A full stop and a new beginning

In just a few days this calendar year is ending, and we enter something the world has never seen before. The year of 2014. The fact that we are coming to an end of something gives us all an excellent chance for some evaluation. It would be good for all of us to sit down for a while, look back and think about the year that has passed. 

What was good about 2013? Did I accomplish the goals I had set up? It’s always good to think in categories, so you might want to ask yourself for example how you’re relationships are doing. Have you spent enough time with your family? Yet, as a disciple of Christ, the most important thing for you to evaluate is your relationship with God. Where were you with God in January, and where are you now? The grace of God is there for us to keep growing in our faith, to keep maturing, developing and learning more about Him in us and us in Him. What about your prayer life? How much did you speak to God in 2013? What about fasting, what about tithing? 

    If we never sit down to evaluate ourselves and our lives, we may never realize the things that have gone wrong, and then were going to be stuck with the same problems year after year. That is why the end of this year provides a great chance to look at what has been, and see if something should be done in order to experience God in a bigger way in 2014.

  Your 2013 may have been tough. Then take some time to pray for 2014, prophesy over the new year, and trust that God is going to bring about a great change in your life in the year to come! Never cease to praise God, no matter the circumstances - Hab 3:17-18. Or maybe 2013 was the most fabulous, mind-blowing, extravagantly blessed year ever! Then you should rejoice over it, be thankful and trust that God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore (Heb 13:8). Next year is going to be at least as good!

  Maybe 2013 was like a ride in a roller coaster. Maybe it went up and down, and maybe you kept falling into sin, falling short of God’s plans? Then it’s good for you to know that God’s grace is sufficient. Let the new year bring a closure to what has been. Put a full stop, refuse to let the enemy ruin another day in your life. Repent, ask God to forgive you, and then trust that what God doesn’t remember you don’t need to remember. Yes, you should carry with you the lessons you have learned, but leave behind the shame and the guilt. Christ carried that for you. 

  The year of 2013 was by far the best year in my whole life. It was tough – I left my friends and family in Finland in February. On the other hand God blessed me with new friends and family members. It was supernatural – from February to the end of October I didn’t have any earthly assurance for my income, but God provided for all my needs. Furthermore, this has been my first medicine-free year. No pills at all. That required God in a big way, people. I used to be a person who would eat pills like others eat bread: for migraine, problems with my heart, problems with my back, you name it… Until I decided to put an end to that and believe God for my healing. Big faith honors God, and God honors big faith. I’m healed, completely healed!! 

  During this year God has imparted something beautiful in my life. I’ve realized my calling. I’ve been to Bible College, and I’ve been dedicated to be a pastor. I am ready to enter into ministry, and eager to start the work in Finland. My nine months in Kenya changed my life, it was amazing to see God use a sinner like me. That’s grace, people. All grace.

  As I enter 2014 I am dreaming bigger than ever. I’m fed up with small dreams that don’t give God any glory. I am dreaming so big, that I could NEVER EVER accomplish these dreams in my own strength. I let God speak to me, and He supersized my dreams. I believe He turned good dreams into God-dreams. And this time I’m not only dreaming big, I’m also going to achieve those things. I’m going to dream big, pray hard and think long! Next year I’m not going to let things happen, I’m going to make them happen. The visionary becomes a missionary. To do that I am setting up goals. A goal is a dream with a deadline. If dreams are the destination, goals are the GPS that gets you there. Some people think big goals are a sign of pride, but I don’t think so. Your dreams show how much you believe God can do. How big is your God? God Himself has set the standard when He gave the Great Commission – go out into the whole world and make disciples of all nations. Quite a big goal, don’t you think?

 The Bible tells us that without a vision the people perish, and obviously even the opposite is true: with a vision, the people prosper. That’s why every once in a while I like to just soak in the presence of God, and let him show me what is on His heart. He gives me His visions. Once He does that, it’s my responsibility to work like it depends on me and pray like it depends on God. I’ve stopped praying FOR and started praying THROUGH. I’ve decided to pray through until God comes through!

  The coming year will be the first of my best years. It will be a year full of God’s blessings, but also challenges will come, and they are there to make me mature and maintain a raw dependence on God. The year of 2014 is not going to be a year of addition and subtraction; it’s going to be a year of multiplication. That is a promise God has given me. I know I’m going to see more of His goodness, more of His righteousness and more of His divine power. I’m going to see more people giving their lives to Jesus. I’m going to see signs and miracles follow me – because that is His promise. I am stepping into my promised land, and I’m taking it by surprise. I’m happy with what the Lord has done so far, and I am celebrating every victory, but contentment is not confinement. I am pressing on until I see EVERY promise of the Lord being fulfilled in my life! I am not going to be happy with average – in fact I hate average! No, I’m aiming for excellence. I know that my calling is not one of perfection but one of excellence. That’s why I know that 2014 is going to be an excellent year!

  As this year is coming to an end, I urge you to sit down. Look back for a while. What do you want to carry with you from the year that has passed? What do you absolutely want to leave behind? Celebrate the good things and throw the latter ones into the sea of grace. Then start praying for the new year. Speak over it! Prophesy! Dream big! You need to know where you want to go, and then set up goals so that you can get there. Even if you’re not a list-person, write down your goals. Why? Because the shortest pen is longer than the longest memory… 

 I want to thank Abba Father for blessing me exceedingly, abundantly more than I could ever have asked or imagined this year. God, I give you all the glory. You alone deserve the praise and the honor. I also want to thank all my brothers and sisters who have been praying for me and with me. Please keep praying. Let’s believe together that the coming year will change the course of history. Let’s believe that 2014 will be remembered both in heaven and on earth as a year when a mighty revival broke out, when a new army of the Lord was mobilized. A year that changed the nations. And as we all know, if we want to change the nations we have got to let God change our hearts first.

Something ends and something new begins. God is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and  Omega. Let Him be the Omega of 2013 and the Alpha of 2014. Wishing all of you a prosperous New Year 2014!

Showers of blessings,

Patrick