Happy New Year!

Dear Reader,

As the year begins, vision boards are up and there is a strong desire to start with God. Yet, there may be realities that oppose this desire, realities that make it difficult to receive the word of God for your life, either directly from God Himself or through His servants. This is just one of the many benefits of being planted in a church by God; there are certain things we don’t have to labour for. They hear from God even on our behalf:)

The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy, John 10:10. One of the primary things he attacks is our faith because faith is the God-given means by which we trust God, walk in obedience, and receive what He promises by grace.

“It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.”

Hebrews 11:8 (NLT)

And,

“It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep His promise.”

Hebrews 11:11 (NLT) 

The experiences that discourage our faith are real. Loss. Disappointment. Heartbreak. "Year-start fatigue". Failed business plans and endeavors, failed relationships, and prayers that are still unanswered. The resolutions we had for the year before that did not come to pass. However, I do believe that when we are awakened to certain realities in the spiritual realm, it helps how we respond and how long we sit in the misery. It is then that we are able to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). 

Now the Bible says,

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

Your heart is the ground where word-seeds are planted, they are not sown in your mind. Scripture tells us, “Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” The state of your heart in this season matters in your ability to receive from God.

Our hearts influence our spiritual well-being in a way that has nothing to do with sin. Your emotional well-being won’t affect how God shows up for you, but it might affect how you show up for God. According to Anita Phillips, your spiritual life cannot be isolated from your emotional reality.

“A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.”
Proverbs 15:13 (NLT)

Disconnecting from your feelings is not an act of faith; it is an act of avoidance. Not expecting anything from God this year is not surrender or “going with the flow”, it is unbelief rooted in hurt and disappointment. You have not outgrown creating vision boards; you may have lost the heart for it, and the excitement to dream. This is part of why the Bible urges us to “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)

We have to allow ourselves to intentionally grieve and let go, to ask questions, to be encouraged again, so that we may believe in what God is intending to do now. For He says,

“Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:19 (NKJV)

It is a new season.

Allow it.



Love 
B

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