Many of us in 2020 experienced a year of complete chaos, total unpredictability, and difficult changes in our day-to-day life. However, the beauty of 2020 is in the middle of all the chaotic change; God Himself never changed. His agenda and purpose never stopped even when our world did. He still had a plan for us in the midst of it all. He still worked during the darkest days and through what was a very gloomy year. He wants things for your life no matter the year, and His purpose doesn’t change with the year’s events. For He is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
We don’t know what’s ahead for us in 2021, but no matter the circumstance, let’s remember God doesn’t stop working, nor does He stop wanting to use you for His purpose. Let’s not trust in whether or not this year will be better than the last, but rather let’s look at want God wants to do in the midst of it all.
Here are 10 things God wants for your life in the New Year, no matter what kind of year it becomes.
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1. He wants us to ask things of Him.
Have you ever hesitated to ask things God because it sounds stupid, selfish, or too crazy of a request? Thankfully, we serve a God of the impossible. Jeremiah 32:27 says, “behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh, is anything too hard for me?” Nothing is impossible for God, and He wants us to ask things of Him, no matter the request. We are promised in Matthew 7:7 to “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” He wants us to simply ask. He wants us to open up our hearts in prayer to Him, as He wants to hear from us as His children. He may not always answer specific requests because they might not be from His perspective, but He hears our prayers, and He wants to give to us abundantly. Don’t stop asking this year, even if you don’t see the answered prayer, God hears them all (Philippians 1:6).
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2. He wants us to be content no matter what happens.
Philippians 4: 11 says “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” Paul modeled what it means to be content. He didn’t just become content one day—actually quite the opposite. He developed his faith as he walked through painful experiences. He walked with the Lord learning to be content in the Lord in any circumstance. God wants you to walk in the New Year being content in your current circumstances and those that are coming in 2021. We don’t need to be content with our circumstances, but let’s learn to be content in the middle of our circumstances this year.
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3. He wants us to be obedient to Him.
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me” (John 14:20). God wants us to walk into the New Year with obedience. He asks us to be obedient, not because He wants us to take from us. God doesn’t want to take away, rather He “wants to give us life and give it to us abundantly” (John 10:10). He sees what’s ahead and knows what’s best for us. Just as a parent knows what’s best for their children and wants them to walk the straight path, the Lord desires this for us because He loves us. And we can show Him love in return with our obedience. When you hear the Holy Spirit speak to you this year, “don’t harden you heart when you hear His voice,” (Hebrews 3:15) rather trust His guidance and trust His provision that He knows what’s best for you.
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4. He wants our active faith in Him.
“But without faith, it is impossible to please Him…” (Hebrews 11:6) The Lord wants us to have faith in Him, and not just a “knowing” faith. He wants us to have active faith for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). Faith is a verb, it is an action. God wants us to surrender all our worries, and all our circumstances over to Him each day. He wants us to trust him having faith that He is completely and totally in control this coming year. He wants us to actively stop trying to control other people or our situations, and actively release and surrender it to Him each day. Let’s have faith in God this year, and may it come forth in our actions as we become “doers of the word, and not just hearers” (James 1:22).
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5. He wants us to have a Kingdom perspective.
“For our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20), and our “bodies are merely tents here on earth…and temporary” (1 Corinthians 5:1). God wants us to live with a Kingdom perspective this year. It’s so easy to live in the perspective that others, including the news and media outlets, provide us. A Kingdom perspective is eternal, while the world’s perspective is temporal. Matthew 24:35 says “Heaven and earth will pass away, but the Word of the Lord remains forever.” The truth is: everything in this world can be shaken, and in fact will be shaken. If we are so tied to this temporary world, we too will fall. Let’s change our perspective this new year, thinking with a Kingdom perspective.
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6. He wants us to be less distracted.
We live in a time with easily accessible distractions at our fingertips. News, computers, apps on our phones, TV, alerts, notifications. Many of us spend our time involved in other people’s business, and God wants us to be about His business this year, and what He has for us, rather than being about the world’s business. Right before David victoriously killed Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, he was stopped by his older brother Eliab who tried to tell him He shouldn’t have come to fight, discouraging him from what God called him to do. David had a choice to listen to what others thought about him, but he chose to “turn away” (verse 30) from the distractions and continue on his mission. It’s easy to remain stuck in distractions. God wants us to turn away from all distractions this year and focus on the mission, calling, and purpose God has for us.
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7. He wants you to embrace the season you’re in.
“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.” Colossians 3:23 It’s easy to embrace a season when you are in a fruitful season. But what if you are in a season of waiting, of loneliness, or a season of what feels like trying to get from one day to the next. Perhaps your days are full of caring for kids, and you can’t seem to find time to do anything but sleep and start over the next day. Maybe you know God has called you to something, but things just are not lining up for you to pursue that thing He’s called you to.
Whatever season you are in, God wants you to embrace it this year. Jesus Himself didn’t perform miracles overnight. In fact, He didn’t even start His ministry until the last three years of His life. He spent the majority of His life in a season where God was preparing Him. The season you are in is pruning you for the next one. Let’s approach this next year with confidence knowing that whatever season we are in, God wants us embrace it fully.
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8. He wants you to fill up with His Word first, not the world.
It’s easy to start your day with what the world has to offer. But if you are walking into the world with your guard down, you are susceptible to being a target for the enemy. For we have a real enemy, as 1 Peter 5:8 says: the “enemy prowls around like a roaring lion just seeking someone to devour.” It’s important to arm ourselves with the full armor of God as we are taught in Ephesians 6, and then fill our mind on the Word, a vital piece of the armor. For the word of God, our Bible, is “living, it is active, and it is powerful” (Hebrews 4:12). It is the greatest offensive weapon we carry to combat the lies and darts the enemy throws at us, as the world attempts to damage us. God wants us to be armed and ready this year. Let’s fill ourselves up this year with the truth the Word offers, before we walk into the world full of lies.
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9. He wants us to live in peace.
God wants us to live in peace, and peace is possible no matter what the world looks like. Paul gives us instructions on how to obtain this peace in Philippians 4:6-7. He says to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” I want a peace that far surpasses my understanding of this world pandemic we have lived in this past year. I want peace that surpasses all the what ifs of this coming new year. With prayer, and with thanksgiving, we can give it all to God, thanking Him, and He will in turn give us His peace. What a beautiful exchange! God wants us to live at peace this year, not worry. Let’s turn that worry into worship and thanksgiving as we walk in His indescribable peace.
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10. He wants us to know the love He has for us.
God wants the love that He has for us to sink deep inside our hearts and souls this year so much that we exemplify it on the outside and live our lives loved. He wants us to make decisions out of a place of being fully loved. The God of this universe wants you to know that He completely and unconditionally loves you. He intentionally and purposefully set aside time to create you (Psalm 139:14). His love for you is so incredibly big for you, that it cannot be measured (Ephesians 3:18). He loves you so much that no matter what you’ve done in this life, He still and will always choose you (John 15:16). In Deuteronomy 4:29, God says, “seek me, and you will find Him if you seek Me with all your heart and with all your soul.” Let’s make this the year that we seek God more than ever before and wrap ourselves in His love like never before, and live a life fully loved.
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Originally published Wednesday, 06 January 2021.
