A new year is a time of renewed hope when fresh wind comes and fills our sails and we are inspired to step into our new season full of joy. But, what if it doesn’t feel like that for you? Are you looking at your year and all you want to accomplish and feeling like there is no way it can happen? Then I would like to suggest to you 2 things that might be holding you back: Fear & Disappointment.
First, what often happens is that we may have carried the disappointment of the previous year - what did or did not happen - along with us into the new year. The calendar flipped over, but we showed up holding a suitcase full of last year’s disappointment. We are looking at the dreams for 2018 through the filter of what wasn’t accomplished in 2017.
Second, you may be operating in fear - believing you have run out of faith - for all that lies ahead. I’d like to expose the belief system that is happening here. When we are looking at our “lack of faith” what is often operating is the fear that it will just all fall apart before we see its fulfillment; that it is our responsibility to have perfect faith so it will happen. We put all the pressure on ourselves, and we call it faith in God. It’s the root lie that we are not enough, or that we don’t measure up, and ultimately that we are not worthy of God’s love. When we do not see ourselves as worthy of good things happening to us it is hard to believe that God will do the good things He has promised for us.
If you find yourself stuck in the disappointment of last year or clouded by fear, then you are likely trying to muster up the faith to see all your dreams fulfilled this year. That’s a lot of pressure on you.
I believe God wants to set you free from fear and disappointment to help you step into your new year and relieve you of the duty of having perfect faith. I would like to suggest that God has a new assignment for you: an assignment of letting yourself be loved.
You see, fear and disappointment are not faith issues. Fear and disappointment are love issues because they are rooted in how you believe God feels about you. The good news today is that His perfect love, not our perfect faith, casts out fear. And God’s love is what will change our perspective and our minds about our circumstances.
I want to invite you to let the Spirit of God turn the page onto the new year and all He has for you. I invite you to leave last year’s disappointment behind and turn away from fear.
Here is what I suggest: give God what was never yours to carry and open yourself up to His love. Create space and make time to pour your heart out to God. Let your disappointment of what did or did not take place in 2017 reach its expiration point. It needs to be poured out so that you can ask for fresh hope in its place. I know this can feel scary, but God can handle all of your emotions. When we get to the end of our disappointment, then we’ve emptied ourselves and the fun part can begin. We get to be filled with love. You can trust him to pour out love in excessive manner to your need.
He doesn’t just love. He is love.
This is when transformation takes place. When you experience His love you will begin to believe the truth because of who He is to you. His love does the work, and our job is to open up and receive. His love will come in and push out all your fear. Let Him in to love all the places you have felt you weren’t enough and let him tell you who you are.
That is when you will see that love produces faith. We first receive his love, and in knowing and being in relationship with Him we begin trusting Him. His love transforms our minds so we can say, ‘Because you love me, I’ll believe you’ and when we believe Him, we are full of faith.
So this year, whatever is ahead of you, the biggest goals or mountains, I invite you to be so overwhelmed with His love that it produces faith in your life.
I am praying for you this New Year - that it would be a year marked by you being radically loved. I pray that it would be a year of heaven breaking through into your circumstances and relationships.
Just remember, your assignment is to be loved.