Welcome to 2015: The Year of What?

Welcome to 2015: The Year of What?

I don't know when it started that each year will have it's heading and theme. I grew up to know that certain churches would have a central scripture as theme annually. Such would guard the Bible studies and other activities.
I remember that in members houses hanging banners would carry the theme with the scripture boldly written and translated to the local language.
In the mid 90's the game changed. The lengthy theme was adopted as short cliches by new generation churches with car and door stickers carrying them. It also controlled the theme and the direction of preaching, teaching and bible studies. It used to be the tradition of a few churches then, but between then and now, it has become so much of a generalised culture that one wonders if it's a direct injunction of Christ, a move of the Spirit or a mere tradition.

Definitely it's not a doctrinal issue. It wasn't a practice of Christ or of the early Apostles. It wasn't taught as doctrine too and it won't be a sin if a congregation doesn't do it.
I believe it can be a church administration tool to help in discipleship as it focuses the theme of teaching and the direction of faith and expectations.
But more and more it reveals that the discipleship goal of this tradition has become less important if not totally out of sight. The focus is more and more on the prophetic expectations and that may still be excusable if the whole thing hasn't drifted into mere wishful thinking without any iota of the influence of the Spirit of God.

In these days when our success is hardly how much of Christ we are comformed to but how much money comes out of church activities, the economy of the yearly tag is also important if it hasn't become a major motivation. When stickers, emblems, t-shirts, caps, handbands and other paraphernalia are put of for sale, merchandising systems can make a fortune so much so that even when God says No, the allure of the cash flow may not permit the ear to hear.

We can see that we now need to review this tradition so as not to get conditioned to evil, thinking we are doing good. We need to ask ourselves, what exactly would God want from us this year? What does He have in store for us to expect? What is the direction of God's movement this year?
These are questions that border on our relationship with the Holy Spirit and there maybe lots of darkness in that realm with people who lead with ulterior motives. You can't always base your destiny on what others tell of the Holy Spirit when you as a child of God have Him dwelling inside of you. And no one knows the things of a man but the spirit of that man that dwells within him.
And if for a reason or another, knowing what God wants becomes difficult we can always turn to the scriptures: the more sure word of prophecy eternally settled in heaven.

What would God want from you this year? What should you expect from Him? God would expect us to become more like Him this year irrespective of what cliche your church goes with for the year. God would expect that we will get out more and more from the ways of the world and be renewed in our minds by the ways of God. He will expect true holiness and righteousness from us this year. He wouldn't expect us to be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God this year. Truth and absolute truth must be on our lips in every thing and at all cost. He will want us to depend on Him more and more and less on our own schemes and wicked wisdom. He would want us to be led by His Spirit and no more by our flesh, ambitions and appetites. He will want us to come to the knowledge of the truth more than ever before and abstain from every evil doctrine and complacency towards His knowledge and His ways. He will expect that we walk in the spirit bringing forth the fruit of the spirit and walking in love towards one another as He has loved us and gave Himself to us. He would expect that we stand for the truth of the gospel in evangelism and serve Him with all we have got.
What should we expect from God this year? I'm sure, God would remain God this year. He will expect that we look up to Him to be led in everything to our profiting. He will expect that we come boldly to the throne of His grace to receive grace and mercy to help at our times of need. He would want us to expect His faithfulness towards the fulfillment of our redemption in Christ. He would want us to expect that His promises and purposes for our lives will come to pass for this year. He would also want us to know that our righteousness, healing, prosperity, victory over demonic enemies, security, favour, peace, longevity and every other thing that Jesus Christ payed for will manifest as we believe and receive them by faith this year. He will expect that we walk in boldness in Him trusting Him that whatever the devil throws at us will not prosper against us and that we will rise above all with Him on our side and we on His side.
He wouldn't expect this year to be the year of iniquity and unrighteousness neither will He expect that the year will be a year when evil will prevail against us. Rather we should expect His will to be done and His kingdom come while the kingdom of Satan with his sin and of the devil and his evil will wax weaker and weaker in our lives.
That's what this year is for and that's what next year will be for too and all the years to come...and in having such expectations we become more and more like Him and we enjoy more and more of Him. So 2015 is your year of what?
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