DESIRE

I know I’m not the only one who gets super reflective and incredibly excited this time of year. Happy New Year! Can you believe we are sitting in the beginning of a fresh year? 2023 is here!

I often take portions of the month of December to recall all God did and how He provided that previous year. This year a good friend asked if I wanted to join her for a time of prayer on December 31st. It seemed fitting, and I was anxious to get together and compare notes so to speak… to pray in the new year together. She had a group of us sit and give thanks to God for all he did in 2022. It’s biblical to take time and remember, to look back, to give thanks. Doing this keeps us in a place of humility, realizing every good thing comes from Him. We have nothing to boast in other than Christ in us. We then took turns sharing a word or scripture or idea of what God had been preparing in each of our hearts for this upcoming year. It was a really neat way to end 2022, and I am grateful I took the time to do it.

Flip the page one day and I find myself at Access. It was a morning set aside to testify! We took time to praise and worship and then allow people to share testimonies of the goodness of God and all He did in 2022. What an amazing time! I was so blessed to hear how God is still a WONDER-working God! Our verse we stood on all last year as a body of believers was Habakkuk 1:5 “Look among the nations! See! Be astonished! Wonder! For I am doing something in your days—You would not believe it if you were told.”

Do you select a word or verse or phrase to pray into and stand on all year long? I am in the camp that believes that doing this helps bring vision and focus. What we keep in front of us changes how we think, what we desire and how we act. [a little foreshadowing here]

Back to the story about our NYE day prayer time. When it came time for me to share about my thoughts on 2023, I could only say that the Lord is continuing to show me. I am all ears right now as I press in to what He wants to say for the church, my family and me personally. I want to encourage you. If you have never asked God for clarity going into a new year, take a minute to do so. The Word tells us to ask and we will receive. If you usually take time to get some direction but have yet to do it, it’s not too late! This whole month is a great time to sit with the Lord and listen, linger, lean in.

Along with praying for clarity for 2023, I have been preparing for Access Church’s 21 day corporate fast. I go in to this fast each year ready. Ready to spend more concentrated time with the Lord. Ready to sit. Ready to hear. Ready to see. Ready to press in. Ready to receive direction. Ready to see Him move. Ready for a fresh encounter. If you are a believer, I would love to have you join our church as we fast together from January 9th-29th. I have never ended a fast and regretted it. The Lord is faithful. His Word says in Hebrews 11:6, “He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him.”

In preparation for the fast, I read a verse yesterday that we then prayed this morning at our intercessory prayer group. Maybe it will resonate with you, too.

And this, friends, is what I wanted to share with you today. Philippians 2:13 reads, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

LISTEN! It is the work of the Holy Spirit IN US that gives us both the desire and power to do what pleases God! Time in prayer, reading the Bible, fasting, helping those in need, acting kindly towards others, keeping your mind pure, staying committed to your spouse, seeking to live holy, allowing the Word to pierce and penetrate…I could go on and on. These all please the Lord. If you are lacking the desire to do what pleases Him, you can ask the Holy Spirit to give you a renewed desire. Desire- a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen. What do you desire for 2023? To change your desires to be more like Christ’s, you need the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the influence of faithful Christians (get back to church!), and obedience to God’s Word.

“Often it is in doing God’s will that you gain the desire to do it.”

My encouragement to you is to go into 2023 purposeful. If you feel nothing crossing into this new year, pray and ask God to give you the desire to do what pleases Him. If you still feel nothing, do what pleases Him anyways and the desire will come… the desire will follow as you lean on the help of Holy Spirit. Be blessed! I can’t wait to see what 2023 holds! I am praying for you today. May the Lord stir hunger, desire, passion, zeal, zest and fervor for Him!