I have just one word for you for 2022.
There is just one rule to follow and obey and that is this:
Be Spirit-led.
In 2022, this is all that is necessary. If we want to get back to God’s original design for Christ-followers, we must become a Spirit-led kingdom people. We have identified too long as the Church or with a denomination. We are children of the Kingdom and we must begin to walk in this truth. How do we do it? You guessed it! Be Spirit-filled and be Spirit-led.
How do we become these things? First, it requires faith for salvation and the same faith for salvation is applicable to being Spirit-filled (see Luke 11:5-13). Peter’s great sermon of Acts Chapter Two was a Spirit-filled sermon (Acts 2:14-41). He was not educated, which was also one of the things which infuriated the priests and leaders of his day (Acts 4:1-13). The church was built by uneducated, Spirit-filled, and Spirit-led individuals. We can become this again. We must become this again.
“Seek first His kingdom and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). We get this backward. We build our lives, homes, families, and from our place of comfort we ask God how we can serve Him. Friends, it is time to get comfortable with discomfort. It is time to revel outside of the box we have created for God. It is time to ask Him to show us where the door is so we can escape our small ideals of Him and get to where He is!
When was the last time you did something outrageously uncomfortable for Jesus? The last time you risked rejection to make Him famous? I know, me too. I have been afraid to blog words that might be too challenging and I have held back and for that I am sorry. I would rather speak up for God and be canceled than wallow in a luke-warm, people-pleasing effort to be relevant.
This is the year and this is the season to live by one rule: Be Spirit-led. To do this you must be Spirit-filled, you must be willing to obey the voice of God as much as the Word of God. You must be willing to die to yourself like never before and trust Him to get glory whether you perceive yourself as a success or failure. Ours is the obedience and His is the result. He will not call you to do anything He will not equip you for and He will not send you out and forget to support you (2 Chronicles 16:9). He has already made a plan for you and it is the most thrilling adventure of your life if you will just get out of the box. Let’s do it together.
May we all stop enjoying the comforts of the way it’s always been done. What must remain is our being rooted and founded on the Word of God, but the models of comfort must change. If you are all in, pray this prayer or something like it:
Lord Jesus, I give you the box I have created for you in my understanding and ask you to show me the doorway out. I give you permission to take the box away and I ask you to baptize me with Your Holy Spirit and fire for the days ahead. I commit to being Spirit-led and biblically founded. My life is yours, spend it as you will for Your kingdom and Your glory, in Your name, amen.
Walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
(1 Thessalonians 2:12)