My 2020 Word for the Year
Happy New Year!
Time to evaluate 2019 and look ahead to 2020.
Realistically, life is too rich and complicated to be defined by one word, or one set of concepts. So I expect to work on more than just this word. Having said that, here's the word on which I hope to focus in 2020.
FACE
1. Noun: I want to always stay face-to-face with my Creator. I don't want anything to come between my eyes and His.*
2. Verb: I will face my fears with the help of this same God, my loving Abba (Hebrew for "Papa").**
*(Genesis 17:1; Exodus 20:3)
**(1 John 4:18; 2 Corinthians. 1:3-5; Psalm 18)
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love." (1 John 4:18)
The first of the Ten Commandments could also read, “Don’t let any other god get between your face and My face.”
In Genesis 17:1 the Lord says, “I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be perfect.”
This could also mean “walk, looking at My face.”
So for me this year, “face“ is about a noun and a verb.
Noun: I want to walk, looking at my Lord‘s face. I don’t want anything to get between my face and God‘s face. In other words, I want to love Him wholeheartedly, and do away with and prevent any idolatry in my life.
A back-door form of idol-worship for me is not trusting my Lord to do His will, not trusting Him to do what He said He would do. Often this means I am fearful.
So the second aspect of my 2020 word, “face” is:
Verb: With my Abba’s perfect love, and by the power of His Spirit, I will face my fears.
By the way, I chose the Lion image from the narnia.fandom page for a specific reason. First of all, Aslan was "not a tame Lion" - it's kinda scary to look in His face. "For we know the God who said, 'Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge His people.' It's a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:30-31) Remember that Isaiah guy, when he saw the Lord high and lifted up, fell on his face and said that he had unclean lips?
Thankfully, when we are right relationship with our Lion-King, we are no longer condemned and His perfect love trashes our fear.
And that brings me to the second reason I chose the Lion image: Because my Savior is the Lion of Judah, the strong and mighty One, ... because the Spirit He left with and in me partners with me, I can indeed FACE anything the Lord allows in my path.
P.S. Have you chosen a word or phrase for 2020? If you have, tell me about it in the comments below.
Time to evaluate 2019 and look ahead to 2020.
Realistically, life is too rich and complicated to be defined by one word, or one set of concepts. So I expect to work on more than just this word. Having said that, here's the word on which I hope to focus in 2020.
FACE
 |
| narnia.fandom.com |
1. Noun: I want to always stay face-to-face with my Creator. I don't want anything to come between my eyes and His.*
2. Verb: I will face my fears with the help of this same God, my loving Abba (Hebrew for "Papa").**
*(Genesis 17:1; Exodus 20:3)
**(1 John 4:18; 2 Corinthians. 1:3-5; Psalm 18)
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love." (1 John 4:18)
The first of the Ten Commandments could also read, “Don’t let any other god get between your face and My face.”
In Genesis 17:1 the Lord says, “I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be perfect.”
This could also mean “walk, looking at My face.”
So for me this year, “face“ is about a noun and a verb.
Noun: I want to walk, looking at my Lord‘s face. I don’t want anything to get between my face and God‘s face. In other words, I want to love Him wholeheartedly, and do away with and prevent any idolatry in my life.
A back-door form of idol-worship for me is not trusting my Lord to do His will, not trusting Him to do what He said He would do. Often this means I am fearful.
So the second aspect of my 2020 word, “face” is:
Verb: With my Abba’s perfect love, and by the power of His Spirit, I will face my fears.
By the way, I chose the Lion image from the narnia.fandom page for a specific reason. First of all, Aslan was "not a tame Lion" - it's kinda scary to look in His face. "For we know the God who said, 'Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge His people.' It's a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:30-31) Remember that Isaiah guy, when he saw the Lord high and lifted up, fell on his face and said that he had unclean lips?
Thankfully, when we are right relationship with our Lion-King, we are no longer condemned and His perfect love trashes our fear.
And that brings me to the second reason I chose the Lion image: Because my Savior is the Lion of Judah, the strong and mighty One, ... because the Spirit He left with and in me partners with me, I can indeed FACE anything the Lord allows in my path.
(I’m
grateful for the insights on the topic by Henry M. Morris III in
December 27, 2019 Days of Praise devotional - Institute for Creation Research. You can subscribe here.)
P.S. Have you chosen a word or phrase for 2020? If you have, tell me about it in the comments below.
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