One Word 2011

In an earlier post I mentioned my friend Alece who shared her concept of focusing on one word as the guiding post for the entire year, rather than coming up with a laundry list of New Year’s resolutions.  Last year her word was RISK, mine was RESURRECTION.  This year, she chose to LOOK more to find Christ in even the mundane things, I have had a personally rough year and have chosen to move forward, gaining MOMENTUM along the way.

As I was perusing my Facebook page just now, I realized that this concept has been extended to Facebook!  Alece has created a One Word 2011 page at  http://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Word-2011/182416081777208?v=wall.

This concept seems to be taking off! It seems so much easier to focus on one word rather than a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’.  I can attest to the fact that ‘resurrection‘ has yet to manifest itself in my life in a full way – but you can’t resurrect something until it is dead.  In fact, I would say that there’s been a lot of death in my life recently – emotionally, relationally, even spiritually – but I would also say that that is the reason I chose my word for this year as MOMENTUM.  In order to get the resurrection I seek, I have to find a way forward; I may start with baby steps, but intend to pick up the pace as I continue.

So here’s my plug for this concept – Even as Alece exclaims “Holy Crap!” at the explosion around this concept – I’m doing my part to spread the word!

So come along! Focus on One Word tis year… and be revolutionized by God!

My Last Post…..

This is going to be my last post.

Ever.

For 2010.

I’m sorry if I scared you…. I just wanted to take this time out to thank every single person who passes through these virtual doors, meanders through these cyber corridors and those who bunk here, soaking up the electric ambiance.  Thank you for making the decision to take up the blogging banner again (after my failed attempt for a couple months in 2007) one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Relationships were forged and nurtured here, and lives have been impacted here.  People have met God here and I have found lifelong friends.  And for all of that – I’m thankful.

I want to close the chapter on 2010 by challenging all of us to go after something in 2011.  For some, the pursuit of freedom from oppression is foremost on your minds.  For others, walking through emotional trauma in 2010 has left you cynical and jaded (I know that describes me pretty much!)  Others look forward to the new year with anticipation, as 2010 rocked and was the best year you ever had!

Whether you are anticipating or dreading the turn of the clock from ’10 to ’11 – I am gonna encourage you (and myself) to keep going forward.  Like I said in my last post, my one word focus for 2011 is ‘momentum’.  Specifically ‘forward momentum.’  (Yes, that’s cheating, that’s two words.)  But if I can’t cheat on my own blog, where can I cheat, huh?  Right.   Anyway, where was I?  Okay, so I am encouraging everyone reading to start moving and pick up your momentum next year.  I don’t know what that entails for any of us, but I know that on a personal level I am going to take what one of my friends said to heart: that it is insanity to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result.

So, here again – this is my last post for 2010.  But I’m looking forward to many more in 2o11!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

One Word – Momentum

(Author’s note: I will return to Bajan culture in my next post. This, however, is where I am right now…)

My friend Alece of  Grit and Glory has started a tradition at her blog called One Word … where you condense the tradional New Year’s Resolution into a single word and focus on that one word all year.  You can read about it in her latest post.

My word for last year was ‘Resurrection’.  In a lot of ways, there has been a lot of death in my life.  Death of relationships, of trust, of the passion that once drove me into the arms of the Saviour… a whole lot of death.

I have had some great friendships and people who have pulled me from the brink of the abyss, and some who have even walked through the valley of the shadow of death with me.  I have great respect for them, and, though the majority of them I have never met in person, I hope to rectify that pretty soon.

As I stated in an earlier post, “I guess I’m in the perfect place for God’s resurrection that he has been talking to me about since last December, because I have no fight left in me whatsoever.”  But that has changed somewhat.  I now am feeling the urge to MOVE – to move forward and not stay in my state of death.  Now I am convinced that the only one with the power to lay his life down of his own accord and pick it up again is Jesus himself, but I also acknowledge that resurrection is possible only through him.  I can’t do it.  I can’t make myself get up and be back to my old self – but I can move forward as much as I can and continue to press in whatever way I can.

Therefore, my One Word for 2011 is momentum.  This is defined by http://www.dictionary.com as:

force or speed of movement; impetus, as of a physical objector course of events:

The car gained momentum going downhill.

I have started to try to work on myself and will continue to come out of my cocoon of pain along with some wonderful friends, both here and online.  But as I have started, I will attempt to continue.  Here’s to FORWARD MOMENTUM!!!!

What areas in your life do you need to focus on for next year?  Go over to Grit And Glory and read the post – and come up with your own One Word focus for 2011!

