus is motivated by His love for us, our love for Him, our trust in the goodness of Him and His will, and our reverence for Him.
So, what now? How do we seek God's will for our lives so we can surrender to it?
Two ways: Studying the Bible and speaking with Him in the place of prayer.
Studying the Bible
The Bible is the perfect place to seek the will of God because it was inspired by Him and very useful for us to be equipped to do His will (2 Timothy 3:16).
There is a way we should approach the Bible, and James tells it to us in James 1:25:
Look intently or carefully into it
Persevere or continue in it (faithfully abide in it)
Don’t be a forgetful or careless hearer (or reader)
Prayer
In terms of speaking with Him in the place of prayer, we have to be willing and ready to wait with Him. An essential aspect of prayer is focus. When we focus, we are fully attentive to what God is saying. Our love for God should translate into us giving Him our full attention and devotion in prayer. Our friends and family don't like when our attention is divided while speaking with them, so why would God like it? Prayer is literally conversing with God, and He has things He wants to tell us, so we have to wait attentively in prayer.
David Guzik said this about waiting on God in prayer:
"Waiting on the Lord is not passive inactivity. It means to wait on the Lord as a waiter would wait on a table. It means to be totally attentive to the Lord, focused on His every move, and responsive to His every desire. At times it means inactivity, but even that is an 'active inactivity,' where we stand before the LORD, totally focused on Him, waiting for what He wants next."
A lifestyle of prayer heightens our sensitivity to the things of the Spirit and helps us become aware of what God wants us to do and when He wants us to do it. So we should, like Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, be unceasing and persistent in prayer.
These two ways of seeking God's will require a great amount of discipline, patience and persistence, and we can continually build these traits by the help of the Holy Spirit.
Some very important things to always keep in mind throughout this year as a child of God:
You belong to Jesus: 'Therefore, my fellow believers, you too died to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.' (Romans 7:4)
Your body is God’s very temple (dwelling place): 'Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?' (I Corinthians 6:19)
You were bought at a very expensive price, the blood of Jesus Christ: 'You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honour and glorify God with your body.' (1 Corinthians 6:20)
You are compelled by the love of Jesus to live for Him: 'For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.' (II Corinthians 5:14-15)
God is the God of your life: 'The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me— A prayer to the God of my life.' (Psalms 42:8)
You have been given everything that you need for life and godliness: 'as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,' (II Peter 1:3)
You have the best Helper you could ever have to live consistently for Jesus: 'But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.' (John 14:26)
You have a community of believers (especially in your local church) that are rooting for you and are ready to support you: 'And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,' (Ephesians 4:11-13)
And if you are not yet a child of God because you are not yet saved, this is the gospel: We were all dead in sin and slaves to sin, but God decided, out of His great love, kindness, and mercy, to send His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came on earth as a Man to die for our sins and on the third day, He rose from the grave, destroying power of sin and death. And anyone who believes in His death and resurrection and confesses that He is Lord is saved and has eternal life, a free gift that cannot be earned. As a result of this belief and confession, you immediately become a new man in Christ and you have the Holy Spirit living in your heart. Trust me, receiving Jesus' gift of salvation is the best decision you could ever make. It would be God's delight, the whole of Heaven's delight, and my delight.
I know, this was quite long. However, it had to be said because, in this year and beyond, it is God's desire that we always seek and do what is on His heart for us and others pertaining to the gospel.
I pray that, at the end of this year, we will say that we chose and prioritized Jesus above everything else. That He was our most treasured Friend. That we walked in step with the Holy Spirit and were aligned to His will for our lives. That our food was to do His will. Lastly, I pray that we will be able to say, "Jesus is Lord over my life" and it be true.
I wish you an amazing year ahead!
P.S. - If you haven't already, please check out the "Declarations of the Week" section of the blog and declare those words over yourself :)
