Thursday, January 3, 2019

My word of the year 2019: Yield

I spend lots of time leading up to the new year thinking about and praying about my word and verse for the new year. I'm not one to make resolutions (although I do make lists of goals!) but love choosing a word to study, focus on, and embrace.

This year my word is YIELD and my verse is John 15:5. I want a heart that lives out this verse whole-heartedly.....”I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

YIELD. I love this word because it’s a word that means both give and return. I want to surrender and receive. I want a heart yielded to His desires and His plans (NOT my own because His are far greater than any I could ever dream or imagine) so that my life and testimony yields and shows His incredible faithfulness and love to everyone God places in my life.

So what does living yielded mean? In order for me to live yielded I believe I must fully surrender and completely submit to the Lord (everything- my plans and dreams and hopes) so that I can yield (bear, produce, display) fruit according to His will for my life. And to be totally honest that’s a little scary for me because I am a girl who likes for things to go according to plan- always. (Whose plan? MINE of course!). But this year I strive to have a yielded heart.

-A heart willing to say “YES Lord” to God’s plans, no matter the cost
-A heart that embraces the fact that I am not the one in control and to rest in the fact that He has an eternal perspective while I have an earthly one
-A heart willing to do whatever He says and be obedient, no matter how crazy or impossible it seems
-A heart yielded to His plans above my own reason or what others think or say
-A heart that is yielded to God’s changes in my life instead of scared of them (kick fear to the curb)
-A heart that is yielded to Him alone for approval and doesn’t focus on what others think
-A heart that is yielded to God’s care and love for those in my life instead of clutching them tightly and spending time fearing losing them
-A heart that is yielded to Him and the fact that He is good, even when circumstances clearly are NOT

I so desire a WILLING, yielded heart! I long to know the fullness of life in Christ, the fullness of His joy, and the fullness of His power and in order to do so I must surrender fully unto Him. I must yield.

”When a person, yielding to God and believing the truth of God, is filled with the Spirit of God, even the faintest whisper will be worship.”- AW Tozer

Do you pick a new word of the year? If so, share below, I'd love to hear what it is and be praying that word over you!