Related Articles

• How to Harness the Power of Momentum (zenhabits.net)
• Death, Life and Glory (talesofasojourner.wordpress.com)
• not just another story (crcpastorchad.wordpress.com)
• Harnessing the Power of Momentum [CharlieTheCoach Robertson] (ecademy.com)

Personal Devotions: Warning – And Recommitment

I started out this morning by reading Psalm 51, which is David’s confession and repentance of sin after adultery and murder.  I wanted to comment about it, but really it speaks for itself….

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.

² Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.

⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

⁶ Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ^[a] ;
you teach ^[b] me wisdom in the inmost place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

⁹ Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.

¹⁴ Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are ^[c] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸ In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

After reading that, the Lord led me to this Scripture – Hebrews 10:26-31

²⁶If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”^[a] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”^[b]31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

So that warning hit me straight between the eyes.  How many times have I ‘trampled the Son of God under foot’?  How many times have I ‘treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant’ and ‘insulted the Spirit of grace’ by ‘deliberately continuing to sin’?  How many times have you?

On this, the last day of 2009, let me first encourage you all to reflect over your year and repent, as I have been doing, from the things that God has revealed to you.  Let us (taking a queue from the writer of the Hebrews, who uses ‘let us’ a lot)  focus on entering this new year recommitted to the Lord, free from the ties that bind ‘and the sin that so easily entangles’ (Hebrews 12:1)  If you are willing, you can place your recommitment prayers here and let us all join together in re-dedicating our lives to the Lord for a new start in the New Year.

Transition!

The Princeton web definition of transition is as follows:

• passage: the act of passing from one state or place to the next
• conversion: an event that results in a transformation
• a change from one place or state or subject or stage to another
• cause to convert or undergo a transition; “the company had to transition the old practices to modern technology”
• a musical passage moving from one key to another
• make or undergo a transition (from one state or system to another); “The airline transitioned to more fuel-efficient jets”; “The adagio transitioned into an allegro”
• a passage that connects a topic to one that follows 
  wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

For a while now, the word ‘transition’ has been sitting in my spirit, and I’ve been asking the Lord to elaborate.  A lot of noise has been made over 2008 being the year of new beginnings.  As I have let this word marinade in my heart, I have constantly been brought back to the Scripture verse 2 Corinthians 5:17, which says

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

 I declare that the New Year is a year of transition, from the old to the new!  Whatever new beginnings have been spoken over our lives, we will not walk into the fullness of it right away.  Thus, we are being called into transition.  The transition period is being spoken of by prophetic voices across the internet – I have deliberately not read them yet, preferring to listen to the Lord myself first. 

 I believe that the Lord had us in transition mode from the beginning of the year of 2008 – the change of government in Barbados early in 2008  might not rub some of the political pundits well, but it can be seen in the light of change.  In one sense, transition was prophesied by the entire country as they rallied behind the now ruling government’s constant call for change.  The ‘wind of change’ blew through several Caribbean countries, with several changing governments during the different election seasons within the region.

 Transition is the process of going from one place or state to another, as above. It is a process, not an event; it takes time and effort.  The New Year speaks to the process of walking out prophetic destiny on every level – individual and corporate.

 Be warned that this season is not going to be an easy one – almost all change is difficult.  For some the pressure started in 2008, for others it has delayed, but will come in 2009.  Take heart that God knows exactly where you are, and what you are going through. It is a time of pruning, of refocusing. As my wife said during our prayer time this morning, it is a time where old things have to be stripped away to make way for the new.

 In the Fellowship of the Rings (the first installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy), the wise wizard Gandalf had to face his fear of the “deep dark of Moria” and the evil that was there.  He was forced to confront the demon Balrog to protect the others, and seemed to fall to his death while protecting them.  It was painful for the others – especially the hobbits – to lose such a great friend.  The loss of Gandalf also forced the others to grow as well. They had to mature quickly when their leader fell.

However, it was revealed in the beginning of the second installment (The Two Towers) that, having faced and defeated his enemy, Gandalf went through a transformation and came back stronger, and with more power.

 The same transformation is available to all of us.  I implore us all to take what the Lord is saying to heart: allow this painful process to shape us and allow the transition to have its full work in us, so that, like Gandalf, we will come out with greater power and walking in the destiny that we have embedded within us.  We all have our particular ‘enemy’ to overcome, and ultimately have to defeat the Enemy himself – Satan – with God’s help.

 “This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”- Isaiah 43:16, 18-19