For the last couple of years, I have chosen a word of the
year. I pray over it and ask God to reveal a word to me. Then, he does. He’s
just cool like that. I search scriptures relating to the word, I meditate on it,
cling to it in times of trouble and discern how God is using it in my life
through my experiences.
In 2020 my word was “abide”. Oh boy, did that come in handy.
Did you know there was a global pandemic that year?? Lots of uncertainties
loomed in the world and in my own neck of the woods. I abided in him – well most
of the time – sometimes I was in full on panic mode – but that’s a different
blog for a different day! Let me reword that – I tried to abide in 2020
the best I could. In all the things that 2020 threw at me – I stayed closely
connected to the vine of Jesus. We walked in tandem on those days that he wasn’t
carrying my weary body around. He’s just strong like that.
In 2021 my word was “surrender.” I made a surrender jar and when I was
experiencing something that bogged me down and took my focus off God and His
superior provision in my life, I wrote it on a slip of paper, surrendered it to
the Lord in prayer and put it in that jar. One might argue that I didn’t really
surrender them if I held onto them in a jar. Well, you just go ahead and argue
that all you want to. I gotta tell you,
there was great peace in looking back at those slips of paper at year’s end and
remembering the release of those strongholds. Some things I surrendered were
difficult and I grieved their loss. Some things I surrendered over and over
because I kept reclaiming them. It was interesting to see my weaknesses throughout
the year. Those reoccurring slips of paper that required multiple moments of release.
Each time I surrendered something; I remembered that Jesus said, “Victory is
mine”. He’s just victorious like that.
So, this year I came up with lots of words. Trust – because
on a bad day I lack it (Okay, and on good days as well - just being real). On a
really bad day I thought of the word “lo-carb” but I grabbed a handful of
pretzels and got over that real quick. I also thought of faithful, contentment
and peace but all the while God kept saying Fight! Fight? That’s not a very
positive or encouraging word. Why fight?
You see in one of my desperate searches of God’s word this
past year I came across a verse that impacted me greatly. It was one of those days
when I felt I was, in the midst of a great battle. Spiritual warfare at its
finest or maybe at its worse – not sure if warfare, of any kind, can be fine. I
was desperately seeking God that day – help me – help me!
Here’s what I found:
2 Corinthians 10:4
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have the divine power to demolish strongholds.” Later down in verse 5 we are instructed to
take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
I digress, it turns out warfare can be “fine,” after all!
This, ladies and gents, is how I want to fight my battles – with the divine
power of Jesus Christ who demolishes strongholds.
I like Eugene Peterson’s version of this in The Message:
“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The
world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way –
never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or
manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt
culture”.
So, FIGHT it is. Fight is my word for 2022. I want to be
strong in the Lord and in His mighty power (Eph. 6:10).
In 2020, I abided, I was just still and laid on my bed of
sorrows and confusion and let the Lord tend to me in his perfect ways. In 2021,
I got rid of some ugly stuff that was keeping me in my bed of sorrow and
confusion. And now in 2022 comes the hard part. The fight! Fully trusting Jesus
to fight my battles. To claim the victories that he already won for me that
horrible, albeit beautiful day at the cross.
I want to be a prayer warrior in 2022 – praying in the name of Jesus, through whom all things are possible. I want to put on the armor of God everyday and be prepared to face any battle or schemes of the
devil.
- · The belt of truth
- · The breastplate of righteousness
- · The shoes of the gospel
- · The shield of faith
- · The helmet of salvation
- · The sword of the spirit
I want to seek his courage to fight against every bit of
bitterness and ugliness (Col 3:8) that the enemy keeps planting in my mind by
taking those thoughts captive and making them obedient to the God who loves me
more than I can even imagine!
I want to make sincere love (Romans 12) my weapon of choice
with the knowledge that God is in control. All I need to do is fire my pistol
of love upon his command.
His ways are perfect. In 2022 I will fight with His divine
power. I will fight the good fight, in His name. He is all I need – period! The
battles are HIS! Because, well, he’s just good like that!
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